Just because you know how to code, doesn't mean you should code your own website

This is good advice. Knowing how to code is one thing, actually doing it is very time consuming. Even an experienced coder who's worked for other companies might underestimate the amount of work that goes into shipping a site that doesn't look amateur.

It’s easier for me to give someone credit in the form of a link than to write out more than 500 lines of CSS on top of what layout generators provide.

And that’s for a basic website skeleton.

I do like to design stuff on my own to retain that personal touch, but starting website projects from scratch (personal or free) without grabbing a starter template is a ridiculous time sink.

I disagree. If you know how to code that is your biggest competitive advantage as a solopreneur. Do that and hire the sales guy instead.

Use a FOSS template or use WordPress with a theme. Why should you code your own website when using a template or WP is faster?