Should a Contractor Build a Website? An Honest Answer
For most contractors, yes. But a website is mainly proof that you are real and good at what you do. On its own, it rarely brings in work.
The short answer
Most contractors should have a website. Its main job is to win over people who already know your name.
Yes, for most contractors a website is worth having. But it helps to be clear about what it does, because the most common disappointment is expecting a new site to make the phone ring on its own. It usually won't. A website with nothing pointing people towards it is a shop on a street nobody walks down.
What a good site does very well is convert people who have already heard of you. The neighbour's recommendation, the name on the van, the profile on the map, the advert they clicked: in every case, a homeowner who is about to spend real money will look you up first. What they see decides whether they call.
So the better question is not whether to have a website, but what it needs to do for your business and how much to spend on it. This guide covers both, and sits within our wider guide to getting more work as a contractor.
What it is for
The three jobs a contractor's website does
It proves you are real
A proper website with your company details, real photos and genuine reviews tells a cautious homeowner that there is an established business behind the name. Its absence makes some customers wonder.
It gives your marketing somewhere to land
Your business profile, adverts, van signage and printed quotes can all point somewhere. Without a website, every one of those has to do the whole job on its own.
It is yours
Unlike a listing on a platform, your website does not disappear when a subscription lapses. Over time, with some effort, it can bring in enquiries through search that cost you nothing per lead.
What customers look for
What a trade website needs, and what it can do without
A contractor's website does not need to be large or clever. It needs to answer the questions a homeowner has in the first thirty seconds: what do you do, where do you work, have you done this before, can I trust you, and how do I get in touch?
That means a clear statement of the services you offer and the area you cover, near the top of the home page. A page for each main service, explaining the work in plain language. Real photographs of real jobs, not stock images of smiling people in hard hats. Reviews, or a link to your reviews. Your insurance and any trade memberships you genuinely hold. And a phone number that can be tapped on a mobile, with a simple contact form for people who would rather not call.
What it can do without is most of what web designers like to sell. Animated banners, long company histories, pages of generic text about quality and customer service, and a blog that was updated twice four years ago all add cost and little else. A short site that is accurate and current beats a large one that is neither.
The single most persuasive thing on most trade websites is the gallery of finished work. Keep it current. A set of photos from last month says more about the business than any paragraph of text.
The legal basics
What the law expects your website to show
If you trade as a limited company, the rules on trading disclosures require your website to show your registered company name, your company number, where the company is registered and your registered office address. It is usually placed in the footer. It is a legal requirement, and it also happens to be exactly what a careful customer looks for.
If your site has a contact form, you are collecting personal information, so you need a privacy notice explaining what you do with it. If the site uses cookies beyond those strictly needed for it to work, such as analytics or advertising cookies, you will generally need visitors' consent. A competent web designer should handle both as a matter of course.
Sole traders are not covered by the company disclosure rules, but showing your trading name, a contact address or the area you cover, and a working phone number is still sensible. Customers are more comfortable when they can tell who they would be dealing with.
Building it
Doing it yourself or paying someone
Both can work. Costs vary widely with what you ask for, so get two or three prices and compare what is actually included.
A website builder, done yourself
- Low upfront cost and a monthly fee
- You can update photos and text yourself
- Templates look tidy with little effort
- Takes your evenings to set up properly
- Technical search basics are partly up to you
- Moving to another platform later can be awkward
A web designer or small agency
- Higher upfront cost
- Professional finish with less of your time
- Should handle speed, mobile and legal basics
- Check you can edit it yourself afterwards
- Check who owns the domain and hosting
- Ask what ongoing fees cover, and what they don't
Whoever builds the site, make sure the domain name and the hosting account are registered in your name or your company's, with login details you hold. A contractor who falls out with a designer and discovers the designer owns the domain can lose years of search history and every link pointing at the site.
A sensible order
Getting a useful site live without wasting money
Register your domain
Something short, close to your business name and easy to say over the phone. Register it yourself so it is in your name from day one.
Gather your evidence first
Before anyone builds anything, collect your best job photos, your reviews, your insurance details and a list of the services and areas you want to be known for. A site is only as good as what goes into it.
Start small
A home page, one page per main service, a gallery of work, a reviews page and a contact page. That is enough for most small firms to begin with.
Connect it to your business profile
Link the website from your Google Business Profile and make sure the name, phone number and service area match. The two support each other.
Keep it current
Add finished jobs as you go. Update the services if your work changes. An out-of-date website is noticed, and it undermines the proof you built it to provide.
Decide on search and adverts separately
A site can bring in work through search or adverts, but both are extra effort or extra spend. Treat them as separate decisions once the site itself is right.
Getting traffic
What it takes for a website to bring in new work
A website starts bringing in new customers, rather than just reassuring existing ones, when people who have never heard of you land on it. That happens in two main ways: search, where you appear because Google thinks your page answers the question, and advertising, where you pay to appear.
Search takes months and steady effort: service pages that genuinely help, project write-ups, reviews and a few good local links. It is covered in SEO for construction companies. Advertising is quicker but charges for every click, whether or not the visitor calls, and needs watching closely. That side is covered in Google Ads for contractors.
Either way, the local map results usually matter as much as the website for a trade business, which is why a well-kept profile comes first. Google Business Profile for trades covers that in detail.
Running costs
What a website costs to keep, not just to build
The build is the visible cost, but a website also has running costs: the domain renewal each year, hosting, any website-builder subscription, security and software updates, and the time or money it takes to keep content current. None of these are large on their own. Together they are a standing cost, so budget for them rather than being surprised by them.
The fair way to judge that cost is the same as any other marketing spend: set it against the work it helps you win. For many contractors the site's biggest return is indirect, in the referrals and profile visitors it turns into calls, and in quotes it makes more convincing because the customer has already seen your work. How much should I spend on marketing? helps put the figure in context.
A website also helps at the quoting stage. A quote that links to a gallery of similar jobs and a page of reviews carries far more weight than one that stands alone. How to quote faster and win more covers the rest of that process.
When to wait
When a website isn't the priority yet
There are situations where a website can reasonably wait. If you are fully booked months ahead through repeat customers and referrals, a site adds little beyond reassurance, and a good business profile may cover that. If most of your work comes through other main contractors rather than homeowners, they will judge you on your record, not your web pages. How do builders get customers? compares the routes that don't depend on a website.
If you are just starting out, a complete business profile with genuine reviews is often a better first step than a website with nothing to show on it yet. Build the site once you have jobs to photograph.
And if your honest plan is to spend very little time on marketing at all, the website is still worth having as a credibility check, but don't expect it to replace a source of work. Lead sites vs your own website weighs up that trade-off.
Where Mortaro fits
A website and a network do different jobs
A website supports the direct work you win yourself, and most contractors are better off with one. Working through a network is a separate route to work, and it doesn't depend on your own marketing at all.
In the Mortaro network we generate the enquiries ourselves and appoint one contractor to each. We book the site visit, prepare and issue the quotation from your trade-rate price, follow it up and administer the payments. There is no membership, no subscription and no per-lead charge. How contractor networks work explains the arrangement, and do you charge for leads? answers the cost question directly.
Your website still helps you there. It is part of how you present your business, and your reviews, references and prior work are among the checks made before any contractor is introduced to a customer.
Straight answers
Questions about contractor websites
Will a website bring me work on its own?
Rarely. A website converts people who already know your name. To bring in people who don't, it needs search work or paid advertising pointing people at it.
Can I use a Facebook page instead?
It can help, but you don't own it and it is a weaker credibility check for a customer spending a significant sum. A simple website plus a good business profile is more reliable.
What should I put on it first?
Your services, the area you cover, real photos of finished work, reviews, your company details and a phone number that can be tapped on a mobile. Everything else is optional.
How much should I spend?
It varies widely with what you ask for. Start with what you need, get more than one price, and compare what is included, including ongoing fees and who owns the domain.
For contractors
Tell us about your business
Your trade, the areas you cover and the size of work you take on. A person reads every enquiry, and if it looks like a fit we will send you the full application.