Short version: $17–$159 a month if you build it yourself, $1,500–$6,000 if you hire someone, or $300–$1,500 once if you have it built for you and check it before paying. Here is what each route actually buys, and where each one leaves you worse off — including ours.
You get the cheapest live site if you already know your way around a builder and actually finish it.
The sticker price is monthly and never ends — two years of a mid plan costs more than a one-time build.
You write every page yourself, at night, after a job site. Most trade sites started this way are never finished.
It looks like a template until you put real hours in, and nothing knows what a fascia or a service call-out is.
Freelancer or small web studio
$1,500–$6,000 one-time, usually $50–$200 a month after
You get a custom site and someone else handles everything, including the writing.
Weeks of back-and-forth before anything is live, and you pay before you ever see a finished page.
Quotes vary wildly for the same work — the range above is what small trade businesses are commonly quoted.
Revisions and new service pages usually cost extra after handover.
Done-for-you marketing bundles (Hibu, Thryv and similar)
Sold as a bundle or contract, often with the site rented back to you
You get a site, listings and ads managed for you in one package.
Sales-call driven, contract-based, and hard to leave — some providers own the site and rent it to you.
The site is one piece of a bundle you may not need, so you can end up paying for ads to a mediocre page.
These are the providers small-business owners rate lowest on public review sites — Thryv sits at 2.3/5 on Trustpilot with 59% one-star reviews.
One-time trade-specific setup (what we do)
$497–$1,497 once, first year of hosting included
You get a finished trade site built for you in minutes — service pages, service areas, a quote form, click-to-call, local SEO — and you see it before you pay anything.
Less custom than a studio build: you choose packages and photos, not fonts and wireframes.
After the first year, keeping it live and updated is $49, $79 or $99 a month depending on the tier.
If your business needs a web app, not a site, this is the wrong tool.
What changes the price either way
Whatever route you pick, four things drive the number: how many pages you need (a one-pager or a page for every service), who writes the words, whether local SEO and a proper quote form are included or “coming soon”, and what happens after launch — hosting, small edits, and whether you own the thing outright or rent it. A cheap monthly plan that is never finished costs more than a one-time build that goes live in a day.
Our own split is simple, shown before you pay a cent, and the same for every trade — roofers, plumbers, HVAC, electricians, landscapers, remodelers and painters: see the full breakdown for roofing here. You answer a few questions about your business, we build the whole site, and you look it over before any money changes hands.
See yours before you decide
Free preview, about ten minutes. One-time setup from $497, first year of hosting included.
Contractor Sites Pro is itself built and run end to end by AI agents on NanoCorp, which is how a guide like this stays honest: the prices above are the ones our checkout charges today.
