/ Services — Store design & build ( 01 )
A store designed from a blank page.
Custom Shopify store design and development. No recycled themes, no template look. Six to ten weeks from first call to launch, one price agreed up front.
Starting at
$10,000
Typical timeline
6–10 weeks
How we bill
Fixed fee, three payments
/ Included
Everything a launch needs, in one project.
01
Art direction
A look that’s yours: type, color, photography direction, the lot.
02
Custom theme build
Hand-built Shopify theme. Fast, clean code your next developer will thank us for.
03
Product pages that sell
Galleries, variants, reviews, sizing. Every question answered before it’s asked.
04
Cart & checkout polish
Fewer steps, fewer fields, fewer second thoughts.
05
Copy, with you
We help write the words, in your voice, not agency-speak.
06
Thirty days of care
We watch real customers use it after launch, and fix what we find.
/ Fit
Who should commission a custom build.
A custom Shopify build is a real investment. It pays off for some stores and is overkill for others. Here’s how we tell.
( Build for you if… )
+You’ve outgrown a bought theme and every change now needs a developer
+Your products need explaining: bundles, variants, sizing, made-to-order
+You have real photography, or budget to make it
+One or two people can make decisions without a committee
( Don’t build yet if… )
–You need to be live in two weeks
–A $200 theme and a weekend would genuinely do the job
–You want one supplier for design, ads, fulfilment and PR
On the fence? Send us your store and we’ll tell you whether a build is the right spend right now, or whether something smaller gets you further.
/ How a build runs
Real screens in week two, not week six.
Six to ten weeks, in four stages.
01
Week 1
Groundwork
We read your analytics, talk to a few of your customers, and list what’s actually losing orders today. The brief comes out of evidence, not taste.
02
Weeks 2–4
Design
Homepage, product page and collection first, with your real copy and photos. You review in the browser, on your phone, not as a flat picture.
03
Weeks 4–8
Build
A custom theme built on Shopify’s own section system, so your team can rearrange pages later without touching code. Speed budget enforced as we go.
04
Weeks 8–10
Launch & watch
We test on real devices, migrate content, launch on a quiet weekday morning, then watch the numbers with you for 30 days.
On every project, in writing: [ You see the work as it happens ] [ A short note every Friday ] [ Founder on every call ] [ Everything in your accounts ] Why we work this way →
/ Deliverables
What lands in your Shopify admin.
No licence fees, no lock-in, no “call us to change a headline”.
Build packages and payment stages are set out on the plans & pricing page.
01A custom Shopify 2.0 theme, yours to keep
02Editable sections for every page type
03Product, collection, cart and checkout styling
04Blog, about and policy templates
05A speed budget your theme has to pass
06A short walkthrough video for your team
0730 days of post-launch fixes, included
08Design files and source code handed over
6 weeks
From kickoff to first drop
“We’d been told a custom build meant a year and six figures. It took six weeks and our team can finally edit the site without asking anyone.”
— Founder, apparel brand · 40k orders/yr
/ In plain terms
Custom Shopify theme design, explained
A custom Shopify theme means your storefront is designed around how your products actually sell, then built as clean Liquid on Shopify’s Online Store 2.0 section framework. In practice that gives you two things a bought theme can’t: pages shaped to your catalogue, and a codebase small enough to stay fast for years. Most stores that come to us aren’t unhappy with how their theme looks. They’re stuck because every small change needs a developer.
We build the theme, not a page-builder app on top of one. That keeps your store quick, keeps your monthly app bill down, and means the next agency you hire can read the code. If you’re not sure a full build is what you need yet, a store audit answers that in two weeks, or speed & conversion work can get more from the theme you already have.
/ FAQ ( 07 )
What founders ask before commissioning a build.
How much does a custom Shopify theme cost?
Our builds start at $10,000 and most land between $10k and $16k depending on how many page types and integrations are involved. We quote a fixed fee after a scoping call, so the number you approve is the number you pay.
How long does a Shopify build take?
Six to ten weeks for a typical store. The two things that stretch it are content (photography and copy that aren’t ready) and decision-making by committee. We’ll tell you early if either is going to be a problem.
Can our team edit the site afterwards?
Yes, and that’s the point. Every page is built from editable sections in Shopify’s own theme editor, so your team can rearrange, add and rewrite without us. We record a walkthrough for whoever will be doing it.
Do you build on Shopify 2.0?
Always. Sections everywhere, metafields for structured product content, no page-builder app between you and your storefront.
What happens to our existing apps?
We audit them first. Some get kept, some get replaced with a few lines of theme code, and some turn out to be costing you money and speed for a feature nobody uses. You decide, we implement.
Do you handle photography and copywriting?
We don’t shoot photography in-house, but we’ll tell you exactly what shots the design needs and can introduce photographers we trust. Copy we’ll happily edit and structure. It works better when the words come from you.
Who owns the code when we’re done?
You do. Theme source, design files, documentation, all handed over at launch. There’s no licence and nothing stops you working with someone else afterwards.
Got a question about your particular catalogue? Send it over. We answer these ourselves, usually the same day.
Also worth a look: Custom apps & features · Speed & conversion · Ongoing care