Ask ten tradespeople what they paid for their website and you will get ten different answers, from "nothing, my nephew did it" to several thousand pounds. Here is a plain guide to what the options cost and what you should expect for the money.
The costs every website has
Whichever route you take, there are two running costs:
- A domain name - your address, like yourbusiness.co.uk. Usually somewhere between £5 and £20 a year depending on the ending and where you buy it. Always buy it in your own name, so it stays yours whatever happens.
- Hosting - the service that keeps the site online. Sometimes it is included in a website builder's price, sometimes it is separate.
Then there is the cost of the website itself, which is where the options differ.
Option 1: Build it yourself on a website builder
Services like Wix and Squarespace give you templates and tools to build your own site. In the UK, their cheapest plans that let you use your own domain cost around £9 a month (Wix) and £12 a month (Squarespace) when paid yearly, at the time of writing, and more if you pay monthly. Plans and prices change, so check their current pricing pages.
Good for: people who enjoy this kind of thing and have the evenings to spend on it.
The catch: the price is for the tools, not the website. You still have to pick a template, write every word, work out which pages you need and make it look professional. Many trades start, get halfway, and end up with a half-finished site that does more harm than good.
Option 2: Pay a freelancer or agency
A web designer or agency builds the site for you. Prices vary enormously, from a few hundred pounds for a simple site to several thousand for something bespoke, plus monthly hosting and maintenance fees in many cases.
Good for: established businesses that want something unique and have the budget.
The catch: watch for being charged for every small change after launch, for the domain being registered in the agency's name, and for long contracts. Ask who owns the site and the domain before you sign anything.
Option 3: A trade-specific service
Some services exist just for trades. They know what a trade website needs, so they include it by default: call and WhatsApp buttons, quote forms, service pages and area pages. This is the gap we built SiteForTrades for: you answer a few questions, we write three complete websites for your business, and you pick one. Our launch price is £2 a month (billed yearly) for a site on a sitefortrades.com address, or £7 a month for your own domain and the ability to change your site just by typing what you want to Claude.
What you should get for your money
Whatever you pay, a trade website should:
- Load fast on a phone
- Show your trade, your area and your phone number at the top
- Have call, WhatsApp and quote buttons that work
- Have a page for each service and your main areas
- Show only true information: real reviews, real qualifications, your own photos
- Be easy to change when your services, prices or areas change
- Be yours: your domain, in your name
If you are paying more and not getting these, ask why.
What not to pay for
- Guaranteed number one on Google. Nobody can promise this honestly.
- Packages of reviews. Fake reviews are illegal in the UK and the US, and against Google's rules. See how to get your first Google reviews the honest way.
- Features you will never use. Online shops, member logins and complex booking systems rarely make sense for a trade.
So what is the right amount?
For most sole traders and small trade firms, a website should be a small, predictable monthly cost, not a big one-off gamble. What matters far more than the price is whether it does the job: when someone looks you up after being given your number, they find a professional, honest site and call you.