Direct answers to common questions

Projects start at $297 CAD for a tightly scoped, hand-coded landing page. Full custom marketing sites typically run $5,000–$50,000 CAD depending on page count, animation depth, integrations, and whether brand identity work is included. Custom e-commerce storefronts start higher because the integration scope is larger — typically $15,000–$75,000 CAD. Every quote is fixed-fee, not hourly, and itemized so you can see what each component costs.

Alberta web design pricing in 2026 spans a wide range. Templated builds (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy) range from $0–$2,000 CAD. Webflow / WordPress agency work runs $3,000–$15,000 CAD. Hand-coded custom work (like ours and a handful of other Alberta agencies) runs $5,000–$50,000 CAD for marketing sites and $15,000+ for e-commerce. Designer Digital's starting price is $297 CAD for a focused hand-coded landing page, which is the lowest entry point we know of for genuinely custom-coded work in the province.

Our quotes include design, development, animation, copy review, asset preparation, deployment, and a 14-day post-launch stabilization window. Hosting, domain registration, and any paid third-party tools (Shopify, Sanity, Mailgun, etc.) are separate and pass-through. Brand identity work, photography, and ongoing maintenance are quoted separately if you need them.

We typically structure payment as 50% on signature to start, 25% at design approval, 25% at launch. For larger projects we'll split into more milestones. Payment is via bank transfer, credit card, or Stripe invoice — whichever your accounting prefers.

A focused 5–10 page marketing site typically takes 6–10 weeks from kickoff to launch. Larger sites (15+ pages, complex integrations, motion-heavy) run 10–16 weeks. Custom e-commerce typically runs 12–20 weeks. Discovery and design account for the first 2–4 weeks; development overlaps with later design rounds.

Sometimes. Our $297 starter offering is built around a tight timeline (typically 1–2 weeks) for a single landing page. Faster turnaround on full marketing sites is possible if the scope is locked from the start — we typically charge a rush premium of 20–30% if the timeline compresses below our standard cadence.

We typically have a 2–4 week wait between contract signature and project start, depending on current load. The discovery interview and initial brand audit can run in parallel with that wait, so calendar time isn't lost.

Four phases: Discover (research, brand audit, audience interviews), Design (sitemap, wireframes, mockups, two structured revision rounds), Build (hand-coded development, animation, integration), and Launch (deployment, performance verification, 14-day stabilization). Each phase has clear deliverables and a decision gate before the next phase starts. You won't be surprised by what arrives.

Two structured revision rounds at the design phase, with consolidated feedback. We don't bill for these rounds. Scope changes (adding pages, changing the brand direction mid-project) are billed separately at agreed-upon rates so the original quote stays clean.

We use Loom (async video) and shared Figma comments for design feedback. For development we use a staging URL with comment annotations. We avoid email-back-and-forth and Slack-message chains because they fragment context. Everything that affects the project lives in a single shared doc.

Discovery is 2–4 hours of structured interviews covering your business model, audience, competitive landscape, current site (what's broken, what's working), brand voice, and project objectives. We deliver a written brief at the end summarizing what we heard and what we recommend. You sign off on the brief before design starts.

TypeScript, React, and Next.js by default. Three.js for WebGL animation. GSAP for timeline animation. Vanilla CSS (not Tailwind, not CSS-in-JS) for styling. Vercel or Cloudflare for deployment. Sanity or Payload for headless CMS when content editing is required. We don't use WordPress, Wix, Webflow, or Squarespace.

Yes, if you need a CMS. We default to Sanity or Payload for headless CMS work — both are editor-friendly and don't carry monthly cost overhead until you scale. For content-light sites we sometimes ship MDX files in a Git repo so updates flow through your developer's normal workflow. We'll recommend the right setup based on your team size and update cadence.

We deploy to Vercel or Cloudflare Pages by default. Both have generous free tiers, sub-second deploys, and excellent Core Web Vitals. We can manage the account or transfer it to your team after launch — your call.

Yes. You own all design files, source code, and content from the moment of launch. We hand off the GitHub repo, the Figma file, and any related assets. There's no platform lock-in and no ongoing dependency on us — you can take the work to another developer at any time.

Webflow is a closed visual builder. Sites built on Webflow are constrained by what the builder allows, ship 200–400 KB of generic CSS and JavaScript on every page, and depend on Webflow's hosting and pricing tiers. We hand-code in TypeScript and React with no builder dependency — sites are smaller (typically under 200 KB), faster (better Core Web Vitals), and not tied to any platform's pricing roadmap.

WordPress is a CMS with a vast plugin ecosystem. Most WordPress agency work uses themed templates plus Elementor or a similar visual builder, which produces sites that ship 500 KB+ of CSS/JS, depend on plugin updates that frequently break, and require ongoing maintenance to stay secure. Our hand-coded sites have no plugin layer, no theme dependency, and no security patches required because there's no CMS attack surface — just static or server-rendered code.

Squarespace is a closed templated platform good for getting a basic site live in a weekend. It is not designed for differentiation, top-tier Core Web Vitals, or complex integrations. Our work is hand-coded and infinitely customizable — you can have any layout, any animation, any integration, with no platform constraints.

Freelancers are right when the scope is narrow and the budget is tight — typically under $5,000 CAD. Agencies are right when the scope spans design + development + brand + motion (multi-disciplinary work), when timeline matters, or when project management is part of what you're paying for. Designer Digital is a small agency, so we can fit projects that fall in the awkward middle (too complex for one freelancer, too small for a 30-person agency).

Custom web design, custom web development, brand identity, motion design, 3D / WebGL, e-commerce, and SEO + performance work. We don't offer paid advertising management, social media management, content marketing campaigns, or video production — we'll refer to specialists if you need those.

Yes. We work remote-first by default. Roughly half our clients are Alberta-based; the other half are spread across Canada, the US, and occasionally further. The work doesn't change based on geography — only the kickoff format does (in-person if you're driveable, async-with-Loom if not).

Yes — that's exactly what the $297 starter offering is for. Many of our clients are small businesses, sole-trader operations, or new launches. We don't have a minimum project size at the bottom end. We do have a maximum at the top end (any single project over $200K we'd refer or partner-up on).

Yes — most of our work is redesigns rather than first-time builds. We'll audit what's working, what isn't, and what to migrate. Redesigns include a clear SEO migration plan (URL redirects, meta inheritance) so you don't lose existing Google ranking when the new site launches.

Yes — typically a monthly retainer covering minor content updates, security monitoring, dependency updates, and performance audits. Retainers run $300–$1,500 CAD/month depending on the size of the site and the update cadence. We'll quote based on what you actually need, not push a one-size retainer.

Common outcomes: 50–80% reduction in page weight, 2–4× faster LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), 100/100 Lighthouse SEO score, and ranking improvements visible in Google Search Console within 2–6 weeks for technical fixes. Conversion rate improvements vary by industry and scope, but the typical pattern is 20–60% lift on lead-generation sites once design + performance + content are all rebuilt.

Yes. Every site we ship targets green Core Web Vitals (LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1) on real-world mid-tier mobile devices. We profile on actual hardware, not just on Lighthouse desktop scores. Failing Core Web Vitals is a deal-breaker we don't negotiate.

Technical fixes (schema, performance, crawlability) show measurable Search Console improvements within 1–2 weeks. New content pages typically index within 2–4 weeks. Ranking position improvements take 2–6 months for moderate-competition keywords and longer for high-competition queries. LLM citations (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) can appear within weeks for well-structured FAQ and comparison content.

Designer Digital is based in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. We work remote-first with clients across Alberta, the rest of Canada, and internationally. The founder, Kory Goossens, runs operations from Red Deer.

Send a message through the contact form at designer.digital/contact. We'll respond within two business days, usually the same day. The first response includes either a 15-minute discovery call invite or a written request for clarifying information, depending on what your message includes.

The first call is a 15–30 minute discovery conversation. We'll ask about your business, your current site, what's working, what's broken, and what you're trying to achieve. We'll explain how we work and what a project would typically look like for you. There's no pitch and no hard sell — if we're not the right fit, we'll say so and recommend someone who is.