opinionobserved
You cannot evaluate a platform while bypassing it
A pile of custom markup says more about the custom implementation than whether the underlying website tools are good enough.
I once tried to judge whether a website platform could support a design while the implementation ignored most of the platform’s own controls. Raw markup and a parallel styling system made the page possible, but they also made the evaluation meaningless.
If the goal is to know whether the owner can maintain the site later, build the representative page with native blocks, global settings, and the platform’s normal editing path first. Custom code is still useful for real gaps. It should not manufacture the gap and then congratulate itself for filling it.