Studio Status — Booking Q3 2026 launches · 2 spots remaining Idaho, USA · Replies within 24 hours, weekdays
Web Design & Hosting · Est. 2024

Websites that make the next customer pick up the phone.

Ascend is a small studio building custom websites for small businesses — designed, hosted, and quietly maintained so you can focus on running your business.

Start a project→ See recent work
Typical timeline ~14 days
Built Made to order
Direct to The owner
Custom-built Single-file delivery Mobile-first Managed hosting 14-day turnaround Direct to owner Small business focus No templates Custom-built Single-file delivery Mobile-first Managed hosting 14-day turnaround Direct to owner Small business focus No templates
The Studio
01

Most small businesses don't need a CMS, a build pipeline, or fourteen plugins to maintain. They need one really good page that loads fast, looks honest, and tells the right person what to do next.

That's all we build. Quietly. Carefully. One project at a time.

— Michael Alwine, founder & designer Idaho, 2026
02 / 06

Three things we do — and nothing else.

Tight focus, deep care. No bloat, no upsells, no adding features just to pad an invoice.

i.
Design
Custom-designed websites tailored to your brand and your customers. No templates, no copy-paste — every element drawn from your business.
Mobile-first SEO-ready Conversion-focused
ii.
Hosting
Fast, secure cloud hosting with free SSL, daily backups, uptime monitoring, and instant rollback. Your site stays online and stays fast.
Free SSL Daily backups Instant rollback
iii.
Care
Updates within 2 business days. New hours, new services, new photos — send a note, see it live by the end of the week. Forever.
2-day turnaround Quarterly check-in No tickets
03 / 06

Selected work, recently shipped.

Two projects — both built from a blank page, both still live and still earning their keep.

Project / 01Blair Family Health
IndustryHealthcare · DPC
Year2025

A direct primary care clinic that wanted to feel human, not clinical.

A warm editorial site for a one-provider clinic in Nampa, Idaho. Cream paper, deep forest green, Fraunces serif headlines, and a membership pricing structure designed to make the value obvious in three seconds.

Editorial design Custom calculator Single-page Membership flow
Now accepting new members in Nampa, ID
Healthcare the way it should be — direct, personal, built around you.
What's included, every month
  • Unlimited office, phone & video visits
  • Direct text & email access to provider
  • Wholesale-priced in-house pharmacy
Join Blair Family Health
Project / 02Project Ripple
IndustryNonprofit · Community
Year2025

A community-finder nonprofit that needed to feel bold without being loud.

A black-canvas microsite with animated ripple typography and a custom interactive map of the Treasure Valley. Built with React, designed for clarity. The dot is the user. The rings are the rest of the story.

Brand identity Custom SVG map React app Animation
One life.
Infinite ripples.
Start a Ripple Find a Group
04 / 06

From first call to live site in roughly fourteen days.

Four stages, no surprises. You're never more than a step away from launch.

i.

Discovery

30 minutes

We talk. About your business, your customers, what's working, what isn't, and what a good website actually looks like for you specifically.

ii.

Design

5–7 days

A complete first draft, designed in browser. You see real type, real layout, real interaction — not a flat mockup that lies about how it'll feel.

iii.

Refine

5–7 days

One round of revisions, end to end. Copy edits, photo swaps, layout adjustments — handled until it's right.

iv.

Launch

Same day

Domain pointed, SSL active, contact form wired up, you go live. From there, we either hand off the file or quietly keep it running.

From kickoff to launch, about two weeks — not two months.

Start the process→
05 / 06

Two ways to work together — pick what fits.

Same beautifully designed website either way. The only question is whether you want to run it yourself, or have me quietly handle it forever.

Option One

The Files

$ 500
One-time payment · clean handoff

A clean handoff. The site is yours to do whatever you want with.

  • ✓The complete websiteThis exact design, fully built and ready to ship.
  • ✓Single self-contained HTML fileAll photographs, fonts, and styles embedded.
  • ✓Mobile responsivePhones, tablets, desktop — all handled.
  • ✓Yours foreverTransferable to any host or any developer.
  • ✓One round of revisionsSmall refinements before delivery.
  • –Not includedDomain, hosting, contact form backend, or post-delivery updates.
Choose The Files
Recommended
Option Two

The Studio

$ 500 + $ 20 / month
One-time + monthly · everything handled

The site live, on its own domain, contact form working — and updates handled for you.

  • ✓Everything in The FilesThe complete design, fully built.
  • ✓Domain registered & configuredyourbusiness.com or your preferred name.
  • ✓Fast, secure hosting with free SSLLoads quickly everywhere, with the green padlock that builds trust before a customer reads a word.
  • ✓"Request an Estimate" formBuilt-in spam filtering. Submissions land in your inbox automatically.
  • ✓Instant rollback on every updateIf anything ever breaks, one click reverts. The site is never broken in front of clients.
  • ✓Content updates within 2 business daysHours, closures, new services, photo swaps — just tell me what to change.
  • ✓Quarterly check-inFor the first year, then twice a year after.
Choose The Studio→
06 / 06

A few questions that come up.

If yours isn't here, just send a note — I usually reply same day.

How long does a project actually take?

About two weeks from kickoff to launch is typical, assuming you can get me copy and photos within a few days of our discovery call. If your content is already in good shape, we've shipped in under ten.

The thing that slows projects down isn't design or development — it's waiting on copy and approvals. We can talk about that on the call.

What if I don't have copy or photography?

That's fine. For copy, I'll send a short questionnaire and write a first draft from your answers — you edit, I refine. For photography, I'll either guide you on what to take with your phone (it's better than you think) or recommend a local photographer for a half-day shoot.

Can you migrate or rebuild my existing site?

Yes. Most projects start that way. Your old site keeps running until the new one is approved and live — there's never a gap, and your domain stays exactly where it is.

What happens if I want to leave The Studio plan later?

You take the site with you. The whole point of how we build is portability — no proprietary platform lock-in, no fees to extract your own work. I'll hand off the files, point your domain wherever you want, and we part on good terms.

Do you do bigger sites, e-commerce, or web apps?

Not currently. Ascend is focused on small-business marketing sites — single-page or short multi-page — because that's where simple, focused work shines. For e-commerce or full applications, I'm happy to point you toward developers who specialize in that.

What makes Ascend different from a Squarespace template?

Two things. First, every site is custom — designed from your business, not picked from a library. Second, you talk to the person actually building it, every time. No project managers, no ticket queues, no offshore handoffs. Just one designer who knows your site inside out.

Let's talk

Got a project? Send a note.

Tell me a little about your business and what you're trying to fix. I'll write back within a day with a few thoughts and we'll see if it's a fit.

Thanks — your note is on its way. I'll get back to you within a day, weekdays.

Replies within 24 hours, weekdays. Idaho time.