Kathmandu's web design market includes genuine local studios doing real design and development work, and a meaningful number of resellers who take the project, quote a price, and outsource the actual build elsewhere with no disclosure. Both can produce a fine result, but they're different arrangements with different accountability if something goes wrong mid-project, and it's worth knowing which one you're actually hiring.

Signs of a Genuine Local Studio

  • A real, visitable office and a team you can meet, not just a WhatsApp number and an email address.
  • Direct communication with the actual designer/developer working on your project, not exclusively through an account manager relaying messages to an unnamed team elsewhere.
  • Specific, checkable past work — live sites they can point to, ideally with a client contact you could reasonably ask about their experience.
  • A clear process they can describe — discovery, wireframe or mockup review, development, revisions, launch — rather than "send us your requirements and we'll get started."

What a Real Engagement Looks Like

A proper process starts with an actual conversation about the business, not just a features checklist: who the site needs to convince, what the current site (if any) is failing to do, what a successful outcome looks like in three months. From there, most studios present some form of visual direction (a mockup or two, sometimes a full wireframe for larger projects) before building, so structural or design disagreements surface before development time is spent, not after. Revision rounds should be specified in writing before work starts — unlimited revisions on WordPress-tier builds and above is a fair, common standard; a project with only one or two allowed rounds is a signal to clarify expectations early.

Pricing Patterns in the Kathmandu Market

Pricing genuinely varies by project type, not just by studio: a brochure or portfolio site typically runs NPR 15,000-35,000, a WordPress business site NPR 25,000-60,000, and a custom web application well beyond that depending on complexity. A quote significantly below this range for comparable scope is worth scrutinizing — either the studio is underpricing to win the job and will cut corners (no real testing, template rather than custom design, minimal revisions) or, in the reseller case, the actual builder further down the chain is being paid so little that quality reflects it.

What to Ask Before Signing

  1. "Who specifically will be working on my project?" A studio confident in its own team answers directly; a reseller often deflects.
  2. "What happens if I'm not happy with the first draft?" The answer should be specific (a defined number of revision rounds), not vague reassurance.
  3. "Do I own the source files and get full access after launch?" Get this in writing — some arrangements quietly retain control specifically to force ongoing "maintenance" fees.
  4. "What's included beyond design — hosting, SSL, domain, training?" Comparing quotes on design fee alone hides real cost differences that show up as separate line items later.

A Kathmandu Studio's Actual Advantage

The genuine benefit of working locally isn't sentiment, it's practical: being able to sit down in person when a requirement is hard to describe over email, faster turnaround on revision cycles without timezone gaps, and real accountability if something goes wrong, since a local studio with a physical office and reputation to protect behaves differently than an anonymous outsourced team three layers removed from the client relationship. WebsNP builds from a Kathmandu office with exactly this kind of direct client relationship — the person quoting the project is generally involved in delivering it.