If you've been paying attention to the news over the last couple of years, you've probably heard something like: "AI can build websites now." Maybe you've seen ads for Wix ADI, Squarespace AI, or any number of tools promising to generate a website from a text prompt in minutes.
So you might be wondering: do I still need to hire someone? Is this whole industry about to disappear? Should I just try to do it myself with one of these tools?
These are fair questions. Here are honest answers.
The AI website builders built into platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy are essentially very sophisticated template selectors. You answer a few questions about your business, and the tool picks a layout, fills in some placeholder copy, and drops in stock photos.
The result is a website that technically exists. It has pages, it has text, it loads on a phone.
What it usually doesn't have:
- Copy that sounds like you
- A layout that reflects how your customers actually think
- Any understanding of what makes your specific business different
- Local SEO setup that helps people in your area find you
- Anything custom — a specific form, a booking flow, an unusual layout, integration with your existing tools
The AI has no idea that you've been an electrical contractor in London for 22 years, that your biggest differentiator is that you answer the phone on weekends, or that 80% of your best clients come from property managers. It generates something generic because it only knows what you told it in four questions.
For a very simple business with very simple needs, that might be fine. For most businesses, it isn't.
When we say we use AI in our work, we mean something very different.
We use AI as a development tool — the way a carpenter uses a better saw. It doesn't design the cabinet. It doesn't decide what the client needs. It doesn't understand the brief. But in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, it dramatically accelerates the build.
What that means practically:
- Things that used to take days take hours
- Custom functionality that used to require a large budget is now accessible to smaller businesses
- We can prototype and iterate faster, which means you see results sooner
- We can build things that would have been too complex or too expensive to attempt a few years ago
A client portal. A custom quoting tool. A booking system built around your specific workflow. An admin panel where your staff can manage content without touching code. These used to be "enterprise" features. They're not anymore.
Here's what we've learned from using these tools every day: AI is very good at execution and very bad at judgment.
It can write code. It can't decide what the code should do.
It can generate copy. It can't understand your brand voice, your customer relationships, or what makes someone actually pick up the phone and call you instead of your competitor.
It can build a contact form. It can't tell you that your real conversion problem is that your pricing page is confusing, not that you don't have a contact form.
It can produce a website. It can't do a discovery call, understand your business, ask the right questions, push back on bad ideas, or notice that your current site has a technical problem that's been costing you leads for three years.
That's the work we do. The AI helps us do it faster. The judgment, the strategy, and the accountability are still ours.
Honestly? It depends.
If you're a sole proprietor with a very simple business — one service, one location, low competition — and you genuinely enjoy tinkering, a Squarespace or Wix AI site might be a reasonable starting point. You'll spend more time on it than you expect, it'll look like a template, and you'll hit walls quickly if you need anything custom. But it'll work.
If your business is more complex, if you're in a competitive market, if you need something that actually reflects who you are and converts visitors into customers — you need a human. Not instead of AI. With AI.
The best outcome isn't AI versus agencies. It's agencies that know how to use AI well, working with clients who have real businesses to grow.
If you've been putting off a website because you thought it would take forever or cost too much — the timeline and cost have genuinely come down. Not because AI replaces the work, but because it accelerates it.
If you have an idea for something custom — a tool, a system, a workflow — that you assumed was out of reach, it might not be anymore.
And if you tried a DIY AI website builder and ended up with something that doesn't feel like your business — we can help with that too.