DIY Wix vs. Done-For-You: The Real Cost Math
Websites5 min read
Doing it yourself looks like the obvious call. The builder is cheap, the templates look fine, and you have built harder things than a website. All of that is true, and it is still usually the more expensive option. Here is the actual arithmetic.
What DIY really costs
- The subscription, which is the small part
- Fifteen to thirty hours of your time, in the evenings, after full days
- The copywriting, which is the part that stalls everyone
- Every month it sits unfinished while the old site keeps losing calls
Put your own hourly on those hours. Not your wage — your rate, the one you bill. Most owners find the 'free' version costs several thousand dollars before it is live.
The common failure is not an ugly site. It is a site that is 70% done for eight months.
When DIY is genuinely the right call
I will say it plainly: if you are starting out, your work is not yet photographed, and cash is tight, go build it yourself this weekend. Something honest and current beats nothing, and you do not need me yet.
When it stops making sense
The moment your calendar is full enough that a single extra job is worth more than the build fee, the math flips permanently. At that point every week the site is not working is a real number, and your time is worth more on a jobsite than in a template editor.
That is why the preview is free. You should not have to take my word for which side of that line you are on — look at the thing and decide.