How much does a website cost for a tradesperson? (UK)

If you've typed "how much does a website cost for a tradesperson" into Google, the honest answer is: it depends entirely on which of five price shapes you choose, and each one trades off money against time, control and how professional the result looks. A basic DIY site can cost you almost nothing but your evenings. A proper agency build can run into the thousands. There's no single market price, because you're not buying one product, you're choosing between five different ones.

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

There are five common shapes a trade website purchase takes. Which one is right for you depends on how much time you have, how comfortable you are figuring out software yourself, and whether you want something that just exists or something that actively brings in bookings.

1. DIY website builder

You build it yourself using a drag and drop tool such as Wix, Squarespace or GoDaddy. The ongoing cost is usually a modest monthly subscription for hosting and the builder itself. Exact pricing varies by provider and changes often, so it isn't something we'll quote a figure for here, check current plans directly on the builder's own pricing page before you commit. The real cost isn't the subscription anyway. It's your own time: expect several evenings to get something presentable, longer if you want it to look properly professional and load fast on a phone.

2. A template bought once, then set up

Similar to DIY, but you pay a one off fee for a pre-built design, often from a marketplace, and either set it up yourself or pay someone a smaller amount to install it for you. This sits below a full DIY build in ongoing cost but above it in setup cost, and the site can end up looking like every other business that bought the same template.

3. A freelancer builds it for you

You pay someone, often local or found through a referral, a one off project fee to design and build a small site from scratch. Freelancer pricing varies enormously depending on experience, how custom the design is, and how many pages you need, so get more than one quote before you commit rather than accepting the first number you're given. Be clear upfront about who owns the domain, who hosts it, and what happens if the freelancer stops trading.

4. An agency builds it for you

A marketing or web agency handles design, copy, photography and build as a full project, usually with ongoing support or a retainer afterwards. This is the most expensive shape by a distance, reflecting the number of people and hours involved, and it's usually the right call only once a business is established enough to need something bespoke and has a marketing budget to put behind it.

5. Included with your booking or business software

Some trade software platforms, including OptiTech Automation, include a professional booking website as part of the platform rather than as a separate purchase. You don't pay for a website on top of the software. The site and the booking system are the same product, built to work together from day one.

What actually drives the price up or down?

Regardless of which shape you pick, the same few things move the cost:

• Number of pages and how much custom content, photos, copy, case studies, each one needs
• Whether it needs to take bookings and payments, not just display information
• How much ongoing change you'll want: new services, new areas, seasonal offers
• Whether someone else is writing the copy for you, or you're doing it yourself
• Hosting, domain and maintenance costs that continue after the build

A site that's just a digital business card costs far less than one built to actually convert a visitor into a booked job, because the second one needs booking, payment and follow-up built in, not just a page that looks nice. Some of that decision overlaps with a separate question, whether to put prices on the site at all, which changes how much content the site needs.

Worked example (illustrative numbers only, not a quote)

Say a local electrician gets three options: a DIY build they'd do themselves over a few evenings for the cost of whatever subscription they pick, a freelancer quote of roughly £800 for a five page site with no booking system, and a software platform that includes a booking website for £599 a month alongside everything else the business needs to run: quoting, dispatch, payments.

The DIY option is cheapest on paper but costs real evenings, and still needs a way to take bookings bolted on separately. The freelancer option looks like better value than an agency, but the site is static: no booking, no payments, nothing that updates itself, and changes later usually mean paying again. The bundled option costs more per month than doing nothing, but it replaces several separate purchases, website, booking system, payment processing, with one.

These numbers are illustrative examples to show how the comparison works, not quotes for your specific job. Get your own quotes before deciding.

Do I even need a website, or is Facebook enough?

For some trades and some stages of business, a strong Facebook or Instagram page genuinely covers the basics. But a page you don't own can change its rules, its reach or its algorithm overnight, and it's harder to make it take a booking directly. We've written a full comparison of the two approaches in do tradespeople need a website, or is Facebook enough?

Where OptiTech Automation fits

OptiTech Automation includes a professional booking website as part of the platform, not as a separate cost. It replaces the separate website purchase, plus the separate booking tool, plus the separate payment setup, with one system. Payments land straight into your own Stripe account and we take no cut of what you charge, only the standard card fee. Full detail is on our pricing page: Standard is £599 a month for up to fifteen on the tools, Growth is £1,749 a month for up to 30. We're new, so the first ten businesses get the one off onboarding investment waived and today's monthly rate locked for life.

If all you need is a page that tells people you exist and your phone number, this is the wrong tool for the job, a cheap template or a Facebook page will do that fine. OptiTech Automation is built for businesses that want the site to actually take the booking, not just display the phone number. Once you've worked out what to charge for the jobs that come through it, our guide to setting your hourly rate walks through that separately.

FAQ

What's the cheapest way to get a tradesperson website?
A DIY builder is the cheapest in cash terms, but it costs your own time instead of money. If your time is better spent on paid jobs, a low cash cost isn't automatically the cheapest option overall.

Is a freelancer or an agency better value?
It depends on the size of the job. A freelancer usually costs less and suits a small, mostly static site. An agency costs more but suits a business that needs ongoing marketing support, not just a one off build.

Do I need to pay extra for a website to take bookings and payments?
Often, yes. Many cheap website builds are designed to display information, not to take a booking or a deposit. Adding that functionality usually means a separate booking tool or plugin, which is its own ongoing cost.

How much should I budget for a website every year, not just the build?
Whatever shape you choose, budget for hosting, a domain renewal, and some ongoing time or cost for updates and security. A site that's never touched again after launch tends to look dated within a couple of years.

Can I switch from a DIY site to something better later?
Yes, and most businesses do. Start with whatever gets you online this month, and treat it as something you'll upgrade once bookings and jobs justify spending more on it.

One shape this comparison leaves out: some booking tools include a site that can actually take the booking, rather than a brochure that sends people to a phone number. Ours does, and what it costs is published rather than quoted. If you would rather look than read, open the live demo. What we are not is a web designer, so if you want a bespoke design built to a brief, hire one.