Web Design in Los Angeles, CA
A big part of our Los Angeles work isn't a first build, it's fixing what the last three vendors left behind: lost logins, an agency that folded the account into a template, a freelancer who went quiet. From $2,500 for a fresh build, exact number after a free audit, and the same audit prices a takeover just as honestly.
Too many agencies pitching you? Here's how to filter them
Los Angeles has more web shops and freelancers per business than almost anywhere else in California, which sounds like leverage for a buyer and often works out the opposite: every vendor undercuts the last one's price and overpromises on the timeline, and the business ends up owning a site nobody can safely touch a year later.
A short list of questions cuts through most of the pitch decks fast. Who exactly builds the site, the person on this call or someone subcontracted after you sign? Whose name goes on the domain and hosting account when it's done, yours or theirs? What happens if you want to leave in a year, is the code portable or does it only run on their proprietary platform? A vendor who hesitates on any of these three, or gives a vague non-answer and moves the conversation along, is telling you something worth hearing, regardless of how polished the proposal itself looks.
Price is a weaker filter than it looks. A $1,500 quote and a $15,000 quote can both be reasonable, or both be wrong, depending on what's actually in scope. The number that matters more is whether the scope is written down with a fixed price attached, versus an hourly estimate that quietly grows once the project starts.
Reviews and portfolios help less than they used to, since both are easy to curate or buy outright. A better signal is asking a vendor to walk you through a project that went wrong and what they did about it. Anyone who's built more than a handful of sites has one; the answer tells you more about how they'll handle your project when something doesn't go to plan than any polished case study will.
One more pattern worth naming: the volume of vendors in this market means a business can end up with three or four small contracts stacked on top of each other, one person for the site, another for ads, a third for the Google Business Profile, none of them talking to each other. When something breaks, each one points at the others. Consolidating that down to fewer relationships, or at minimum making sure whoever owns the site also owns the login, saves a lot of finger-pointing later.
Taking over a site another agency or freelancer built
A hypothetical but common sequence, not a specific past client: developer goes quiet, business is left holding a site nobody can log into.
The story is rarely a villain. A freelancer took a full-time job and stopped answering emails. An agency merged with another one and the account got lost in the handoff. Whoever built it in-house left the company and took the only copy of the credentials with them. What's left is a site that works today and that nobody can safely change tomorrow.
Find out what actually exists
Who the domain is registered to, where DNS points, what platform the site runs on, and which accounts are stranded in a former contractor's inbox.
Move it into your name
Domain, hosting, analytics and code get transferred to accounts your company controls. Lost logins get recovered through the registrar and host directly, not guessed at.
Fix it, or rebuild it, honestly
We price both paths and tell you which one we'd spend our own money on. A platform that's dated but sound gets repaired. One that's abandoned or unsafe to update gets rebuilt, with the reasoning in writing, not just a recommendation to trust.
Most of the time the fix is cheaper and we say so, even though the rebuild is the larger invoice for us, because a client we're honest with once tends to come back for the next project. The full breakdown lives on the website takeover page if your developer has gone quiet or nobody currently has admin access at all.
Industries we see this happen to most in LA
Some sectors churn through vendors faster than others, usually the ones with the widest agency and freelancer supply.
E-commerce and DTC brands
A common pattern: a fast Shopify-adjacent build from a freelancer, then a growth phase where the site can't keep up and nobody who built it is still reachable.
Production and entertainment vendors
Portfolio-heavy sites built once around a specific project, never updated, and eventually replaced by whoever the next production company happens to know.
Healthcare groups
Multi-location practices where each location's page was built by a different vendor at a different time, and nothing matches or shares a login.
Law firms
Sites built by a marketing agency that also ran the firm's ad spend, and folded once that relationship ended, leaving the site orphaned.
None of this is a knock on hiring an agency or a freelancer generally, most of the time it works out fine. It's what happens at the edges, when a relationship ends, that determines whether you're stuck. Ask about that edge case before signing, not after you're living in it.
If you're starting fresh instead of rescuing something
Same fixed-price, staging-link process either way, whether the project starts from a blank slate or from someone else's leftover code. A marketing site runs $2,500 to $6,000, one with booking or a client portal runs $6,000 to $15,000, and a custom build starts at $15,000, priced after a free audit that costs you nothing whether you hire us or not.
We work in English and Russian. Founder Igor Golubev is on the kickoff and the handover call. See how we verify who we are on the trust page, and more on our about page. More detail on scope and pricing under websites and web apps and the pricing page.
How we cover Los Angeles
IG Digital Lab works from 3550 Watt Ave, Suite 408, Sacramento, CA 95821. We work with Los Angeles businesses remotely: design, development, testing and support happen over video calls and a staging link you watch update, the same process as any other client. On-site visits for a kickoff or a takeover handover are available on request for larger engagements; most LA clients never need one, since a recorded screen-share covers what an in-person meeting would. There is no separate Los Angeles office: one address, one phone number, one listing, which is itself part of the pitch after a bad experience with a vendor who was never quite pinned down on where they actually operated from.
Also in Los Angeles
Web design is one of several services we run for Los Angeles businesses.
Start with a free audit
Whether you're inheriting a site nobody can log into or starting from nothing, thirty minutes gets you a written scope and one number, hired or not.
See full pricingFrequently asked questions
What Los Angeles owners ask, often after a bad experience with a previous vendor.
How do I choose between the dozens of agencies pitching me?
Ask who actually builds the site, whose name goes on the domain and hosting when it's done, and whether the code is portable if you leave in a year. Any hesitation on those three questions is worth more information than the polish of the proposal.
Our developer went quiet, can you take over?
Yes, that's a large share of our Los Angeles work. We start by finding out what exists, who owns the domain and hosting, then move everything into accounts your company controls before touching the code. Full process on website takeover.
Do you fix the existing site or rebuild it?
Whichever is honest, and we price both before recommending either. A platform that's dated but sound usually gets fixed, which costs less; one that's abandoned or unsafe to update gets rebuilt, with the reasoning explained in writing.
What does a fresh build cost?
Marketing sites run $2,500 to $6,000. Add booking, a client portal or e-commerce and it moves to $6,000 to $15,000. A custom build with real logic behind it starts at $15,000, exact number after a free audit.
Do you work remotely or on site in Los Angeles?
We work with Los Angeles businesses remotely from our Sacramento office. On-site visits for kickoff or a takeover handover are available on request for larger engagements; most LA clients never need one, since a staging link and a screen-share cover the rest of the process.
Inherited a site nobody can log into? Start there.
A free 30-minute audit, on a call or on-site where we can, and one honest number, rescue or fresh build.
Or call and text (916) 618-0502. English and Russian.
Ready to transform your business?
Tell us what you need. We reply the same business day.