A real estate agent reached out to us while in the middle of building a brand-new website.
His contract with the developer included a clear clause: web accessibility was not the developer's responsibility — the client had to handle it himself. The agent wasn't familiar with website accessibility, but he'd seen enough headlines about lawsuits and legal exposure to know it wasn't something he could ignore.
The Solution We Proposed
We set up a three-way call with the client and the developer, walking both of them through the right way to approach website accessibility.
First, we advised the client not to commit to — or pay for — accessibility work until the site was at least 90% complete. That way, he could make sure everything aligned with his final requirements. We also sent him a ready-to-embed accessibility statement that could go live on the site right away during development — a step that reduces the risk of a complaint or lawsuit by up to 90%.
The client was genuinely surprised by how simple and effective the solution was. What had seemed like a massive headache requiring a dozen simultaneous moving parts suddenly felt manageable. He realized he could keep building his site with peace of mind, knowing that when the time came for full accessibility remediation, he had a reliable team ready to go.
Technical Questions We Addressed on the Call
The developer came to us with several technical questions:
What does the developer actually need to do?
All we asked was to embed a single line of code for the accessibility widget and add the accessibility statement we provided.
Do the developer or client need to be involved in the accessibility process?
No. We take full ownership of the accessibility work, and the client communicates directly with us.
Do you modify the site's source code?
The developer was very concerned about this, so we made it crystal clear: absolutely not. We do not touch the site's code, design, or content.
In fact, the only thing required from the developer is adding our code snippet in the appropriate location.
If an accessibility complaint is filed, who handles it?
We handle it — fully and responsibly — in line with the legal framework, which allows 60 days to make corrections.
Do you provide image alt text descriptions?
We recommend that the client or developer supply image descriptions wherever possible.
If we find an image without alt text, we'll add an appropriate description at our discretion.
Are there any additional tasks for the developer during the accessibility process?
In most cases, no. But nothing is ever entirely black and white.
In rare situations, a specific feature or functionality on the site may require a source code change. If that happens, we may need the developer's involvement to implement those adjustments.
Does accessibility hurt Google rankings?
Quite the opposite. Accessibility actually improves SEO because it encourages well-structured, hierarchical content — exactly what search engines reward.
It also enhances the overall user experience on the site, so there's only upside. We make sure page load speed isn't affected by embedding our code at the bottom of the page.
The Outcome
In practice, the real estate agent can now continue building his website without worry — knowing it will meet accessibility requirements, that he's legally protected, and that he has a reliable partner throughout the process.
The developer came out ahead too — no extra workload, no disruption, and a project he could keep moving forward on without stress.
That's exactly how we make sure our clients get high-quality accessibility — simple, seamless, and worry-free.
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