> "Actually, could you remove the facebook link from the header and put it on the footer"
This assumes the site has a header and a footer. The author just specified navigation. Maybe the facebook link is only on the home page. Is that a real problem?
> "James might need to make some changes in the future, don't worry only the edito ... HTMWhat ? FTPWhat ?"
Then someone can help them get it set up, when that happens, and it will be easier for the person helping James to get them set up with whatever tool James is comfortable with. It's hard for people to learn skills they don't need to use right away.
> "This needs to run on IE8"
Depends on the tools that are being considered, some new tools like ZURB Foundation (which is one way to use Sass) and Angular don't support old browsers, for reasons that are valid for a web app but not for a simple website.
"Actually, could you remove the facebook link from the header and put it on the footer"
> Why do we need a CMS for an 8-page site?
"James might need to make some changes in the future, don't worry only the edito ... HTMWhat ? FTPWhat ?"
> Let's add Sass and a grid system ... Regular old CSS can do the job just fine.
"This needs to run on IE8"
> They want to get stray animals adopted, not fuss around with website stuff.
Exactly.