I try all of them. Framer AI, Wix AI, Durable, 10Web, Relume, the new Webflow features. Every time a tool promises "a finished website in 60 seconds", I click, feed it a few prompts, and look at the result.

Some are impressive. Most are… fine. But none of them deliver what a small business needs when the website has to bring in real enquiries.

What AI builders actually do today

They generate layouts that don't break. They write headlines that are grammatically correct. They pick colours that don't clash. They build responsively without you lifting a finger. If you need a website that looks like a website today, and you have zero budget and zero time — an AI builder is better than nothing.

I've had clients bring me their Framer AI draft as a brief: "Build this, but make it work." That's a legitimate workflow. The AI provides the rough shape, the pro adds the craft.

Where they hit a wall for a business

The problem starts where "looks like" stops and "works like" begins.

Copy that doesn't sell. AI copy is mediocre by definition — it's the statistical average of all the copy in its training data. For a landing page that's meant to represent a trade business or a law firm, "mediocre" isn't enough. You need copy that runs your argument, hits your tone, speaks to your customers. An AI doesn't do that because it doesn't know your business.

Structure that doesn't convert. A builder gives you standard pages: Home, About, Services, Contact. But your customers might not search for "Services" — they search for "emergency water damage repair". The information architecture has to come from your business, not a template.

SEO that doesn't happen. Most AI builders output clean HTML. But keyword research? Schema markup? Internal linking that covers search intent? Nowhere to be found. You get a technically clean shell — the content that ranks is missing.

Maintenance you don't control. When you build on Framer or Wix, you're a tenant, not an owner. Price hikes, feature changes, platform limits — you have no say. For a business that depends on its website, that's a risk that often only surfaces years later.

Differentiation that isn't there. I've put dozens of AI sites side by side. They all look similar. Not because they're ugly — because they're all trained on the same design patterns. Your site looks like your competitor's who also used Framer AI. That's the opposite of standing out.

When an AI builder is the right call

  • You're testing a business idea this weekend and need something presentable now.
  • You've got a side project that never needs to generate enquiries — just exist.
  • You want a quick brief for a developer ("this is roughly what I'm imagining").
  • You have absolutely no budget and no time, and "better than nothing" is your bar.

In all those cases: use the builder. It's a tool, not the devil.

When you need someone who thinks

  • The site has to measurably bring in enquiries.
  • You run a business that needs to stand out from competitors.
  • You want to maintain the site yourself without being locked into a proprietary platform.
  • You need features no standard builder covers (multilingual, complex forms, integrations, custom CMS).
  • You want someone to own the outcome when things break.

That's where "AI builds website" stops and "human builds business tool" starts.

I use AI in the process — for code snippets, first-draft copy, ideation. But the decisions that make the difference: structure, argument, prioritisation, reduction — I make those. Because I understand your business. And because I stand behind them.

If you want to know whether a builder gets you there or whether you need someone who thinks: drop me a line about what you're planning. I'll tell you straight where the line is.