How Rubber Duckers turned website maintenance into a $30K revenue stream with WP Umbrella

Chris Key runs Rubber Duckers, a UK-based creative agency offering web design, video production, and photography. His team of three manages more than 60 websites, with 40 already centralized in WP Umbrella.

For years, maintenance wasn’t a formal part of their offering. Hosting happened naturally, and updates often happened out of habit rather than process. That changed when Chris realized that aftercare needed to be a structured service, not an afterthought.

Company snapshot

Turning aftercare into a real offering

Finding the right approach and the right tools was the first step. Chris recalls,

When we fully committed to offering maintenance services, I tried them all! I had calls with the founders of smaller ones. I’d only previously had experience with ManageWP, so that was the benchmark in my head.

But after testing other platforms, WP Umbrella stood out for its cleaner interface, simpler setup, and built-in backups.

The things I liked most about WP Umbrella at the time of choosing were: affordable pricing per site meant that I could predict cashflow, incorporated backups, and the UI. One of the other highly recommended tools felt like using some 90s software, whereas WP Umbrella felt ‘right’ from the off.

More than features: buying into the ethos

For Rubber Duckers, the decision to stick with WP Umbrella goes beyond the dashboard. The feature set is strong, but what stands out even more is the way the company involves its users. 

Chris values being part of a community where feedback is heard and the roadmap is transparent.

I like the community around it, how engaged and involved the team is with feedback, and how open the roadmap is. It makes me feel like a valued customer and gives me faith in the company, as they’re transparent and I can see where the tool is headed. So yes, the features are great (all in one place, especially now Patchstack is built in), but really the ethos is what I buy into.

A revenue stream worth £30,000

WP Umbrella has become the backbone of Rubber Duckers’ maintenance services. Every client added to the platform pays a monthly fee, turning aftercare into a reliable source of recurring income.

That’s added at least £30,000 to our bottom line this year alone. Plus, the extra ad-hoc work with clients from them still having a relationship with us.

Keeping clients informed without the busywork

Another big win came with reporting. Chris had tried manually pulling data and sending it through his CRM, but the process was time-consuming and unsustainable. It wasn’t scalable, and it ate up time that could have gone back into client work. 

WP Umbrella’s automated reports solved that problem, giving clients visibility without adding to the team’s workload.

Now WP Umbrella sends a snapshot email each month to the client with their activity data. It doesn’t get responses from clients, but it does keep us visible and showing we’re actively looking after their site, and I can tell it has been seen when I have conversations with clients. So that is a massive time saver and helped us keep clients notified.

Final thoughts from Rubber Duckers

Chris doesn’t hesitate when asked if he would recommend WP Umbrella,

Always, and I do to other agency owners who are serious about offering website maintenance.

For Rubber Duckers, WP Umbrella has become a permanent part of the business. It supports automation, recurring revenue, reduced manual tasks, and stronger client communication, making aftercare both profitable and scalable.