City guides / Richmond

RICHMOND web design.

Endcap Design is a web design agency that designs and builds websites for businesses, with the branding and marketing to match, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California. This guide collects the business numbers, building activity, and Virginia rules we would look at before designing a site for a business in Richmond or elsewhere in the metro, including Petersburg, Hopewell, Colonial Heights, and Ashland.

Updated October 2026 with building permits through August 2026, from U.S. Census Bureau data. Sources are listed at the end of this page.

Map of the United States showing Orange County, California, and the cities covered by our city guidesRichmondOrange County

Endcap is based in Orange County, California, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California by video call, phone, and email.

The market

RICHMOND
in numbers.

The figures that shape who a Richmond website is for and what it needs to do. Each figure is the most recent Census release in this guide’s data, with its year shown.

1,389,338

residents in the metro

Census population estimate, July 2025

+5.5%

population change since 2020

April 2020 to July 2025; the US grew 3.1%

33,589

business locations with employees

County Business Patterns 2023

1,672

real estate businesses

NAICS 531, 2023

329

property management companies

Residential and nonresidential, 2023

7,098

new housing units permitted

January through August 2026

$83,460

median household income

American Community Survey 2024

34%

of households rent their home

186,692 renter households

Business mix

WHO DOES BUSINESS
in Richmond.

Self-storage operators are the most concentrated of these businesses in the Richmond metro: 6 for every 100,000 residents, and their share of local businesses is 1.14 times the national share. Specialty contractors follow at 1.12 times the national share. Commercial building owners are less common here than nationally, at 0.80 times the national share.

The chart compares each sector’s share of Richmond-area business locations with its share nationally (a location quotient). 1.00× matches the US; higher means the sector is more concentrated here. County Business Patterns 2023.

  1. Self-storage operators85 locations · 6 per 100,000 residents1.14×
  2. Specialty contractors2,339 locations · 168 per 100,000 residents1.12×
  3. Builders and developers1,101 locations · 79 per 100,000 residents1.08×
  4. Property management companies329 locations · 24 per 100,000 residents1.04×
  5. Real estate brokerages681 locations · 49 per 100,000 residents1.03×
  6. Architecture and engineering firms468 locations · 34 per 100,000 residents0.99×
  7. Law offices679 locations · 49 per 100,000 residents0.93×
  8. Restaurants and bars2,606 locations · 188 per 100,000 residents0.91×
  9. Dental offices463 locations · 33 per 100,000 residents0.85×
  10. Commercial building owners111 locations · 8 per 100,000 residents0.80×

Building activity

WHAT’S BEING
built.

New buildings mean new properties to lease and new businesses to open. Census Building Permits Survey, August 2026.

Builders in the Richmond metro were authorized to build 7,098 new housing units from January through August 2026, 10% more than the 6,453 in the same months of 2025.

53% of those units are in buildings with five or more homes, against 32% nationally.

That is an apartment-heavy pipeline. Each new community needs a leasing website, usually before construction finishes, and the developer often needs a project site for investors and the city as well.

Jan–Aug 20256,453
Jan–Aug 20267,098
  • Single-family 3,118
  • Two to four units 217
  • Five or more 3,763

What this means for your site

BUILT FOR
Richmond.

What we would plan into a Richmond website, based on the numbers above.

Talk through your site
  1. 01

    Launch before the building opens

    53% of new homes permitted this year are in buildings of five or more units. Pre-leasing websites need to be live months before the first move-in.

  2. 02

    Pages for each area you serve

    The metro grew 5.5% from 2020 to 2025, against 3.1% nationally. People new to an area tend to search online before asking for recommendations, so a page for each service and each area you serve, linked to your Google Business Profile, carries more weight here.

  3. 03

    Privacy notice and opt-outs

    The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act applies to many businesses that collect visitors’ details in Virginia. A covered site needs a current privacy notice and working opt-out links.

  4. 04

    Accessible by default

    Every site we build follows WCAG 2.2 AA practice: readable contrast, keyboard navigation, labeled forms, and text alternatives for images. Federal ADA website lawsuits run into the thousands each year, most of them filed in New York, Florida, and Illinois.

Virginia rules

WHAT THE LAW
asks of your site.

State rules that change what goes on a business or real estate website in Virginia, checked against official sources as of October 9, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; your counsel owns the final wording.

Privacy

Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act

Va. Code Ann. §§ 59.1-575 to 59.1-584 · in effect since January 1, 2023 Source

The law applies to persons that conduct business in Virginia or produce products or services targeted to Virginia residents and that, during a calendar year, control or process personal data of at least 100,000 consumers. It also applies to persons that control or process personal data of at least 25,000 consumers and derive over 50 percent of gross revenue from the sale of personal data. It does not apply to state agencies and political subdivisions, financial institutions or data subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, HIPAA covered entities and business associates, nonprofit organizations, or institutions of higher education.

What the website needs
  • A covered controller must provide a reasonably accessible, clear, and meaningful privacy notice that lists the categories of personal data processed, the purposes of processing, how consumers can exercise their rights and appeal a decision, the categories of personal data shared with third parties, and the categories of third parties that receive personal data.
  • A controller that sells personal data or processes it for targeted advertising must clearly and conspicuously disclose that processing and explain how a consumer can opt out of it.
  • A controller must establish one or more secure and reliable means for consumers to submit rights requests, must describe those means in the privacy notice, and may not require a consumer to create a new account to make a request.
  • A controller may not process a consumer's sensitive data without the consumer's consent, and data about a known child must be processed in accordance with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

Real estate advertising

What a Virginia brokerage site must show

18VAC135-20-190 (Advertising by licensees), as amended effective April 1, 2026 (Virginia Register Volume 42, Issue 14); 18VAC135-20-10 (definitions); Va. Code § 54.1-2106.1(D) Source

Since April 1, 2026, all Virginia real estate advertising must be supervised by the principal or supervising broker, be in the firm's name, and carry a clear, legible and conspicuous disclosure of the firm's name and the office contact information. The firm's written policies define the office contact information and any additional required items, and the amended regulation no longer has separate rules for online advertising.

What the website needs
  • Under 18VAC135-20-10, "advertising" means all communication disseminated through any medium to consumers for any purpose related to licensed real estate activity, which covers websites and social media.
  • Under 18VAC135-20-190(A), all advertising must be under the direct supervision of the principal broker or supervising broker and in the name of the firm, and the firm's licensed name must be clearly and legibly displayed on all advertising.
  • Under 18VAC135-20-190(B)(1), all advertising by a firm or affiliated licensee must contain a clear, legible, and conspicuous advertising disclosure that includes the firm's name and the office contact information.
  • Under 18VAC135-20-190(B)(1), the principal or supervising broker specifies the office contact information and any additional required information in the firm's written policies.
  • Under 18VAC135-20-190(B)(2), all advertising by an affiliated licensee must follow the policies of a principal or supervising broker, and 18VAC135-20-10 defines affiliated licensees to include licensed real estate teams.

Accessibility

The federal ADA

ADA Title III Source

Title III of the ADA covers businesses open to the public, but the Department of Justice has no regulation that sets a technical standard for private business websites. DOJ's web guidance says businesses have flexibility in how they make their websites accessible and points to WCAG as a helpful existing technical standard. Federal appeals courts have not agreed on when a website is covered, so a website's legal status can depend on where a lawsuit is filed and whether the site is connected to a physical location. Virginia has no separate website accessibility statute for private businesses in our research, so WCAG 2.2 AA is the practical target.

What we design

FOR RICHMOND
businesses.

Ordered by how concentrated each kind of business is in the Richmond metro. We design for every kind of business.

Portfolio

RECENT
work.

Websites and identities we have designed and built for our clients. See all of our work.

Client words

IN THEIR
words.

We own ten homes at Casa De Laguna and were still sending people to a site built in 2013. Noah pulled the photos and details out of the old site, designed a logo from the rooflines and the pond, and put the community, the homes and current availability in one place. It’s the first time the website has looked like the place we actually rent.

OwnerGreat OC CondosSee the project

“Highly recommend. Great work.”

Dan ParkerGreat OC Condos · Google review

FAQ

RICHMOND
questions.

Anything else? Ask us directly or text Noah at (425) 233-0769.

How many real estate businesses are in the Richmond area?

The Census Bureau counted 1,672 real estate business locations with employees in the Richmond metro in 2023, including 681 offices of agents and brokers and 329 property management companies.

How much new construction is happening in Richmond?

From January through August 2026, the Richmond metro permitted 7,098 new housing units, 10% more than a year earlier, according to the Census Building Permits Survey.

Does Virginia have a privacy law that affects business websites?

Yes. The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (Va. Code Ann. §§ 59.1-575 to 59.1-584) took effect January 1, 2023. The law applies to persons that conduct business in Virginia or produce products or services targeted to Virginia residents and that, during a calendar year, control or process personal data of at least 100,000 consumers. It also applies to persons that control or process personal data of at least 25,000 consumers and derive over 50 percent of gross revenue from the sale of personal data.

What does Virginia require on a real estate website?

Since April 1, 2026, all Virginia real estate advertising must be supervised by the principal or supervising broker, be in the firm's name, and carry a clear, legible and conspicuous disclosure of the firm's name and the office contact information. The firm's written policies define the office contact information and any additional required items, and the amended regulation no longer has separate rules for online advertising. (18VAC135-20-190 (Advertising by licensees), as amended effective April 1, 2026 (Virginia Register Volume 42, Issue 14); 18VAC135-20-10 (definitions); Va. Code § 54.1-2106.1(D))

Do you work with Richmond businesses remotely?

Yes. Endcap is based in Orange County, California, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California by video call, phone, and email. You review the design and the working site online before launch.

How much does a website cost?

We quote each project after a short conversation, once we know the pages, content, and features it needs. The proposal lists the deliverables, schedule, and price, and we agree on it before work begins.

How long does a website take?

Most websites take two to four weeks once the content is ready. The proposal confirms the schedule.

Nearby city guides

Other markets near Richmond

Sources

Figures are for the metropolitan statistical area unless noted. Business counts cover locations with paid employees. Data refreshed 2026-10-10.

Contact Endcap

START A
project.

A website, a brand, or a complete set of materials.
We reply within an hour during business hours, and we only use your details to answer you.

Start a project or call or text Noah at (425) 233-0769

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