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FAQ
Questions we hear often
Who do you work with?
Mostly small and medium businesses: professional services firms, clinics, retailers, restaurants, trades and growing startups that need a dependable technology partner without building a full in-house IT or engineering team. For networking, phone systems and in-person consulting, those clients are in the Austin metro area and Central Texas up to Waco. Websites and SaaS apps are built remotely, so web clients can be anywhere. For enterprise contracting we work with medium and large companies that need senior engineers on a corp-to-corp basis, fully remote or on site, wherever they are based.
Where are you based?
We are based in Liberty Hill, Texas, just northwest of Austin. For networking, phone systems and in-person consulting we serve businesses across the Austin metro area and Central Texas, up the I-35 corridor to Waco. That includes Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Leander, Temple, Killeen, Waco and the Hill Country towns, and we are glad to come on site anywhere in that area.
Web design and development and enterprise contracting are remote-friendly and not limited to the region: we work with clients anywhere in the United States. Consulting and AI work can be remote too.
How does pricing work?
For consulting, AI and automation, websites, networking and phone systems there are two ways to work with us:
- Advise: we help you decide what to buy, how to set it up and how to manage it, and your team runs it from there. This is billed as a project or by the hour.
- Managed: we set it up and keep running it for you for a recurring monthly fee that covers things like hosting and updates, monitoring and backups, phone system administration, network changes and ongoing support.
Within either mode, the specifics depend on the kind of work, and we always agree on them in writing before we start:
- Websites and apps: a fixed-scope quote with clear deliverables and milestones, so you know the total cost up front.
- Consulting: hourly for focused projects, or a monthly retainer for ongoing fractional CTO and advisory work.
- AI and automation: a fixed fee for the readiness assessment, a fixed quote for each rollout, and a monthly fee for managed AI.
- Networking: a fixed quote after the site survey, with equipment and labor itemized separately.
- Phone systems: a fixed quote for design, porting and migration, with hardware itemized and provider service billed monthly by the provider you choose.
- Enterprise contracting: corp-to-corp at an agreed rate under a statement of work.
How long does a typical project take?
A marketing website usually takes four to eight weeks from kickoff to launch. Online stores and custom applications typically run two to four months, depending on features and integrations. Most office network installs are completed within one to three weeks of the site survey, and the install itself is often scheduled after hours to avoid disrupting your team. Consulting engagements can begin within a week.
What does working with Embercrest look like?
Every engagement starts with a short discovery call to understand your goals. We follow up with a written proposal that covers scope, timeline and cost. Once approved, you get a single point of contact, regular progress updates and working results early and often, not a big reveal at the end. When the project wraps, you receive full documentation and ownership of everything we built, with optional ongoing support if you want it.
Can you just advise us, or do you also run things for us?
Either one, and you can switch later. If you have someone in house who likes to own technology, we can simply advise: help you choose the right tools and vendors, show you how to set them up, and hand over a plan and documentation so your team can manage them. That work is billed as a project or hourly, and there is nothing ongoing unless you want it.
If you would rather not think about it, we can do it all and keep running it for a recurring monthly fee. Managed service covers the day to day: website hosting and updates, monitoring and backups, phone system administration, network monitoring and changes, and a real person to call when something needs attention. Many clients start with an advisory project and move to managed once they see what is involved.
Do you offer ongoing support after launch?
Yes. Website care plans cover hosting, updates, security patches, backups and a set amount of improvement time each month. Network clients can add monitoring and support. Consulting retainers keep a senior advisor on call for your team. All support is optional, and you always keep full ownership of your code, accounts and equipment.
Can you move our phones to the cloud without changing our number?
Yes. Your existing business numbers, including main lines, direct lines and toll-free numbers, can almost always be ported to a cloud phone system. We gather a recent bill from your current carrier and a signed authorization, submit the port and track it until it completes. Most ports finish in one to three weeks, depending on the carrier.
While the port is in progress your current service keeps working, and we build and test the new system in parallel. On cutover day your numbers switch over, usually within minutes, and calls start ringing on the new phones and apps. Customers keep dialing the same number and never notice the change. We recommend keeping your old service active until the port is confirmed, and we let you know when it is safe to cancel.
Is it safe to use AI with our business data?
It can be, when it is set up properly. The bigger risk for most businesses is the one they already have: staff pasting client details into free chatbots, where the data may be kept or used to improve the service. We move that work onto business-tier tools whose terms keep your data private, and we turn on the data protections they offer.
We also write an acceptable-use policy so your team knows what can and cannot go into an AI tool, set access controls so each assistant sees only the documents it needs, and keep a person reviewing anything client-facing or financial before it goes out. A readiness assessment is a good place to start: it flags the data and security risks before anything new is switched on.
How do we get started?
Book a call or send us a message through the contact form. Tell us a little about your business and what you are trying to solve. We reply within one business day, and the first conversation is free with no obligation.