There’s no single “right price” for a trade website, because you’re not buying one thing — you’re buying design, words, hosting, an email address, getting found on Google and keeping it all updated. What matters is understanding what each way of paying really includes, and what it quietly leaves out.
Key takeaway
The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest website. A £500 one-off build with no SEO, no updates and no support often costs more over two years than a managed plan — because a site nobody can find, and nobody keeps current, doesn’t win you any work.
The three ways trades pay
Almost every quote you’ll see falls into one of three models: a one-off agency build, a do-it-yourself website builder, or a monthly managed service. They’re priced completely differently because they hand you completely different amounts of work.
Option 1: One-off agency build
Typical price: £1,500 to £6,000+ upfront. A local agency or freelancer designs and builds you a site, you pay once, and you own it. At the good end you get something smart and bespoke. The catches:
- It’s a big lump sum before you’ve won a penny back.
- SEO, content and getting you found are often extra, or simply not included — so you get a nice-looking site that doesn’t rank.
- Once it’s built, changes cost money and often mean waiting in a queue. Many trade sites go stale within a year because updates are a hassle.
- Hosting, domain, email and security are usually billed separately or left to you.
Option 2: DIY builders
Typical price: £10 to £30 a month, plus your time. Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and the like let you build it yourself from a template. It’s the cheapest in pounds, and if you’re handy and have the hours, you can get something live. The real cost is time and results:
- Evenings and weekends off the tools, learning software instead of earning.
- Templates that look like everyone else’s, and DIY copy that rarely sells the job.
- Little to no proper local SEO unless you already know how — so it often doesn’t rank.
- When something breaks or needs changing, it’s on you.
Option 3: Monthly managed websites
Typical price: £35 to £75 a month, all-in. A managed service designs, writes, hosts and looks after everything for a single monthly fee, with no big upfront bill. The good ones roll the whole lot into one price: design, content, local SEO, domain, hosting, business email and ongoing updates. The thing to check is what’s actually included — some “managed” plans are a cheap template with little behind it. A proper one is effectively a website plus a marketing service for the price of a couple of coffees a week.
That’s the model we run: all-inclusive website design for tradesmen for one flat monthly price, with no setup fee, unlimited edits and no long tie-in. You can see exactly what’s in it on the pricing section of our homepage.
The costs nobody puts on the quote
Whichever route you take, watch for the extras that turn a tidy headline price into a much bigger one:
- Domain name — usually £10–£20 a year, sometimes marked up heavily.
- Hosting — anywhere from a few pounds to £30+ a month.
- Business email — often an add-on rather than included.
- SSL / security — should be standard, sometimes charged separately.
- Edits and updates — the sneaky one. Change a phone number or add a service and you’re billed by the hour.
- SEO — frequently sold as a separate monthly retainer on top of the build.
What you should get for your money
Whatever you pay, a trade website earning its keep should include all of this — use it as a checklist when you compare quotes:
- A fast, mobile-friendly, multi-page site written to sell your services.
- Copy written for you — not a blank template you have to fill in.
- Local SEO for your trade and the towns you cover.
- A Google Business Profile set up and optimised.
- Your own domain, secure hosting and a business email address.
- Contact and quote forms that land straight in your inbox.
- Ongoing updates so the site stays current instead of going stale.
Red flags that signal a rip-off
- A big upfront fee with vague or no mention of getting you found on Google.
- “SEO guaranteed — page one in 30 days.” Nobody can honestly promise a specific Google position.
- Every small change billed by the hour.
- You don’t own your domain, or you can’t take it with you if you leave.
- A long lock-in contract with heavy exit fees.
So what’s the right number?
For most sole traders and small trade firms, a website that genuinely wins work costs either a few thousand pounds upfront done well by an agency, or roughly £35–£75 a month for a proper managed service that includes the marketing side. DIY is only “cheap” if your evenings are worth nothing. The number that matters isn’t the price — it’s the cost per job won. A site that brings in one extra job a month has paid for itself many times over.
If you want to see what an all-inclusive monthly site looks like for your trade with no obligation, book a free demo and we’ll build you a real preview and show you the exact price before you decide.
Common questions
Expect roughly £1,500–£6,000 upfront for a one-off agency build, £10–£30 a month plus your time for DIY, or around £35–£75 a month for a fully managed service that includes design, content, SEO, hosting, email and updates.
In pounds, yes — DIY builders start around £10 a month. But it costs you evenings off the tools, usually lacks proper local SEO, and often doesn’t rank, so the real cost is the work it fails to bring in. Whether it’s worth it depends on how you value your time.
Because a website that keeps winning work needs ongoing hosting, security, updates and SEO, not just a one-time build. A monthly fee spreads the cost, removes the big upfront bill, and keeps someone responsible for the site long after it goes live.
The common extras are the domain, hosting, business email, SSL, SEO and — most often — charges for every edit. Always ask what’s included in the headline price and what gets billed on top.