Plenty of tradies are flat out without a website. Jobs come from hipages, a Facebook community group, a builder you've worked with for years, and mates telling mates.
So it's a fair question: why bother?
“You don't need a website to get work. You need one to keep more of the money from the work you get.”
When you can honestly skip a website
We build websites for a living, so take this seriously. Some tradies don't need one yet.
Self-audit
You can probably skip it if
- 1You're booked out for months on referrals and don't want to grow, raise prices or hire.
- 2You subcontract to one or two builders who hand you all your work.
- 3You're winding down and don't want more enquiries.
If that's you, keep your Google Business Profile up to date and keep collecting reviews. If it isn't, read on.
Three ways to get work, side by side
Each channel has a job. The trouble starts when one of them is doing all the work.
hipages
Good for filling gaps
Fast leads when the calendar is empty. But the same job often goes to several tradies, you pay to see it, and the cheapest quote usually has the edge.
Good for word of mouth
Great for recent job photos and community group tags. But it rarely shows up when someone searches "plumber Carindale", and Facebook controls who sees your posts.
Your website
Good for keeping the margin
Customers who find you on Google, read your reviews and tap to call have half chosen you already. No lead fee, and you're not one of four quotes.
The real cost of renting your customers
Lead platforms are useful, especially when you're starting out. Just be clear on what you're signing up for.
- You compete on price, not reputation. Five years of good work counts for less than the bloke who quotes lower.
- You pay for leads you don't win. Every lost quote still costs the lead fee and your time.
- The rules aren't yours. If the platform changes its prices or policies, your pipeline changes with it.
Two ways the same customer finds you
Through a lead platform
- Posts a job
- Gets 3 or 4 quotes
- Picks on price
Through your website
- Searches your trade and suburb
- Reads your reviews
- Taps to call you
What happens when a referral looks you up
This is the bit most tradies miss. Even word of mouth jobs now go through Google.
Your mate's neighbour gets your name. Before they call, they search it.
If they find a professional site with your licence, real job photos and 40 Google reviews, they ring you. If they find a Facebook page last updated in March, some of them quietly ring the next name instead.
“A lost enquiry doesn't leave a voicemail.”
That's why it's easy to think you don't need a website. The jobs it would have won are invisible.
Try the 30 second phone test
Free DIY check
Pretend you're your own customer
Grab your phone. Imagine your hot water just died. Then work through these four checks.
- 1
Search your trade and suburb
Do you show up on the first screen, in the map or below it?
- 2
Search your business name
Can someone tell in five seconds what you do and where you work?
- 3
Try to call yourself
Is there a number you can tap, right at the top, without zooming or scrolling?
- 4
Look for proof
Reviews, job photos and a licence number. If a stranger can't find them, they don't exist.
Any answer a no? That's work you're losing without ever hearing about it.
What a tradie website actually needs
It doesn't need to be fancy. It needs to do a few jobs well, mostly on a phone.
Manual checklist
The tradie website checklist
Tick these off and your site is doing its job.
- A tap to call button at the top of every page.
- A page for each service, so Google can match you to real searches.
- The suburbs you cover, written for the areas you actually want work in.
- Your licence number and insurance, stated clearly.
- Real photos of your work, not stock photos of a smiling bloke in a hard hat.
- Your Google reviews, right next to the call button.
- A short quote form for customers who can't call during work hours.
- Lead tracking, so you can see which calls and forms came from the site.
Start taking a photo at the end of every job. Six months from now you'll have the best gallery in your area.
Reviews matter just as much. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews as a tradie has text templates you can copy today.
What it looks like when it works
Prestige Door Services, a Brisbane garage door business, had a website that sold the business short. We rebuilt it and ran a focused SEO campaign. 6 months later they had 89% more organic traffic and 120% more online conversions.
Every business is different and we'll never promise a result. Read the full Prestige case study to see how it came together.
Keep the platforms, add the website
You don't have to choose. Use hipages and Facebook to fill gaps in the calendar, while a website builds a steady flow of direct jobs with no lead fee.
Over time, the balance shifts towards the work you keep more of.
That's what we build: a professionally designed website with your reviews, job photos and a tap to call button where customers make up their minds. Lead tracking is included in every package. See our work for trades and home services and our fixed prices on the packages page.
You'll see a first draft within 3 business days of us receiving your content.
Frequently asked questions
Do tradies need a website if they're on hipages?
Not to get started, but a website makes the jobs you win more profitable. Lead platforms send the same job to several businesses, so you compete on price. A website lets customers who already want you find you directly, with no lead fee and no one to undercut you.
Is a Facebook page enough for a tradie?
A Facebook page is good for showing recent jobs and staying top of mind, but it doesn't rank well in Google for searches like "electrician near me", and you don't control how it looks or what Facebook shows next to it. Most tradies do best with both: Facebook for word of mouth, a website for search and trust.
What should a tradie website include?
Your services, the suburbs you cover, your licence number, real photos of your work, your Google reviews, and a phone number you can tap from a mobile. A short quote form helps for customers who can't talk during the day.
How long does it take to get a tradie website?
At Launch North, you'll see a first draft within 3 business days of us receiving your content, and most business websites go live in one to two weeks.
Will a website get me more jobs straight away?
A website on its own won't make the phone ring overnight. What it does straight away is make every other channel work harder: referrals check you out, your Google profile has somewhere to send people, and ads have a page that turns clicks into calls. Ranking in Google for new searches takes longer and comes from good service and suburb pages.
Find out what your website would cost
Tell us your trade, your services and the suburbs you cover. You'll get an instant quote in a few minutes, with no sales call needed to see the price.