The questions buyers actually ask, with straight answers

Yes — every service page has a Published Pricing section with real dollar figures for every tier. We do not gate pricing behind a sales call. The whole point of publishing is that you can pre-qualify our fit before either of us spends time on a discovery call.

Standard split is 50% to start, 50% on launch for fixed-scope project work. Multi-phase engagements (Optimization Sprints, Production AI builds) sometimes use milestone-tied invoices instead of a single 50/50. Retainer engagements (Maintenance, Growth Engine, AI Ops, Fractional CRM Lead) bill monthly in advance on a recurring date you pick. Stripe + ACH accepted; net-15 terms available on request for established clients.

No. Every retainer has either a fixed term (typically 3 or 6 months) or month-to-month with 30-day notice to cancel. No auto-roll annual contracts. If a retainer stops delivering value, you cancel — that is the point of monthly billing.

That is our problem, not yours. Fixed-scope means fixed price. If we underestimate a task during scoping, we eat the additional time and ship on the committed date. The only way scope changes mid-project is through a written Change Order you sign — Change Orders have their own fixed price, never silent hourly billing creep.

Web development: 2-3 weeks for a Starter site (5-8 pages), 4-6 weeks for a Growth build, 8-16+ weeks for Scale. AI automation: 2-4 weeks for a Pilot, 6-10 weeks for a Production build, 8-14 weeks for a multi-step Agent. HubSpot Audit: 2 weeks. Optimization Sprint: 4-8 weeks. Every timeline is committed in writing before invoicing.

Weekly 30-minute check-in calls at a recurring time you pick, plus async Slack/email between calls. Sprint demos at the end of every 1-2 week sprint with working software on a staging URL — no slides, no wireframes-as-proof. Direct access to the person writing the code, not a project manager between you and the work.

We tell you the week we know — not the week before launch. The hard part of project management is the bad news, and we commit to surfacing it early. On the engagements where we have slipped, we ate the cost and communicated as soon as the slip became likely.

Yes. Every line of code lives in a Git repository under your account from day one — not at the end as a parting gift. Your domain stays in your registrar, your hosting is in your name, your database lives where you want it. If we ever part ways, you take everything with you. No proprietary platforms, no vendor-lock-in clauses.

Yes. We deliberately structure every engagement so you can hand the code to any competent Next.js / TypeScript developer and have it picked up cleanly. Conventional patterns, no secret-sauce framework layer, README + deploy runbook included. We have had clients hire in-house developers who took over without our involvement — that is how it should work.

Default is Vercel for Next.js sites — free tier covers most small-business deployments, scales clean to enterprise volume without architecture changes. For specific compliance requirements (HIPAA, attorney-client matters with BAA needs) we deploy on AWS, GCP, or your own infrastructure. The hosting account is in your name, billed to your card.

Web development (Next.js / TypeScript / Supabase), AI automation (chatbots, document processing, lead routing, workflow agents), HubSpot work (setup, custom API integrations, AI-powered HubSpot extensions, audit-first consulting), SEO + marketing (organic, local, GEO), branding + identity design, and Google Ads management.

We do not do print or large-format physical-marketing work (signage, vehicle wraps, trade-show booths) — for that we refer to Envigor in Muskegon. We do not do video production beyond simple screencast walkthroughs. We do not do social media management as a standalone retainer (we will build integration that publishes for you, but day-to-day posting is your team). We do not do mobile app development as a primary offering — if a project genuinely needs a native app, we scope it as a partner-led engagement.

Yes. The agency is based in Muskegon and most of our in-person work is West Michigan — Norton Shores, Grand Haven, Holland, Grand Rapids — but our remote engagements span the US and have included multi-state distributed teams. The 7,000-case immigration-firm flagship runs across multiple states.

We have four priority verticals where we publish dedicated industry pages: law firms, dental practices, contractors, and restaurants. We have shipped work in healthcare, manufacturing, real estate, education, hospitality, retail, and professional services beyond those four. If your industry is not listed, we probably still can — ask on the discovery call.

No. We use zero-retention API contracts with model providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) when compliance requires it. Your conversations, your documents, your customer data are not used to train third-party models. For HIPAA-relevant or attorney-client matters we route through providers with BAAs and the proper handling agreements in place.

Every AI workflow we build has a human-in-the-loop escape hatch. When confidence drops below a tuned threshold, the conversation or task routes to a human on your team with full context. We tune confidence thresholds over the first 30 days based on real conversation review. The goal is high-recall escalation, not pretending to know.

The same person you talk to on the discovery call. Maxx Effect is a small agency by design — small enough that you get direct access to the engineer writing the code, not an account manager between you and the work. For larger engagements we bring in specialist contractors on specific scopes (design, ad ops, copy) with the client's knowledge.

A production AI-powered case management platform for a 180-employee immigration law firm handling 7,000+ active cases. Page load 9s → 1.2s, document handling 18min → 90s, intake routing 4h → 30s, 200,000+ documents indexed for semantic search. It is the proof-point reference for every engagement we ship at smaller scale.

Muskegon, Michigan. Service-area business pattern — we work from a home office rather than retail space, which keeps our overhead low and your project pricing competitive. Most in-person meetings happen at coffee shops, the Muskegon Innovation Hub, or at your business.