First Draft Studios Get a free draft
Websites · apps · video · brand

See your new website before you pay for it.

We build a working first draft of your site, for free, and send you the link. If you want it finished, you get one fixed price in writing. If you don't, you owe nothing.

The finished Embrace website: a large headline reading Your family's health, organized, beside an iPhone showing the app
Before · the template it launched with After · the draft, now live
Embrace, a family health app for iPhone. Left is the builder template it started with. Right is the draft we made for it, which became the live site at embracehealthapp.com. drag to compare
The deal

You pay after you've seen it. Never before.

Agencies bill you to find out what they'd make. We make it first. The draft is our sales pitch, so it has to be good enough to sell itself.

A working first draftReal pages you can click through, on your phone, within the week.$0
Changes to the draftTear it apart or ask for a different direction. One more free swing if it's a miss.$0
Walking awayNo kill fee, no invoice, no follow-up calls.$0
Cost to see your website$0
If you say yesOne written quote before any money moves. We finish the draft, put it live, and look after it from there.Fixed pricequoted with the draft
How it works

Three steps. You do the first one.

STEP 1 · YOU

Tell us your business name.

One email or a twenty-minute call. Plain language is perfect. We'll find your menu, your hours, your reviews, and your story ourselves.

Takes you 30 seconds
STEP 2 · US

We build v0 and send you a link.

Actual pages with your real menu, prices, hours, and photos, plus three social posts you keep either way. It works on a phone. You can send it to your spouse for a second opinion.

Days, not weeks
STEP 3 · YOU

Say yes, say no, or say "closer".

Yes means one fixed quote and we finish it. No means we part ways with nothing owed. Closer means one more free draft in a new direction.

Your call, no pressure
Work

Check out our work.

Sites we have made for businesses around Windsor-Essex, and one app of our own. Tap any of them to see the whole page.

Scroll sideways for more.

What we build

Websites first. Then whatever the website needs.

Every project is built from scratch around your business. No templates, no handoffs, no "that's a different department."

  • WebsitesFast, modern, built to bring people through the door. Easy to update.
  • Email at your own domainhello@yourbusiness.ca instead of a Gmail address on the sign.
  • Online ordering and bookingPickup orders, appointments, pre-orders for the holiday rush.
  • Apps and customer portalsiOS apps and tools shaped to how your business actually runs.
  • Social posts and adsThree posts come free with every draft. After that, a month of posts at a time, or ads run for you.
  • Logos and brandAn identity with a point of view, made for your business alone.
First Draft Studios

We are a small studio. We have shipped apps to the App Store, built sites that people actually use, and watched too many good local businesses get quoted five figures for a website by someone who never set foot in the place.

So the order is reversed. We build it first. You look at it on your phone, on your own time, and you decide with the thing in front of you. If it isn't right, we shake hands and you've lost nothing. If it is, you'll know the exact price before a dollar moves.

FIRST DRAFT STUDIOS
Questions

What's the catch?

Why would you work for free?+

We only get paid when a draft turns into a finished project, so every draft has to be good enough to sell itself. The free draft replaces the proposals, decks, and discovery invoices other shops charge you to sit through.

What does the free draft actually include?+

Something real. Working pages with your menu, prices, hours, photos, and reviews already in them, plus three social posts made for you, which are yours to use whatever you decide. Enough that you can judge it with your own eyes instead of imagining it from a document.

What happens if I don't like it?+

Tell us. Either we take one more free swing in a different direction, or we part ways. There is no invoice, no kill fee, and no pressure. The draft stays ours; your business stays yours.

How much does the finished version cost?+

The numbers are further down this page, under Pricing. Every quote is one fixed figure in writing before we start, shaped to the job, so a site that needs less costs less. Because we run a small studio with modern tools and no account managers, the number is consistently well under agency rates for the same work.

What does it cost to keep it running?+

Very little. Your domain name is about $15 a year. Hosting for a site like the ones above is free. Email at your own domain can be free too. We set it all up in your name so nothing depends on us.

Am I tied into anything?+

No contract and no minimum term. The build is one fixed price, quoted in writing before we start. If you take a care plan afterwards it is month to month, and you can stop it whenever you like.

Pricing

Fixed, in writing, before anything starts.

Every quote is one number, shaped to the job. These are where the numbers usually land, so you know roughly what you are looking at before we talk. A site that needs less costs less, and anything that is not on the list gets its own line in the quote.

Canadian dollars. The first draft is free whatever you decide.

A working first draft, three social posts, and a personal noteSent before you have paid anything.$0
One-page siteEverything on one screen: what you do, hours, phone, map.$900
Standard site, up to five pagesMenu or services, about, hours and directions, contact.$1,800
Site with online ordering or bookingPickup orders, appointments, or pre-orders for the rush.$2,800from
Care planHosting, domain, email, and the small changes through the year.$59per month
Care plan with socialThe care plan, plus a month of posts at a time.$99per month
Social kit, one-offA set of posts with captions and hashtags, ready to publish.$150
Ads, run for youFacebook and Instagram, with the spend set by you.$250per month, plus spend
Logo and brandAn identity with a point of view, made for your business alone.$600from
Something in between?Tell us what the business needs and the quote is shaped to it. Nothing here is a package you have to buy whole.Customquoted in writing
Start here

Tell us where to look.

A minute of detail is all we need. Everything except the business name and one way to reach you is optional.

What lands in your inbox
  • A working first draft of your website, built for your business, on a link you can open on your phone.
  • Three social posts made for you, with the captions and hashtags written.
  • One fixed price if you want it finished, in writing, with no obligation to take it.

We will not ask for a credit card and we will not add you to a mailing list. If you say no thanks, that is the end of it.

no deposit · no contract · no sales calls unless you want one