FAQ
Every question I get asked.
If you do not see your question here, text me or use the contact form. I read everything and reply within 24 hours.
Pricing and what's included
How much does it cost in total?
$500 one-time to build the site, then $20 a month (Starter), $49 a month (Growth), or $99 a month (Pro) after that. All Canadian dollars. The monthly does not start until your site is live and you have approved it.
What's included in the monthly fee?
Hosting on Vercel (fast, global, $0 downtime), SSL certificate, domain renewal help, and edits (quarterly on Starter, monthly on Growth, more often on Pro). Everything technical stays my problem, not yours.
Why is the setup non-refundable?
Because the design and build work happens upfront. By the time you might want a refund, I have already invested 15 to 25 hours of design and code into your site. The setup covers that work. If you cancel after launch, the monthly just stops, no penalty.
Do you ever discount the setup?
No. The $500 is what filters serious buyers from time-wasters. Anyone asking for a discount on $500 is going to be a customer who pays a week late every month. I would rather pass on that than start a relationship by haggling.
Can I pay annually to save money?
Yes. Annual pricing is pay 11 months upfront, get 1 free. So Starter annual is $220, Growth is $539, Pro is $1089. Saves you a month per year and locks the rate.
What you get
How many pages do I get?
Starter: up to 5 pages. Growth: up to 7. Pro: up to 10. A page is something like a homepage, services, about, contact, FAQ. We figure out together what your business actually needs - sometimes 4 pages is the right answer.
Will my site be mobile-friendly?
Mobile-first, not just mobile-friendly. I design for the phone first, then scale up to tablet and desktop. Most of your customers find you on a phone, so the site has to be perfect there first.
Do you do SEO?
Yes, local SEO is built into every plan. Schema markup so Google knows where you are and what you do. Title tags around the keywords your customers actually search. Google Business Profile setup or cleanup. I do not do enterprise-level link building, but for a local business, the SEO I do is enough to rank locally.
What about Google Ads or social media ads?
I do not run ads. The site is your organic foundation. If you want to add paid ads later, I refer you to someone who is actually good at that. But most local businesses can get to $5K to $10K a month in organic before they need paid ads.
Will I have a contact form?
Yes. Form submissions go straight to your email. No third-party CRM required, but I can wire it up to one if you already use Mailchimp or HubSpot or something similar.
Timeline and process
How long does it take?
5 to 9 days from when you pay the setup and send me the brief. Most builds are done in 7 days. You see a preview by day 3, you give edits, we launch by day 7.
What if I do not have photos or content?
I work with what you have and tell you what to shoot with your phone. For most trades and shops, real phone photos beat stock images every time. For copy, I write the first draft based on the brief - you edit, we tighten.
Do I need a logo?
If you have one, send it. If you do not, I can do a simple wordmark logo at no extra cost as part of the build. For most local businesses, a clean wordmark is plenty.
Do I have to send you a domain?
If you have one, yes. If you do not, I help you pick one and you register it through GoDaddy or Namecheap (about $15 a year). I point it to your site once you have it.
Edits, hosting, and the monthly
What happens when I want a change?
You text me. I make the change. Usually live the same week. On Starter you get 1 round of edits per quarter (4 a year). On Growth 2 per month. On Pro up to 4 per month with priority queue.
What if I need more edits than my plan covers?
Two options: upgrade to a higher plan, or pay $80 per extra round. Most clients are happy with their plan limit but I never gatekeep urgent business changes.
Where is my site hosted?
Vercel. Same platform that hosts companies like Nike, McDonald's, and Hashicorp. Fast, secure, 99.99% uptime, global edge network. Hosting is part of your monthly, you do not pay Vercel separately.
What about email? Do I get a custom @yourbusiness email?
Hosting includes the site, not email. If you want hello@yourbusiness.com, I help you set that up through Google Workspace (about $7 a month per inbox, billed directly by Google). One-time setup, 10 minutes.
Ownership and cancellation
Do I own the site?
Yes. The design and content is yours. Your domain stays in your name. If you cancel, I send you the project files. You are never locked in.
What happens if I cancel?
The monthly stops at the end of your billing period. Your site goes offline (because hosting is included in the monthly and you stopped paying). Your domain stays with you. If you resubscribe within 60 days, your site flips back on with nothing lost. After 60 days the project files are archived and I would have to rebuild from scratch.
Can you transfer my site to another developer if I want to leave?
Yes. I export the design files and codebase. The developer you hire can run it from there. The hosting will need to move (because Vercel is on my account), but the actual site is portable.
What about the setup fee if I cancel right after launch?
The setup fee is non-refundable because the build work is done. But the monthly stops immediately. So if you launch in week 1 and cancel in week 2, you have paid $500 for the build and nothing else. The site stays up until end of the billing period.
The free site grader
What does ostra.studio/grade actually do?
It runs 32 specific technical and local-SEO checks on any public URL, pulls real Google Lighthouse performance scores for mobile and desktop, asks an AI to critique the copy, and shows you a SERP preview of how Google displays your homepage. You get a score out of 100 with a fix written out for every gap. No signup.
How long does the grader take?
Usually 20 to 30 seconds. The 32 checks finish in about 2 seconds. Google Lighthouse is the slow leg because it runs the page on real Google servers. While it's running you see a step-by-step progress indicator.
Is the grader different from the human audit?
Yes. The grader is automatic and instant. The human audit at /audit is me opening your site personally, writing a one-page review with what's working, what to fix, and one quick win. The grader gives you the technical reality. The audit gives you the strategy.
Does the grader work on any platform?
Yes. WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Webflow, custom sites, anything with a public URL. The grader also fingerprints which platform you're on and tailors the fix advice to that platform - so the WordPress fix says 'install Yoast', the Wix fix says 'go to Page Settings > SEO Basics', and so on.
Can I compare my site against a competitor?
Yes. /grade/compare runs the same 32 checks plus Lighthouse on both URLs side-by-side. You see exactly which checks they pass that you don't, with a 'where you're losing' callout listing those specific gaps.
What if I score badly?
Doesn't mean you're broken. Most local business sites I've graded score 35 to 60. The result lists the top 3 fixes to do first, ranked by impact. You can either work through them yourself or hit the email button for a deeper human audit on top.
Who I am
Are you a real person or an agency?
Real person. Asad Mohammad, freelancer in Pickering, Ontario. I built every site on the portfolio page myself. When you sign up, I am the one designing, coding, and maintaining your site. No team handoffs.
What if you get sick or take a vacation?
I tell you in advance and queue urgent stuff before I leave. So far I have not missed a customer deadline. If something serious happened (hospital, etc.), I have a backup developer who could keep your site running, and you get a partial refund on that month.
Why do you charge so much less than Toronto agencies?
Because I am one person, not a 12-person agency. No office, no account manager, no senior designer review meetings, no project manager. Just me doing the work. The actual design and build time is similar - the overhead is not.
Can I meet you in person?
Yes if you are in Durham region or east GTA. I do not charge for the meeting. Coffee is on me. For everyone else, video calls work fine.
Still have questions?
Email me at hello@ostra.studio or book a 10-minute call. No sales pitch, just a real answer to whatever you are wondering about.