Rob Cunliffe runs Refine Barbers in Horwich. Popular shop. Good reputation. Fully booked most weekends through word of mouth.
No website.
Customers couldn't check prices on a quick google search. Couldn't see opening hours. Couldn't book online. New customers in the area had no way to find the shop through Google.
Rob wanted to change that.
The conversation
We sat down and talked about what the website needed to do. Not what it could do. Not what would be cool. What it needed to do.
Three things: show up on Google, display services and pricing, and link to Booksy for online bookings. Rob already used Booksy and wanted to keep it. No point building a custom booking system when the one he has works.
What we built
A clean, mobile-first website. Dark aesthetic matching the shop's branding. Five sections:
The hero with a video background showing the shop in action. Services and pricing displayed clearly. A direct link to book through Booksy. Location and contact details. Photos of the shop and work.
Built with React and Node.js. No WordPress. No template. Every element designed for this specific business.
What we didn't build
A custom booking system. A blog. A customer login. An online shop. A gallery with 200 photos.
None of that was needed. Adding features that don't serve the business makes the site slower, more expensive, and harder to maintain.
The result
The site went live two weeks after our first conversation. Rob's customers can now find Refine Barbers on Google, check services and pricing, and book through Booksy without calling.
"We had no website at all before Burch Studio. Now customers can find us online, check our services and book straight through the site. It's made a real difference to the business." — Rob Cunliffe
The lesson
A small business website doesn't need to be complicated. It needs to do the basics well. Show up. Build trust. Make contact easy. Everything else is noise.