If speed, security, and low upkeep are what you want from a build, this is the stack for it. We take the signed-off design and build it on Astro or Next.js, with content in Payload CMS: assembled from clean components, compiled into pages ahead of time, and served as static files, so the site is fast on every visit and has very little that can break or be broken into. We’re a small studio in north Norfolk, a short drive from Norwich, working as Astro and Next.js developers for businesses there and across the UK. What each shape starts at is on the web design page; quotes are fixed in writing.
What we mean by it
A modern build is put together differently from a traditional website. Instead of one large system generating each page from a database every time someone visits, the site is built from small, self-contained components, then compiled into finished pages ahead of time. A few ideas worth knowing, in plain terms:
The site is built from reusable, self-contained pieces: a header, a card, a gallery, a contact block. A change to one doesn't ripple unpredictably through everything else.
Pages are generated once, at build time, and served as plain files. There's no database query on each visit and no waiting for a server to assemble the page.
Where part of a page needs to be interactive, a booking widget, a filter, a calculator, that part runs as a self-contained island while the rest of the page stays static and fast.
Your content lives in Payload, set up with only the fields and content types your site uses. The build reads from Payload and compiles the site.
How we work
A few things that shape every modern build at BrainWeb.
Every build lives in Git from the first commit. Work happens on feature branches, and every change gets a preview deployment you can look at in context before it goes anywhere near the live site. Nothing reaches the public without being seen first.
Most pages are generated as static files, because that's faster and safer. Server rendering is used deliberately, only where a page needs it, such as a personalised area or live data, and the reason is documented rather than assumed.
Payload CMS is configured for your site specifically: the exact content types and fields you need, nothing spare. Adding a blog post, a team member, or a case study later feels obvious, because the editor mirrors how the site is structured.
Interactive components are added only where a section benefits, and built so the rest of the page stays static and quick. Interactivity everywhere is how modern sites quietly get slow, so we add it only where a section earns it.
Fast by default isn't the same as fast forever. We work to performance budgets, optimise images, keep the code that ships to the browser lean, and self-host fonts and icons rather than pulling them from third-party servers. The speed is engineered, not hoped for.
When a change is approved and merged, the site rebuilds and deploys itself to Firebase automatically. No manual file uploads, no 'it worked on my machine', no risky launch-day scramble.
Before launch, the whole codebase is read by a frontier AI model for security weaknesses and bugs a human review can miss; what it finds, we fix.
Build shapes
The engineering is the same across all three; what changes is how much of the site you edit yourself and how much server-side work it needs. The initial conversation settles which fits.
The lightest build: Astro or Next.js with content managed as text files we update for you, or that you edit with a little guidance. Right for sites that change a few times a year.
The typical modern build: Astro or Next.js, content in Payload CMS, mostly static, served worldwide from Google's network. The right shape for content-led sites, professional services, hospitality, charities, and most SME work. Interactive islands added where a section needs them.
For projects that need real server-side logic: user accounts, dynamic or live data, or custom application behaviour. Built on Next.js or a similar framework, with Payload or a custom backend. The heavier end of this shades into custom development, and the first conversation settles which page your project belongs on.
What's included
Every modern build includes everything below, inside the fixed quote.
Every modern site we build meets these as standard. Some are obvious, some less so, all of them matter.
Recent Work
A second website for a second business, launched off the back of Tank Clad's capability but sold under its own name, because the two serve different buyers.
What we built
WordPress Web Design · WordPress Development with Divi · Managed WordPress Hosting
A WordPress site for a family-run Norfolk campervan converter, built around a custom conversions portfolio, a dedicated services and FAQ hub, and a refreshed logo suite for light and dark use.
What we built
WordPress Website Design & Build · Custom Post Type · Managed WordPress Hosting
A multi-page WordPress site for an international aerospace and quality consultancy, built to give a newly formed firm a credible home and ready it for the 2026 standards.
“Ric was suggested to my by a complete stranger and I have been very pleased with his work. … I would certainly recommend Ric to anyone out there.”
A complete website for a Norfolk Broads education charity, built around several very different audiences so each one finds its own clear way in.
What we built
WordPress Web Design
We rebuilt our own site as a WordPress-to-Astro conversion, the same service we sell, built to the same standards we ship to clients, so the site is the proof rather than the claim.
What we built
Web Design · Web Development · Website Hosting · Content Creation
What it costs
It depends on the shape: a text-managed site, a Payload CMS site, and a web app each start at a different point, and the web design page puts the starting prices side by side. The quote is fixed in writing before work begins, and the first year of Firebase hosting is part of the project; what hosting costs after that is on the hosting page.
After launch
One of the quieter advantages of a modern build shows up after launch. There's no PHP runtime to patch, no plugins to keep updated, no database to back up and worry about. The attack surface is small by design, and the site mostly just runs.
It still needs hosting, and the first year on Firebase is included with every build: served from Google's global network, fast for visitors anywhere, with deployment and configuration handled by us. What it costs after the first year is on the hosting page, and it's less than managed WordPress hosting, because there's less to manage.
The other options
Two other build paths sit alongside Modern JS Development. If you've not settled on a platform yet, the Build overview has a comparison to help you choose.
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Tell us about your project and what the site has to do, and we’ll come back with a view on whether the modern stack fits and what the build would cost.