The 300-Hour Project: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Manual vs. AI-Powered HubSpot Development*
For a digital agency, the 300-hour HubSpot project is a common, high-value engagement. It represents a substantial website build, complete with custom-designed pages, a full set of modules, and a deep CMS integration.
But how that 300-hour budget is spent is the difference between a high-stress, low-margin project and a highly profitable, scalable engagement.
Let's break down the exact same project, side-by-side. The goal is to build a custom, 20-page HubSpot website from an approved Figma design.
Workflow 1: The Manual "Figma to HubSpot CMS" Process (The 300-Hour Project)
This is the traditional, battle-tested workflow most agencies still use.
Phase 1: Manual Development (240 Hours / 80% of Time)
This is the "development" block, the largest and most expensive part of the project. A senior developer begins the long, manual process of "translating" the Figma design. This involves:
- Writing all HTML and CSS from scratch to recreate every single component.
- Manually creating dozens of HubSpot modules and custom fields in the CMS.
- Writing all the necessary HubL to connect the front-end to the CMS fields.
- Painstakingly ensuring every page is responsive and matches the Figma design on all breakpoints.
Phase 2: QA & Revisions (60 Hours / 20% of Time)
This phase is dedicated to fixing what was lost in translation. The designer and developer go back and forth, fixing pixel-level inconsistencies in spacing, font size, and responsiveness. This is the frustrating, "it-doesn't-look-like-the-Figma" part of the project that burns time and morale.
Total Time: 300 Hours
This workflow is predictable but incredibly inefficient. 80% of the entire project budget is spent on manual, repetitive code translation.
Workflow 2: The transjt.ai Process (The 60-Hour Project)
Now, let's take the exact same Figma design and run it through the transjt.ai workflow.
Phase 1: AI-Powered "Figma to HubSpot CMS" Conversion (8 Hours / ~13% of Time)
Instead of a developer, the designer (or developer) uses the transjt.ai plugin.
- (1 Hour): The designer exports the finalized Figma components into the transjt.ai platform.
- (~2 Hours): The AI analyzes all components and generates the complete, production-ready HubSpot theme. This includes all the clean HTML, responsive CSS, and, most importantly, all the HubL and CMS fields.
- (~5 Hours): A developer reviews the generated theme, makes any minor tweaks, and exports it directly to the HubSpot portal.
The 240 hours of manual translation is reduced to just 8 hours of AI processing and human review.
Phase 2: Developer "Polish" & Custom Integration (32 Hours / ~53% of Time)
This is the new development phase. The developer’s 240-hour-task is gone. Their time is now focused only on high-value tasks that AI can't do.
- Instead of coding basic components, they are now free to:
- Build complex, custom serverless functions.
- Integrate third-party APIs (like Salesforce or an external data source).
- Set up complex, dynamic content and personalization rules in HubSpot.
Phase 3: QA & Revisions (20 Hours / ~33% of Time)
The QA process is dramatically faster. Why? Because the translation from Figma is 1:1. The site already looks exactly like the design. This phase is now focused on testing the functionality of the custom integrations, not on fixing basic styling errors.
Total Time: 60 Hours
The Final Breakdown: 300 Hours vs. 60 Hours
Let's look at the numbers side-by-side.
|
Phase
|
Manual Workflow
|
transjt.ai Workflow
|
Time Saved
|
|
Figma to CMS Dev
|
240 Hours
|
8 Hours
|
232 Hours (A 96% reduction)
|
|
High-Value Dev (Polish)
|
(Included Above)
|
32 Hours
|
(New, focused value)
|
|
QA & Revisions
|
60 Hours
|
20 Hours
|
40 Hours (A 66% reduction)
|
|
TOTAL PROJECT TIME
|
300 Hours
|
60 Hours
|
240 Hours (80% Total Savings)
|
By automating the single largest bottleneck—the manual Figma to HubSpot CMS conversion— transjt.ai doesn't just chip away at the timeline. It fundamentally collapses it.
For an agency, this 80% reduction in project time is transformative. It means you can deliver 5x the number of projects with the same team, drastically increase project profitability, and free your most expensive talent—your developers—to focus on the complex, high-value work that clients truly pay for.
*Disclaimer: each project has its own complexity. This breakdown shows a possible time saving of an average project.