---
title: "Nearshore Web Design and Development from Colombia — Dardo"
description: "A founder-led web design and development studio in Bogotá for US teams: shared working hours, English and Spanish, IP assignment, accounts in your name."
url: "https://dardo.studio/en/nearshore/"
language: "en"
updated: "2026-10-14"
---

Nearshore from Colombia

# Nearshore web design and development from Colombia

How a US company works with Dardo, a three-person design and development studio in Bogotá: time zones, language, contracts and IP, payments, access, and when another option fits better.

By Dardo editorial team · Updated Oct 14, 2026 · 8 min read

## What nearshore means, compared with onshore and offshore

Nearshore means hiring a team in a nearby country whose working day overlaps with yours; for US companies, that usually means Latin America. Onshore is a team in the US. Offshore is a team many time zones away, where much of the collaboration happens while one side is asleep.

An onshore agency shares your legal system and holidays, and meeting in person is easy. An offshore team may offer the widest choice of providers, but feedback often waits a day. A nearshore team works while you work, from a country with its own contracts, payments and holidays to plan for. For a general guide to vetting teams there, read [how to hire a design team in Colombia](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/hire-design-team-colombia/).

We don't promise a percentage saving: the price follows the documented scope, and our published starting prices and budget ranges are on the [pricing page](https://dardo.studio/en/pricing/).

## A studio, not a staffing firm: what that means for you

Dardo is a founder-led studio of three people in Bogotá, not a staffing firm. We take on a scoped project, such as a website, a redesign or a product's marketing site, and deliver it against a written proposal with named people and acceptance criteria. We don't place individual developers under your managers' daily direction.

- You talk directly with the people designing and building, including the founder, Nicolás Cerón.
- Design, development and technical SEO are decided in one small team, so less gets lost between handoffs.
- Capacity is limited: three people can't absorb a sudden doubling of scope or staff a year-long program that needs ten.
- The studio was founded in 2026, so judge it by [published work](https://dardo.studio/en/work/) and by what the proposal commits to in writing.

A staffing firm fits better when you need developers embedded in your team for months, working your backlog, or headcount that follows the roadmap. A local US agency fits better when you need regular in-person workshops, a US legal entity, or procurement items such as specific insurance certificates or security audit reports; ask early, because we may not meet them. For a small, well-defined task, a freelancer is often enough. Our guide to [comparing design studios](https://dardo.studio/en/blog/compare-design-studios/) includes a scoring sheet for every finalist.

## How many working hours overlap between Bogotá and the US?

Bogotá is on UTC−5 all year and Colombia doesn't change its clocks, so most of the US working day overlaps with ours. The US moves its clocks forward on the second Sunday of March and back on the first Sunday of November; in 2026, that's 8 March and 1 November. From March to November, Bogotá matches US Central Daylight Time; from November to March, it matches US Eastern Standard Time.

__How many working hours overlap between Bogotá and the US?__
| US time zone                                 | March to November (US daylight time) | November to March (US standard time) |
| -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------ |
| Eastern: New York, Miami, Atlanta            | Bogotá is 1 hour behind              | Same time as Bogotá                  |
| Central: Chicago, Houston, Dallas            | Same time as Bogotá                  | Bogotá is 1 hour ahead               |
| Mountain: Denver                             | Bogotá is 1 hour ahead               | Bogotá is 2 hours ahead              |
| Pacific: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle | Bogotá is 2 hours ahead              | Bogotá is 3 hours ahead              |

A 9 a.m. call in New York is 8 a.m. in Bogotá in summer and 9 a.m. in winter, so Eastern and Central teams share practically the whole working day with us, and California teams share their morning and early afternoon. We suggest fixing meeting times in your local time, so the US clock change moves our side of the calendar, not yours.

## Language, meetings and written work

We work in English and Spanish, and everything that sets the project's terms is written: the proposal, scope, acceptance criteria, decisions after each review and handover notes, in English for US clients unless you ask otherwise. A bilingual site gets a named reviewer per language, as in every [multilingual website](https://dardo.studio/en/services/multilingual-websites/) we plan.

A cadence that suits most website projects is a short weekly call plus written updates, with reviews on a staging link or in Figma comments, so feedback doesn't wait for the next meeting. We can work in your Slack, project tracker or GitHub organization, so the history stays with you. Colombian public holidays differ from US ones, so the schedule marks any that fall within the project, and an in-person workshop is quoted as its own travel line.

## Contracts and IP: who owns the website?

You should own the custom design and code you pay for, and the contract should say so. According to the US Copyright Office, a commissioned work is a “work made for hire” only if it falls into one of nine categories, such as a translation or a contribution to a collective work, and both parties sign a written agreement saying so. Website code and design aren't named in that list, so contracts with outside studios usually add an express assignment of copyright, which US law requires to be in a signed writing.

Our proposal states ownership of code, design assets and licensed dependencies before work begins. Check that the contract also covers:

- Assignment of copyright in design files, source code and documentation to your company
- When ownership passes, commonly on final payment
- What stays licensed: fonts, stock images, plugins and open-source libraries
- Governing law, where disputes are settled, and an NDA if you need one

This is general information, not legal advice; ask your counsel to review the clause.

## How do you pay a studio in Colombia?

Paying a foreign studio is mostly an accounts-payable task, but your team will ask for a tax form. A foreign business documents its status with IRS Form W-8BEN-E and a foreign individual with Form W-8BEN; either goes to the payer that requests it, not to the IRS. The IRS also says the place where personal services are performed generally determines the source of the income. Withholding and reporting depend on your facts, so confirm them with your accountant: this isn't tax advice.

Our published prices and inquiry budget ranges are in US dollars. The proposal states the currency, payment stages, how to pay and every third-party cost, such as hosting, domains, fonts or CMS plans.

## Security and access: accounts stay in your name

Your company should own every account the website depends on, with Dardo invited as a user. That's our handover rule: hosting, domain, DNS, CMS, analytics, repository and email-sending accounts sit in your company's name, and if they don't yet, moving them is the first task.

- Give each person their own login and the lowest role that does the job, instead of shared passwords
- Turn on multi-factor authentication, starting with admin accounts; CISA recommends phishing-resistant methods such as security keys over text-message codes
- Remove our access at handover, or keep it under a [website maintenance plan](https://dardo.studio/en/services/website-maintenance/)

Production data and customer records stay in your systems; we ask only for the access a task needs.

## How Dardo works with US companies and agencies

There are three common ways to work with us. Companies hire us for the whole job through [custom web design](https://dardo.studio/en/services/web-design/), or bring approved designs to our [web development](https://dardo.studio/en/services/web-development/) team. Software companies use [SaaS website design](https://dardo.studio/en/services/saas-website-design/) for marketing sites built around signups, demos and pricing. Agencies that need build capacity hire us under their own brand through [white-label web development](https://dardo.studio/en/services/white-label-web-development/) and keep the client relationship.

Every route starts with a written brief, then a proposal naming the people, scope, price and ownership. Read about [the team](https://dardo.studio/en/studio/), or [send us a brief](https://dardo.studio/en/contact/) and we'll tell you plainly whether we fit.

## Questions before you choose

**Is hiring a nearshore studio cheaper than a US agency?**

Sometimes, but we won't promise a percentage. Rates vary widely within every country, and the cheapest quote often leaves out content, testing or handover. Compare written proposals for the same scope: templates, languages, integrations and what's included at launch. Dardo's published starting prices and budget ranges are on our pricing page.

**Which US time zones overlap best with Bogotá?**

Eastern and Central. Bogotá is UTC−5 all year: from March to November it's one hour behind New York and level with Chicago, and from November to March it's level with New York and one hour ahead of Chicago. Pacific teams are two or three hours behind Bogotá.

**Will Dardo sign an IP assignment and an NDA?**

Yes. The contract assigns the custom design and code you pay for to your company and lists anything that stays licensed, such as fonts or open-source libraries. We can sign an NDA before you share a brief. A commissioned website may not qualify as a work made for hire under US law on its own, which is why the written assignment matters.

**What tax form will our accounts team need from you?**

A Form W-8: W-8BEN-E for a foreign business, W-8BEN for a foreign individual. You keep it on file rather than sending it to the IRS, and we provide the one that matches our status when your team asks. Your accountant should confirm withholding and reporting for your case; this isn't tax advice.

**Can you join our Slack and work in our tools?**

Yes, when you invite us: your Slack, project tracker, GitHub organization and Figma team, so the history and files stay with you. Each person gets their own login with only the access the task needs, removed at the end or carried into a maintenance plan.

**What if we need more people than a team of three?**

Tell us early. A three-person team suits a defined website or product site that the same people carry from design to launch. If you need several developers full-time for months, or a team that grows and shrinks with your roadmap, a larger agency or a staffing firm will serve you better, and we'll say so before you sign anything.

## Sources & further reading

Sources behind this page, with further detail from the original publishers.

- [timeanddate.com: Time zone and clock changes in Bogotá, Colombia](https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zone/colombia/bogota) · timeanddate.com
- [Instituto Nacional de Metrología de Colombia: Hora legal de la República de Colombia (UTC−5)](https://horalegal.inm.gov.co/) · horalegal.inm.gov.co
- [NIST: Daylight saving time rules and 2026 dates](https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/popular-links/daylight-saving-time-dst) · nist.gov
- [US Copyright Office: Circular 30, Works Made for Hire](https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ30.pdf) · copyright.gov
- [US Copyright Office: Title 17, chapter 2, section 204 (execution of transfers of copyright ownership)](https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html) · copyright.gov
- [IRS: About Form W-8BEN-E](https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-8-ben-e) · irs.gov
- [IRS: About Form W-8BEN](https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-8-ben) · irs.gov
- [IRS: Instructions for Form W-8BEN-E](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw8bene) · irs.gov
- [IRS: Source of income, personal service income](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/source-of-income-personal-service-income) · irs.gov
- [CISA: Require multifactor authentication](https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/require-multifactor-authentication) · cisa.gov

[Dardo](https://dardo.studio/) · Nearshore from Colombia

## From a brief to a written proposal

Check the fit, compare prices, then send the scope. The proposal names the people, the price and who owns what at the end.

[01 · **Meet the studio** · Who's on the team and how we work](https://dardo.studio/en/studio/) · [02 · **See prices** · Published starting prices and budget ranges](https://dardo.studio/en/pricing/) · [03 · **Request a proposal** · Send your brief directly to Dardo](https://dardo.studio/en/contact/)