How much does a website cost for a UK tradesman?

What actually drives the cost of a trade website?

Most of the price comes down to time, and time comes from five things.

• Page count. A one-page site with your services, area and contact details is a much smaller job than a site with a separate page for every service and town you cover.
• Content. If you supply the words and photos, the build is quicker. If someone has to write the copy, take photos of your work or source images, that is real extra work and it shows in the quote.
• Features. A contact form is simple. A quote request form with photo uploads, an online booking calendar, a gallery of past jobs or a finance calculator each adds design, build and testing time.
• Custom build or template. A template you fill in is cheaper up front. A site designed and coded around your business takes longer but has no ceiling on speed or structure.
• What happens after launch. Hosting, security updates, backups, small edits and search work can be a monthly fee, a pay-as-you-go rate, or nothing at all, which leaves it to you.

Why do quotes for the same website vary so much?

Because two quotes for "a website" are rarely quoting for the same thing. One might include copywriting, search setup, hosting and a year of edits. Another might be the build only, with the words, the domain and the hosting left to you.

Who does the work matters too. A freelancer reusing a template can quote less than an agency that designs from scratch and has project managers to pay. Neither is wrong. They are different products, and the cheapest quote is only cheaper if it includes what you actually need.

The fastest way to compare is to ask each person what is not included. That answer usually explains the gap.

What ongoing costs should I expect after the site is built?

Even a fully paid-for website has some running costs. Budget for these from the start so nothing surprises you later.

• Domain name renewal, usually yearly.
• Hosting, so the site stays online and loads quickly.
• Business email on your own domain, if you want one.
• Maintenance: security updates, backups and fixing anything that breaks.
• Changes and new pages as your business grows.
• Any paid search or ads work, which is a separate budget from the website itself.

Some agencies roll the first four into one monthly fee. Others bill separately. Ask which, and ask what notice you need to give to stop paying.

What should a good website quote include?

A clear quote answers these questions in writing before you agree to anything:

• Which pages will be built, and roughly what goes on each one.
• Who writes the words and who supplies the photos.
• Whether basic search setup is included: page titles, descriptions, structured data and connecting Google Search Console.
• Who owns the domain, the code and the content once you have paid.
• What the monthly costs are, what they cover, and whether there is a minimum term.
• How many rounds of changes are included before launch.
• Roughly how long the build will take.

If a quote leaves any of these out, ask. A good builder will answer without hesitation.

Is a cheap website a false economy for a tradesman?

Not always. If most of your work comes from word of mouth and the website is just somewhere people check your number, a simple, low-cost site can do that job well.

It becomes a false economy when the site is meant to win work from people who have never heard of you. Those visitors compare two or three sites on their phone and contact whichever looks most trustworthy and is easiest to act on. A slow page, no clear service area or a contact form that is hard to find loses those jobs quietly, and you never see the enquiry you missed. Google's own guidance on Core Web Vitals treats loading speed as part of a good page experience for exactly this reason.

How do I compare two website quotes fairly?

Put them side by side against the checklist above and fill in the gaps by asking. Then ask each builder to show you a site they have built that loads quickly on a phone, and run it through PageSpeed Insights yourself. It is free and takes a minute.

Finally, ask what happens if you want to leave. If the answer is that you lose the site, or you have to pay to get your own domain back, that is worth knowing before you sign. At Drivn the code, domain and content are yours, and monthly support can be cancelled with 30 days' notice. Our terms set this out in full.

If you want a figure for your own business, answer a few quick questions and we will come back with a tailored quote. You can also read how our website builds for tradesmen work.