Website Design for Contractors: What Actually Gets You More Calls (Not Just Looks Pretty)

A roofing contractor reached out through our contact form last week. He’d spent $4,500 on a website two years ago—professional photos, clean design, the whole nine yards. Looked great.

I asked him how many jobs it was bringing in.

His response? “Maybe one or two a year? Most of my work is still word-of-mouth and yard signs.”

There it is. The $4,500 business card.

He’d made the mistake most contractors make when they think about websites. They focus on looking professional instead of asking the only question that matters: will this make my phone ring?

If you’re in roofing, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, general contracting—whatever—your website has one job. Get people to call you. That’s it.

The Problem With Most Contractor Websites

Think about when someone needs a contractor. Their basement is flooding. The AC died and it’s 95 degrees outside. The kitchen remodel needs to be done before Thanksgiving because their in-laws are coming.

They’re stressed. They’re on their phone. They’re searching “emergency plumber near me” or “roofing contractor [city name].” They just want someone who can solve their problem and not rip them off.

So they click on your website and… they see a slow-loading homepage with a stock photo of a guy in a hardhat (who definitely doesn’t work for you), three paragraphs about your “commitment to excellence,” and a contact form buried under an “About” page.

Meanwhile your competitor’s website loads fast, has their phone number right at the top, and shows photos of actual local jobs they’ve done. Guess who gets the call?

What Actually Matters for Contractor Websites

Mobile or Nothing

I can’t stress this enough. 70-80% of people searching for contractors are on their phones. They’re literally standing in front of a broken water heater or looking at a leaking ceiling, pulling out their phone.

If your site doesn’t work perfectly on mobile, you’re throwing away most of your leads. And I don’t mean “technically mobile-friendly”—I mean fast, readable, and dead simple to use.

The phone number needs to be clickable (tap to call). The site needs to load in under 2 seconds. The contact form can’t have 15 fields. Text should be readable without zooming. This sounds basic but you’d be shocked how many contractor sites fail at this.

One of our electrical contractor clients saw their contact forms jump 180% just by making their phone number bigger and keeping it visible while people scroll. Same website. Bigger call button. Almost double the leads.

Speak Human, Not Contractor

Contractors love technical terms. Customers have no idea what you’re talking about.

Stop saying “commercial HVAC retrofitting” or “load-bearing structural modifications.” Just say “fix or replace your business’s heating and cooling” and “remove walls safely—we handle the permits.”

Your website should pass what I call the “confused homeowner test.” If someone who knows nothing about construction can’t immediately figure out what you do, you need to rewrite it. Because that’s who’s reading it.

Be Obviously Local

People don’t want “a contractor.” They want a contractor who services their area and can come out this week.

Put your city and service areas everywhere. In your headers: “Roofing Contractor in Arlington, VA.” List the specific towns you serve: “We cover Northern Virginia—Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax.” Mention local landmarks. Show photos of real local jobs, not generic stock images.

Why? Because Google prioritizes local results. When someone searches “plumber near me,” Google wants to show actual nearby plumbers. If your site doesn’t make it crystal clear where you work, you won’t show up.

Prove You’re Not a Scam

The contracting industry has a reputation problem. Everyone knows someone who got burned by a contractor who didn’t show up, did terrible work, or vanished with their deposit.

Your website needs to overcome that suspicion immediately. And no, saying “trusted since 2010” in fancy script font doesn’t cut it.

What actually works: Real photos of real jobs. Testimonials with actual names and locations (get permission first—“John S. in Falls Church” is way more credible than “Happy Customer”). Your license numbers and insurance certificates listed right there. Before/after photos proving you do good work. Photos of your actual team, not stock images of models in hardhats who’ve never held a drill.

Oh, and video testimonials? Those are gold. A 30-second shaky iPhone video of a happy customer beats any amount of written reviews.

Contact Should Be Stupid Easy

The number of contractor websites that make it hard to contact them is mind-boggling.

Phone number in the header. Every page. Clickable on mobile. Contact form that actually works (test it!). Five fields maximum—Name, Phone, Email, Service, Message. That’s it. Not 15 questions about square footage and the year their house was built and whether they have HOA approval.

Bonus points if you offer text messaging (lots of people prefer texting) or have a chatbot for after-hours. Even better if you can book estimates directly without the phone tag.

What Doesn’t Actually Matter

Can we talk about what contractors waste money on?

Fancy Animations

Your website is not a movie. That slow-motion video background of someone dramatically swinging a hammer? It looks cool in the web designer’s portfolio. It also makes your site load slowly and annoys people who just want your phone number.

Complicated Menus

You don’t need 47 pages. Home, Services, Projects, About, Contact. Done. I’ve seen contractor sites with dropdown menus three levels deep. Stop it.

”Passion” Copy

Nobody cares about your passion for drywall installation. They care if you can fix their ceiling. Be clear and direct. Save the poetry for your wedding vows.

Awards From Associations Nobody’s Heard Of

“Best Contractor 2019 by the Regional Builders Association of Greater Metro Area.” Cool. Your customers have never heard of them. Reviews from actual humans matter infinitely more.

The “Build It and Forget It” Disaster

You know what usually happens? Contractor drops $3k-5k on a website. It launches. Looks great. Everyone’s happy.

Six months later the “Winter 2024 Special” is still on the homepage. Phone number changed but the website hasn’t. Services evolved but the site says you still do that thing you stopped doing two years ago. Site gets slow because nobody’s maintaining it. It stops showing up on Google.

Contractor concludes “websites don’t work” and gives up.

The website wasn’t the problem. Treating it like a brochure was the problem.

Websites need updates. New project photos. Current contact info. Performance tweaks. Security patches. If you’re not touching your website quarterly at minimum, it’s slowly dying. That’s why proper website maintenance is essential.

How to Actually Measure Success

Web people love to talk about vanity metrics. “Your site got 1,000 visitors this month!” Okay. How many of them called me?

Here’s what actually matters: How many calls did you get? How many contact forms? How many turned into estimates? What’s the average job value from website leads?

If you’re getting 50 visitors per month but 10 of them book estimates worth $50k total, your website is crushing it. If you’re getting 5,000 visitors but zero calls, it’s failing. Simple as that.

What Should You Actually Pay?

DIY Route ($0-500)

Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy website builders. Cheap. Takes you 20-40 hours to figure out. Looks… okay. Usually not properly optimized for mobile or local SEO. You’re responsible for everything forever. Most contractors don’t have 40 hours to spare building websites when they could be doing actual contracting work.

Freelancer ($2,000-5,000)

Someone builds you a custom site. Looks professional. Here’s the catch: doesn’t usually include maintenance, updates cost $100-150/hour, and if they move on or disappear (which happens constantly), you’re stuck with a site you can’t update.

Traditional Agency ($5,000-15,000+)

Big agency. Account managers. Beautiful work. Also expensive ongoing costs. Probably overkill unless you’re pulling in seven figures and need something really custom.

Managed Service ($250-500/year)

All-inclusive—design, hosting, updates, maintenance, everything. Not fully custom (usually template-based) but actually optimized for getting leads. This is what we do at AdZep because most contractors don’t need custom design, they need a website that works and someone else to deal with all the technical stuff through managed website services.

The real question isn’t “how much does it cost?” It’s “how many jobs does it bring in?” A $500 website that brings in 10 jobs beats a $10,000 website that brings in 2 jobs. Math doesn’t care about how pretty it is.

Do You Even Need Custom Design?

Probably not.

Most contractors don’t need a website that looks unique. They need one that works. There’s a reason successful contractor websites look similar—because that layout works.

Think of it like your work truck. Does it need custom paint and graphics? Or does it just need to reliably get you to job sites with all your tools?

Same with websites. It’s a tool. It should work.

Actually Useful Checklist

Pull up your website right now (on your phone) and check:

Does it load in under 2 seconds? If not, you’re losing people.

Is your phone number immediately visible and clickable? If people have to hunt for it, they’ll call someone else.

Are your services crystal clear? If your mom couldn’t figure out what you do, rewrite it.

Are your service areas obvious? If someone in the next town over can’t tell if you service their area, they’ll move on.

Do you have real photos of real local work? Stock photos scream “I don’t have real work to show you.”

Are your reviews real? “John from Arlington” beats “Happy Customer 1.”

Is your contact form simple? More than 5 fields and people give up.

If you’re failing more than half of these, your website is costing you jobs.

Common Mistakes I See Constantly

Contractors listing every single service they’ve ever done in 20 years. Now customers think you’re a generalist who’s not actually great at anything. Pick your core 3-5 services and focus on those.

Vague service areas like “we serve the tri-state area.” Which three states? Spell it out.

Hiding all your pricing. At least give ranges. “Kitchen remodels start around $15k” or “Service calls are $150” so people know they’re in the right ballpark.

Dead websites where the last update was 2021. Nothing says “I might be out of business” like a homepage talking about your “Spring 2023 Special” when it’s December 2025.

Three paragraphs about company history while people with an emergency just want to know if you can come out today. Lead with what you do and how to contact you. Put the origin story on the About page if you must.

The DIY Website Builder Question

“Can’t I just use Wix?”

Sure. Lots of contractors do. It’s cheap ($15-30/month) and you don’t need to know code. The downsides: usually slower than custom sites (matters on mobile), limited SEO control, looks template-y, you’re responsible for updates forever, takes 20+ hours to build properly, and you’re locked into their platform.

If you have the time and patience, DIY works fine for a basic contractor site. Most contractors I know would rather spend those 20 hours doing actual contracting at $75-150/hour.

Google and Local SEO (The Super Basics)

You want to show up when people search “roofer in [your city].” Here’s what matters:

Your Google Business Profile (used to be called Google My Business) is arguably more important than your website. Claim it. Verify it. Add real photos. Update your hours. Respond to reviews. Keep it current.

Your website needs city names in the content, clear service areas, fast loading, and mobile-friendly design. That’s 80% of local SEO right there.

Get reviews. Google loves recent positive reviews. Ask happy customers. Make it easy—send them a direct link.

Update your website regularly. Even small updates (new project photos, blog posts) tell Google your site is active.

You don’t need to be an SEO wizard. Nail these basics and you’ll outrank half your competition who’s ignoring them.

Our Approach at AdZep

I’ll be straight about how we do contractor websites:

We think they should be built mobile-first (because that’s where your leads are), optimized for phone calls not design awards, actually maintained (not abandoned after launch), simple to manage (zero technical knowledge needed), and affordable enough that you don’t need to take out a loan.

For $499/year you get the website, hosting, SSL, unlimited content updates, proper mobile optimization, your actual project photos, basic SEO setup, and 24/7 monitoring. No hourly charges. No surprise bills.

The tradeoff: it’s not fully custom. We use proven contractor templates optimized for your specific trade. If you need a website that looks completely unlike anyone else’s, we’re not the right fit. If you need a website that reliably generates leads without technical headaches or huge costs, we might be.

Questions to Ask Any Web Designer

If you’re shopping around for website design for contractors, ask these:

“How will this get me more calls?” If they talk about aesthetics and design awards, run. You need someone who understands conversion.

“What happens when I need to update my phone number?” If they say it costs $150 and takes three days, that’s a problem.

“How fast will it load on mobile?” If they don’t immediately say “under 2 seconds” or pull out their phone to show you, they’re not taking mobile seriously enough.

“What’s included in ongoing maintenance?” Because “website design” usually means “build it and you’re on your own.” Factor maintenance into the real cost.

“Can I see contractor sites you’ve built and actual lead numbers?” Talk is cheap. Results matter.

Is Your Current Website Failing?

Warning signs:

You get fewer than 2-3 calls per month from it. People mention they had trouble finding your contact info. Your phone number changed but the site hasn’t. It loads slowly. You haven’t updated it in six months. You avoid looking at it because you know it’s outdated. You can’t update it yourself and changes cost $150/hour.

If more than three of those are true, you need a new website or major updates.

What to Actually Do

If you don’t have a website: Stop overthinking it. Get something basic up in the next 30 days. Mobile-first. Easy contact. Real photos. Clear service areas. Done.

If you have a website that’s not working: Test it on your phone right now. Check your contact info is current. Time the load speed. Ask someone outside your industry if they can figure out what you do. Look at competitors’ sites—are theirs better?

If you’re ready for a website that actually brings in work instead of just existing: We’ll build you a contractor-specific site optimized for calls, not compliments.

Get a free mockup and see exactly what we’d build for your business. No credit card. No pressure. Just a preview.

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Look, here’s what matters: your website should make you money, not drain it.

Every month your website isn’t generating leads, you’re 100% dependent on word-of-mouth, yard signs, and luck. That works great until it doesn’t. When the economy softens and referrals dry up, contractors with working websites keep getting calls.

Your website doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to work. Fast loading. Easy contact. Proof you’re legit. Everything else is optional.

One missed emergency call probably pays for a year of proper website service. One month of lost Google rankings takes 3-6 months to recover. The cost of not having a working website is way higher than the cost of having one.

Questions? Want to see what a properly done contractor website looks like for your specific business? Reach out or email contact@adzep.com and we’ll walk you through it.