A contractor website needs license numbers a customer can verify, photos of real completed jobs, a page for each service in each city actually served, a quote form that reaches the owner directly, a phone number on every page, and plain pages about pricing and financing. Proof and easy contact win more local jobs than design does.
We have rebuilt two contractor websites recently, and both started from a common place. Vortech AC and Electrical had a template site that looked like every other contractor's. Charme and Sons, a Peoria handyman, had a single page whose menu links went nowhere, and nobody had the source code.
Neither business had a problem doing good work. The problem was that a homeowner comparing contractors online could not tell. The sites said what every site says: quality, experience, satisfaction guaranteed.
A homeowner is about to let a stranger into the house and pay them. The website's job is to make that stranger less of one. Here is what does that.
What should a contractor website include?
A contractor website should include proof that the business is legitimate, evidence of its work, a page for each service in each place it works, and a fast way to ask for a quote. In order of how much each one matters to a homeowner deciding whom to call:
- License numbers. Shown in full, so anyone can look them up.
- Real job photos. Your work, in your customers' homes, with no stock images.
- Service by city pages. One page for each service in each city you drive to.
- A quote form that reaches the owner. Short, and delivered to a person who can answer.
- A phone number on every page. Tappable on a phone, in the header.
- A pricing page. How you charge, even if not every number.
- A financing page. If you offer it, explain it plainly.
The first two are proof. The next is how customers find you. The last four are how they reach you and decide.
Why should a contractor show license numbers?
A contractor should show license numbers because it is the one claim on the site a customer can check independently. The words "licensed and insured" are easy to type. A number that can be looked up with the state's licensing board turns that phrase into a fact.
On the Vortech site we published verified license numbers. It costs nothing, and it separates a real contractor from an unlicensed one more clearly than any paragraph of copy.
Put the numbers where people look: the footer of every page and the about page. Do not hide them behind an image.
Rules about how licenses must be displayed in advertising vary by state and trade, so check with your own licensing board.
This kind of checkable proof is what search guidelines mean by trust. We explain the idea in what is E-E-A-T.
Why do real job photos matter more than stock photos?
Real job photos matter because customers can tell the difference, and a stock photo says nothing about your work. A picture of an actual installation, in an actual house, shows the quality of the job and proves the business has done one. A model in a clean hard hat proves nothing.
The Vortech site uses real jobs and no stock. For Charme and Sons we assembled a work gallery from the company's own job photos.
They do not need to be professional. They need to be clear and honest: the finished job, in good light, and a before picture when you have one. Get the customer's permission before showing the inside of their home. Make it a habit to take two photos at the end of every job, and the gallery builds itself.
What are service by city pages and do you need them?
Service by city pages are individual pages for each combination of a service and a place, such as one page for AC repair in one city and another for the same service in the next city over. You need them if you work in several cities, because that is how people search.
A homeowner does not search for a contractor in general. They search for a specific job in their own town. A single services page listing everything you do, everywhere you do it, is a poor match for that search.
For Vortech we built 108 pages covering each service in each city they drive to. The Charme and Sons rebuild went from one page to 72, covering services and cities among other things.
The limit is honesty. Build pages only for cities you really serve, and put something specific on each one. A page that swaps the city name into the same paragraph adds nothing. We cover how to generate these well in programmatic SEO for local service businesses, and the wider picture in local SEO for service area businesses.
A contractor who works in one town does not need this. A handful of good service pages is enough.
Where should a quote form send the request?
A quote form should send the request straight to the person who can answer it, usually the owner, and it should arrive within moments. A request that waits in an unread inbox goes to whichever competitor replied first. Speed of reply is part of the service.
The Vortech quote form reaches the owner directly.
Keep the form short: name, phone, address or city, and what the job is. Let the customer attach a photo if they want to. Then test it. Fill in your own form from your phone once a month. A broken form is a fault nobody reports, because the people affected simply call someone else. How to make those messages arrive reliably is in SMS and email notifications in apps.
Should a contractor put pricing and financing on the website?
A contractor should put pricing information on the website, even without exact figures for every job. Customers want to know how you charge before they call: by the hour or by the job, whether estimates are free, and whether there is a service fee. Saying so plainly filters out poor fits and reassures good ones.
The Charme and Sons rebuild included pricing and financing pages for this reason. Many contractors avoid the subject because every job is different. That is true, and you can say it on the page. Explain what makes a job cost more or less.
Financing deserves its own page if you offer it. Explain who provides it and how a customer applies. A large repair is often unplanned, and knowing there is a way to pay over time can decide whether the customer goes ahead.
Frequently asked questions
How many pages should a contractor website have?
As many as you have real services and real places to describe. A contractor in one town may need ten. One working across many cities may need a hundred. The count should follow the business.
Do contractors need a blog?
Not necessarily. Service pages, proof, and contact matter more. A blog helps only if it answers questions your customers ask, such as how to tell whether something needs repair or replacement.
Should a contractor use a website builder?
For a one-person business in one town, a hosted builder is a reasonable start. It becomes limiting when you need many service and city pages, because building each by hand takes too long.
Do customer reviews belong on the website?
Yes, when they are real and attributed. Link to where they were originally posted so a visitor can confirm them, and never edit what the customer wrote.
Who should own the contractor's website?
The contractor should: the domain, the hosting account, and the code, all in the business's own name. Charme and Sons came to us with no access to the source of their own site, and it had to be rebuilt from the outside in.
If your site says what every other contractor's says, tell us what you do and where you work and we will show you what we would build.