Website care, hosting and support
Hosting, backups, security, updates and small changes handled — so the site you paid for is still working properly in three years' time.
Websites rot quietly
Nothing dramatic happens. The SSL certificate lapses and Chrome starts showing a security warning. The contact form provider changes something and enquiries stop arriving without a single error message. A plugin update breaks the mobile menu. Prices on the site are two years out of date because changing them meant emailing someone.
Every one of those is small. Together they're why a site that generated steady work in year one generates nothing by year three, and why the owner concludes that "websites don't work for my trade".
What's covered
- Hosting and domain admin. Fast hosting, SSL kept valid, renewals tracked so nothing lapses because a card expired.
- Backups. Automatic, off-site, and tested — an untested backup is just a hope.
- Security and updates. Patches applied, dependencies kept current, uptime monitored so we usually know before you do.
- Form monitoring. Regular live tests, because a silently broken enquiry form is the single most expensive fault a small business site can have.
- Small changes included. Text, photos, prices, opening hours, a new service on an existing page. Email us, it gets done.
- A quarterly check-in. What the site did, what's worth changing, and whether anything needs money spending on it. Often the answer is no.
The lock-in trap
Plenty of agencies build sites on their own platform and rent them to you. Stop paying and the site vanishes — you own nothing, because there was never anything to own. If you're on a monthly deal now, ask one question: if I cancel today, what do I keep? If the answer is "nothing", that's not a care plan, that's a lease. Ours is the opposite: everything is in your name from day one, and cancelling changes nothing except that we stop looking after it.
What it costs
Care starts at £249/month for the Grow & Manage plan, which bundles everything above with ongoing local SEO and content work — that's the option for businesses actively trying to grow. If you just want the site kept safe and occasionally edited, that's a smaller monthly figure and we'll quote it plainly. Either way you can cancel at any time.
New builds include support as standard first: 30 days on a Starter site, 90 on a Growth site. Nobody needs to decide about a care plan on day one. Our guide to website costs covers the ongoing costs most quotes leave out, and how to choose a web designer covers the contract terms worth reading twice.
Taking over someone else's site
Common, and usually straightforward. We audit what's there, get the domain and hosting into your name if they aren't already, fix anything actively broken, and then maintain it. If the audit says the existing build isn't worth maintaining, we'll tell you — that's a redesign conversation, not a care plan.
Care plan questions
Do I have to take a care plan?
No. Every site we build is handed over complete, in your name, and works perfectly well without us. Care plans exist because most business owners would rather not think about backups and SSL certificates — not because we've engineered a dependency.
What happens if I cancel?
You keep everything: domain, code, content, analytics, hosting account. We help you move to whoever's taking over, and we don't hold anything back. There's no notice period and no exit fee.
What counts as a 'small change'?
Text edits, swapping photos, updating prices or opening hours, adding a service to an existing page, seasonal banners. Whole new pages, redesigns and new functionality are quoted separately — we'll always tell you which side of the line something falls on before doing it.
Isn't hosting supposed to be free?
For a site of this size it often is, or close to it. We're upfront about that — hosting isn't where the value in a care plan sits. What you're paying for is somebody watching the thing, fixing it when it breaks, and making changes without you needing to learn anything.
My site was built by someone else. Can you take it over?
Usually. We'll audit it first and tell you honestly whether it's maintainable — some builds are held together in ways that make ongoing care more expensive than a rebuild, and we'd rather say that upfront than bill you monthly to keep something fragile alive.
Related services and guides
Web Design
A custom site built around how your customers actually choose a tradesperson — fast, clear, and easy to enquire from.
Read more GuidesHow much a website costs in the UK
Real numbers, including the ongoing costs most quotes leave out until after you've signed.
Read more GuidesHow to choose a web designer
The questions to ask, and the answers that should make you walk away.
Read more IndustriesElectricians
Certifications, safety and trust do the selling. We make them impossible to miss.
Read moreStop worrying about the website
Tell us what you've got and we'll tell you what looking after it properly would involve.
Ask about a care plan
Send us your website address, whether we built it or not. We'll come back within one business day with what we'd cover and what it would cost.
- info@blueforgelabs.co.uk
- +44 (0) 7885 727 017
- Reply guaranteed within 1 business day