Technology for owner-led businesses

When technology becomes a business problem, you need someone who can own it.

Websites, ecommerce, systems, automation, AI, migrations — I help you figure out what actually needs to happen, get it built, and keep the important pieces working together.

Talk through your situation See the work

Pittsburgh-rooted · serving Pittsburgh + beyondDiagnose · Build · Lead

Diagnose · Build · Lead

Different business problems need different technical answers.

Sometimes the job is getting the digital foundation right. Sometimes it's fixing a migration, building a system around the way the business actually works, or connecting tools that have grown apart. And sometimes it's staying involved so the owner isn't carrying every technical decision alone.

The job isn't to sell you more technology. It's to figure out what actually needs to happen — then own the path forward.

Who this is for

You don't need to know what the solution is. You usually know the symptom.

Technology has accumulated, but nobody owns the whole picture.

Different vendors, software, accounts, and processes handle different pieces. The owner keeps getting pulled into decisions because nobody is responsible for how it all fits together.

A technical project is touching more of the business than expected.

A website, migration, ecommerce project, or software change starts surfacing data, business rules, integrations, workflows, and launch dependencies nobody planned for.

A process that used to be simple is becoming expensive to manage.

Spreadsheets, inboxes, repeated follow-up, old software, and knowledge trapped in someone's head. The business has grown, but the process hasn't grown with it.

Your business is better than your website makes it look.

The reputation, team, services, or operation have grown — but the digital presence still reflects an earlier version of the company.

The answer might be a website, an automation, a migration, an internal tool, a roadmap — or a decision not to build anything yet.

What I do

Three jobs. One accountable partner.

Diagnose the problem. Build what's needed. Lead what happens next.

Diagnose

Before I recommend a fix, I figure out what's actually happening — across your website, systems, data, workflows, vendors, or customer journey. The goal is to solve the right problem before money gets spent solving the wrong one.

Build

Websites, ecommerce, internal tools, migrations, automations, data workflows, and AI-enabled systems — built around the way the business actually works, not around a generic template.

Lead

When the business needs ongoing technical judgment, I stay involved — roadmap, vendor decisions, system priorities, AI and automation questions, production issues, and what should happen next.

The work

Start with the problem. Earn the right to go deeper.

Four businesses. Four different starting points. In each case, the first job led to a clearer understanding of what the business needed next.

Diagnose → Build → Lead · Ecommerce Migration + Stewardship

The old platform was gone. The replacement couldn't be treated as the source of truth.

Gaber & Company has supplied the jewelry and watchmaking trade since 1946. When its longtime ecommerce platform was retired, a prior transition preserved some basic catalog data but left imagery, category structure and important operating workflows incomplete.

I started with diagnosis rather than another import. Working from Gaber's source records, I reconstructed the catalog, resolved image, taxonomy, SKU and product-status inconsistencies with the owner, and built a new Shopify implementation around 5,706 verified products and 7,763 SKU/variant records.

The store launched in August 2026 following commerce QA and final reconciliation, carrying 3,512 legacy redirects into the new platform. Its first real order arrived within days.

The migration is finished, but the relationship isn't. SteelPixels now provides ongoing ecommerce stewardship — supporting the platform, helping prioritize improvements, and handling the technical work that doesn't make sense for Gaber to carry alone.

Role · Migration recovery, catalog engineering & Shopify implementation → ongoing ecommerce stewardship

“SteelPixels stepped into our time of need and came through in a big way!!”

Chris Gaber· Gaber & Company

5,706

Products in the launched store

7,763

SKU / variant records reconciled

3,512

Legacy redirects carried into the new platform

Final reconciliation covered all 7,763 catalog records across 48 product fields, with every difference explained before launch.

Build → Lead · Ecommerce + Operations

I built the store. Then the store became part of how the business runs.

I originally rebuilt APLS Landscape Supply as a commerce and operations platform: customer-facing storefront, online ordering, catalog and pricing management, transaction notifications, search-migration infrastructure, and a custom order-management system behind it.

After launch, the relationship expanded. I rebuilt delivery pricing around actual route distance and APLS's operating rules, then extended the same engine into an internal staff quoting tool.

The platform has since expanded into product-availability controls, seasonal operating controls, production safeguards, and ongoing search/migration stewardship. A dedicated Winter commerce expansion is now being built on top of the same system. Routine catalog and order management stays with the APLS team; I stay responsible for the harder systems underneath it.

Role · Ecommerce platform build → ongoing technical stewardship

“Jason has been extremely helpful with the overhaul of our website. He has been courteous and exceptionally easy to work with throughout the process. His customer service has been outstanding.”

Christie· APLS Landscape Supply

Storefront + Custom OMS

Customer-facing commerce + the operating system behind it

Route-aware delivery

Custom pricing built around APLS's real operating rules

Ongoing platform stewardship

Availability controls · Seasonal controls · Production safeguards

Diagnose → Build · Systems + Local Search → Franchise Web Platform

A five-star reputation. A growing business. Technology that had to catch up — and now has to scale.

Jurassic Junk Removal initially came to SteelPixels with a five-star reputation but a digital presence and office technology that weren't keeping pace with the business. I diagnosed and fixed immediate systems issues, corrected customer-path problems, and consolidated and verified the company's Google presence.

That first engagement surfaced a larger need. SteelPixels is now building a unified corporate and franchise web platform — creating the corporate foundation and a shared location framework designed to support additional franchise markets as the business grows.

What started as fixing a few leaks has become an ongoing technology relationship: solving immediate problems first, then building the digital foundation Jurassic needs for its next stage.

Role · Diagnostic, systems fix & local search → corporate + franchise web platform

“It's rare to find someone who can step into both technical and operational challenges and handle them this efficiently.”

Tracy Schumann· Jurassic Junk Removal

Build · Website + Local Search → Phase 2 Expansion

Word of mouth built the reputation. I gave it a digital home. Now we're expanding that home with the business.

Fitz Plumbing already had the hardest part: a strong reputation built through Jake Fitzpatrick's work and word of mouth. I built a fast, mobile-first website and strengthened the company's Google presence so that reputation had a credible place to land when customers searched or received a referral.

As Fitz Plumbing grew, the first site needed to grow with it. Phase 2 is now in final review, expanding the site around the company's broader residential service work while going deeper on higher-value services such as whole-home repiping and sewer and underground-line work. We're also strengthening local-search signals and proof, updating the photography and service information, and consolidating the company's Facebook presence.

The goal isn't a different-looking website. It's a digital presence with the depth, proof, and service coverage to match the business Fitz Plumbing has become.

Role · Website build + local presence → Phase 2 expansion

“SteelPixels helped boost my trade business to the next level. Most customers I talk to compliment the website and ultimately that it led them to giving us a call.”

Jake Fitzpatrick· Fitz Plumbing

130+

Five-star reviews

Phase 2

Expanded services, local search + proof — in final review

How I work

AI-native. Human accountability.

I use AI heavily where it makes the work faster or better — research, analysis, coding, QA, documentation, and automation. You shouldn't pay me to manually do something technology can do well.

Use AI yourself where it works. Bring me in when the decision, integration, risk, or implementation needs another level of attention.

The method

Find the problem before deciding what to build.

Some problems can be understood from the outside. Others require getting inside the business. Either way, the goal is the same: understand what's happening before deciding what to spend money on.

Leak Map

Outside-in diagnosis

For customer-facing problems: how people find you, decide whether to trust you, and whether they take the next step.

I look at

Search visibility · Review proof · Website trust · Contact path

Built around six stages where customer journeys tend to leak.

Free

Get your free Leak Map →

Reviewed by me, not generated from a score. No logins, no sales pitch.

Discovery

Inside-the-business diagnosis

For systems, migrations, operations, automation, data, workflows, or technical decisions where the answer isn't visible from the outside.

I look at

Systems · Workflows · Data · Dependencies · Business rules

From $1,000

Talk about a Discovery →

What comes out of it

Different inputs. The same three answers.

01 · The first move

What is worth addressing first.

02 · What it depends on

What needs to be true for that move to work.

03 · What can wait

What isn't worth spending time or money on yet.

Where to start

Start small. Scale when the business needs it.

Start where the problem is. Some businesses need an outside-in diagnosis. Some already know what needs to be built. Others need someone to keep owning the harder technical decisions. You'll know the scope and the number before work begins.

Diagnose

Outside-in when the problem is customer-facing. Inside the business when answering the question requires systems, workflows, data, or operations.

Leak Map · Free

Customer-facing, outside-in diagnosis.

Discovery · From $1,000

Systems, workflows, data, and operations.

Build

Websites, ecommerce, migrations, automations, dashboards, internal tools, and focused digital foundations — scoped around the actual business problem.

Foundations · $2,000

A focused website and the digital essentials around it.

Custom Websites · From $4,000

More complex sites, software and systems, commerce, migration, automation, and operational work are scoped around the actual problem.

Lead

Ongoing stewardship for businesses that need continuity, technical judgment, and someone who already understands the systems — plus broader technical leadership when the relationship calls for it.

Ongoing stewardship · From $299/month

Broader technical leadership is scoped to the relationship.

Need the foundation first?

Build the digital foundation around the business you're actually running.

Maybe you're starting something serious. Maybe the business already works, but the website, Google presence, proof, or customer path never caught up.

Foundations is a focused $2,000 engagement built around the essentials: a focused website, Google Business Profile setup or cleanup, a credibility layer, a clear customer contact path, a light search foundation, and analytics.

It stays deliberately constrained. If the business needs a full custom site or a deeper system, I scope that separately.

Talk about a Foundations engagement →

Built to stay in your hands.Your domain, your accounts, your business data, and the deliverables you paid for stay yours or are transferable to you on the terms in your agreement. No long-term lock-in. If we ever part ways, you keep what you need to keep the business moving.And when something is reasonable for you to manage yourself, I'll show you how. The goal isn't dependence. It's having the right help when the work or the decision is actually worth paying for.

Who you're working with

Pittsburgh-based. Small by design. Accountable.

One accountable person

SteelPixels is led by me — Jason Leffakis. I'm not an agency that hands you off after the sales call. I stay responsible for understanding the problem, setting the technical direction, and making sure the work gets where it needs to go.

Small by design

I keep SteelPixels intentionally small and bring in additional technical help when the work calls for it. You still have one person accountable for the scope, the decisions, and the outcome.

Built for owner-led businesses

I work primarily with owner-led businesses — suppliers, trades, ecommerce, local services, and companies where technology increasingly touches how the business sells or operates. Pittsburgh is home, but the work travels.

Plain language. No jargon. No runaround. I'll tell you what I'd do if it were my business — even when that means telling you not to spend money yet.

Questions

The honest answers.

How much does it cost to work with SteelPixels?

It depends on where we start. A customer-facing Leak Map is free. Discovery starts at $1,000. Foundations engagements are $2,000, and custom websites start at $4,000. More complex ecommerce, migration, automation, dashboard, and systems work is scoped around the actual problem.

Ongoing stewardship starts at $299/month. Broader technical leadership is scoped to the relationship.

You'll know the scope and price before work begins.

How do I know where to start?

You don't need to. If the problem is customer-facing, a Leak Map may be enough to identify the first move. If it involves systems, workflows, data, operations, or a more consequential technical decision, we'll usually start with Discovery. If you already know what needs to be built, we can scope the Build directly.

Start with the problem. We'll figure out the right path from there.

Do you only work with Pittsburgh businesses?

Pittsburgh is home and where most of my relationships are, but the work isn’t limited by geography. If you’re elsewhere and there’s a genuine fit, let’s talk.

What if I already have technical or marketing help?

Great. I'm not here to replace people or systems that are working.

Sometimes I build directly. Sometimes I work alongside an existing developer, agency, marketing partner, software vendor, or internal team. The useful role is making sure the business problem gets solved and the pieces work together.

Do I actually own what you build?

Yes. Your domain, accounts, business data, and the deliverables you paid for stay yours or are transferable to you on the terms in your agreement.

If something is reasonable for you or your team to manage directly, I'll show you how.

Am I locked into a contract?

No long-term lock-in. One-time projects use a clear scope agreement. Ongoing relationships are month to month unless a specific signed engagement says otherwise.

The relationship should continue because it's useful, not because leaving is difficult.

Not sure what the technical answer is? That's okay.

Tell me what's happening in the business. If I can help, we'll figure out the right place to start. If a free Leak Map is enough, I'll tell you that too.

Talk through your situation (412) 414-5031