Custom WordPress Theme Development

Who this is for

• A company with finished designs from an agency or in-house designer that wants them built exactly
• A marketing team fed up with a page builder that is slow, fragile or impossible to keep on brand
• A business whose premium theme has stopped being maintained or breaks on every update
• A developer or agency that needs a reliable WordPress build partner for its own clients

What's included

• Pixel accurate build from your design files
• Lightweight code with no unused features
• Custom Gutenberg blocks for your content
• Responsive layouts tested on real devices
• Reusable components for consistent pages
• Accessibility minded markup and structure
• Speed optimized assets and clean CSS
• Documentation for your content team

Scope: what is in and what is usually separate

A fixed-scope quote only works if the scope is clear. This is how we usually draw the line; anything in the right column can be added and priced separately.

Included in a typical quote	Quoted separately or not included
Review of your design files and a component plan	Designing the site (see our website development service if you need design too)
A hand-coded theme with custom Gutenberg blocks	Content entry beyond sample pages
All templates and blocks in the approved designs	Custom plugins for features outside the theme
Responsive behaviour agreed per breakpoint	Third-party integrations beyond standard forms and embeds
Accessibility-minded markup and keyboard testing	A full WCAG audit (available as an add-on)
Documentation and an editor walkthrough	Hosting, licences and maintenance

How we approach it

1. Design review. We go through every screen in your files, flag missing states (hover, empty, error, mobile) and agree the list of reusable components. You get: a component inventory and fixed quote.
2. Theme foundation. We set up a clean theme base, build tooling, global styles, typography and spacing so every block inherits the same system. You get: a styleguide page on staging.
3. Blocks and templates. We build each custom block and page template to match the design, with sensible editor controls and locked-down options. You get: weekly staging builds you can review against the designs.
4. Testing. We test across browsers and real devices, check keyboard navigation and colour contrast, and measure Core Web Vitals. You get: a test report with fixes applied.
5. Handover. We deliver the theme with documentation, show your editors how each block works and hand over the repository. You get: a documented theme you own.

What you receive at handover

• The theme source in a Git repository, with a build setup you can run
• Custom blocks with documented editor controls
• A living styleguide page inside WordPress
• An editor walkthrough for your team
• Browser, device and accessibility test notes
• A defect warranty period on what we built

How we build themes, and when each approach fits

The WordPress editor has changed a lot in recent years. The right build method depends on how your team will edit and how long the theme has to last.

Option	When it fits
Block theme with custom blocks	Your team edits pages often and needs on-brand building blocks. This is our default for new sites.
Classic theme with ACF-driven blocks	Editors need very controlled fields rather than free layout, or the site has complex structured content.
Child theme on an existing parent	You must keep a maintained parent theme and only need targeted changes. Cheaper, but you inherit the parent's weight.
Headless front end	The design calls for app-like interaction or extreme speed. Covered by our headless WordPress service.

Technologies we use

• WordPress
• PHP
• Gutenberg
• ACF
• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• MySQL

What drives the cost

We quote fixed-scope after a free consultation rather than publishing a rate card, because the same service can be a small job or a large one. These are the factors that move the number.

• Number of distinct templates and blocks. Each unique layout is designed, built and tested. Reuse across pages keeps cost down.
• Design completeness. Files missing tablet layouts or interaction states need design decisions before code, which adds time.
• Editor flexibility. Tightly locked blocks are quicker to build than blocks with many options, and both need testing.
• Animation and interaction. Scroll effects, filters and sliders each add front-end work and performance testing.
• Accessibility target. Building and verifying to WCAG 2.0 AA takes longer than a standard responsive build.
• Existing content. Mapping old content into new blocks is extra work when a site is being rebuilt rather than launched new.

See the pricing page for how we scope and quote, or send a brief through the contact page for a written estimate.

How long it takes

A theme with six to ten templates typically takes 3 to 6 weeks from design review to handover. Larger design systems run 6 to 10 weeks.

• How final the designs are when we start.
• The number of custom blocks with editor options.
• Turnaround on your reviews of each staging build.
• Whether existing content needs to be migrated into the new blocks.

Risks and how we manage them

• The build drifts from the design. We review each block side by side with the design file and fix differences before moving on.
• Editors break layouts. Blocks expose only the options the design allows, with sensible defaults and locked structure where needed.
• Theme becomes unmaintainable. Standard WordPress APIs, no hacks to core, a documented build process and a short dependency list.

A worked example (illustrative)

Illustrative only. A design agency hands us Figma files for a client: home, about, three service layouts, a case-study template, a blog and a contact page, about 18 reusable components. Tablet views are missing for four screens. We agree those in week one, build the foundation and blocks in weeks two to four, test in week five and hand over documented in week six.

Why choose us

• Themes built by hand, not bought and reskinned
• Only the code your site needs, nothing spare
• Editor blocks your team can use safely
• Fast, maintainable code for the long run