The Deep Dive (Paid Discovery)

Some projects are too complex to price properly from one conversation. There might be several systems to connect, lots of audiences to serve, an old platform with unknowns, or a team that doesn't yet agree on what the website needs to do. Rather than guess, and then find out halfway through that it needs more than we quoted, we suggest a Deep Dive first.

Think of it as a pre-project project. It's a paid, workshop-led phase where we do the finding out and the thinking up front, so you get a clear brief, a realistic plan and an accurate price before committing to the full build.

When we suggest one

We usually recommend a Deep Dive after our discovery call when:

🧩 The project has a lot of technical moving parts, such as integrations, booking or CRM systems, content migration or custom functionality
👥 Several teams or audiences need the website to work for them
❓ It isn't yet clear what the website needs to do, or what should come first

If the project is straightforward, we skip this and go straight to a proposal.

What's involved

Every Deep Dive is scoped to your business, but it usually includes some or all of the following.

🔍 Finding out
Workshops with your team, early conversations with key stakeholders, internal and customer surveys, a look at your data and existing research, and competitor research. We map every audience your website needs to serve and what each one needs from it.

🛠️ Technical review
A review of your existing platform, hosting, search performance, and any developer contracts, systems or integrations, so we know what we're building on and what has to connect.

🗺️ Shaping the plan
Turning the findings into key themes, a first-pass sitemap and content structure, the content types and features the site needs, how enquiries or sales should flow, and early design direction.

📅 A phased roadmap
What goes into launch, what can follow, and a list of future enhancements with indicative prices, so the work is sequenced sensibly rather than trying to do everything at once.

What you get

We bring it all together in a findings document and present it to you, usually with a presentation that walks through the key insights, the recommended scope, timeline and investment. From there you have a proper brief and a price you can rely on, whether you build it with us or not.

How it fits with the project

The Deep Dive is less about brand and positioning and more about working out what needs building. If you go ahead, the project itself still starts with stakeholder interviews and your brand playbook, which shape tone of voice, messaging and copy. Some of that groundwork may already be done in the Deep Dive, which just means we start faster.

Investment

A Deep Dive is paid work, priced to the size of the project and set out clearly up front. As a guide, a lighter Deep Dive typically starts around £1,000, and a fuller one including the strategy and roadmap typically starts around £2,000–£3,000. Discovery work is paid in full before we start.