SwansonX
Brainerd, Minnesota · working anywhere

Custom Web Design & Development for Small Businesses

I build fast, custom websites and web applications for small businesses in Brainerd, Baxter, the Brainerd Lakes Area and throughout Minnesota. No templates and no website builders — every site is designed and developed around your business and what you need it to do. Websites from $1,495, one fixed price agreed in writing before I start.

Need more than a website? I also build custom business software, web applications, dashboards, customer portals and workflow automations — the software you'd otherwise rent, from $950. You own what I build, and there is no contract.

Your website is only the beginning.

  • Fixed price, in writing
  • You own the code and data
  • No contract, cancel any month
  • I reply within 24 hours.
The HydroPeak site: a pressure washing company homepage with a full-width photograph and a quote request
HydroPeak · eighteen pages, built end to end · see the build
Where are you right now?

Two reasons people call me.

I need a website

Or I built one myself and it shows. A custom site, written and coded for your business, from $1,495 fixed in writing. Or see one free first.

I want to cut my software costs

Six subscriptions, two features of each, the price up again this year, and nobody to call when it breaks. I build the parts you actually use, once, and you own them. Start with one thing from $950.

Not sure which? Take the free homepage. It costs nothing, you keep it either way, and it tells us both more than a phone call would.

How it works

Three steps, and the first one is free.

1. Something free, first

A real homepage on a real link, or a written list of what your software costs and what it does. Either way you get something you can keep before any money changes hands.

2. One fixed number

What I'd build and what it costs, in writing, before anything starts. Websites from $1,495; software from $950 for the single worst part of your week.

3. You own it

The code, the data and the domain, in your name. An optional monthly plan if you want me keeping it running — cancel any month, no fee.

Sometimes the honest answer is keep what you have. I'll tell you that.

Sean Swanson
Who you're dealing with

One person, and you get his phone number.

I'm Sean. There's no account manager, no team you never meet, and nobody the work gets handed to after you sign. You email me and I answer, which is the whole reason the prices look like this and the reason I can tell you honestly when you shouldn't buy something.

More about how I work →

What an absolute pleasure to have my website done! It was fast, easy, efficient and cost effective! Sean was always right on top of things and replied to my questions almost immediately. I would definitely recommend him/them to anyone who is interested in this type of service! 5 stars for sure!

Kelly M., Be Bold Balloons
The Be Bold Balloons site: a wall of bright balloons behind a panel reading Let's Make Your Party Pop
The same Be Bold Balloons site on a phone

Be Bold Balloons, Brainerd — the site Kelly is talking about. beboldballoons.com

Pricing

The numbers, before you ask.

Subscription audit

$0

A written list of what you pay for and what it does, plus the one thing I'd build first and what it costs.

Custom software

from $950

One module to start. Two or three for $1,950, or the connected Back Office from $2,995. You own the code and the data at every step.

Partner Plan

$300/month

Optional. The support that used to come with the subscriptions you cancelled.

Every price, on one page →

The monthly plan

The monthly fee is the support you used to rent.

When a subscription breaks, there's a company with a support team. When your own software breaks, there's me. That's what the monthly fee pays for — not permission to use what you already own. No contract, cancel any month, no fee.

In your name from day one

  • Your domain, registered to you
  • Your Stripe account, your bank details — I never touch your customers' money
  • Your Google Business Profile, you're the owner
  • Your source code, available any time you ask
  • Your data, exportable, and I help you move it if you leave

And the part most people don't say out loud: your database and hosting sit in my accounts while you're on a plan, and move to you on request or when you cancel. Every client gets a separate database project. I never hold a password of yours.

What $300/month covers →

Who's building it

One person, in Brainerd.

I'm a developer and designer in Brainerd, Minnesota. No account managers, no outsourcing, no junior doing the build while somebody else sold it. You talk to me because there is only me.

More about how I work →

Questions

The ones that come up every time.

What does a custom build cost?
One module is $950. Two or three that only make sense together is $1,950. Everything connected is from $2,995, and anything larger is quoted in writing. The price includes the first year of it running: hosting, database, backups and keeping it working. No monthly fee in year one. After that it's $79/month to keep it running, cancellable any month. Nothing renews on its own. Half up front to book, half on launch. All prices.
Is this actually cheaper than my subscriptions?
Eventually, and how long that takes depends entirely on what you're spending now — which is why the first step is small rather than three thousand dollars. There's a worked example with made-up numbers on the custom software page, and the free audit does the same arithmetic with your real ones. If it doesn't come out in your favor, the audit says so.
What happens if you get hit by a bus?
You have the source code, which is the honest answer to a one-person business. It's in a private repo under my account and available to you on request, any time, no reason needed, and your data is exportable in full without asking me. Another developer can pick it up. It isn't nothing, and it's worth weighing.
Am I locked in?
No. There's no contract, the monthly plan cancels any month with no fee, and the build keeps working if you stop paying — you own it. The monthly fee is for me keeping it running, not for permission to use what you already bought. Your Convex project and Vercel hosting move to your own accounts on request or when you cancel, and I help you move them.
Do you only work in Minnesota?
No. Minnesota is where I am and where most enquiries come from, but the work runs over email and video calls and clients anywhere are welcome. More on that.
Do you still build websites?
Yes. Custom sites from $1,495 and landing pages from $1,195, same fixed-price-in-writing arrangement. The websites page has the detail.

Start with the free one.

Tell me the name of the business and what you do. Worst case you end up with a free homepage on a link you keep. I reply within 24 hours. Whether or not you hire me.

Free homepageContact