Custom websites and web applications, built to be fast and handed over cleanly

A web development company plans, builds and maintains the software behind a website or web app: the pages people see, the server code and database behind them, and the integrations that connect them to the rest of the business. Meritbyte Technologies is a Nepal-based web and software development company doing this for businesses in Nepal and, remotely, for clients in the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK. What that means in practice: a fixed price on the first milestone, a staging URL you can open any time, and everything handed over in your name.

Who needs custom web development?

You need custom web development when a template cannot do what the business actually does. A five-page brochure site rarely qualifies; a well-built WordPress theme will serve it, and our website design service is the better fit.

The work usually starts with one of these problems:

• The current site is slow on phones, and enquiries have dropped with it.
• Customers need to log in: to book, pay, track an order or download documents.
• Staff re-type web form submissions into a CRM, accounting system or spreadsheet.
• A marketing site has grown into a product, and nobody wants to touch the code.
• The previous developer holds the hosting login and has stopped answering email.

Unsure which side of the line you are on? Our guide to website vs web application explains the difference.

What our web development services include

Every project gets the same foundations, whatever its size:

• Page and URL plan. Agreed before design, so navigation, SEO and analytics all sit on one structure.
• Front end. Responsive templates tested on real Android and iOS phones, not only a resized desktop browser.
• Back end and data. APIs, authentication, user roles, and a database (usually PostgreSQL) with backups that have been restored at least once.
• Integrations. Payment gateways, CRMs, email platforms, booking engines and accounting systems, through their official APIs.
• Performance. Core Web Vitals targets written into the scope: LCP at or under 2.5 s, INP at or under 200 ms and CLS at or under 0.1, at the 75th percentile of real visits.
• Accessibility. WCAG 2.2 level AA checks on every template: contrast, keyboard use, focus order, form labels, error messages.
• SEO foundations. Clean URLs, titles, structured data, an XML sitemap and, on a rebuild, a 301 redirect for every old URL that has traffic or links.
• Handover. Documentation, a recorded walkthrough of the admin, and credentials that were always yours.

How a web development project runs

1. Free scoping conversation. We ask what the site must do, who uses it and what it connects to. You get back a written scope, a timeline and a number, with no paid discovery phase in between.
2. Fixed-price first milestone. Typically the architecture, designs for the key templates and a working skeleton on staging. You know exactly what the first commitment costs before you make it.
3. Two-week build blocks. Each block ends with a demo on the staging URL. You can stop at the end of any block and keep everything built so far.
4. Launch. DNS cutover, redirects, analytics and Search Console checks, then a closely watched first week.
5. Run and support. A retainer with set days each month, or a clean handover to your own team.

One project manager runs the project and sends a written update every week.

Next.js, WordPress or headless: which technology fits?

Choose based on who edits the site and what it has to do:

We write TypeScript by default, because a type error caught at build time costs less than one a customer finds. The longer comparison is in Next.js vs WordPress for business websites, and Core Web Vitals explained covers why the performance targets above matter.

Serving businesses in Nepal, the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK

The build process is the same everywhere; the requirements around it are not. A retailer in Nepal may need eSewa and Khalti at checkout and a Nepali-language version in Unicode (more in our notes for businesses in Nepal). A US company will ask about ADA accessibility claims and state privacy laws such as CCPA/CPRA (web development for US companies). Australian clients need privacy handling that fits the Privacy Act 1988, UK clients need UK GDPR and PECR-compliant cookie consent (our UK page), and Canadian clients need email sign-ups that satisfy CASL.

Time zones are workable. Nepal is UTC+5:45 with no daylight saving, so a Nepal afternoon is a UK morning and a Nepal morning is the Australian east-coast afternoon. US and Canadian clients start their day with the previous day's work on staging.

How is web development priced?

Price follows complexity, not page count. What moves the number:

• The number of distinct templates and components
• Integrations, and how good the other system's API is
• User accounts, roles and permissions
• Content: who writes it, who migrates it, how many languages
• Accessibility and compliance requirements
• Data migration and redirects from an old site

Typical market ranges vary widely by country and provider type; our guides to website cost in Nepal and website cost in the USA break them down. When proposals arrive, compare web development quotes line by line rather than on the total.

How to choose a web development company

Ask these questions of any firm, including us:

• Will the domain, hosting, repository and admin accounts be registered to my company from day one?
• Can I open a staging version during the build, not just at the end?
• What happens to the code if I stop paying you?
• Which Core Web Vitals and accessibility targets are written into the contract?
• Who is my day-to-day contact, and how often do I get a written update?

Red flags: a quote with no scope attached, a proprietary CMS only the agency can host, "unlimited revisions" (the scope was never pinned down), and hosting bundled into a monthly fee you cannot move elsewhere.

Frequently asked questions

How long does custom web development take?

A marketing site with a handful of templates commonly takes four to eight weeks from agreed scope to launch; a web application with logins and integrations runs longer, in further two-week blocks. Your scope gives a project-specific timeline, and each demo shows whether it is holding. Our guide on how long it takes to build a website explains what stretches schedules.

Do you work with clients outside Nepal?

Yes. Meritbyte works with businesses in Nepal and, remotely, with clients in the USA, Australia, Canada, the UK and elsewhere. We have no offices outside Nepal. Collaboration runs through the weekly written update, the staging URL, demos at the end of each block, and calls booked in the overlap between time zones.

Will I own the code and the accounts?

Yes. The repository, domain, hosting account and every admin login are created in your company's name, with us added as users. At handover you receive documentation and a walkthrough. If you later move to another developer, nothing has to be transferred out of our accounts, because nothing was ever in them.

Can you take over a site another developer built?

Usually. We start with a short audit covering access to hosting, code and domain, the state of plugins or dependencies, backups, and any undocumented integrations. You get a written summary of what is safe to keep, what needs fixing first and what that would cost, before any build work is agreed.

Does a small business need custom web development?

Often not yet. A well-configured WordPress or Shopify site does the job for many small businesses, and we will say so on the scoping call. If you want to see what a new site could look like before committing to anything, ask for a free website design idea.