Static sites are gaining popularity, and many publishers like Smashing Magazine use static site generation without worrying about scalable server setups. However, this approach comes with challenges such as guaranteeing short build times, especially when generating large numbers of pages. The author recently faced a problem where their private website's build time was taking over 10 minutes due to the generation of SVG placeholder images using SQIP. To speed up the build process on Netlify, they implemented a custom caching layer, utilizing Contentful's API and storing generated SVGs in a cache folder that persists across builds. This approach allows for faster build times by reusing previously generated files, making it an optimal solution for large static sites.