Ending the "Web Designer Ransom": Splotch Studio Champions Full Client Ownership and Open-Source Freedom

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Splotch Studio promotes full website ownership and open-source freedom for Australian startups, helping founders avoid restrictive web design practices through transparent delivery and client-first handovers.

Splotch Studio is challenging what many founders describe as the "web designer ransom" by promoting full client ownership, transparent handovers, and open-source website builds. Based in Byford, Western Australia, the studio helps Australian startups and small businesses avoid restrictive systems by delivering websites, branding assets, and training that support long-term independence and flexibility.
Byford, WA, Australia - Splotch Studio is taking a stand against what many founders describe as the "web designer ransom", a common frustration where startups feel locked into ongoing fees, restricted access, or proprietary systems that make even simple updates difficult without paying extra.

Splotch Studio has clients all over Australia and their approach is built around a simple promise: clients should fully own their website and its key assets, with clear handover processes and open, maintainable builds that support long-term independence.

"Small businesses move fast. They should not be forced into a situation where they cannot update their own website, move to a different provider, or access their own files without jumping through hoops," said Heath Sikkema, founder of Splotch Studio. "We champion full client ownership and open-source freedom so founders can scale without being trapped by unnecessary restrictions."

A client-first model designed for startups

Splotch Studio's client ownership focus is designed to help Australian startups and small businesses avoid common roadblocks, including:

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Limited admin access or withheld logins

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Ongoing fees for basic edits that could be handled in-house

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Proprietary builds that are difficult to maintain or migrate

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Unclear ownership over domains, design files, or core site assets

Instead, Splotch Studio prioritises transparent delivery, documentation, and practical training where needed, so businesses can confidently manage their site over time.

Open-source freedom and future flexibility

By leaning into open and widely supported technologies, like Wordpress, Splotch Studio aims to make websites easier to maintain, easier to evolve, and easier to hand over. This can be especially valuable for startups that may grow from a simple marketing site into a more complex platform, or need to integrate new tools as the business scales. Our whole approach is to make life easy for our clients and for our own team in the future.

What does this really mean for clients?

In practical terms, this means that when Splotch Studio designs a logo for a client, they include the editable design files in the package that they hand over to their clients, not just the pdf, jpg, and png files. This ensures that clients have full ownership and freedom to share that file with anyone that they choose down the track. Perhaps they might later have a staff member who can help them edit the files in years to come if they were to decide to change their business name or the colour of their logo. Clients don't need to track down the designer and pay them to make changes to it, they are free to get anyone they like to help them. And when Splotch Studio design and build a website for their clients, they provide full admin access and then physically record a private training video that walks clients through the simple process of how to make changes on their own website, ie: how to edit text, add and replace images, how to add new pages, new blog posts, how to add testimonials and how to backup their website and update their website software. On some of their smaller, simpler websites, Splotch Studio will provide a simple 5 minute training video; On some of their larger client websites, it is a series of training videos with different headings to make it easy for clients to find and manage their own updates. This doesn't mean that Splotch Studio does not do updates and changes on client websites. It means that they are happy to do ongoing website changes as part of a support plan or on an hourly rate, but they give clients full access and the know-how to make their own changes if they want. So basically, clients can save by doing it themselves, or pay reasonable rates to have the Splotch team do it for them. It also means that Splotch Studio happily provides full hosting and domain management access details so that clients can simply and freely transfer domain names and their website to third party hosting providers if desired. It really is championing full control and freedom for business owners.

Learn more about Splotch Studio

To learn more about Splotch Studio's team, values, and approach, visit: https://splotch.com.au/about/

About Splotch Studio

Splotch Studio is a Western Australian web design and development studio helping Australian startups and businesses build websites with clear ownership, practical flexibility, and long-term maintainability.

Business details Name: Splotch Studio Website: https://splotch.com.au/ [https://splotch.com.au/] ABN: 78 281 669 429 Phone: 0422 638 608 Address: Suite 272, 11/837 S Western Hwy, Byford WA 6122

Social media Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/splotchstudio [https://www.facebook.com/splotchstudio] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/splotch_studio/ [https://www.instagram.com/splotch_studio/]YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@splotchs [https://www.youtube.com/@splotchs]

Media Contact Splotch Studio Phone: 0422 638 608 Website: https://splotch.com.au/ [https://splotch.com.au/]
Media Contact
Company Name: Splotch Studio
Contact Person: Heath Sikkema
Email: Send Email [http://www.universalpressrelease.com/?pr=ending-the-web-designer-ransom-splotch-studio-champions-full-client-ownership-and-opensource-freedom]
Phone: 0422 638 608
Address:Suite 272, 11/837 S Western Hwy
City: Byford
State: WA
Country: Australia
Website: https://splotch.com.au/

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