there are ways to keep costs down
Building a website from scratch can take a very long time
Because of this, a web developer will typically start with a template of some kind much like the one you are looking over now. The options for templates are basically unlimited so it's pretty much a guarantee that your perfect template already exists. On top of saving you a boatload of billable hours templates give you, your website, and your web developer a place to start from. The more time you save your web developer the more money you save yourself. This can be accomplished by writing your own content inside the necessary word limitations of your template, submitting your own pictures, limiting changes to a template, or simply taking the time to choose a template that fulfills your requirements.