Build & Migrate
Web Development
Sites that bring in enquiries.
(opens in a new tab) Most of what we build is Shopify, because most of our clients sell products. Some do not. A contractor needs the right jobs to arrive as enquiries. A firm needs to look credible before the first call. That is a different build, measured a different way, and we take it on with the same people who build the stores.
The sites and stores we have designed and built.
-
Smart Surfacing Solutions Tarmac & resin surfacing -
Meta Mortgages Mortgage brokerage -
Natalie's Heating Service Plumbing and heating -
Powerlete Sportswear · our own -
WUKA Period underwear -
Nour Hammour Luxury fashion -
Black Sand FMCG distribution -
Knack Snacks High-protein snacks -
Cream Cornwall Coastal homewares -
Poppy Elder Fine jewellery -
Caorunn Gin Premium Scottish gin -
Waldo Swiss watches
Certified, not badge-only We build websites that bring in work, for businesses across the UK and the US.
Read the case studiesMost of what we build is Shopify, and the same developers do this. We build from London for businesses across the US and the UK, to a Core Web Vitals budget set before the design starts, because performance is cheap to get right during a build and a rebuild to fix afterwards. Our own site’s PageSpeed run is published on the receipts page rather than described.
Our servicesWeb development services
How we run a web development build
What the site has to do and how it is structured are agreed before anything is drawn, because both are cheap to change on paper and expensive once built.
-
What the Site Has to Do
Who you want to hear from, what a good enquiry looks like, and how you will know one arrived. Most briefs skip this and end up with a site that looks right and cannot be judged.
-
Structure Before Design
Pages, routes and the search terms each one is meant to answer, agreed before anything is drawn. Rearranging a site map costs an afternoon; rearranging a built site costs a rebuild.
-
Build and Instrument
Front end, CMS and tracking together, to a performance budget. The analytics and the enquiry routing are part of the build rather than a task after launch that nobody gets to.
-
Launch and Check
Redirects mapped, forms tested end to end into the CRM, and the first weeks watched rather than assumed. We check the enquiries are arriving and being attributed before we call it done.
Built to bring in enquiries
On a site that sells nothing, the enquiry is the sale. These three are judged on whether the right people get in touch.
Smart Surfacing Solutions
Site, tracking, paid media and the lead funnel
Website development services for businesses
A contractor’s site, judged on the phone ringing
Smart Surfacing Solutions lays tarmac and resin for roads, driveways and car parks. Nothing on the site adds to a cart. It sells jobs, and a job starts with an enquiry.
We redesigned the site they had rather than moving it, and put tracking behind it, so each enquiry traces back to the ad, the search or the page that produced it.
Meta Mortgages
Site build and a consultancy partnership
Professional website development company
A regulated broker’s site, built around one action
Meta Mortgages is a UK mortgage brokerage for first-time buyers. The site has one job: an enquiry from somebody genuinely at the point of buying, with the qualifying information earlier than most brokers put it.
It is a regulated firm, so what the site may say changes often. We built it and stayed on as their consultancy partner rather than handing it over.
Natalie's Heating Service
Site build and organic search
Web development company UK
A sole trader’s site, built to make the call happen first
Natalie is a Gas Safe heating engineer covering Bromley, on her own. Every page has one job, to get a call before the next name on the list, so the number sits in the header on every page with WhatsApp beside it, and prices are stated rather than hidden.
She was on Wix with her email on the same DNS zone, so every record was written down and checked before the cutover. It went live on 8 September 2026.
Custom web development
What we build in from the start
Four commitments that hold on every build, whatever the site runs on.
Judged on enquiries
The enquiry is the conversion
An ecommerce site is judged on revenue and there is no argument about it. A site that takes enquiries is judged on whether the right ones arrive, which is a harder thing to measure and the thing most builds ignore. We set that measurement up first, so the site has a number to be judged against rather than an opinion.
Found in search
Search built in, not bolted on
Structure, headings, schema and internal links get decided during the build rather than audited after launch. It costs almost nothing to do at the right moment and it is a rebuild to fix later, which is why so many sites carry the problem for years.
Built to last
Speed is part of the build
Performance is cheapest to get right while the site is being made and most expensive to retrofit afterwards. We set Core Web Vitals budgets at the start and hold the build to them. Our own site's PageSpeed run is published on the receipts page rather than described.
You can edit it
A site you cannot change without paying somebody is a site that goes stale. We set the CMS up around the things you will actually want to edit, then show your team how, so routine changes do not need a ticket.
Built around how the business trades
When the way a business works will not fit a template, the site is built around the trade rather than the other way round.
E-commerce web development
From a WhatsApp thread to a trade store
Black Sand sells drinks and snacks to importers by the container. In 2022 they had no storefront: deals closed in WhatsApp threads, at prices that move by buyer, volume and market.
We built the store from the ground up. An approved buyer sees their own catalogue and prices, and one qualifying form reaches WhatsApp, the CRM, the sales inbox and an account awaiting approval.
Web development agency UK
A freelancer, or an agency
Most people looking for this are searching for a web development agency uk-wide, or for web development in London specifically, and end up comparing a web development company in uk terms against a freelancer. The honest difference is cover rather than skill: a good freelancer will build you a good site, and a web developer agency is what you want when somebody has to answer the phone while that person is on holiday. We do bespoke web development from London and work with businesses across the UK and the US, so London web development is where we sit rather than where you have to be.
| What you are buying | A freelancer | An agency like us |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | One person, often very good | A small team, with named people on the account |
| When they are ill or away | The work waits | Somebody else picks it up |
| A second pair of eyes | Only if they bring one in | On anything touching payments or personal data |
| Measuring enquiries | Often added later, if at all | Agreed before the design starts |
| A small brochure site | Often the better buy | Often more than you need, and we will say so |
Built on our own money first
What we recommend has usually cost us something on our own store before it reaches yours.
Bespoke web development
Our own store, rebuilt when it was not good enough
Powerlete is our own sportswear brand, and the store every change is tested on before it reaches a client. It ran on a heavier theme with room to improve, so we rebuilt it: for speed, for conversion and for functionality.
The developers who did it are the ones who would build your site.
Reviews on the Shopify Partner Directory
Clients, in their own words.
-
From start to finish, they were incredibly easy to work with. They understood the brief perfectly and delivered to a very high standard. Communication was excellent throughout, with quick and clear responses to any questions I had.
Tacky And Upsetting Store build or redesign · April 2026
-
The things [the team] have put in place and recommended for us have paid immediate dividend. We wish we had come in contact with [them] sooner.
ARTMARTIAL Store build or redesign · April 2026
-
I can’t recommend [the team] enough, [they] helped us with everything from product design, supplier communication to website building and SEO. We were able to build a brand off the back of all [their] information and help.
Reveliér Studios Business strategy guidance · April 2026
How we work with you
A new site
Structure, design, build, tracking and launch, from a brief that says who you want to hear from.
Quoted on scopeA rebuild of the site you have
The more common job. Rankings, links and working forms have to come across, so we measure the site first.
Quoted on scopeBuild, then stay on
We keep it working on a monthly plan, or hand it to your team with the CMS set up for them.
MonthlyWeb development company
Why businesses choose Elms to build the site
Worth a conversation
- Enquiries matter and nobody can say which search brought them
- The site cannot be changed without paying somebody
- It is slow, and nobody ever set it a budget
- The business has outgrown what a template can do
Probably not this, yet
- You sell products online
- A small brochure site a good freelancer could build
- The site mostly works and needs looking after
- It has to be live this week, from a template
Keep reading
Everything around a site that has to bring in work
Around a new site
Guides by trade
If you sell online
Read before you decide
The brands behind the sites we build.
Straight answers
What is the difference between a web dev agency and hiring a freelancer?
Cover, mostly, rather than skill. A good freelancer will build you a good site. What a web developer agency adds is somebody to answer the phone when that person is ill, on holiday or has moved on, and a second pair of eyes on anything that touches payments or personal data. For a small brochure site the freelancer is often the better buy and we will say so.
How do we compare web development agencies against each other?
Ask each of them what they last shipped and who wrote the code, then ask what they would refuse to build. Most proposals in this market read the same. The useful signal is whether an agency will talk you out of something, because the ones that never do are selling hours rather than outcomes.
Are you a web development agency London businesses have to visit?
No. We are London-based and happy to meet, and almost none of this work needs anybody in a room. We build for businesses across the UK and the US on the same footing. Proximity is a weak reason to choose a developer; whether they have built the thing you need before is a much better one.
Do you rebuild existing sites, or only build new ones?
Both, and a rebuild is the more common job. The question worth answering first is whether the site actually needs rebuilding or whether it needs fixing, because those differ by an order of magnitude in cost and the answer is not always the one an agency would prefer.
Are you a website design company, a web development company, or both?
Both, under one roof rather than split across two suppliers. Website design and website design company work covers how the site looks and reads; a web development company or website development company builds what makes it actually function, the checkout, the forms, the integrations. Splitting those between two agencies is how a brief gets lost in the handover.
What is included under web development services generally?
Web development services here means the build itself: front end, back end, integrations, and testing before launch. Website development services and the singular website development service mean the same thing under a different label. A web development service quoted without a scope document attached is usually a red flag rather than a bargain.
Are you a website development agency working UK-wide, or just London?
UK-wide, and internationally. Website development uk demand is not evenly spread across the country, but a website development agency based in London serves the rest of the UK the same way it serves the capital. If you have already compared web development companies or website development companies, including the odd listing under websites development company, ask each one the same question about scope before comparing price.
What actually makes custom web development different from a template site?
Custom web development and custom website development both mean the site is built around your workflow rather than the other way round: your data model, your integrations, your edge cases. Custom web development services and custom website development services are worth the extra cost only once a template genuinely cannot do what the business needs, which is a real threshold, not a sales line.
How do I pick a company for web development rather than a freelancer?
Ask who else works on it besides the person you are talking to. A professional website development company, a web development company uk clients can actually reach, a custom web development company or a custom web development agency should all be able to name a second and third person on the account. A custom website development company that is really one person with a company name is not automatically wrong, it is just a different risk profile, and worth knowing before you sign.
Is a website development firm different from an agency, and do you do web page development services for a single page?
Not really, website development firm is just another word for the same kind of supplier. And yes: web page development services for one page, a landing page or a campaign microsite, are a real and much smaller job than a full site rebuild, and we scope them separately rather than pricing them as if they were the whole thing.
Is custom web design the same as custom web development, or a separate service?
Related but not identical. Custom web design covers how the site looks and how someone moves through it; custom web development is what makes it work underneath. Most projects need both, which is why we scope them together rather than as two separate quotes that have to agree with each other later.
Do "web development services company," "web agency," and "website design development company" mean anything different to you?
No, they describe the same work under different labels. Web development services company, website development services UK, web design development services, website development in UK, web agency UK, web development company website, website design development company, services for web development, website development and design services, web agency United Kingdom, services web development, website development company website, website design companies in UK, web development United Kingdom, website development services for businesses and corporate website development services all land on the same team and the same process here.
Do you build custom or ecommerce-specific sites, and do you cover East London specifically?
Yes to both. Custom web design services and e-commerce web development describe scope rather than location, and both sit inside the standard build here. Web design East London, e-commerce website design London and e-commerce website development services describe the same work from a London searcher's perspective; we are based here, so it is genuinely local rather than a claim.
Tell us what the site has to do
Send the address of the site you have, if there is one, and who you want to hear from. We reply personally, and if a freelancer or a template would serve you better, that is the reply you get.
Stores we build and grow
Start a conversation
Talk to the people who would build it.
Send the site you have, or the one you want, and what a good enquiry looks like. We will come back with what we would build first, what it would take, and whether you need an agency at all.
Get in touch