§ 00 · Premise · Opening Statement Studio is open · always accepting briefs

Outdated websites, taken on. Returned as the version your competitors didn't see coming.

Makai Acquisitions
Web Studio
Acquisitions Practice
Active · 2026

Makai Acquisitions is a professional web studio. We rebuild outdated and underperforming sites — fully, not cosmetically — into something that looks like nothing else in the company's space. Most projects ship in a matter of weeks. No templates. No two alike.

Selected Acquisitions · 2026

A working catalog. Before and after.

Each acquisition begins as a site we'd never have built and ends as one we wouldn't change. The selection below is illustrative. Full case studies — with goals, constraints, and the parts that didn't go smoothly — available on request.

Acquisition: MA-2026-014
Client: Hartwood Capital
Sector: Boutique investment advisory
Acquired: Feb 2026
Returned: Mar 2026

◂ Before

After ▸

What changed

The old site read like every other RIA: blue gradient, stock-photo handshake, "Building wealth, building trust." We rebuilt Hartwood as an editorial publication — letters, practice notes, and case studies in a quiet serif voice. Inquiry volume from qualifying clients more than doubled in the first ninety days; the site now reads as a credibility document, not a brochure.

Acquisition: MA-2026-008
Client: Penn & Cove Coffee
Sector: Specialty coffee roaster
Acquired: Jan 2026
Returned: Feb 2026

◂ Before

After ▸

What changed

Penn & Cove's old shop was a 2018 Shopify theme with the urgency dial turned all the way up — banners, badges, review stars, "ONLY 3 LEFT." We replaced it with a confident roastery that trusts its audience: one product line, four blends, weekly roasts, no countdown timers. Return-customer rate climbed; average order value rose 31% in the quarter after launch.

Acquisition: MA-2025-027
Client: Sterling Veterinary
Sector: Multi-location veterinary practice
Acquired: Oct 2025
Returned: Nov 2025

◂ Before

After ▸

What changed

The Sterling site was twelve years old: teal and orange, comic-style display type, a paw-print background that didn't quit. The brand was warm but the site read as cheap. We rebuilt it as a calm, confident practice — sage and cream, friendly geometric serif, real photography by location. New-patient inquiries from the website rose 47% in the first six months. The waiting room moved from Yelp filtering to "I just trusted the site."

Method · How the work moves

The studio's process, in writing.

Every project moves through the same six steps. Most launches happen in a few weeks; occasionally faster, occasionally longer when the brief calls for it. Mistakes made before the build is underway are cheap; mistakes made during the build are not — so we do the thinking up front, then move quickly.

Inquiry & fit call

A first conversation — no obligation, no compensation. We listen for the real problem, look at the existing site together, and decide whether we're the right studio for the work. If we're not, we'll often point you toward someone who is.

Brief & scope

A written brief: goals, audience, constraints, content inventory, and a fixed fee for the work. Engagements are scoped, not metered — the studio does not bill hourly. The brief is the document the project lives or dies on.

Audit & direction

A deep audit of the current site — content, performance, accessibility, structure, and where the brand is honest versus where it's pretending. From the audit we propose two visual directions, each radically different from the other and from the current site.

Design & development

One direction is chosen and built — design and development happen together, by the same hands. The studio doesn't hand off to a separate dev team. The site is built fresh; we do not start from a template, a theme, or a previous project.

Launch & handoff

Launch on a date we agreed on in the brief. Handoff includes documentation, a runbook for the CMS, and a recorded walkthrough. We are reachable in the thirty days after launch at no additional fee — that's part of the engagement.

Care & ongoing

Optional. A monthly retainer covers content updates, small additions, performance monitoring, and the kind of refinement that only becomes obvious after a site has been in the world for a while. Most clients keep us on; some don't, and that's fine.

Studio · Makai Acquisitions

We specialize in making something they won't forget.

That's the brief we hold ourselves to on every project. The studio runs lean and modern — the same hands touch every project from kickoff to launch, briefs don't get translated through layers, and you'll know whether we can take on your project the moment you describe it.

Makai Acquisitions is a working studio with multiple projects in motion at any time. Each one moves through the same hands from kickoff to handoff — same design eye, same build standards, same care.

The work is opinionated. We'll tell you what we think. We'll also build exactly what we agree on — not a templated approximation of it, and not a version we secretly preferred.

We are not the studio for clients who want their existing site translated into a slightly nicer template. We're the studio for clients ready to look like nothing else in their space.

Studio status: Active · multiple projects in motion
Engagement: Fixed-scope, fixed-fee. No hourly billing.
Turnaround: Typically a few weeks from brief to launch
Reachable: hello@makaiacquisitions.com
Currently: Inbox is always open

§ What the studio believes

Templates are for everyone else.
The first design direction is rarely the right one.
A website is closer to a publication than to software.
Fast doesn't have to mean generic.

Brief · Inquiries

Tell us about the site we'd be acquiring.

A short brief, a short conversation. We respond to every inquiry ourselves — usually within a day or two — whether or not we think we're the right fit. If we're not, we'll often point you toward someone who is.

If the site you have is the version your competitors are quietly grateful for, we should probably talk.

Bring us a URL, a sentence about what's broken, and a sense of when you'd want to see something new. We'll take a look before we reply — every inquiry includes a quick complimentary read of your current site as part of the conversation.

Direct correspondence hello@makaiacquisitions.com

Studio hours Briefs read daily.
Replies typically within 24 hours.

Engagements Fixed scope. Fixed fee. Written brief before any work begins.

Your name *

Company

Email *

Current site URL

What's broken — or what brought you to us *

Scope

Budget range

Timeline — whenever you'd like

Include a complimentary audit of my current site as part of the studio's reply (recommended).

Every brief is read by the studio directly. No marketing list. Replies typically come within 24 hours from a real inbox.