How do customers choose a tradesperson online?
Most jobs start with a search. Ofcom found that four in five UK adults (82%) use Google Search, and that about 30% of searches now show an AI overview at the top of the results (Ofcom). For a trade business, that means a customer may read a summary of who to call before they reach any website.
When they do click through, their questions are practical and they come fast. Do you cover my postcode? Can you come this week? Are you registered for this kind of work? What have past customers said? Roughly what will it cost? A site that answers those on the first screen gets the call. A site that makes them hunt sends them back to the results.
Trust signals carry real weight here, because every customer has heard a horror story about a bad tradesperson. TrustMark, the government endorsed quality scheme for work in and around the home, lists over 18,000 registered businesses (TrustMark). If you belong to it, or to a trade body or competent person scheme, show the badge as the scheme allows and link to your entry on its public register. A link a customer can check beats a logo they have to take on trust.
What should an electrician's website show?
Householders search for electricians by the job: consumer unit replacement, EV charger installation, EICRs for landlords, rewire costs, electrician near me. Give each of those its own page, saying what the job involves, how long it usually takes and what paperwork the customer gets at the end.
That paperwork matters. Part P of the Building Regulations covers electrical work in homes across England and Wales, and some jobs are notifiable. An electrician registered with a government-approved scheme operator, such as NICEIC or NAPIT, can arrange the Building Regulations Compliance Certificate for that work, and customers can look installers up on the Registered Competent Person Electrical register (Electrical Competent Person). Name your scheme, give your registration number and link to the register.
A tip for electricians in Wales: the Welsh notifiable list is broader than the English one. It includes garden lighting, a supply to a detached garage or shed, and extending a circuit in a kitchen (same source). A page for each of those jobs that explains the certificate the customer will receive answers a question many homeowners do not know to ask.
What do plumbers and heating engineers need on their website?
Plumbing customers arrive in two moods. One has water coming through the ceiling and searches for an emergency plumber on a phone. The other is planning ahead: boiler service, new boiler cost, bathroom fitting. Your site needs an emergency page that loads fast with a call button at the top, plus calmer pages that explain planned work and what drives the price.
Gas work is where the law comes in. HSE guidance says anyone employed to work on gas appliances in a home must be Gas Safe registered, and every registered engineer carries an ID card listing the appliances they are qualified to work on (HSE). Customers can check an engineer on the register online.
So put your Gas Safe registration number on every gas and boiler page, and only advertise gas appliances your engineers are qualified for. Keep plumbing work that involves no gas on separate pages, which makes both clearer for customers and for search engines.
A practical tip: state your real emergency hours and the postcodes you cover out of hours. An honest line about when you answer earns more trust than a vague promise of round-the-clock cover.
How should a roofing company website win work?
Roofing demand follows the weather. After a storm, people search for leak repairs, emergency roofers and storm damage, and the roofers with those pages already live are the ones who get found. Build them before winter. Then add pages for the planned work that pays best: re-roofs, flat roofs, chimney repairs, fascias and guttering.
Customers find roofing hard to judge, because they cannot see the job for themselves. Photos close that gap: shots before, during and after, each with a line on what was wrong and what you did. Put your written guarantees and insurance details next to the quote form.
Show the schemes behind you as well. CompetentRoofer, operated by the National Federation of Roofing Contractors, lets members in England and Wales self-certify that their refurbishment work complies with Building Regulations and issue compliance certificates (RCI). If you hold it, say so on your re-roofing pages, where the customer is weighing up the paperwork.
A practical tip: add a page explaining what happens at your survey. Many homeowners worry about being talked into a bigger job than they need, and a clear survey process puts that worry to rest.
What makes a pest control website bring in enquiries?
Pest control customers are usually stressed and in a hurry: wasps by the back door, rats in the loft, bed bugs after a holiday. They search for the pest plus their town, and they ring the first business that looks credible and available. Commercial buyers search differently, for contracts, inspections and reporting for food businesses, landlords and offices.
Your site has to serve both, with one page per pest, one page per area you cover and a separate commercial section. Trade body membership is a strong signal in this trade. To be a British Pest Control Association member, a company must be audited against the BS EN 16636 standard, employ technicians who meet industry qualification standards and hold at least £2 million of public and products liability insurance (BPCA). If you are a member, say so and show it.
This is the trade where our proof is strongest. The website we built for Pest & Property Solutions in Cardiff has sixteen service pages and twelve location pages, and its results are further down this page. We have also written a dedicated page on pest control websites with more on how we approach them.
Are you a builder or home improvement firm?
Builders sell bigger, slower decisions than most trades. A homeowner planning an extension or a loft conversion may study your site for weeks, compare portfolios and check your trade body membership before asking for a quote. That calls for detailed case studies, a clear process and a quote form that captures budget and timing.
We cover all of that on our dedicated page about website design for builders, along with Google Ads lead generation for home improvement companies.
What would we build for your trade business?
- A trade website written around the jobs you want more of, with a page per service and per area, click-to-call on every page and your registrations where customers look. Live in 30 days.
- SEO and AI search, so you appear in the map results and in the answers ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI overviews give when someone asks for a recommended tradesperson.
- Google Ads for the jobs worth paying for, such as boiler installations or full re-roofs, aimed at the postcodes you actually cover.
- AI automation for the admin that follows every enquiry: an instant reply, a request for photos of the problem, a nudge on quotes that have gone quiet and a review request once the job is done.
Most trade businesses start with the website and Google Business Profile, then add the rest once enquiries are coming in. I would rather you see one piece of work pay for itself before you buy the next.
How much does a website for a trade business cost?
Our website packages are fixed monthly prices on a 12-month term, + VAT, and each site goes live in 30 days.
| Package | Pages | Per month | Usually suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kickstart | Up to 10 | £350 | A sole trader with a few core services and one main area |
| Accelerate | Up to 25 | £650 | A firm with several services across a handful of towns |
| Launch Pad | Up to 50 | £1,000 | A business covering a whole region, with a page for each service and each town |
All three include design and build, copywriting, on-page SEO foundations, GA4 and Search Console, Google Business Profile set-up, hosting, SSL, security and backups. If you would rather we looked after your Google Business Profile month to month, that is £95 a month.
As a guide to scale, a structure like Pest & Property's, with sixteen service pages and twelve location pages, is already past the 25-page limit of Accelerate.
Who will you deal with, and where are we based?
Me. I'm Rhodri, and I lead every engagement personally. I've spent fifteen years in websites and digital marketing, starting out in sales, so I write trade sites the way a good estimator talks: plainly, about the job, the price and the next step.
Roddy Digital is based at 11-13 Penhill Rd in Pontcanna, Cardiff, and we work with trade businesses across the UK. Calls happen on Zoom and are recorded, which suits people who spend the day on site, because you can watch the call back in the evening instead of taking notes. You are welcome at the Pontcanna office by arrangement.
What should a tradesperson ask a web designer before signing?
- Who owns the domain and the content? Get the answer in writing before any work starts.
- Who writes the copy? Plenty of trade sites stall because the owner is left to fill empty pages after a long day on the tools.
- Can they show enquiry numbers? Screenshots of attractive designs prove little. Ask for results from a business like yours.
- What happens to your Google Business Profile? For local trades it sits at the centre of the map results, so it belongs in the plan.
- How will they handle AI search? Run our free AI visibility check on your current site, then ask each provider what they would change.