ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT — SARASOTA · BRADENTON · VENICE · LAKEWOOD RANCH
When a brochure site isn't enough.
E-commerce, online booking, customer portals, internal dashboards, and custom integrations — built on the same hand-coded PHP foundation as our standard websites. No WordPress plugins, no SaaS lock-in, no per-transaction fees you don't control.
Investment: $3,000 – $15,000 · scoped per project
Why custom matters more here
Off-the-shelf platforms cost more than they look like they do.
On a brochure site, the trade-offs of WordPress or Squarespace are mostly cosmetic. On an e-commerce store or a custom app, those trade-offs hit your bottom line every month — in monthly fees, transaction percentages, plugin licenses, and the slow accumulation of vendor lock-in.
Most agencies push you toward the platform they're fastest at deploying. We push you toward the platform you'll be happy with three years from now.
The plugin tax
WooCommerce ships free, then you add $300/yr in extension fees just to get basic functionality (subscriptions, advanced shipping, currency switching). Each plugin is another security vulnerability, another upgrade headache, another reason your site goes down on a Sunday.
The transaction tax
Shopify takes 2.4–2.9% + 30¢ per transaction PLUS a monthly platform fee PLUS extra cuts if you don't use Shopify Payments. Across a year that's real money on top of what your processor already charges.
The exit tax
Try migrating off Shopify or a Squarespace booking flow when you outgrow it. Your data lives in their format. Your URLs change. Your SEO equity evaporates. The longer you stay locked in, the more it costs to leave.
How we do it
Custom-built on a foundation you actually own.
Every advanced build sits on the same hand-coded PHP foundation as our standard websites — same speed, same schema, same accessibility, same Core Web Vitals discipline. We add only the modules your business actually needs.
For e-commerce, that's a clean Stripe Checkout integration with no per-transaction fees from us, real product schema, and a tax/shipping/inventory model fitted to your specific situation. For booking systems, a calendar engine that respects your real availability rules, syncs with Google Calendar if you want, and sends confirmation emails that actually land in inboxes. For customer portals, secure session-scoped accounts with magic-link or password sign-in.
The code is yours. The data is yours. There are no monthly platform fees from us — only normal Stripe processing rates and your hosting plan. If you ever decide to take it elsewhere, you can.
Common builds
What people typically ask us to build.
Every project is scoped individually after the discovery call. These are the categories that come up most often — yours might be one of them, or might be something we haven't listed.
- E-commerce stores (product catalog, cart, Stripe Checkout, order management)
- Subscription billing (Stripe Subscriptions, customer self-serve portal)
- Booking & reservation systems (calendar, availability rules, confirmations)
- Customer portals (file sharing, project status, invoices, secure messaging)
- Member-only content (gated articles, tiered access, paid memberships)
- Lead-capture forms with real CRM intake (not just an email)
- Custom dashboards & reports (KPIs, exports, filters)
- Internal admin tools (data entry, approval workflows, role-based access)
- Multi-location management (per-location pricing, hours, staff, inventory)
- Stripe / Mailchimp / Brevo / GBP / Zapier integrations
- API integrations with your existing software
- Search & filter interfaces over your inventory or content
How it works
A clear path from "what if" to "shipped."
Advanced builds run 8 to 16 weeks depending on complexity. Here's the path.
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1
Discovery + scope · 1–2 calls
We map what you're trying to build, what success looks like, and what trade-offs you're willing to make. Most advanced builds need two calls before we can put a number on it.
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2
Architecture proposal · 1 week
Detailed proposal with full scope, fixed price, timeline, technology choices, and a clear list of what's in vs out. You see the architecture before you sign.
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3
Phased build · 6–12 weeks
We build in 1–2 week phases with a working demo at the end of each. You always have something running to look at — never a 12-week black-box build that ships at the end.
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4
QA + payment-flow testing · 1–2 weeks
For e-commerce: full Stripe test-mode runs (cards declined, partial payments, refunds, subscription cancellations). For bookings: edge-case calendar testing (overlaps, time zones, holidays). For portals: cross-browser auth + permissions testing.
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5
Launch + first-week support · 1 week
DNS cutover, Stripe live keys swap, monitoring active. First-week response SLA is one business hour for any issue. After that you can move to a Care Plan or pay as needed.
Investment
Quoted per project — no hourly billing.
Most advanced builds land between $3,000 and $15,000. The discovery call sets your specific number. Pay 40% on signature, 30% at midpoint demo, 30% on launch.
$3,000 – $15,000
There are no per-transaction fees from us — only standard Stripe processing rates and your monthly hosting plan.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Why not WooCommerce or Shopify?
Both are solid platforms — but they're built for the average store, not yours. WooCommerce's plugin economy means $300+/yr in extensions just to get past basic functionality, plus the security and update overhead of WordPress. Shopify takes a per-transaction cut on top of payment processing. For most Suncoast small businesses doing 10–500 orders a month, hand-coded e-commerce ends up cheaper over 2 years AND gives you data and code you fully own. We'll tell you honestly during the discovery call if Shopify or WooCommerce is actually the better fit for your specific situation — sometimes it is.
How does payment processing work?
Every project uses Stripe for payments — both one-time charges and recurring subscriptions. Stripe handles PCI compliance, fraud detection, dispute management, and the actual money movement. You see normal Stripe processing rates (2.9% + 30¢ for cards as of 2026) and nothing else. We don't take a cut, don't charge a platform fee, don't hold your money in escrow. The Stripe account is yours, in your name, payouts go to your bank.
Can you migrate me off WooCommerce / Shopify / Squarespace?
Yes — and it's one of the most common reasons we get hired. We export your existing products, customer accounts, order history, and content; rebuild the equivalent functionality on the new foundation; set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones to preserve SEO; and do the launch cutover during a low-traffic window. Migrations typically add 1–2 weeks to the build timeline.
Do you do online booking / appointments?
Yes. Booking systems are a common build for Suncoast service businesses (cleaning, fitness, beauty, professional services). Common features: real-time availability, configurable rules (lead time, buffer, blackout dates), Google Calendar sync, automated confirmation + reminder emails, Stripe deposits or full payment at booking, customer self-serve rescheduling. Standard booking system runs $4,000–$8,000 depending on complexity.
What about customer portals or member areas?
Also yes. We've built portals where clients log in to see project status, download files, view invoices, message us, and manage their billing. Same architecture as the Suncoast Local client portal you'll see if you become a client. Member-only content (gated articles, paid tiers, downloadable resources) follows the same pattern. Standard portal builds run $3,000–$10,000.
Do you handle inventory, shipping, and tax?
Yes — these are configured during the build to match your specific situation. Inventory: simple stock counts up to multi-warehouse with backorder rules. Shipping: flat rate, weight-based, real-time carrier rates via UPS/USPS/FedEx APIs. Tax: TaxJar or Stripe Tax for automatic Florida + multi-state collection. We'll recommend the simplest setup that fits your actual order volume.
How does the timeline compare to WordPress / Shopify?
Slightly longer up-front (8–16 weeks vs 4–8 for a Shopify theme install) but much faster after launch — no plugin update breaks, no platform-version migrations, no surprise "we deprecated this feature" emails from a SaaS vendor. We do honest math on this during scoping: for stores doing under 5 orders a month, Shopify probably wins on TCO; over 50 orders a month, custom usually wins by year two.
Who maintains it after launch?
Most clients move to a monthly Care Plan after launch ($250+/mo, scaled to complexity) which covers hosting, daily backups, security monitoring, library updates, and a quota of monthly changes. You can also pay per-change as needed, or take the codebase to another developer (we hand off everything including documentation).
Can it integrate with my CRM, email tool, or other software?
Almost certainly yes. Common integrations we build: Stripe (payments + subscriptions), Mailchimp / Brevo / ConvertKit (email lists), Google Calendar (booking sync), Google Business Profile (review automation), Zapier (everything else). If your tool has an API we can talk to it; if it doesn't, we can usually do CSV exports on a schedule.
What if I'm not sure if my project fits this category?
Schedule the discovery call and we'll tell you honestly. Most projects fit cleanly into either the standard Custom Website Design package ($1,500–$5,000 for a brochure site with forms) or Advanced Development ($3,000+ for anything with a database, accounts, payments, or custom workflows). A few are simple enough that a Squarespace template would actually serve you better — and we'll tell you that too.