Some businesses need a page, some need an online store, and some are the software. Our first job is to tell you which one you are — and then build exactly that, for new businesses in Houston and across the Greater Houston metro, in accounts that belong to you from day one.
These are a path, not a menu of upsells. If you're stuck on which one you are: if you can take the money today by invoice, by phone, or in person, you need a website, not a store. Most new businesses should start one size smaller than they think.
You need to exist online and look legitimate
A fast, clean site that says who you are, what you do, and how to reach you — on a domain and email address that belong to you.
You need to take orders and get paid
Products, payments, taxes, and shipping — on Shopify or a Stripe-backed store, whichever honestly fits what you sell.
The software is the business
Customer accounts, real workflows, payments, and an upgrade path — built like something people will rely on, because they will.
The question we get more than any other, and here is how to tell for yourself.
Two on the first list and a builder is the right call; four on the second and you'll pay for the site twice. If you're in the first group we'll say so on the call — and the call is free.
Getting a business online has a short real checklist and a long imaginary one. This is the real one:
This page is about the build — which size fits, what it costs, and how long it takes. If the business isn't registered yet, or the domain, email, hosting, and Google accounts still need setting up, start on starting a business instead: it covers the paperwork and the accounts in the order that saves you redoing things, and it sends you back here when you get to the site.
Domain, hosting, email, and payment accounts registered to you, billed to your card. We're a collaborator you can remove, never a landlord.
Fixed, quoted pricing on sites and storefronts. Running costs are paid by you directly to each provider — no markup, no surprise renewals.
If a site builder honestly covers what you need, you'll hear that on the first call. We'd rather be the shop you come back to when you've outgrown it.
Boring, portable tools from day one. Adding a checkout to a site, or moving a store off a platform it has outgrown, should not mean building the thing twice.
A free call about what you sell and who buys it. That is what settles the size — a page, a store, or an application — long before anyone talks about features.
Site, storefront, or application — we recommend the smallest one that does the job, with a fixed quote and a date.
Domain, email, and accounts in your name first, then the build — with something to look at along the way, not a reveal at the end.
Live, documented, and yours — with a short walkthrough of the few things you'll touch, and optional support if you'd rather never think about it.
No. You can register a domain and put up a site before the entity exists, and plenty of people should — before you have spent money is the cheapest time to get the plan right. We will tell you what you actually need on day one (usually a domain, real email, and one good page) and what can safely wait until you have customers. If the LLC, the EIN, and the accounts are the part you are stuck on, that whole sequence is on our starting a business page, in the order that saves you redoing things.
Sometimes, and when that is the right answer we will say so — a site builder is a fine start for many businesses. Where we earn our fee is when you don't have the time, when the builder can't do what you need, or when you have outgrown it and want something that is actually yours.
A simple site is a fixed, quoted price and usually a week or two of work. A storefront is more, because payments, sales tax, and shipping are real work rather than a checkbox. A production application is a project and gets quoted once it has been scoped, because anyone who quotes one before scoping it is guessing at your expense. In every case you get the number and a date before you commit to anything.
Because the recommendation comes before the quote, and it is usually the smaller one. If five pages and a contact form do the job, that is what we will say and that is what we will quote. The three sizes exist so you can see what you are not buying yet, not so we can walk you up them.
Yes, and that is most of why we pick the tools we pick. A site built out of ordinary, portable pieces can have a checkout added to it, and a storefront that outgrows its platform can move without you retyping the whole thing. What you should not do is buy the storefront now on the theory that you will need it in a year.
Usually, yes. We can move the domain and the content onto something you own, or leave it where it is and fix only what is broken — whichever serves the business better. If the site is working fine, we'll tell you so and touch only the parts that need it.
Almost nothing, by design: plain screens and a short written walkthrough for the few things you will touch. If you would rather never think about it, hosting, updates, and monitoring can sit on a small monthly retainer.
Describe the business in a few sentences. We'll tell you whether it's a page, a store, or an application — what that costs, and how long it takes.
Call 832-598-8234 or email msco@stoneagesoftware.com. Houston, Texas — serving Houston, The Woodlands, Conroe, Sugar Land, Katy, Pearland, and the Greater Houston metro.
We read your message, an engineer replies with questions or a straight answer, and if a call would help, we book one. From the first reply on, you're talking to the people who'd do the work.
