I think a custome design is much better than using a template. Cause usually people can tell if it was a template that you downloaded and edited yourself. Or if you built your entire site yourself or had web developer do it for you. It definitely looks more professional if its custom built.

If you have skills in web design why don't you design your site yourself. But remember having a good designed site makes you look more reliable for the customer.

I doubt that very much.
99% of people would never know if you are using a template or not, nor would most care.

What people tend to care about is if the site looks professional, which a well modifed template will certainly do, and if the service is professional.

I think templates are good enough and you can always customzed them according to your needs.