Answers to all your questions!

First and foremost, we have been designing and building effective websites for over 10 years! At Modal, our approach is slightly different from other web design agencies. We operate with a small, focused team and take on a limited number of projects at a time. This allows us to maintain the highest quality standards while providing the same level of output you would expect from large-scale agencies. By working with fewer clients, we can dedicate more time to each project, ensuring a personalised, hands-on experience for every business we collaborate with. We also utilise cutting-edge technologies and design-thinking methodologies to deliver transformative digital experiences that consistently achieve positive returns on investment for our clients.

Yes, we do! While most of our clients are based within the United Kingdom, we also collaborate with international businesses too. Our primary focus is on the value we can bring to a client’s business rather than where they are located. In some cases, time zone differences may pose challenges, but we do our best to accommodate these and ensure seamless collaboration. As long as we can make a positive impact and create a successful partnership, we’re open to working with clients worldwide.

We love partnering with clients who are driven to make a positive impact and appreciate the power of good design. We work best with businesses that are creatively brave, open to new ideas, and willing to collaborate closely throughout the process. The ideal client understands the importance of their role, especially when it comes to providing assets, content, and meaningful copy for their new website. We thrive when working with clients who are passionate about their customers' needs and committed to building a brand that will resonate with their audience for years to come.

Before we make a start on any visual designs, we dedicate ample time to discovery calls to thoroughly understand your business, brand, and the core values that drive what you do. Competitor analysis is another key factor that enables us to effectively communicate your brand’s identity and values through the website we create. By getting to know our clients and their businesses, as well as analysing what their competitors are doing successfully (and where they fall short), we can confidently offer design variations that are aligned with your vision, that you will (hopefully) love! The more time we spend together during discovery workshops, the better we can understand the strategic challenges you face and highlight the values that matter most to your business. We’ve been doing this for over ten years now and we are yet to fail at accurately reflecting a client’s brand and values in our deliverables, the proof really is in the pudding!

A typical web design and development project usually lasts between 8 - 12 weeks. For projects with additional branding or marketing components, the timeline can extend up to six months, depending on the scope of work. While we aim to complete most projects within 8 weeks, factors such as client feedback and the readiness of content can often influence the pace. To ensure a smooth and personalised experience, we limit the number of clients we work with at any given time. This allows us to dive deeper into your brand and maintain an attentive approach. Once the project officially begins, we generally hold weekly catch-up meetings. However, during the middle stages, when the development phase is in full swing, weekly meetings are no longer necessary, as the sitemap, design direction, and content are all already finalised. At this stage, our team focuses on coding and building the site. Toward the end of the project, we resume regular meetings to onboard your team to the CMS (Content Management System) and discuss any post-launch services, such as SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) or PPC (Pay Per Click) Ads retainers

Our start date depends on how busy we are at the time you reach out. We often work with clients who have tight deadlines, so we limit ourselves to just three major projects at any given time. This approach ensures we can fully immerse ourselves in your business, deliver exceptional results, and complete projects faster than many larger agencies - everyone's a winner! To get a more specific start date for your project, simply fill out our ‘Start Your Project’ form, and one of our team members will be in touch to discuss availability and next steps.

All of our quotes include one round of amendments after the final website design and development has been completed. Once the final submission is ready on our end we will arrange a collaborative meeting to present the finished product on a private staging link. At this stage, we will provide a password so you and your team can privately access the site, which will remain hidden from Google until all amends are implemented and the website goes live. We always ask clients to provide their full round of amends in one comprehensive submission, as we are unable to continuously action amends that are fed back in dribs and drabs. To ensure the process is as efficient as possible, we remind clients to double and then triple-check their website before sending through their feedback. Making all the changes in one go allows us to work faster and avoid delays caused by back-and-forth revisions across multiple projects. We typically ask clients to provide their feedback through a collaborative Google Doc link, ensuring clarity and alignment throughout the process. Should you require additional changes after the initial round of amends have been completed, we will then need to quote for this work separately, charging our standard hourly rate (which increases year on year).

Yes! At Modal, we ensure you have a single point of contact throughout your project. Unlike other agencies, where clients are often passed between multiple team members, we assign a dedicated project manager from the moment the project kicks off until its completion, and even beyond if you choose to opt into a monthly retainer package after your go-live date. This approach allows us to develop a deep understanding of your business and its unique needs, ensuring a smoother process and delivering results that exceed the requirements outlined in your brief.

Your team’s primary involvement will be during the early stages of the project when we need you to provide key content and assets. This includes copy (wording), imagery, branding materials, logos, video files, and any important policies or documents that may be relevant to your customers, such as insurance details, terms & conditions, or GDPR compliance information. Depending on your industry, there may be additional items we need, but the above typically covers most use cases. Beyond this, we ask for your participation in weekly check-in meetings to ensure alignment throughout the project.

At Modal, we operate a predominantly virtual working framework within the company. Some of our employees and freelancers do not live locally to our HQ in Manchester with some working remotely from different locations, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. That being said we are still proud to be a Manchester-based agency and absolutely love working with businesses around the local area. We made the shift to a hybrid model during the pandemic, as it allowed us to maximise productivity and work with top talent from around the world. This model also enables us to collaborate with a wider pool of skilled designers and developers, ensuring that each project benefits from the best expertise in the industry. While we work as a hybrid team we still do conduct in-person meetings at our Ancoats-based Manchester office for those of you who prefer in-person face to face meetings. Many of the world’s leading agencies, such as MetaLab (known for working with brands like Uber, Headspace, and Calvin Klein), have adopted similar models with great success, and we’re proud to follow this innovative approach.

Most of our projects range from roughly £15k to £50k, with final costs shaped by the individual scope and complexity of the work. Our minimum starting point is £10k, however, this amount can vary depending on the specifics of the brief. After the initial discovery call, we’ll scope out the project in detail to provide an accurate quote and send this through with the invoice and contract. Once the quote is agreed upon, an initial 50% down payment will be required to kick off the project with the remaining 50% to be paid upon completion i.e. your website’s go-live date.

Beyond the agreed project fees, there are no hidden charges. Typically, the only ongoing expenses are your annual domain fees and annual hosting fees, which we manage in-house using Amazon Web Services (AWS). Unlike other agencies, we do not add hidden monthly maintenance or ‘upkeep’ fees once your website goes live. Should you require extra pages or new features after launch, we’ll provide a transparent separate quote for this work. Additionally, we offer optional monthly retainers for services like SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), digital advertising, or social media campaigns. These services are entirely optional and fall outside the scope of a standard website build, ensuring you only pay for what you need.

Our payment structure is designed to be clear and manageable. Due to the nature of web development and coding, our quotes typically include a rough £1,000 buffer to account for unforeseen circumstances. Projects require a 50% non-refundable deposit upon contract signing to initiate the work. The final balance, usually a remaining 50% (or less), is then due once the project is completed, and the website goes live. For example, if we quote between £15k and £16k, we’ll take a deposit of £8k (half of the upper limit) and then reconcile the final amount based on actual hours used - whether this is closer to £15k or £16k. For ongoing monthly retainers, we require a minimum three-month commitment, with payment due in full at the start of each month. This structure ensures clarity, fairness, and transparent terms for both us and our clients.

We do not include hidden monthly support fees for most projects as we encourage clients to manage their websites independently. Our onboarding training is designed to walk you through the client-facing editor interface, enabling you to make changes confidently. However, we will be available to answer general questions post-launch to support you during the learning curve for your website management. For larger companies or those requiring continuous development, we offer monthly retainer packages. These packages cover ongoing support, updates, and development time to help your website evolve and grow in line with your business needs.

In the 10+ years we’ve been in business, none of our websites have ever experienced any downtime. That said, while extremely rare, there is always a small possibility of server issues or security incidents affecting the hosting providers that we use. If your website goes down, please contact us immediately via email, phone, or our website’s contact page. Our team will prioritise resolving the issue, keeping you informed of progress and minimising disruption as much as possible. We’ll work diligently to get your website back up and running as soon as possible, ensuring any downtime is kept to an absolute minimum.

Every website we build includes an industry-standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate, which ensures your site uses the HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) protocol. This is the small padlock icon you see in your browser’s search bar, signifying that all data transferred between the website and its visitors is encrypted and secure. Additionally, we offer optional HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security), which enhances security by forcing browsers to only connect using HTTPS. For speed, our hosting on AWS (Amazon Web Services) is optimised for high performance, with data centres strategically located worldwide. This ensures that, no matter where your visitors are, your site will load as quickly as is physically possible. During the discovery phase, we’ll discuss any specific security needs to ensure your website is fully protected while delivering a seamless user experience. In most cases, the standard HTTPS protocol is sufficient for business websites, but we’re happy to tailor additional solutions as needed, please just let us know!

As we deal with a wide variety of different clients operating across different sectors/industries, we leave the real expertise down to our clients. We encourage you to provide as much content as possible, as you know your business best. We do offer copywriting services to refine or expand on the content you provide, adjusting the tone of voice, if you don’t feel confident about your writing ability. For imagery, if you already have in-house photos taken for your business, these will always be the best option, if not, we can source high-quality imagery from our stock subscriptions to fill in the gaps.

Absolutely! While the code behind your website is complex and requires technical expertise, the client-facing interfaces we provide are designed to be user-friendly and intuitive. These interfaces empower you to add, remove, and edit content with ease - no coding skills required. We understand that not every business owner is tech-savvy, so everything is streamlined to give you full control over managing your website confidently. To make the process even smoother, we provide comprehensive guidance and training, ensuring you’re comfortable using the platform and making updates as part of your routine operations. We aim to make managing your website as simple and stress-free as possible, just the way it should be!

At Modal, we work with both start-ups and well-established companies, so whether you have existing branding or are starting from scratch, It doesn’t really matter. We offer full-scale branding campaigns to create a complete identity for your business or smaller, more subtle brand refreshes for companies looking to modernise their existing assets. The best approach will depend on the effectiveness of your current branding and your long-term goals. Even the world’s most iconic brands need to evolve over time in order to remain relevant. As a general rule, smaller-scale rebrands are recommended every 5 - 10 years, though this can vary depending on how strong and well-executed your original branding is. Whatever your needs, we can help you create or refine a brand identity that resonates with your audience for years to come.

This depends on the specific project’s budget and brief. For most of our clients, we aim to create fully custom, bespoke websites tailored to their unique needs. However, in some instances, we may use foundational template files to speed up the development process and reduce project timelines. If a template is used, it serves primarily as a starting point for backend tasks, such as building CMS (Content Management System) collections or reusable components like headers and footers. By the time the project is complete, any templates will be heavily customised and totally unrecognisable, resulting in a website that feels entirely unique to your brand. Our priority is always delivering a site that looks and functions as if it were built from scratch, and above all else, meets the functional requirements of the brief.

Yes, we do! During the content-gathering phase of the project, we ask clients to provide as much detailed copy as possible. As the experts in your industry, you are best equipped to describe your business and the services you offer. However, we understand that creating content can be challenging, which is why we offer professional copywriting services. These services are designed to achieve two primary goals:

1. To bulk out content: If we find that the content provided doesn’t fully cover the number of pages or sections outlined in the sitemap, we can expand on it to ensure every part of your website is filled with high-quality, engaging wording.
2. To refine TOV (Tone Of Voice): If you’re unsure about how to convey your message effectively, we can adjust the tone of voice to match your brand’s personality. Whether you want your messaging to sound more professional, friendly, or fun, we’ll tailor the copy to ensure it aligns perfectly with your brand’s goals and connects with your audience just as you’d like it to.