Craft CMS enquiries out of Winchester usually involve one of two situations: an install running fine but neglected, or one that's genuinely broken while nobody's left to call.
Karl's the only person you'll deal with here, every time. Craft CMS and ExpressionEngine are the only platforms Expression 37's worked in since 2007. No account manager, no handoff.
He checks what's actually in the install before quoting anything. Depending on what's found, that's a fix, an upgrade, or an ongoing retainer.
A former capital, and the sites that come with it
Winchester carries a level of heritage tourism most towns its size never see, alongside a genuinely affluent professional and financial services base and a university adding its own steady stream of small businesses. A fair number of the sites serving that mix run on Craft, often built with real care originally and then left to fend for themselves.
Karl supports Winchester businesses whose install has reached that point: a developer who's disappeared, several major versions behind, or a site nobody currently on staff fully understands. The work always starts with the actual codebase, not a description of it.
Common questions Winchester clients ask:
What's the actual first move on a new project?
Opening the codebase properly, templates and plugins both, before any figure is discussed. A lead form that's quietly stopped working, a security notice on an old plugin, or the plain realisation nobody could confidently change the site, one of those is usually what brings someone to us.
Does Winchester's distance from most agencies actually matter?
Not really. Easy reach of London and the south coast means a visit's never genuinely hard to arrange, but almost nothing about the work actually needs one.
Can you take over an install from a developer who's gone quiet?
Yes, a familiar starting point. What's genuinely bespoke gets separated from a modified plugin by reading the code properly, nothing more.
Is an old Craft version a serious risk?
Usually less than assumed. The core rarely causes problems by itself. The exposure sits in whichever plugins haven't been kept current alongside it.
Do you handle the HubSpot side too, or just the CMS?
Both, as one piece of work. That connection tends to be wired directly into the templates, so splitting it from the CMS rarely reflects how the site actually functions.
How's pricing worked out?
Fixed-scope work like an audit or upgrade is priced upfront as a project. Ongoing support runs as a monthly retainer, agreed before anything starts either way.
Where this tends to matter:
A heritage or tourism business where presentation and accuracy genuinely reflect on the organisation's reputation, not just its bottom line. A professional or financial services firm that can't quietly let a poorly maintained site become tomorrow's liability. Somewhere with HubSpot capturing leads through Craft, that connection needing exactly the same standard of care as the CMS around it. And an install several major versions old, where the real work is an honest plugin-by-plugin audit and untangling whatever Composer's accumulated.
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.
