Swindon businesses tend to reach out about ExpressionEngine for one of two reasons: a site that's stable but overlooked, or one that's actively broken while the agency behind it has stopped replying.
Karl deals with it personally, every time. He's kept Expression 37 to ExpressionEngine and Craft CMS only, since founding it in 2007. It's him on every job, not an account manager.
He reviews the build properly before recommending anything. Depending on what he finds, that's a fix, an upgrade, or an ongoing retainer.
Where we typically come in:
- Fast-growing firms whose site has outgrown its original structure, built for a much smaller team than the one now trying to use it.
- Businesses running HubSpot or Salesforce for lead capture, needing that connection maintained with the same attention as the CMS itself.
- Sites left behind when a co-founder or early hire who understood the tech moved on, leaving nobody who can confidently make changes.
- Installs several major ExpressionEngine versions old, where an honest upgrade means checking every add-on's compatibility first.
How a typical engagement starts:
Nothing gets quoted before Karl's read through the actual templates and add-ons, since a handover rarely comes with useful documentation attached. The trigger is usually specific: a HubSpot form that's silently stopped submitting properly, an unpatched add-on flagged in a security scan, or simply a growing sense that nobody in the business could fix a problem if one showed up tomorrow. What follows is either a fixed piece of work or a standing retainer, scoped and priced before anything is touched.
Common questions Swindon clients ask:
Does it matter that you're not based in Swindon?
In practical terms, no. The fast rail link to London and the M4 mean an in-person meeting is easy on the rare occasion it's actually needed, but almost none of the work depends on being in the same building.
Our site's grown well past what it was originally built for, is that a common issue here?
Very common. It needs a content structure that can actually scale, not one stretched further than it was ever designed to go.
Can you take over a site the previous developer's walked away from?
Yes, and it's one of the more common ways an engagement starts here. The first task is separating what's genuinely bespoke from a customised add-on, which takes an actual look at the code, not a guess based on the brief.
Is an old ExpressionEngine version something we should worry about?
Less than most assume. The core software rarely causes issues by itself. The real exposure is in whatever add-ons have been left unmaintained alongside it.
What does an ongoing retainer actually include?
Faster response on anything urgent, someone actually watching the site rather than discovering problems weeks late, and a developer who already understands your setup instead of starting from zero each time.
What's the likely cost?
Fixed price for a defined project like an audit or upgrade. Ongoing support is billed monthly. You'll have the number before anything's agreed either way.
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.
