Question 1

Where are you based?

Accepted Answer

Bristol, UK. The whole team works from a studio in central Bristol. Fully UK based, fully senior. We don't offshore design, code or AI work.

Question 2

Why subscriptions instead of one-off projects?

Accepted Answer

Project work creates the wrong incentives. Agencies are rewarded for scope creep, clients are punished for change. Subscriptions align everyone: predictable monthly fee, unlimited briefs, pause anytime, no surprise invoices.

Question 3

Do you only work with UK clients?

Accepted Answer

Yes, UK clients only. Every client is invoiced in GBP and supported in UK business hours. It keeps the contracts simple, the payments straightforward and the relationships local. We're not looking to expand outside the UK.

Question 4

What sectors do you work in?

Accepted Answer

Tech, finance, hospitality, retail, professional services, charities and small UK trades. We don't take work from gambling, weapons or any sector that fails our ethics screen.

Question 5

Do you take phone calls?

Accepted Answer

We prefer to start with email or a booked demo so we can prepare. Once you're a client all comms run through your portal: brief submissions, file sharing and message threads with your designer or developer. There's also a direct mobile number for your account lead.

Question 6

Do you do one-off projects?

Accepted Answer

Occasionally, for existing subscription clients who need something on top. We don't take on new one-off project clients because subscriptions deliver better outcomes for both sides.

Question 7

How quickly can a new client start?

Accepted Answer

Within 24 hours of signing. Your portal goes live, your senior designer is briefed and ready to take the first request, and you get a welcome call from your account lead the same day.

Question 8

Can I speak to existing clients?

Accepted Answer

Yes. After the demo we'll connect you with two or three current clients in or near your sector who've agreed to take reference calls. No staged questions, no scripts, you ask whatever you want.

Question 9

Where can I see your work?

Accepted Answer

Public case studies live on the website. We also share private portfolios on a demo for anything under NDA. Ask and we'll send the deck closest to your sector.

Question 10

How do I get started?

Accepted Answer

Book a 30 minute demo. We'll walk through real subscription accounts, sketch a plan that fits your stage and tell you the honest cheapest way to start. No deck, no pressure, no follow-up sequence.

Question 11

What's the client portal?

Accepted Answer

Every client gets access to our portal from day one. Five main tools (Dashboard, Chat, My projects, Industry news, Campaign generator) and nine extras (My brands, Notifications, Content calendar, My analytics, Billing, Referrals, Sustainability, Feedback and Help). Included on every plan at no extra cost. Sign in at portal.helmflux.co.uk.

Question 12

Are you carbon neutral?

Accepted Answer

Yes, carbon neutral by default on every project, automatically and at no extra cost. We measure each project's footprint monthly, fund Gold-Standard offsets through our partner Ecologi and plant one real tree per project in their reforestation portfolio. Every offset and tree is logged in your portal with a public Ecologi link anyone can audit. Full detail at our sustainability page.

Question 13

What does 'unlimited design' actually mean?

Accepted Answer

Unlimited briefs in your queue. We work on one or two at a time per plan and move through them quickly. Most briefs come back within 48 hours. There is no monthly cap. We operate a fair usage policy and reserve the right to monitor accounts to ensure compliance and protect against overuse of resources.

Question 14

What can you design?

Accepted Answer

Pitch decks, social posts, ads, brochures, packaging, print, illustrations, infographics, brand guidelines, internal templates, email graphics, event materials, signage. We don't do motion or 3D in-house.

Question 15

How fast is turnaround?

Accepted Answer

Most single-asset briefs come back within 24 to 48 hours. Bigger briefs like full decks or brand systems quote 3 to 7 days at kickoff. We're explicit on the brief acknowledgement so you always know what to expect.

Question 16

Who actually does the design?

Accepted Answer

Senior designers based in Bristol with 6 to 12 years of agency experience each. The same designer or pair stays on your account so they learn your brand. No juniors, no offshore.

Question 17

How do I submit a brief?

Accepted Answer

Through your client portal. Use the brief form, attach reference files, set the priority and your senior designer picks it up the same morning. For bigger pieces of work we'll add a 15-minute kickoff call.

Question 18

How many revisions can I request?

Accepted Answer

As many as you need. Most assets land in two rounds. We'd rather you're happy than tick a 'three rounds and you're done' box.

Question 19

Can multiple people on my team submit briefs?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Most subscription tiers cover 3 to 10 brief owners. Each person gets their own login and the senior designer triages priority each morning.

Question 20

Do you handle copywriting too?

Accepted Answer

Light copy yes (headlines, CTAs, ad lines, social captions). Long-form copy like white papers or full website pages we'll quote separately or send to one of our trusted UK copywriting partners.

Question 21

What if I need a logo or full rebrand?

Accepted Answer

A logo refresh fits inside the standard subscription. A proper rebrand (research, strategy, identity, guidelines) is a quoted project on top, usually £4k to £15k depending on scope.

Question 22

Do you provide source files?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All Figma, Adobe and InDesign source files are yours from day one. We share them via a brand portal you can access anytime, even after you cancel.

Question 23

Do you do motion graphics or video?

Accepted Answer

No, we don't do animation, 3D or video editing in-house. We work with two trusted UK animation studios and can project-manage that work for you at cost plus 10%.

Question 24

Can I pause my subscription?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Pause for up to 3 months in any 12 month period, with at least 7 business days' notice before your next renewal. You won't be billed during the paused period and your brand portal stays accessible. Your subscription resumes automatically on the same plan after.

Question 25

Why WordPress only?

Accepted Answer

WordPress runs 43% of the web for a reason: huge plugin ecosystem, owned hosting, no platform lock-in, easy team training. We've built Webflow, Shopify and Framer sites too. WordPress is what we're best at.

Question 26

Is hosting included?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Premium UK hosting on Cloudways or Kinsta is included on every plan, with daily backups, free SSL and CDN. You don't deal with cPanel or hosting tickets, ever.

Question 27

How fast will my site be?

Accepted Answer

We target Core Web Vitals 'Good' on every site: LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1. We share the Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights report at handover and again every quarter.

Question 28

What about security and updates?

Accepted Answer

Daily backups, weekly plugin and core updates, malware scanning and a Web Application Firewall. If something breaks after an update we restore the backup and fix it the same day. No extra charge.

Question 29

Will my site be mobile-friendly?

Accepted Answer

Yes, every site is responsive by default. We design and test on mobile first because that's where 60%+ of UK traffic lands. We test on iOS Safari, Android Chrome and Samsung Internet at launch.

Question 30

Is SEO included?

Accepted Answer

Technical SEO is, yes. Clean structure, fast pages, proper meta and schema, XML sitemaps, image optimisation. Content SEO (writing pages and blog posts) is an add-on from £150 a page.

Question 31

Can I edit content myself?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We use Gutenberg with a tidy block library so non-technical staff can update text, swap images and add new pages without breaking the design. We include 90 minutes of training at handover.

Question 32

What integrations do you support?

Accepted Answer

HubSpot, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Stripe, GoCardless, Calendly, Tidio, Google Analytics 4, Tag Manager, Search Console and most major CRMs. Custom integrations are quoted on top.

Question 33

Can you migrate my existing site?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We migrate from Webflow, Squarespace, Shopify, Framer or older WordPress builds as part of the first month. Allow 2 to 4 weeks depending on complexity.

Question 34

Do you do ecommerce?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on WooCommerce. Up to roughly 5,000 SKUs it's the cleanest option. Beyond that we'll often suggest Shopify and integrate it, rather than force-fit WooCommerce.

Question 35

Is there a minimum term?

Accepted Answer

Yes, 12 months on websites. It covers the cost of building your site upfront (which would otherwise be a £4k+ one-off fee). After month 12 you can cancel any time with 30 days notice and take the site with you.

Question 36

What happens if I leave?

Accepted Answer

You take the site with you. We export the WordPress install, transfer hosting, hand over the source files and remove any Helmflux-specific tooling. No exit fees, no held-back files.

Question 37

Where is data hosted?

Accepted Answer

UK and EU only. Primary hosting in London (AWS eu-west-2) or Frankfurt (Hetzner). No data goes to US-only services unless you specifically request it. We're ICO registered and UK GDPR compliant.

Question 38

Which AI models do you use?

Accepted Answer

GPT-4 family, Claude 3.5 family, Llama 3 self-hosted for sensitive workloads, and open-source embeddings. We pick per use case and bake model choice into the contract so you can audit it.

Question 39

What kind of agents do you build?

Accepted Answer

Customer support agents, internal knowledge agents, lead-qualification agents, ops agents that read email and update systems, and document-processing agents. We don't build trading bots or anything that needs financial regulation.

Question 40

How do you handle hallucinations?

Accepted Answer

Three-layer defence: retrieval-augmented generation grounded in your data, structured output validation, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints for any external action. Plus full logging so you can audit every interaction.

Question 41

What's the realistic cost?

Accepted Answer

Fixed prices, scoped per build. Simple products like meeting transcribers or email drafters start at £1,495 +VAT. Mid-complexity builds like Slack assistants or support agents land around £1,995 to £2,495 +VAT. Complex multi-system builds (lead triage, insights dashboards, full ops automations) are quoted from £4,995 +VAT. An optional monthly support plan covers hosting, monitoring and tuning from £45 to £95 a month.

Question 42

How long does an AI build take?

Accepted Answer

Simple builds (Meeting Transcription, Email Drafting Agent, Sales Call Summariser, Document Q&A) typically go live in 2 to 3 weeks. Mid-complexity builds (Internal Slack Assistant, Knowledge Base Bot, Content Drafting System, Recruitment Screening) in 4 to 6 weeks. Complex builds (Customer Support Agent, Lead Triage Automation, Insights Dashboard) in 6 to 10 weeks. We agree milestones at kickoff so you always know what's coming.

Question 43

Will it integrate with our tools?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We integrate with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Intercom, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Notion, Airtable, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. Custom integrations are quoted on top.

Question 44

Who owns the agents you build?

Accepted Answer

You do. Source code, prompts, training data, vector stores, infrastructure scripts, all yours. We hand over the GitHub repo and AWS account on day one of the contract.

Question 45

Is my data used to train public models?

Accepted Answer

No, never. We use enterprise API tiers (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock) where data is excluded from training by default. For sensitive workloads we run open-source models on your own infrastructure.

Question 46

How do you measure success?

Accepted Answer

Every project lands with KPIs we agree at kickoff: time saved per week, tickets resolved automatically, leads qualified, cost per outcome. We share a monthly report and tune the agents against the numbers.

Question 47

What about UK GDPR and data protection?

Accepted Answer

We're ICO registered and UK GDPR compliant, with SOC 2 Type II audit in progress (target Q3 2026). We sign a Data Processing Agreement before any data touches our systems. Full sub-processor list available on request.

Question 48

Can you train my team?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our 'AI for your team' workshops can be added to any build or booked on their own. Half-day session covering prompt design, the prompt library, common pitfalls and a live build of one workflow tool together.

Question 49

How do you bill?

Accepted Answer

UK clients only, billed in GBP, monthly in advance, by card or Direct Debit. We're a VAT-registered UK Limited Company. Proper VAT invoice each month, downloadable from your portal.

Question 50

Is there a contract?

Accepted Answer

A short, plain-English service agreement. Design subscriptions are rolling monthly with no minimum term. Websites have a 12-month minimum because the build cost is amortised across the year. AI builds are fixed-price one-off projects with an optional rolling monthly support plan you can cancel any time. The agreement is downloadable before you sign anything.

Question 51

What payment methods do you accept?

Accepted Answer

Direct Debit through GoCardless, credit and debit card through Stripe, and bank transfer for invoices over £5,000. We don't accept PayPal or crypto.

Question 52

Can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?

Accepted Answer

Anytime. Upgrades take effect immediately. Downgrades take effect at the start of your next billing cycle so you don't lose paid-for capacity. No upgrade or downgrade fees.

Question 53

Can I pause and resume?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on design subscriptions: up to 3 months in any 12 month period with at least 7 business days' notice before renewal, auto-resuming on the same plan after. AI support plans can be paused or cancelled any time with 30 days notice (the build itself is yours to keep). Websites can't pause inside the 12-month minimum.

Question 54

How much notice do I need to cancel?

Accepted Answer

At least 7 business days' notice before renewal on design subscriptions. AI support plans need 30 days because of ongoing hosting commitments (the AI build itself is already yours, fully paid for). Websites cancel at the end of the 12-month minimum with 30 days notice. We'll handle the wind-down: handover files, archive your portal, export your WordPress install, hand back AI source code and infrastructure.

Question 55

Do you offer annual pricing?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with 10% off when paid annually upfront. Refundable pro-rata if you cancel inside the year. Most clients stay monthly because they like the flexibility.

Question 56

Can I bundle services for a discount?

Accepted Answer

Yes, take more than one subscription and you get a discount. The exact bundle pricing lives on our pricing page so we keep one source of truth. The discount applies as long as all subscriptions stay active. No fine print, no clawback.

Question 57

What's included in the price?

Accepted Answer

Everything you'd expect: the work itself, senior designers and developers, hosting, security, monitoring, brand portal access, training and direct mobile access to your account lead. No hidden charges, no per-seat fees.

Question 58

Are there any setup fees?

Accepted Answer

No. No setup fees, no onboarding fees, no kill fees. Your first month covers month one of work. The only optional upfront cost is a one-time logo refresh or full rebrand if you ask for one.

Question 59

Do you do refunds?

Accepted Answer

If we mess up, yes. We'll credit or refund the affected month. For voluntary cancellation we don't refund the current month, only stop the next one. We've never had to fight a refund and don't intend to start.

Question 60

Are you VAT and ICO registered?

Accepted Answer

Yes, both. UK VAT number on every invoice. ICO Z-number on the privacy policy. Full PI and cyber insurance certificates available on request.

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Plain answers to the58 most common questions