---
title: "Web Development · 316Software"
description: "Websites and web apps that load fast, work for every visitor, and are easy to keep up to date. Plain static pages where that’s enough, and a server only where the site needs one."
canonical: "https://316software.com/services/web-development"
last_updated: "2026-10-21"
---
# Web Development

Websites and web apps that load fast, work for every visitor, and are easy to keep up to date. Plain static pages where that’s enough, and a server only where the site needs one.

![A laptop and a phone showing the same simple web page, with a stopwatch standing beside them.](https://316software.com/img/services/web-development-1536.webp)

The same page on a laptop and a phone, with the stopwatch it has to beat before it ships.

## The promise

Before I quote a rebuild, I measure the site you have on a real device, and show you how I got every number.

Being told your site is slow doesn’t help much. Being told the homepage weighs 14 MB, that the biggest image is 4 times larger than it’s displayed, and that the phone number in the footer isn’t a link gives you a list you can check yourself. So I load your pages in a real browser on a slowed-down connection, fetch them directly, and read what the headers and the DNS say. You get the method along with the findings, so nothing in the quote depends on taking my word for it.

## What you get

- **Pages that load fast**: Built as plain HTML and served from Cloudflare’s network, close to your visitors. A fraction of what a typical page weighs, and it stays that way.
- **Accessibility that’s tested**: Contrast, keyboard navigation and screen-reader labels, each one checked by hand.
- **Easy for search engines to read**: Structured data, clean URLs, and a sitemap that matches what’s published.
- **The old addresses still work**: A redirect from every URL people have linked, bookmarked and shared. A rebuild that drops them throws away the search ranking you already paid for.
- **Yours to take**: Your domain and your repository. If you leave, the site goes with you and runs on any host.

 

As the page loads, each file adds its weight to the scale: the HTML, the stylesheet, the font and the photo come to 320 KB, about an eighth of what the median home page weighs on a phone.

## Pricing

Fixed prices for the common jobs, and a quote after discovery for anything bigger. Prices in CAD, plus GST.

- 01

  **Essentials**

  A business that needs to be found, understood and contacted.

  $2,500 to build

  Static marketing website: up to 4 pages, 1 contact form, 1 language.

  - Up to 4 pages: home, about, what you do, contact
  - 1 contact form, delivered to your inbox
  - Your domain connected, with its certificate
  - Structured data, a sitemap and clean URLs, so search engines read it properly
  - Annual maintenance or managed care, priced separately below

  [Start with Essentials](https://316software.com/contact?service=web-development)

- 02 Fits most businesses

  **Business**

  A business with more to say, and news worth publishing.

  $5,000 to build

  Static marketing website: up to 8 pages, a blog or news section, 2 forms, structured data and analytics.

  - Up to 8 pages
  - A blog or news section you can add to without calling me
  - 2 forms: contact, and one that asks the questions your work needs asked
  - Structured data for your services and reviews, so they can appear beside your search result
  - Analytics you can read, and everything in Essentials

  [Start with Business](https://316software.com/contact?service=web-development)

- 03

  **Custom**

  A site that needs to take bookings, payments or logins.

  from $6,500 to build · quoted

  Scoped build: multiple languages, bookings, payments or integrations. Quoted per project.

  - More than 8 pages, or layouts of your own
  - A second language across the site
  - Bookings, payments, a members area or an integration with a system you run
  - A design system of your own, documented
  - Scoped and priced in writing before anything is built

  [Talk about Custom](https://316software.com/contact?service=web-development)

- **Maintenance · from $500 a year**: Hosting, domain renewal and tested updates. Content changes are quoted separately. Hosting. The domain\*. The certificate. Updates. Cancel at any renewal. You own the software either way.
- **Managed care · from $1,200 a year**: Maintenance plus unlimited text and image changes on existing pages, within 5 business days. Everything in Maintenance. Text and image changes on existing pages. 5 business day turnaround. Cancel at any renewal. You own the software either way.

\*Assumes a standard name, like a .com or .ca. A name that costs more, such as a premium one, is added to the yearly invoice at cost.

- That’s the starting price. A busier or more complex system costs more to run, and we agree on the number in writing along with the build, so it never comes as a surprise.
- Not included: what you pay other companies. AI model and API keys, third-party licences and app subscriptions stay in your own accounts, at cost. I don’t mark them up.
- Choose one annual plan. Maintenance quotes content changes separately; managed care includes text and image changes on existing pages. New pages, layout changes and new features get their own written price.
- I’ll never take a percentage of what you sell: no royalties, no cut of transactions, no per-user fees for software you own.

Rebuilding a site you already have? I measure it first, for free, and quote it as Custom. The tiers above are for new sites built from scratch.

57% vs 30%

**Heavy pages fail on real phones far more often.**

The HTTP Archive’s 2025 survey of the web set page weight against Google’s Core Web Vitals, measured on real visitors’ phones. Of mobile home pages up to 1 MB, 57% passed; of those at 5 MB or more, 30% did. The median mobile home page now weighs 2.6 MB. That’s why I keep yours to a fraction of that, and measure the one you have before I quote a rebuild.

[HTTP Archive, Web Almanac 2025, Page Weight, January 2026. July 2025 crawl.](https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/page-weight)

## Side by side

| What | Essentials | Fits most businesses Business | Custom |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pages | up to 4 | up to 8 | as scoped |
| Page layouts | 2 | 4 | as scoped |
| Forms | 1 | 2 | as scoped |
| Blog or news section | No | Yes | Yes |
| Languages | 1 | 1 | 2 or more |
| Structured data and sitemap | Yes | Yes, with reviews | Yes |
| Analytics | Page views | Pages, sources, forms | As scoped |
| Copy changes with managed care | 5 business days | 5 business days | 5 business days |
| Time to launch | 2 to 3 weeks | 2 to 3 weeks | As scoped |
| Build | $2,500 | $5,000 | from $6,500 |
| Maintenance | $500a year | $500a year | from $500a year |
| Managed care | $1,200a year | $1,200a year | from $1,200a year |

## Website plans

Choose maintenance or managed care. The fees are alternatives, not added together.

### Maintenance

Hosting, domain renewal and tested updates. Content changes are quoted separately.

By default the site runs on my Cloudflare account. It’s the least work, and the plan is priced that way. The domain is different: if you already have one, you keep it and give me access to point it at the site; if not, I’ll register it for you and hand it over if you leave. The code is yours from the first commit. If you leave, you take the code and the built site, which will run on any static host; what ends is my hosting and my time looking after it. If you’d rather have the site in your own Cloudflare account from day one, that’s an add-on, because every change then goes through your access and takes me longer.

- **Hosting**: Served from Cloudflare’s network, so it’s fast across Canada and everywhere else.
- **The domain\***: Already have one? Keep it where it is and give me access to point it at the site; the renewal stays with you. If you don’t, I’ll register one for you, renew it as part of the plan, and transfer it to you if you ever leave.
- **The certificate**: Renewed before it expires, so visitors never see a security warning.
- **Updates**: The dependencies and the platform, kept current and tested.

\*Assumes a standard name, like a .com or .ca. A name that costs more, such as a premium one, is added to the yearly invoice at cost.

### What it doesn’t include

Text and image changes, new pages, new sections, layout changes and new features. Each gets a written price before I build it. Choose managed care for regular text and image changes.

### Managed care

Maintenance plus unlimited text and image changes on existing pages, within 5 business days.

Everything in maintenance, plus:

- **Copy changes**: You supply the text and images for existing pages, including blog posts. I publish the changes within 5 business days, one request at a time.

### What it doesn’t include

New pages, new sections, layout changes and new features are quoted separately.

## Add-ons

One-time fees, like the build. Add them to the quote, or ask for them once it’s live. Prices in CAD, plus GST.

- **Extra page**: per page

  $300

  One more page on a layout the site already has.

- **Extra layout**: per layout

  $750

  A page layout the site does not have yet: a case study, a team page, a landing page for a campaign.

- **Second language**: per language

  $1,200

  Up to 8 pages in another language, with the switch and search engine markup. You supply the translation; larger sites are quoted separately. Adds to the annual plan.

  \+ $120 a year

- **Copywriting**: per page

  $350

  I write the page after a conversation with you. Otherwise you supply the words and I lay them out.

- **Your own hosting account**: per site

  $400

  The site set up in your Cloudflare account instead of mine, with me added as a collaborator. Every change then goes through your access, which takes me longer, so there’s a one-time fee.

- **Design refresh**: per site, existing clients

  $1,500

  For a site I built and look after: a new look for the pages you have (layout, type and colour) with the same content. Not available for sites built elsewhere; those start as a new build.

Example quote **Essentials in two languages, with 2 extra pages**

| Item | Once | A year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Essentials | $2,500 | $500 |
| Second language | $1,200 | $120 |
| Extra page × 2 | $600 | Nothing |
| Total | $4,300 | $620 |

Plus GST. This example uses maintenance. Annual fees start on launch day.

[Ask for your quote](https://316software.com/contact?service=web-development)

## How payment works

1. **Your message**: 2 business days

   Tell me what the business does, which pages you need and what text and photos you already have. I’ll get back to you within 2 business days.

2. **The deposit**: 50% of the build · net 30

   The quote lists the tier, any add-ons and your annual plan: maintenance or managed care. Paying half the build fee starts the work.

3. **The build**: 2 to 3 weeks from your copy · a preview address from the first week

   You watch the site take shape at a preview address you can open and share. It goes live within 3 weeks of getting your text, usually 2. Text changes along the way are included.

4. **Launch**: The balance · the annual plan starts

   The site goes live on your domain and I invoice the second half. Your annual plan starts on launch day, not on the day of the deposit, and renews every year after that.

- **Prices.** In CAD, plus GST. The invoice matches the quote.
- **Annual plans.** Choose maintenance or managed care. Both renew once a year. I can charge a card on file automatically or email you an invoice, whichever you prefer.
- **Leaving.** Cancel your annual plan at any renewal. You take the code and the built site with you, and if I hold your domain, I transfer it to you.

## Common questions

- **Which annual plan should I choose?** Maintenance starts at $500 a year for hosting, domain renewal, the certificate and tested updates. Content changes are quoted separately. Managed care starts at $1,200 a year and includes maintenance plus unlimited text and image changes on existing pages, within 5 business days. Choose one plan; the fees are not added together.

- **Why do websites have a fixed price when other builds are quoted?** Because the scope is fixed. Custom software gets quoted after a paid discovery, since nobody can price a system without looking at the work first. A marketing site of up to 4 or 8 pages is much the same job every time, so it can have a price before we’ve even talked.

- **What counts as a copy change?** Text and images on the pages you already have: a new phone number, a new team photo, a rewritten paragraph, a changed price, a new post in the blog. Managed care includes these changes, unlimited, within 5 business days. Maintenance quotes them separately. A new page, a new section, a layout change or a new feature isn’t a copy change; those are add-ons, or a move to the next tier.

- **Who owns the site?** By default the site runs on my Cloudflare account. It’s the least work, and the plan is priced that way. The domain is different: if you already have one, you keep it and give me access to point it at the site; if not, I’ll register it for you and hand it over if you leave. The code is yours from the first commit. If you leave, you take the code and the built site, which will run on any static host; what ends is my hosting and my time looking after it. If you’d rather have the site in your own Cloudflare account from day one, that’s an add-on, because every change then goes through your access and takes me longer.

- **How long does it take?** Essentials and Business go live 2 to 3 weeks after your text is in, and you can see the site at a preview address from the first week. Custom gets its date in the written scope.

- **Do you write the words?** You can, and most clients do. If you’d rather not, I’ll write each page for $350, after a conversation with you.

- **Are photos included?** No, you supply them: your team, your work, your place. If you don’t have any to send, I’ll do my best to find existing photos of your business in good resolution, and I can generate some with AI to fill the gaps. But photos taken for the site will always work better.

- **Can I start with Essentials and grow?** Yes. Moving up to Business later costs the difference between the two build fees. Your annual plan stays the same unless the site needs a different hosting scope, agreed in writing.

- **Can I cancel the annual plan?** Yes, at any renewal. My hosting ends with it; you take the code and the built site, which run on any static host, and if I hold your domain, I transfer it to you.

## When it’s the right choice

- The current site is slow, unmaintained, or built on a platform you can’t get out of.
- The content is good, but the technology underneath is holding it back.
- You need the site to do real work for the business, like taking bookings or bringing in quote requests.

### When it isn’t

If the site is one page, will never change, and nothing in the business depends on it, you don’t need me. A template on a site builder like Squarespace or Wix does that well for very little, and I’ll point you to one.

## Get in touch

[Talk about web development](https://316software.com/contact?service=web-development)

I’ll read your message myself and reply within 2 business days.

## Related services

[All 8 services](https://316software.com/services)

- ### [Online Stores](https://316software.com/services/online-stores)

  When the site has to take orders and payments.

- ### [Integrations](https://316software.com/services/integrations)

  When bookings and quote requests should land in your other systems by themselves.

- ### [Mobile Development](https://316software.com/services/mobile-development)

  When the job needs the phone’s camera, location or offline use.

---

Page: https://316software.com/services/web-development
The whole site for agents: https://316software.com/llms.txt