About Smart Web
Crafting — who we are
Smart Web Crafting is a web design studio in Barton, Canberra — a small crew building honest, fast websites for Australian businesses since 2019. Here's the story, the team and the work.
Started because we kept
watching people get burned
Back in 2019 we were two freelancers watching the same story repeat: a local business pays an agency $15k for a site that takes eight months, or buys a $500 template job that falls apart in six. There was an obvious gap in the middle — a studio that does custom work at prices a real business can justify.
Seven years on, we've shipped more than 90 sites. Tradies, physios, law firms, cafés, a few startups, one very ambitious dog groomer. The philosophy hasn't moved: charge fairly, tell the truth about what's worth paying for, and answer the phone.
- Fixed written quotes — the number doesn't drift
- You talk to the people doing the work
- We say no when a project isn't the right fix
The rule we work by
"Build it like we'd have to maintain it for free." It's amazing how many bad decisions that one rule kills.
The people on the
other end of the phone
Dan Mercer
Founder & lead developer
Writes the code, answers the phone, drinks the coffee. Building websites since 2014.
Priya Nair
Senior designer
Runs design and UX. The reason our sites look like businesses and not templates.
Tom Reyes
Support & SEO
Looks after maintenance clients and runs our SEO work. Knows every site we maintain by heart.
Seven years,
a few highlights
We're not a rocketship story. We're a "kept getting better at one thing" story.
Two laptops, one kitchen table
First clients: a mates' landscaping business and a local physio. Both still with us.
Moved into the Barton studio
Actual desks. Priya joined, and design stopped being "Dan's best guess".
50th site shipped
Also our first 4,000-product store and our first client in every mainland state.
Maintenance hits 40+ sites
Tom joined to run support. Same-day fixes became the norm, not the exception.
Today
90+ builds, a referral-only client pipeline, and the same phone number we started with.
Work we're happy
to put our name on
A cross-section — different industries, budgets and briefs. The common thread: every one of these clients still picks up when we call.
Three rules we
don't break
Plain talk
If a cheaper option fits your project, we say so. If your idea won't work, we say that too — with a better suggestion attached.
Fast is a feature
Every site ships under a second where physics allows. Slow sites lose money — ours don't get to.
No lock-in
You own the code, the domain and the files. Stay because it's working, not because leaving is painful.
Sound like your kind
of studio?
See what we charge, check the services, or just call and tell us what you're planning.