A ready-made website is the right choice for most small businesses that want a professional site live within weeks, at a fixed price, and can explain what they do on a few pages. A custom build earns its higher price when you’ve got several services to explain, need online booking or want copy written to be found in search. DIY builders like Wix and Squarespace cost the least in cash, but you pay for them in your own time.
What is a ready-made website?
A ready-made website is designed and built by professionals before you buy it. The layout, page structure and mobile version are finished. You pick a style, it’s branded with your name, words and images, and it goes live on your domain.
That’s different from buying a theme and setting it up yourself. With a theme, you still do the installation, image sizing, menus and mobile checks. With a ready-made website, someone who builds websites for a living has done that work already.
Our ready-made websites come in five styles, called Service & Trade, Minimal Premium, Visual First, Editorial and Bold Contrast. They’re styles, not industries, so a physio could choose Editorial and a joiner could choose Minimal Premium. You can click through each live demo before you buy.
How is a ready-made site different from Wix or Squarespace?
Wix and Squarespace are DIY website builders. You choose a template, drag sections around and write every word yourself. The tools are good, and for a hobby or a side project they can be enough.
The subscription is cheap. In the UK, Squarespace’s Basic plan is £12 a month paid annually, or £16 paying month to month, according to Squarespace’s pricing page. Wix has a free plan, but it shows Wix branding and gives you a wixsite.com address instead of your own domain.
The bigger cost is time. Writing pages, finding photos that don’t look like stock, and making every section behave on a small screen takes far longer than the drag-and-drop demos suggest. The phone version matters most. Ofcom found that UK adults spend an average of four and a half hours online a day, with most of that time on a smartphone.
Then there’s the question of who you’re tied to. You can’t take a Wix or Squarespace design to another host. If you outgrow the platform or the price goes up, you rebuild from scratch. WordPress is open-source software that most hosts can run, so you aren’t tied to a single company.
When is a custom build worth paying for?
A custom build is planned around your business rather than fitted into a set style. It’s usually worth the extra in these cases.
- you offer several services and each one needs its own page to sell it
- you want customers to book appointments straight from the site
- the words need to be written to rank for particular searches, not just describe you
- you need more than nine pages, or a platform other than WordPress
Our Standard build is £1,495 +VAT for up to five pages, live in 14 working days. Plus is £2,995 +VAT for up to nine pages, with copy written for search, a booking widget, WhatsApp, Google Reviews and Google Business Profile setup, built over 30 to 45 working days. Bigger projects are Enterprise builds, quoted after a discovery call. Our website packages page sets out what each one includes.
How do ready-made, DIY and custom sites compare?
| What you’re comparing | DIY builder | Ready-made site | Custom build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | No build fee, just the plan | £795 +VAT, or £995 +VAT with copywriting | From £1,495 +VAT |
| Time to launch | As long as it takes you | Within 14 working days of us having your details | 14 working days on Standard, 30 to 45 on Plus |
| Who writes the copy | You | You, or us on the done-for-you option | Written for search on Plus |
| Flexibility | Whatever the builder allows | A set layout in your chosen style, with room to grow | Pages planned around your services |
| Ownership | Tied to the platform | Built on WordPress, which isn’t tied to one company | Built on WordPress, which isn’t tied to one company |
What does each option cost in the first year?
Build prices alone don’t tell you much. Here’s what year one looks like in full.
- A DIY builder costs £144 for a year of Squarespace Basic on an annual plan, plus your evenings and weekends.
- A ready-made site on its own costs £795 +VAT, then Foundation hosting at £89 a month +VAT for 12 months. That covers managed hosting, daily backups, updates and a contact form, but not content edits.
- A done-for-you ready-made site costs £995 +VAT plus the same hosting. The extra £200 +VAT pays for copywriting, SEO setup and five custom images.
- A custom build starts from £1,495 +VAT for Standard, or £2,995 +VAT for Plus.
In pure cash, DIY wins. Whether it wins overall depends on what your hours are worth and how comfortable you are writing about your own business. That writing is harder than it looks, and it’s the one part a drag-and-drop tool can’t do for you.
Which should your business choose?
Work through these in order. The first one that gives you a clear answer usually points to the right option.
- Is your copy ready? If you can already describe each thing you sell in a few clear paragraphs, the £795 +VAT site-only option fits. If you can’t face writing it, the done-for-you version is the better buy.
- How many services do you need to explain? One or two sit comfortably on a ready-made website. Five services aimed at different customers point to a custom build.
- Does it need to do more than take enquiries? Bookings, WhatsApp and Google Reviews come built in on Plus.
- When do you need to be live? A ready-made site goes live within 14 working days of us having your details. That clock only runs whilst the work is with us, so the sooner your words and images arrive, the sooner you launch.
- Have you got more time than budget? Then a DIY builder is a fair choice, as long as you test every page on your phone before you share it.
You’re not choosing forever. A ready-made website can grow into a Standard or Plus build later, and because it’s WordPress, pages can be added without a rebuild. If that sounds like the right fit, you can compare all five styles on our ready-made websites page.
For what each price point usually includes, see website packages explained. If you run a trade, what a trade website needs to win quote requests is a good next read.
Common questions about ready-made websites
Is a ready-made website the same as a template?
No. A template is a starting point you set up yourself. A ready-made website is already built, then branded with your name, words and images before it goes live.
Will my site look like other businesses using the same style?
The layout is shared, but your words, images and name change how it reads. The five styles aren’t tied to industries, so choose the one that suits how you want to come across rather than what your sector usually looks like.
Can I switch from Wix or Squarespace to a ready-made site?
Yes. Your existing words and images can be reused, and your domain can be pointed at the new one. If you bought the domain through the builder, you can transfer it out to another registrar.
Do I need my own photos?
It helps. The site-only option uses the images you send. The done-for-you option includes five custom images, which is useful if you haven’t got good photos of your work yet.
