How much does a website cost for a tradesperson in the UK?

If you've ever asked another trade "how much did your website cost?" you've probably had five different answers: £99, £3,000, "my nephew did it", "I use Facebook". So let's cut through it. This is what a website actually costs a UK tradesperson in 2026, what you should and shouldn't pay for, and how to make sure it pays for itself instead of sitting there gathering dust.

The short version: expect £500 to £2,500 to build a proper one, plus £20 to £75/month to host, maintain and keep it ranking. Anything claiming to be "free" is costing you somewhere else: usually in leads.

The three ways to get a trade website (and what each really costs)

There are really only three routes. Here's the honest trade-off on each: money, time, and whether it'll actually win you work.

Option	Upfront	Ongoing	Reality check
DIY (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy)	£0 to £100	£10 to £30/mo	Cheap, but eats your evenings, looks templated, and rarely ranks on Google without serious effort.
Freelancer / "my mate"	£300 to £1,200	Varies	Hit and miss. Great if they're good and stick around; painful when they vanish and you can't get a phone number changed.
Specialist agency	£500 to £2,500	£20 to £75/mo	Built to rank and convert, maintained for you. The right one pays for itself; the wrong one overcharges for a brochure.

What you're actually paying for

The price tag isn't really about "a website". It's about whether it does a job. A good trade site should:

• Load in under 2 seconds on mobile. Most of your customers are on their phone, often standing in a job.
• Rank for local searches like "electrician near me" or "emergency plumber [your town]".
• Make it stupidly easy to call you: a tap-to-call button that follows them down the page.
• Look like you charge what you charge. Trust is the whole game when someone's letting you into their home.

If a quote doesn't mention speed, mobile, or Google, you're paying for decoration, not lead generation.

"But I get all my work from word of mouth"

Brilliant, keep that. But here's what happens with word of mouth in 2026: someone recommends you, the customer Googles your name before they call. If nothing comes up, or what comes up is a half-finished Facebook page, a sliver of doubt creeps in. A clean site that shows your reviews, your work and your area closes that gap instantly. Word of mouth gets you the introduction; the website gets you the booking.

How to make a website pay for itself

This is the bit most "web designers" skip. A website is an investment, not a bill, but only if it's set up to bring work in. Here's the maths most trades never run:

1. Say your average job is worth £250.
2. A £500 + £50/mo site costs roughly £1,100 in year one.
3. That's about 4 to 5 extra jobs across the whole year to break even.
4. A site that ranks locally should bring in far more than that, often within the first couple of months.

One emergency callout, one bathroom, one rewire from someone who found you on Google, and it's paid for. Everything after that is profit.

Red flags that mean you're overpaying

• £3,000+ for a five-page site with no SEO and no ongoing support.
• Locked-in contracts where you don't own your domain or content.
• "SEO packages" with no clear deliverables: just a monthly invoice.
• No phone number for the person who built it. If they ghost, your site rots.

What we charge (so you've got a benchmark)

For full transparency, here's our pricing as a yardstick, not a pitch. Tez Earth builds for UK tradespeople from £500 one-off + £50/month, which covers hosting, updates, and keeping you ranking. We take one client per trade, per area, so we're never building the same site for you and your competitor down the road. If a quote you've got is wildly above or below the ranges in this article, ask them why. A good answer is fine; no answer is a red flag.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a website cost for a tradesperson in the UK?

In 2026, a professional one-off trade website typically costs £500 to £2,500 to build, plus £20 to £75/month for hosting, updates and support. DIY builders are cheaper upfront (£10 to £30/month) but cost you time and rarely rank.

Do I really need a website if I'm fully booked?

Being fully booked today doesn't protect you against a quiet month. A ranking website is the tap you turn on when work slows down, and it lets you be choosier (and pricier) about the jobs you take when it's busy.

Is Wix good enough for a trade business?

Wix can work for a basic presence, but it's slow to rank, fiddly to maintain, and looks templated. For winning local work, a fast, built-for-you site optimised for local SEO consistently outperforms it.