Comparison

A theme with your name on it, or a site drawn for your business

Some designers sell a bought theme with your logo dropped in. It looks finished on launch day, and it looks like everyone else who bought the same theme.

A template site is a theme somebody else designed and sells to anyone who pays for it, with your logo, photos and words fitted into its slots. A custom-designed site starts from how you win a customer and is drawn from scratch around it. Droom builds the second kind for $999 up to five pages or $1,999 up to fifteen, one time, with the words written for you and the site yours from launch. Care is $99 a month for hosting, backups, security and two small edits.

What your money buys, line by line

The layoutTemplate: the theme’s, shared with everyone who bought it. Droom: drawn from scratch for your business.custom wins

Where the page startsTemplate: the slots the theme came with. Droom: whatever makes your customer act, like a plumber’s number the size of a headline or a clinic’s booking slot first.custom wins

The wordsTemplate: usually yours to write, cut to fit the theme. Droom: written for you from your answers.custom wins

On a phoneTemplate: as good as the theme. Droom: the phone layout is designed first and checked from 360px up.custom wins

UnderneathTemplate: often a login, plugins and updates to keep on top of. Droom: plain pages with no login or plugins, nothing to hack and no software fee.custom wins

After launchTemplate: whatever the designer agreed to. Droom: Care at $99 a month, with hosting, daily backups, security patches and two small edits, each back within 48 hours.48h

Who owns itTemplate: ask what the theme’s licence lets you keep. Droom: yours from launch, with the files, the domain and a free handover.yours

Up frontTemplate: often cheaper. Droom: $999 or $1,999 once, paid half and half or split over three months.template wins

Why a theme looks right and works wrong

A theme is designed to sell itself, so it is built around its own demo: a wide photo, a slogan, three equal boxes. Your business then gets poured into slots that were shaped for somebody else. On a roofer’s site that can mean the phone number ends up in the footer, under a slogan nobody asked for.

A custom page is drawn the other way round. It starts with what a customer needs to see before they call or book, and the design is built to put that first.

This is not the do-it-yourself question

Building your own site on a website builder is a different trade-off, covered on our page about website builders. This page is about paying someone. If you are paying either way, the question is whether you are buying design work or an installation.

What $999 covers

Design, build, writing, images, mobile, Google Business Profile setup and launch, with no discovery fee. Your booking tool is wired in at no extra charge. Two rounds of revisions are included, and a third is $150.

Up to five pages is $999 and up to fifteen is $1,999. Past fifteen pages, or a site that has to talk to software you already run, is quoted in writing first. All prices are on the pricing page.

When a template is the sensible buy

If the business is brand new and the budget will not stretch to $999 yet, a template filled in by someone careful is a fair way to get started. Come back when the business has proved itself and the site is holding it back.

Questions people ask before they hire

Is a custom website worth it over a template?

For a business that wins work from its site, yes. Nobody else has your layout, the page is built around what makes your customer call, and there is no login or plugin to keep updated.

Do I own a custom-designed website?

Yes, from launch. The files and the domain are yours, and handover is free if you move hosts.

Can you rebuild a site that was made from a template?

Yes. Start with the free Field Test, which shows what is failing and gives you a fixed price to rebuild. Most rebuilds keep the content and replace everything around it.

Do I have to pay $99 a month?

No, Care is optional. If you take it, it covers hosting, backups, security and two small edits a month, with a three-month minimum and then 30 days notice.

Can I pay for the build in parts?

Yes. Half to start and half at launch is standard, or the cost split across the first three months.

Find out whether yours needs replacing

The free audit tests your current site the way a customer uses it and comes back with a fixed price. If the template you have is doing its job, it will say so.

The free Field Test: your site tested the way a customer uses it, results in seconds and a fixed price by email. No call.

Get my free audit See the prices

Last updated 2026-08-31