What a theme gives you
A working design for a few tens of pounds, launchable in days. For a small business needing a presentable site quickly, that is genuinely good value.
The costs arrive later, and they are real.
What multipurpose themes cost
- Substantial code you do not need, loading on every page
- Performance you cannot fully fix without rebuilding
- Dependence on the theme author's continued maintenance
- Design constraints that shape your content rather than serving it
- Difficult upgrades if the theme has been modified
The classic pattern is a site that was fast enough at launch and unfixably slow two years later, because the weight is in the theme.
When to build custom
- You need specific functionality no plugin provides properly
- Your content has real structure — several post types with fields
- Performance matters commercially
- You have a defined brand rather than a template to adapt
- The site will be edited frequently by non-technical staff
Cost comparison
| Approach | Build | Three-year total |
|---|---|---|
| Theme, self-configured | £0–£500 | Plus your time, which is not free |
| Theme, professionally set up | £2,000–£5,000 | Moderate |
| Custom build | £6,000–£20,000 | Lower ongoing, faster, easier to edit |
The middle path
A lightweight starter theme customised for your business gives most of the benefit of a custom build at a fraction of the cost.
That is what we recommend most often: not a multipurpose theme, not a build from nothing, but a clean base shaped to what you actually need.