Website for contractors

A website for contractors has one job: turn a homeowner or property manager who is searching right now into a quote request. Beautiful design helps only if it supports that. The sites that win jobs for renovators, roofers, electricians, plumbers, landscapers and cabinet makers share the same features: clear service pages, real project photos, honest price guidance, visible licences and insurance, and a quote form that works on a phone with one thumb.

Below is what I would put on a contractor site, why each part matters, and the mistakes I see most often on trades websites across Canada.

How homeowners choose a contractor online

The typical path looks like this. Someone notices a problem or plans a project. They search on Google, often on a phone, often with the city name: "basement finishing Calgary", "roof repair Halifax", "electrician near me". They look at the map results and the top few sites. They open two or three, look at photos and reviews, and check whether you serve their area. Then they call or send a form, sometimes to all three.

Your site needs to win at each step: appear in the search, look credible in the first seconds, prove you do this kind of work well, and make contact easy. Miss one and the job goes to someone else.

The pages a contractor site needs

• A page for each main service. Kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations and basement finishing are different searches and different customers. One page called "Services" listing all of them ranks for none.
• Service area information. The cities and neighbourhoods you cover. If you serve a metro area plus nearby towns, say which. Separate pages for main areas can help, as long as each has genuinely useful local content and is not a copy with the city name swapped.
• Projects or portfolio. Before and after photos with a short story: what the client wanted, what you did, how long it took, roughly what it cost.
• About. Who you are, how long you have been in the trade, who will actually be on site.
• Process. From the first call to the final walkthrough. Homeowners fear mess, delays and surprise costs; a clear process calms all three.
• Contact and quote request. Phone, form, service area, hours.

Proof that makes homeowners trust you

Contractors are hired on trust. Show it plainly:

Price guidance without giving away your quote

Most contractors resist putting prices online because every job is different. That is fair, but showing nothing makes people assume the worst. Middle ground that works:

• A typical range for your most common jobs, using your real numbers, with a note on what pushes it up or down.
• What drives the price: size, materials, structural changes, permits.
• Two or three example projects with their final cost range.
• A free or paid estimate policy stated clearly.

Real ranges filter out tyre-kickers and attract people who are ready to spend.

A quote form that gets used

The form is where contractor sites lose the most leads. Keep it short and useful:

• Name, phone, postal code or city, type of project, and an optional message.
• An option to upload photos of the space or problem. It saves you a site visit for small jobs.
• A line telling them when you will call back.
• A tap-to-call button and, if you use it, a WhatsApp or text option.

Then make sure every enquiry reaches you fast, ideally on your phone and in a simple CRM, so it does not get lost while you are on a roof.

Getting found: SEO, Maps and ads

A contractor site works best together with local visibility:

• Google Business Profile with your service area, categories, photos and reviews. For many trades, the map results bring more calls than the website itself.
• Local SEO on service and area pages, as I describe in local SEO and Google Business Profile.
• Google Ads and Local Services Ads, which run in many Canadian cities for many trades. Ads bring calls quickly while SEO builds up. More on local Google Ads and Local Services Ads.

An example: for Boreal Kitchens & Cabinetry in Edmonton I built the website and run ads, chatbots, CRM and SEO. The site now has 200 keywords on the first page of Google in Canada.

Mistakes I see on contractor websites

1. Stock photos of hard hats and handshakes. Customers can tell. Your own phone photos of real jobs are better.
2. No phone number in the header on mobile.
3. One "Services" page for everything.
4. A portfolio with no words. Photos without context do not explain why they should hire you.
5. Outdated content. A "Spring special" in November, or a licence number that changed.
6. Seasonal blind spots. Not adjusting the site and ads for your busy and slow seasons, which in Canada can be dramatic for exterior work.

What it costs and how long it takes

A focused landing page for one service starts at $1,300 and can be live from 10 days, ideal before the season starts. A full business website with service and area pages starts at $3,000, and the Growth package with Google Ads setup and analytics starts at $4,300, all in Canadian dollars. You can see how I approach the whole trade on marketing for construction companies and marketing for plumbers, electricians and HVAC.

If you want more quote requests before the next busy season, send me a short brief and the jobs you want more of.