LAYER 02 / BUILD
A Nashville website built to get the phone to ring — and to be quoted.
Hand-written HTML, designed at 375 pixels first, served from the edge, with the structured data and answer-first copy the AI engines read. No theme, no builder, no bloat — and hosting included.
What web design & build means here
We design and build custom websites for Nashville and Middle Tennessee businesses in hand-written HTML and CSS rather than WordPress themes or drag-and-drop builders. Sites are mobile-first, meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, are measured on a real phone before launch, and ship AI-ready: structured data, FAQ schema, answer-first pages and an llms.txt file on every build — with hosting and care included.
Hand-built HTML and CSS, no page builder, no theme. Fast on a phone on cell data — measured with PageSpeed Insights before launch, not promised — and every page carries the structured data, answer-first copy and FAQ blocks that let Google and the AI engines quote it.
Included / Scope
What you actually get.
- Custom design — no purchased theme, no drag-and-drop builder in the final build
- Mobile-first: designed at 375px first, then scaled up, not the other way round
- Service pages and city pages structured for how people actually search — and ask
- Structured data, FAQ schema and an llms.txt on every build, so the site is AI-ready from day one
- Contact forms that email you and store the lead, with no silent failures
- Accessibility pass to WCAG 2.1 AA: contrast, focus order, keyboard, labels
- Speed measured on a phone before launch — our goal is always 95+ on PageSpeed, with Core Web Vitals in the green
- A private traffic dashboard on your own domain, counting visits, AI referrals and leads at the edge
How a build runs / Five steps
From the first call to launch, in one to two weeks.
A standard site goes live one to two weeks from a signed scope. The variable is content — photography, service descriptions and pricing — and we tell you what we need from you before anything is billed.
The call, then a written scope
Thirty minutes on your market and what the site has to do. Then a written scope: the pages, what each includes, the timeline and one price — nothing in it a range or a placeholder.
Entity and identity
The entity sheet — the exact name, description, services and service area every profile and directory must repeat — and the brand files if you need them, so the site, the Google Business Profile and the directories agree from day one.
Build, on a staging URL
Hand-written HTML and CSS, designed at 375 pixels first and scaled up. You review at two points — after the home page design and before launch — and your current site stays live and untouched until you approve.
Launch, in one DNS change
Every old URL redirected so nothing that ranked lands on a 404, the sitemap submitted, analytics and conversion tracking confirmed, structured data validated, and an AI visibility baseline recorded — what each engine answers on launch day.
Hosting and care, included
Global edge hosting, SSL, daily backups, uptime monitoring, DNS and email deliverability records, and a block of content edits every month. No hosting invoice, no renewal fee, and you own the domain and the files.
The full process, with the launch checklist — including what we need from you, and when.
AI-ready / What that means on a build
Built to be read by machines as easily as by people.
A growing share of customers never see a list of ten links; they read one answer. Every site we build gives the engines what they select for, from the first deploy.
01 / Structured data
The facts, stated for a machine
Organization, Service, FAQPage and BreadcrumbList schema on every page, validated rather than assumed — who the business is, where it works, what it offers, in a form a model reads without guessing.
02 / Answer-first pages
Each page opens with the answer
A direct, self-contained answer under a question-shaped heading, then the specifics an engine can quote: process, timelines, service area, real project detail.
03 / FAQ blocks
The questions customers ask, answered on the page
Visible FAQs, marked up as FAQPage, written to stand alone — the single highest-leverage move for AI Overviews, featured snippets and the chat engines.
04 / Open to the engines
llms.txt and crawl access
A plain-text summary of the business for language models, and crawl access for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended unless you opt out — so the assistants can find and cite the site.
The work / Live sites
Sites we built, running now.
Client sites we built and host, all open on your phone. This site is built the same way.
-
National Closet Company
nationalclosetco.com -
Harmony Tax Services CPA, PC
harmonytaxcpa.com -
Three Stone Roofing & Exterior Services
threestone.com -
Southern Belle Construction
sbcnashville.com -
Drop Zone Painting
dropzonepainting.com -
Nashville Paint Co
nashvillepaintco.com -
Blair Custom Interiors
blaircustominteriors.com -
Nittany Tax Services, LLC
nittanytaxservices.com -
Bobby G. Rice
bobbygrice.com -
Fred Winston
fredwinstonmusic.com -
Elopements Inc.
elopementsinc.com -
Chumbley’s Auto Detailing
chumbleysdetailing.com -
ALERELA Cosmetics
alerela.com -
Spring Haven Mansion
springhavenmansion.com -
Postcards For Less
postcardsforless.com -
365 Manna
365manna.com
What a website costs — in words
One written price, quoted after a thirty-minute call, with hosting and care included. We do not publish a rate card because the differences between builds are real, and we do not hide a hosting invoice behind the price because there is not one.
What moves the number: how many pages the site needs (a five-page service site and a twelve-city, twelve-service build are different jobs); whether photography and service descriptions exist or have to be produced; and what the site has to do beyond describe the business — online booking, a client portal, the website assistant. What never appears on the invoice: a theme license, a page builder subscription, a plugin renewal, a hosting fee, a charge for certificates or bandwidth.
You own the domain, the source files and the logo vectors from day one. The build is a fixed-scope project; the layers that run afterwards — SEO, AI SEO, ads, automation — are month to month, and you can stop any of them without a penalty clause.
Speed / Measured, not promised
Fast on a phone, checked before launch.
Every build is measured with PageSpeed Insights on a throttled phone connection before it goes live. Our goal is always 95 or better, with Core Web Vitals in the green on mobile. The free scan runs the same checks on any site — including the one you have now.
Free AI visibility scan / One a month per domain
See what Google and the AI engines make of your site.
It runs 85 checks in seven areas, from technical SEO to whether the page turns a visitor into a call, and AI search readiness counts most: 30 of the 100 points. It is the same audit we run before quoting any job. Free, one scan a month per domain, and nothing to sign up for — the result is yours whether you hire us or not.
Pairs with this
The layers that pair with this one.
Each is sold separately; they compound when the same people run them. All 8 layers.
Layer 03
Hosting & Care
Edge hosting, SSL, backups, monitoring and the small fixes as they come up.
Hosting & CareLayer 04
Local & Technical SEO
The technical work, the local signals and the content that earns the map pack — the foundation every AI answer is built on.
Local SEOLayer 05 · AI
AI SEO
Getting found, quoted and recommended by Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot — AIO, AEO and GEO in one program.
AI SEOFAQ / Answers
Web Design & Build — questions
How long does a new site take?
A standard five-to-fifteen page site goes live one to two weeks from kickoff. The variable is content — photography, service descriptions and pricing. If you have your content ready on day one, it is the shorter end.
Do you use WordPress?
Not for the sites we build. We write static HTML and CSS served from a global edge network. There is no database to hack, no plugins to update and nothing to slow down over time. If you need a blog you can edit, we wire in a headless editor.
What makes a website “AI-ready”?
Three things a model can verify: structured data that states what the business is, where it works and what it offers; pages that open with a direct answer under a question-shaped heading; and consistent facts that match the Google Business Profile and directories. Every site we build ships with all three, plus an llms.txt file and crawl access for the AI agents.
What happens to my current site while you build?
It stays live and untouched. We build on a staging URL you can review at any time, then cut the domain over in a single DNS change once you approve. Downtime is measured in seconds, not hours.
How much does a website cost in Nashville?
It depends on what the site has to do, so every build is a fixed-scope project with one written price after a thirty-minute call. A five-to-fifteen-page service site with hosting and care included is the common case; twelve city pages, a booking flow or the website assistant is a bigger job, and photography and copy that are ready on day one make it a smaller one. We do not publish a rate card because those differences are real — but the price you get is the price, with no hosting invoice or renewal fee behind it.
Can you fix or redesign my current website instead of starting over?
Sometimes. If the structure, hosting and content are sound we can rebuild the pages that matter and leave the rest. Most sites we are asked to fix were built on a theme with forty plugins on shared hosting, and a rebuild costs about the same as the repair and lasts years longer. We tell you which it is on the first call, and we keep every URL that ranks either way.
Can I edit the site myself?
Yes, where that makes sense. Content edits and small fixes are included in hosting and care, so most clients simply send us the change and it is live the same day. If you want to write a blog or update prices yourself, we wire in a headless editor with your own login — without a page builder, a theme or a plugin to keep patched.
Do you build websites for businesses outside home services?
Yes. Home service pros are where we do most of our work, but the build is the same for any business whose customers search — or ask an assistant — for it in a specific city: clinics, law firms, studios, restaurants, retailers. What changes is the content and the pages, and we will say honestly whether there is enough search demand in your market to make it worthwhile.
NEXT STEP
Talk it through in thirty minutes.
Tell us your trade and your city. We will tell you whether the market is open, what is currently ranking and being recommended in it, and whether this layer is the one that will move your numbers.
