From first email to live site.
Six stages, 2-6 weeks total depending on tier. Plain language, fixed price held in writing, no surprise invoices. Here’s what each stage actually contains, what you give us, and what you get back.
Brief
A real conversation about what's broken and what you want to be true in twelve months. We don't pitch, we listen, then ask the questions that decide scope.
- You bring
- A sentence about your business, the problem you're trying to solve, and (if you have one) a rough budget.
- We deliver
- Same-day reply by email. One follow-up call if needed. A written brief that names the scope, price, and timeline in one page.
Brand
If the project includes brand, we draft logo direction, type pairing, colour, and voice, small first, reviewed together, refined before any pixel goes into the site.
- You bring
- Strong opinions about your business and customers; reference work you like and reasons why; willingness to push back honestly when we miss.
- We deliver
- Two rounds of direction. Guidelines doc shipped at the end of week one so the brand survives the next vendor.
Build
The site, the system, the supporting tools, written by the people who wrote the brief. Hand-coded, mobile-first, accessibility-aware, schema-rich.
- You bring
- Copy you've written or copy you want us to write; photography if you have it or art direction if you don't; reviews at each major milestone.
- We deliver
- A staging URL within the first week. Progress check-ins at week-ends. Source code you own on completion when you buy the project.
Ship
On-time launch on a hosting account you own. DNS swap planned, redirects mapped, sitemap submitted, analytics verified before we go live.
- You bring
- Final approval on copy and content; access to the existing domain registrar if we're cutting over from an old site.
- We deliver
- A launch checklist, a redirect map, a written handoff doc with every credential and where it lives.
Polish
Post-launch QA. Copy passes, browser-pass on the platforms your real customers use, Core Web Vitals verification, fixes to anything we missed.
- You bring
- Honest feedback in the first two weeks; flag anything that looks wrong even if it's small.
- We deliver
- Two weeks of active polish at no extra cost. Bug fixes in days, not quarters.
Maintain
Ongoing care: hosting, maintenance, search and AI-visibility work, and being reachable when something breaks. Quoted from your brief.
- You bring
- Optional. The site stays online with or without it.
- We deliver
- Monthly analytics summary, security patches, content updates, same-business-day reply when you write in.
About working together.
How long does a Mule project actually take?
Two to six weeks from kickoff, depending on the plan: a Tend site is 2-3 weeks, Grow 3-5, Lead 4-6 (more content and brand work up front). The clock starts the day we receive your materials, the build is part of your plan, so there's no separate deposit.
Do you do calls, or is it all over email?
Mostly email. We do one kickoff call to align on scope, then occasional calls when a project genuinely benefits from one. Most of our clients prefer it that way, calls take time the work doesn't.
What if I want changes mid-project?
Small changes are part of the work. Scope changes (new pages, new features, redirected goals) get a quick written re-scope and we agree on the new number before anyone codes. No surprise invoices.
What happens if I miss the brief deadline?
We pause your slot and reschedule for the next available window. Most often that's two to four weeks later. We don't run two projects on the same week, quality drops when we do.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes, standard mutual NDAs are fine. If your in-house template includes ownership-of-work clauses that conflict with how we actually sell, meaning you own the project outright if you buy it once and we own it until the buyout if you subscribe, we will flag it before signing rather than after.
Start the brief.
Send a sentence about your business. Same-day reply from Mule Digital, signed by a human. Last reviewed 2026-06-25.