How Savvy Brand Designers Free Themselves from the Stress of Website Work

Can you relate to any of these common designer complaints?

You enjoy building some of your clients’ websites on your own, but stubborn bugs and coding problems make you want to pull your hair out more often than you’d like to admit, and you’re not sure how you can get help.

You aren’t quite ready to bring a full-time developer onto your team, but you wish you had somebody in your corner to go to for advice, troubleshooting help, and a few hours of “take this off my hands” every month.

You love working with a web developer, but you hate the way development projects are priced: hourly pricing can make it nearly impossible to create an estimate for your client and can quickly blow a project’s budget, but fixed pricing isn’t perfect either.

You find yourself bouncing from one web developer to another over and over because your favorite can’t fit you into her schedule for weeks or months. You feel like you never get up to speed with one developer before you have to move on to the next.

You’re tired of the constant back-and-forth with your developer when arranging a project: negotiations, endless emails, contracts and invoices...it’s too overwhelming to even bother with for small projects, but then you spend way too many hours struggling through the little development tasks on your own.

Picture this instead:

You’ve got a part-time team member that’s like a website-building, code-slinging VA!

You never want to pull your hair out again when you come across a bug or problem when building websites.

You love the way your development projects are priced. The price is even a little lower than what you would have paid before for the same amount of work!

No more waiting for weeks or months to get little projects completed.

You and your developer just “click,” and website magic happens for your clients.

Sound like the website creating experience you'd LOVE to have?

heck yes! tell me how

So, what’s the big secret that can relieve your frustrations around creating websites while saving you time and money?

Development on retainer.

With development on retainer:

You’ve got a developer on your team who you can go to for consultations, when you run into an unexpected issue, or when you’re just fed up with a website and need somebody to take development off your hands for a little while.

You stay on the same page with your developer because the two of you are in touch often and work together frequently.

You always have a spot reserved with your developer every month.

There are no surprise fees or unexpected invoices received later.

When you run across a bug or coding problem, you just pass it along to your developer and she takes care of it.

You never have to waste time negotiating prices, sending emails, or passing contracts and invoices back and forth for something that’ll only take a few minutes (or hours) of development to accomplish.

You get the same amount of work each month for a set price, no questions asked.

Great! But how does it work?

01 // get in touch.

Reach out and we'll discuss your specific needs. Once we settle on the right number of hours for you, we’ll sign one contract that stays in place for up to a year (no need to renew every month!)

02 // invoice payment.

I’ll send you an invoice on the 23rd of the month that’s due by the 1st. You pay your invoice before the due date each month (or you set up automatic payments via my billing system).

03 // assign me tasks.

Assign tasks to me on our special retainer Asana list, where you can also keep track of time used and time remaining.

04 // i do the work.

I knock out your task list before the end of the month, and you celebrate! Rinse, repeat.

Sarah Shuttle, Orla by Sarah Shuttle

I love designing detailed, bespoke websites, but I'm not a developer, and I have no desire to learn code at all. Nonetheless I was fed up of being limited by the capabilities of website builders. There were so many ideas I couldn't bring to life on my own and I knew I needed a coding wizard to do that.

What's more, the truly bespoke nature of my designs means I needed a reliable, truly expert coder, and I just knew intuitively from the beginning that you were one of the best.

Whenever I work with you Megan, I never doubt you can do what I'm designing. I know I can be as creative as possible. That's worth its weight in gold right there.

I can give my clients so much more now and really convey their individuality in the design because I'm no longer restricted by website builders.

I always sing your praises when someone is looking for a developer - Although I better not shout them too loudly or other designers might steal all of your time, haha! (emphasis added)

Kiss your web development woes goodbye

All of my retainer openings are currently filled! Yay for me, boo for you.

If you'd like to be one of the first to know when more hours become available, fill out the handy form below to join the waitlist:

Who are you, and how do I know I can trust you with my development work?

Hey there! I’m Megan Garwood, a web developer for brand designers. I help designers like you build beautifully functional custom websites that actually match your mockups and leave your clients saying “wow” every time.

My love affair with coding started when I was in middle school, where I taught myself how to write HTML and CSS just for fun.

Ever since, I’ve been hooked.

After studying Computer Science and getting a degree in Multimedia Design & Development, I started freelancing for amazing clients and have not stopped since.

In the past three years, I’ve developed sites as complex as The Savvy Community and as simple as Alice Baker. I’ve helped fix sites that came to me as broken messes and have added functionality that my clients could only dream about before hiring me.

I’ve helped the designers that I work with regularly transform the way they build websites for their clients, and in turn, transform their businesses.

Irene Hardy, Magnoliahouse Creative

But, don’t take my word for it - listen to what one of my retainer clients has to say about working with me:

After such an awesome experience working with you on individual projects, I knew there was no one I'd rather work with on a ongoing basis.

I've worked with web developers since the very beginning of my business, because I knew I didn't have the technical skills required to execute my vision for clients. However, after a series of disasters working with inexpensive, off-shore developers, I knew it was time to up my game and find a developer I could build a long term relationship with. Luckily, Megan is the best in the business.

It feels great being able to execute even the most complicated website projects for our clients. It's transformed my business and really upleveled the quality of our offering to have rock-solid professional development behind our projects. The capabilities we're now able to offer our clients is a major differentiator for our business, and has helped us grow into a new spot in the market. I love being able to make promises to clients I know we can deliver on.

I would wholeheartedly recommend Megan to other designers who are serious about the quality of their work and client experience. She's not cheap, but working with Megan is money well spent and some of the best investment I've made in my business. (emphasis added)

Is development on retainer right for me?

Development on retainer benefits two specific groups of designers the most: brand designers and web designers.

The clients who get the most benefit from my retainer services create websites for their clients frequently. They may not need someone to take over the entire site building process, but they do need some help adding advanced functionality, getting the final site to match their mockup, or fixing the occasional stubborn bug that crops up on a site build.

If you only create a few small sites a year, development on retainer is probably not right for you yet...and that’s okay! If you’re not a designer but you’d like some regular help with your website, a VA or a web designer who offers retainer work would be a better fit for you than I would.

I’m sold! How much does it cost?

Development on retainer is priced a little lower than my standard hourly rate. Prices vary depending on the package you choose or the hourly commitment you want, but it works out to about one free hour of development work for every six hours booked.

There is a 3 month minimum commitment with each package.

For the designer who needs help with a handful of small development tasks.

2 hours per month.
$189

Currently booked out

package #1

For the designer who needs help with development several times a month.

6 hours per month.
$549

Currently booked out

package #2

package #3

For the designer who needs ALL the development help. 😉

12 hours per month.
$999

Currently unavailable

You can also create your own package with a custom number of hours.

Get Your Development Retainer While You Can: Openings Limited

Normally, I only open development retainers up privately: they’re reserved for my best clients.

I only have 10 hours of retainer time available in total, and once that’s booked, there won’t be any more openings unless a current retainer client decides not to renew or reduces their monthly commitment.

Get me in before the books close!

All of my retainer openings are currently filled! Yay for me, boo for you.

If you'd like to be one of the first to know when more hours become available, fill out the handy form below to join the waitlist:

I'm interested, but I have more questions!

I (hopefully) have the answers right here. 🙂

How many hours do I need per month?

Every client has different needs, so this is a question that only you can answer. As a reference, I have clients on retainers as small as 3 hours a month and have had clients in the past request as many as 30 hours a month.

If you need some help figuring out how many hours would work for your business, check out this blog post I wrote on the topic and the freebie that goes along with it. 🙂

Is there a minimum hourly commitment?

What happens if I don’t use all of my hours one month?

Once I sign the contract, am I locked in?

Yep! Once you sign the contract, your rate is locked in: you’re guaranteed the same rate for the same amount of work for a year, even though I usually re-evaluate my pricing every six months. After the initial 3 month commitment, you’re not required to keep your retainer for any certain period of time. You’ll automatically convert to month-to-month services after your 3 month commitment has passed.

If I need to make changes to our retainer agreement, can I do that?

Absolutely! You can pause, cancel, or change our retainer agreement (availability allowing) as needed. I only need to be notified before the next month’s invoices go out. So, you can request changes to your next month’s retainer until the 23rd of the month.

If you want to cancel your retainer before the end of your initial 3 month commitment, you’ll owe 50% of the cost of your remaining months.

What happens when the initial commitment of 3 months is up?

Get me in before the books close!

All of my retainer openings are currently filled! Yay for me, boo for you.

If you'd like to be one of the first to know when more hours become available, fill out the handy form below to join the waitlist: