The Contractor Website Checklist: 15 Things Every Home-Service Site Needs
Most contractor websites don't fail because they look bad. They fail because a homeowner can't find the phone number, can't tell if you serve their town, or can't tell if you're legit. Here's what to put on yours, item by item.
By the CraftLaunch team · Updated November 2026
A good contractor website answers four questions in about ten seconds: What do you do, where do you do it, can I trust you, and how do I reach you? Everything on the checklist below serves one of those four. If your site has a tap-to-call number, a page for each service, a clear list of towns, proof you're licensed and insured, real reviews and real job photos, you're ahead of many local competitors already.
Below: all 15 items, why each matters, and a quick how-to. Then the five most common mistakes.
The checklist at a glance
| # | Item | Answers the question |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tap-to-call phone number in the header | How do I reach you? |
| 2 | A page for each main service | What do you do? |
| 3 | Service area with real town names | Do you come to me? |
| 4 | License and insurance details | Can I trust you? |
| 5 | Real customer reviews | Can I trust you? |
| 6 | Photos of your actual work | Can I trust you? |
| 7 | Clear pricing or "free estimate" message | What will this cost me? |
| 8 | Short quote request form | How do I reach you? |
| 9 | Fast loading on phones | Will I wait around? |
| 10 | HTTPS (the padlock) | Is this site safe? |
| 11 | Hours and emergency availability | Can you come now? |
| 12 | About page with the owner | Who am I letting into my house? |
| 13 | FAQ section | What about my specific worry? |
| 14 | LocalBusiness schema | (Helps Google understand you) |
| 15 | Link to your Google Business Profile | Are you real and reviewed? |
1. A tap-to-call phone number at the top of every page
Why it matters: Someone with a leaking water heater is on their phone, often standing in the garage. They're not going to scroll looking for a contact page.
How to do it: Put your number in the header so it stays visible as they scroll on mobile. Make it a real link (so tapping it dials), not a picture of a number. Add a big "Call now" button too. Then test it on your own phone.
2. A separate page for each main service
Why it matters: People search for the job, not the company: "AC not blowing cold," "gutter replacement," "move-out cleaning." A page dedicated to each service gives you a real chance to show up for those searches, and it tells the visitor they landed in the right place.
How to do it: Pick your 3 to 8 most profitable services. Give each one its own page with what's included, common signs a customer needs it, a couple of photos and a call button. If you're an HVAC company, that might be repair, installation, maintenance plans and heat pumps. You can see how this works for different trades on our HVAC websites and plumber websites pages.
3. Your service area, with real town names
Why it matters: "Serving the greater metro area" tells a homeowner nothing. They want to see their town before they call.
How to do it: List the cities, towns and neighborhoods you actually serve, in plain text (not only on a map image). If you travel farther for bigger jobs, say so. Separate town pages can help too, but only if each says something genuinely specific about that town.
4. License and insurance information
Why it matters: Homeowners have heard the horror stories. Showing your license number and that you carry insurance answers the trust question before they have to ask it.
How to do it: Put your license number in the footer and on the About page. A simple line like "Licensed and insured, License #12345" works. If your state requires the number on advertising for your trade, this also keeps you on the right side of the rules. Check your state's licensing board to be sure.
5. Real customer reviews
Why it matters: Reviews are the closest thing to a referral from a neighbor. Google also says on its Business Profile help pages that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
How to do it: Feature 3 to 6 real reviews with the customer's first name, town and the type of job. Copy them from your Google profile word for word, don't polish them. Never make up reviews or post "reviews" from friends. Customers can smell it, and it can get you in real trouble.
6. Photos of your actual work
Why it matters: Stock photos look like every other site. Photos of your truck, crew and finished jobs prove you're real.
How to do it: Start a habit: take a before and after photo on every job. Phone photos are fine if they're well lit and not blurry. Use them on your service pages and a simple gallery. For roofers, painters, landscapers and pressure washers, before-and-after photos are often the single most convincing thing on the site.
7. Clear pricing, or a clear "free estimate"
Why it matters: "Call for pricing" with no other context makes people nervous and sends some of them to the next site.
How to do it: If you have fixed prices (a service call fee, a gutter cleaning starting price, a junk removal load size), show them. If every job is custom, say "Free estimates, usually same or next day" and explain what happens after they call. Either way, the visitor should know what to expect.
8. A short quote request form
Why it matters: Not everyone wants to call. Some people browse at 10 p.m. after the kids are in bed, and a form lets them reach you then.
How to do it: Keep it short: name, phone, town or zip, and "What do you need help with?" An optional photo upload is a nice bonus for jobs like roofing or junk removal. Send yourself a test every month or so. Broken forms are more common than you'd think.
9. Fast loading on phones
Why it matters: A slow site loses impatient visitors, and Google says good page experience lines up with what its ranking systems reward. Google's own guidance says the main content of a page should load within about 2.5 seconds.
How to do it: Run your home page through Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool and look at the mobile score. The usual culprits are huge phone photos, autoplay videos and too many add-ons. Shrink images and cut anything that doesn't help someone call you.
10. HTTPS, the little padlock
Why it matters: Since 2018, Chrome has labeled pages that don't use HTTPS as "Not secure." That's a terrible first impression for a business asking people to type in their name, phone and address.
How to do it: Make sure your site has an SSL certificate and loads at an address starting with https://. Most hosts include one. If you see "Not secure" next to your address in Chrome, ask your host to fix it this week.
11. Hours and emergency availability
Why it matters: A burst pipe at midnight or a dead AC in July is exactly when people search. If you take emergency calls, that's a selling point. If you don't, saying so saves everyone time.
How to do it: Show your regular hours near the phone number or in the footer. If you offer 24/7 or after-hours service, say it plainly on the home page, along with any extra fee so nobody's surprised.
12. An About page with the owner
Why it matters: You're asking someone to let you into their home. A face and a real story make that easier.
How to do it: Add a photo of you (and your crew if you have one), how long you've been in business, why you started and what you promise customers. Keep it short and honest; plain facts beat buzzwords.
13. A short FAQ
Why it matters: The same five questions come up on every call. Answering them on the site builds trust and filters out bad-fit leads.
How to do it: Write down what customers really ask: Do you charge for estimates? Are you insured? Do you clean up after? How soon can you come? What payment do you take? Answer each in two or three sentences.
14. LocalBusiness schema
Why it matters: Schema is a bit of hidden code that tells Google your business name, phone, address and hours in a format it reads easily. Google documents this "LocalBusiness" markup in its Search Central guides. It's not magic and won't rank you on its own, but it removes guesswork.
How to do it: If you use a website builder, look for an SEO or business info setting, or a plugin that adds it. Make sure the name, phone and address match your Google Business Profile exactly. You can check the result with Google's free Rich Results Test.
15. A link to your Google Business Profile
Why it matters: For local searches, your Google Business Profile often shows up before your website does. Linking the two helps customers read all your reviews and helps tie your online presence together. Google's help pages say local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and how well known the business is, and complete, accurate business info helps with the first one.
How to do it: Add a "Read our Google reviews" link on your site, and make sure your profile lists your website address. If you're not sure how the two work together, our guide on website vs. Google Business Profile breaks it down.
The 5 most common contractor website mistakes
- The phone number is hard to find or can't be tapped. It's tucked on a Contact page, or it's part of an image. This one mistake quietly costs you calls.
- One page tries to do everything. All services crammed into one long home page means you don't really show up for any of them. Give each main service its own page.
- No towns listed. A homeowner in a nearby suburb can't tell if you'll come out, so they call the company that names their town.
- Stock photos and no real proof. No license number, no real reviews, no job photos. The site looks like it could belong to anyone, or no one.
- Set it and forget it. Old phone numbers, a holiday banner from two years ago, a form that stopped working. Customers notice, and it makes the business look closed. If your site gets visits but no calls, start with our guide on why a website isn't getting calls.
How to use this checklist
Open your site on your phone and go down the list, marking each item done, half done or missing. Fix the phone number, services, towns and trust items first, since those affect calls fastest.
You can do most of this yourself on a DIY builder. If you're weighing that against hiring help, our Wix vs. Squarespace vs. done-for-you comparison and our breakdown of what a home-service website costs lay out the trade-offs honestly.
If you'd rather hand it off, CraftLaunch builds sites for home-service businesses and uses this checklist as a guide. It's $69 once for design, writing and launch, then $35 a month for hosting, SSL, security updates, SEO upkeep and edits by our team. Sites usually go live 1 to 3 business days after one onboarding call, it's month-to-month, and you keep your domain. We can't promise rankings (nobody honest can). Details are on our pricing section.