The store is slow
Performance sprint
Fixed priceOne to two weeks
- Measured before and after, on mobile
- Images, scripts, fonts and app bundles
- A written list of what we changed and why
- Often removes the reason for a rebuild
Hire a Shopify Theme Developer
Custom storefronts built on Online Store 2.0 — fast, accessible, and editable by your team without opening a code editor.
- Online Store 2.0, sections and app blocks
- Performance measured, not promised
- Your team edits without us
The best theme work is judged by what happens after handover. If every content change comes back to the developer, the theme was built wrong — however good it looks. Sections, blocks and metafields exist so that merchandising belongs to your team.
What does your storefront actually need?
Four different jobs that all get called "theme work"
These have different costs and different timelines, and being clear about which one you are buying is most of getting a good outcome.
| Your situation | What it needs |
|---|---|
| The store is slow | A performance engagement, usually one to two weeks. Almost always images, scripts and fonts — not the theme's structure. |
| A marketplace theme with years of edits on top | A rebuild on Online Store 2.0. Cheaper than it sounds and it resets the maintenance burden. |
| You need a layout the theme cannot do | Custom section development. Days, not weeks, if the theme is already 2.0. |
| Every content change needs a developer | Restructuring into sections, blocks and metafields or metaobjects. The highest-return theme work there is, and the least glamorous. |
| A brand refresh with the same structure | Design implementation against your existing 2.0 theme. |
| You are considering headless | Fix the theme first and re-ask. Most stores that want headless want a properly built 2.0 theme — the honest comparison. |
Engagement models
Three shapes of theme work
Theme work divides cleanly by size, and the boundaries are unusually clear. Being honest about which one you need saves more than negotiating the rate.
A theme that has run out of roadMost common
Theme build
Fixed scope, fixed priceFour to eight weeks
- Online Store 2.0, sections and blocks
- Built so your team edits without us
- Documentation and a walkthrough at handover
- Theme code in your repository from day one
A theme that mostly works
Sections & support
Monthly block or day rateRolling or ad hoc
- New sections as campaigns need them
- Work on a duplicate theme, always
- Small changes without a project
- Best alongside an in-house merchandiser
Every engagement starts with a look at the store before we quote. If the honest answer is a performance sprint rather than a rebuild, that is what we will say.
What theme work covers
Liquid is the easy part. The judgement is in deciding what should be a section, what should be a block, what belongs in a metafield, and what your team will actually want to change.
What hiring us includes
The things that should be standard and usually are not
Every point below is something we have been asked to promise by a client who had been burned by an agency that did not.
- A theme your team can editSections and blocks with settings that make sense to a merchandiser, not just to a developer.
- Measured performanceBefore and after numbers on mobile, on a throttled connection. Not a claim — a screenshot.
- Accessible by defaultKeyboard navigation, focus states, colour contrast and real alt text. It is also the same work that helps SEO.
- No code pasted into your themeApp functionality goes through theme app extensions. Script tags stop running in March 2027 and we will not ship you one.
- A duplicate theme for every changeWork happens on a copy. Your live theme is never the staging environment.
- Documentation for your teamWhat each section does and which settings control what — written for the person who joins after you.
- Clean, readable LiquidStructured so the next developer can follow it. That may well be your in-house hire.
- Your repository from day oneTheme code in version control, not only in the Shopify admin.
How hiring works
From audit to live theme
No sales process. The first conversation is technical, because it has to be — we cannot scope work we do not understand.
- Send the store URLWe look before we talk. You get an initial read on performance and structure at no cost.
- A technical callWhat your team needs to change themselves, what breaks today, and what the theme is actually stopping you doing.
- A written scopeSections to build, settings each will expose, performance targets, and what we would leave alone.
- Build on a duplicate themeYou preview at any point on a real store with real content. Nothing is a mockup.
- Publish and hand overGo live, plus documentation and a walkthrough for whoever edits the store day to day.
What we work in
The storefront stack, and where each piece belongs
Theme work is mostly Liquid and CSS, and almost entirely judgement: what should be a section, what belongs in a metafield, and what your team will actually want to change.
Online Store 2.0
Liquid, Sass, sections, metafields, metaobjects
2.0 covers far more than most teams have caught up with. Sections, app blocks, metafields and metaobjects between them handle much of what people go headless for — at a fraction of the cost, keeping the theme editor and the app ecosystem.
- Liquid
- CSS
- Sass
- JavaScript
- Tailwind
- Sections
- App blocks
- Metafields
- Metaobjects
- Shopify Storefront API
- sections/product-bundle.liquid01
- snippets/responsive-image.liquid02
- blocks/announcement.liquid03
- config/settings_schema.json04
Extension surfaces
Theme app extensions, checkout UI
App functionality reaches the storefront through theme app extensions the merchant places in the theme editor. No code pasted into your theme, and nothing left behind when an app is removed.
extensions/theme/blocks/reviews.liquidPerformance
Images, scripts, fonts
The three causes of a slow Shopify storefront, in that order. Measured before and after, on mobile, on a throttled connection — not promised.
{{ image | image_url: width: 800 | image_tag }}Beyond the theme
Next.js, React, TypeScript
For headless storefronts on the Storefront API, and for custom frontends where a theme genuinely cannot express what is needed. Usually the answer is a better theme — we will say so.
export const revalidate = 3600;Before you hire
- It depends far more on how much your team needs to control than on how the design looks. A theme with ten configurable sections costs more than one with three, and is worth more, because every configurable section is a change that never comes back to a developer. We scope after seeing the design and talking about who will edit the store.
- If your theme is Online Store 2.0 and structurally sound, fixing is almost always cheaper and better. If it is a marketplace theme with years of modifications layered on it, the maintenance cost of the next change usually exceeds the rebuild. We will tell you which after looking, and a performance pass often removes the reason to rebuild. If the storefront is the wrong shape rather than the wrong speed, that is a full-stack question.
- That is the point. If your team cannot change copy, images, order and layout in the theme editor without us, the theme was built wrong. We build to that standard and document it.
- A custom 2.0 theme from an existing design is usually four to eight weeks. Individual sections are days. A performance engagement is one to two weeks. The variable is design readiness — waiting on decisions costs more calendar time than the code ever does.
- Usually yes, and it is where we would start. Most slow Shopify stores are slow because of oversized images, blocking scripts and apps injecting bundles. That work is cheaper than a rebuild and benefits every page immediately.
- Both. Dawn is a good starting point because it is fast and Shopify maintains it. Paid themes are fine too — the question is whether the one you have has been modified so heavily that updating it is no longer possible.
- Modern apps use theme app extensions and need no theme code at all. If an app asks you to paste code into your theme, that is the old approach — and Shopify stops running script tags on 1 March 2027, so it is also a countdown — what breaks and when.
Still deciding?
Send us the store URL and what you are trying to do. If the honest answer is that you do not need to hire anyone, we will tell you that instead.
Our talk
Tell us about your store
Send the URL and we will look before we reply — you get an initial read on performance and structure either way.
