Case study · Shoe and trainer restoration, Swindon

LuxPlugDirect: trusted by footballers, on a website that looked like any other.

Jay restores trainers, designer shoes and bags by hand in Swindon, for local customers and for footballers who post their pairs to him. His old site had the right parts, but it looked like a template, took 13 seconds to load on a phone, and asked people to fill in a form. He wanted a site that looks like his work. Drag the line across the laptop to see the old site against the new one.

See their site All the work

LuxPlugDirect Restorations's new website, as it looks on a laptop

LuxPlugDirect Restorations's old website, before the rebuild

What he wanted.

His work sells itself in photos: mud-caked Jordans brought back to white, Dior soles cleaned, bags re-dyed, and players holding up their pairs. The old site had those photos, but in a standard template with white boxes, plain type and stock icons, so it looked like any other business. On a phone it took 13 seconds to show anything, his number couldn't be tapped, and getting a price meant a seven-box form. He wanted it dark, built on his own pictures, with things moving as you scroll, and every button going straight to him.

The old site, measured on 4 October 2026.

13.3 s
Old site on a phone: 0
Ways to ring or message him in one tap: 7
Boxes to fill in to book: 4.9 from 39
Google rating

Where these come from

Old site on a phone: Before the main content showed, median of three runs on a throttled phone test
Ways to ring or message him in one tap: His number was on the page twice, as plain text you could not tap
Boxes to fill in to book: Name, email, phone, service, date, photos and notes, with replies through a paid text system
Google rating: As shown in the reviews on his old site

Our own captures and tests of the old site and the new one on 4 October 2026: laptop and phone screenshots, the page source, and the same throttled phone test run three times on each.

How we did it.

Built on his own photos
Every picture is his: pairs on the bench, players with their trainers, and real before-and-afters you can drag across.
His logo and his lettering
His real logo, cut out cleanly, and headlines in a narrow slanted face matched to the lettering in it, with his blue running through the whole site.
A site that moves
Sections slide up over each other as you scroll, a restoration plays out in four steps, and the before-and-afters sweep across on their own.
Straight to his phone
Every button rings him, opens WhatsApp or emails him. No form and no paid text system, so there is nothing to pay each month for messages.
Quick on a phone
The same throttled phone test shows the main content in 4.0 seconds, down from 13.3, and the moving parts are kept light so it stays smooth on a phone.

The site, on a phone.

Open luxplug.simplyscale.co.uk

Most of their customers find them on a phone, so this is what most of them see. Three screens from the live site.

LuxPlugDirect Restorations's website on a phone: the first thing a customer sees — The first thing a customer sees

LuxPlugDirect Restorations's website on a phone: what they do — What they do

LuxPlugDirect Restorations's website on a phone: what their customers say — What their customers say

The old site against the new one.

	Old site	New site
Main content on a phone	13.3 s	4.0 s
One-tap call, WhatsApp or email	None	On every screen
To get a price	Fill in a 7-box form	WhatsApp a photo
Before and after photos	A photo carousel	Three you can drag across
Monthly cost of text replies	A paid text system	Nothing: it all goes to his own phone

Speeds are the median of three runs of the same throttled phone test on each site, 4 October 2026. Everything else is from the two sites as they were that day.

What this means for a firm like yours.

If your work is better than your website, people judge the website. A site that looks like your work, and lets people reach you in one tap, does the selling before they ever message you.

What their customers say.

Their Google reviews, word for word. The work is theirs. Our job is making sure the right people see it.

Very happy with the shoe cleaning! My shoes look clean and fresh. Great service, thank you!

Aquillor MpofuGoogle review

Highly recommend. Did a great job and communication

Zach NiesterGoogle review

When it happened.

4 Oct 2026Old site captured on a laptop and a phone, and speed-tested three times.
4 Oct 2026New site built and put on a preview address for Jay to check.
NextThe new site moves onto his own domain, luxplugdirectrestorations.com.

Why it's a no-brainer.

Buying the same parts separately costs about £1,500 up front and £750 a month, and that's the low end. The bigger difference is everything around the price.

Bought bit by bitWith SimplyScale

What it costs£1,500 up front, then about £750 a month£0 until you've won £500 of work, then from £500 a month

When you payFrom day one, whether it works or notOnly once it's already brought you work

Who you deal withThree or four separate suppliersOne person: Tyler, on one number

How it fits togetherEach one does its own bitOne system: found, answered, brought back, counted

Proof it is workingYou work it out yourselfEvery job you win, counted in pounds

If it doesn't workYou've still paid for itNothing won in 90 days? Walk away and keep the website

How we worked out £1,500 and £750 a month

A website built to be called (freelancer, 5 pages)£1,500 one-off
Your Google listing worked every week (local SEO, starter level)£300 a month
Every enquiry replied to and chased (answering and follow-up)£300 a month
Tracking, reports, referrals and reactivation (CRM and automation)£150 a month

The low end of what a proper UK freelancer or small agency charges, from published price guides read on 4 October 2026: freelancer brochure sites £1,500 to £3,000; local-only SEO from £300 a month; answering with follow-up £299 to £500 a month; CRM and automation software $97 to $297 a month before anyone sets it up. You can find it cheaper on Fiverr. You usually get what you pay for.