From first call to handover
How working with Smartise goes, start to handover
The eight stages of a Smartise engagement, how long each takes, what we do, what you supply, and what happens when something arrives late. Including how projects slip and how to avoid it.
Before you call: what makes a first conversation useful
You do not need a brief or a budget figure. What helps is knowing what you want to be different in six months, what you have already tried, and who on your side will make decisions. If the answer to the last one is unclear, that is worth settling before the call, because it decides the timeline more than the scope does.
Our hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, America/Toronto. You can reach us by phone or WhatsApp at +1 519 494 3673, by email at info@smartise.ca, or through the contact form. We reply inside one business day, and usually sooner.
What causes projects to slip
In our experience almost every late project has the same two causes, and neither is technical. The first is content: the photos, product data, service descriptions, staff bios and legal text that only you can supply. A website build can be finished and sitting on a staging URL for three weeks waiting on nine product photos.
The second is slow feedback. Two revision rounds take about two weeks when feedback comes back in five business days. The same two rounds take two months when it comes back in three weeks, and in the meantime our team has moved to other scheduled work, so returning to yours adds a further delay on top of the wait.
Other causes we see, in rough order of frequency: a decision-maker who was not in the scoping call arriving late with different requirements, a third party we depend on such as a host, payment provider or print supplier moving slowly, approval by committee where nobody has final say, and scope added mid-build without the timeline being re-quoted. We flag every one of these in writing as it happens, so the revised date is never a surprise at the end.
What we do to keep a project moving
- A written content checklist at onboarding, with each item’s due date in business days
- One named contact on our side and one on yours, rather than a group thread
- A status note each week while a project is active, naming what we are waiting on
- A written re-quote of the timeline when something is added mid-build, before we start it
- A hold notice if an item is more than ten business days late, so the slot can be rescheduled fairly
How revisions work
A standard project includes two revision rounds per deliverable. A round is one consolidated set of feedback from you, acted on in one pass by us. Sending three separate emails over four days counts as three rounds if we act on each one, so we ask you to collect feedback and send it once.
Revisions cover changes within the agreed scope: wording, layout within the approved design, image swaps, corrections. They do not cover a new direction after a design has been approved, pages that were not in the agreed page list, or a change of platform. Those are quoted as additional work before we start, never billed as a surprise afterwards.
Additional rounds beyond the two included are quoted at an hourly rate stated in your quote. We would rather sell you an extra round than deliver something you dislike, so if two rounds have not got us there, we will tell you honestly whether the problem is execution, in which case we fix it at our cost, or direction, in which case it is new work.
How approvals work
Each stage ends with a written approval from your named approver: the page list and sitemap, the design direction, the copy, the build on a staging URL, and anything that states a price or a claim in public. Approval by email or by a reply in the project thread is enough; we do not require signatures for stage approvals.
We ask for one approver with authority and one backup for holidays. Where several people must agree, we ask you to run that internally and send us a single consolidated answer, because contradictory instructions from two people on your side is the fastest way to burn a revision round.
Anything stating a price, a service guarantee, a professional credential or a regulated claim is your approval to give, not ours. We will write it, flag what needs checking, and not publish it until you have confirmed it is accurate.
What handover includes
Handover is a defined deliverable, not an email saying the site is live. We complete it within ten business days of launch for project work, or within ten business days of final notice on a monthly engagement.
Everything in the list below is yours to keep whether or not you continue working with us. We do not hold files, accounts or credentials, and there is no transfer or exit fee.
Included in every handover
- Administrator access to the website, with Smartise accounts removed on request
- Hosting and domain registered in your name, with the registrar and renewal date confirmed in writing
- Design source files, not only flattened exports, including logo files in editable vector format where a brand was produced
- Ad, analytics and sending platform accounts owned by you, with our user access removed
- A written record of conversion tracking: what is installed, what each conversion counts, and where the tags live
- A short document covering how to edit pages, where to add a blog post or product, and who to contact at your host
- A list of work in progress, what we would do next, and anything we recommend against
Ongoing support after launch
Support after launch is optional and is quoted separately, never bundled silently into a project price. Three arrangements cover most clients.
Fixes to work we delivered are not support. If something we built does not do what the approved scope said it would, we correct it at our cost for 30 days after launch. That is a defect, not a change request, and we do not bill for our own mistakes.
Three ways clients buy support
- Pay as you go: you email when you need something and we quote it in hours before starting. Suits sites that change a few times a year.
- Monthly maintenance: platform and plugin updates, backups, uptime checks and a set allowance of small changes, quoted as a fixed monthly amount in CAD. Suits sites that take enquiries daily.
- Monthly marketing retainer: maintenance included alongside whatever channels we run, quoted after a scoping call. Suits businesses where the site is a working sales channel rather than a brochure.
How to end an engagement cleanly
Monthly engagements end with 30 days’ written notice from either side, sent to info@smartise.ca. Project work ends at launch and handover, with nothing further owed. We do not use auto-renewing annual terms, and we do not ask for a cancellation reason.
During the notice period we finish work already in progress where it can be finished, stop work that cannot, invoice only for what was delivered, and complete the handover list above. If you are leaving for another agency, we will answer their technical questions during the notice period at no charge, because a messy transition costs you money and reflects on work with our name on it.
The one thing we ask: tell us why. Not to argue, and not to make a retention offer. We would rather know whether the cause was the result, the communication or the price.
The decision, side by side
What happens, in what order, and what we need from you
Who this way of working is not for
- Businesses that need work to start before a scope is written. We quote before we build, and that takes three to five business days after a call.
- Teams that cannot name one person to approve copy, design and spend. Approval by committee roughly doubles the review stages and burns revision rounds on contradictory feedback.
- Anyone expecting unlimited revisions. Two rounds are included per deliverable and further rounds are quoted at an hourly rate before we begin them.
- Clients who want to keep access to their own hosting, analytics or ad platforms restricted from us. We can advise without access, but we cannot be accountable for an outcome we cannot measure or change.