Most Craft CMS enquiries from Oxford involve an install in one of two states: ticking along untouched, or actually broken with whoever built it no longer reachable.
Karl handles it personally, every time. Craft CMS and ExpressionEngine are the only two platforms Expression 37's worked in, since 2007. There's no account manager in the picture.
He checks the install properly before recommending anything. Depending on what's found, that's a fix, an upgrade, or an ongoing retainer.
Where we typically come in:
- Research groups and academic departments whose Craft site holds content that can't just be rebuilt, publication archives, admissions detail, funding records.
- Biotech and publishing spinouts running an install set up by a founder or early hire who's since left the organisation.
- Sites with years of accumulated custom field structure that need proper mapping and documentation before anyone touches them safely.
- Organisations pushing donor, alumni, or applicant data into Salesforce directly from Craft, where the integration deserves the same scrutiny as the CMS.
- Teams who inherited the site rather than built it and want it properly explained before they're responsible for maintaining it.
How a typical engagement starts:
A handover is the most common trigger, a new comms lead or administrator finding a Craft install nobody around them can explain. Others come from a specific issue, a broken form, or a security scan flagging outdated plugins. Karl audits the actual field and template structure before quoting, and a fair number of those audits turn into ongoing retainer support.
Common questions Oxford clients ask:
Is remote support genuinely sufficient, or is local presence better?
Remote handles it fully, template work, deployments, ongoing maintenance, all done without needing anyone on site. Oxford's within easy reach for the rare occasion a meeting genuinely helps.
Our Craft site is a black box to everyone here, can that change?
Regularly, and it's a familiar situation for Oxford institutions in particular. The custom field and entry type structure gets mapped and documented properly before anything else happens.
Some of our content genuinely can't be lost or rebuilt, does that affect how you'd work?
Yes, anything touching research archives or long-standing institutional content gets extra care around backups and staged testing before any change reaches the live site.
How far behind on Craft can an install get before it's a serious problem?
Security matters most regardless of version. Past that, older installs run into plugins that have stopped being maintained, which tends to be the real obstacle once an upgrade is finally needed.
We push applicant or donor data into Salesforce from the site, is that in scope?
Yes, that kind of integration is usually built directly into Craft's templates rather than sitting apart from them, so supporting it properly means understanding the whole site, not just the connection point.
How is the work priced?
A fixed cost for scoped project work, a monthly retainer for anything ongoing. Agreed in advance either way.
What should a first conversation cover?
What's currently built, your Craft version, and what's actually prompted you to get in touch. Enough for a clear, specific first assessment.
Ready to get started?
If your website is business-critical and needs a specialist who will take proper long-term ownership of it, get in touch. Karl will respond personally and give you an honest view of how we can help.
