The range, and the trap
A trade business website costs from nothing to several thousand, and the biggest risk is not overpaying. It is the "free" site from a lead-generation company that you do not own, that ranks their brand instead of yours, and that sends your enquiries to whoever pays them most. Here are the bands, what each buys, and how to tell a site that produces jobs from one that produces someone else's leads.
Band 1: Facebook page, Google Business Profile, no website
Cost: nothing.
You get: a phone number people can find, reviews, photos of jobs.
You do not get: anything for "emergency plumber [town]" searches that Google Business Profile does not catch, a quote form that takes photos, proof of insurance and qualifications in one place, or service and area pages that rank.
Right for: a sole trader with a full book from word of mouth. Many are, and they do not need more.
Band 2: a template or builder site, $500 to $2,000
A local designer or a DIY builder with your logo, a few photos and a contact form.
You get: a presence with your name on it.
Usually missing: speed on a phone (most visitors are on one, often on site), tap-to-call everywhere, a quote form that accepts photos, service pages per trade and area pages per town, proof (licence numbers, insurance, accreditations), and ownership clarity.
Right for: a trade that wants a business card online and gets work by referral.
Band 2b: the lead-gen "free" site
A marketing company builds you a site for free or cheap, hosts it, and charges monthly or per lead. Often the domain is theirs, the phone number on the site is a tracking number they own, and the content is a template shared with your competitors.
You get: leads while you pay.
You do not get: the site, the domain, the number or the rankings when you stop. Check whose name the domain is in before signing anything.
Band 3: a purpose-built trade site, $2,500 to $6,000
Built around how tradespeople win work: a page per service, a page per town you cover, tap-to-call on every screen, a quote form that takes photos straight to your phone, licence and insurance displayed, real job photos, reviews near the calls to action, fast on a phone, structured data for a local business, tracking of calls and quote requests, everything in your name.
You get: a site that ranks for "[trade] [town]" across the towns you serve and turns those searches into calls and photo quotes. Measured by enquiries.
Not usually included: photography (your own job photos are usually better anyway), copy unless specified, ongoing ads.
Right for: any trade business that wants to grow beyond referral, has two or more on the tools, or covers several towns.
Band 4: multi-crew firms and franchises, $8,000 and up
Multiple trades, many locations, integration with job management software for online booking, franchise brands.
After launch
- Hosting: managed WordPress at $20 to $50 a month or often free on a framework host, in your name.
- Domain: small, annual. Yours.
- Job management software (Jobber, ServiceM8, Tradify): whatever you pay now; the site does not add to it.
- Maintenance: a care plan at a modest monthly fee, or hourly when something breaks.
Where the band 3 money goes
- Service and area pages as records, so "boiler repair" and "Harrow" are pages that rank rather than words on one page.
- Tap-to-call and the photo quote form, wired to your phone and tracked.
- Proof. Licence numbers, insurance, accreditations, real job photos, reviews.
- Speed, because your visitors are on phones on site with one bar of signal.
- Search foundation and structured data for a local service business.
- Tracking of calls and quote requests by page and town.
- Ownership. Domain, hosting, phone number: yours.
Judging a quote
Ask: whose name will the domain be in; will the phone number on the site be mine; is there a page per service and per area; does the quote form take photos; what is the speed target; will calls and quotes be tracked. A quote that cannot answer the first two is band 2b however it is dressed.
What we charge
Our trade sites are band 3 at a fixed price; the scope is on the trades page. If you are on a lead-gen site now, the first question is who owns the domain, and the answer decides whether you are buying a website or buying back your own name.