Websites, apps, and
software worth shipping.
Rune is an engineer-led studio in Chico, California that turns your idea into a real, live product: websites, e-commerce, mobile and desktop apps, custom software, and AI automation, for clients across Northern California and anywhere in the United States. Built by an engineer who spent a decade shipping software at companies like Zoom and now teaches web development at Butte College.
One studio for the whole business online
From the website and the Google listing to the store, the app, and the software behind it, Rune designs, builds, and keeps it running.
Real products, live in the wild
A few things we have designed, built, and shipped. Every one is online right now, so go click around.
The rest of the fleet
13 sites live- Streamline FencingSite + CMSA warm, photo-led site for a Chico fence and gate contractor - now running on Skal, so the owner edits his own pages on a visual canvas.
- SilvheirMusic ArtistA monochrome deep-water home for songs of lament, with the records playable right on the page.
- Napa Valley Wine Tasters SocietyPrivate ClubA printed dinner card of a site for a Napa dining society running since the 1970s, with a members-only room for the roster, RSVPs, and dues.
- Jeff JankeArtist PortfolioAn exhibition catalogue for a Paradise composer, painter, and writer: three rooms, a plaque under every work, and the music playing in the last one.
What clients say
5.0 out of 5 from 9 reviews on Google, in the reviewers' own words.
A slow website is a lost job
On a phone, people leave a site that takes more than a few seconds - and Google ranks slow sites lower. We tested a typical template site against a Rune custom build on Google's mobile benchmark, identical conditions.
Typical template site
Google performance score
A Rune custom build
Google performance score
A blank screen is a lost job
When something breaks at a customer's house - a blown-over fence, a burst pipe - they stand in the yard with their phone and call whoever loads first. Nine seconds of a blank screen means they hit back. That's a $5,000 job gone to a competitor, and you never knew it happened.
Speed is how Google ranks you
Google measures load speed and uses it to rank local results. Fast, clean code - plus structure that says exactly what you do and where - is what pushes a business into the Map Pack, where most local calls start.
Measured with Google Lighthouse (mobile, identical throttled conditions). A real launch behind a global CDN pushes the custom build even faster.
A build you can actually follow
No black boxes and no month-long silences. You see progress every step, and you own everything at the end.
Discover
We start with a conversation about your goals, users, and constraints, then map the fastest path to something real.
Design
You see the product before we build it: clickable designs, clear scope, and a fixed, honest quote.
Build
We ship in small, visible steps so you always know where things stand and can steer as we go.
Launch
We handle deployment, hand you the keys, and stick around for support. You own the code, always.
A studio that works the way you wish agencies did
Senior people, plain talk, fixed prices, and code that is yours to keep.
Local and hands-on
Based in Chico, you work directly with the person building your site. Happy to meet in person, and it works great fully remote too.
Fixed, honest quotes
Know the full price up front. Plain-English updates and no surprises on the invoice.
Built to get you found
Fast, mobile-friendly pages plus local SEO and Google Business Profile help, so Chico customers actually find you.
You own everything
The finished site and its code are yours to keep. No lock-in, no page-builder trap, no monthly ransom.
Erik Mellum
Founder & Lead Engineer
Meet Erik
Born and raised in Chico. The same person builds your site, start to finish.
Rune is Erik Mellum, born and raised in Chico. He has a Computer Science degree from Chico State and teaches Web Development and the Capstone course at Butte College, so the person building your site is the same one who trains new web developers.
Before Rune, Erik spent years building software for larger tech companies. That same reliability and care goes into a local business website as into software people depend on every day.
You work directly with Erik from first sketch to launch. No account managers, no offshore handoff, no template farm, just honest local work that's yours to keep.
Erik is one of the best teachers I have had at this school. His teaching style takes the mystery out of programming and simplifies it in a way that makes me feel confident.
You have been such a rare combination of mentor, partner, and friend. You guided me through challenges, pushed me when I needed it, and supported me both professionally and personally.
Web design across Northern California
Websites for local businesses from Chico to Redding, and custom software for companies from Yuba City to Sacramento and beyond.
Butte County
Shasta County
Sacramento Region
Questions business owners ask us
Straight answers on cost, timeline, ownership, and getting found on Google.
Every project is fixed-price and quoted up front, so you know the full cost before we start - no hourly surprises. A simple marketing site, an online store, and a custom web app each sit at different tiers. Tell us what you need and we will send a firm quote for free.
Most small-business marketing sites go live within a few weeks. Larger e-commerce stores and custom web apps take longer. You get a realistic timeline with your quote, and we ship fast - several sites in our portfolio were live within days.
Yes. Rune is based in Chico and builds for businesses across Butte County and the North Valley - Paradise, Oroville, Durham, Orland, Red Bluff, Redding, Yuba City, and Marysville - and takes on custom software projects for growing companies in Auburn, Roseville, and Sacramento.
Yes. The site and its code are yours to keep. There is no proprietary page builder locking you in, and no monthly ransom to keep your own website online.
Yes. Every site we build ships with local SEO baked in - fast pages, clean structure, structured data, sitemaps, and Google Business Profile guidance - so you show up when Chico customers search for what you do.
Yes. A monthly care plan covers hosting, updates, daily backups, uptime monitoring, and small edits, with no contract. You can also take the site and host it anywhere, since you own it.
Yes. Agencies, designers, and consultants resell our websites, stores, and software under their own brand. Fixed quotes you can mark up, an NDA, and we never contact your client.
Custom marketing sites, e-commerce and online stores, booking and lead-capture sites, and full custom web apps. If it runs in a browser, we can build it - all hand-coded, fast, and mobile-first.
Find out why the phone is quiet
Send us your website and the towns you work in. We check its speed on a phone, your Google Business Profile, and how you show up for the searches that matter, then tell you plainly what would help. No pitch deck, no obligation.
Replies within one business day.
Let us build the thing
Tell us a little about your project, or just send your website address for a free review. No pitch decks required. We will follow up with next steps and an honest read on scope and cost.