Straight answers

Most shops around here are quoted somewhere between $2,500 and $8,000 up front, then billed again for hosting and for changes. We build the site first and charge nothing for the build. If you keep it, it is $89 a month, or $179 a month with a person on your account, and that covers hosting, security and every change you ask for.

It depends what is in it. If it is hosting alone, that is steep. Ours is $89 and includes hosting, security, email at your domain, and unlimited changes made by asking in plain words. There is no separate bill when your hours change or you want a new photo up.

That is exactly what both of ours are. $89 a month for the Harbormaster plan, $179 for Harbormaster + Crew. No contract, no setup fee, and you can cancel any time. Paying for a year up front takes twenty percent off either one.

We are betting the finished site is good enough that you will want us to keep running it. If we are wrong, you walk away owing nothing and we have spent the build for nothing. That is the whole bet, and it is on us rather than on you.

No. Nothing is due until you have looked at the finished website and decided you want it. There is no deposit, no card on file, and no trial that quietly starts billing.

About ten to twenty dollars a year for most names, and we charge you what the registrar charges us with nothing added. It is registered in your name, not ours, so it stays yours whatever happens between us.

You can, and plenty of people do. The question is whether you will. Most owners we meet started one, got busy in season, and it has sat half finished since. We build the whole thing before you pay, so the version you are judging is finished rather than imagined.

It is not, for three reasons. It barely shows up in a search, you do not own it, and anyone who is not on Facebook cannot really find you. It is also a poor answer for an assistant, which cannot read the text inside your photos of the menu.

Sometimes it is not, and we will tell you so. Send us the address and we will look at what you have. If the honest answer is that yours is fine, that is the answer you will get.

About five minutes to start, answering four questions in your own words. After that we do the research and the building. Most people spend more time deciding than they do participating.

It depends entirely on what the AI is allowed to invent. Ours is not allowed to invent anything. Every fact on your site traces back to something we found about your business or something you told us, so your hours, prices and services are yours rather than a plausible guess.

Google's stated position is that it judges the page, not the tool that made it. What gets penalised is thin, duplicated, or misleading content, which is a fair thing to penalise. A site full of true, specific, useful detail about a real business is what both search engines and assistants are looking for.

No, because there is no template underneath it. Each site is designed from scratch for that business, and the studio deliberately works away from what it has already made. Two restaurants on the same street will not get the same website.

You can always reach a person. On the Harbormaster + Crew plan a person reviews the AI's work as a matter of course and checks in with you monthly. On either plan, if something is wrong, a human being sorts it out with you.

You have paid nothing at that point, so the worst case costs you the five minutes you spent starting it. If it is close but not right, you say what is wrong and it gets changed. If it is still not right, a person rebuilds it with you.

The domain is registered in your name from day one and the content is yours. If you leave, you keep the address and we hand over your content. Nothing about your business is held hostage.

Yes, with no penalty and no notice period. There is no contract to get out of. Cancel from your own account whenever you want.

It stops being hosted by us, and your domain stays yours to point wherever you like next. Ask before you go and we will hand over your content so nothing is lost.

The AI does the day-to-day work and Jim Ruder runs the company. On the Crew plan, the people reviewing your site are family, the kids of the folks he spends his summers with on the water. He trains them and checks their work himself, so nothing reaches you because a student thought it looked right.

We can, and it is the only kind of work we do. Harborlight builds for businesses on the West Michigan lakeshore and nowhere else, from Ludington down to South Haven. Jim spends his summers on the water in Grand Haven, so this is a shore he actually knows.

Yes, and seasonal businesses are the ones this helps most. Your site can say what is true in July and what is true in February, change with the season when you ask, and keep answering questions while you are closed.

Ask anyway. The list is where we work most, not a fence. If you are on this shore, we will almost certainly build for you.

Yes. Ask for a visit and we will get in touch to arrange a time. You do not have to wait to be found any more, but the door is still there if you would rather do this face to face.