About
I started this because the gap was obvious.
Small local businesses were being quoted thousands by agencies, or left wrestling with a website builder at 11pm. There was nothing sensible in between.
The story
I kept running into the same thing. A good local business — a proper one, with skilled people and loyal customers — and a website that either didn’t exist or actively worked against them. A page that hadn’t been touched since 2016. A phone number that no longer worked. A layout that fell apart on a phone, which is where nearly everyone was looking at it.
When they’d looked into fixing it, they got one of two answers. An agency quoted four or five figures and talked about brand discovery workshops. Or they were pointed at a drag-and-drop builder and told it was easy, which it is right up until you need it to do something specific — and then you’re spending your Sunday evening fighting a template instead of running your business.
So Sandpaper Sites does the boring, useful thing in the middle. I build you a proper custom site for a fair one-off fee. I host it, secure it, back it up and keep it online. And when something needs changing, you email me, I tell you exactly what it costs, and it’s live as soon as you say yes.
It’s deliberately unglamorous. There’s no account team, no jargon and no upsell. Just a site that works, looked after by someone you can actually reach.
In short
What I doBuild, host and maintain
Custom websites for small local businesses — designed, built, put online, and kept current afterwards. One person doing all four.
Who forOwner-operators
Businesses with no website at all, or one that’s actively letting them down. Trades, cafés, salons, instructors, small shops.
Typical buildTwo to three weeks
From the first call to going live. The main variable is how quickly you can get me your photos and content.
PricingFrom £495, then £25 a month
A one-off fee to build it, a small monthly to host and run it, and edits quoted per job so you only pay for what you actually need.
ContractNone at all
The monthly rolls on 30 days’ notice. The domain is registered in your name and released to you whenever you ask.
How it works in practice
One person, one laptop, no agency.
No account team, no studio overheads, no layers between you and whoever is actually doing the work. That is why it costs what it costs.
How I work
Four things I won’t budge on.
Say the price out loud
Every price is on the site. If you can’t tell what something costs before you contact someone, that’s usually deliberate — and it’s usually bad news for you.
One person, start to finish
You speak to the person who builds your site. Nothing gets lost in a handover, because there isn’t one.
A site is not a one-off
A website that’s three years out of date is worse than no website. So edits are priced honestly and quoted upfront — small enough that you actually send them, clear enough that you always know the cost first.
No lock-in on your domain
The domain is registered in your name from the start and released whenever you ask, along with the words and photos you gave me. The site runs on my hosting, so taking it elsewhere means having somewhere to take it to — I would rather say that plainly now than let you find it out later.
Who it’s for
A good fit — and an honest word on when it isn’t.
I’d rather tell you up front that I’m the wrong choice than take the work and disappoint you.
Built for
- Trades — plumbers, electricians, builders, landscapers
- Food and drink — cafés, takeaways, small restaurants
- Health and beauty — salons, barbers, therapists, clinics
- Instructors and coaches — PTs, driving instructors, tutors
- Shops and studios with a local catchment
- Anyone currently relying on a Facebook page alone
Probably not the right fit
- Large e-commerce stores with thousands of products
- Venture-backed startups needing a full product team
If that’s you, say hello anyway — I’ll happily point you toward someone better suited.
Fancy a straightforward conversation?
Thirty minutes, no pitch. You describe the business, I tell you what I’d build and what it would cost.
Prefer email?contact@sandpapersites.co.uk