Services · Net-new builds

Custom Website
Development
From a blank file

Brand-new sites and web apps, hand-coded in Astro on Cloudflare. No templates, no page builders, no plugin bloat. Custom design and engineering from one in-house team, structured to be read and cited by AI from line one. You own the code outright. From $4,000.

001 / What this is

Hand-coded · Owned outright · AI-legible

Net-new, not a migration
Custom website development

Built from scratch, not assembled from a template.

Most "custom" sites are a paid theme with the serial numbers filed off. We start from an empty repository. Your brand, your structure, your code, written by the same in-house team that does the design. The result is faster, leaner, and yours to keep, with nothing rented from a page builder and no monthly platform fee paid to anyone.

We build on Astro and ship to Cloudflare's edge, the same stack we use for our own products. Pages are static and pre-rendered where they can be, server-rendered where they must be, and structured with clean semantic markup so that ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI can read and cite them. Real AI features go in only where they earn their keep, never as a gimmick.


From $4,000 · productized fixed scope

Full custom applications built from scratch, with auth, payments, a database, and AI pipelines, are quoted per scope and typically start around $25,000.

What you get
002 / The handoff

You leave able to run it yourself

No developer on retainer
01

Design and build

We take direction on intent and brand, then design and engineer the whole site or app from a blank file. Brand, layout, copy structure, and code all come from one team, so nothing gets lost in a handoff between a designer and a separate developer.

02

AI-editable handoff

Every build ships with a tuned CLAUDE.md, preview deploys on every change, and one-click rollback. You keep editing the live site yourself by talking to Claude or Cursor, with the guardrails that make it safe to do that on a real business.

03

You own it

We hand over the full repository. No retainer, no hourly billing, no platform subscription owed to us. Host it wherever you like and change it whenever you want. The code is yours from the day it ships.

003 / Proof

We build our own products this way

Three shipped, custom-coded from scratch
Why trust the studio with a blank file

The Notus has shipped three public SaaS products of its own, each custom-coded from scratch with the same standards we put on client work. Not theme demos. Real products with users, payments, and AI in the hot path.

See the case studies →
Music / AI SaaS
Song Cage
92 Signups · month one · zero ads
AI / Business Intelligence
Pulse
15 Worker services on Railway
AI / Consumer
Cardify
0 Visual rough draft inherited

Song Cage is the clearest example: built from a founder vision with no prototype to start from, then shipped to web, iOS, and Android from one React codebase. It drew 92 signups in its first month with zero ads, and ChatGPT was recommending it #1 for "best songwriting app" within seven days of launch, drawing from the AI-legible Astro marketing site we built alongside it.

004 / Adjacent

Already have a site, or a stuck app?

Two related services
Website redesign service → Fractional CTO service →
005 / FAQ

Custom website development, answered

Cost · ownership · scope

What does custom website development cost?

A custom marketing or content site starts at $4,000 as a productized, fixed-scope build: brand, design, and engineering from one in-house team, no retainer and no hourly billing. Larger custom web applications built from scratch, with auth, payments, a real database, and AI features, are quoted per scope and typically start around $25,000. You get a written, fixed estimate before any work begins, so there are no surprise invoices.

Why custom code instead of Webflow, WordPress, or a page builder?

Page builders rent you a layout and lock your content inside their platform. Hand-coded Astro on Cloudflare has no plugin bloat, no monthly platform fee, no template ceiling, and no rendering layer between your content and the browser. That is why our custom builds hit 95+ Lighthouse and ship structured, AI-legible markup that ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI can read and cite from line one. You own the code outright and host it anywhere.

Do I own the code?

Yes. You own the code outright. There is no retainer, no hourly billing, and no platform subscription owed to us. We hand off the full repository with a tuned CLAUDE.md, preview deploys on every change, and one-click rollback, so you can keep editing the site yourself by talking to Claude or Cursor without a developer on retainer.

Can you build web apps, not just marketing sites?

Yes. We are a fractional-CTO and engineering studio, not just a web shop. We have shipped three of our own public SaaS products from scratch: Song Cage, Pulse, and Cardify, covering auth, payments, databases, background workers, and real AI pipelines. A brochure site starts at $4,000; a full custom application from scratch is quoted per scope and typically starts around $25,000.

How is this different from a website redesign?

A redesign or migration moves an existing Webflow, WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix site onto custom Astro on Cloudflare. Custom website development is for net-new builds: there is no existing site to migrate, so we design and engineer the whole thing from a blank file. If you already have a site to move, the website redesign service is the right starting point.

How long does a custom build take, and where are you based?

A productized custom site typically ships in a few weeks; larger application builds run longer and are scoped up front. The Notus is based in Tampa, FL and works with clients worldwide as a fully remote studio. The fastest way to start is a free audit: send us the idea, the brand, or the rough scope and we send back a written plan.

Start with a blank file and a clear plan

Send us the idea, the brand, or the rough scope. We'll send back a written plan.

Free audit, no call required. The Notus, Tampa FL, working worldwide.

Get a free audit →