Squarespace web design with custom code — a site that outgrows the template without leaving the platform.
- 14-day standard build
- Fixed price, in writing
- You own everything
( The short version )
Squarespace web design, defined in one paragraph.
Squarespace web design is designing a site from scratch and then building it inside Squarespace 7.1 — Fluid Engine layouts, custom CSS and code injection — so the result does not look like a template even though it runs on one of the simplest platforms to maintain. American Web Guild designs Squarespace sites for small businesses across the US from Sacramento. Packages are $349, $689 and $1,299 for three, ten and fifteen pages; Squarespace's plan is billed by Squarespace to your account. A standard site is live in 14 days, the homepage concept is free within 72 hours with no call, and the site lives on your own Squarespace account with us as a contributor you can remove.
Who it is for
- Restaurants, salons, studios, clinics and consultants who need a polished site and a booking button.
- Photographers, architects and creatives whose portfolio is the pitch.
- Nonprofits and community organisations that need staff to update the site without a developer.
- Businesses already on Squarespace whose template-based site has stopped looking like them.
- Owners who want the lowest-maintenance platform and a monthly fee they understand.
( What you get )
BUILT IN, NOT BOLTED ON
Every Squarespace build includes the following. If something you need is missing, it goes in the quote before work starts — not in an invoice after.
A design that does not look like Squarespace
We design in Figma first — type, grid, colour, imagery — then build it in Fluid Engine, with custom CSS for everything the style panel cannot reach. The template is a starting file, not the design.
Custom CSS and code injection, documented
Hover states, custom fonts, scroll effects, layout fixes and third-party embeds through header and footer injection — each snippet commented and listed in a handover document so the next person knows what it does and where it lives.
Pages built properly in Fluid Engine
Section-based layouts with the mobile view arranged separately, not left to the auto-stack. Every page is checked on a real phone, because Fluid Engine mobile needs a hand to look intentional.
Booking, scheduling and payments connected
Acuity Scheduling for appointments, Squarespace Commerce or a payment block for a short product list, member areas for gated content, forms routed to your inbox and your CRM.
Blog and SEO configured
SEO titles and descriptions per page, clean URL slugs, image alt text, a blog with categories and an author, URL mappings for any old addresses, and the sitemap verified in Google Search Console.
Your brand across the small things
Favicon, social sharing image, 404 page, cookie banner styled to match, announcement bar on brand, and an Email Campaigns template if you send a newsletter. The details that make a template site look finished.
Speed within Squarespace's limits
Squarespace hosts the site; we control image sizes, section count, fonts and third-party scripts. The difference between a sluggish Squarespace site and a quick one is almost entirely those four things.
A fifteen-minute editor walkthrough
Recorded on your site: editing a section, adding a blog post, swapping a photo, publishing a page. Squarespace's editor is the easiest here, and a short video is usually all your team needs.
( Honest fit )
When Squarespace is the right call — and when it isn’t.
Pick Squarespace when
- The site is five to fifteen pages, a blog, and perhaps a booking tool or a small shop.
- Whoever maintains it is not technical and wants to edit on the page itself.
- You want hosting, SSL, updates and backups handled for one monthly fee, indefinitely.
- Design matters to you, but a design team does not come with the business.
We’d point you elsewhere when
- You are building an inventory of hundreds of products or need wholesale pricing — that is Shopify.
- You want structured content at scale: dozens of filtered case studies, team pages from a database, locations. Webflow's CMS does that properly; Squarespace's collections do not.
- You need real functionality — a calculator, an integration with your own software, user accounts. Code injection only reaches so far; that is custom web development.
- You publish several articles a week with multiple authors. WordPress is the better publishing tool.
( How it works )
Fourteen days, four stages, no mystery.
- Day 0–1
Brief. A short form or a 20-minute call. We ask what you sell, who buys it, and what a lead is worth.
On SquarespaceWe check the current site's template version first — many are still on 7.0 — because 7.0 to 7.1 is a rebuild, not an upgrade, and it changes the scope.
- Day 2–3
Free concept. You get a custom homepage design. No payment yet. This is the decision point — approve, revise, or walk.
On SquarespaceThe homepage concept is designed as a static mockup rather than inside Squarespace, so we are designing to your brand, not to what the template defaults to.
- Day 4–10
Build. Remaining pages designed, copy written, everything coded. One shared link, updated live, so you're never waiting on an email.
On SquarespaceBuilt on a new site in your account under a trial, with the custom CSS written against your real content and the mobile layouts arranged by hand on every page.
- Day 11–14
Review & launch. Two rounds of revisions, testing across devices, analytics installed, then live. You get the walkthrough video the same day.
On SquarespacePlan activated on your card, domain connected or transferred, SEO fields and URL mappings checked, old site unpublished. The trial site becomes the live site; nothing has to move.
Day 15+ 30 days of unlimited changes, included. Then a care plan if you want one.
( Pricing )
Website Design Packages, from $349. Published, fixed, in writing.
Basic Plan
$349For a new business that needs a credible site live fast.
What’s included →- Most picked
Professional
$689The most-picked package: a full site for an established service business.
What’s included → Elite
$1299For a larger site, or a brand that wants every page designed on its own.
What’s included →
The Website Design tiers are the design and build price. Squarespace bills its own plan to your account: after the July 2026 increases, Basic is $19 a month, Core is $29 and Plus is $49. We usually recommend Core, the tier that unlocks the features our custom code relies on. Acuity Scheduling and Email Campaigns are separate Squarespace subscriptions if you use them.
Not in the tier price
- Squarespace plan — Basic $19, Core $29 or Plus $49 a month — billed by Squarespace
- Acuity Scheduling and Email Campaigns, if used, as separate Squarespace subscriptions
- Domain registration or transfer fee at your registrar
- Rush delivery, +$500
( Migrations )
Moving to Squarespace — or away from it — without losing what ranks.
- Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1
- There is no upgrade button; 7.1 is a new site. We rebuild the design in Fluid Engine, import the blog, recreate the pages, and swap the domain inside the same account, keeping the old version available until you are happy.
- Wix
- Wix exports nothing but blog posts via RSS and your images one at a time. Pages are rebuilt from the live site, the domain is transferred or pointed, and email on the domain is checked before DNS changes.
- WordPress
- Posts import through Squarespace's WordPress importer; pages are rebuilt. You give up plugins and gain a site nobody has to update. Old URLs are mapped in Squarespace's URL mappings panel.
( Proof )
Work our team designed and shipped.
Design and product work by our team. Shown as proof of craft, not as builds on this platform.
( Questions )
SQUARESPACE, EXPLAINED
Our Squarespace packages are $349 for a three-page site, $689 for ten pages and $1,299 for up to fifteen, each designed from scratch with custom CSS included. Squarespace's plan is extra and billed to you — $19, $29 or $49 a month for Basic, Core and Plus after the July 2026 price increase. There are no other recurring fees unless you add Acuity or Email Campaigns. What a small business should budget.
Three things. Customisation stops where code injection stops — you cannot add real functionality or restructure how pages work. Content is loosely structured, so a site with dozens of similar items (projects, locations, team) becomes manual to maintain. And you can never take the design with you; only blog content exports. For a small business site none of these usually bites; for a growing company they eventually do. Custom versus Squarespace, compared.
Yes, for what it is: a small-business site platform with the best-looking defaults, hosting and security handled, and an editor non-technical staff genuinely use. The 2026 price increases made it less of a bargain, and Fluid Engine's mobile layouts still need a professional's hand. If your needs are a site, a blog and a booking tool, it remains one of the sanest choices available.
Yes. Custom CSS reaches every element the style panel does not; header and footer code injection adds scripts, fonts and third-party embeds; code blocks place HTML inside a page. What custom code cannot do is change how Squarespace works underneath — checkout logic, database queries, user accounts. We tell you in the brief which of your requests sits on which side of that line.
Not if it is designed first. We design the site in Figma to your brand, then build it in Squarespace and write the CSS to match. The template is only the starting file. Most people cannot tell our Squarespace sites from custom builds until they open the editor.
Fourteen days for a standard site: brief, free homepage concept within 72 hours, build through day ten, review and launch by day fourteen. A 7.0 to 7.1 rebuild or a migration from another platform adds a few days for content work, and the date goes in the quote. How long a small-business site really takes.
You do. The site is created on your Squarespace account with the plan on your card; we work as a contributor and you remove us at handover. Editing is Squarespace's strongest point — text, images and sections change on the page itself — and we record a walkthrough on your site. Thirty days of unlimited changes are included after launch.
( Before you decide )
Before you hire anyone for Squarespace web design, read these.
( Other platforms )
Not sure Squarespace is the one? Compare the others.
Yours could be next.
Send your site and what you sell. Custom homepage concept back in 72 hours — free, no call required.