One of the most common reasons people hesitate to start a web project is not knowing what they're getting into. What does the process look like? What will you need from me? How long will this actually take?

Here's exactly how we work at Gulf Crafted, broken down step by step.

Week 0: The conversation

Everything starts with a short call or email exchange. We want to understand three things: what your business does, who your customers are, and what you need the site to accomplish.

This isn't a sales pitch. It's a discovery. We're figuring out whether we can actually help you and whether what you need matches what we're good at.

If we think you'd be better served by a different tool or a different type of provider, we'll tell you that. We'd rather send you in the right direction than take a project we're not the right fit for.

Week 1: Discovery and planning

Once we agree to work together, we kick off with a structured intake. You fill out a brief document covering your services, your ideal customer, competitors you like or don't like, and any brand assets you already have.

From that, we put together a sitemap — the page structure of your site — and get your sign-off before designing anything. This prevents the most common source of scope creep: building the wrong pages.

We also lock in your domain, hosting setup, and access to any existing accounts we'll need.

What we need from you: Completed intake form, logo files (if you have them), existing content you want to keep, access credentials.

Week 2: Design

We build the design in Figma — typically starting with the homepage, then extending the system to interior pages. You'll see a link to the live Figma file and can leave comments directly on the design.

We do one round of revisions at this stage. Most clients use this to adjust copy, tweak colors, or reorder sections.

We don't iterate indefinitely — a focused, decisive design process produces better work than endless rounds of "can we try it a different way." But if something genuinely isn't working, we'll fix it.

What we need from you: Timely feedback (within 48 hours if possible). The longer the design stage drags out, the harder it is to maintain momentum.

Week 3: Build

Once the design is approved, we move to development. We build on Next.js hosted on Vercel — fast by default, easy for you to update, and fully owned by you.

You'll have a staging link where you can see the real, working site as we build it.

At this stage we also handle:

SEO foundations (meta titles, descriptions, sitemap, structured data)
Image optimization
Google Analytics setup
Contact form integration
Mobile layout review across major device sizes

Week 4: Content, review, and launch

We do a full walkthrough of the site together — you, us, ideally your business partner or someone who knows your customers well.

We fix any issues that come up. Then we flip the DNS, the site goes live, and we do a final post-launch check to make sure everything is working correctly on the production domain.

You get full access to everything: the Vercel account, the domain registrar, the codebase if you want it.

After launch: We offer monthly care plans that cover hosting, updates, security monitoring, and content changes. You're not required to use them — you can take the site and run it yourself. But most clients find it useful to have us handling the maintenance.

Three to four weeks, start to finish, for most sites. Clear expectations at every step. No surprises.

If you're ready to start, reach out and we'll set up a call.