Custom WordPress Theme Development
Themes written by hand on modern PHP and native Gutenberg blocks, so your editors get freedom and your site keeps its speed.
- Typically from
- $5,000
- Typical timeline
- 4 to 8 weeks
A WordPress theme is the layer where most sites quietly go wrong. A page builder ships fast in the sales demo, then adds a hundred kilobytes of CSS, a rendering pipeline you do not control, and a lock-in problem you discover the day you try to leave. We build the theme instead of installing one.
Every theme we write is a small, readable PHP codebase: template parts you can follow, a block library scoped to your design system, and ACF Pro field groups registered in code so they travel through version control rather than living only in a database. Your editors get guardrails that make bad layouts hard to build, and your developers get a theme they can still understand in three years.
We architect for Core Web Vitals from the first commit rather than bolting a caching plugin on at the end. Critical CSS is inlined, images are sized and lazy-loaded, and the block library ships only the assets a page actually uses.
What the engagement includes
Lightweight PHP architecture
Readable template hierarchy, no god-objects, no thousand-line functions.php. Coding standards enforced in CI.
Native block editor controls
Custom Gutenberg blocks scoped to your design system, with locked patterns for the layouts that must not drift.
ACF Pro field groups in code
Field definitions live in the repository, so staging and production never disagree about your content model.
Performance budget from day one
We set a page-weight and Core Web Vitals target before writing markup, then hold the build to it.
WCAG accessibility
Semantic landmarks, visible focus states, keyboard-navigable menus and colour contrast checked against AA.
What you receive
Every engagement ends with artefacts you own, not a login to something we control.
- Complete theme source in your Git repository
- Custom block library with editor previews
- ACF Pro field groups registered in PHP
- Staging environment and deployment pipeline
- Editorial handoff documentation and training video
- 30-day post-launch warranty
Custom Theme Development: common questions
Why not just use Elementor or Divi?
Page builders bundle a rendering engine, a CSS framework and a licensing dependency you cannot remove. That costs page speed on every request and leaves your content encoded in shortcodes only that builder can read. A custom theme on native Gutenberg keeps your content portable and your pages fast.
Can our marketing team still edit pages?
Yes, and usually more safely than before. We build a custom block library so editors assemble pages from components that are already on-brand. Layouts that must not change are locked as patterns; everything else stays flexible.
Do you work from an existing design?
We build from Figma files, from an existing design system, or we design in-house if you do not have one. If you bring a design, we run a short feasibility pass first and flag anything that will be expensive to maintain.
Related services
Custom Plugin Development
Plugins written to WordPress coding standards that survive core updates. Integrations, admin tooling and internal workflows.
From $8,000Headless WordPress
WordPress as the editorial backend, Next.js or Nuxt on the front. For teams that need speed without retraining editors.
From $35,000Speed Optimisation
Core Web Vitals work driven by profiling. LCP, INP and CLS improved with measured field data, not lab guesses.
From $4,000Need custom theme development done properly?
Book a free 30-minute technical consultation. We will tell you what the work actually involves and what it should cost, whether or not you build it with us.