About

I'm TJ. I build bespoke WordPress platforms — design, engineering, ongoing care.

Twenty years on the web, sixteen on WordPress. Senior engineering on every engagement. Based in Rochester, NY; clients nationally.

The story

I've been building things on the web for twenty years. The last sixteen of those have been bespoke WordPress, pushing the platform into territory that off-the-shelf solutions can't touch.

For much of my career, the work was sophisticated marketing sites: custom search and filtering, custom post types, integrations with whatever specific tools a client’s business depended on. Complex builds stretched across industries from B2B to amusement parks to colleges, where the content models alone were big enough to defeat most off-the-shelf approaches.

These days the engagements have grown in scope: subscription directories built on WooCommerce, multi-franchise national networks, B2B platforms with AI-driven content workflows, and technical debt recovery for multi-billion-dollar enterprises. The work has gotten heavier, but the principle stayed the same:

Every project gets the same person. The one who scopes it, the one who architects it, the one who writes the code, and the one who picks up the phone three years later when something needs attention.

How I work

Six things I believe.

  1. 01

    Senior code, top to bottom.

    Every project gets the same person from scoping through deployment through long-term maintenance. You're never handed off to a junior team.

  2. 02

    Built to last.

    The code I write today should still make sense in five years. Maintainability isn't a phase of the project, it's the whole approach.

  3. 03

    The conversation is the project.

    Every engagement starts with a 30-minute call. No pitch decks, no proposals — just a conversation about what you're trying to build and whether I'm the right person to build it.

  4. 04

    WordPress is infrastructure.

    Forty percent of the web runs on WordPress, including platforms for the White House, Disney, and Bloomberg. I treat it as a deliberate engineering choice — not a default — which means that I'll utilize other platforms when appropriate.

  5. 05

    Plain language about technical decisions.

    Every architectural decision gets explained in language you can follow. You won't have to take anything on faith.

  6. 06

    Better to pass than overpromise.

    I turn down projects that aren't a clean fit. It's better for everyone if the engagement is right from the start.

By the numbers

Twenty years of receipts.

20years

building on the web

16years

creating WordPress

50+sites

under active management

0junior devs

between you and the work

Common questions

The things people ask first.

What's it like to work with a solo developer versus an agency?

The person who architects your project is the same person who writes the code, manages your infrastructure, and picks up the phone. That’s me, on every engagement. No account managers, no junior developers learning on your dime, no requirements lost in translation between departments. For complex platform work, that direct relationship is the value proposition.

How long has Moxie been around?

I’ve been building things on the web for 20 years, with the last 16 focused on bespoke WordPress development. Moxie is the practice I created in 2022 around that experience, designed deliberately to stay small enough that I’m the one doing the work on every engagement.

What size of clients do you work with?

Everything from nonprofits and small businesses up through multinational enterprises. The common thread isn’t size; it’s that the work has to be interesting and the relationship direct. If you want to work directly with the person actually doing the work, size of company doesn’t matter.

Where are you based, and do you work with clients outside Rochester?

Based in Rochester, NY, with a presence in Buffalo and Syracuse as well. We serve upstate NY as well as clients across the US and internationally. We love to work local as much as we do more broadly.

How do engagements typically start?

With a conversation, not a sales pitch. The first call is usually 30 minutes of you describing what you’re trying to do and me asking enough questions to understand whether the work is a fit. If it is, I send a proposal with detailed scope, timeline, and pricing.

What kinds of clients does Moxie work best with?

Teams that want a real platform built or modernized, value direct access to the person doing the work, have moved past the “we just need a website” stage, and don’t need to be sold on why bespoke beats off-the-shelf. If you have a need for a competitive website or to solve a complex problem with WordPress, we’ll work well together.

Do you handle hosting and ongoing maintenance after launch?

Yes. Managed hosting is a service I provide, and most platform engagements continue into ongoing managed-hosting relationships because the same architectural decisions made during the build are what keeps the site running smoothly long-term. If you’d rather host elsewhere, I’ll hand off cleanly and document everything your new team needs.

Let's talk about what you're building

No proposals. No pitch decks. Just a conversation about your project and whether I'm the right fit to build it.

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