Three main differences: testing (we apply updates to staging first and verify functionality before deploying to your live site — most self-managed updates go straight to production); monitoring (we’re watching continuously, not just when you think to check); and expertise (when an update breaks something, we fix it as part of the retainer rather than it becoming a separate project you have to manage and pay for).

Yes — the majority of our retainer clients are sites we didn’t originally build. Before starting, we conduct a site health audit (plugin stack, theme, server configuration, backup state, security posture) so we understand exactly what we’re maintaining. If we find significant issues during onboarding, we document them clearly and discuss addressing them before the retainer begins or as a prioritised early task within it.

We respond as a priority engagement — same-day response for any incident causing live-site downtime or active compromise. Malware recovery and emergency restore from backup are included in retainer plans at no additional cost. We handle the incident from initial response through to verified resolution, with an incident report provided afterwards detailing what happened and how it was resolved.

Yes — retainers are month-to-month after the initial term (typically 3 months) with a 30-day notice period. There are no long-term lock-ins. If you cancel, we provide a full handover document covering your site’s configuration, update history, backup locations, and any outstanding issues — so whoever manages the site next has a complete picture of where things stand.

Every retainer includes a monthly report delivered to you by the 5th of the following month — covering updates applied, backup status and last tested restore date, uptime percentage, security scan results, Core Web Vitals scores, and any incidents that occurred. The report is a record of work done, not a summary — you can see exactly what was updated and when.