web design for local businesses, made in Calgary
Your next customer just Googled you. What did they find?
I'm Alex. I build fast, hand-coded websites for owner-operated businesses: the contractors, salons, and restaurants too busy running the shop to fight with a website builder. Flat price, live in about two weeks, built to do one job: turn that search into a phone call. If you never want to touch it after launch, I'll handle everything too.
why hand-coded?
No page builders. No plugins to break. Just a fast site that works.
Fast on every phone
Your site is a handful of lean, hand-written pages. No bloated themes, no plugin stacks. It loads in about a second on the four-year-old Android your actual customer is holding in a parking lot.
Nothing for you to manage
No CMS logins, no update notifications, no "your plugin needs renewing" emails. Want a change? Text me the new hours and they're up the same day. That's the whole workflow.
Built for one job
Get found, look credible, make the phone ring. Every page is designed around what a local customer needs at 9pm on their couch: who you are, what you do, how to reach you.
who this is for
Built for the businesses on your street.
The plumber whose "website" is a Facebook page from 2019. The salon that pays $89 a month for a builder site nobody can edit. The taqueria whose menu is a blurry photo. Those are my people. I make the kind of site their customers expect, at a price a real small business can say yes to.
- Contractors, trades, and home services
- Salons, barbers, and studios
- Restaurants, cafes, and takeout spots
- Anyone owner-operated with no time to spare
how it works
Free mockup first. You only commit if you love it.
You talk, I sketch costs you nothing
Tell me about your business (or I may have already reached out with a draft in hand). I design a homepage mockup at no cost and no obligation. Worst case, you get a free design opinion.
I build flat fee, about two weeks
Like the direction? I build the full site for a flat price, with your content, photos, and Google Maps presence sorted. You review it on your own phone before anything goes live.
I maintain optional, month to month
Add the care plan and I host it, update it, and fix anything that ever breaks. Cancel anytime with 30 days' notice. The site is yours either way.
straight answers
Flat, honest pricing.
$400 CAD, one-time build
A complete small-business website, hand-coded and launched. See Services & Pricing for everything included.
$75/mo CAD, optional care plan
Hosting, updates, edits, and fixes, all handled. Month to month, no lock-in.
Sorlana is a new one-person studio, and I'd rather show you than tell you: browse the concept portfolio, clearly labeled sample work that demonstrates exactly what I build.
before you ask
Questions everyone asks. Answers I'd want too.
How is a real website only $400?
Because it's one person hand-writing a few lean pages, not an agency with account managers. No page-builder licenses, no plugin subscriptions, no meetings about meetings. The price is public because it doesn't change based on who's asking.
Do I actually own the site?
Yes. Once the build is paid for, the code, content, design, and domain are yours. The care plan is optional convenience, not a hostage situation. Cancel it and I hand over everything needed to run the site somewhere else.
How fast will it be live?
About two weeks from go-ahead, assuming I have your content and photos. You get a specific date in writing with your quote, and you review the whole site on your own phone before it goes live.
Why not just use Wix or Squarespace?
They're fine tools. But you'll pay monthly forever, fight the editor at midnight, and end up with a template that looks like everyone else's. A hand-coded site costs less within the first year, loads faster on real phones, and someone else handles the fiddly parts. See what's included.
Will people find me on Google?
Every build includes the local SEO basics: proper titles and descriptions, business schema, and your Google Maps presence sorted. Ongoing help is the marketing plan. What I won't do is promise you a #1 ranking; nobody honest can.
What if I need changes after launch?
Text me the change. On the care plan it's included and usually live the same day. Without the plan, I quote small jobs flat and in writing, like everything else.
no risk, no retainer
The mockup is free. The decision is yours.
Tell me about your business and I'll design a homepage direction before we ever talk contracts. If it's not for you, keep the ideas. If it is, it's live in about two weeks.