General FAQs

How are you different from other branding/web/design agencies?

We can provide higher quality design services with a great level of creativity, well tailored to real estate, at a reasonable cost. Our portfolio of great real estate marketing projects speaks for itself.

Our specialization in real estate means a deeper level of knowledge on how to help our clients connect with their target clients. Our CEO & design team’s diverse range of experience in many different industries means we deliver a high level of creativity to avoid producing cookie-cutter projects. You get the best of both worlds.

Where is your office, and where do your staff work out of?

Our office is located in Gastown, Vancouver, and all of our production staff are in-house! We don’t outsource our design/production work. You won’t be frustrated talking to somebody across the globe without local real estate knowledge.
Even our tech-support is provided by our in-house staff when you cannot find the answer on our support centre.

Project Completion Timeline & Delivery FAQs

Here are the most frequently asked questions from our clients regarding project commencement, timeline of completion & website launch.

How soon can you start my new project?

This is something we cannot answer, but we are often booked several days/weeks in advance. We also reserve some hours for our production team to handle day-to-day design changes, upgrades & quick fixes for our existing clients – this includes feature sheet designs, updates to existing marketing material, and minor changes to websites.

When are your slowest times that I can get started quickly?

Christmas time is an obvious one, and we often find that mid-to-late August are slow periods. During these times we are able to start your project quicker. The 2~3 months following these periods fill up extremely quickly, so it’s best to reserve your spot & confirm your project.

How long does branding take to be designed?

The average branding job takes about 2~4 weeks, depending on client feedback speed and decisiveness. The number of revisions are limited on branding jobs. Custom Illustrated, Hand-Lettered, and Chinese Calligraphy branding can take more time than the Type-Art branding jobs due to the more complex nature.

What happens after branding?

The rest of the designs commence after branding. The branding stage sets the tone for how your stationery, print media, as well as website should look like. Please be aware that all timelines below are timelines in addition to the completion time of branding.

How long does a Stock Template Website take to build?

The average stock template website takes about 1~2 weeks to be ready for content population. It involves colours & font matching to your brand, without layout changes. You do have an opportunity to revise the colours & fonts once, which can add to the completion time.

How long does a Customized Website take to build?

Customized website completion timelines can vary vastly between 4 to 16 weeks, excluding time spent on content population, which is primarily up to the Client as far as final cut decision goes. This process has a large variation based on how decisive & speedy the client feedback is.

How long does stationery & print media design take?

Essential stationery such as folders, business cards and feature sheets can be done in 1~3 weeks. Signage, window wraps, magazine ads can take 2~3 weeks. More complex items such as agent intro booklets or buyers guide booklets can take 3~6 weeks.

How long do open house/for sale sign designs take?

Common signage (open house, for sale, car toppers, hallway signs), simple window wraps, simple magazine ads can take 1~3 weeks, not including the print or production time. For sign producers & vendors, please check out our resources page.

What is the expected feedback time from client(s)?

Feedback & revisions on visual drafts presented is expected within 3 business days of sending. Any delays caused by clients’ lack of response, indecisively going back-and-forth, or going over the revision counts adds a significant amount of time to the total completion time. The Agency is not responsible for delays, and any ensuing losses, caused by such delays.

How fast can we expect a 10 hour design job to be turned around?

On average, it will be 1~2 weeks total. Our team handles inquiries stacked from multiple clients, and each round of drafts & revisions need client feedback. This can adds days or weeks of dormancy on that job, and we move onto other projects.

Real Estate Website Platform & Subscription FAQs

Here are the most frequently asked questions about our website platform, subscription terms, and ownership.

What platform is Brixwork on? Where are you located?

Brixwork’s website platform is our own, self-developed platform exclusively built for the real estate industry! First developed in 2007, we have reached version 4.xx and continue to grow with state-of-the-art MLS® integration with major real estate boards in Canada. We are hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Services) and our files & data are selectively stored across Canada & USA based servers for compliance with each real estate board (i.e. Canadian data, for instance, is stored in the Montreal data centre operated by Amazon).

If you are a SaaS platform, who owns the website?

SaaS as a nature implies ownership by the agency without exceptions. The website setup covers the costs of customization labour. The monthly fees cover your access to the website back-end to maintain, the hosting & distribution to allow your customers to view, and basic tech support. Our full terms & conditions explain this well.

Similar to how you wouldn’t own the cell towers on Telus or Rogers, you don’t own our software or servers which have cost well over half a million dollars (and counting) in development/hosting costs so far and counting. Think of us as SquareSpace, but for real estate only, with dedicated features just for your industry.

How does the Brixwork platform differ from WordPress?

Brixwork’s platform was exclusively developed for real estate, with a heavy focus on easy & quick maintenance of your listings, presales/buildings, and essential page content & image modifications. We published a blog article dissecting the advantages of using our dedicated system over a generic platform such as WordPress.

What other features make Brixwork better?

While it’s too long to list here, we have some state-of-the-art technology to help load our websites better on all platforms (mobile, tablet or desktop), and pack some great features to help your website show up well on Google & Social Media. You can read the full list of features of the Brixwork platform on our Website Features section.