A builder like Wix, Squarespace or GoDaddy is a good way to get a basic site up yourself for a monthly fee, and much better than nothing. A hand-coded site costs more up front, but it is usually faster on a phone, built around how your customers actually choose a trade, and yours to keep with no subscription. If you are just starting out, a builder is fine. If the website is meant to win you better work, it is worth doing properly.
Side by side
Builder plans change often, so check current prices with each one. For rough costs across every option, see what a tradesman's website really costs.
| What matters | Website builder | Hand-coded site |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | You, from a template, in the evenings - or someone you pay to set the template up. | Someone who does it for a living, built around your services and the areas you cover. |
| How you pay | A monthly or yearly subscription for as long as the site is live. | Usually a one-off build. Hosting for a simple site can cost little or nothing. |
| Speed on a phone | Varies. Templates carry code for features you never use, so many builder sites are slower than they look on a desktop. | Only the code the page needs, so it is usually fast - test any site yourself with Google’s free speed test. |
| Who owns it | You own your words and photos, but the site lives on the builder’s platform. Moving usually means rebuilding. | The code and the domain can be yours outright, and moved to any host. |
| Looking different from the next firm | Many trade sites start from the same handful of templates. | Designed around your business, so it does not look like everyone else’s. |
| Making changes | Easy to edit yourself whenever you like. | Usually done for you; simple edits can be built in if you want them. |
When a builder is the right call
- You are just starting out and cash matters more than your evenings.
- Most of your work comes from word of mouth, and the site only needs to confirm you are real.
- You enjoy tinkering and want to change things yourself every week.
Where it quietly costs you work
- Slow on the phone in the customer's hand. Most people looking for a trade search on a mobile, often on a weak signal. A page that takes several seconds to appear loses people before they see your work. Run your own site through our free speed test to see where you stand.
- Built around the template, not the job. A good trade site has a page for each service people search for and each area you cover, with the call button always in reach. Templates are built for every kind of business, so most of that is left to you to work out.
- A subscription that never ends. Stop paying and the site goes, and moving usually means starting again.
- Your evenings. The hours spent wrestling an editor are hours not spent quoting, invoicing or with your family.
If you go with a builder, do these five things
- Put your phone number at the top of every page, as a tap-to-call link.
- Use your own photos of finished jobs, not stock images.
- Say the towns you cover in plain words, on the page.
- Link to your Google reviews, and keep asking for new ones.
- Test it on your own phone, on mobile data, and with Google's speed test.
When you want it done properly
I build hand-coded websites for UK trades at a fixed price agreed before any work starts, built for 90+ on Google's mobile speed test, and you own the code and the domain outright. No monthly fee on the website.