“It's completely custom.”

Right. Which part?

The design? The content system? The checkout? Or has someone written every line from scratch when a perfectly good existing component would have done the job?

I like work designed around a business. That doesn't mean every business needs the most elaborate build available, or that the word “template” makes a website worthless. Let's look at what the money is actually buying.

There are several decisions hiding inside the label

The visual design, editing system, functionality and implementation are related, but they're not the same thing.

You can have an individual design built on an established CMS. You can reuse reliable components without making the website look like everybody else's. You can also buy a highly flexible theme and still need someone to work out the structure, write the copy and make it usable.

A template supplies a starting arrangement. It doesn't understand your business. Custom code doesn't understand it either. Somebody has to do that work.

Ask the supplier to separate those decisions in the proposal. It's much easier to compare two offers when you know what each one means by custom.

When I'd be comfortable with a template

Take a straightforward business with a small amount of content, a modest budget and no unusual functionality. A carefully chosen template may cover the job well.

The important bit is choosing one that fits the real material. Put your actual service names, images and copy into it. Check how you add something new. Look at it on your phone and try the form.

Don't choose purely from the demo. That demo has had the luxury of content written to fit the design. Your business may be less accommodating.

Also look at how much work it takes to get the result you need. Once every other section needs an exception, the cheap starting point may no longer be saving very much.

Where tailored work earns its money

Sometimes the standard arrangement gets in the way. A technical catalogue needs a particular comparison tool. A report library needs a proper reading experience. A customer journey has to connect with the company's internal systems. Or the identity deserves a visual treatment that the available layouts can't carry well.

Those are reasons to design and build around the requirement.

The extra work should be visible in what the visitor can do or how the business operates. Ask what it improves. If the only answer is “nobody else has it”, keep asking. An awkward interface can be unique too.

This is the sort of work Awove brings together: understanding the business, developing the identity and making the digital experience fit it. The technology serves those decisions. It isn't the pitch on its own.

Compare the years after the launch

An inexpensive build can become a nuisance if you need a developer every time a sentence changes. An expensive build can be wasteful if you're paying for features nobody uses.

Look at editing, licences, maintenance, integrations and support. Check who owns the accounts and what another developer would need to take over. Make sure the system can be documented and handed on.

The support doesn't become unlimited because the original website was custom. It depends on what you've actually agreed.

And no, custom doesn't automatically mean faster

A template can load unnecessary functionality. So can a custom website, only with more lovingly handwritten JavaScript.

Test the finished result. Speed, accessibility and search setup need attention whichever route you choose. Google's guidance concerns useful, accessible content and a site it can understand, not whether the designer began with an empty canvas.1

AI-assisted development is another way of producing the work. It still leaves somebody responsible for the decisions, implementation and testing. Asking which tools were used is fair; judging the complete website is more useful than stopping at the tool's name.

Before signing, ask the supplier to show which requirements shaped the recommendation, what you can maintain yourself and where the extra spending changes the result. Those answers will tell you far more than the label on the quote.