Hepburn Tech Rescue
Websites built by hand.
One at a time.
Custom websites and software, built from scratch. If you can describe it, I can build it.
Custom
Every site starts from a blank page. Yours won't look like anyone else's.
Findable
Structured so Google and AI search can read every page.
Yours
Your domain, your content, your customer data.
Case studies
The work is the pitch.
Product store
The Old Alaska
“How do I get off an expensive store platform and stop retyping orders into my own system?”
Off an expensive platform, with every order landing in the system they already run.
Custom website
Zambelis Concrete Artistry
“How do I sell places in my workshops without a ticketing site taking a cut of every seat?”
Gallery grade photos, a custom site, and workshop places sold without a ticketing fee.
Single product store
Mukluk Wood Stoves
A hand built wood stove, sold from the workshop with freight in the price.
Platform migration
Jackies Craft Store
“Do I need a custom website, or will Shopify do the job?”
She asked me for a custom build. I talked her out of it and moved her to Shopify.
Why build it by hand
A template is cheaper on day one.
That part is true, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. Here is what it costs you later.
It carries weight you never use
A template loads every feature its author could imagine, including the ones your business will never touch. Yours loads what the page needs and nothing else. On a phone, on regional internet, that gap decides whether someone waits or leaves.
Every add on is a door
Most break ins I get called about are not clever. Somebody left a plugin unpatched for two years and a bot walked through it. A hand built site has fewer doors, and I know where all of them are.
The fee is fine until it isn't
The monthly cost feels reasonable right up to the day you need something the platform never planned for. Then you are paying for an add on, or paying someone to wrestle the platform, or both at once.
And the other side of it
If a template genuinely does everything you need, use the template. I moved a client to Shopify for exactly that reason and it was the right call.
Read that one →How a project runs
You talk to the person who writes the code.
I listen
Tell me what you need and I'll come back with a fixed quote in writing.
I build
Design and code, all done here, and you see the progress as it happens.
I hand it over
I launch it, show you how it runs, and stay on for support if you want it.
The honest bit
Things I'll tell you straight.
- Most builds are live in about two weeks.
- If Shopify or a template suits your business better, I'll say so.
Before you email
The questions I get asked most.
- Do you outsource any of this?
- No. Not the design, not the code, not the words. When you email, the person who replies is the person who wrote the thing you are emailing about.
- Will you build me a WordPress site?
- No. Everything here is written from scratch, in code. If a platform really does suit you better, I will say so. Usually that platform is Shopify.
- How many clients do you take at once?
- Usually one at a time, so your build gets worked on properly instead of queued behind four others. Smaller jobs often run alongside a bigger one. Ask me about start dates and you will get a real answer, not a maybe.
- What happens when I need changes later?
- You email me and I do them. No support portal, no ticket number. Small changes usually land the same day.
- Where are you based?
- Ballarat. Most of my work is around Ballarat, Daylesford, Creswick and Melbourne, and the rest is remote.
Got something in mind?
Email me what you're working with and I'll reply with a plan, a price and a start date.
Get in touch