How much should a tradesman website cost in 2026?

Tradesmen routinely overpay for websites. Either £80/month forever via "managed" providers, £3,000+ to local agencies for a site that loads in 5 seconds, or £150 on Fiverr for a template that breaks within a year. The right number is between £497 and £1,997 fixed price, paid once. Here's why.

The four price brackets you'll see

£0-£250 — DIY / Wix / Fiverr templates

What you get: a generic template, your phone number plugged in, basic photos. Loads slowly because it's bloated with widgets you don't use. Doesn't rank on Google because the SEO is amateur. Your domain often locked to the platform. Trust signal for prospects: zero.

Verdict: Cheap upfront, expensive in lost leads. Tradesmen using these typically lose 5-15 jobs a year that a proper site would have captured.

£40-£100/month — "Managed" website packages

The biggest scam in trade websites. You pay forever. After 3 years you've spent £1,500-£3,600 and you still don't own the site. Common providers: Yell sites, Bark sites, "we'll build and host for £49/month" outfits.

Worse: when you cancel, you usually lose the site entirely. The domain is sometimes registered to the provider, not you. We've seen plumbers stuck on £79/month for 6 years (£5,688 spent) for a site that takes 4 seconds to load and ranks for nothing.

Verdict: Avoid completely. The £40-£100/month wrapper is for the provider's lock-in revenue, not your benefit.

£497-£1,997 fixed price — productised builds (us)

You pay once, you own everything from day one. Site is fast (Lighthouse 100), mobile-first, with proper local SEO setup including Google Business Profile, schema markup, and service-area pages. Usually delivered in 7-14 days.

Pricing tiers:

• Starter (£497) — One-page site, your phone, services, photos, contact form. Good for solo tradesmen with a tight budget.
• Standard (£997) — 5-page site with per-service pages and 3-5 service-area pages. Best entry point for most trades.
• Pro (£1,997) — 10-page site with deep service-area coverage, blog, email automation. For trades targeting multiple towns / commercial work.

Verdict: The right choice for 90% of UK tradesmen. Pays back the cost from a single 2-3 job win.

£3,000-£8,000 — traditional local agency

You'll meet a salesperson, sit through 2-3 calls, get a brief written, then wait 8-12 weeks for the site. Quality varies wildly. Some agencies deliver excellent work; many deliver £1,000 of value for £4,500 of price because they have to support office overheads.

Then they often try to sell you ongoing SEO retainers (£300-£1,000/month) where the actual work is sometimes minimal.

Verdict: Worth it if you're scaling to 6+ employees and need bespoke work. Overkill for solo tradesmen and small teams.

£4,500+ — Premium / hospitality-grade bespoke

For high-end joiners, master builders, heritage specialists where the website needs to feel as crafted as the work. Custom design, hand-written copy, custom motion, bespoke imagery brief. Live in 4 weeks. We offer this as our Premium tier (£4,500 fixed) — see three live examples.

Hidden costs nobody tells you

• Domain ownership. If your "agency" registers the domain in their name, you don't own it. Walk-away cost: priceless. Check whose name your domain is registered to. We always register in yours.
• Hosting lock-in. Some agencies host on their account. When you leave, you lose access. We use your own hosting account.
• SEO retainers. Often sold for £300-£1,000/month with limited deliverables. Most tradesmen don't need ongoing SEO once the site is set up properly — local SEO is largely a one-time setup.
• Email separately. Some agencies charge extra for business email setup. We include Google Workspace setup help free at all tiers.
• Update fees. "Update your phone number? £80." Avoid agencies with hourly update charges. Our care plan is £29-£97/month with monthly edits included, optional.

By trade — what to spend

We've built enough trade-specific landing pages now to give specific guidance per trade:

• Plumbers — Standard (£997). Emergency CTA + service-area pages + Gas Safe display matter most.
• Electricians — Standard (£997) or Pro (£1,997) if you do EV charging. EV charger keyword is hot in 2026.
• Builders — Pro (£1,997) or Premium (£4,500). Project galleries and case studies justify higher tier.
• Decorators — Standard (£997) or Pro (£1,997). Before/after sliders + visual portfolio matter most.
• Joiners — Pro (£1,997) or Premium (£4,500). Bespoke joinery deserves a premium feel.
• Gas engineers — Standard (£997). Gas Safe + brand accreditations + finance integration matter most.
• Handymen — Starter (£497) or Standard (£997). Long service list + transparent pricing matter most.

The real test

Forget the price for a second. Ask any website provider these five questions:

1. "Will I own the domain in my name from day one?" (Should be yes.)
2. "Will the site hit Lighthouse 100?" (Should be yes — every site we ship does.)
3. "Do you set up my Google Business Profile?" (Should be yes.)
4. "Will I get all the source files and logins?" (Should be yes.)
5. "What happens if I cancel after 3 months?" (Should be: you keep everything, walk away clean.)

If they hesitate on any of these, walk away. We answer "yes, yes, yes, yes, you keep everything" to all five.

Further reading

• What a UK plumber website actually costs in 2026 — deep dive on plumber-specific pricing
• Free Lighthouse audit on your current site — see your real scores