How We Build Websites 10x Faster with Claude Code (And What It Means for Your Business)

Look, I’ll be honest with you.

A year ago, if someone told me an AI would be writing most of my code, I would’ve laughed into my flat white and gone back to complaining about CSS like a normal person.

But here we are. And mate, things have gotten weird.

The Part Where I Admit I Was Wrong

I was one of those developers who thought AI coding tools were just glorified autocomplete. Fancy copy-paste for people who couldn’t be bothered learning proper syntax.

Then I actually tried Claude Code.

First project: a client wanted a landing page with a contact form, some fancy animations, and integration with their CRM. Standard stuff. Usually takes me a solid day or two of faffing about.

Time with Claude Code: 3 hours.

I sat there staring at my screen like a stunned mullet. Either I’d been dramatically overthinking web development for the past decade, or something genuinely game-changing had just happened.

Spoiler: it was both.

What Actually Is Claude Code? (Without the Tech Waffle)

Right, so Claude Code is basically like having a really smart junior developer who:

• Never sleeps
• Never complains about the brief
• Actually reads the documentation you can’t be bothered reading
• Types faster than humanly possible
• Doesn’t need a coffee run every 45 minutes

You tell it what you want in plain English. It writes the code. You review it, tweak it, tell it what’s rubbish, and it fixes it. Rinse and repeat until you’ve got a website.

It’s not magic. It’s not going to replace developers entirely (sorry to disappoint the LinkedIn thought leaders). But it’s absolutely changed how we work at Cheeky Panda.

How We Actually Use It (The Honest Version)

Here’s what a typical build looks like now:

Before Claude Code:

1. Receive brief from client
2. Stare at brief for an uncomfortable amount of time
3. Make a cuppa
4. Start coding the basic structure
5. Google something I should definitely know by now
6. Stack Overflow rabbit hole
7. Realise it’s 4pm and I’ve built half a nav bar
8. Repeat for several days

After Claude Code:

1. Receive brief from client
2. Tell Claude what we need
3. Review the code it spits out
4. Make small tweaks
5. Actually have time for lunch
6. Ship the thing

I’m not exaggerating when I say we’re building sites in days that used to take weeks. The 10x faster thing in the title? If anything, that’s underselling it for simpler projects.

”But Is It Actually Good Though?”

This is the question I get from other devs. Usually with a tone that suggests I’ve personally betrayed the craft.

Here’s my honest take: the code Claude writes is… fine? Sometimes it’s great. Sometimes it needs work. It’s roughly equivalent to what you’d get from a competent mid-level developer who’s had too much coffee.

The difference is speed. I can generate ten variations of a component in the time it used to take me to write one. Don’t like the first approach? Scrap it, try again. Costs nothing but a few seconds.

And here’s the thing most people miss: I’m still the one making decisions. Claude doesn’t know your brand. It doesn’t understand why your target customer in Toowoomba needs slightly different messaging than your Sydney crowd. It can’t tell you that hero image looks dodgy on mobile.

That’s still me. The AI just handles the boring bits faster.

What This Actually Means For You (The Business Owner)

Right, enough about my workflow. Here’s why you should care:

1. Websites Cost Less

Not because we’re cutting corners — because we’re not spending three days on stuff that should take three hours. Less time = lower cost. Simple as.

2. You Get It Faster

Remember when “4-6 weeks for a basic website” was standard? Now we’re talking days for most projects. Your competitors are still waiting on their developer to “find some availability.” You’re already live.

3. Changes Don’t Cost a Fortune

Need to tweak something? Add a new section? In the old world, every change meant booking developer time, waiting, paying. Now? Quick chat, it’s done. We can iterate faster, which means your site actually gets better over time instead of sitting there gathering digital dust.

4. Custom Doesn’t Mean Expensive Anymore

The gap between “basic template site” and “custom built” used to be massive — both in cost and capability. AI has smashed that gap. You can get genuinely custom work without remortgaging the house.

The Stuff AI Still Can’t Do

Before I disappear up my own backside with AI hype, let me be clear about what Claude Code doesn’t do:

• Strategy: It won’t tell you whether you need a website or a landing page or maybe just a better Google Business Profile
• Design taste: It can implement a design, but it can’t tell you why your logo from 2003 needs to go
• Understanding your customers: All that goes in your copy, your imagery, your user flow — still needs a human brain
• Fixing your dodgy photos: Please stop sending me 200x150 pixel images and expecting miracles
• SEO that actually works: It can add meta tags. It can’t build your authority or figure out what your customers are actually searching for

The AI handles the how. We handle the what and why.

So Is This The Future Or What?

Look, I reckon in five years, every web agency will be using tools like this. The ones that aren’t will be like the businesses still doing their accounts on paper — technically possible, but why would you?

For now, we’ve got a bit of a head start. We’ve spent the past year figuring out how to use these tools properly, what they’re good at, and where they fall over.

The result? We can build you a proper website — custom, fast, professional — for less than you’d pay most agencies. Because we’re not billing you for time spent googling “css flexbox align center” for the 47th time.

Want To See What We Can Do?

If you’ve been putting off getting a new website because of cost or time, now’s probably the moment.

We build sites fast, we don’t charge like we’re curing cancer, and we actually pick up the phone when you call.

Get a free site audit →

Or just chuck us a message and we’ll have a yarn about what you need. No pressure, no 47-page proposals, no “circling back” — just straight talk about whether we can help.

Paul Chamberlain is the founder of Cheeky Panda, an AI-first web design agency based in Australia. He’s still slightly disturbed by how much AI has changed his job, but he’s made peace with it.