Most definitely! Our founder, Ryan, is a digital agency owner of 15+ years, so he knows how to handle nearly any agency-specific issue. He has a background as a technical project manager and can deal with websites, web hosting, project management, operations, and much more.
In addition, our thorough onboarding process ensures we learn everything we can about your agency so the transition is seamless.
We can handle most website technical issues, either with builders and plugins or code-based ones. The developers on our team are 100% US-based, and each dev has at least 10 years of experience fixing and working on websites. We specialize in WordPress websites but can also help with website platforms like Wix, Squarespace, Framer, Webflow, and more.
Please note that coding work is only done to solve immediate website issues. We do not move projects forward with coding work, since we are in the business of covering for agency owners and not programming.
For web hosting issues, we can help in every way we can through control panels and similar methods, but we are not server admins. We are happy to connect with any hosting companies or partners you work with, though.
Both of our plans include 2 hours of task/work time per day. Additional hours are billed at $50 per hour. Although we provide coverage for 10 hours (9am to 7pm Eastern) per workday, we only bill for the time we work on tasks for your agency.
This ensures maximum efficiency so you won’t be billed for any time other than when we work on tasks for your agency.
Yes, the hours will roll over until the end of your vacation coverage period. This means if you book 5 days of vacation coverage (2 hours per day), you will get 10 hours of work pooled. We will only bill additional hours, at $50 per hour, after we have used up the 10 pooled hours for the vacation.
Since workloads vary based on the day, this policy is designed with pricing flexibility for agency owners in mind.
Both of our plans include coverage during regular business days from 9am to 7pm US Eastern Time. With our advanced coverage plan, you also receive an after-hours check-in at 10pm Eastern each weeknight, and 2 check-ins per weekend day. As long as you have an advanced coverage day on a Friday or Monday, we include the weekend check-ins free of charge. You don’t need to pay for full coverage on weekends.
We will handle any urgent issues over the weekend, using the total pooled vacation hours, and save the non-urgent work for the next full weekday.
For our standard coverage plan, we offer first replies within 2 hours during our business hours of 9am to 7pm US Eastern Time. With our advanced plan, we offer first replies within 1 hour during our business hours. Once we have given our first reply, we will continue these conversations with quicker reply times.
Depending on our workload, we usually give a first reply sooner than these estimates. Due to workload fluctuations, we can’t guarantee these response times but will do our absolute best to meet them whenever possible.
At the end of each workday, we will share a brief report with the tasks we worked on that day and how we dealt with the situations that arose. At the end of the trip, we also provide a detailed vacation debrief document with even more info.
If you want us to, we can! There is no extra fee for this service. We can respond as if we are a member of your agency team. If you want this service, just provide us with a custom agency domain email and any other communication accounts you use.
Or you can just let your clients know a trusted fellow agency owner will cover for you, and we will reply directly from our email accounts. We have a special agency website and separate email accounts, so no one will know you are using Agency Upgrades. The choice for communication is up to you.
We have a thorough onboarding process so we are prepared for as many scenarios as possible for your agency. Every agency is different and has unique policies and procedures, so we get as much info as we can to be ready for anything. We spend several hours working with your agency, so we are ready for nearly anything.
We provide a document with questions for your agency to fill out. The more info you provide, the better prepared we will be! After we have reviewed the document, we offer a video call to talk through everything to make sure we are all on the same page. Once these steps are complete, we will begin coverage on your desired dates.
During our onboarding process, we spend several hours working with each agency to be prepared for as many situations as possible. The $50 setup fee makes this process possible for every agency we provide coverage for. This fee acts as the deposit to hold your vacation reservation and is non-refundable in case the vacation is cancelled completely. Rescheduled vacations are not a problem, so you won’t lose your deposit.
Any future vacations for your agency booked with Agency Upgrades will not be subject to the $50 setup fee, since we have already completed the onboarding process. Next time you book a vacation, just let us know what is new for your agency, and you will be good to go.
Most agency owners need us to help fill in with communication and provide assistance in case something goes wrong. They prefer to keep project communication with their clients to themselves. We totally get this and are happy to serve anywhere else we are needed.
But for some agency owners, they are looking for their projects to move along while they are gone. For vacations of 6 business days or longer, we can take over existing projects and manage them for your agency while you are gone.
Since projects are so complex, we need to have as many details as possible shared with us to successfully manage them. This process requires written documentation of each project and a meeting to discuss any questions or concerns we have. Due to this additional onboarding time needed, we charge a fee of $20 per project we will take over, in addition to the normal vacation service fees. If you are interested in this service, please let us know on the signup form.
At this time, no. If there is a web hosting, server, or major tech issue that requires help at 3am, we suggest leaving this to a hosting expert. We only offer help for web hosting and website issues during our coverage hours listed.
We are considering offering 24/7 service in the future, if there is demand for it. Want to register your interest for 24/7 coverage? Click the "Give Feedback" link at the bottom of this page, and let us know.
We need some way to get ahold of agency owners in case of a real emergency that we can’t deal with. If you are going to be totally out of cell phone range, get in contact with us so we can work something out. Some newer phones allow satellite-based communications, which could possibly be used.
We currently have a minimum vacation length of 2 days because of the time required to onboard a new agency and get all the info we need. If your vacation is only 1 day, you could choose the 2 day coverage plan, and we will include 2 hours of work time per day, so you would have a 4 hour pool of hours for the day you are gone.