Tradie website design, done right
Most tradie websites do one of two things: look like they were built in 2011, or look like a generic template that could belong to any business. Neither one wins the job. I build hand-coded tradie sites that load fast, look professional, and make it easy for a potential client to call or request a quote on the first visit.
What a tradie website needs to do
Generate phone calls
The single most important metric for most trade businesses is a phone call. Your site needs a visible phone number, a click-to-call button on mobile, and enough trust signals (reviews, photos of real work, clear service area) that a stranger picks up and calls.
Rank in local search
Most tradie jobs are local. A site that's not optimised for "plumber [suburb]" or "electrician [city]" isn't working for you. Hand-coded sites have a structural advantage here — fast load times and clean markup give you a real head start.
Work on mobile
Most people searching for a tradie are searching on their phone, often at the moment they need someone. If your site is slow or hard to navigate on mobile, you're losing that job before they've even seen your number.
Build trust fast
A potential client has probably never heard of you. Your site needs to convey credibility in the first few seconds — photos of real work, real reviews, a visible location, and copy that sounds like a professional rather than a template.
Why hand-coded, not a tradie website builder
There are website builders marketed specifically at tradies — ServiceM8, Tradie Web Guys, Wix with a trades template. They're fast to set up, and that's about all they have going for them.
The problem is they all look the same. If you and your three competitors are all on the same platform with minor colour variations, you're not differentiating — you're just one more option in a list.
A hand-coded site is built around your specific business: your actual service area, your real photos, your particular mix of services. It loads faster (better for Google rankings), has no monthly platform lock-in, and looks like something a professional business would have — not a template someone filled in.
Is a tradie website builder (ServiceM8, Wix, Tradie Web Guys) good enough?
These platforms exist because tradies need something online fast, and they deliver that — a live site in a day, no developer required. For a business leaning on word-of-mouth and just needs a placeholder, that's a fair trade-off.
The problem shows up once you actually rely on the site to generate calls. Builder templates are built for speed of setup, not speed of load — the extra plugin weight and generic markup mean slower pages, and slower pages rank worse and lose mobile visitors before they've even seen your number. You're also boxed into whatever the template allows: swap a colour, change a photo, but the underlying structure stays identical to every other business on the same platform.
A hand-coded site costs more upfront and takes longer than an afternoon to set up, but it's built around your actual service area, your real job photos, and your specific mix of trades — and it's still yours after the platform's monthly fee stops being worth paying. For a business that gets real lead volume from its website, that difference compounds over time.
Trades I've built for
Common questions
Straight answers before you ask for a quote.
How much does a tradie website cost?
A full agency will quote a tradie site at $8,000+. Mine come in between $2,500 and $5,000 depending on the number of pages and whether you need a booking or quote form — a fixed price before I start. I'm one person, so you're not paying for their office.
Do I need to provide my own photos?
Real photos of your work make a significant difference — stock photos of tools and trucks read as generic immediately. If you can provide job-site photos from your phone, I'll work with those. I can also advise on what to photograph.
Can you help me show up on Google?
Yes. Every site I build is structured to rank — proper meta tags, fast load times, clean HTML, and local schema markup. I'll also make sure your service area and trade type are clear to Google from day one.
I already have a website — can you redesign it?
Yes. Most tradie redesigns take 2–4 weeks. I'll look at what you have, what's not working, and build something better — usually faster and cheaper than starting from scratch because you already have the content.
Is a website builder like Wix or ServiceM8 good enough for my trade business?
For a placeholder while you rely on word-of-mouth, sure. Once your site needs to actually generate calls and rank locally, the generic templates and platform overhead start working against you — slower load times and a design that looks like every other business on the same builder. A hand-coded site costs more upfront but is built specifically around your business.
How long does a tradie website take to build?
Most trade sites take 2–4 weeks from brief to launch. The main variable is content — if you can supply real job photos and rough service details quickly, it moves faster. I'll give you an exact timeline in the quote.