George and the Garden Route · Western Cape
A developer on the Garden Route
I build websites and the systems behind them for businesses between Mossel Bay and Plettenberg Bay, and I have been doing this for twenty years. I am John Montgomery. I live here, so the person who builds it is the person who answers the phone about it afterwards.
The problem here is rarely the website
Most Garden Route businesses I speak to do not need a new website. They need the one they have to stop being a dead end: a booking that arrives as an email nobody reads, a quote request that goes to an address that bounced two years ago, a stock list updated by hand every Friday, a site nobody can edit because the person who built it moved to Cape Town and stopped answering.
That is a maintenance and ownership problem wearing a design problem’s clothes. Redesigning it does not fix it. Sometimes the answer is a week of work on what you already have rather than a rebuild you do not need, and I would rather say so than sell you the bigger job.
Three ways this usually goes wrong
Every business here has been through at least one of these, and usually more than one.
| What it looked like | Where it ended up | |
|---|---|---|
| The template | A themed site bought off a marketplace and filled in over a weekend | Works until you need it to do something the theme did not anticipate, then nothing can be changed without breaking the layout |
| The person who left | Someone local built it cheaply, then moved, changed careers or stopped replying | Nobody has the logins, the domain is registered to an old email address, and the first quote to take it over is a rebuild |
| The big agency | A Cape Town or Joburg firm quoted a proper project | Good work, an account manager, a project manager, and a number that assumed a budget a coastal business does not have |
What I have built along this coast
BuildCBS is the clearest local example, and the full write-up is on the site including what I would do differently.
- BuildCBS
Construction and renovation along the Garden Route. The work leads: finished projects shot properly and shown at a size where you can see the joinery, because in this category the photography is the argument. The quote request sits at the end of a project rather than the top of the site, and asks four questions instead of fourteen.
The rest of the work on this site is bigger and mostly not local: lending platforms, a POPIA-resident wills platform, a gift-card system for a Woolworths campaign. That matters here only because it is where the habits come from. A booking form built by someone who has debugged a payment integration under load tends to survive the first busy December.
Being nearby is worth something, but not everything
I can meet you. Mossel Bay, George, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay are all an easy drive, and for a first conversation about something complicated that is genuinely better than a video call.
What matters more is that I am still here in two years. The most common story I hear is not a bad build. It is a fine build by someone who then disappeared, and a business that cannot change its own opening hours as a result. You get the repository, the documentation and every credential from the first commit, so that if I do disappear you are not stuck. That is the part being local does not solve on its own.
Where to find me
I am based in Mossel Bay and work with clients from here to Plettenberg Bay, as well as in Pretoria, Johannesburg, the UK and Europe. My registered business address is in Pretoria, which is where post and invoices go.
For anything on this coast, a call or a coffee is usually easier than either.
Pretoria, Gauteng 0184
Questions worth asking first
Do you build small sites, or only big systems?
Both. A four-page site for a guesthouse and a 43-table operations platform are different jobs, and I price them differently. What does not change is that the code is yours, the price is fixed before I start, and nothing is built on a theme you cannot escape later.
Our site was built by someone who has disappeared. Can you take it over?
Usually, yes, and it is one of the more common jobs I get here. The first step is finding out what you actually control: the domain, the hosting, the code. Sometimes that recovery is most of the work and the site itself is fine.
Are you cheaper than a Cape Town agency?
For the same scope, usually, because there is no account manager, no project manager and no contingency padding in the number. I am not the cheapest option on the coast though, and if price is the only factor you will find someone cheaper the same afternoon.
Can we meet in person?
Yes. Mossel Bay, George, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay are all straightforward. It is usually most useful at the start, when we are working out what actually needs building, rather than throughout the project.
What happens after it launches?
You own everything from the first commit: repository, documentation and credentials. I am available for changes afterwards and most clients here come back, but you are not locked in. If you want to move to another developer I will help with the handover rather than make it difficult.
Tell me what’s broken.
A few lines about what you’re trying to build or fix is enough. It lands in my inbox and I reply within the business hour, honestly, including whether I’m the right person. If I’m not, I’ll say so and point you at someone who is.
I reply to every enquiry within one business hour.
Prefer email? support@yourdesign.co.za· (+27) 079 177 1970