Most "contractor website" pages you will find are galleries of pretty examples. Below is the checklist I actually build against, what a contractor site costs, and the mistakes that quietly cost calls.
A site that does only the second one is a brochure. Most contractor sites I audit are brochures.
A designer builds a site that looks right. A developer who also does SEO builds a site Google can read, with the right page structure, headings, schema and speed. The difference shows up months later when one site ranks and the other does not.
I have spent over six years in software development and SEO, so I write the code and the ranking plan together. If you later hire me for ongoing contractor SEO, there is nothing to rebuild.
| Option | Typical upfront cost | Good for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | Low monthly fee | Getting online fast | Hard to rank, generic structure |
| Template site from a marketing company | Low setup plus monthly rental | Owners who want no involvement | You often do not own the site |
| Freelance designer | Varies widely | Nice look | SEO often missing |
| Developer who does SEO (me) | Fixed quote per project | Ranking and converting | Takes a scoping call first |
I do not publish a single website price because a 6-page site for one town and a 60-page site for a metro are different jobs. You get a fixed quote after a short scoping call, and you own every page. Websites are separate from the SEO retainer; see what SEO costs per month for that side.
A roofing site needs storm and insurance pages and a photo-heavy portfolio. An HVAC site needs seasonal pages and maintenance plans. A plumber needs a big 24/7 button. I cover the trade detail on roofing SEO and HVAC SEO pages, and the call side on lead generation for contractors.
Want to see what I would change on your current site first? The SEO for home-service businesses overview explains how the site and the ranking work together.
| Page | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Homepage | Says what you do, where, and how to call, in the first screen |
| One page per service | Ranks for each money job separately |
| One page per town | Ranks you where the jobs are, not just at your address |
| Reviews / projects | Proof with real photos and names of neighborhoods |
| About | Your face, license, insurance, years in business |
| Pricing or financing | Answers the question every homeowner asks first |
| Contact | Phone, text, a short form, service area map |
A small crew in one town might need eight pages. A metro company might need sixty. That page count is the main thing that sets the price of a build.
The most expensive website mistake I see is a redesign that throws away pages Google already ranks. Before any rebuild, I pull every URL that gets search traffic, keep or redirect each one, and check the new site against the old one after launch. A pretty new site that loses half its calls is not an upgrade.
Most contractors ask me which builder to use. My honest answer: the platform matters less than who owns it and whether you can add pages. WordPress gives you the most control and the most options for speed and schema, but it needs updates. Wix and Squarespace are easy to edit yourself, and they can rank when the pages are written well. The option I steer people away from is a site locked inside a marketing company's platform, where you cannot export your pages if you leave.
Before you sign with anyone, ask three questions: Who owns the domain? Can I get a full copy of the site? Can I add a new service page without paying a fee each time?
Stock photos of smiling models in clean hard hats tell a homeowner nothing. Your own photos of real jobs, your trucks and your crew do more for calls than any design trick. A phone camera is fine. Take a before and after on every job, name the town in the caption, and keep file sizes small so pages load fast on mobile.
It depends on the number of pages and towns. I quote each build as a fixed price after a short scoping call.
A page per service and per town, click-to-call on every page, real photos, reviews, license info, fast mobile loading and call tracking.
Both can work. WordPress gives more control over speed, structure and schema, which matters when you want to rank in competitive towns.
Yes. You own every page from day one.
No. Websites are quoted per project, separate from the monthly SEO plan.
Book a free 30-minute call and I will tell you whether you need a new site or just fixes. Or start with the free 24-hour audit of your current one.
I specialize in home services SEO: taking websites that sit invisible on page three and turning them into the business Google and ChatGPT recommend first. I started on the developer side, writing software and doing SEO on the side, until I saw how much home-service owners were overpaying for work that quietly hurt them. So I built a method that fixes the broken technical work and the outdated thinking behind it.
From garage door companies to plumbers, roofers, locksmiths and cleaning services, the playbook is the same: rank where your customers actually search, earn real reviews, and back it with a fast site that books the job. No PBNs, no bought reviews, no directory spam. Only work that survives Google’s next five updates. See exactly how it’s priced on the pricing page.
Free 30-minute strategy call
Send me your site and I’ll send back a free audit: what’s broken, what it’s costing you in calls, and the first three fixes.
No spam and no sales pitch. Just a clear look at what’s leaking leads.
