The Stack Smith
A nice-looking site with no engine behind it is still an unfinished site.
We build websites for trade and service businesses — with the lead pipeline, content admin, and quoting system actually running behind them, not just a contact form that becomes an email someone retypes by hand.
Real businesses, not case studies invented for marketing
The real problem
Your site probably isn't ugly. It's unfinished.
01
It already looks fine — and nothing's behind it
A "catalog" page with nothing dynamic behind it. A contact form that just becomes an email someone retypes into a quote by hand. The design was never the problem.
02
Leads fall through the cracks
No pipeline, no honeypot, no tracking on which page actually produced a job — just a mailbox nobody reliably checks.
03
Quoting still happens by hand
A price list, a spreadsheet, or a gut-feel range instead of something that gives a customer a real number on the spot — and lets you change a base price without re-checking a thousand cells.
The fix
A website is the front door to a system, not a brochure.
The fix isn't a redesign. It's the engine underneath — sized to what the business actually needs.
Brand Site
A full rebuild on a shared design system, wired to a content admin the owner actually uses — no developer needed to change a word.
Catalog or Quoting
A product catalog that generates its own pages, or a pricing engine that turns your real pricing logic into a live, instant quote.
Operations Platform
CRM integration, an intake pipeline, invoicing and deposits — the site becomes the front door to how the business actually runs.
3
Live builds, from a $12k rebrand to a full ops platform
2
Trades served — painting and custom millwork
1
Stack, forked fast for every new build
Proof
Three real builds, not a template gallery.
Those Guys Painting Co
Nashville, TN
The old site looked great and still made someone type up every quote by hand.
Now a submitted form validates the address, creates a CRM deal, pings the team on Slack, and — if it becomes a job — generates an invoice, deposit, and work order.
Read the full story →Legacy Millwork
Grand Rapids, MI
The old site already had a Catalog page — it just wasn't backed by anything.
Now the catalog is the site: add a profile once and it's live, searchable, and filterable, with drawings visible only to approved trade accounts.
Read the full story →Arch Shop
No website at all — one paper order form and a pricing spreadsheet nobody fully trusted.
Now a customer gets a live quote to the nearest $25 while filling out the order, and a base price change is one field instead of a thousand-cell risk.
Read the full story →How it works
Understand → Build → Grow
01
Understand the trade
How pricing actually works, what a lead needs to become a booked job, what the owner will and won't want to touch in an admin panel.
02
Build the engine
Design, content admin, and lead pipeline — the parts every build shares, forked from a proven base rather than built from zero.
03
Grow into it
Catalog, quoting, or CRM integration layered on as the business needs it, not bundled in on day one whether it fits or not.
Under the hood
What makes it an engine, not a template
A content admin the owner actually uses
Every page is editable with no code and no deploy — copy, images, structured fields — live within the hour.
A lead pipeline, not a mailbox
Honeypot, rate limiting, and file uploads built once and reused, with a real intake pipeline where the business needs one.
Security that's checked by name, not assumed
Staff access and customer approval are two separate flags in every build — a session alone never means 'admin.'
Pricing
Scoped and quoted, not a mystery.
A Brand Site build starts at $12,000, fixed price, milestone-billed. Catalog, quoting, and platform work are scoped once we understand your pricing and volume — never an open-ended retainer as the default.
FAQ
Common questions
I'm not a developer — can I update this myself?
Yes. Copy, images, and structured content are editable from an admin panel with no code and no deploy. Code changes are only needed for new features or layout changes.
What happens to my leads today vs. after?
Today, probably an email you have to act on by hand. After, a lead lands in a tracked pipeline — with spam protection, file uploads, and (where it fits) CRM sync and team notifications.
Do you work with my trade?
The stack is built for trade and service businesses generally — painting and custom millwork so far. If your business runs on quotes, jobs, and repeat leads, it likely fits.
How long does this take?
A Brand Site build is milestone-based: deposit, a staging review once the structure and any catalog are in place, then launch. Bigger platform work is phased and scoped up front.
What if my pricing is complicated?
That's usually the interesting part. We've turned a client's own multi-sheet pricing spreadsheet into a handful of real parameters and verified it against their stored numbers, cell by cell.