A website for trades: what plumbers, electricians and builders need

Picture the person who needs you. Water is coming through their kitchen ceiling, or the boiler has given up on a cold morning, or they've finally decided to do the loft. They're on a phone, probably standing up, comparing two or three trades in the time it takes the kettle to boil.

That's roughly how long your website gets. It doesn't need to win a design award. It needs to make calling you the obvious next step.

This is for owners of trade businesses: plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers, heating engineers and anyone else whose work happens at the customer's place rather than yours. Whether you build the site yourself or pay a web designer, the checklist is the same. Here's what a trade website has to do, what the official rules say you can and can't show, how local search works when you don't have a shop, and what to avoid.

What a trade website has to do

A trade website earns its keep when a stranger on a phone can answer three questions quickly. Do you do this job? Do you come to where I live? How do I get hold of you? Everything below serves one of those.

Put the phone number where a thumb can find it

Your number belongs at the top of every page, and on a phone it should be tap to call, meaning one tap on the number starts the call. Keep it in the same place on every page so nobody has to hunt for it.

A number tucked away at the bottom of the contact page turns finding you into hide and seek, played by someone holding a bucket under the ceiling.

Say when you answer, too. If you're up a ladder all day and return calls in the evening, say so. If every voicemail gets a call back, say that. It tells the caller what to expect, so a missed call isn't the end of the conversation.

Say where you work, in the names your customers use

A radius means little to someone who doesn't know where you're based. Towns and postcode areas are clearer. List the ones you cover, in the names people actually use for them, and say plainly where you don't go. A clear "we don't cover north of the river" spares you and the caller a conversation that was never going to turn into a job.

Use the same list on your website and your Google Business Profile. There's more on the profile below.

Say what you do, and what you don't

Give each main service its own page: boiler repairs and new boilers, rewires and fuse boxes, extensions and loft conversions, flat roofs and repairs, whatever your bread and butter is. Each page should say what the job involves, where you do it, what you need from the customer and how to get a quote.

Write it in the words a customer would use. They may know it as a fuse box, even if you'd call it a consumer unit.

Then be just as clear about what you don't do. If you don't take emergency call-outs, say so. If you only do domestic work, say so. If there's a smallest job you'll take on, say that too. Every "no" on the website is one less awkward phone call.

Show real photos of real jobs

Photos of your own work tell a customer more than a paragraph can: before and after shots, the finished bathroom, the new roof from the street, your van and the people who'll turn up. They don't need to be professional. They need to be yours, sharp and well lit.

Ask the customer before you photograph their home, and leave out house numbers, number plates and anything else that would tell a stranger which house it is.

Stock photos of a model in a spotless hard hat convince nobody, least of all someone who's about to let you into their house.

Let your Google reviews do the talking

If customers already review you on Google, show some recent ones on your website and link to your Google Business Profile so people can read the rest. Reviews a visitor can check for themselves are more convincing than quotes nobody can trace. What the rules say about asking for reviews is further down.

Keep the quote form short

Every extra question is another reason to give up halfway. Ask only for what you need to call back with a useful answer:

• name and phone number
• town or postcode
• what the job is, in their words
• photos, if they have them (a photo of the damp patch or the boiler's display can tell you a lot)
• when's best to call

Then say what happens next, and only promise what you'll keep on your busiest week. Finally, send yourself a test enquiry from your phone and check it arrives somewhere you'll see it.

Make it quick on a phone, on one bar of signal

Your customer might be in a loft, a basement or a car park. Keep pages light: photos sized for phones rather than straight off the camera, no video that plays by itself, and nothing that makes them wait before they can see your number.

What you must, can and mustn't show

Some of this is law, some is scheme rules and some is plain good sense. Here's what the official sources say. It's a summary, not legal advice: if you're unsure about your own business, ask your scheme or your accountant.

If you're a limited company

GOV.UK says a limited company must include its company name on all company documents, publicity and letters. On its business letters, order forms and website, it must also show:

• the company's registered number
• its registered office address
• where it's registered (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland)
• the fact that it's a limited company, usually by spelling out the full name including "Limited" or "Ltd"

Your website's footer is a tidy place for these, because then they're on every page. These rules are for limited companies. If you trade as a sole trader or a partnership, check GOV.UK for the rules that apply to you.

If you do gas work

Gas Safe Register's brand enforcement policy (February 2026) says only registered gas businesses may display the Gas Safe Register brand or a Gas Safe registration number, and only in association with the registered trading name. Registered businesses use the version of the logo on a black square background. The policy counts websites, adverts, vehicle signage, business stationery, social media, online directories and flyers as marketing material, so the same rules cover your van and your homepage.

If your website uses a different name from the one you're registered under, sort that out before you add the logo or your number. Registered businesses can find the full brand guidelines by logging in to the engineer's area of the Gas Safe Register website.

If you belong to a competent person scheme

GOV.UK explains that if you work in the building trade as an installer, you can join a competent person scheme to self-certify certain types of building work, instead of getting building regulations approval. The types of work it lists include electrical installations, heating and hot water systems, plumbing and water supply systems, replacement windows and doors, and replacement roof coverings on pitched and flat roofs.

If you're a member, say which scheme you belong to and which work your membership covers. A customer who hasn't come across competent person schemes won't know what the logo means, so add a line in plain words: you can self-certify the work, rather than the job needing separate building regulations approval.

If you're registered with TrustMark

TrustMark describes itself as the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme, covering work a consumer chooses to have carried out in or around their home. It tells homeowners to make sure a tradesperson is registered with TrustMark for the specific trade they need. So if you're registered, say which trades it covers, not just that you have the badge.

Badges you don't hold

This one applies to every trade. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists commercial practices that are considered unfair in all circumstances. Displaying a trust mark, quality mark or equivalent without the necessary authorisation is one. Claiming a trader has been approved, endorsed or authorised by a body when it hasn't is another. Both have been in force since 6 April 2025.

In practice: only show logos for schemes you belong to today. When a membership ends, take its logo off the website, the van and the paperwork.

Getting found locally when you don't have a shop

Most trades don't have a shop for customers to walk into. Google has rules for businesses like that, and following them is where local search starts.

Set up your Business Profile as a service-area business

Google describes service-area businesses as businesses that serve customers at their locations. Its guidelines for representing your business say a service-area business should hide its business address from customers, and give the example of a plumber who runs the business from a residential address clearing that address from the profile.

Its help page on service areas adds:

• if you don't serve customers at your business address, remove the address and enter only your service area
• you can set up to 20 service areas, based on the cities, postcodes or other areas you serve
• the boundaries of your overall area shouldn't be more than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based
• you can't set your service area as a radius around your business

Hiding your address on Google is separate from what your website has to show. If you're a limited company, the GOV.UK rules above still apply to the website.

Use your real business name

Google says the name on your profile should reflect your business's real-world name, and must not include things like marketing taglines or location information. "J Smith Plumbing" is a name. "J Smith Plumbing Emergency Plumber Fast Call-Outs" is a profile asking for trouble.

Google also says there should only be one profile per business, and that a service-area business can't list a virtual office unless that office is staffed during business hours.

Ask every customer for a review

Google's policy for reviews on Maps lets businesses encourage customers to post reviews that represent a genuine experience. It doesn't let them:

• offer incentives, such as payment, discounts, free goods or services
• selectively ask customers for positive reviews
• discourage or prohibit negative reviews

The law goes further. The same 2024 Act bans submitting or commissioning fake consumer reviews, or reviews that hide the fact they were incentivised.

The simplest system is the honest one: ask every customer, at the same point in every job, with a link that takes them straight to where they can leave a review. Then reply to the reviews you get, including the less happy ones, politely and briefly.

Give each main service its own page

Your Business Profile and your website work as a pair. Give each main service its own page on the website, in the words customers use, and link your profile to your website. A page that says clearly what you do, where you do it and how to get a quote is useful to the customer, and it gives search engines a clear page for that job.

What you don't need is a near-identical page for every town you cover with only the name swapped. Name your areas once, clearly.

Keep your details the same everywhere

Use the same business name, phone number, hours and areas on your website, your Business Profile and anywhere else you're listed. If they disagree, a customer can't tell which one is right.

Google decides who appears where, and nobody can promise you a place. What you can do is give it accurate details, real reviews and a website that explains your work clearly. It's the kind of work our Improve, Grow and Accelerate plans do each month on websites we build and look after: here's how we approach local search.

What to avoid

• Hiding your number. A form on its own asks someone with a problem to wait. Put the number first.
• A cloned page for every town. One clear list of areas beats forty pages that say the same thing.
• Promises you can't keep. "With you within the hour" is a lovely line until the day you're not. Only promise what you'll keep on your busiest week.
• A site only someone else can update. If you can't change your hours, say you're booked up or add a new photo without ringing someone, the site will drift out of date.
• Not owning the basics. The domain should be registered in your business's name, and the logins should be yours. Our piece on whether you need a new website has an afternoon's worth of checks, including this one.

What it costs

The price of a trade website depends on a few things: how many services need their own page, whether it connects to anything else (a diary, a quoting tool, your customer records) and who writes the words and takes the photos. Then there's what it costs to keep running after launch: hosting, security, the domain and any changes. Our guide to what a small business website costs goes through each part, and how to compare quotes.

Our own prices are published in full on our pricing page: the builds, and what a website costs each month after launch, all plus VAT. Every build starts with a written quote setting out exactly what you get.

Already have a website? We're happy to take a look at the website you have now and tell you honestly what we think. We don't take over looking after websites someone else built. In most cases we recommend a rebuild, so the site can be improved quickly and kept up to date properly.

If you're near Staines

Orange Jelly is based in Stanwell Moor, Staines, and we look for clients close to home first. The first chat is by phone or video call. Once we have agreed to work together, we will happily come to you anywhere within about 40 miles of Staines. Further than that, we ask you to cover the travel. Here's how we work with local businesses.

The short version

• A trade website has one job: making a call or a quote request the obvious next step, on a phone.
• Number at the top of every page, tap to call. Clear areas. A page per main service. Real photos, real reviews and a short form.
• Show only the schemes and registration numbers you hold, and your company details if you're a limited company.
• Set up your Google Business Profile as a service-area business, with your real business name and your address hidden.
• Ask every customer for a review, and never pay for one or pick and choose.
• Want a website built around all of this? Let's chat. It starts with a free first chat.

Sources

All read on 7 November 2026.

• GOV.UK: Running a limited company: signs, stationery and promotional material
• Gas Safe Register: Brand Enforcement Policy, February 2026, version 10.0 (PDF)
• GOV.UK: Competent person scheme: current schemes and how schemes are authorised
• TrustMark: home page
• legislation.gov.uk: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20
• Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your service areas for service-area and hybrid businesses
• Google Maps user-generated content policy: Prohibited and restricted content