Websites for contractors
What a remodeling contractor’s website has to do to turn a visitor into an enquiry.
A remodel is a slow decision made on photographs and trust. A contractor's site needs real project photos, a clear process and a consultation ask.
Someone planning a kitchen, a bathroom or an addition is not in a hurry. They will look at several contractors over weeks, and they decide mainly on two things: whether your past work looks like what they want, and whether working with you sounds manageable. The phone call comes at the end of that, not the start.
So a contractor's site is closer to a portfolio than an emergency line. The usual one gets it backwards: stock photos of kitchens nobody on the crew built, a list of services, and a "Free estimate" button. The site we build for a remodeling contractor leads with your own finished projects, explains how a project runs from first visit to final walkthrough, and asks for a consultation rather than a price.
Why contractors lose the visitors they already have
Stock photos where the portfolio should be
A homeowner comparing contractors is judging the work. Stock photos are recognised and discounted, and they make every contractor look alike. Even a handful of your own finished projects, each with a line saying what was done and where, is worth more than a gallery of someone else's.
The process is a mystery
The fear behind most remodeling decisions is the project that drags on, goes over budget, or leaves a mess. A page that explains your steps, from the first visit to the design, the written quote, the schedule and the final walkthrough, answers the fear directly.
The ask is too early
A 'get your free quote now' button on the first screen suits an emergency trade. A homeowner six weeks from a decision wants to book a conversation first. Asking for a consultation, and saying what happens at it, converts better for project work.
Every project type is on one page
Kitchens, bathrooms, basements and additions are separate searches with separate buyers. Giving each its own page with its own photos lets the homeowner see work like theirs and lets Google match the page to the search.
What your visitor arrived wanting
“Can you do my project well, and what does working with you look like?”
In their words, the problem
- the kitchen is thirty years old
- I want the house painted before we move in
- the floors are done
- I have an idea but no plan
What they want to leave with
- a finished room I am proud of
- a start date that holds
- the same people from first day to last
A remodeling contractor’s homeowners think in terms of a project; the page should use their word, not the trade’s.
The page, top to bottom
This is the order a remodeling contractor’s homepage runs in when we build it. Core sections are on every site of this kind; strong ones are there whenever the business has the facts to fill them. Nothing is padded to look full.
- 01
The first screen: what you do, where, and how to reach you
Core
- 02
Photos of your own work
When the facts exist
- 03
Services, as a list a customer can scan
Core
- 04
How a job goes, in three steps
When the facts exist
- 05
Reviews, with the source named
When the facts exist
- 06
The towns you cover
When the facts exist
- 07
The closing ask
When the facts exist
- 08
How to reach you, with a form that delivers
Core
One ask: “Get a quote”
The primary action for a remodeling contractor is get a quote. It sits in the first screen on a phone and repeats on every page; a second, quieter route to the form sits beside it. Two equal buttons pointing at the same place read as filler and cost calls.
On a phone, the sections a visitor must reach within the first three screens: services, as a list a customer can scan; photos of your own work.
The services to name
Each of these is a search someone in your town types. Each gets its own line on the homepage and, where it matters, its own page.
- Kitchen remodeling
- Bathroom remodeling
- Basement finishing
- Home additions
- Decks and porches
- Interior renovations
- Design and planning
What a homeowner checks before they request a quote
- Your own finished projects, each named by type and town, with before photos where you have them
- The project process written out step by step
- Contractor licence and insurance stated, with an offer to show both
- How you handle changes and surprises once work has started
- Google and Houzz reviews linked, especially from finished kitchens, baths and additions
- The owner or project manager named, with a photo
Photographs: what belongs and what does not
The look to aim for is finished and considered.
Use
- a finished room
- before and after pairs
- craft detail
- the crew working, from a distance
Avoid
- rubble mid-remodel
- a desk with blueprints
- a face filling the frame
No stock photography in a work role: a photo captioned as your work is a claim, and a stock one is a false one.
Local SEO for a remodeling contractor
- Google Business Profile primary category: General contractor or Remodeler, whichever describes most of your work; add Kitchen remodeler and Bathroom remodeler as secondaries if they fit.
- Post finished project photos to the listing with the project type in the description; the listing is often where a homeowner first sees your work.
- List the towns you take projects in, not just the one you are based in; remodeling clients often look a county wide.
- Ask for the review at the final walkthrough, and again a few weeks later if the first ask goes unanswered.
Questions contractors ask us
- How many project photos does a contractor's site need?
- Enough to show each kind of project you want more of: a few strong ones per type beats a long gallery. Each should be your own work with a line saying what it was.
- Should a contractor offer free estimates on the website?
- Say what you actually do. If the first visit is free and the written quote follows, say that. Do not promise anything on the page you do not offer every customer.
- Is Houzz enough instead of a website?
- Houzz is a good place to be found, but you do not control it. A site of your own, linked from Houzz and your Google listing, is the one place the whole story is yours.
The two questions your own customers ask, which the site answers for you
- How much will it cost?
- Every project is different, so we price it properly after looking rather than guessing. You will have the figure in writing before we begin.
- How long will the work take?
- It depends on the project. We give you a schedule along with the figure, and tell you straight away if anything on it moves.
Free, automatic, about 30 seconds
See what your remodeling contractor's site is missing.
The free audit checks the first screen, the title, whether Google can read the page, whether it is mobile-friendly and whether there is a way to request a quote.
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