If you run a local business, you have probably heard two pitches:
- 1.Hire an agency. They quote a timeline, take a deposit, build a WordPress site, then bill again whenever something changes.
- 2.Do it yourself in a builder. You get "empowerment" — and the homework of templates, plugins, and dashboards.
Curb is a third path: we build the site, keep it running, and take change requests through portal chat (or an agent API / MCP integration if you use agents). It starts with a free check of the site you have, and nothing goes live until you approve it.
This is not a slam on good agencies. Some projects need custom apps, complex memberships, or a dedicated creative team. For a service business website — services, areas, reviews, contact — the agency model is often more project than you wanted.
What you usually buy from a WordPress agency
Typical pattern (your mileage varies):
- Discovery and proposal: calls, mockups, wait — time before anything is live.
- Build fee or deposit: often thousands upfront. You pay before you see the finished site.
- Timeline: weeks are common for a small site. Opportunity cost while competitors stay online.
- Changes: tickets, statements of work, or retainer hours. A phone-number update can become a billable task.
- Ownership: theme and plugins on their stack. Leaving can mean a rebuild.
- Support: email, Slack, sometimes phone. Quality varies; phone does not equal fast.
Agencies earn that money when the work is truly custom. Many local sites are not.
What Curb is (and is not)
Curb is: AI websites aimed at local trades and small businesses — migrate what you have or rebuild — with a published monthly price and changes handled for you.
Curb is not: a drag-and-drop CMS you babysit; a phone support line; an SMS product; a promise that you will rank #1 on Google.
The build
- A free site check first. Paste your address and we check its speed, SEO and AI-readiness, then email you the result and a link to pick a plan. The build starts once you have paid, and nothing goes live until you approve it.
- Migrate or rebuild: the same published plans either way; moving your existing site adds a one-time migration fee. See Migrate.
The price (exact)
From Pricing:
- Standard: $29/mo or $290/yr, with $20 of Curb AI edits a month.
- Pro: $59/mo or $590/yr, with $40 of Curb AI edits a month.
Plan assignment is by business shape (one location / page count vs multi-location or larger page set) — not negotiation.
Included at a high level: hosting on your own domain, SSL, backups and uptime monitoring, contact forms and a lead inbox, AI-search readiness, SEO and page-speed checks. Curb AI edits up to the plan's monthly amount, usually live within the hour, then unlimited edits with your own AI. Details live on pricing — that page is the source of truth for line items.
How changes work
- Prefer chat in the portal, or agent API / MCP if you operate with agents.
- SMS is not live. Do not expect a text-a-change product promise.
- No per-change fee on plan. Most updates within an hour; the guarantee is 24 hours.
- There is no phone support by design — one async queue with a response guarantee beats hold music.
Ownership
After one paid month, the code is yours to export and self-host if you leave. You keep your content and your domain. What you give up by leaving is the service loop (chat changes, hosting and SSL as run by Curb, quarterly refresh, upgrades) — not a hostage site. See Why Curb and the pricing ownership section.
Side-by-side (honest)
- Contract: often a project agreement with an agency. Month to month with Curb, cancel any time.
- Upfront build fee: common with an agency, often thousands. With Curb, a new design has none; moving your existing site as it is has a one-time migration fee.
- Monthly cost: retainer or nothing until the next project, versus $29 or $59 a month (or annual).
- Who does the work: an agency team, versus Curb — you do not learn WordPress.
- Change channel: tickets and meetings, versus portal chat and/or agent API.
- Phone support: sometimes with an agency. No with Curb.
- Code ownership: varies with an agency. After one paid month with Curb.
- Best when: a truly custom product or site, versus a local service site that must stay current.
When an agency is still the right call
Choose an agency (or a specialist) if you need heavy custom application logic, unusual integrations, editorial design systems, or a partner who will sit in weekly creative reviews. Curb is optimized for service businesses that want a fast, maintained marketing site — not a bespoke web app.
Migrate vs rebuild
Already on WordPress (or anything else)? Migration is the same two published plans plus a one-time migration fee, refunded if you are not happy with the move. The migrate flow reads your live site, shows what moves and what gets fixed, then continues once a plan starts. Details: how migration works.
About the examples on our site
The gallery and industry examples on hicurb.com — including names like Ridgeline Roofing — are demo / example builds. They illustrate what a Curb site can look like. They are not a customer logo wall. Judge the product from the free check of your own site and the published quality bar, not from invented social proof. See examples.
Bottom line
If you are comparing "weeks + deposit + change invoices" to "free site check, flat published price, changes without a CMS," look at pricing, migrate, and why Curb. Start with the free site check — then decide.
