There comes a point when most companies decide they need to have a web presence. Whether the business is a national conglomerate or it is a small, local floral shop, decisions must be made regarding the design of the website. So what factors should be considered when deciding on custom design vs readymade templates? Three important factors include:

Budget
Purpose
Flexibility

When it comes to website design, budget is usually the number one factor affecting one’s choices, especially for the small business owner. Inherently, custom design will be more expensive than any availabe readymade templates. Skilled webmasters will be more than willing to build a fully custom design website but don’t expect it to come cheap.

Sites often range between $2,500 - $5,000 for the initial design and customization of a website. This does not usually include the fees for updating and additions to the website.

Second, a business owner needs to decide what the intended purpose is for their website. Is it simply to list store hours, upcoming events or maybe the weekly special? Or taking the floral shop example, will the site have a fully interactive interface that allows a user to choose flowers, design an arrangement, process the order and have it shipped to a family member in Japan? More often than not, a custom design will be necessary for a highly interactive website, whereas, a template site is more than adequate to provide information, pictures and slightly customizable settings.
How hands on do you wish to be in your website construction? Many templates allow the business owner to make all the decisions in the creation of their site but often do not allow every aspect to be customized without an intense knowledge of html. A custom design may be created to any of the business owners fancy but often this comes at the price of paying a web designer to make any and all changes. In other words, no changes may be made by the business owner his or herself. Weekly updates to sales, price changes or any other changes must be done by the webmaster and usually comes with a fee. 
When considering website design, many other factors often play a part in deciding custom design vs readymade templates. You will generally get what you pay for, so ask questions of your webmaster and decide beforehand what your needs are as a business owner.