Guide

Do tradespeople need a website in 2026? (UK guide)

16 October 2026Shaun, 20+ years in UK construction

Whether a UK trade still needs its own website beside Facebook, Checkatrade and Google, what a basic site should include, and prompts to draft the pages.

A homeowner who already has your number may never open a website. A homeowner who only has your trading name will look. Facebook, a directory such as Checkatrade, and a Google Business Profile can each show something. None of them is a page you own, with your services, your photos and your phone number in the order you choose.

Shaun, 20+ years in UK construction, still treats a website as the shop window you control. We search the AI world every week so you don't have to. A chat tool can turn notes you type into page wording. It cannot know your towns, your insurance, or which jobs you turn down. If a draft adds a place, a year, or a guarantee you did not write, delete it before you publish.

A website, a directory and a Facebook page are different things

You can get by without a website if almost all of your work is repeat customers and you are not taking new names. A Facebook page shows photos to people who already follow you. You do not choose who sees yesterday's post. A Checkatrade or MyBuilder profile reaches people already on that site. You follow their rules, and you pay what their plan says. The profile guide sets out what those sites, and Google, allow in a description, and the prices on their own pages. Read that before a draft says you are "approved".

A Google Business Profile is free to create. It shows your trade, your area and your reviews on Search and Maps. The description box is short, and you do not design the page. The Google Business Profile guide covers how to fill it in. Keep the profile even if you have a website. A map search does not start on your domain.

The case for a site is someone searching your name, or the job and the town. If the only result is an old Facebook post, or a directory page with other firms beside you, you are using their shop window. Your site is the longer version: finished rooms, the postcodes you cover, and a button that calls your phone.

The case against is time, and a thin page. Stock photos and a paragraph that could belong to any firm will not beat a filled-in profile. A domain and hosting cost money. This page will not guess those prices, because they change. A website builder you set up yourself is a fair option if you would rather spend an evening than pay someone. WordPress, a hosted builder, or a plain set of pages all work. What you put on them is the same list.

What a basic trade site should include

Five things. If one is missing, fix that before you write a clever line.

Services. Name the jobs in the words a customer types. Skimming, boarding, bathroom tiling, consumer-unit changes. Say the jobs you do not do. A plasterer who does not take roofs should say so, or the enquiry is a wasted visit.

Photos of your own work. Phone snaps of finished rooms beat a stock kitchen. Before and after is useful when you have both and the customer is happy for that room to be shown. Do not put the house number in the caption.

Reviews. Short lines from people who hired you, with a first name if they agreed. Do not write a review and paste it on as if a customer wrote it. The Google reviews guide covers how to ask, and what UK law says about fake reviews. A poor review that is already public is a different job. The reply guide is for that reply.

Areas you cover. Towns and postcode districts you will actually travel to. Do not list a city you have no plan to work in. The same list belongs on your Google profile, where you can hide a home address if customers do not visit it.

Click-to-call. The phone number as a link a thumb can press. A WhatsApp link if you read WhatsApp. An enquiry form is useful. It is not a substitute for the number.

A page for each main service, and a page for each area you want to be found for, is enough for a one-person firm. You do not need a blog, a shop, or a booking system to start.

Draft the service page from notes you already have

Write the notes in your own words first. The trade, the jobs, what is not included, the area, and how they get in touch. Then ask a chat tool to turn those notes into a page. ChatGPT is the name most people type. Any similar assistant is fine. The rules in the prompt matter more than the brand.

Turn these notes into a service page for a UK trade website. UK English. Short paragraphs. No slogans.

Rules:
- Use only the notes below. Do not add a town, a year, a price, a qualification, or a guarantee.
- Do not write "the best", "award-winning", or "trusted by hundreds".
- If a note is missing, leave it out. Do not invent it.
- End with the contact line I give you. Do not add a different phone number.

Service name:
Jobs included:
Jobs not included:
Area:
How to get in touch:
Any qualification I actually hold:

Read it against the notes, not against how smooth it sounds. If a sentence was not in your notes, delete it. The free tools guide is the wider note on what to leave out of a chat.

Draft an area page without inventing the patch

An area page says you work in that place, and what you do there. It is not a history of the town, and it is not a list of every village nearby.

Turn these notes into a short area page for a UK trade website. UK English. Under 200 words.

Rules:
- Use only the place names and jobs I list. Do not add neighbouring towns.
- Do not claim I am based in a town I have not written.
- Do not add prices, years in business, or reviews.
- End with the contact line.

Trade:
Town or postcode district:
Jobs I do there:
Jobs I do not travel for:
Contact line:

If you cover three towns, run it three times. Do not ask for one page that says you cover a whole region unless that is truly where you go.

Check the draft, then decide who builds it

Here is a page I am about to put on my website. UK English. Do not rewrite it unless I ask.

List:
1. Any town, year, price, qualification, or guarantee that is not in my notes.
2. Any sentence that says I am the best, the cheapest, or the only one.
3. Any phone number or email that is not in the contact line.

Notes:
[paste]

Page:
[paste]

If the list comes back empty, you still read it yourself. The tool misses things. Then open the page on your phone. If the number is not tappable, it is not finished.

You can build those pages yourself in a website builder. If you would rather hand the build over, this site has a done-for-you trade website. The intro price is £199 for the first 5 customers, paid when the site goes live. Optional care is £15 a month, for hosting, updates and changes. There is an example of the layout, and the offer is on the websites page.

The UK Trades AI Prompt Pack is free when you sign up to the weekly email: prompts for quotes, chasing payment, tax admin, and customers. The signup is on the home page.

Common questions

Do I need a website if I already have Checkatrade?

A website does not replace the directory. People searching inside Checkatrade will not see your own site in that list. Keep the profile if it brings work. The website is the page you own when someone searches your trading name.

What should a basic trade website include?

The jobs you do, photos of your own work, reviews from people who hired you, the areas you actually cover, and a phone number that calls when someone taps it.

Can a chat tool write the pages?

It can turn notes you type into page wording. It does not know your towns, your prices, or the jobs you turn down. Check the draft against those notes before you publish.

Can I use a website builder myself?

Yes. A builder you set up yourself is a fair option. The pages to include are the same whether you build them or someone else does.