Temper And Forge

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of business planning and marketing at Foodberry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We were rebranding to a new name and wanted a website to reflect our new brand, and what we stand for, so we reached out to Temper And Forge.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge built our website using WordPress. They didn’t code from scratch; they worked within the parameters and tools on WordPress and utilized their own previous code that they plugged into our site as needed.  

We asked the team to ensure the website reflected our most recent investor pitch deck so that, if investors looked at our site, it matched what they saw in the pitch deck. Temper And Forge included what our company does, focusing on making the site visually appealing and straightforward while still looking professional. 

Currently, they provide us with site maintenance on a retainer and develop small sections as needed. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve primarily worked with Nathan (Founder & Owner), who acts as our project manager. In addition, we’ve had email exchanges with two other people. 

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

I found them through a Google search for top website design companies in Boston. We chose Temper And Forge because they’d won awards and ranked as one of the leading companies in the area.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000–$27,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our leadership team is very happy with how the website turned out. How fast Temper And Forge completed the site has been a key benefit. Their effective communication is also outstanding; they understand what we want and run with it. Since we're not actively running marketing campaigns, we don't have metrics. 

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

They're excellent at project management; it's crazy how fast they've turned around the project. They've also been quick with the edits we've requested. Temper And Forge delivered the site a couple of days ahead of time to give us time for last-minute changes.

We use Monday.com for project management. As for communication, we use email and the occasional Google Meet call. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge excels at web design and does all the work for us; we only need to provide feedback and input. We were looking at another company that didn't think they'd be able to meet our deadline. Discussing the project initially, I was on the phone longer with this other vendor than the entire time I've spent talking to Nathan.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there's nothing they need to improve at this time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I definitely recommend Temper And Forge! To get the most out of the engagement, I recommend being as upfront as possible and giving them a sense of your brand and what you're all about. This way, they'll be more on target. Initially, we gave them our pitch deck and pre-selected some images, which gave them a good idea of what we wanted. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of a software company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

I hired Temper And Forge to build a website for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge has used WordPress to build our website. It has basic functionality and menus. There’s a video on the landing page, and it has a contact us page. At present, the team also provides maintenance and hosting services for us. 

What is the team composition?

We work with four people from Temper And Forge, including their founder who serves as our main point of contact. We’ve also worked with two of their designers. Their assistant keeps all notes and makes project plans.

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

I found Temper And Forge through Google.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $12,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement in March 2022, and it’s ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve only recently launched the website, so we don’t have much quantitative data yet. However, the feedback that I’ve gotten from other people is that the website is clean and easy to understand and navigate. It’s modern-looking and looks great on mobile devices. It makes good use of fonts, and I’m generally happy with it.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge has met our deadline and stayed on budget. To manage the project, they use Monday. To communicate, we use a mix of Teams, Zoom, Slack, and email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re flexible and provide great advice on content, texts, and editing. That’s a good skill on their part. We’ve given them a lot of paragraphs, and they’ve created a lot of good content from those paragraphs. 

On top of that, Temper And Forge definitely has a good eye for font usage. They have a good command of UX — they have a technical understanding of the data behind UX designs. As a result, the website isn’t designed randomly. Everything is intentionally structured based on data. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Weekly communication meetings, scheduled in advance would improve communication. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Show examples of existing sites you like to ensure your vision is clear.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior digital marketing manager of a nationwide home services provider. We primarily focus on residential painting, but we also offer commercial business painting. In my role, I handle anything related to digital marketing and advertising.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

When I first joined the company, I decided that we needed a website redesign. Our former website was outdated, and it didn’t reflect the national premium presence that we had. Thus, we needed help with this project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge has helped us design and develop our WordPress website, which includes over 100 different pages. First, we went over the project and what we needed from our website before jumping into its design and development. They’ve also implemented a page builder per my request. We’ve just launched our website, and Temper And Forge will be in charge of its maintenance moving forward.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Nate (Founder & Owner), Sam (Developer), and Katelyn (Account Manager).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

We did extensive research and evaluated different companies. Ultimately, I believe we found Temper And Forge on Clutch and decided to work with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The feedback regarding our site’s appearance has been great. We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from our internal staff and leadership, and everyone thinks that it reflects who we are very well. The process has also been really fast, which I consider a great success as well.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge sticks to timelines very well, and our engagement has been great. They’ve handled the entire project through Monday.com, and we have a shared Slack channel to communicate. Additionally, we communicate via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge can take their clients’ vision and turn it into a reality at a very competitive price. They did a great job at reflecting the highly visual characteristics of a painting business like ours on our website.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if Temper And Forge offered better communication regarding the hours we’re using compared to the ours we had budgeted.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with a detailed plan around what you need. It is helpful to provide them with how you want the pages to look and examples of other sites you like.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of Billie & Bird Jewelry Co., an online jewelry website.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We wanted to launch an online portal for our jewelry distribution. We needed a company that could help us design an e-commerce site in a cost-effective manner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Temper And Forge helped us develop a template for our Shopify e-commerce site. We showed them our existing logo design, primary branding colors, product samples, and some examples of the different websites that we gravitated towards to give them an idea of our style and our vision for this website. They then came back to us with some sample templates.

Our plan was to customize an existing Shopify website template rather than develop a new one from scratch. Temper And Forge was able to weed through the different template options that we had and choose one that showcased our products the best. After selecting the final template, we continued working with them to make some changes to it. They gave us recommendations on the creative elements of the template, which included the images, font sizes, or font design. We worked back and forth until we came up with the final website design.

Aside from that, Temper And Forge also helped us choose the secondary colors to use on the website. They’re currently working on our site’s SEO.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with Nate (Founder & Owner) and Sam (Frontend Web Developer).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

Temper And Forge was recommended to us by a mutual friend, so we decided to reach out to them. We were really impressed with their previous work and their strategy in terms of working with us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $10,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We've only been live for less than a month, so we don’t really have any quantitative metrics just yet. But we were in the top 7% of all Shopify websites that were launched in the same time period as our website.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge has met our goals in terms of delivering everything on time. Their communication has been very good as well — they’re very responsive, and they always get back to us quickly whenever we have any questions or concerns.

We use Monday for project management, and we primarily communicate through email and text messaging.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge is a very talented team, but I’m most impressed with the fact that we could use their services on an as-needed basis instead of having them on retainer. This has been incredibly helpful in terms of sticking to our budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Temper And Forge’s communication is good, but it could be a little bit better. We’ve had a few instances where they could have been more proactive in terms of letting us know what needed to be done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of Billie & Bird Jewelry Co, a women’s jewelry website.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We wanted to launch an online portal for our jewelry distribution in a cost-effective way while making it look very professional. Although we have a broad skillset, website and online store development are not part of our talents. Thus, we connected with Temper And Forge to get help.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Creating a custom template from an existing one was more cost-effective than designing and developing a new website from scratch, so Temper And Forge helped us develop a custom Shopify template for our site. Part of the reason why they recommended Shopify for our site was that online sales were our main focus. They told us that Shopify was a very seamless platform for new businesses like ours, and we would be able to combine a lot of the elements that we needed to run our store.

First, we provided them with assets to create the template, including our logo, primary branding colors, product samples, target audience information, and samples of different websites that we liked. With our input, they got a better understanding of our style. Then, they came back with different template options based on our style and the products we needed to showcase.

After choosing a template to start from, Temper And Forge started customizing it and fine-tuning it. This process was very collaborative, during which they gave us recommendations of different creative elements to add, including imagery, font size, and font design.

We launched the site recently, but Temper And Forge keeps working with us. Currently, they’re helping us with our SEO. These efforts started when they were still building the site, implementing on-site SEO strategies for our product names and listings.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we were introduced to four people from Temper And Forge, two of which focused on account services. However, we haven’t interacted with them a lot. Our main contact points have been Nate (Lead Developer & Owner) and Sam (Developer).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

We were connected with Temper And Forge through a mutual friend, and we really liked the strategy they brought to the table to work with us. It was very attractive to us that we didn’t need to put them on a retainer, so they would work for us as much as we needed them to, and we would pay them accordingly. This approach was very helpful for us as a new business because we would be able to control our costs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around July 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. Our goal was to launch the site around January 2022, but we were behind schedule and launched in February 2022, which was partially our fault.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Generally speaking, Temper And Forge has met our goals and done what we needed them to do. During the first month of our launch, we were in the top 7% of all Shopify websites that were launched in the same period, which was a great metric to understand how users perceived us. However, it is still early to provide any metrics regarding the site’s performance.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge have been good at meeting timeline expectations. Although we launched our site later than we wanted, it was more our fault than theirs. Additionally, their communication has been good.

In terms of budgeting, we’ve been surprised a couple of times by our bills, but I don’t think it has to do with Temper And Forge. We use a Monday.com board, which tells us how many work hours we’re using. However, we haven’t been on top of it as much as needed, and we’ve ended up going over our budgeted hours. Moving forward, we will be more aware of that.

Besides Monday.com, we communicate via email and text messages. Our communication was especially helpful during launch because we texted them whenever we found bugs, and they fixed them immediately.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge is a very talented team. They run very leanly while being highly professional — that’s a good combination. Additionally, I like that they’re similar to a boutique shop financially speaking, so we don’t have to pay monthly contracts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Temper And Forge’s communication has room for improvement. It would be great if they were more on top of things and frequently touched base with us.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and president of a wine retail company. We have four stores in the Boston area, and we do a fair amount of virtual events.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We had a shoddy website, and we needed help in web and e-commerce development. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Temper and Forge designed and developed a quick turnaround funnel website for our events business. We would use that as a landing page for our Google and social media ads. 

The site is built on WordPress and contains our company information, services, and some testimonials. It also features a basic questionnaire that allows us to obtain essential details from prospective clients. After development, they’ve hosted this platform. 

Since we’ve liked what Temper and Forge did, we’ve also asked them to revamp our retail website. They’re currently rebuilding our Shopify website from scratch. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with Nathan (Founder & Owner), a designer, and a developer. 

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

I found Temper and Forge through Clutch. I was in touch with five web developers for my landing page project. They were the only ones who confidently committed that they could deliver the project in 2–3 weeks. Their price was also very reasonable, and I liked their portfolio. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $10,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve started working together in September 2021, and our relationship is ongoing. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Temper and Forge’s work has helped us generate close to $100,000 in revenue in just two months. Our customers like the site since it’s simple and represents who we are. The site has also received positive feedback from our organization. 

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper and Forge’s project management is top-notch. They’ve followed our schedule and even over-delivered; their team functions with very little guidance. We communicate through emails and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper and Forge has delivered what they’ve promised — that’s rare. They offer quality and timely work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to what they have to say because it’s valuable. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of an athlete-consumer marketplace.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We needed help with Shopify migration and Webflow development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Temper And Forge in creating design templates, which they’ve utilized to craft our platforms. Apart from migrating our site content to Shopify, they’ve also deployed custom development tools and conducted API integration. We’ve then engaged their team to build a Webflow platform for our NFT projects.

What is the team composition?

I’ve mainly worked with Sam (Frontend Web Developer) and Chris (Frontend Web Developer).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

I worked with Temper And Forge on a previous project while operating a different business. We kept in touch, and I reached out to them again to discuss this opportunity.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $35,000–$45,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Temper And Forge started in August 2021.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our primary success metric for Temper And Forge’s performance is our athlete acquisition rate — from an initial 13 athletes, we’ve welcomed more than 200 athletes since switching and optimizing our systems.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Monday as our main project management tool. From our team’s perspective, Temper And Forge is a timeline-oriented and collaborative team that works within our schedules and keeps us in the loop at all times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Temper And Forge hits the nail on the head every time. They’re a transparent and flexible team that works within quick turnaround times.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ll appreciate it if they include design services in their package to avoid rounds of feedback sessions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate to hire their team.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of business development for an environmental services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We needed to establish our credibility in the marketplace and expose our business to more people, so we hired Temper And Forge for their web development services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The web development project started with a clear work plan designed by Temper And Forge that includes the timings, expectations, and tasks. They then implemented the UWP engine as the main hosting platform to create the template-based website.

Afterward, they presented us with a draft using different visual elements for the content and integrated the appropriate technology for people to associate us with.

What is the team composition?

We mainly communicated with Nathan (Founder & Owner) and Chris (Frontend Web Developer).

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge? 

I came across them while researching online and talking with several design firms. We decided to hire them based on their great price point and high-quality design work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September–November 2021.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Temper And Forge was able to deliver their tasks within the quoted timeframe and garner generally positive feedback from the internal team.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good, and their integration of Monday.com helped us understand the progress of their work better.

We typically communicated through email and input questions related to individual tasks on Monday.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What attracted us to Temper And Forge was their nimble approach to the project and competitive pricing. We also liked their responsiveness, design flexibility, and agility.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was hard for me to understand the vision for the development initially, so it would've been better if someone had guided me through the project thoroughly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would suggest preparing the necessary documents and materials ahead of the development so that Temper And Forge can build your website quickly and efficiently.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a wardrobe styling company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

I hired Temper And Forge to redesign my website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a series of phone calls and feedback loops through email, then I sent Temper And Forge all of my information and available content as they worked on refreshing my website. 

At present, they’re hosting the website, so I continue to be connected with them. They’ve also helped me with SEO. 

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with Nathan (Founder & Owner), and he’s done the actual redesign tasks. Chris (Frontend Web Developer) and other people also work on the project, but Nathan does most of the tasks.

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

They were referred to me by a friend. I reached out to Temper And Forge and had a chat with Nathan over the phone. After he laid out their design process, we started the partnership. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I’m happy with the way the website has come out and the way it looks. 

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

Temper And Forge’s project management has been terrific. Nathan has been truly communicative and efficient; we’ve had a great partnership. To communicate, we use either email or Google Meet. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and creativity have been terrific. Nathan has made all the changes that I want and provided great ideas about how to jazz things up. These are the highlights of our partnership. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend working with Temper And Forge.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m Impact Hub Boston’s co-director, and we’re a coworking space and a community for social innovators and entrepreneurs in the Boston area.

What challenge were you trying to address with Temper And Forge?

We hired Temper and Forge to spearhead our website development and design project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our first project required them to help us with our existing website where they implemented changes and updates on our platform. When a larger project came down the road, they spearheaded our website migration efforts where they helped us set up our pages correctly because we only had a general template of how we wanted things to look. While the migration was ongoing, they made suggestions on the layout of our functionalities, the best platforms we could use, the payment pages we could implement, and more. They presented the cost-benefit analysis of each of the options they proposed.

Some of the features and functionalities of our site were related to scheduling tours, paid membership sign-ups with credit card components, links to event registration pages, and more. In addition, they integrated a blog page where a number of our photos and videos were posted. Temper And Forge also created landing pages, and they continue to provide us with maintenance and are helping us improve our existing site.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with 2–3 members from Temper And Forge, but we only interact with their project manager. 

How did you come to work with Temper And Forge?

They were recommended by other members of our community, and we were able to know them better through that community.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in July 2018, and we continue to collaborate.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We received good feedback about their work, and we definitely experienced an increase in our click-through rate (CTR) and conversions. However, I don’t have any specific metrics to share. The team quickly solves our technical problems, too. Overall, they exceed expectations.

How did Temper And Forge perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re performing very well, and we communicate through Slack, email, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What sets them apart is their ability to consider all of the stakeholders' inputs and come up with a solution that meets everyone’s needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not really sure what areas they can improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear understanding and vision of what you’re trying to achieve. Temper And Forge will definitely support you and even share how your website can support the vision and goals that you have.