About DEXA Web Studio: a web studio from Lviv

The price was higher than I had set aside. A freelancer had promised a store for half the money, but before him two of my shop windows simply did not take payments. Half my enquiries were lost in DMs because I did not open them for weeks — I see them all now. Edits go into the Telegram chat, a day or two and it is done.

Two London agencies quoted double and both wanted a January start. These ones started in November. I did not manage to defend the parallax on the case page — and rightly, on a phone it would have been a mess. The site never went down once during the raise. Mail sent at 23:40 gets an answer within the hour, I checked three times.

I needed one page with booking, nothing cosmic. Three weeks, on budget. I cannot say how many bookings there are now — I still keep them in a notebook, the way I always did — but at night the phone finally stays quiet.

Aggregators took 15% even on the nights we brought in ourselves from Instagram. With our own booking I feared it would break mid-season; it has not, though for the first month I checked every request by hand. Guests say they find us on Google. We re-shot the photos twice: the first set came out dark.

They costed the budget at the start and never changed it — probably the main thing I can say. I ordered the site to put a link to it in client contracts, and I am not ashamed of it. At weekends replies are slow, sometimes until Monday. I allow for that now, but it would have been useful to know in advance — nobody told me.

Forty sellers, payments reconciled in spreadsheets. They launched in 18 weeks: a single cart with split payments. I did not sleep before launch, afraid the money would go to the wrong sellers. The first year brought 8.2 million hryvnias in turnover, though that is not down to the site alone.

I am in Manchester, so I braced for timezone problems and for explaining everything twice. None of it happened — in Slack they answered faster than my local contractor. The store is in English and runs without hiccups. The one thing I can hold against them: the mailing list only came up in the third week, though I had asked from the start.

Half a year we argued over a CRM or Excel, and paid for three tools that do not talk to each other. We launched, and the first month my managers pretended nothing had changed. The payment screen was rebuilt three times, and there the question is on them — nobody asked how we work. Now from lead to shipment it is all in one window.

Bookings no longer get lost in messengers. The site holds the free slots itself and takes the deposit itself; the receptionists exhaled, because before they spent every evening rereading the chat. Honestly, online bookings did not grow right away, but at last I can see what we actually have.

I take half a star off not for the site but for the API documentation — I had to drag it out, then spent a week repairing the warehouse integration because they changed the statuses a week before the finish. The budget did not grow, though: costed at the start, four months later the total was exactly that.

I am happy with the work, but I take a star off. The section about us was reworked many times; some edits were mine, some not — it all moved slowly. The price never changed, and I count that to their credit. The site is fast and enquiries came, though I still take them by email rather than in a proper system.

My old page would not let me show a portfolio properly — that was my only complaint. Now people arrive ready to agree, having just opened the link. I spent a month and a half gathering photos and dragged the deadline along — no fines and no nerves from their side, for which I am grateful. The admin panel makes sense at a glance.

Enrolments grew in the very first month, though I cannot say how much is the site and how much is that we put the schedule in one place. It is the first site my students use on a phone without asking where the button is. Half a star because for a week I could not find my own password in the admin area.

Three thousand items in the catalogue and the server holds it. That is the part I am willing to sign for, because the two contractors before them broke on exactly this. Search is instant, and the sales reps no longer mail price spreadsheets. The interface is not beautiful, I asked for something else, but it does not affect speed, so I did not go to war over it.

I came in with the site needing to look expensive and a conversation in which I could not phrase half of it. They understood. There is animation and it still loads fast — I did not believe that happens. I did not like the first home page, and they rebuilt it although I gave them no argument.

The 1C integration came up, and that is the reason we started any of this. Half a star off for the admin handover: it dragged on, I did not read the docs myself, and the person who walks you through the interface only turned up in the third week. The questions stopped once they sent a separate guide. The warehouse no longer keeps its count in a notebook.

Patients from the site come every week, and I track it in a plain spreadsheet, so I can say that exactly. They gave real timelines, no tomorrow, and did not raise the price afterwards. Besides the site they also set up Google Business, and I think that is when we started showing up in search. Not everything in the admin panel is clear to me; for now I keep asking my colleagues.

We inherited an unfinished React app from a team that dropped the project halfway. They did not rewrite it from scratch and did not charge for one either — they took apart what was there and finished the dashboard we showed investors. Twice I was told that what I wanted was technically silly, and both times it turned out to be true.

Our budget is small and the organisation is nonprofit. They costed it honestly and even cut part of what I asked for, because it does not bring donations in — that does not grow their own invoice, and I noticed it. There was no pressure to add something else. The half-week delay was on my side, and nobody once brought it up.

I change prices and stock myself, without a developer, and the project has already paid for itself on that alone. It used to take up my Monday evening. Demand here is seasonal and spikes in summer, and what matters is that the site does not fall over in the heat — so far it holds. I did not want a CRM at first, it struck me as something for office people, but they explained it without any talk of digital transformation.

Three stars, and my complaint is not about the site but about the handover. The work is quality and the team knows their stuff, but halfway through the manager changed and I re-explained things I had already said twice. The site turned out lovely and every question was closed. I think they have tightened that process since.

Six locations, six booking pages, one system. I was migrating off WordPress and the blog rankings in Google scared me most — they did the redirects and traffic did not dip, although our analyst would say it better. Two pages did not get approved at the first pass, and for a week I started quoting a different studio. They did not take offence; they costed it again and showed where they are cheaper.

I ordered it to sell, not to look pretty. For the first weeks I regretted spending that much — until I saw the average cheque go up. I do not regret it now, although by the standards of our market it is a lot. I do not like long threads, they answer short, and for me that matters more than a nice call in Zoom.

My WooCommerce took forever to open on a phone. They replaced the front end and you feel it by hand, without any numbers. They wrote speed and SEO into the contract as a separate line — that is why I gave it to them and not to a freelancer asking half as much. For three weeks I could not hand over the domain access, and nobody turned it into a scandal.

We change the menu every few weeks and I do it myself — that was the one requirement I held on to. Table booking works, guests write that they choose us because of the photos, even though I shot them myself on a phone and thought they looked bad. The price stayed where it was, but I asked for the first menu layout to be redone twice.

Three weeks before the season, I wrote to four studios — two said they physically could not make it. These ones took it. Bookings from the site tripled, and they showed analytics so I can see which line the money comes from. I delayed the tour photos and we went live on the last night. Half my team are still getting used to the new admin, and that is not their fault.

They made the deadline and stayed with the amount we had agreed. The site is alive and brings orders. Small tweaks were answered the same day, even though I asked three times and the small stuff was my own fault.

Customers used to call just to ask what an oil change costs, and half of them never showed up. Now the site has prices for the main jobs and booking for a specific hour — far fewer question calls, and the bays aren't empty in the mornings. One downside: we had to shoot the work photos ourselves, we had none.

I'm the one who used to keep bookings in a notebook and call everyone back. Now requests from the site land in my Telegram with the car make and what's wrong — fewer clarifying calls. Launch slipped by a week because we couldn't settle on the list of services, but that's on us.

Tyre season means a queue at the gate and angry people. I asked for customers to be able to pick a free slot on the site and for me to see the next day's bookings. This autumn, for the first time, there was no crowd. I'd also like SMS reminders for clients — we agreed to do that separately.

Booking through DMs ate an hour of my day, and clients got lost between messages. Now people pick the barber and the time themselves, and I see the whole team's schedule. The site looks like us — no gloss. The only thing: we had to reshoot the barbers' photos a few times.

It mattered to me that every barber had a page with their own work — our styles differ and clients come for the person. That's what we got. New clients now arrive having already picked a barber and a cut from the photos. Agreeing on the design took longer than I expected, but it was worth it.

We have two locations and people kept mixing up the addresses and turning up at the wrong one. On the site each location has its own map, hours and barbers, and bookings go straight to the right branch. No more mix-ups. Four and a half stars because the mobile gallery was polished only after launch.

Our receptionist was torn between the phone and clients in the chair. Now people book online with a specific stylist, and every service shows duration and price. Evening bookings that used to get lost now come in on their own. The first two weeks we were getting used to it; after that, like clockwork.

I wanted treatments described honestly: who they suit, who they don't, how many sessions it takes. That's what we got — clients now come prepared and consultations are shorter. The design is soft but not sugary. Choosing photos took a little long.

We used to sell only through Instagram, and every order meant ten messages about stock and delivery. The store shows stock, calculates shipping and takes card payments. I finally answer questions about skincare, not about whether a cream is in stock. Skin-type filters were refined after launch.

We have our own brand, and it mattered to talk about ingredients without marketing fluff. Product cards carry the full ingredient list and how to use it, and there are bundles. Customers now pick bundles more often than single products. Deadlines held, even though I changed the catalogue structure twice.

The most common question from clients was "how much?", and I worked out every answer by hand. Now the site has a calculator by area and cleaning type — people come with a ready figure and I just confirm the date. I finally don't spend evenings on estimates.

We work with offices, and there it's never one person deciding. We asked for a business page listing what regular cleaning includes and a form to request a site visit. Office managers now forward the link to their bosses instead of relaying our explanations. We edited the copy together, which took a while.

We were afraid of a site "like everyone else's" — the same stock photos of smiling people in gloves. It was built on our real before-and-after photos, with an honest list of what we don't do. Clients say that's exactly what convinced them. Launch went smoothly, no surprises on payment.

Clients want to see real projects, not renders. We got a portfolio with construction stages and site photos, each project on its own page. People now come to negotiations having already seen our work. I spent ages collecting photos from site managers — that was the longest part.

We needed the site to work for private clients and for corporate tenders alike. It was split into two branches, each with its own arguments and downloadable documents. Requests from companies started coming from the site; before, only through acquaintances. Legal review added an extra week.

Dispatchers tracked trips in three spreadsheets and a messenger, and someone always missed the latest change. The CRM put it all in one place: trip, driver, status, documents. Managers stopped calling drivers to ask where the cargo is. For the first month we still kept the spreadsheets in parallel, just in case.

Clients kept asking for delivery status, and managers spent half the day on it. Now the client gets a status link, and we see the customer's full history in the CRM. Team training took two days. Reports for management were fine-tuned after launch.

Orders from shops came via Viber, email and phone, and managers copied them into accounting by hand. Now clients place orders themselves at current prices, and the warehouse sees them immediately. Fewer errors on delivery notes. The accounting integration took longer to set up than promised.

Every client has their own prices and payment terms, and I kept it all in my head. The CRM applies the right price list itself and reminds me who's due to reorder. Repeat orders no longer depend on whether I remembered to call. The interface is simple; I learned it in a day.

Students called ten times to ask when the next group starts and what category B training costs. Now it's all on the site: group schedule, price, consultation booking. The administrator finally works with students instead of repeating the same answers. Could have been faster — one stage sat for two weeks waiting on me.

For me the key thing is booking practical driving lessons. It used to be a spreadsheet only I could see. Now instructors and students see free hours and I just confirm. Fewer cancellations, because a reminder goes out. They taught us to use everything in a single session.

Competitors in town had sites for years; we only had a social media page. I wanted parents of teenagers to see who the instructors are and which cars we teach on — for them that matters more than price. We got instructor and fleet pages. Now enquiries come from the site every week; before, it was phone calls only.

We had to look trustworthy to investors and to the regulator at once, without startup noise. The site explains the product, licences and security clearly, and there's an English version. Partners stopped asking for a separate deck — they look at the site. Legal copy took long to approve, but that's normal in our field.

The old site loaded slowly and looked bad on phones, and most of our users are on phones. The new one is fast, with a simple explanation of plans and a fee calculator. Support tickets asking "how much will I pay" dropped noticeably. I'd like more flexibility in editing blocks.

Almost all bookings came through aggregators that take a commission. We built a site with direct booking and a calendar of free rooms. Regular guests now book direct, and I see every booking in one calendar. Syncing with the aggregators had to be set up twice.

Before booking, guests asked the same things: parking, breakfast, transfer, can I bring a dog. Now all that is on each room's page and in the FAQ. Guest correspondence shrank, and reviews got warmer — people arrive knowing what to expect.

Parents spend months choosing a kindergarten and want to see everything: menu, daily routine, teachers, groups. I used to answer that in messengers for every family separately. Now I send a link, and the families who come for a tour are already the ones we suit. The copy took long because I'm very picky.

We wanted parents to book a tour without calling, whenever suits them, even in the evening. The form with a date picker works, and most bookings now come that way. The site is calm, not cartoonish, just as we asked. The downside: we filled the photo gallery ourselves, and that took ages.

I wanted parents to see straight away how we differ from a state kindergarten, without ads or big words. We got a section on our approach, small groups and a child's day hour by hour. Mums write that they read everything before calling. Easy to work with — questions were answered the same day.

Sellers feared adding products would be hard, and half dropped out at the start. The seller dashboard was made as simple as possible: photo, price, stock — done. Onboarding a new seller now takes an evening, not a week of emails. We're still refining moderation together.

We built a landing page on a site builder for every cohort, and every time it was painful. Now there's a course template: syllabus, teachers, price, instalments — a new course goes live in a day. Payment opens access to lessons instantly. The first version of the payment page was reworked.

It mattered to me that people understand before paying whether the course matches their level. We added a short quiz and a detailed week-by-week syllabus. Fewer refunds, because the people who join are the ones the course really suits. The team explained technical things in plain language — I really value that.

Our listings change daily, and the old site showed flats sold long ago. Now agents add and remove listings themselves, and the filter by district and price works. Calls about stale listings have almost stopped. Importing the old database took longer than planned.

Owners selling a flat need to see that the agency is serious. We got a page for sellers: how we value, how we show, what the commission covers. People now come to the first meeting with fewer doubts. I really liked that the copy was written with us, not for us.

Leads from portals and from the site used to go to different places, and some simply got lost. Now everything lands in one table with the listing the person viewed. The manager sees whom to call back first. Four stars — the mobile listing card was overloaded at first; it got reworked.

I wanted booking a table to be easier than calling, especially at weekends. Now guests choose the time and party size, and the host sees everything in one list. On Fridays the phone no longer rings off the hook. We update the menu with photos ourselves — that was the main condition.

We started delivering breakfasts to offices, and orders arrived chaotically in messengers. We got a simple menu with a cart and delivery-time selection. The kitchen now sees orders in advance, not five minutes before. Four and a half — the mobile cart was polished after launch.

Patients wanted to know which doctor they'd see and roughly what treatment would cost. The site has doctor pages, starting prices for the main services and booking at a convenient time. The first consultation is calmer now — people know what to expect. Doctor photos were redone to match one style.

We have several departments, and patients got confused about whom to book. We got a structure by symptoms and specialists, plus online booking into the right office. Receptionists redirect far fewer calls. The work took longer than planned because of the number of doctors.

People look for a lawyer under stress and want to know fast whether I even handle such cases. The site lays out my practice areas and how the first consultation works, with call booking. Enquiries are more on target — none about areas I don't cover. I proofread the copy myself; that took a week.

We needed a site for business clients, without stock photos of gavels and scales. It came out restrained: team, practices, anonymised cases, an English version. Foreign partners now find us on their own. I'd like small edits turned around faster, but overall we're happy.

I wasn't comfortable "selling myself" and feared the site would read like an ad. It came out calm: who I am, what I work with and what I don't, how the first session goes. Clients write that this page is what made them book. Calendar booking ended the back-and-forth about times.

I work online with clients in different countries, and time zones were a constant muddle. Now people see my free hours in their own time and pay for the session right away. Fewer no-shows. The only thing: I proofread the English version myself for a long time, but that's the nature of the job.

Parents come to me, and they need to know which ages and issues I work with before the first call. The site explains it in plain words and answers common questions about confidentiality. Calls have become shorter and more to the point. The collaboration went smoothly, without rushing.

We sell signature tours, and they can't be described in a single post. Each tour has its own page with a day-by-day route, what the price includes and a request form. People come to consultations having already picked a tour. Filling in the tours took the most time, but that was our part of the job.

Explaining what a tour does and doesn't include took the most time, and people argued later. Now it's a separate block on every page, and disputes have nearly stopped. Requests arrive with dates and group size. The downside: price changes have to be updated by hand.