I know what it feels like to pay for something that does not work.
Years ago, running a service business of my own, I hired a large agency to help — Google Ads, website work, the full package. I paid for months of their time and got nothing from it. Not one customer I could point to and say that came from this. When I finally took matters back into my own hands, did the research, and talked to the right people, I had a paying customer within days. Days — after months of paying someone else.
That experience changed how I think about this work. Small businesses are not just a line on a spreadsheet. There is real money riding on it. Real livelihoods. A website that does not work is not just an inconvenience — it is a direct cost to someone who cannot afford it.
That business was Kaitoa Pest Control. It is not running any more, but it is where this started. In 2019 I built its website myself on WordPress, got frustrated by plugins that cost hundreds of dollars a month and still could not do what I needed, and eventually learned to code it properly from scratch.
So here is the thing I would rather say plainly than leave you wondering about: I am self-taught. No agency background, no computer science degree. I learned this because the people I was paying to do it were not doing it well enough, and I could not afford for that to keep being true.
That is worth knowing, because it shapes how I work. I have been building sites since 2019, and I have not built hundreds of them. What I can tell you is that every one has been built properly, and the numbers below are the receipts. I would rather show you measurable results on real sites than a certificate — and in this industry there is no licence or registration to hold anyway. Anyone can call themselves a web designer tomorrow. The only honest way to judge one is to look at what their sites actually do.
The core of it is simple: most small businesses do not need a fancier website. They need one that works, loads fast, and shows up where their next customer is looking.
What do I actually do for you?
I build custom websites and handle the SEO that fills them with the right visitors. Whether someone finds you through a Google search, a ChatGPT recommendation, or just by looking you up after hearing your name — your site should be ready for all of it.
No templates. No bloated plugins. No handing you a finished site and disappearing. I stay involved for months after launch, because that is when the real work of building search presence actually happens.
I also talk like a person. If you ask a question, you will get a plain answer. If I think something is not right for you, I will say so, even if it costs me the job. The goal is a working relationship, not a transaction.
The website is always yours. You own it. If you ever want to take it somewhere else, you can.
Do the sites actually perform?
- 24 out of 24 scores across recent builds came back A or A+ on Google's independent testing tool.
- 97.7 out of 100 combined average across performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO. Read our guide on what these scores actually mean and how to check your own site.
- Every site built so far is now showing up where its customers are looking — on Google, and in AI search.
- Building sites since 2019. Deliberately a small number of them, each one custom coded rather than assembled from a template.
- When I get something wrong, I fix it in public. In September 2026 I went through Google's own published guidance on AI search and found claims on this very site that did not match it — including one about schema markup. I corrected every one and wrote up what I had got wrong. You can hold anyone advising you to that standard, including me.
Aaron was great to work with — such an easy process. I talked, and he captured exactly what I wanted for my business website; he took care of literally every single thing I needed. Super responsive and explains things in terms non-IT people can understand. I highly recommend Aaron and Pounamu Creative.
Aaron's great. Knowledgeable, aware of current trends and is a very likeable person. The website he developed is light years ahead of our previous one.
Nelson-based. Here for whoever needs us.
Pounamu Creative is based in Nelson. I work with clients across New Zealand and take on international projects where it is a good fit. Most clients are service businesses — trades, bookkeepers, earthworks operators, detailers, and anyone else who is great at what they do but does not want to think about the digital side.
That is what I am here for.