MOHA Software · Website Solution Proposal · May 2026
A New Editorial Studio Site for House Nine Design
Building a dedicated, bespoke editorial site at housenine.co.uk — with a drag-and-drop CMS the team owns and runs.
Shopify continues to handle products, checkout, and customer accounts — we build a bespoke frontend on top. On time for the August deadline and September book launch.
Tackling Technology Challenges to Empower Organisations
Founded in 2022, MOHA Software is a Vietnam-based technology company delivering high-quality, tailor-made software solutions for clients worldwide. We specialise in custom web development, AI, and digital transformation.
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Client Countries
30+
Clients Worldwide
60+
Employees
40%
Senior-Level Staff
Relevant Services for This Project
Custom Web Development
Bespoke websites and content management systems designed around your workflow.
Design Implementation
Pixel-perfect translation of design files (Figma, Claude Design) into production code.
Cloud & DevOps
Reliable hosting with staging environments and zero-downtime deployments.
02The Problem
Current Situation
House Nine is a full-service interior design studio (founded by Jojo Barr) currently operating a single Shopify site
at housenine.co.uk that mixes editorial studio content with the product shop. The shop side works well —
the editorial side has outgrown what a Shopify theme can do, and the September book launch raises the stakes.
Where you're heading. From your brief and follow-up email, the current plan is:
Studio site: move housenine.co.uk to Squarespace, with custom menu pop-out and illustrated elements from Claude Design
Shop site: stay on Shopify, new brand on a new domain, new theme & design direction
Both sites: self-editable by the team, cross-linked, search rankings preserved with automatic forwarding from old links
Our role. That direction is reasonable and we can deliver it. But before you finalize,
we'd like to share a second opinion: a few operational risks we've seen with template platforms,
and an alternative for both the studio site and the shop frontend that we believe serves House Nine better long-term —
while keeping Shopify behind the scenes for everything you rely on today. Take it or leave it — the call is yours.
02 · The Problem
Pain Points with the Current Setup
Editorial Trapped in a Shop Template
Studio pages live inside a Shopify theme built for selling products. The editorial story Jojo wants to tell is fighting the template.
Design Ceiling
Bespoke layouts, animated monogram, scroll-triggered animations, custom illustrations — all explicitly in the brief, all difficult on Shopify themes.
No Self-Service Content Editing
Updating project pages, blog posts ("The Diggings"), or services pages requires developer help. Slow, expensive, frustrating.
Book Launch is High-Stakes
Sept 2026 book launch with PR push from House & Garden, The Times, Living Etc. The site needs to look spectacular — a template won't cut it.
Team updates content independently — as easy as Squarespace, but with blocks designed specifically for House Nine's content.
03
Bespoke Animations & Illustrations
Animated monogram, scroll-reveals, hover states, custom illustrated decorative elements — delivered properly, not bolted-on.
04
SEO Protected
Automatic forwarding from old links so the SEO you've built doesn't disappear. Built for fast loading from day one.
03Our Approach
Solution Design Principles
The decisions below all flow from these three principles.
Designed Bespoke, Built Bespoke
Every design decision from Claude Design implemented pixel-perfect. No template compromises. No "close enough." The designer's investment translates directly into the finished product.
Safe to Self-Edit (Both Sites, Forever)
Every change — studio site or shop, today or three years from now — previews on staging before going live. The team makes updates confidently. No risk to live visitors. Critical for the September book launch, valuable for every change after.
You Own the Asset
Codebase, design, content — yours permanently. A website that compounds in value, not a subscription that disappears if you stop paying.
03 · Our Approach
Platform Options Considered
We evaluated three approaches against the brief's animation, CMS, and design requirements.
Squarespace
Template Platform
Familiar to non-developers
Faster basic setup
Limited animation capability
Template-bound design
Bespoke needs require code injection workarounds
Still ~5 weeks dev for House Nine's bespoke brief
Custom Build
Bespoke Solution
Full creative control
Smooth animations & custom illustrations
Drag-and-drop page builder for the team
Excellent search rankings & fast loading
You own the site forever
03 · Our Approach
Recommended Solution
Two bespoke websites — one design system, one content editor. Shopify keeps running everything you rely on behind the scenes.
Studio Site
housenine.co.uk — bespoke editorial site. 8–10 pages plus blog, full design freedom, smooth animations & custom illustrations.
Shop Site (Bespoke Front, Shopify Engine)
New shop on its new domain — bespoke design matching the studio. Shopify keeps running the products, checkout, customers, trade accounts — you manage everything in Shopify Admin exactly as today.
One Content Editor for Both
Single drag-and-drop content editor for both sites. The team updates pages, blog, project showcases, shop landing content — all in one place. No developer required.
A note on speed: Because Claude Design delivers finished design files, a custom build is actually
faster than people assume — we implement designs directly with no template constraints fighting against us.
03 · Our Approach
How Everything Fits Together
The structure before and after the build — what changes and what stays the same.
⚠ Before · Today
One Shopify site, mixed content
graph TD
A[housenine.co.uk One Shopify Site]
A --> B[Studio Content Projects · Blog · About]
A --> C[Shop Products · Checkout]
classDef root fill:#f5e6e0,stroke:#b85c5c,stroke-width:2px,color:#2c2c2c;
classDef mixed fill:#fff,stroke:#b85c5c,stroke-width:1px,color:#3a3a3a;
class A root;
class B,C mixed;
Editorial fights template · no separation of concerns
✓ After · Proposed
Two bespoke sites, Shopify behind the scenes, one admin
graph TD
Admin[Admin CMS Drag-and-drop editor One place for all content]
Studio[Studio Site housenine.co.uk]
Shop[Shop Site new domain]
Shopify[Shopify Engine Products · Checkout Customers · Trade]
Admin -->|content| Studio
Admin -->|content| Shop
Shopify -->|products + checkout| Shop
Studio -.shop this project.-> Shopify
classDef admin fill:#e8e0d0,stroke:#8b6f47,stroke-width:2px,color:#2c2c2c;
classDef site fill:#fff,stroke:#8b6f47,stroke-width:1px,color:#3a3a3a;
classDef engine fill:#e0e8e0,stroke:#5a7a5a,stroke-width:2px,color:#2c2c2c;
class Admin admin;
class Studio,Shop site;
class Shopify engine;
Bespoke frontends · Shopify untouched · team manages both from one editor
Key takeaway: Shopify continues running everything you rely on (products, checkout, customers, trade accounts). The two new bespoke frontends are what your visitors see. The Admin CMS is where you and the team manage content for both sites — one login, one place.
03 · Our Approach
Why Custom Build Wins (1 of 2)
Each point is specific to your brief — not generic.
Point 01
100% UI/UX customisation — now and into the future
Your brief asks for bespoke elements that no template can deliver natively: animated monogram, scroll animations, custom illustrations, custom menu pop-out, smooth transitions. A custom build implements Claude Design's vision pixel-perfect today and stays fully customisable tomorrow — not constrained by what a template happens to allow.
When you want to add things later — marketing campaigns, ad campaign landing pages, email tools, analytics platforms, member areas, booking systems, integrations with your CRM — our build can connect to any of them. On Squarespace, you're limited to what their app store offers and how they choose to integrate. Custom = no ceiling.
Built on industry-standard technology — can connect to anything via standard integration methods.
Point 03
One admin panel for both sites
Studio site and shop frontend share one custom content editor. Update a project, edit a blog post, change the shop landing copy — all in one place, with one login. No flipping between Squarespace admin and Shopify admin and forgetting where things live. The team's day-to-day gets simpler, not more complicated.
Shopify Admin still handles products, orders, checkout. The content editor handles everything else.
03 · Our Approach
Why Custom Build Wins (2 of 2)
Operational safety and long-term value.
Point 04
Safe go-live workflow with staging
Squarespace has no real staging environment — edits go directly to the live site, so a mistake immediately affects what your visitors see. Our setup gives you a private staging URL: review and refine changes safely, then publish to live with one click when you're happy. Especially critical during the September book launch when a broken page would be catastrophic.
Staging environment included free — hosted on MOHA's infrastructure at no extra cost.
Point 05
Long-term maintenance & support
Custom build = maintainable for years. Standard technology any developer can pick up. We can fix issues, add features, or hand over to another team whenever needed. Squarespace = you're locked into their support timelines and limited to what their platform supports at any given time. No flexibility when something matters most.
Code is documented and portable. Not held hostage by any platform's roadmap.
Point 06
You own a brand asset — not a rental subscription
Squarespace is a service you pay for in perpetuity. Our solution is an asset you own: design, code, content, editor. After year one, your only recurring cost is hosting & managed support (~$480/year). When the next refresh happens in 3–5 years, you build on what you have rather than starting from scratch on a new template.
After year 1, the running cost gap narrows. The ownership gap doesn't.
03 · Our Approach
A Safe Path from Staging to Live
Every change — small content tweak or major redesign — flows through a private staging environment first. The live site is never edited directly. Critical for the September book launch, valuable for every change after.
⚠ Squarespace flow
Edit directly on the live site
flowchart TD
A[Content change or design update] --> B[Edit in Squarespace = editing the LIVE site]
B --> C{Mistake?}
C -->|Yes| D[Visitors see broken page]
C -->|No| E[Saved & live]
D --> F[Frantic fix while site is down]
classDef warn fill:#f5e6e0,stroke:#b85c5c,stroke-width:2px,color:#2c2c2c;
classDef bad fill:#fff,stroke:#b85c5c,stroke-width:2px,color:#b85c5c;
classDef ok fill:#fff,stroke:#8b6f47,color:#3a3a3a;
class B warn;
class D,F bad;
class A,C,E ok;
Any mistake hits live visitors instantly. No safety net.
✓ Our setup · Staging-first flow
Request → review on staging → approve → we push to live
flowchart TD
A[Client requests a change CR] --> B[MOHA implements on STAGING]
B --> C[Client reviews on private staging URL]
C --> D{Looks good?}
D -->|Needs tweaks| E[MOHA adjusts on staging]
E --> C
D -->|Approved| F[MOHA pushes approved version to LIVE]
F --> G[Live site updated zero downtime]
G -.if needed.-> H[Rollback to previous version]
classDef stage fill:#e8f0e8,stroke:#5a7a5a,stroke-width:2px,color:#2c2c2c;
classDef good fill:#e0e8e0,stroke:#5a7a5a,stroke-width:2px,color:#2c2c2c;
classDef check fill:#fff,stroke:#8b6f47,color:#3a3a3a;
class B,C stage;
class F,G good;
class A,D,E,H check;
Live visitors never see a half-finished change. Nothing goes live without your approval.
✓ Both sites get the same safety net. Studio site uses a private staging URL hosted on MOHA's infrastructure (free). The Shopify shop uses Shopify's hidden-theme feature — we edit on an invisible copy and only swap it live when the team approves. Same principle for both: never touch production directly.
04Timeline
Project Timeline
Both sites live by end of July — well ahead of August deadline and September book launch.
1 Jun8 Jun15 Jun22 Jun29 Jun6 Jul13 Jul +
Studio, Admin CMS & Shop Build
21 days
SEO Migration
3 d
Post-Launch Support
7d / 2mo
Start: 1 June 2026 · Build complete by early July · Both sites live before September book launch
05Cost & Quote
Development Quote
At 8 hours/day, Monday to Friday · Rate: $24/hour
Scope Area
Days
Hours
Cost (USD)
Studio Site Build
7 days
56h
$1,344
Shop Build
7 days
56h
$1,344
Admin CMS Build
7 days
56h
$1,344
SEO Migration
3 days
24h
$576
Post-Launch Support
7 days
56h
$1,344
Total Development
31 days
248h
$5,952
Total Effort
31 days
248 hours
Calendar Time
~6 weeks
Jun → early Jul 2026
Total Cost
$5,952
one-time, USD · estimate
Important note on this quote. These figures are our best estimate based on the brief and our current understanding of the scope.
Final effort — and therefore final cost — will depend on the actual designs received from Claude Design.
Bespoke design complexity, the number of unique illustrations, and animation requirements can move the numbers up or down by 10–20%.
We will re-issue the quote once we receive the full design files so you have a firm number before any work begins.
✓ Staging environment included free. MOHA hosts the staging environment on our own infrastructure at no additional cost — so your team always has a safe preview environment for testing changes before going live.
What's not included: Domain renewal (handled by you directly with your registrar). Shopify subscription (already part of your existing shop, unchanged).
For Honest Comparison — The Full Picture of Squarespace
Option
Year 1
Year 5 (cumulative)
What You Own at Year 5
Squarespace path
~$5,196 $4,800 dev + $396 subscription
~$6,780 sticker $4,800 dev + $1,980 subscription
A subscription that ends if you stop paying
+ Hidden costs over 5 years (template-break re-work, team time on generic blocks, etc.) — realistic 5-year cost: $8,500–$11,000
Our Solution
$6,432
$8,352 (no surprises)
A bespoke website you own forever
Important: Squarespace is not zero-development. Even on the Squarespace path, House Nine still pays for:
Studio site setup, theme customisation, custom CSS/code injections for Claude Design's animations & illustrations — ~15 days of dev work
Shopify shop theme application + bespoke design integration on the new domain — ~7 days of dev work
SEO redirect migration — ~3 days
Total: ~25 days (200 hours × $24/h) = ~$4,800 of development — still required, just spread across the Squarespace + Shopify path
The "$33/month" Squarespace sticker price doesn't include any of this. Both paths require similar upfront development — the question is what you get for it.
Hidden costs of Squarespace — the ones that don't appear on the pricing page:
Your team's time wrestling with generic blocks — Squarespace gives "Text", "Image", "Gallery" and asks you to figure out how to combine them every time. Our custom CMS has blocks built specifically for House Nine: "Project Page", "Press Quote", "Process Steps", "Shop This Project". ~10 mins saved per edit × ~50 edits/year × 5 years = 40+ hours of team time.
Code injection re-work over time — Squarespace updates templates regularly. The custom code injections written to deliver Claude Design's animations and bespoke elements break and need re-writing. Realistic: $1,500–$3,000 across 5 years.
Broken-edit recovery — No real staging means self-edits can break the live site. Each incident costs developer time + lost visitor trust. Especially risky during the September book launch.
Migration cost if you ever leave — Squarespace makes content export awkward. If you move off the platform in year 3 or 5, full rebuild = $4,000–$8,000.
The honest comparison — it's not just about money:
Day-to-day team experience: Custom CMS = blocks designed for your content = faster edits, less mental load, no fighting tools.
Predictable cost: Our solution is upfront and predictable — $5,952 once, $480/year for hosting & managed support after. No surprise upgrades, no price hikes, no developer call-outs for broken templates.
Ownership: An asset you own forever vs. a subscription that disappears if you stop paying.
Squarespace's $33/mo sticker price is genuinely cheap. The full picture — team time, developer dependencies, missed bespoke features, price creep — tells a different story.
06Deliverables
What You'll Receive at Project Handover
Everything listed below is yours at project completion — documented, transferable, and fully owned by House Nine.
1
Full Source Code
Complete codebase for both sites and the admin CMS, stored in a code repository. 100% owned by House Nine. Portable to any developer.
Code Repo
2
Admin Login Accounts
User accounts created for House Nine team members with role-based access. Owner-level credentials handed to Tara.
Credentials
3
Content Editor User Guide
Web-based documentation site: how to create pages, edit content, manage blog posts, upload images, schedule publishing. Searchable, always up-to-date, accessible from any browser.
Web Docs
4
Deployment & Operations Guide
Web-based docs covering how the sites are hosted, how to back up and restore, how to deploy code changes, how staging-to-production works.
Web Docs
5
Hosting & Service Access
Access credentials for the cloud hosting service, content delivery network, and any third-party services used. All accounts owned by House Nine.
Credentials
6
SEO Migration Record
Complete map of old URLs → new URLs (automatic forwarding to preserve SEO), Google Search Console verification, Google Analytics setup, sitemap submission record.
Spreadsheet + Docs
7
Block Library Reference
Web-based docs covering every content block built for the CMS, its purpose, and editable variables. Useful for adding new pages or training new team members.
Web Docs
8
Live Training Session
Live walkthrough of the CMS with Tara and the team via Google Meet. Client is welcome to record the session on their side if they wish to keep it for future reference.
Google Meet
Thank You
Let's Build It Together
We're excited about House Nine's vision. Let's discuss next steps.