How do you decide whether or not to build your own website?  The answer generally comes down to your own confidence in your ability and the time you have to dedicate towards building your website.  The cost comparison should not be a decision making factor.  For example:

A fully designed Joomla website costs about $1300 plus GST not including site content population

The training program to develop your own website is as follows:

Of course, some components of the course may take longer or shorter depending on your ability to absorb the information.  Some components of the course are taught remotely and quoted at the rate of $45/hour  plus GST.  Some students prefer a more hands-on approach and choose to take a particular lesson face-to-face at our quoted rate of $65/hour plus GST.   But based on the average learning time*, it costs less than half of what a fully designed website.  And after your course is completed, you will be able to be totally self-sufficient, be able to design other websites without further training and get the pleasure you can only get by doing it yourself.  The choice is yours and I'm here to help you when and how often you need me.

*I have been training people of all ages and computer abilities and have found this time frame to be a reasonable expectation.