Custom websites
Sites built around your content, your brand, and your team, not a template you have to fight.
When a template stops being enough
Most sites start on a template, and that's fine, until the template starts shaping the content rather than supporting it. A custom site is the right move when your content, brand, or workflow is distinctive enough that off the shelf options force compromises. We build custom sites that are fast, accessible, and editor-friendly, on the stack that fits your team's reality.
How a custom build typically goes
Discovery and content modeling
Before any visual design, we work out what content the site needs to handle, how it relates, and how editors will create and update it. The model shapes everything that comes after.
- Content audit and inventory
- Content model and reference structure
- Editor workflow design
- Component-based template planning
Design system and visual design
We design for your brand from the ground up, typography, color, motion, photography direction, and ship a documented system that holds up as the site grows.
- Type and color systems with tokens
- Component library with state coverage
- Accessible-by-default patterns
- Motion and interaction guidelines
Build and engineering
We build on the right stack for your team and content, server-rendered PHP, modern frontend frameworks, static-site generators, headless CMS, or a hybrid, with performance budgets and accessibility built in from day one.
- Stack selection against team and content reality
- Performance budgets per page type
- Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) targets
- Observability and error tracking
Editor experience
A custom site lives or dies by whether your editors enjoy using it. We design the CMS surface, fields, validation, previews, with the same care as the public site.
- Field labels, help text, and validation
- Inline preview and live editing where viable
- Role-based permissions
- Documentation for non technical editors
Launch and post launch
Launch is a stage, not a milestone. We plan SEO continuity, redirects, monitoring, and the first sprint of post launch fixes before flipping the DNS.
- SEO continuity and 301 mapping
- Pre-launch QA across devices and locales
- Performance monitoring and rollback plan
- First-sprint backlog from launch learnings
When a custom website is the right choice
Templates and themes are good enough for many businesses, and we will say so when they are. The case for a custom website is straightforward: when the brand needs to be distinctive enough that a recognizable theme would undercut it, when the content model is complex enough that template constraints become a real cost, when performance and accessibility need to clear a higher bar than off the shelf themes typically achieve, or when the team operating the site needs content flexibility that themes do not expose cleanly. If none of those apply, a well configured theme is usually the better investment. If they do apply, custom is usually the better investment, and the gap between custom and templated tends to widen over time.
How our custom builds are scoped and delivered
We scope custom builds around the smallest version of the site that delivers the business outcome, designed to grow rather than designed to be everything at launch. That means a careful information architecture, a content model that the content team can actually use, design and component decisions that anticipate the next round of pages rather than freezing the current round, and a build approach (a modern static-site generator, a headless CMS, or plain server-rendered PHP) that fits the operational reality of the team that will own the site after launch. We deliver with documentation that lets the team operate the site without us, and we structure ongoing support so the team can call on us when they want to rather than depend on us to keep the lights on.
Custom is not the same as complicated
A custom site doesn't have to mean a complex stack. Some of the best custom builds we've shipped are intentionally simple, server-rendered pages, a small CMS, no JavaScript framework, fast everywhere by default. Complexity is a tax on the team that maintains the site and on every visitor who loads it. We use it deliberately, not by default.
When custom isn\u{2019}t the right answer
If your content fits cleanly into a template, your team is small, and you don't have unusual workflows or brand requirements, a thoughtful template build on Squarespace, Webflow, or WordPress is often the smarter move. We'll tell you when that's the case rather than overselling a custom engagement.
Common questions
How long does a custom build take?
Most engagements run 8 to 16 weeks from kickoff to launch, depending on scope, content readiness, and integration complexity.
Will our team be able to maintain it?
Yes. We document architecture, set up tooling, and conduct a structured handoff so your in house team or agency can take over confidently.
Considering a custom build?
Tell us about your content and what your current site can't do, we'll be candid about whether custom is the right move.
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