Frequently asked questions

Yes, the website itself is free. We design and build it at no charge: no setup fee, no design fee, no build fee. What you pay for is keeping it running: a monthly plan (Starter at $119/month, Growth at $179/month, or Lead Engine at $299/month for the first 12 months at launch pricing, then $199, $299 or $499) that covers hosting, security, support, edits, maintenance and updates, with a 12-month minimum agreement. You can see your homepage design before you sign anything.

Because you stay with us for hosting and care. Every free website comes with a monthly plan and a 12-month minimum agreement, and that commitment is what lets us skip the build fee. The plan pays for hosting, security, support, edits, maintenance and updates for as long as the site runs.

Agencies commonly quote several thousand dollars upfront for a custom business site, plus hosting and hourly charges for changes. With Graphcast the design and build are free; you pay only for a monthly plan from $119/month (launch price for 12 months, then $199) with a 12-month minimum, covering hosting, support, edits, maintenance and updates. If you would rather own the site outright, we also quote one-time builds.

Changing text, swapping photos, updating prices, hours, staff or services, adding a review or a project to a gallery. Each plan includes a monthly allowance (up to 30 minutes of minor content updates a month on Starter). Unused time does not roll over. New pages beyond your allowance, redesigns and new features are quoted before we start, never billed by surprise.

Only third-party costs, and we name them up front: your domain registration (roughly $12–20 a year), advertising spend, ongoing SEO campaigns, paid software, and usage-based charges such as call-tracking numbers and SMS. Nothing is added to your bill without your approval.

Yes. You can upgrade at any time and the new price starts with your next billing month. Moving down to a smaller plan is available after the first 12 months, as long as the site fits that plan's page allowance.

Tell us about your business and we create a personalized homepage design concept, delivered as a private link, usually within 3 business days. It is a concept of your homepage, not a finished website, and there is no obligation and no payment information required. If you love it, we build the full site on a monthly plan.

Yes. Subscription websites have a 12-month minimum agreement, which you sign before any build work starts. The agreement continues month to month. Cancel any time with 30 days’ written notice — no termination fee and no domain-transfer fee.

During the first 12 months: The monthly payments for the rest of the 12-month minimum remain due. The design and build are free because you commit to 12 months of hosting and care; leaving early does not cancel that commitment. After that: The agreement continues month to month. Cancel any time with 30 days’ written notice — no termination fee and no domain-transfer fee. Either way, you keep your domain, your content and your data. Want to take the site with you? We quote a one-time buyout of the design and code — in writing, before you commit. Or we export your content, images and data so another developer can rebuild.

No, and we would rather say so now than surprise you later. Removing a card or stopping a bank debit stops a payment method, not the agreement. To end the agreement, give written notice by email — after the minimum term that takes 30 days, with no termination fee.

You own your domain, your logo and branding, your photos, the copy we write for you, and all your leads, customer data and analytics accounts. Graphcast owns the design, templates and code, which you use under licence while you are subscribed. That is what makes $0 upfront possible. If you want to own the design and code outright, we quote a buyout in writing before you commit.

Yes, always. Your domain is registered in your name (or stays where it already is), and we never charge a domain-transfer or release fee. If you leave, we help you point it wherever you want.

Yes. With a one-time purchase the domain, the design, the code and the content are all yours once the final invoice is paid. No lock-in and no hostage fees — if you ever want to move it or maintain it yourself, we hand everything over.

No. With a one-time purchase you own the finished site, and at launch you choose: we hand over the files and help you set up your own hosting for free, or we run it on the optional Care Plan ($49/mo) — hosting, SSL, backups and small edits. Cancel the Care Plan any month and we hand everything over. Subscription plans already include hosting.

No. If you bought your site outright, you still own it exactly as your agreement says, and the optional Care Plan continues on its existing terms. The subscription plans apply only to new agreements that choose them.

Most Starter sites launch 2 to 3 weeks after we receive your content checklist; larger Growth and Lead Engine sites take 3 to 4 weeks. The only thing that slows a project down is waiting on photos and business details, so we send a short checklist on day one.

Your logo files (or the go-ahead to design one), photos of your work or storefront, your services, hours and service areas, and one person who can approve the design. We send a short checklist on day one. Waiting on that checklist is what delays projects, not the build.

Two before launch, on every plan and every one-time package. A round means you gather everything you want changed and send it in one pass. After launch, changes on a monthly plan come out of your update allowance.

Yes. If your current site is slow, looks dated on a phone, or never sends you leads, we rebuild it and keep your domain and Google rankings intact. The redesign is free with any monthly plan, or as a one-time project. We handle the migration either way.

Yes — page copy is included in every plan and package. We write it from a conversation and your notes, then you review it like anything else. Photography and ongoing blog production are not included; those are quoted separately if you want them.

Technical and on-page SEO fundamentals are built into every site: unique titles and descriptions, clean structure, schema markup, an XML sitemap, fast pages, and analytics and Search Console set up. Growth and Lead Engine add Google Business Profile optimization help and conversion tracking. Ongoing SEO campaigns — monthly content, link building — are a separate service, and no honest version guarantees a ranking.

You can, and for some businesses it is genuinely fine. What the builder will not do: write pages around the searches your customers actually type, align your Google Business Profile, keep everything updated, or answer the phone when something breaks. You still have to do it all yourself. A builder is cheaper per month; a Graphcast plan costs more because a professional does the building, the updates and the upkeep instead of you. If a DIY tool genuinely fits your situation, we will say so.

The Google Business Profile is your listing on Google Maps and in the local results: hours, reviews, photos, directions. The website is where you explain your services, show your proof and collect leads. They work together. The profile gets you seen, the site closes the job. We help with both.

A Google Business Profile gets you on the map, but Google trusts profiles that link to a real website, and customers who compare two businesses usually pick the one with its own site. Facebook pages bury your info under an interface you do not control. A website fixes both — and with $0 upfront, cost is no longer the reason to wait.

Yes — anywhere in the United States. Graphcast Web Design works with small businesses anywhere in the United States. Everything runs remotely — calls, video walkthroughs, email — so where you are makes no difference to the process or the price. We are based in Houston, and businesses in Greater Houston (Conroe, Cypress, Galveston, Katy, Pasadena, Richmond, Spring, Sugar Land, The Woodlands, Tomball and nearby) can also meet in person by appointment.

Graphcast is a service-area business, so there is no storefront to walk into. Meetings happen by phone or video call, or in person by appointment if you are in the Houston area. We do not publish an address because we do not have a public one, and inventing one would be worse than saying so.

The developer who builds your site. There is no account manager layer, no offshore build team, and no handoff after the sale. That is also why replies are usually same-day.

Small businesses, mostly one to twenty people: trades and contractors, shops, restaurants, nurseries, service businesses, and people opening their first location. Growth at $179/month (launch price for 12 months, then $299) is the common fit for an established service business. If you need a forty-page site with a content team behind it, we will say on the first call that we are not the right studio.