Working with CI Web Group.
For current and prospective customers: every step of the journey, explained honestly. The short version — you configure everything transparently online, AI agents do the heavy lifting, and you watch it happen.
What is this resource center?
This page is the single place that explains what actually happens when you work with CI Web Group — the seven stages every customer moves through, what each one asks of you, how long it takes, and what you get. It exists because our process genuinely is different from a traditional agency's, and the difference is easier to trust when it's written down with real numbers.
If you're already a customer, use it as your field guide — every step links to the checklist or tool you need. If you're evaluating us, read the honest comparison first, then the 12-step results roadmap for how services sequence after go-live.
You configure your whole plan online with live pricing, AI agents on our own platform do the production work, and everything — credits, releases, benchmarks — is published where you can see it.
Your city list is the biggest multiplier in the page math. Be honest about your real service radius — the blueprint sizes your build (and your investment) around it.
What happens in the Strategy step?
Strategy is a free, self-serve strategic planning system that maps your markets, cities, customer segments, services, and service variations into a page-by-page AI Implementation Blueprint — before you spend a dollar.
- You work through seven quick sub-steps: your business info, markets & service radius, an AI-generated target-city list, customer segments, services, and service variations.
- The service catalog covers 559 services across 54 trade categories, so the plan reflects what you actually sell.
- The results step turns your selections into transparent page math — a base of core pages plus one page for every city × service × variation combination you chose — and recommends a build tier and timeline sized to it.
- What we need from you
- About your business: where you operate, who you serve, and which services you want to grow. No payment details, no sales call required.
- How long it takes
- Self-paced — most owners finish in one sitting. Progress saves automatically.
- What you get
- Your AI Implementation Blueprint: total addressable pages, a recommended build tier and timeline, and a pre-built agreement emailed to you — typically within about 30 seconds of submitting.
Everything stays adjustable later. Components can be added any time after launch, and plan changes are self-serve — so start with what the blueprint recommends and grow from data.
What happens in the Customize step?
Customize is the order builder where you configure your entire plan yourself — website tier, page count, add-on components, and monthly growth services — with live pricing recalculating on every click.
- You pick one of 7 website tiers, from Lean Launch ($1,500) to Flagship Build ($50,000), each with AI credits and the go-live bundle included.
- Pillar content writing is priced at a flat $16 per page, and every one-time and monthly service shows its real rate before you commit.
- Payment plans are published up front: pay in full, or finance over 6, 12, 18 months with the exact fee percentage shown on the order rail.
- What we need from you
- Your decisions. The pricing is on the page; nothing is quoted behind closed doors.
- How long it takes
- As long as you want to explore — the configuration saves as you go.
- What you get
- A fully priced order — one-time investment and monthly plan, line by line — and an agreement you can review and sign electronically. No term contract; you own your content and your website design.
What happens during Onboarding?
Onboarding captures who your business really is — licenses, certifications, named technicians, guarantees, brands you carry, the neighborhoods you dominate — into your entity file, the AI source of truth every page is written from.
- You complete a structured onboarding that records your company story, credentials, differentiators, and service specifics.
- That record becomes your entity file — the canonical description of your business that Hydra OS agents reference on every page, blog post, and schema block they produce.
- This is why a Hydra site sounds like you instead of like a template: the AI writes from your verified facts, not from generic industry copy.
- What we need from you
- Accurate business facts: license numbers, certifications, service areas, team members, guarantees, and the story only you can tell.
- How long it takes
- One focused session for most businesses. Finishing it fast matters — see the Fast Track rule in step 4.
- What you get
- A living entity record that keeps your entire web presence consistent — and gets richer as your business grows.
The 72-hour Fast Track upgrade is earned, not bought. It's the single highest-leverage thing you can do in the whole journey, and it costs nothing but focus.
What happens in the Assets step — and what is the free Fast Track upgrade?
Assets is where you hand over the raw materials — logos, photos, brand files, and access to your Google properties — and it is the one step where speed literally buys you priority: deliver everything within 72 hours of signing and your build moves to the front of the queue at no cost.
- You work through the digital-asset checklist: brand files, real photos of your team and trucks, and access grants (Google Business Profile, Analytics, Search Console, domain).
- Free Fast Track Upgrade: Finish onboarding + deliver all assets within 3 days of signing your MSA and we'll automatically move you to our Fast Track plan — at no cost. Complete Steps 3 & 4 (Digital Assets & Google Access) within 72 hours of signature to qualify. We'll bump your build to the front of the queue automatically.
- Real assets beat stock every time — your own crews, trucks, and completed jobs are what make city pages and trust sections credible to humans and AI engines alike.
- What we need from you
- Everything on the asset collection checklist — the sooner and more complete, the stronger (and sooner) the build.
- How long it takes
- Within 72 hours of signature to earn the free Fast Track upgrade; otherwise at your pace.
- What you get
- A complete asset library attached to your entity file — and, if you hit the 72-hour window, front-of-queue build priority for free.
Waiting to launch doesn't make a site better; data does. Everything on the site can be changed after go-live with visible AI-credit math.
What happens at the Review step?
Review is where we present your built site and you decide when it ships — the time from design review to go-live is 100% in your hands.
- We walk you through the finished build: design, page architecture, content, schema, and conversion paths.
- Every build includes the go-live bundle — technical optimization, a one-time SEO pass, and a QA pre-launch pass — so what you review is launch-ready, not a draft.
- You request changes, we make them, and you approve the launch.
- What we need from you
- Your feedback and your go-live decision.
- How long it takes
- Entirely up to you. Our honest advice: launch as soon as possible and iterate from real data rather than polishing in private.
- What you get
- A reviewed, QA-passed, launch-approved website — and a firm go-live moment.
How do meetings and communication work?
You get a direct Slack channel to the actual team — strategists, developers, SEO leads — included with monthly maintenance, plus scheduled strategy meetings on a cadence you choose.
- Strategy meetings are priced transparently like everything else: $250 per meeting per year, billed monthly — most clients start with two per year.
- The Slack support channel is included at no monthly cost — no ticket queues, no gatekeeping account managers.
- Between meetings, on-demand analytics agents across Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile, and DataForSEO answer performance questions the moment you ask.
- What we need from you
- Show up with questions. Bring your goals; we bring the network-wide data.
- How long it takes
- Ongoing — the cadence is yours to set and change.
- What you get
- Direct access to the people doing the work, dated strategy checkpoints, and answers on demand instead of a monthly PDF.
After launch, the site keeps compounding: blogging, components, and fleet-wide platform upgrades ship without a rebuild project.
How long does the Build take — and can it go faster?
Standard build timelines run 30–60 days depending on tier, and a fully built, QA-passed Hydra site floors at about 22 business days — with two published ways to move faster.
- Each tier carries its build window (Lean Launch at 30 days up to Flagship Build at 60 days), and seasonality is stated honestly: lighter pipeline seasons run faster, busy seasons can run longer.
- Fast Track (free): finish onboarding and assets within 72 hours of signing and your build jumps the queue automatically.
- Fast Pass (paid): a priority-build option with published math — for example, a Starter Build at its full page allotment saves 22 business days at $400 per day saved ($8,800 one-time), delivering in 22 business days.
- What we need from you
- Nothing new — if steps 3 and 4 are done, the build runs on our side.
- How long it takes
- 30–60 days by tier; 22 business days at the Fast Pass floor.
- What you get
- A launched Hydra OS website — statically generated, technically optimized, schema-complete — plugged into infrastructure that already runs hundreds of production sites.
Why does this feel different from a traditional agency?
Because the usual agency experience is built around information asymmetry — they know the price, the queue, and the results; you find out later. Working with CI Web Group inverts that: pricing is live before the first conversation, ongoing work is metered in visible AI-credit math, platform improvements are published as release notes, and the portfolio's performance is benchmarked in public with its method stated. None of the rows below name a competitor, and every claim links to the page that substantiates it.
| Dimension | Traditional agency | Working with CI Web Group |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Opaque custom quotes, delivered after a sales call. | Live pricing you configure yourself online — all 7 website tiers, $16/page content, and every monthly service rate published before you ever talk to sales. Plans & pricing → |
| Ongoing changes | Black-box retainer hours and change-order invoices. | AI Build Credits with visible math: $5 = 1 credit, funding changes, additions, and modifications — starting at 25 credits ($125) per month per market. How AI credits work → |
| Deliverables | A static website handed over at launch — then a redesign quote three years later. | A 47-component catalog you can add to your live site at any time — with 831 component instances measured across 171 client builds (July 2026). Hydra Build Components → |
| Reporting | A monthly PDF report summarizing last month. | On-demand analytics agents plugged into Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile, and DataForSEO — one intelligence layer you can query any time. The analytics-agents release → |
| Scale | Your site is one isolated account; lessons stay siloed. | SWARM runs every Hydra OS site as one orchestrated fleet — improvements deploy fleet-wide in minutes, and what's proven in one market is replicated in yours. The SWARM release → |
| Speed | A waitlist you can't see and deadlines that drift. | A free Fast Track upgrade earned by delivering assets in 72 hours, and a paid Fast Pass with published per-day math down to a 22-business-day floor. The 72-hour rule → |
| Lock-in | Long terms — and on proprietary builders, leaving can mean losing the site. | No term contract, 30-day notice, and you own your content and your website design. Terms of service → |
| Proof | Cherry-picked testimonials and unverifiable claims. | A published portfolio benchmark with method and sources: $30 median cost per lead (industry blended: $153) and 4.7% median site conversion. How CI Web Group stacks up → |
Adoption figures: Measured across the Hydra portfolio, July 2026 — mined from every client build in the Hydra monorepo. Benchmark figures: the published portfolio benchmark of July 3, 2026, method and sources stated on the benchmark page.
Everything a customer needs, one grid.
Deep links into the tools, proof, and learning behind every step above.
Your build
Everything that shapes what gets built — and how fast.
- Hydra Build Components catalog → 47 add-on components across SEO, AEO, GEO, AI Search & CRO — orderable any time
- Asset collection checklist → The step-4 checklist — and the key to the free 72-hour Fast Track upgrade
- Website review & go-live guide → What to check at step 5 before you approve launch
- The 12-step results roadmap → How services sequence into compounding growth after go-live
Proof & benchmarks
Published, method-stated evidence — not testimonials alone.
- How CI Web Group stacks up → $30 median cost per lead vs the industry's blended figure — the July 2026 portfolio benchmark
- Featured customer launches → Real client sites live on Hydra OS, with measured launch results
- Client stories & reviews → What owners say about the working relationship
- Markets hub → Documented metros with real client counts and launch proof
Stay current
The platform ships constantly — watch it happen.
Learn the strategy
The thinking behind the work, in plain language.
Community & authority
The people and rooms behind the platform.
- Jennifer Bagley — speaking & events → Dated keynotes and workshops across the trades associations
- The Catalyst for the Trades podcast → Conversations with operators leveraging AI
- Just Start AI community → 1,000+ trades pros learning AI hands-on
- Industries we serve → Trade-by-trade playbooks, from HVAC to franchises and PE portfolios
Customer journey questions,
answered directly.
What are the 7 steps of working with CI Web Group?
Strategy, Customize, Onboarding, Assets, Review, Meetings, and Build. You map your plan for free, configure your exact package with live pricing, feed the AI your business facts and assets, review the finished site, set your meeting cadence, and launch — with published rules for making every stage faster.
How much does a Hydra OS website cost?
Website tiers run from $1,500 (Lean Launch) to $50,000 (Flagship Build) one-time, with pillar content at $16 per page and monthly maintenance from $250 to $1,000 by tier. Every rate is published in the plan builder before you talk to anyone.
How long does a Hydra OS website take to build?
Standard tier timelines run 30–60 days, honestly seasonal — lighter seasons run faster, busy seasons longer. A fully built, QA-passed site floors at about 22 business days, reachable via the paid Fast Pass. Once your site is presented for review, the time from review to go-live is 100% up to you.
What is the free Fast Track upgrade?
Finish onboarding and deliver all digital assets within 72 hours of signing your agreement and your build automatically moves to the front of the queue — at no cost. It's earned by speed, not bought.
What are AI Build Credits?
AI Build Credits fund ongoing changes, additions, and modifications to your live site with visible math: $5 equals 1 credit, starting at 25 credits ($125) per month per market. No black-box retainer hours — you see exactly what each piece of work costs.
Do I have to sign a long-term contract?
No. There is no term contract — services run month to month with 30-day notice, and you own your content and your website design. Financing for the one-time build is optional, with the fee percentage published on the order rail.
What happens after my website goes live?
The system keeps compounding: you can add any of the 47 catalog components at any time, on-demand analytics agents answer performance questions across Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile, and DataForSEO, fleet-wide platform upgrades ship via SWARM without a rebuild, and your strategy meetings and Slack channel keep the humans in the loop.
Why does working with CI Web Group feel different from a traditional agency?
Because the model is inverted: you configure everything transparently online before a sales conversation, AI agents on our own platform do the heavy production work while senior humans steer strategy, and you can watch it all happen — live pricing, visible credit math, published release notes, and a portfolio benchmark with its method stated. Transparency isn't a promise; it's the interface.
Step 1 is free.
Start there.
Build your strategic plan yourself, or book 30 minutes with a senior strategist and walk through it together — either way, you'll see the whole plan and the whole price before you commit to anything.