Should I build my own website — or hire a designer?

Most articles on this question are written by people with skin in the game. So is this one — I run a web design business. But I'll tell you when DIY is the right answer, even though it costs me a sale. Spoiler: the deciding factor isn't budget. It's what your time is worth and how often the site needs to change.

The 5 questions to answer first

Before you even think about Squarespace vs. WordPress vs. hiring, answer these. The right path falls out of the answers.

1. How much is your time worth, in dollars? If you bill $75/hour and DIY-ing your site eats 60 hours of nights and weekends, that's $4,500 of your time. Compare that to a $1,500 hire and you're not "saving money" — you're spending more, just in the form of opportunity cost.
2. How often will the site need to change? A static brochure (services, hours, photos) might never change for years. A constantly evolving content site (new offerings, blog posts, seasonal pricing) needs ongoing work.
3. Do you want to learn this — or just have a result? Some people enjoy learning HTML, CSS, and SEO. Most people don't. Be honest about which one you are.
4. What's your year-one budget? Not just launch — domain, hosting, email, photography, content writing, plugins, ongoing maintenance. The build is one line on the budget.
5. Will you outsource updates eventually anyway? If yes, hiring upfront often pays off — the same person who built it can maintain it, no onboarding cost.

When DIY actually makes sense

If you're going DIY, what to actually use:

• Carrd ($19/yr) — for one-page sites. The fastest, simplest builder out there.
• Squarespace or Wix ($16–30/mo) — if you need hand-holding, drag-and-drop editing, and built-in stores. Pricier ongoing but easiest to start.
• Porkbun Static Hosting ($2.50/mo) — if you can write HTML or want to learn. Cheapest, most portable.

When hiring makes sense

The hidden costs (both directions)

DIY hidden costs

• Time — most people underestimate by 3-5x. Plan for 40-80 hours total, including design, content, debugging, mobile testing.
• Frustration — the moment you realize CSS doesn't behave the way you assumed
• Opportunity cost — the deals you didn't close because you were debugging a sticky nav bar at 11pm
• Suboptimal output — even good DIY sites usually look like DIY sites. That's fine for some businesses, costly for others.

Hired hidden costs

• Communication overhead — explaining your business, your brand, your pet peeves takes time
• Slow turnaround for small changes — "can you change this one word" → email → 2 days
• Ongoing dependency — if your designer disappears, you're stuck (mitigation: always own your domain, hosting, and source files)

The honest middle path

Most small businesses I work with end up here: hire once, learn to update. A pro builds the site. They hand it off as plain HTML you can edit yourself for tweaks (fix a typo, swap a photo, update hours). When you need bigger changes — new section, new feature — you call them back.

This avoids both failure modes: you don't build something janky from scratch, AND you don't pay $200 every time a phone number changes.

If you're hiring, what to look for

Green flags

• Flat price quoted upfront, before you talk specifics
• Real portfolio with real businesses (not stock photos and lorem ipsum)
• You own everything when it's done — domain, hosting account, source files
• Care plan offered separately, never bundled mandatorily
• They tell you when DIY would be better for you

Red flags

• Vague pricing ("starts at $X" with no upper bound)
• "Premium" everything — premium domains, premium themes, premium support
• Won't share their portfolio or references
• The contract leaves them owning your domain or hosting
• Pressure to sign monthly retainers before launch

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