What does a Candor + Halo website cost?
Custom websites start at $9,900 + applicable tax. That is a starting point, not a fixed quote: every Candor + Halo website is custom-scoped around the business, content, functionality, and growth needs. Begin with an inquiry to receive a personalized recommendation. A website engagement covers discovery and strategy, custom design, development, the story-driven copy, the identity work that makes the site cohesive, and photography created specifically for the website. An expanded 50-image brand photography library can be added to the project as a separately scoped add-on. Work that genuinely varies from one business to the next is quoted alongside it: a full brand identity system, or travel outside the local service zone. Applicable sales tax is added to the final invoice. The exact scope and the full cost are written into your agreement before anything is signed.
How does payment work?
Pay in full, or split it across two or three payments. Receive a discount when you pay in full. The exact amounts and dates are confirmed in your written quote. The first payment is due at signing and begins the work, and the balance is due after the site is complete and you have approved it — always before launch or transfer.
When does my site go live?
After you approve the finished site and the final payment clears. We do not launch or transfer a site before that payment is confirmed — it protects both of us, and there are no surprises on either side.
What exactly is included?
That is defined with you before signing, not assumed from a template. We talk through what your business actually needs, you receive a written scope and timeline, and nothing begins until you have approved it.
What do I need to prepare before we start?
Less than you might think — and nothing has to be ready before you reach out. Discovery is where we figure out together what your site actually needs. From there, the usual ingredients are simple: a sense of your goals, the factual details only you can confirm, any imagery you already have, access to your domain, and knowing who gives final approval. We'll tell you exactly what's needed and when, and one consolidated list of changes per refinement round keeps everything moving.
How do revisions work?
Two refinement rounds are included, plus a final launch polish before we go live. A refinement round works from one consolidated list of your requested changes — layout, colors, photos, wording, mobile presentation — within the approved direction. Anything beyond that is scoped and quoted with you before any additional charge.
How long does a project take?
Timelines depend on scope and on how quickly content and feedback come back. Your written scope includes a timeline before you sign; we do not quote a turnaround before we understand the project.
Do you write the copy and take the photos?
Yes, both are part of the The Connected Website System. Photography is created specifically for the website, planned around the pages it will live on, and it starts with a conversation about how you want your customers to feel. The words work the same way: we interview you, find the parts of your business that a stranger would never guess at, and write the site from that conversation. Personal sections stay in your voice, not a marketing version of it. What we need from you is the factual side — services, pricing, credentials, dates, history — which is yours to confirm. If your photography and brand are already strong enough to carry the site, a website-only engagement is quoted for your project instead. Unusually extensive, technical, or regulated writing is also quoted separately.
Can I hire you for photography or brand identity on their own?
Yes to both. Brand identity is a real engagement in its own right, quoted for your project when a business needs a deeper identity system than making one website cohesive. Brand photography can be booked on its own too: business photography, commercial photography of a space or a product, or images for a website you already have, scoped by conversation and quoted before anything is booked. It also comes included with every Candor + Halo website, planned around the pages before the camera comes out.
How much does brand photography cost?
It depends on which kind. Photography included with a website is part of the website project and is not billed separately. An expanded 50-image brand photography library can be added to a website project as a separately scoped add-on. Photography booked on its own is scoped by conversation, because a half day at a restaurant and an hour with one practitioner are not the same job, and it is quoted in writing before anything is booked.
Do you set up CRMs and automate follow-up?
Yes. Connected Business Systems are custom CRM, automation, and customer follow-up systems for small service businesses: inquiries landing in one place, follow-up when someone goes quiet, reminders, review requests, and rebooking. They are sold separately, they do not require a website from us, and they connect to the site you already have. Each one is scoped around how your business runs and quoted in writing.
What is a Discovery Call?
A short video or phone call about your business and what needs to work better. A small fee holds the time and is credited to your project if we work together. There is nothing to prepare, and you book it directly on the calendar from any Book a Discovery Call link on the site.
What about hosting, maintenance, and ownership?
Two months of hosting are included, beginning the day your website goes live. That covers keeping the site online — it ends automatically, and nothing renews or bills unless you ask for it in writing. After that, ongoing website care is a separate optional plan that keeps the managed website hosted, connected, and lightly supported, with a monthly allowance for minor updates; its cost is discussed during quoting and set out in your agreement. And you're never locked in: if you'd rather run everything yourself, a Self-Managed Website Release is available — we prepare the technical handoff and transferable materials, and deployment responsibility moves to your team. The options and their terms are set out plainly in your agreement, and the standing rule doesn't change: your site launches or transfers only after the final payment clears.
Will my site rank on Google?
No honest studio can promise rankings, and we will not. What we can do is build on a sound technical foundation so search engines and AI tools can clearly understand what your business does and where it does it.
Who do you work with?
Service businesses that want to look as credible online as they are in person. That includes established businesses with a reputation already earned, and new ones that would rather build the thing properly from the start than assemble a logo, a website, photography, and messaging separately over several years. We work in person around Chattanooga and remotely with businesses across the U.S. If we are not the right fit for your project, we will say so directly.
Do you work with businesses outside the Chattanooga area?
Yes. Website design and brand identity work happens remotely as easily as it does across town — we work with service businesses across the U.S. Photography is the location-dependent piece: sessions are included within the approved Chattanooga-area service zone, and select regional travel is available for a travel fee quoted with your project. Farther away than that, we can direct and coordinate a photographer local to you, so the images are still planned around the pages they'll live on. If your existing photography is already strong enough to carry the site, we'll look at it together during scoping and quote a website-only engagement instead.