Working With Fhoke

Finding a potential agency partner can often be a challenging and lengthy process. We recognise this and believe that transparency is the cornerstone of building trust.

By providing clear and detailed information below, our goal is to not only make your decision-making process smoother but also to assist you in quickly determining whether our expertise and approach align with the specific requirements of your project or business.

Questions, doubts, or just looking for more clarity? Don’t hesitate to get in touch.

What types of projects do you take on?

Our commitment to any project always carries a design-led strategic approach. At the core of everything we do, we are problem solvers with a creative edge, eager to make a genuine difference—whether we’re helping to boost conversions, enhance search rankings, generate more leads, or achieve other essential marketing targets. Our process, from planning to launch, has been refined over many years of working on successful web design and branding projects, many of which have gone on to be acquired or sold as a result of our work.

When it comes to industry specialisation, we don’t limit ourselves to one industry or business type. We work with B2B and B2C brands, from start-ups to growing or established brands and large multinational corporations. Still, we have specialised in some industries such as automotive web design, recruitment website design, school web design, educational websites, digital agencies and the digital marketing industry.

Our agency team are also expert in delivering everything from simple to multi-regional and multilingual web design builds on platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce and Laravel. We’re on hand at every stage of your growth, delivering website design, web development, website rebuilds and re-platforming, and eCommerce web design.

If a creative-led approach fuels you, let’s talk.

What’s the typical budget range for your projects?

Most of our core projects, which we would class as a brochure website or online shop, will fall within the £15k to £60k range. However, the final cost of any project is determined by its specific scope, requirements, and the chosen platform, leading to some variability from one project to the next. Our larger and more intricate projects tend to lie in the £60k+ bracket, with our baseline project size being £15k.

Several factors influence the final cost, including the site’s size, the intricacy of the design, the level of interactivity in the development phase, and any standout features or integrations.

Different budget ranges can offer varied solutions to meet your brief. We can look at a phased approach if your budget is stretched and launch with a minimum viable product (MVP) if needed. We encourage you to contact us with your project brief and spec. We’ll be able to quickly determine a more accurate ballpark based on our years of industry experience and past projects.

How much time does a project typically take?

Our process is design-led, and we create and build bespoke website designs; because these themes are custom, most projects typically take around 12 working weeks. Some can be quicker at ten weeks, and some can be longer at up to 15 weeks. Meanwhile, larger and more feature-rich projects, especially those rolled out in multiple stages, might extend beyond these estimates. Naturally, the duration is heavily influenced by the agreed-upon project scope.

To keep your project running smoothly, we ask that you stick to any proposed dates where we need your input.

We work collaboratively with our clients and their nominated team members using an online project management tool. Your team will get a guest invite to create an account, giving you access to your project milestones and timeline to monitor our progress.

However, as with any project, there are variables beyond our immediate control that can impact the timeline:

  • External Dependencies: Collaborations with third parties or in-house teams on areas like branding, copywriting, or CRM can introduce extensions to the project timeline.
  • Client Availability: The time and resources our clients can set aside for the project, especially when juggling other commitments, can influence the pace.
  • Stakeholder Involvement: The sheer number of stakeholders participating can sway the timeline, both in terms of decision-making and approvals.
  • Feedback Loop: The speed at which our clients can give feedback, give the nod to milestones, or sign off on deliverables—mainly when multiple stakeholders are involved—can introduce delays.

For a clearer picture and more personalised estimation, we always recommend discussing specific project milestones directly with us.

How should you brief us?

A detailed, well-constructed brief is the cornerstone of any successful project. We advise all our prospective clients to invest their time and efforts into crafting a concise and clear brief, even if it’s merely for the initial strategy or discovery phase.

If you’re venturing into this for the first time or feel uncertain about structuring a brief for a website project, we’ve got you covered. Our online web design brief form will give you a helping hand. Designed to steer you through everything we need to build a better picture of what you’re after. You can access and benefit from this form here.

How do we present our proposals and ideas to you?

We’ve built a digital proposal system that will give you a detailed run-down of how we work, how every phase of a project slots into place, the planned deliverables for your project, and an investment section.

We don’t provide a PDF version of our proposal deck; after all, we’re a web design agency and believe a digital version will give you the best experience in learning about how we might tackle your project,

We will work with you to refine the proposal and cover any new ideas our solutions may have triggered.

When can you start?

Generally, once a project is confirmed, we can get cracking within 2-6 weeks. However, given the dynamic nature of our workflow, which often involves juggling multiple proposals and existing live studio projects, our availability might shift at a moment’s notice. Projects come on a first-come, first-served basis when signing proposals. If you can give us as much notice as possible, we can help facilitate a more seamless scheduling on our end.

After presenting a proposal, it’s our policy to keep potential clients informed about possible start dates and any alterations in our schedule. To ensure a smooth transition from planning to execution, upon confirming a project with us, several steps will be followed to kick off the project:

  1. Formalising Agreements: We draft a final signable Proposal that needs to be signed by the powers that be at your company.
  2. Payment: Once our proposal is signed, a deposit invoice for the project is generated and will need to be paid before scheduling or project kick-off.
  3. Team Onboarding: An internal briefing session is conducted to bring our team up to speed.
  4. Preliminary Work: Before the official kickoff, some groundwork in terms of planning and research is undertaken by us, with you and assets pulled together for each phase.
  5. Kickoff: With everything in place, our planning team will begin wireframing a website with you.

Typically, we expect these steps to happen over a matter of days; however, if your company has processes in place that limit the speed at which these steps can be carried out, please be aware this may impact your project timelines for a more efficient start.

Do you work with off-the-shelf Shopify or WordPress themes?

Unfortunately not. We pride ourselves on our creative-led approach, designing and building bespoke themes tailored to the specific needs and goals of our clients. Every piece of work we undertake is designed and developed from the ground up.

Every website we create, and every WordPress or Shopify theme we develop is distinct, reflecting a handcrafted effort personalised for each client. This commitment to customisation ensures that our deliverables stand out, offering an unparalleled user experience for your customers and users and growth for your brand.

Do you handle ‘development-only’ projects?

On occasion, we do. We often receive invitations for ‘build-only’ or ‘development-only’ projects. While our passion lies in bespoke design and build projects, we realise that we can offer our expertise in building WordPress sites and Shopify stores.

Talk to us, and let’s see if we can help.

Do you accommodate minor modifications or smaller tasks for sites not developed by you?

Typically, if a different agency designed your website, we won’t take on the maintenance or one-off adjustments of an existing website. We will only work on websites that we have designed and built.