Accessibility QA — WCAG 2.1 AA, audited.
Full WCAG 2.1 AA audit + prioritized fix list. Legal-grade compliance documentation for healthcare, legal, government, and education clients. Pairs with any build or runs standalone on a site you already have. $500 fixed. 3 business days.
Six places most Tampa sites fail WCAG.
ADA lawsuits against small business websites tripled between 2018 and 2024. Most failures are in the same six places. Here’s what we check.
Text-on-background that fails minimum thresholds.
WCAG 2.1 AA: 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text and UI elements. Most sites have at least one color pair below threshold — often a brand-color CTA that fails small-text contrast.
Pages that trap or skip keyboard-only users.
Tab order broken. Focus indicator invisible. Modal dialogs that trap focus and don’t release. Custom dropdowns that don’t respond to arrow keys. Keyboard-only users — and screen-reader users — get stuck.
Missing, generic, or AI-generated alt that says nothing.
”image1.jpg” is not alt text. Neither is ”decorative image.“ We audit every img tag and assess: is the alt useful for a screen-reader user, or is it noise?
Inputs without programmatic labels, errors that aren’t announced.
Placeholder text is not a label. Errors shown only by red border are not announced. Forms are the highest-risk surface for ADA lawsuits because they directly block conversion.
Skipped levels, multiple H1s, decorative headings.
Screen-reader users navigate by heading. If you have an H1 followed by an H3 (skipping H2), or three H1s on one page, the document outline is broken. Quick to fix; quick to miss.
Custom widgets that lie to assistive tech.
ARIA roles applied incorrectly are worse than no ARIA at all — they create false promises to screen readers. Common offender: custom dropdowns labeled as menus that don’t behave like menus.
Lighthouse vs. our audit vs. $2K agency audit.
Three ways to check accessibility. Compare what each actually finds — and what each leaves you exposed to.
| What you get | Lighthouse / WAVE (free, automated) | Our $500 audit | Typical $2K agency audit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automated WCAG criteria check | ✓ | ✓ + manual | ✓ |
| Manual screen-reader testing | ✗ | ✓ NVDA + VoiceOver | Sometimes |
| Keyboard-only path testing | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile a11y testing | Limited | ✓ Real device | Sometimes |
| Industry-specific compliance check | ✗ | ✓ Healthcare/Legal/Gov/Edu | ✗ |
| Prioritized fix list | List of 100s issues | ✓ Top 20 ranked | ✓ Usually |
| Legal-grade documentation | ✗ | ✓ WCAG-2.1-AA conformance statement | Sometimes |
| Cost | $0 | $500 fixed | $2,000+ |
| Turnaround | Instant | 3 business days | 2–4 weeks typical |
A compliance document. Yours to keep.
Three written deliverables in 3 business days. Designed for handing to legal counsel, internal stakeholders, or your developer.
Audit report (8–14 pages)
- Executive summary · WCAG-2.1-AA conformance status
- Automated scan results · Lighthouse + axe + WAVE
- Manual test results · Screen reader + keyboard-only
- Contrast analysis · Every color pair on the site
- Form a11y assessment · Per-form findings
- Industry-specific compliance check · Healthcare/Legal/Gov/Edu
- Prioritized fix list · Top 20 by legal-risk × effort
Plus
- WCAG-2.1-AA conformance statement · For your site footer
- 30-day fix roadmap · Week-by-week if DIY
- Code snippets where applicable · For your developer
- Re-test offer · One free re-test within 60 days after fixes
- Senior review on every page · Not automated-only output
- Legal-defensibility note · What this audit covers + doesn’t
Three things most Tampa sites fail.
Composite findings from typical Tampa Bay SMB site audits. Anonymized but representative of what we find.
Contrast
Brand-color CTA fails small-text contrast.
Your CTA button uses brand orange #E8744C on cream #FAF7F2. Contrast: 3.6:1. WCAG 2.1 AA requires 4.5:1 for body text under 18pt. One color swap to a darker orange (#A24B2A, 6.5:1) fixes every instance sitewide — typically 4 hours of CSS work.
Forms
Contact form lacks programmatic labels.
Three input fields rely on placeholder text alone. When a screen-reader user tabs into the field, they hear ”edit text, blank” with no indication of what to enter. Programmatic labels (`
Headings
Three H1 elements on the homepage.
Homepage has H1 in the navigation logo, H1 in the hero section, and H1 in the testimonial block. Screen-reader users get a confused outline; SEO is also affected. Demote two to H2/H3. 15 minutes of HTML work.
Automated tools + manual screen-reader testing.
Automated tools catch ~30% of accessibility issues. The other 70% require manual testing with real assistive technology. Every audit gets both.
Automated tools
- Lighthouse · Per-page WCAG audit
- axe DevTools · Deeper criteria coverage
- WAVE · Visual a11y diagnosis
- Color Contrast Analyser · Color pair sampling
- Pa11y CI · Site-wide automated scan
Manual testing (the part most audits skip)
- NVDA on Windows + Firefox · Top screen-reader
- VoiceOver on macOS + Safari · Apple-platform users
- Keyboard-only navigation · Every page, every interaction
- Mobile screen-reader testing · iOS VoiceOver, Android TalkBack
- Form-specific testing · Error states, label associations
- Industry-specific check · ADA Title II, Section 508, etc.
Three days. Three deliverables.
Faster than SEO Audit because the surface area is more bounded. Same level of senior human attention per page.
Automated scan + crawl
Full site crawl. Lighthouse, axe, WAVE, Pa11y CI runs. Color pair sampling. Automated baseline established.
Manual testing
NVDA + VoiceOver testing. Keyboard-only path testing. Mobile screen-reader testing. Form-specific testing per form.
Senior review + delivery
Prioritization (top 20 by legal-risk × effort). Conformance statement drafted. Report assembled, reviewed, delivered.
Three ways to act on the findings.
Audit is the diagnosis. Remediation is up to you — three common paths.
Run the 30-day fix roadmap.
Take the prioritized fix list and remediate yourself. Most top-20 fixes are 30 minutes to 4 hours of CSS or HTML work each. Free re-test included within 60 days.
Hand the report to any developer.
Every recommendation includes code snippets where applicable. Your existing developer or contractor can execute without re-auditing.
Convert audit into remediation engagement.
If you want us to fix the issues, we quote remediation as a separate fixed-price engagement (typically $1,500–$3,500 for a typical Tampa SMB site depending on issue count). Audit fee credited 100% against remediation.
$500 fixed. One tier.
Same price for every site. Sites with extreme scale (10,000+ pages) or atypical platforms (custom CMS, native mobile apps) are individually scoped at a higher base.
Fixed price · 3-day turnaround · Conformance statement included
- Full site automated scan
- Manual screen-reader testing
- Keyboard-only path testing
- Mobile a11y testing
- Color contrast analysis
- Form-specific assessment
- Industry-specific compliance check
- Prioritized fix list (top 20)
- WCAG-2.1-AA conformance statement
- 30-day fix roadmap
- Code snippets per fix
- One free re-test within 60 days
Six questions about a11y audits.
What we hear most when prospects are weighing a11y audit vs. just trusting Lighthouse.
How real is the legal risk for small businesses?
Real and growing. ADA lawsuits against small business websites tripled between 2018 and 2024. Common targets: healthcare, legal, government contractor, education, restaurant (online ordering), retail (online catalog).
Florida specifically: state has been a hotspot for ADA web accessibility lawsuits since 2020. Tampa Bay law firms specializing in plaintiff-side ADA web compliance are active.
Cost of a typical settlement: $5K–$25K plus attorney fees. Cost of remediation under threat: 3-5× normal. Our audit is $500.
Which industries need this most?
Highest priority: Healthcare (HIPAA + ADA dual exposure), legal (publicly-facing services), government contractors (Section 508), public education (state requirements).
High priority: Restaurants with online ordering, retail with online catalog, financial services, real estate.
Standard priority: B2B SaaS, professional services, home services. Lower risk but not zero.
I can run Lighthouse for free. Why pay $500?
Lighthouse catches ~30% of WCAG issues — the automatable ones. The other 70% require manual testing with real screen-readers, keyboard-only paths, and human judgment about whether ARIA roles are used correctly.
Plus: Lighthouse outputs a list of 100s of issues with no prioritization. Our audit ranks the top 20 by legal-risk × fix-effort, so you know what to fix first.
If your site is healthy and you trust Lighthouse, run it yourself — that’s a legitimate path. $500 buys senior judgment on top of automated results.
What happens after we fix everything?
Free re-test within 60 days. We re-run the audit on the fixed site, verify remediation, update the conformance statement.
Conformance statement: a 1-page document you can post on your site footer (or hand to legal) stating your WCAG-2.1-AA conformance status as of the re-test date. Defensible documentation.
Annual re-test recommended: WCAG criteria evolve, sites change. We offer a $250 annual re-test for past clients.
Will this guarantee no lawsuit?
No. Nothing guarantees that. Plaintiff-side firms can file regardless of compliance status. WCAG 2.1 AA conformance is the strongest defense, but it’s not an absolute bar.
What our audit provides: a documented compliance position with dated evidence. In settlement negotiations, that’s typically the difference between a $5K settlement and a $25K one.
How long does typical remediation take?
Top-20 fixes from a typical Tampa SMB site audit: 12–24 hours of developer time total. Distributed across CSS, HTML, ARIA, form labels.
If your developer hourly is $100/hr, total remediation: $1,200–$2,400. If you hire us: $1,500–$3,500 fixed-price depending on complexity.
Time-to-completion: 5–10 business days for most sites. Healthcare/legal/government sites typically take 10–15 days due to additional internal review.
Accessibility QA is insurance, not aspiration. The cost of an audit is a rounding error against the cost of a lawsuit.
Three fields. Quote in your inbox within one business day.
We’ll reply with a payment link and a 1-question scoping form (your industry context). Audit delivered 3 business days after payment.