Why Bespoke Websites Can Become a Very Expensive Mistake
After many years working in the web industry, it’s my firmly held belief that businesses should endeavour, wherever possible, to avoid paying for unnecessarily complex bespoke websites or having extensive bespoke customisations added to their existing web platform.
That’s not because bespoke development is inherently bad. There are circumstances where it’s absolutely necessary.
The problem is that many businesses commission bespoke websites without fully understanding what they are buying into.
Let me explain why.
Your Website Can Become Dependent on One Developer
If you commission a bespoke development, there is a risk that you become completely dependent on the person or company that built it.
With an established CMS such as WordPress, there are thousands of experienced developers who can work on your website. If you fall out with your existing developer, you’re unhappy with the service or you simply want to move elsewhere, you usually can.
With a completely bespoke website, things can be very different.
Unless you’re absolutely certain that the developer is properly documenting the project, using version control, sharing the codebase and ensuring that other people understand how everything works, a surprising amount of knowledge about your website can exist in one person’s head.
And sometimes, quite literally, only on their computer.
That’s when the problems start.
What If That Developer Leaves?
Suppose the developer who built your website leaves the company.
If the project has been managed properly, that shouldn’t be a disaster. Another developer should be able to access the code, read the documentation and continue maintaining the website.
But I’ve seen situations where that simply isn’t the case.
The developer leaves and suddenly nobody quite understands how a particular part of the website works.
Something breaks six months later and another developer has to start unpicking somebody else’s code to understand what they’ve done.
You’re then paying a developer not to improve your website, but simply to figure out how it works.
That can become very expensive, very quickly.
What If the Development Company Goes Bust?
This is another scenario that few business owners consider when commissioning a website.
What happens if the company that built your website ceases trading?
You’d better hope you find out quickly and that the company handles the situation professionally.
I’ve heard of development companies folding and saying very little to their clients, leaving businesses suddenly wondering who controls their website, where it’s hosted and who is going to maintain it.
If your website uses a proprietary CMS developed by that agency, the problem can be considerably worse.
You haven’t simply lost your web developer.
You’ve potentially lost the only company that properly understands the platform your entire website runs on.
And Then There’s the Worst-Case Scenario
What if the developer dies?
It sounds dramatic, but trust me, it happens.
I’ve encountered businesses where important digital assets were effectively controlled by one individual. When that person was suddenly no longer around, nobody knew where everything was or how it worked.
If a developer hasn’t shared the codebase, documented the website or provided somebody else with the necessary access, you could find yourself relying on the goodwill of their friends or family to gain access to files stored on the developer’s computer.
That’s not a position any business should ever find itself in.
Your website might be one of your company’s most important assets.
It shouldn’t depend on whether somebody can find a password on a deceased developer’s laptop.
The Boutique CMS Problem
There’s another version of bespoke development that initially sounds considerably safer. An agency tells you they’ve developed their own CMS. It might look fantastic. It might be fast, easy to use and perfectly suited to your business. But before signing anything, I’d ask one very important question:
What happens if I don’t want to use your agency anymore?
With WordPress, Drupal, Magento and other established platforms, you have choices. There are developers and agencies all over the UK capable of working with them.
With “Dave’s Amazing CMS”, you may have precisely one.
And that’s Dave.
The CMS might be brilliant, but you’ve potentially tied one of your company’s most important assets to the continued existence, availability and goodwill of a single supplier.
Bespoke Can Also Mean Expensive
There’s another issue.
Every time you want something changed, who can do it?
If your website has been built around an established platform, you can usually obtain quotes from several developers.
If it’s built using an agency’s proprietary system, you may have little choice but to return to them.
- Want a new feature? They set the price.
- Need an integration? They set the price.
- Something breaks? They set the price.
- Need to move the website elsewhere?
That might be where things become particularly interesting.
This doesn’t mean every agency operating a proprietary CMS is deliberately trying to lock customers in. Many aren’t.
But supplier lock-in can still be the practical result.
Established Platforms Have Another Huge Advantage
There’s a reason I generally favour established, widely supported platforms.
Other people understand them.
Take WordPress as an obvious example.
If your WordPress developer disappears tomorrow, you haven’t lost WordPress. You can find another experienced developer.
The same principle applies to WooCommerce and other mainstream platforms.
There is documentation. There are established development standards. There are huge communities of users and developers. Security vulnerabilities are discovered and patched. Integrations are continually developed and maintained.
Most importantly, your business has options.
And having options matters.
Bespoke Development Isn’t Always Wrong
There are situations where bespoke development makes perfect sense.
If your business has genuinely unusual requirements that cannot reasonably be delivered using existing technology, custom development may be exactly what you need.
Large organisations also have the resources to manage bespoke software properly. They can maintain repositories, documentation, staging environments, testing procedures and internal development teams.
That’s very different from a small or medium-sized business paying a boutique web agency £15,000 for a website built using an obscure framework or the agency’s own CMS.
The question isn’t simply:
“Can they build it?”
The more important question is:
“Who can maintain it when they’re gone?”
If You Really Need Bespoke Development, Protect Yourself
If bespoke development genuinely is necessary, make sure your business isn’t completely dependent on the original developer.
You should know who owns the source code, where that code is stored, who has access to it and whether another competent developer could realistically take over the project.
Make sure domain names, hosting accounts, analytics platforms and other important services are registered in your company’s name rather than the developer’s.
- Ask about documentation.
- Ask about backups.
- Ask about version control.
- Ask what would happen if you decided to move to another agency tomorrow.
If those questions make your developer uncomfortable, I’d consider that a warning sign.
Your Website Should Belong to Your Business
The irony is that businesses sometimes pay considerably more for a bespoke website because they believe they’re buying something they truly own.
In practice, they can end up with the opposite.
They’ve bought a website that only one company understands, running on technology only that company supports, with functionality only that company can modify.
That’s not independence. That’s dependency.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with commissioning a beautifully designed website tailored specifically to your company. In fact, that’s exactly what most businesses should want.
But bespoke design and bespoke technology are two very different things. You can have a website that looks completely unique while still building it on established, widely supported technology and for most businesses, I think that’s a much safer place to be.
“Don’t Worry, AI Can Fix It”
There’s a new response I’m increasingly hearing when problems with bespoke code are raised:
“Don’t worry about it. AI can fix anything now.”
AI is an incredibly useful tool for developers, but using it to repeatedly fix bespoke code that nobody fully understands can create another problem.
An AI tool might successfully identify an error, rewrite the code and get the website working again. But if this happens repeatedly, you can eventually end up with a codebase that works, but which nobody genuinely understands.
The original developer may no longer understand all the changes because some were written by AI. A new developer inherits an increasingly complicated mixture of original and AI-generated code.
You’ve still got all the risks I mentioned earlier, except now even the developer might not completely understand how the website works.
AI Platforms Can Create Another Form of Lock-In
The same warning applies to websites increasingly being built and maintained by AI agents.
They can produce remarkably sophisticated websites, but you still need to ask: who ultimately controls the technology and the data?
AI companies can change their terms, increase prices, withdraw features, retire models or discontinue services completely.
If your website depends heavily on a particular AI platform, what happens if that platform disappears or fundamentally changes?
Can you export the website? Does somebody else understand the code? Can another developer maintain it?
Otherwise, you haven’t eliminated supplier lock-in.
You’ve simply replaced dependence on a web developer with dependence on an AI company.
Before You Commission Your Next Website, Ask the Awkward Questions
If you’re planning a new website or considering a bespoke development, don’t just ask what it will look like or what it will cost to build.
- Ask who owns it
- who can maintain it
- Whether another developer can take it over
- and what happens if the people who built it are no longer around.
A reputable web developer should have absolutely no problem answering those questions.
If you’d like independent advice before committing to a new website or bespoke development project, speak to Peak District SEO. We can help you look at the platform, SEO implications and long-term risks before you become committed to technology that’s difficult or expensive to escape.
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I’m Phil Gregory, the MD and founder of Peak District SEO.
I’m an SEO & Google Ads Consultant with 28+ years of experience in I.T and helping UK Businesses improve website performance.
I built my first website in 1998, then I discovered the joys of website optimisation and never looked back.
If you want a no-nonsense, no-hard-sell approach and to actually get your website fixed with a solid, affordable, long-term approach, hit the contact button today.
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