Web development and IT service
Building and running websites for local clients. A simple site is Tk 8,000-15,000, e-commerce Tk 16,000-25,000, with maintenance at Tk 3,000-8,000 a month.
- Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
- Version 1
- Starting capital
- ৳40,000 – ৳2,00,000 Editorial estimate
- Manpower
- 1 – 8 people
- First sale
- 10 – 35 days Market quote
- Break-even
- 5.5 – 11.5 months Editorial estimate
- Kind of work
- Online · Medium difficulty
What the business is
Building websites for shops, institutions and individuals, and keeping them running. What local clients pay is now published openly. WebComBD's packages are Tk 8,000 for a seven-page site, Tk 12,000 for twenty pages and Tk 16,000 for an e-commerce site with thirty products, with custom design adding Tk 12,000. Advance Code Ltd's list starts at Tk 10,000 for a seven-page site, puts e-commerce and news portals at Tk 25,000 and tops out at Tk 60,000, with annual renewals of Tk 2,200 to Tk 16,000. Smart Software Limited's packages run from Tk 15,000 to Tk 1,20,000. So for a local client an ordinary website is ten or twelve thousand taka, and nothing reaches a lakh without real custom work. The cash cost is small - a domain is Tk 1,200-2,500 a year, shared hosting Tk 2,000-6,000, and a premium theme Tk 2,000-8,000 once - and the rest is your own time. The real question is therefore how many jobs you can finish in a month. The companies themselves say a simple site takes two weeks and an e-commerce site four to five. On top of that sits a maintenance retainer of Tk 3,000-8,000 a month, which carries on after a project ends and is what actually pays for the month.
Unit economics
| Item | Range | Evidence | Suggest a correction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly working capital | ৳10,000 – ৳2,50,000 | Editorial estimate | |
| Selling price | ৳8,000 – ৳1,20,000 / unit | Market quote | |
| Variable cost | ৳3,200 – ৳16,500 / unit | Market quote | |
| Gross margin | 60% – 86% | Editorial estimate | |
| Time to first revenue | 10 – 35 days | Market quote | |
| Break-even time | 5.5 – 11.5 months | Editorial estimate | |
| Cash cycle | 10 – 45 days | Editorial estimate | |
| Waste / loss | 5% – 15% | Editorial estimate | |
| Daily capacity | 0.1 – 0.5 | Editorial estimate |
What you need to start
- A computer or laptop able to do the work, an uninterrupted internet connection, and something to keep running through a power cut (an IPS or power bank). Market prices for these were not verified here.Equipment
- One or two purchased WordPress themes and the necessary plugins, Tk 2,000-8,000 once. Whether the same theme may be reused across clients depends on its licence terms.Starting stock
- Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, plus VAT and a signboard fee. Usually issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
- HTML, CSS and JavaScript; WordPress and WooCommerce; hosting cPanel and domain setup; making the site work properly on a phone; and basic SEO. The most useful habit is listening to the client and fixing the scope before starting.Skill
- A domain and hosting provider: domain Tk 1,200-2,500 a year, shared hosting Tk 2,000-6,000. SSL can be free, otherwise from Tk 2,500 a year.Supplier
- No separate office is needed and it can start from home, though an address to meet at helps when taking work from institutions, schools or hospitals.Workspace
How the work runs
- 1Decide what you are selling - just the website, or the website with domain, hosting and maintenance. Local clients want the whole package, and trying to itemise it loses the job.
- 2Build and publish your own price list. The market is Tk 8,000-15,000 for a seven-page site and Tk 16,000-25,000 for e-commerce; stray far from that and the client goes elsewhere.
- 3Take a trade licence from the city corporation or municipality and a TIN from the NBR. Institutions, schools and hospitals will ask for them with the invoice.
- 4Set up a reseller relationship with a hosting and domain provider. A domain is Tk 1,200-2,500 a year and shared hosting Tk 2,000-6,000; buying wholesale leaves something here too.
- 5Finish the first three or four jobs even at a low price, and keep them as links you can show. A local client wants to see what you have built before he asks the price.
- 6Take an advance before starting and write down the scope - how many pages, how many products, how many rounds of design changes. Without that written down the job never ends, because the requests keep coming.
- 7Take on work against the clock. Two weeks for a simple site, three for twenty pages, four to five for e-commerce - take only as many jobs as you can finish inside those times.
- 8When you hand the site over, teach the client to use it and leave a short guide. Otherwise he phones you for every small change and you are not paid for that time.
- 9Sign monthly maintenance contracts - the market is Tk 3,000-8,000 a month. That money comes even in a month with no new project, and it is what keeps the year steady.
- 10Keep a list of domain and hosting renewal dates and remind clients a month ahead. Renewals are Tk 2,200-16,000 a year, and if one is missed the site goes down and the blame is yours.
Seasons
- JanNormal
- FebNormal
- MarNormal
- AprNormal
- MayNormal
- JunNormal
- JulNormal
- AugNormal
- SepNormal
- OctNormal
- NovNormal
- DecNormal
Where it fits
- Strong fitChattogram · Many import-export and wholesale businesses, and a lot of them are now starting to sell online.
- Strong fitDhaka · Most of the country's companies, e-commerce sellers, schools, hospitals and advertising firms are here, and it is easiest to win work face to face.
- PossibleBogura · The northern trading centre - fewer competitors, but clients are hard on price.
- PossibleCumilla · Steady small jobs from town businesses and coaching centres.
- PossibleGazipur · Factories and their suppliers need their own websites and catalogues.
- PossibleJashore · Young developers and IT training make skilled people easier to find, and costs are lower than Dhaka.
- PossibleKhulna · City institutions and shrimp and food exporters need websites.
- PossibleNarayanganj · Wholesale cloth and garment traders are moving towards selling online.
- PossibleRajshahi · Skilled people are available around the university and colleges, though rates are lower.
- PossibleSylhet · Expatriate-owned restaurants, travel agencies and hospitals need websites and can pay for them.
Risks and cautions
- HighLate payment: Money stuck with a local client is the biggest danger here. The last instalment hangs after handover, and by then the site is already theirs so there is nothing left to press with. On a Tk 8,000-25,000 job the cost of going to law is more than the money, so most of the time it is simply lost. Nothing reduces this except an advance and staged payments.
- HighDemand: The price only moves downwards. The same seven-page site is Tk 8,000 at one company, Tk 10,000 at another and Tk 15,000 at a third, and freelancers go lower still. Clients compare and take the cheapest because they cannot tell good work from bad, so competing on price means more jobs a month and no more income.
- MediumDependency: The job does not end at delivery. If the domain and hosting are in your name you must renew them every year at Tk 2,200-16,000, and if the client does not pay on time the site goes down and the blame lands on you. And if the hosting company's server fails, every client's site goes down at once and there is nothing you can do.
- MediumWorking capital: The domain and hosting must be paid for at the start - Tk 3,200 to Tk 16,500 per site. If the client pays no advance that money comes out of your pocket, and if the job is cancelled halfway it is a straight loss. With four or five jobs running at once that upfront cost becomes a serious sum.
Sources
সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ
Collected: 16 Sept 2026Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ
What changed
No corrections have been published yet.
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