I'm Michael. I've spent five years designing for companies like Angstrom Sports, where every design decision had to drive business results. That's why I built Kestrel - to bring that same thinking to local businesses who deserve better than generic templates.
Kestrel is run from the Aire Valley - Silsden, Skipton, Keighley, Ilkley, Bradford and the wider West Yorkshire area. Working locally means turning around quickly, meeting in person when it helps, and knowing the businesses the work is for.
Nothing to break, nothing to update. Static sites are fast, secure, and don't need a developer every time something needs changing. No plugin vulnerabilities. No security patches. No content management system overhead unless you actually need it.
Designed by hand means custom code written for your project - not a page builder, not a template with the colours swapped. The result is a site that loads instantly, ranks well, and looks like it was made for you, because it was.
Static sites also happen to be exactly what search engines and AI tools want to read. Every page is plain, semantic HTML - your services, prices, location, and contact details sit in the code itself, not buried inside a plugin or a JavaScript widget. Add proper metadata and structured data (schema), and the site is easy for Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other answer engines to understand. That is what AI-ready really means: clean, honest code that says what the business does, where it works, and why it can be trusted - no hype required.
Most single-page sites are live within a week of the brief being signed off. Multi-page sites typically take two weeks. The timeline depends on how quickly content and feedback come back - and which add-ons are included. The build itself is fast.
A completed brief (a short form covering what you do, who you're for, and what you want the site to achieve), any logo files you have, and a general idea of what pages you need. Michael handles the rest - copy, design, and build. If you don't have a logo, that's worth a conversation before the build starts.
WordPress is powerful, but it comes with ongoing maintenance - plugins to update, security patches, hosting that needs managing, and a CMS that can break. Most small businesses don't need any of that. A static site does everything a local business needs: looks great, loads fast, handles enquiries, and shows up in search. And if you need the things WordPress is known for - booking requests, newsletter sign-ups, content editing, social feeds - those are all available as add-ons. Nothing to break, nothing to update, nothing that creates an unexpected bill six months later.
It depends on the build. Standard static sites are updated by Michael on request - that's what the retainer options are for. If you need to update content yourself regularly - like a blog or news section - we include a Sanity CMS add-on, which gives you a clean editing interface without touching any code. Easy.
Every build includes custom design, a contact form with spam protection, mobile-responsive layout, privacy policy, cookie banner, SEO foundations, and deployment to Netlify. The site is also built to AI-ready standards - clean code, proper metadata, and structured data so search engines and AI tools can read what your business does and why it can be trusted. Two rounds of revisions are included as standard. Domain connection guidance is included. Domain registration and hosting are not - Netlify's free tier covers most small sites, and domain costs are typically under £15 a year.
A handoff document covers everything you need to know: how the site works, where things are, and how to get in touch for changes. After that, the site is yours. There are retainer options if you want ongoing support - updates, SEO checks, new sections - but there's no obligation. Plenty of clients just take the handoff and run with it.
Yes - the work is done remotely, so location isn't a barrier. If the brief is a good fit, get in touch.
50% deposit upfront to start the build, 50% on launch. Payment by bank transfer. Invoices sent at each stage - no surprises.
50% deposit · 50% on launch
Get started50% deposit · 50% on launch
Get startedDesigned by hand, not dropped from a template.