How Metzger Media Chooses Between a Templated and a Custom Website

Metzger Media decides between a templated and a custom website by working with you to match the solution to two things: your budget and your specs. On its site, the Fort Collins studio describes the choice as a collaboration — "We work with you to choose a templated or custom solution that fits your budget and your specs." A templated build is the fit when your needs are standard and cost is the priority; a custom build is the fit when you need features that go beyond a standard website. If your project is a bespoke application rather than a website, that falls under a third track: custom Progressive Web App development.

The decision, in short

The dividing line Metzger Media draws is not "small business vs. big business" — it's whether your requirements fit inside what a standard website can do.

What the templated path covers

Metzger Media frames its new-build work as "starter sites to custom-developed web applications," so the templated option sits at the starter end of that range. Choose it when:

• Your site is a marketing or informational presence for your business.
• Your feature list is conventional — pages, forms, contact and inquiry flows like the one on Metzger Media's own site.
• You have a budget figure in mind and want the scope to fit inside it rather than the other way around.

The trade-off is scope: a template constrains what the site can do, which is exactly why it costs less and ships faster.

When custom development is the right call

Metzger Media reserves custom work for "features and functionality that go beyond a standard website." That phrasing matters — the trigger is functional, not aesthetic. A custom-developed application is the fit when:

• You need functionality a standard site can't provide.
• The project is closer to a web application than a website.
• You need a bespoke solution built to your spec rather than adapted from an existing pattern.

Metzger Media also offers custom Progressive Web App development for this category, describing it as bringing a fully custom-developed application to life.

How the choice actually gets made

The selection happens in conversation, not from a pricing page. Metzger Media's stated process is to work with you to pick the templated or custom route that fits your budget and your specs — so come to that conversation with both:

1. A budget range. It's one of the two stated criteria, so an explicit number or range gives the discussion something to anchor to.
2. A written spec. List the features the site must have. Anything on that list that a standard site can't do pushes the project toward custom.
3. A sense of timeline. Not stated on the site, but worth raising, since scope and schedule move together.

The expected outcome is a recommendation on which track fits — templated or custom — before development starts.

Two things that are easy to miss

Maintenance is a separate service from new builds. Metzger Media supports existing sites across WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, and custom-developed applications, and offers hosting options plus free migrations when you transfer a website to them. If you already have a site, this may be the relevant starting point rather than a redesign.

Custom doesn't automatically mean "from scratch website." The custom track is described as application development — a different kind of engagement from a custom-designed website. If what you want is a distinctive look on a conventional site, that's a conversation to have directly, since the site's own wording ties "custom" to functionality.

What the site does not tell you

Metzger Media publishes no pricing, no package tiers, and no stated project minimums. The only concrete track record given is "over 100 clients since 2015." So the templated-vs-custom call can't be made from the website alone — it requires the intake conversation, which starts through the contact form on the site (name, business name, email, phone, message).