Somvilla

Process

How a project works

A written brief, a fixed-price quote within 2 business days, and regular email updates throughout. No sales calls needed to get started.

01

Why start with a written brief?

This works differently to how most consultants operate — and that's intentional. A 45-minute discovery call produces an impression. A written brief produces a record. When you take 8 minutes to describe your problem clearly, we can give you a more accurate quote than any call would produce. You get a fixed price with no surprises; we get a scope we can commit to.

For NI business owners, it's also more practical. You can fill in a brief at 6am before the factory opens, or forward a quote to your accountant without scheduling anything. No waiting for a convenient slot. No replaying the same conversation from memory.

Communication during the project is personal and responsive — email updates at every meaningful milestone, a recorded Loom walkthrough at handover, and a reply to any question within one business day. And if you'd like a call before signing off, that's absolutely fine — just say so after submitting your brief and we'll arrange it.

02

The brief form

The qualification form is a 5-step process that takes 5–8 minutes. It covers your business context, the specific problem, your data sources, budget range, and contact details.

Step 1 Which service you need (or "not sure")
Step 2 Company context — sector, size, current systems
Step 3 The specific problem, conditional on which service
Step 4 Budget range and timeline
Step 5 Your name and email — no phone number, no sales call

Minimum project size is £1,800. If the budget field is below that threshold, the form will let you know clearly and suggest better-fit alternatives. No awkwardness.

03

What happens next

Within a few hours

Your brief is read in full and any gaps noted.

Within 1 business day

If clarification is needed, you'll receive one short email. Not a series — one.

Within 2 business days

You receive a detailed fixed-price quote document by email.

Your call

Review the quote. Ask questions by email. Accept or decline — no pressure either way.

04

The quote document

The quote is a PDF with everything you need to make a decision — no ambiguity, no "we'll figure it out as we go."

Scope Exactly what will be built. What's included and what isn't.
Fixed price One number. No hourly rates, no overruns.
Payment terms 50% upfront, 50% on delivery. Bank transfer or card.
Delivery date A specific date, not a range.
Revision policy One round of revisions included, within 14 days of delivery.
Access needed Exactly what credentials or files are needed to start.
05

The contract

One page. Plain English. No legal jargon beyond what's legally necessary.

It covers: scope, price, payment schedule, delivery date, revision policy, intellectual property (you own everything on delivery), and what happens if either party needs to cancel.

Signed digitally via email — reply with "I accept" or a scanned signature. Work starts when the deposit is received.

06

Payment

50%

Deposit

Paid before work begins. This books your slot.

50%

On delivery

Paid when the deliverables are handed over.

Payment by bank transfer (preferred) or card. Invoices issued via standard business invoice. 30-day payment terms on the final invoice where needed — just ask.

07

Communication during the project

Everything happens over email. You receive milestone updates every 2–3 days so you always know where things stand. No need to chase.

For the final handover, I record a short Loom walkthrough video (typically 8–12 minutes) showing exactly how everything works. This is more useful than a call — you can pause it, rewatch it, and share it with your team.

Email updatesLoom handover videoFull documentationNo Slack requiredNo project portals
08

What if something goes wrong?

If the delivered work doesn't match the agreed scope, we fix it. That's not a revision — that's just doing the job properly.

If you want to change something after delivery that was in scope — a metric recalculated differently, a field renamed — that's what the free revision round is for. Submit revision requests within 14 days of delivery.

If you want something that wasn't in the original scope, we'll quote it as a separate piece of work. Transparent pricing, same process.

One free revision round. Requested within 14 days of delivery. Covers refinements within the original scope. Further changes are quoted separately.

Common questions

Email us. We reply within one business day. If something is genuinely time-sensitive, say so in the subject line and it will be prioritised. No project management platform — just email.

You receive a short email update at each meaningful milestone — usually every 2–3 days for a typical project. You'll always know where things stand without needing to ask.

The contract scope is fixed. If you need something outside it, we'll quote it as a separate piece of work. This protects both sides — no surprise invoices, and no unpaid work.

Yes — just say so after submitting your brief and we'll arrange it before the contract is signed. The vast majority of projects complete without a call, and clients consistently say the written-first approach is actually less friction. But the option is always there.

Every project includes one free revision round within 14 days of delivery. The revision scope is limited to what was in the original brief — refinements, not new requirements. After the revision window, further changes are quoted separately.