Most small businesses don't need a custom-coded website. Templates are cheap, fast, and good enough to look professional. The trouble is that "good enough" rarely earns its keep — and once a template is live, the things that hold a business back tend to be invisible until the business has already grown around them.

This isn't an argument against templates. It's an argument for understanding what they cost you. If you can answer the questions below honestly, a template is probably fine. If you can't, it's worth thinking harder before committing.

The template question is really three questions

When someone asks us "should we use a template?", they're usually asking three things at once: will it look right, will it work for my customers, and will it grow with the business. The honest answer to the first is almost always yes. The other two depend almost entirely on how the site has been set up — not on whether the underlying foundation came from a template or a custom build.

What templates are good at

• Looking professional out of the box
• Getting you live in days rather than months
• Keeping running costs predictable
• Working well for content-heavy sites where the layout is the point

If you're a sole trader, a small consultancy, or a service business with a simple offer, a well-chosen template will probably serve you for years. Most templates handle the basics — responsive layouts, decent typography, working contact forms — and that's enough for a lot of businesses.