Ran an audit of 40+ "template" sites we inherited from clients this year. The pattern was brutal: bloated page-builder code, 6+ second load times, and near-identical layouts to hundreds of competitors.

We made a call at WebForge Studio to hand-code every single site instead. No drag-and-drop builders, no recycled themes. Here's what changed:

• Load times dropped from ~5-6s to under 1.5s on average

• Google Lighthouse scores went from the 50s to 90+

• Clients stopped saying "this looks like every other site in my niche"

The tradeoff is real: custom code takes longer and costs more upfront than a $20 template. But if you're running a business on your site (not just a hobby page), the compounding cost of a slow, generic site — in SEO, conversions, and brand trust — is way higher.

If you're evaluating a new site this year, ask whoever's building it one question: "is this hand-coded or a theme?" The answer tells you a lot.