Custom WordPress, built to stay fast after you start using it

Most slow WordPress sites are not slow because of WordPress. They are slow because a bought theme was stretched to do a job it was not designed for, and then eleven plugins were added to close the gaps. I build the theme instead, from scratch, and keep the plugin count in single figures.

From £2,400
WooCommerce from £4,500
3–6 weeks typical
Migrations included

Why the plugin count matters more than the theme

Every plugin is someone else’s code running on your site, loading its own stylesheets and scripts on pages that do not need them. Ten of those and your homepage is shipping two megabytes before a single word of your own appears. It is also ten more places a security update can break something.

A custom theme does the layout work directly, so most of those plugins stop being necessary. I keep the ones that earn it, usually a form handler, a caching layer and whatever your business genuinely runs on. Everything else gets written into the theme where I can see it.

What I build on WordPress

Custom themes, no page builders

Written in PHP against your content structure. No Elementor, no Divi, nothing that leaves you locked into a builder if you leave me.

Blocks your team can use

Gutenberg blocks named after your business rather than after CSS. Add a case study, add a service, done.

WooCommerce that stays quick

Large catalogues, filtered browsing, and a checkout path with the clutter taken out. Payment testing done properly before launch.

Migrations from anything

Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, an old bespoke build. Content, URLs, redirects and SEO history carried across.

Multilingual and multisite

When you genuinely need it. Often you do not, and I will say so.

Hardening, not a security plugin

Sensible file permissions, admin access limited, updates on a schedule, offsite backups you can restore from.

Rescue jobs

A fair share of my work starts with someone else’s build. The developer has stopped replying, or the site was fine three years ago and now takes six seconds on a phone. I will look at it and tell you honestly whether it is worth repairing or whether you are better off starting again. Sometimes the answer costs me the bigger job, and I would rather say it.

Fixed fee

£650

A written audit of an existing WordPress site: speed, security, structure, what is safe to remove. Yours to keep and hand to anyone.

How the audit works

Questions people actually ask

Will you work on a site someone else built?

Yes, if the code is readable enough to be safe. I will look first and quote after, never the other way round.

Do you use ACF and other pro plugins?

Some, where they save weeks and are stable. Licences go in your name so nothing expires because I moved on.

Shopify or WooCommerce?

Shopify if you want the platform to handle payments, tax and updates and you can live inside its rules. WooCommerce if the product data or the checkout needs to bend to your business. Roughly: under a hundred simple products, Shopify usually wins.

Who hosts it?

Whoever suits the site. I have preferences and I will explain them, but I do not take a cut, and the account stays in your name.

Send me the URL. I will tell you what is wrong with it.

Get a quote in four questions

hello@madebykestrel.co.uk · replies inside one working day

This page, measured in your browser

Your device

LCPMeasuring…

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How long until the main content appears. Google wants under 2.5 seconds.

INPMeasuring…

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How quickly the page answers when you tap. Under 200ms is the target.

CLSMeasuring…

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How much the layout moves while loading. Under 0.1, ideally zero.

Real numbers from your device and connection, not a screenshot of a score I chose. Nothing is sent anywhere. The measurement happens in your browser and stays there. If one of these ever reads amber on my own site, you will see it, which is rather the point. I audit these for £650.