Straight answers, including the awkward ones.
If a question is missing, email it over and it gets added here rather than answered once in private.
What things cost, and what changes the number.
Are these prices fixed?
Prices shown as a single figure are the standard price for that scope. Prices shown as “from” depend on complexity and are confirmed in a written quote before any work begins. There are no surprise invoices for work you did not agree to.
Why is this more expensive than Fiverr or a website builder?
Because it is a different thing. A $200 template gets you a template, and a builder subscription gets you a page you maintain forever inside someone else’s tool. Sawhorse prices sit at the lower end of what a professional freelance developer charges — the market range for a custom small business site is roughly $1,500 to $8,000, and agencies start around $6,000. If a template genuinely solves your problem, use one; we will tell you when that is the honest answer.
Why is it cheaper than an agency?
No account managers, no sales team, no office, and modern tooling — including AI used the way a compiler is used, with a person accountable for every line that ships. You are paying for the build, not the overhead around it.
Do you require a deposit?
Yes — a deposit is typically required to schedule and begin work, with the balance due at the milestones set out in your agreement. The specific schedule is written into your quote.
Do you offer payment plans?
Payment is milestone-based rather than a financing arrangement: the work is split into stages and each stage is invoiced as it is delivered. If the up-front figure is the obstacle, a Managed plan spreads the cost into a smaller setup fee plus a monthly.
What about third-party costs?
Domain registration, third-party API charges, messaging providers, AI-model usage and external software subscriptions are not included in Sawhorse pricing unless your quote specifically says so.
Who holds what at the end, and what you take on if you host it yourself.
What does “Own It” actually mean?
Sawhorse builds the project and delivers it to you, including the source code and deployment documentation for the custom work written for you. You can host it wherever you like, and hire anyone you want to maintain it. Pre-existing Sawhorse tooling and third-party open-source components remain under their own licences — the service agreement sets this out in full.
What is included in a Managed plan?
Deployment, SSL, monitoring, infrastructure management and routine maintenance, plus managed infrastructure for normal business usage. What “normal” means for your plan is written into your agreement rather than left vague.
If I own it, what do I actually have to do?
Security and dependency updates roughly monthly, a runtime upgrade once or twice a year, backups you have actually tested restoring, uptime monitoring, and domain and certificate renewal. None of it is hard for someone technical. The trap is assuming it will happen and then finding in month fourteen that nobody has run an update since launch — catching up costs more than a plan would have.
Can I start Managed and move to owning it later?
Yes. There is no lock-in either direction, and the handover is the same source code and documentation you would have received on day one.
Why don’t you advertise unlimited hosting?
Because it does not exist. Every host has limits. Reasonable infrastructure usage is included in the plan price, and you are told plainly if your traffic, storage, compute or bandwidth requires an upgrade — before your bill changes, not after.
Timelines, revisions, and what happens when something changes.
How long does it take?
A Launch website is typically two to three weeks, Growth four to six, and larger builds are quoted with a schedule attached. The single biggest cause of delay is content — text and photos arriving late — which is why copywriting is offered as an add-on.
What do you need from me?
A clear idea of what the thing has to do, your content or a decision to have it written for you, and someone who can give feedback and approve. Projects stall on approvals far more often than on code.
What if I want changes after it launches?
Each plan includes a set number of revision rounds during the build. After launch, small changes are an add-on on Own It, or included in the content allowance on Managed plans. Anything that is genuinely new scope gets quoted before it starts.
What if the project goes wrong?
The scope, the milestones and what happens if either side walks away are written into the agreement before work starts. That document exists so neither of us has to rely on remembering a conversation.
The questions worth asking anyone you are about to pay.
How big is Sawhorse?
Small and early — which is exactly why this site leads with working demos instead of a customer logo wall it has not earned. You will talk to the person building your system.
Can I see real client work?
Not yet, honestly. Sawhorse is new and has no public client list, and putting up invented case studies would tell you nothing except that we are willing to invent things. The demos on this site are fictional businesses built to show the standard of the work, and this website is built the same way as what gets shipped — it is the portfolio.
What do you build with?
Modern, boring, well-supported technology: server-rendered web applications, relational databases, typed application code and managed cloud infrastructure.
Do you use AI to build?
Yes, as a tool, the same way a compiler or a test runner is a tool. It is one reason a small studio can deliver custom systems at these prices. Every line that ships is reviewed by a person who is accountable for it.
What don’t you do?
Ongoing marketing services, ad management, SEO retainers, and anything requiring a third party’s platform rules to be bent. If your problem is not a software problem, you will be told so.
Is the ERP or an AI agent available now?
No. Sawhorse Operations and the AI agents are planned, not built. Their pricing is published as planned pricing and may change before launch. Anything you can click through on this site today is a demonstration of the concept, not a product you can buy yet.
Sawhorse does not use countdown timers, invented discounts, artificial scarcity or testimonials nobody wrote. The price you see is the price quoted from. The full own-it versus managed comparison includes the parts that make Sawhorse look worse.
Build with Sawhorse
Tell us the problem. We’ll build the system.
Describe what you are trying to fix. You’ll get a scope, a fixed quote and a clear answer on whether Sawhorse is the right fit — no pitch deck.