Custom work and paid customization

Support 5 min read

Support covers the product working as documented. Anything beyond that is custom work, which we do take on, under separate terms.

Most requests that arrive as "I need custom work" are not custom work.

Changing a logo, finding a setting, adjusting a color, working out which hook to use: those are ordinary support questions, and if you have an active support window they cost nothing. We do not charge for something the product already does. Ask first and get told it is a setting, rather than paying to have a setting changed.

Buying support, or extending it when it runs outSupport is a window of time during which we answer your tickets. It sits on top of a license and it is not the license. When the window closes the theme keeps working, every version you own...Support

#Which channel is yours

Support

Something is broken, or you cannot work out how a documented feature works, or you want advice on the right way to do something. It needs an active support window, and what it covers is set out in the support policy rather than judged per ticket.

Feature request

An idea that would be useful to everybody using the theme. It is considered on that basis, with no date and no promise that it gets built.

Custom work

Something you need for your site specifically, whether or not anybody else would want it. Quoted and paid separately.

A request in the wrong channel waits in the wrong queue.

A feature request sent as a ticket gets answered once and forgotten, and a custom job sent as a bug report waits behind bugs.

Sending a feature requestSuggestions go through your account, separately from support requests. They are recorded, and an accepted one becomes a roadmap entry you can follow. How many you get Feature requests are li...Customer Hub

#What we take on

  • adaptations for one specific site
  • custom templates and blocks
  • integrations with third party services
  • migration and setup
  • work that falls outside the item itself

Scope and timing are agreed before anything starts, so there are no surprises on either side.

#How to ask

There is no dedicated request form for custom work yet, so use the route below.

Write to us through the contact page on the main site, or raise it in a support thread and we will tell you what to do next.

To get an estimate quickly, include:

  • The site address

  • What you need, described as an outcome rather than an implementation

  • Your deadline, if you have one

  • Whether a child theme already exists

The last item matters more than it looks. If the site already has a child theme, the work starts there. If not, that is the first step.

#Writing a request that costs you less

A vague brief is quoted defensively and a clear one is not, so spend two minutes on it.

Describe the outcome, not the implementation. "The archive should show two columns on tablet" is answerable. "Change the grid template in archive.php" assumes a solution and may be the wrong one.

Send a link and a screenshot. Seeing the actual page removes a whole round of questions.

Say what must not change. A constraint is cheaper to hear at the start than to discover at review.

Read the usage terms first, so you know which parts of what you want are customization and which are already covered. The terms and conditions and the support policy are the documents in question.

Customizing the code: limits and responsibilityRead this before you open a file. A change to the code moves responsibility for the consequences to whoever made it. If something stops working after your own edits, that is not a support ca...Customization

#How the work is built

Always in a child theme or a companion plugin, never by editing the item.

Editing the theme or the Pro plugin means the next update overwrites the work you paid for, so a job delivered that way would last only until the next release. Built outside, it survives every update the theme ships.

#Common questions

Will the custom work survive updates?

Yes. It is built in a child theme or a companion plugin using filters and hooks, so an update replaces our files and leaves yours alone. Nothing we deliver edits the item itself.

Can my own developer do the work instead?

Yes, and the extension points are documented for exactly that. Two things to know before you decide. Your developer does not know the item as well as the people who wrote it, so the same job usually takes longer. And their code falls under neither support nor a feature request, so if it later needs repairing, that is paid work too, which can add up to more than commissioning it here in the first place.

Do you maintain the custom work afterwards?

Yes. Small revisions after delivery are part of the job rather than a new one. New scope is quoted again, usually lower than the first time because the groundwork on your site already exists, and a longer running arrangement is possible if the site keeps growing.

Is there a minimum size of job?

Ask. Some small things turn out to be a setting you had not found, and that answer is free.

I am not sure it needs custom work at all

Describe the outcome you want in a support request first. Many of these requests turn out to be an existing setting or an existing hook, which is a faster and cheaper answer than a quote.

#Still stuck

Open a support ticket and say what you tried and where it stopped. Your product, your domain, a screenshot and the exact message you saw are usually enough to settle it in one reply.

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