When a template stops being enough
Squarespace is not a bad place to start. Plenty of businesses should stay on it. This page is for the ones who have started to feel the walls.
The feeling usually arrives like this
- You want one unusual thing and are told it cannot be done that way.
- You are pasting a third-party widget in to cover a gap, then another.
- Your prices, stock or bookings live somewhere else, and somebody retypes them.
- The site is fine as a brochure, but your business has stopped being a brochure.
What you gain, and what you give up
You gain room. A build of your own can hold your actual process: the way you quote, the way you schedule, the way you hand work between people. Instead of bending your business to fit the template, the software bends to you.
You give up the instant drag-and-drop. We replace it with editing built around the things you genuinely change often, and nothing else.
A fair warning about timing: leaving in the middle of your busiest season is avoidable stress. If there is a quiet month ahead, aim at it, and use the time before it to decide what the new build should actually do.
What you hold at the end: everything. Logins in your own name, the build in your possession, written proof of ownership, and the knowledge recorded rather than trapped in one person's head. See the full list.