Short answer: a website care plan is a set of hours reserved each month for a site that is already live. Those hours cover updates, small edits, and a person to call when something breaks. Hours you do not use roll over. It is not a new website, and it is not the hosting bill.
People also call this a retainer. Same thing: time set aside, at a lower rate than ringing up for each job, with a faster reply than a one-off ticket.
Who a care plan is for
It suits a business site that changes through the year. A new team photo. Opening hours. A plugin that needs updating every month. A form that stops sending on a Friday. If that work shows up more than once or twice a year, reserved hours are calmer than raising a fresh ticket each time.
Stay on ad-hoc work if the site barely changes. One phone-number edit a year does not need a monthly plan. Pay for that job when it happens.
What the hours usually go on
- WordPress, theme and plugin updates, with a backup taken first.
- Small content edits: a price, a photo, a service you no longer offer.
- A look at speed when a page has become heavy.
- The call when a form, a checkout or a page stops working.
That list is the ongoing work after launch. What the ongoing work includes is the longer explanation, including what belongs to the server instead.
WordPress care plans
Most of the sites on a care plan are WordPress, including shops. A WordPress care plan is not a different product. It is the same reserved hours, spent mostly on core, plugin and theme updates. WooCommerce and a custom PHP site can sit on a plan too. The hours are what you are buying, not a promise that the site is WordPress.
Updates are where neglected sites get into trouble. Leaving plugins for months is a common way a small site is compromised. The plan is there so that work happens on a schedule, with a backup before it, instead of in a panic after something breaks.
A clinic site is a typical shape. This one is made up, so the picture is clear. Harbour Dental adds a practitioner, changes a photo, and needs plugins checked each month. Five reserved hours covers that without a new quote every time. A brochure site that has not changed since it launched can stay on a one-off ticket.
What a care plan does not include
- A new website, or a rebuild. That is a development job, and it starts before a care plan does.
- The server. Hosting is a separate invoice. You can keep the host you already have.
- A new design every month. The hours are for keeping the live site current, not for redesigning it.
How the hours are billed
Ad-hoc work starts at $80 an hour, GST included, for a simple update. A care plan starts at $475 a month, GST included, for 5 reserved hours. Unused hours roll over. A plan also gets a faster reply than a one-off ticket. A site that is down, or has been hacked, jumps the queue.
The full list of hours, rates and response times is on the care plan prices. That page is the price list. This one is the explanation of what you are buying.
