We build the systems most local businesses never get around to.
Not because owners don't care — because they're running the business. The backup nobody set up, the call nobody answered, the lead nobody followed up on. That's the work we do.
Why we started
Novus started from a simple observation: the tools that let a business answer every call, respond in under five minutes, and follow up on every lead used to cost tens of thousands of dollars and a full-time staffer to run.
That changed. The same systems can now be built for a fraction of that — but almost nobody is building them for the shop on the corner. The agencies that do this work are chasing companies with twenty-five employees and a marketing budget.
We're a small team in Chicago doing it for everyone else. Family shops, service businesses, the places where the owner is also the person answering the phone. We start with a free audit, we tell you the truth about what we find, and we only build what actually addresses it.
Audit first. Build second.
The same four steps on every engagement, whether it's a one-page site or a full growth system.
Audit
We walk your setup end to end — website, calls, messages, reviews, follow-up — and show you exactly where customers are slipping through.
Roadmap
A plain-English breakdown of what's costing you business and what fixing it is worth. No jargon, no pressure.
Build
We build the systems and test everything live before it ever touches a real customer.
Maintain
Monthly monitoring, tuning, and reporting. You see what's working in numbers, not adjectives.
Four things we don't compromise on
Diagnose before prescribing
We won't recommend a build before we understand the business. Sometimes the honest answer is that you don't need us yet — we'd rather say that than sell you something.
You own everything
Your domain, your site, your accounts, your customer data. Payments run through Stripe under your own account — we integrate, you control the money. No hostage situations if you leave.
Measured, not claimed
Every build ships with tracking wired in. If something isn't working, you'll see it in the numbers and we'll tell you rather than wait for you to ask.
Local and reachable
We're in Chicago. You can meet us, and when something breaks you're calling a person who knows your setup, not a ticket queue.