How PEAK got started
Thomas Eichinger wanted to build something of his own. What started on the side in the evenings is his work today, because it turned out that is exactly where his strength lies.
It started with an online store of his own, from zero to ready for sales in two months. Checkout and card processing, data protection, the cancellation policy, shipping abroad. He taught himself everything that took, step by step and without anyone else’s template.
Along the way something caught his eye that’s still the foundation of our work today.
Lots of businesses around here have a website that doesn’t help anyone. It’s rarely the owner’s fault. The alternatives are bad.
The agency charges four thousand euros and is hard to reach once the invoice is paid. A site builder costs a monthly fee and ends up looking like a site builder. The nephew who’ll “take care of it” never finishes. So the site from 2014 stays online, with a phone number you can’t tap.
That gap is exactly where we work. Built by hand like at an agency, at a price a business with five people can manage. That works because we don’t pay for an office or a sales team. We don’t cut corners on the work itself.
Why you see the draft first
When you order a new website, you’re buying something you can hardly judge in advance. That’s why we flip the usual order.
You get the draft first and only then the invoice. You don’t have to take anyone’s word that they know their craft. You see it before you decide.
Then there’s the size. We take on a few jobs at a time, not two hundred. If you get in touch at seven in the evening because there’s a wrong price on your site, we take care of it. An unhappy customer costs a business our size too much. At a big agency you’re one project among many, here you’re one of a few.
So every job has to be good enough to show off. A big provider can afford a mediocre job. PEAK can’t.
Why it makes a difference that we’re from here
Marquartstein has a little over three thousand people. Thomas Eichinger grew up here and knows the area. The guests come in summer, and in November hardly anyone is around. A tradesman in the Chiemgau has different customers than one in Munich, and a local inn presents itself differently than a chain. Nobody has to explain that to us.
For you, that means we can come by. Whether it’s Grassau, Übersee, Bernau or Traunstein, we can be there in about twenty minutes. Photos, going over the draft, showing you around the site. Meeting in person sorts things out faster than eight emails.
In a region this size, bad work gets around, and so does good work.
How we work
PEAK is owner-run on purpose. You always deal with the same person, and whoever sells you the site also builds it. There is no sales team promising something the technology can’t deliver.
We don’t take on ten jobs at once. When we’re fully booked, you get a date that holds, not one you want to hear. If something is outside what we offer, we say that as well. An online store with checkout and card processing, for example, isn’t part of the packages, because we know the work involved from our own experience.
The sites are built by hand instead of in a site builder, because then every line can be traced. If something breaks, it gets fixed without waiting on a hotline.
What we’re aiming for
PEAK doesn’t want to be the cheapest option in the Chiemgau, but the one where you know where you stand. A fixed price, firm dates, one person to deal with, and if something isn’t working, we tell you before you notice.
That’s the whole business idea. It isn’t original. It stands out because so many do it differently.