digital elevation

Web design in Durban

We're a small studio based here in Durban, building hand-coded websites for businesses across KwaZulu-Natal, and we're close enough to buy you a coffee while we work out what you actually need.

Built here, not bought in

Plenty of "Durban web design" comes from a template bought overseas with a local logo dropped into it. We build sites directly in code, which means they load fast on a phone on a patchy signal, they have fewer moving parts to break, and you get a codebase another developer can pick up later without swearing at us.

That matters more in South Africa than most places. A good share of your visitors will arrive on mobile data, and a page builder that loads a runtime, a theme layer and a stack of plugins before it reaches your actual content is a page builder that loses them. It is also why our sites are served from Cloudflare’s South African edge, answered from Durban, not from a server in Europe. Here’s the full architecture argument ↗.

Who we work with in KZN

Small businesses, churches, community organisations and manufacturers, mostly. People who need a site that works and represents them properly, rather than an award entry. We've built for a signage manufacturer, a church in Durban, and a neighbourhood community hub covering a Durban suburb, all live, all linked below, all happy to be named.

How a project actually runs

A free half-hour conversation first, in person if that suits you. Then a page-by-page plan and a fixed quote before anything is designed. We design one page properly so you see the direction early, then build the rest, with a private preview link that updates as we go. Launch is ours to handle, domain, hosting, SSL, Google.

A brochure site is typically one to two weeks of working time once your content is in hand, and costs R6,000 to R9,000. An online store is three to five weeks and is quoted on what it actually needs. What a website costs sets out every band and what moves it, and the full process and build times are here .

Common questions

Do you meet clients in person in Durban?

Yes. We're based here, so a coffee somewhere in Durban is usually easier than a video call. Most projects run on a mix: one or two meetings in person, the rest over email and WhatsApp, with a private preview link you can open any time to see where the build is.

How much does a website cost in Durban?

A brochure site of four to six pages is R6,000 to R9,000 and takes one to two weeks. A site you can edit yourself, with an admin area behind it, is R12,000 to R20,000 over two to three weeks. Online stores are quoted on what they actually need. We give you a fixed price after a free half-hour conversation, and the number doesn't move unless you ask for something new. There is a full breakdown of what moves those numbers on our what a website costs page.

Do you only work with Durban businesses?

No, but a good share of our work so far has been local, in Manor Gardens, Glenwood, the wider eThekwini area. We also work with clients in Johannesburg and elsewhere in South Africa. Being nearby helps at the start of a project; it matters much less once a build is underway.

Can you take over a website someone else built?

Usually, yes. It depends what it was built with. Tell us the address and we'll look before promising anything. Sometimes taking over an existing site is straightforward, and sometimes rebuilding is genuinely cheaper than untangling it.

Do you do hosting and domains too?

Yes. We register the domain in your name, point it, set up email records and host the site on Cloudflare's network. You own all of it and can move it elsewhere whenever you like.

Champagne Castle 3377mMonk's CowlCathkin Peak
Champagne Castle, 3377m, 10.3km from the top of Van Heyningen's Pass above Injasuthi. Drawn from 30m elevation data with summits at their surveyed heights, no vertical exaggeration.

Start a project in Durban

Tell us briefly what you need. We reply directly, with no account manager in between.

or, if it's quicker: Chat on WhatsApp
Chat on WhatsAppWhatsApp