For Canadian businesses whose needs go beyond a Starter Kit — scoped, priced, and delivered with the same honesty and Canadian compliance.
When Custom Is the Right Fit
The Canadian Website Starter Kit covers the needs of most small businesses. But some projects need a different approach — more pages, deeper integrations, complex ecommerce, or a migration from a platform that wasn’t built to scale.
Custom web projects are the right fit when:
- You need ecommerce at scale — large catalogs, custom checkout flows, subscription products, or advanced tax and shipping logic
- You’re managing multiple brands or locations that need a coordinated multi-site deployment
- You need custom integrations with a CRM, ERP, booking system, or payment gateway beyond a standard Stripe or Moneris setup
- You’re building a membership site, gated content, or a community platform
- You’re migrating from Wix, Squarespace, or a custom-coded site with legacy content and SEO to preserve
- You’re redesigning an established site where protecting existing search rankings is critical
- Your project requires more than 8 pages or goes beyond what a fixed-scope package can cover
If you’re not sure whether custom is the right path, start with a scoping call. We’ll give you an honest recommendation — including pointing you back to the Starter Kit if that’s actually the better fit.
How Custom Engagements Work
Custom work requires more upfront thinking than a Starter Kit project. Here’s how we approach it:
1. Scoping Call
A free, no-obligation conversation about your business, your current situation, and what you need the project to accomplish. We’ll ask a lot of questions. By the end of the call, we’ll either recommend a path forward, suggest the Starter Kit instead, or refer you to someone better suited to your needs.
2. Discovery Phase
For larger projects, we run a short paid discovery phase — typically 1 to 2 weeks — to document requirements, map technical architecture, and create a detailed scope. Discovery is priced separately and the output is yours to keep, whether or not you proceed with Dot832 for the build.
3. Written Proposal
Based on discovery, we’ll deliver a written proposal with fixed scope, fixed CAD pricing, clear milestones, and an honest timeline. No hourly billing on the main engagement. No ambiguous “phase 2” clauses that quietly inflate the final bill.
4. Phased Delivery
Custom projects are delivered in phases with defined milestones. You review and approve each phase before the next begins. If the scope needs to change mid-project, we talk about it first — no surprise invoices, ever.
5. Launch and Transition
Launch includes the same handover you’d get from a Starter Kit project: full training, written documentation, 30 days of post-launch support, and the option to continue with an ongoing maintenance plan.
Canadian Compliance Is Still Standard
Everything that makes the Starter Kit Canadian-first applies to custom work too:
- PIPEDA-compliant privacy policies and cookie consent
- Accessibility-aware design aligned with AODA guidelines
- GST/HST and PST-ready ecommerce where applicable
- Canadian hosting options with proper data residency
- Transparent CAD pricing with no foreign-currency surprises
Canadian businesses shouldn’t have to pay extra for compliance with Canadian law — whether the project is a fixed-price package or a six-figure custom build.
Investment
Custom projects vary significantly in scope, so we don’t publish a single headline price. For reference:
- Most custom engagements fall in the $12,000 to $60,000 CAD range
- Discovery phases typically run $2,000 to $4,500 CAD
- Ongoing maintenance plans start at $250 CAD per month
Every proposal is quoted in Canadian dollars with fixed scope and fixed pricing. No hourly billing. No scope creep. No surprise invoices.
What We Don’t Do
Being specialists means being honest about what we don’t build:
- Native mobile apps (iOS or Android)
- Custom SaaS platforms built from scratch
- Sites built on Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, or Webflow (we work exclusively in WordPress)
- Digital advertising campaigns or paid media management
- Ongoing content writing or editorial services
If your project needs any of these, we’ll tell you upfront and, where we can, point you toward someone who does that work well.
Ready to Scope a Project?
Custom work starts with a conversation. Tell us what you’re trying to build, and we’ll tell you honestly whether Dot832 is the right partner for it.