One-time project · Hosting
Leaving a bad host, consolidating sites, changing your business name, or taking a site back from a developer who has gone quiet. Migrations go wrong in predictable ways — broken links, lost email, an SSL warning on launch day. We have a checklist for every one of them.
A migration is mostly about the things nobody thinks of until they break. The site files copy across easily. What catches people out is the email that was quietly routed through the old host, the hard-coded links pointing at the old address, the SSL certificate that does not exist yet on the new server, and the DNS change that takes hours to reach everyone.
We stage the whole thing in advance: the site is copied and fully tested on the new host at a temporary address before any DNS is touched. When it is confirmed working, the switch is a single change, made at a time you choose, and the old site stays up in parallel until the new one is reachable everywhere.
If you are also changing domain, every old URL is redirected to its new equivalent so your links, your rankings and your printed materials keep working.
Tested on the new host before DNS moves — the old site stays up until the new one is reachable
Scope
Everything below is part of the project. Nothing is added to your invoice without a written quote you have approved first.
Not included: The new hosting or domain itself, which you buy directly in your own name — we will recommend and set it up. Rebuilding a site that was broken before it moved. Migrating email mailboxes and their history, which depends on the providers involved and is quoted separately once we know them.
How it works
What runs where: the site, the email, the DNS, the domain registrar, any subdomains. Half of migration problems come from discovering one of these late.
Hosting account set up in your name, PHP version matched, SSL requested, staging address issued.
Site copied across and tested at the temporary address: every page, every form, admin login, plugin functionality.
DNS updated at an agreed quiet time. We monitor propagation and keep the old site live in parallel until the new one is reachable everywhere.
Full check on the live domain. You get the new credentials, a summary of what changed, and instructions for closing the old account when you are ready.
What we need from you
Typical timeline: 2–5 business days, with the switch itself timed to your quiet hours. Your written quote states the actual date for your project.
Pricing
Base scope: Host-to-host move on the same domain, sites up to 2 GB: backup, full copy, staging test, SSL, DNS, email records carried across, post-launch check.
Anything beyond the base scope is priced from the add-on list, and your written quote shows the line items and one total. That total is what is charged — nothing more. No payment is taken on this website: once you approve the quote, a secure Stripe payment link is sent by email. US clients are billed in USD; Canadian clients in CAD or USD by agreement, plus applicable GST/HST.
Questions
There is no planned downtime. The new copy is fully working before DNS changes, and the old copy stays up during the changeover. Visitors either reach the old site or the new one, both working.
Not if we know about it, which is why we ask about it first. Email breaking is the most common migration disaster, and it happens when DNS is changed without carrying the mail records across. We carry them across.
Yes, and we will explain why. The recommendation is for a host we have experience with; the account is always in your name and paid by you, so there is no lock-in to us.
Usually, yes. Registrars have transfer and dispute processes for exactly this. It takes patience rather than technical skill, and we will walk you through it or handle it with your authorisation. Send us the domain and we will tell you where it is registered for free.