Our Process

How we work

From form fill to live launch, eight phases. Every step transparent. Every milestone communicated automatically. You always know where you stand.

Why we built a process

Most agencies wing it. We built a system.

Every painful agency story we've ever heard from a client comes down to the same thing: nobody owned the process. The salesperson promised one thing, the project manager managed another, the developer built a third, and three months later you had a half-finished site and a vague invoice.

We built OpsVault Tech specifically to not work that way. Every project moves through the same eight phases. Every phase has a deliverable, a clear owner, and an automatic communication so you know exactly where you stand. The system does the orchestration — Alec does the judgment, the design eye, and the relationship.

The result: most clients say their project felt easier than they expected, and the final product was better than they hoped. We think you'll feel the same.

The Journey

Eight phases, end to end

Typical website project lands in 2–4 weeks total. Software projects vary. Either way, you see every step.

1
Discover1 day

You tell us the dream.

Project intake form first — five minutes, captures the basics. Then we get on a call. Alec runs a structured discovery script that pulls out the real story: who you actually serve, why you're in business, what success looks like in six months. Better answers here = better everything later.

What you do

Fill the intake form, take a 30-minute call.

What we do

Listen. Capture rich detail. Ask the questions you didn't expect.

2
Scope1–2 days

We write the plan.

Our AI engine reads your discovery output and drafts a structured scope — pages, features, integrations, what's in vs. out. Alec reviews, tunes, and you get the final document in plain English. No "we will leverage best-in-class solutions." Just what we're building.

What you do

Read the scope. Tell us if anything's off.

What we do

AI-generates the first draft, Alec polishes, you get the final.

3
Quote1 day

Fixed price. No surprises.

Quoted price = final price. Nothing hidden. You sign electronically (no DocuSign hassle), pay the deposit, and we kick off automatically. No "while we're at it, you also need…" mid-build add-ons.

What you do

Sign + pay deposit (Stripe link, takes 2 minutes).

What we do

Generate the quote, send it, advance the project on payment.

4
Design3–5 days

Mockup, then iteration.

AI generates a first-pass mockup using everything we learned in discovery + your trade's design language. You review on a private share link and leave feedback by clicking directly on the parts of the design you want changed. We iterate until you say go.

What you do

Review the mockup, pin your feedback, approve when right.

What we do

Generate, iterate, refine until you love it.

5
Build5–10 days

We turn it real.

Approved mockup becomes a live, production-grade site. Custom Next.js code (not Wix or Squarespace). Owned by you outright — code, domain, hosting, all of it. Built fast, accessible, and SEO-ready from day one.

What you do

Send any final assets (logo files, photos). Otherwise, just hang back.

What we do

Build, integrate, optimize.

6
Preview1 day

You see it before anyone else.

Before launch, you get a private staging link. Take it for a real test drive on your phone, your laptop, your spouse's phone. If anything's off, we fix it before going live. No public-launch surprises.

What you do

Click around, find anything that needs polishing.

What we do

Run automated quality checks (Lighthouse, accessibility, broken links). Fix what you flag.

7
Launch1 day

Going live.

Once you give the green light, we deploy to production. SSL, DNS, analytics — all wired. Most launches are done in under an hour. You get a handoff document with credentials, instructions, and a video walkthrough of how to update content yourself if you ever want to.

What you do

Approve. Take a screenshot. Tell people.

What we do

Deploy, verify, document, hand off.

8
MaintainOngoing

We don't disappear.

Year 1 of monitoring is included free. Uptime checks, SSL expiration tracking, monthly written reports in plain English (not 50-metric dashboards), minor edits, security patches. After year 1, ongoing care is $97/month if you want it — no contract.

What you do

Live your business. Email us when you need something.

What we do

Watch the site, send monthly reports, fix what comes up.

Touchpoints

What you'll see along the way

Automated where it matters, human where it counts. You'll never have to ask "what's the status?"

Phase-change emails

When your project advances — scoping → proposal → kickoff → design — you get an email automatically. No "any update?" texts to us.

Live mockup link

A private URL where you review and pin feedback directly on the design. No PDF screenshots, no compressed JPEGs.

Project portal

Logged-in view of your project showing exactly which phase you're in, the latest deliverable, and the next milestone date.

Staging preview

Real working site on a private link before it's public. Test on your devices, with your team, before launch.

Handoff document

Credentials, instructions, training video — everything you need to own and operate the site, sent on launch day.

Monthly reports

Written report in plain English. Every metric explained, every change documented. No alarming-looking charts you can't interpret.

Counter-positioning

What we never do

No surprise invoices

Quoted price = final price. We don't bill for "additional discovery" or "scope refinement." If we underestimate, that's on us.

No scope creep

Want to add something mid-project? We tell you up front: "that's out of scope, here's what it costs, here's how it affects timeline." Your call.

No weeks of silence

You hear from us at every phase change automatically. If something's slipping, we tell you immediately — not after you've emailed twice.

No hostage hosting

You own the domain, the hosting account, the code. If you ever want to leave, you walk away with everything. We've never had a client want to.

Ready to start?

Five-minute intake form. We'll be in touch within a day to schedule the discovery call.