Questions
Frequently asked questions.
Websites in San Diego
Who builds custom websites in San Diego?
The Collective, a web design and development studio in Chula Vista founded by Adam Gregg, designs and builds custom websites for San Diego businesses. Each site is written in code rather than assembled from a template, then hosted and maintained by the same studio, so the person who built it is the person who answers when it needs to change. Recent San Diego County builds include ACP HVAC, Special Operations Christian, and All Done Plumbing in North County.
How much does a website cost in San Diego?
A custom website from The Collective costs $99 to $299 a month on the Monthly plan, with no build fee. A landing site is $99 a month, a business site $149, a premium build $199 and an e-commerce site $299, each with the build, hosting, care, domain and DNS included. The minimum is 12 months, then it runs month to month with 30 days notice, and additional pages are $100 each. For comparison, the going rate for a custom site from an agency is $10,000 to $15,000 up front.
How long does it take to build a website?
A custom website from The Collective is built in weeks, not the couple of months an agency build usually takes. AI handles the production work that used to fill those months, such as mockups, first drafts and checking every screen size, while the judgment stays with a person. What usually sets the date is content: with your photos, your service area and the questions customers ask you in hand, a site can go live in a fortnight, and waiting on them is how a build stretches to three months.
Do I own my website?
Yes, you own your website: your domain belongs to you from day one, and your content, brand, copy and images stay yours. After the 12 month minimum on the Monthly plan, cancelling ends hosting and you receive a full export of your site. What we keep are the underlying tools, components and reusable code we bring to every build, as section 3.3 of our terms sets out.
Websites and the Studio
What does the Studio do?
It builds websites, mostly for home service businesses: plumbers, HVAC, electricians and contractors. It still takes on other businesses that come to it. Landing pages, business sites, full custom builds, and e-commerce stores, with graphic and brand design, hosting, security, and updates alongside them. It will also take over a site you already have somewhere else.
Can you replace the software we already pay for?
Yes. We replace the tools you already pay for, such as scheduling, dispatch, estimates, invoicing, payments, customer records and follow ups, with software built around how your business actually works, and we fix what never worked in them. It is priced around what you pay for those tools today, so tell us what you pay for now and we'll show you what we'd build.
Why is this so much cheaper than an agency quote?
A custom site from a real agency goes for $10,000 to $15,000 and takes a couple of months, and much of that time goes to production: mockups, hand-coding every page, first drafts and checking every screen size. We use AI for that work and none of the work that needs judgment, like knowing your trade, your city and what to leave out. So you get the same custom-coded site in weeks instead of months, and the savings go to you as no build fee and one monthly price.
Do you fulfill orders for an e-commerce website?
No. On an e-commerce website you handle all fulfillment, inventory, and shipping of what you sell; we design, build, and host the store itself.
Can you move a site we already have?
Yes, and it is free. A site you already have moves to us as part of any new build, with the domain, the DNS, and your content handled for you. We do not sell a transfer on its own any more, so there is no separate figure to quote: you pay for the build, and the move comes with it.
Where are your prices listed?
On one public rate sheet: the Monthly plan and additional pages. It is the canonical version our terms reference, and the version published there governs.
How do we get started?
Text us and say what you are making. A person answers, there is no form and no account to create, and you will get a straight answer about what something costs and whether we are the right shop for it.
Still have a question?
Ask it and a person will answer.