Context
The brand had to
do the selling.
SD Softwater is a water softener installation business I founded in San Diego, operating under a deposit-based subcontractor model. With no sales team and no physical storefront, the website had to convert visitors into leads on its own.
The visual identity uses a San Diego skyline theme to anchor local trust. Typography and color chosen to feel professional without being corporate, optimized for mobile-first browsing where most local service searches happen.
Design Decisions
Local trust
above the fold.
Local service businesses live and die by trust signals. The San Diego skyline imagery is a deliberate anchor — it immediately tells a visitor that this is a local business, not a national chain sending someone from out of state.
The form above the fold was a deliberate choice against common web design instinct (which pushes forms below more copy). For local service search intent, the visitor has already decided they need the service. The form needs to be the first thing they see, not the fifth.
Business Model
Deposit-based,
subcontractor model.
The business operates by taking a deposit from the customer upfront, then subcontracting the physical installation to a licensed plumber. The margin lives in the spread between what the customer pays and what the subcontractor charges.
That model means the website's conversion rate is the only variable I can control directly. Every design decision — headline, form placement, trust signals, mobile optimization — maps back to that one metric.