Custom WordPress theme development for agencies
Themes built from scratch for one client’s brand, with blocks they can edit and nothing they don’t need.
Our custom WordPress theme development starts from your design, not from a multipurpose theme or a bundle of premium plugins. Your team gets clean, version-controlled code, and your client gets a fast site under your agency’s name.
What goes wrong with off-the-shelf themes
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Code for features the site never uses loads on every page -
Every design change runs into the theme’s limits -
A theme update wipes out your customizations -
The client gets locked into one page builder -
Sites built on the same template look alike -
Clients get lost in pages of theme options
A custom theme costs more at the start and less every time the site changes after launch.
What’s in a Deviart theme
Block or classic theme
A Full Site Editing block theme or a classic theme with ACF. We choose after seeing the design and how your client will edit the site.
One block per section
Every section of the design is a block with a locked layout, so editors change the content, not the structure.
Small CSS and JS
Styles and scripts are written for this site only and load on the pages that use them.
Accessible markup
Semantic HTML, keyboard navigation and a clear heading order on every template.
Tested with the client’s plugins
Yoast SEO, WooCommerce, WPML, form plugins: we test with whatever the site actually runs.
Handover docs
A short editor guide for your client and a README for your developers, neither with our name on it.
How we build the blocks
The blocks decide how the site feels to edit, so we plan them before writing any code.
One list for the whole site
We go through every page in the design and group repeated sections into blocks. A typical marketing site ends up with 10 to 15.
ACF or native blocks
ACF blocks for content-heavy sections with many fields, native blocks where the editor preview matters most. Often a mix.
Design tokens in theme.json
Colors, fonts and spacing are defined once. Editors pick from the brand palette, not a color wheel.
Patterns for whole pages
Ready-made layouts for landing pages, case studies and team pages. Your client starts from a pattern, not a blank page.
Speed is part of the build, not a fix later
Things we do on every theme, so the site doesn’t need a speed project six months after launch.
- Block CSS and JS load only on pages that use the block
- Responsive images in WebP with correct sizes and lazy loading below the fold
- Self-hosted fonts, preloaded, with no render-blocking font requests
- Theme scripts in plain JavaScript, loaded with defer
- PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals checked on staging before launch
- No page builder, no slider plugin, no bundled extras
Custom theme or premium theme?
A premium theme is fine for some projects. Here is how the two compare once a site has its own design. For the longer answer, read custom theme vs premium theme.
| Premium theme | Custom theme | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting cost | Lower | Higher |
| Unused code | Lots of it | None |
| Design freedom | Within the theme’s options | Whatever the design needs |
| Updates | Can overwrite your changes | No parent theme to break it |
| Editing for clients | Many settings panels | Blocks made for their content |
How long a custom theme takes
Working days from an approved design to a site ready for your review. You get an exact timeline with the quote.
Landing page
One page or a small set of sections: 3 to 5 working days.
Marketing site
5 to 10 unique templates, blog and contact forms: 10 to 20 working days.
Large site or store
15 or more templates, WooCommerce or several integrations: 25 to 40 working days.
Custom WordPress theme development, from design to launch
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1. Scope and price
We go through the designs, content types and integrations, then send a scope with a fixed price.
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2. Build on staging
We build the theme and blocks on staging and check every template against the design on desktop and mobile. You review pages as they’re finished, not all at once at the end.
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3. Launch
You approve, we help with the launch, and we can keep supporting the theme afterwards.
What you get at handover
Everything another developer would need to pick the theme up, and everything your client needs to use it. None of it has our name on it.
Code in your Git repository
Commits go to your GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket from day one, not as a zip at the end.
README for developers
How to run the theme locally, build the assets, add a block and deploy.
Editor guide
A short guide for your client: what each block does and how to build a new page.
Training
In whatever format your client prefers: video walkthroughs, a live call or notes right in the editor.
Example: replacing an Avada site with a custom theme
A typical rebuild for a design agency. The client had outgrown a premium theme after four years of edits.
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Before
35 pages on Avada with 28 plugins. Every new landing page took the agency half a day, and mobile PageSpeed sat in the 30s.
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Scope
The agency redesigned the site in Figma. We mapped it to 14 blocks and 6 templates.
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Build
18 working days, including moving the content and keeping every URL. The plugin count dropped to 11.
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After
The client’s marketer builds landing pages from patterns in about an hour. Mobile PageSpeed is in the 90s.
Who we build themes for
- Design agencies that sell custom sites
- Branding studios launching a new identity
- Agencies moving clients off Divi, Avada or Elementor
- Marketing teams that need flexible landing pages
- Agencies rebuilding outdated client sites
- Studios with strict design standards
Custom theme FAQ
Both work. We recommend one after we see the design and which parts of the site your client edits most. For most marketing sites we use a classic theme with ACF blocks and theme.json.
Not by default. We build with Gutenberg and ACF. If the project has to stay on Elementor, we can work with it.
Yes. We move the content into the new theme and keep the URLs, so the site doesn’t lose search traffic.
Your agency, or your client, once the work is paid for. The repository stays in your account.
No. We work only with your team. If you want us on a client call, we join as part of your agency.
Related services
Related reading
Need a theme for your next client site?
Send us the design and the list of features. We reply within one business day.