G3Guide
Hand-built static websites vs WordPress and Wix: speed, cost and bookings
For a small service business, a website has three jobs: open fast on a phone, cost what you expected for years, and turn a visitor into a call, a message or a booking. Here's how the three ways of building one compare on each, including where a builder wins.
What "hand-built" means
A hand-built static site is a set of plain files, HTML, CSS and a little JavaScript, written for one business and served as they are. There's no content management system behind it, no database, no page builder and no admin login. When a visitor opens a page, the server hands over the finished page; nothing is assembled on the fly.
WordPress builds each page from a database, a theme and plugins. Wix and Squarespace are builders: you design on their platform, with their editor, and they host the result.
Speed, measured
The page you're reading weighs 36.1 kB of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, compressed, calculator and replay included. With the fonts that load straight away, our home page comes to 190 kB in total and the services page to 196 kB, measured with Lighthouse on 23 October 2026.
For comparison, the median mobile web page in 2024 weighed 2,311 kB, according to the HTTP Archive's Web Almanac. Weight isn't everything, but on a mid-range phone over mobile data every one of those kilobytes is something to download and run before the page is useful.
Google's yardstick for a page that feels fast is its Core Web Vitals: the main content should appear within 2.5 seconds, the page should respond to a tap within 200 milliseconds, and it shouldn't jump around while loading (web.dev). Google recommends meeting them "for success with Search". Any platform can meet them; a hand-built site starts with far less to strip away.
Cost over the years
A builder or managed WordPress plan is a monthly cost for as long as the site is up, and paid themes, plugins and booking apps add their own. A hand-built site is paid for once. With us, year one includes hosting, your domain, SSL and small changes; after that it keeps running, you renew the domain at the market price, and a care plan is optional.
Calculator · your numbers
What a website costs over the years
Put in what you pay, or would pay, each month. Slide in your own numbers.
A builder plan over these years $1,080
- Hand-built, paid once
- $149
- With our optional care plan from year two
- $605
Year one includes hosting, your domain, SSL and small changes. After it everything keeps running; the care plan ($19 a month) is optional, and the domain renews at the market price.
Builder or hosting plan plus paid add-ons, × 12 months × years, against a hand-built site paid for once. The starting numbers are an example, not any provider's price list: check your own plan.
Upkeep and security
A WordPress site is software that needs looking after: the core, the theme and each plugin get updates, and each plugin is someone else's code running on your site. Builders handle that for you, which is a real advantage. A static site has very little to look after: with no database and no login page, the usual ways in aren't there.
- WordPress: update the core, the theme and every plugin, and keep backups.
- Wix or Squarespace: the platform updates itself; you live within what its editor and apps allow.
- Hand-built: nothing to update on your side; changes are made to the files and published again.
Bookings
A site earns its keep when it turns a visitor into a call, a message or a booking. The things that matter most are not platform features: a page that opens quickly, a way to act on every screen (call, WhatsApp, book), and a request that still works at 9 pm. Here's one, from a search to a booked appointment, on a fictional clinic's site. Simulated data.
Visitor's phone
- Searches for a physio nearby and opens Corner Physio's site
Corner Physio's website · 21:10
Book a first appointment
- What for
- Lower back
- Suits me
- Weekday evenings
Hi, I'd like a first appointment for my lower back. Weekday evenings suit me.
Good morning! We can see you on Tuesday at 6:30 pm. Does that suit you?
Perfect, thank you.
Clinic · Corner Physio
Hi, I'd like a first appointment for my lower back. Weekday evenings suit me.
- Enquiries
Time From Need Status Mon 21:12 ••• 6631 Lower back, evenings Booked · Tue 18:30 - Tue 08:30 · reminder: one enquiry still open
Good morning! We can see you on Tuesday at 6:30 pm. Does that suit you?
Side by side
| Question | WordPress | Wix or Squarespace | Hand-built static |
|---|---|---|---|
| What a phone downloads | The theme, plus each plugin's scripts and styles | The builder's own scripts, plus your content | Only what the page needs |
| Ongoing cost | Hosting, plus paid themes and plugins | A monthly or yearly plan | None for year one; after that the domain, and an optional care plan |
| Editing it yourself | Yes, in the admin | Yes, drag and drop | You send the change; small ones are included |
| Updates and security | Core, theme and plugins to keep updated | Handled by the platform | No database or login to attack, nothing to update |
| If you want to move | Possible, with some work | Generally means rebuilding elsewhere | Plain files any host can serve |
| Booking | Through a booking plugin | Through the builder's booking app | A request, WhatsApp or call button built for how you work |
When a builder is the better choice
- You want to change pages yourself every week, add posts, rearrange sections. A builder's editor is made for that.
- You're running a real online shop, with stock, shipping and payments. That isn't what we build.
- You need something today and can't spend anything yet. A free builder plan, with the builder's branding, beats having no site.
For a service business whose site's job is to be found, open fast and bring in calls, messages and bookings, hand-built is the better trade. That's the only kind of site we make, and the detailing flagship and Reliance Coaching Centre are two of them.
-
01
Business website
A fast, hand-built website that tells people what you do and gets them calling or messaging you.
Ready in under 3 days, once we have your details.
$149
standard price $299 -
02
Google Business Profile setup
Your business shows up properly on Google Search and Maps, with the right details.
Ready in under 2 days, once we have your details.
$79
standard price $149 -
03
WhatsApp Business setup
Your WhatsApp looks and works like a business number, not a personal one.
Ready in under 2 days, once we have your details.
$79
standard price $149
Together$199at launch pricing
Instead of $307 bought one at a time: related services share their groundwork.
?Questions
Common questions.
- Can I edit a hand-built site myself?
- Not with a drag-and-drop editor. You send the change on WhatsApp or by email; text, prices, hours and photos count as small changes, included in year one and in the optional care plan after that.
- What happens if we stop working together?
- The site is a set of plain files. You keep them, and any developer or host can serve them. Nothing is locked to a platform.
- Will a hand-built site rank higher on Google?
- Not for being hand-built. Google ranks pages that answer the search well. It does recommend good Core Web Vitals, and a light, fast site makes those easier to meet.
- Can you move my existing site?
- We rebuild it rather than move it, keeping your domain, and your page addresses where we can, so existing links and search results keep working.
- What does it cost after the first year?
- Everything keeps running. Renew the domain yourself at the market price, or choose the optional care plan for $19 a month ($190 a year).
- How long does a website take?
- Ready in under 3 days, once we have your details.