Serving Painesville, Mentor & Lake County, OH

Software built like it has to hold up.

I design and build custom websites and technical systems for businesses in Painesville, Mentor, and the greater Lake County, Ohio area — reliable, custom-coded, never templated.

Get in touch → See recent work

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Michael House — Software Engineer

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backend · full-stack web · infrastructure

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U.S. Army veteran
B.S. Computer Science
backend eng. @ scale

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01 — SERVICES

What I build

Every engagement starts with the same question: what does this system actually need to do, reliably, for years — not just on launch day. Proudly serving Painesville, Mentor, and businesses throughout Lake County, Ohio.

A.01

Custom Websites

Hand-built, dependency-light sites for professional and B2B firms — fast, accessible, and designed around your actual brand, not a template.

A.02

Backend & Systems

API and backend development, drawing on production experience at scale — built for correctness first, then speed.

A.03

IT & Infrastructure

Network storage, office IT, and ongoing technical support for small businesses that need one person they can actually trust with it.

A.04

QA & Automation

Automated testing and monitoring built to catch problems before they become expensive — not after.

02 — FEATURED WORK

Recent build

A full marketing site redesign for a structural engineering and code consulting firm.

Case Study

Engineering firm, rebuilt from scratch

A structural engineering, plan review, and code consulting firm needed a site that reflected the quality of their work — not the dated template they'd outgrown. Scoped, designed, and built as a lean, custom-coded 3–5 page site.

100%Custom code

FullSEO & a11y pass

ZeroPlugin dependencies

// scope

Right-sized a smaller, focused build after an initial larger proposal didn't fit — full premium design at the actual scope needed.

// direction change

Client shifted from a bold, dark concept to a cleaner corporate look mid-project — design system rebuilt around it without slipping the timeline.

// delivered

Custom design system, full SEO, accessibility, mobile-first responsive build, premium interaction details.

Michael House, web developer and software engineer serving Painesville and Mentor, Ohio

U.S. Army Veteran

03 — ABOUT

I got here through structure — military discipline, formal computer science training, and production engineering work at scale.

I'm a U.S. Army veteran and a freelance software engineer and web developer based in Painesville, Ohio, serving businesses throughout Mentor and the greater Lake County area. Before this, I worked in backend and infrastructure engineering, including systems supporting real production load, and QA automation built to catch failures before they became expensive.

I run every project the same way: understand what actually needs to be true for this to work, then build it so it holds up after launch — not just look right on delivery day.

2006 — 2009

U.S. Army

Medical Laboratory Technician. Discipline, precision, and accuracy under structured conditions.

2016

B.S. Computer Science

Pacific Lutheran University.

2020 — 2022

Backend Engineering

Microservices and backend systems in production, at scale.

Today

Independent Practice

Custom web development, backend engineering, and IT infrastructure for small businesses and firms.

— PRICING

Website packages

Fixed-scope pricing for custom business websites — no surprise invoices. Add-ons available for larger projects.

Basic

Single-Page Site

$300

A clean, custom-designed one-page site — a strong online presence without a full multi-page build.

Pages1

SEOBasic

Contact form—

Revisions1 round

Delivery5 days

Start with Basic

Standard

Business Website

$1,000

A complete small business site — Home, Services, About/Contact — with full SEO and a working contact form.

Pages3

SEOFull

Contact form✓

Accessibility✓

Revisions2 rounds

Delivery10 days

Start with Standard

Premium

Full Custom Build

$1,350

Five custom pages plus premium interactive details — for firms that want their site to reflect the quality of their work.

Pages5

SEO & a11yFull

Contact form✓

InteractionsPremium

Revisions3 rounds

Delivery14 days

Start with Premium

Add-ons available: extra page (+$100), extra revision round (+$60), payment integration, hosting setup (+$75), and more — scoped based on your project.

04 — PROCESS

How a project runs

Same structure whether it's a single page or a full infrastructure build.

STEP 01

Scope

Define exactly what the site or system needs to do — and what it doesn't.

STEP 02

Build

Custom-coded, no unnecessary dependencies, built around your actual content and brand.

STEP 03

Review

Structured revision rounds — consolidated feedback, not endless back-and-forth.

STEP 04

Launch & support

Deployed, tested, and available for ongoing maintenance after it's live.