Website costs
How Much Does a Website Cost for a Contractor or Home-Service Business? (2026)
Quick answer: A do-it-yourself builder such as Wix, Squarespace or WordPress.com costs about $4 to $40 a month for a typical small-business plan. Hiring help usually costs a few thousand dollars and can reach five figures: one cost-estimating model puts US freelancer builds for landscapers, fence companies and general contractors at roughly $2,200 to $11,600. Most agency projects reviewed on Clutch come in under $10,000. On top of the build, you pay every year for the domain, hosting and upkeep.
Most pages that rank for this question are written by companies selling websites, and few of them say where their numbers come from. Every figure below links to its source, and the Sources list at the bottom gives the publisher and date for each one. Prices change often, so treat them as a snapshot taken in October 2026.
A note on our own pricing: coolweb.ai builds websites for trade businesses, but this guide does not quote our prices. If you want a number for your business, we give a written quote on request.
The short answer: what a contractor website costs
A contractor website costs tens of dollars a month if you build it yourself, and a few thousand to five figures if you hire a freelancer or agency, plus yearly running costs either way. Here is the overall picture, with the details in the sections that follow.
| Route | What it costs | Source |
|---|---|---|
| DIY builder | $4 – $40 / month | Typical small-business plans on Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com, October 2026 |
| Freelancer (trade-specific model) | $2,200 – $11,600 | ProjectCostEstimator model for landscaping, fencing and general contracting, July 2026 |
| Agency (trade-specific model) | $5,800 – $26,100 | Same ProjectCostEstimator model |
| Agency (review data) | Most under $10,000 | Clutch web design pricing, updated September 2026 |
| Maintenance | $50 – $500 / month | GoDaddy, small-to-medium business site, April 2026 |
The ranges are wide because "a website" covers everything from a one-page site you set up on a weekend to a 30-page build with a page for each service and town. The rest of this guide breaks the cost down by route so you can place your own business in the range.
DIY website builders: what Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com actually charge
On a DIY builder, the plan price is most of your cost, and the free domain that comes with it usually covers only the first year. These are the published US prices as of October 2026.
| Builder and plan | Paid monthly | Paid yearly (per month) |
|---|---|---|
| Wix Light / Core / Business | Not shown | $17 / $29 / $39 |
| Wix Business Elite | Not shown | $159 |
| Squarespace Basic / Core / Advanced | $19 / $27 / $36 | $12 / $17 / $25 |
| WordPress.com Personal / Premium | $9 / $18 | $4 / $8 |
| WordPress.com Business / Commerce | $40 / $70 | $25 / $45 |
Sources: Wix plans , Squarespace pricing , WordPress.com pricing , all read October 28, 2026. All three also have free or $0 options with limits.
Three things to know before you pick one:
- Wix shows yearly prices only. Its displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions paid in full up front, and Wix labels the USD figures "for reference only."
- The free domain is a first-year deal. Wix paid plans include a domain voucher for one year, for new domains only. Squarespace's free domain also covers year one, then renews at its standard rate. WordPress.com says its monthly plans do not include a free domain at all.
- Paying yearly is cheaper but locks you in. Squarespace says paying annually saves up to 36%. The yearly column above is what you pay per month when you pay for the whole year at once.
Plenty of small businesses go this route. A 2025 Clutch study found that DIY builders like Wix and Squarespace power 41% of recently launched small-business sites, WordPress or Shopify power 34%, and 12% are custom-built (Clutch, August 2025). The trade-off is your time: you write the pages, take the photos and set up the forms yourself.
Hiring a freelancer: what hourly rates look like
Freelance web designers on marketplaces charge far less per hour than agencies, but the total depends on how many hours your site takes. Upwork puts the median rate for web designers at $15 to $30 an hour, based on historical contracts worldwide, not just in the US (Upwork).
Upwork also breaks rates down by the kind of job:
| Type of project | Average hourly rate (Upwork) |
|---|---|
| One-page site | $15 – $40+ |
| CMS site (for example WordPress) | $20 – $50+ |
| Full custom site design | $45 – $75+ |
Hours vary as much as rates. Upwork says a job can take anywhere from about 10 hours for a very small design project to several dozen hours for a large custom build. A one-page site and a multi-page site with a quote form are very different jobs.
For context, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports median pay of $99,520 a year, or $47.85 an hour, for US web developers and digital designers (May 2025 data, BLS). That is what employees earn, not what freelancers bill, but it helps explain why US-based freelancers usually charge more than the worldwide marketplace medians.
Hiring an agency: what the review data says
Web design agencies reviewed on Clutch typically bill $100 to $149 an hour, and most of their projects cost less than $10,000 (Clutch, updated September 2026). This is the closest thing to survey data available, because it comes from verified client reviews. It covers agencies only, and it is not specific to trades.
Clutch also reports an average project cost of $38,105.39. Don't read that as the typical price. An average is pulled up by a small number of very large projects, while Clutch itself says most projects come in under $10,000. For a small trade business, the "under $10,000" figure is the more useful one.
Agency projects also take time. Clutch says a typical web design project lasts about 7 months. That figure covers all kinds of clients, many with bigger sites than a 1 to 5 truck trade business needs, so ask any agency for its own timeline in writing.
Hiring out is common. In Clutch's 2025 study, 45% of small-business sites were built by outsourced partners, 37% by in-house teams and 8% by owners themselves (Clutch, August 2025).
What trade-specific estimates show for landscaping, fencing and general contracting
One cost-estimating website's model puts US freelancer builds for these three trades at about $2,200 to $11,600, with agency builds higher. These are modeled estimates from a single publisher, ProjectCostEstimator, which says its figures are based on "600+ project quotes and rate benchmarks." They are not a survey of what businesses actually paid.
| Trade | Freelancer | Agency | Running cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landscaper | $2,200 – $8,000 | $5,800 – $18,850 | $30 – $150 / mo |
| Fencing contractor | $2,200 – $7,250 | $5,800 – $17,400 | $30 – $140 / mo |
| General contractor | $3,650 – $11,600 | $8,700 – $26,100 | $40 – $200 / mo |
Source: ProjectCostEstimator, July 2026 . We found no comparable sourced figures for tree services, hardscapers, roofers or dog trainers, so we don't guess at those here.
What a landscaping website costs
For a landscaper, that model estimates $2,200 to $8,000 with a freelancer and $5,800 to $18,850 with an agency, plus $30 to $150 a month to run. Wix's own landscaping cost guide gives a much wider range, from $0 on a free plan to more than $10,000 for a custom site, and $500 to $10,000+ one-time to hire a developer (Wix blog). Keep in mind that Wix sells the DIY option it is pricing. If you want to see what a landscaper site should include, read our page on website design for landscapers.
Ongoing costs: domain, hosting and maintenance
After launch, you keep paying for a domain, hosting and upkeep, and the hosting renewal price is where most surprises come from. Here is what each piece costs.
A standard .com costs $11.08 a year to register and renew at Porkbun (October 2026). Cloudflare Registrar sells domains at cost with no markup.
Hostinger's Premium plan is $2.49 a month on a 48-month term, then renews at $10.99 a month. Its Cloud Startup plan goes from $7.99 to $25.99.
WP Engine's entry Essential plan is $28 a month, billed annually only ($336 a year).
GoDaddy puts maintenance for a small-to-medium business site at $50 to $500 a month, or $600 to $6,000 a year.
Sources: Porkbun, Cloudflare, Hostinger, WP Engine (all read October 28, 2026), and GoDaddy (April 2026).
Two cautions. First, the Hostinger example shows how an intro price can renew at several times the starting rate, so always ask for the renewal price. Second, GoDaddy sells maintenance services, so its range comes from a vendor pricing the thing it sells. If you'd rather not handle updates, backups and fixes yourself, see what website care and maintenance covers.
Service-area pages: a feature that drives cost for trades
Every extra page adds to the build cost, and service-area pages only pay off if each one is genuinely useful for that area. In the ProjectCostEstimator model, a set of per-material pages adds $400 to $1,000 to a fencing site, and a set of per-project case pages adds $500 to $1,500 to a general contractor site. The same logic applies to a page for each town you serve: more pages, more cost.
Before you pay for a page per town, know Google's rules. Google's spam policies treat pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page as doorway abuse (Google Search Central). Copying one page and swapping the city name is the kind of thing that risks that label. A service-area page should say something real about the work you do there.
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that reviews and links feed into prominence (Google). Pages alone don't make you prominent.
Quote forms and call tracking: a separate monthly cost
Tracking which calls and form leads came from your website is usually a separate monthly tool, so budget for it apart from the build. CallRail, for example, lists its Lead Tracking plan at $50 a month on monthly billing, with 5 local numbers and 250 minutes, and Lead Tracking Complete at $95 a month, which adds 1,000 form submissions. Extra local numbers are $3 each, usage is billed on top, and CallRail says a yearly plan saves up to 10% (CallRail, October 2026).
The quote form itself is part of the build. If you run ads or want a single page built around one offer, a landing page is another option to ask about.
Reviews on your site: what they can and can't do
Reviews have a large effect on local buyers, but marking up your own reviews on your own site will not earn you star ratings in Google. Here is what BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US adults found (BrightLocal, February 2026):
- 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses.
- 68% will only use a business with 4 or more stars, and 31% require 4.5 or more.
- 74% look for reviews written in the last three months.
- After reading positive reviews, the most common next step (54%) is visiting the business's website.
So the site needs to show your reviews, but don't pay extra expecting gold stars in search results. Google says reviews a business publishes about itself on its own site are ineligible for the star review feature (Google Search Central). The reviews that help your local ranking are the ones on your Google Business Profile, which Google lets you manage at no charge (Google). Link to that profile from your site.
Do you need a website if you have a Google Business Profile?
Most small businesses think so: 83% now have a website, up from 64% in 2018, according to Clutch's 2025 study (Clutch, August 2025). The remaining 17% are still offline.
Your Google Business Profile is free to manage and it is where most local reviews live. But the profile and the website do different jobs. BrightLocal found that after reading positive reviews, the most common thing people do is visit the business's website. If there is no site, or it is a dead page, that step goes nowhere.
Questions to ask before you sign a website quote
A fair quote spells out who owns what, what renews and at what price, and what is not included. Ask these before you sign:
- Who owns the site and the domain? Make sure the domain is registered in your name, and ask whether you own the website or only license it while you keep paying.
- What does it cost after year one? Free domains often cover the first year only, and hosting intro prices can renew several times higher. Get the renewal prices in writing.
- Is SEO included or separate? SEO is usually priced separately from the build. Ask exactly what is included at launch and what costs extra. See what SEO and AI search work involves.
- What is the timeline? Clutch puts a typical agency project at about 7 months, which is longer than many owners expect. Ask for the date the site goes live and what you need to provide to hit it.
- How are leads tracked? Ask whether calls and form submissions will be tracked, and whether that tool is in the quote or a separate monthly bill.
Getting a quote from coolweb.ai
coolweb.ai builds websites for small trade and home-service businesses. We don't publish one price, because the right number depends on your pages, the areas you serve, your quote form and whether you want call and form tracking. Tell us about your business and we'll scope it and send a written quote. If a DIY builder is the better fit for you right now, we'll say so.
Ask for a written quote →See our website design service or browse websites by industry, including roofer website design.
Contractor website cost: FAQs
How much should a contractor website cost?
A DIY builder plan costs about $4 to $40 a month for typical small-business plans. One cost-estimating model puts US freelancer builds for landscapers, fence companies and general contractors at about $2,200 to $11,600, and agency builds at about $5,800 to $26,100. Most agency projects reviewed on Clutch cost less than $10,000.
How much does a website cost for a small business per month?
On a DIY builder, the plan is the main monthly cost: Wix lists $17 to $39 a month for its Light to Business plans, billed yearly. If someone else maintains the site, GoDaddy puts maintenance for a small-to-medium business site at $50 to $500 a month. Call tracking such as CallRail starts at $50 a month plus usage.
Is Wix or Squarespace good enough for a contractor?
It can be, and it is a common choice: DIY builders like Wix and Squarespace power 41% of recently launched small-business sites, according to Clutch. Plans run about $12 to $39 a month on yearly billing. The trade-off is that you write the pages, add the photos and set up the forms yourself.
How much does it cost to maintain a website per year?
GoDaddy puts maintenance for a small-to-medium business site at $600 to $6,000 a year, though GoDaddy sells that service. Separate from upkeep, a .com domain costs about $11 a year at Porkbun, and hosting ranges from a few dollars a month for shared plans to $336 a year for WP Engine's entry managed plan.
How long does it take to build a contractor website?
Clutch says a typical web design project with a reviewed agency lasts about 7 months. That covers all kinds of clients, many with larger sites than a small trade business needs. Ask for a written go-live date and a list of what you need to supply.
How much does a landscaping website cost?
One cost-estimating model puts a US landscaper website at $2,200 to $8,000 with a freelancer and $5,800 to $18,850 with an agency, plus $30 to $150 a month to run. Wix's own guide gives a wider range, from $0 on a free plan to more than $10,000 for a custom build.
Sources
- Wix, "Plans and pricing," wix.com/plans, read October 28, 2026. (F1, F2)
- Squarespace, "Pricing," squarespace.com/pricing, read October 28, 2026. (F3, F4)
- WordPress.com (Automattic), "Pricing," wordpress.com/pricing, read October 28, 2026. (F5)
- Clutch, small-business websites press release, clutch.co/press-releases/smb-websites-2025, August 21, 2025. (F6, F7, F8)
- Clutch, "Web design pricing," clutch.co/web-designers/pricing, updated September 21, 2026. (F9, F10, F11)
- Upwork, "How much does it cost to hire a web designer," upwork.com/hire/web-designers/cost, read October 28, 2026 (no date shown). (F12, F13, F14)
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Web Developers and Digital Designers," Occupational Outlook Handbook, bls.gov, May 2025 data, read October 28, 2026. (F15)
- ProjectCostEstimator, landscaper website cost, projectcostestimator.com/cost/industry/landscaper, July 2026. (F16)
- ProjectCostEstimator, fencing contractor website cost, projectcostestimator.com/cost/industry/fencing, July 2026. (F17)
- ProjectCostEstimator, general contractor website cost, projectcostestimator.com/cost/industry/general-contractor, July 2026. (F18)
- Wix Blog (Rachel Bistricer), landscaping website cost, wix.com/blog/landscaping-website-cost, updated October 20 (year not shown). (F19)
- GoDaddy, "Website maintenance cost," godaddy.com, April 13, 2026. (F20)
- Porkbun, "Domains," porkbun.com/products/domains, read October 28, 2026. (F21)
- Cloudflare, "Registrar," cloudflare.com/products/registrar, read October 28, 2026. (F22)
- Hostinger, "Web hosting," hostinger.com/web-hosting, read October 28, 2026. (F23)
- WP Engine, "Plans," wpengine.com/plans, read October 28, 2026. (F24)
- CallRail, "Pricing," callrail.com/pricing, read October 28, 2026. (F25)
- BrightLocal, "Local Consumer Review Survey," brightlocal.com, February 11, 2026 (n=1,002 US adults). (F26, F27, F28, F29)
- Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to improve your local ranking on Google," support.google.com/business/answer/7091, read October 28, 2026. (F30)
- Google Search Central, "Spam policies for Google web search," developers.google.com, read October 28, 2026. (F31)
- Google Search Central, "Review snippet structured data," developers.google.com, read October 28, 2026. (F32)
- Google Business Profile Help, support.google.com/business/answer/3038063, read October 28, 2026. (F33)
Prices are as published by each vendor in October 2026 and change often. Wix, WP Engine and the yearly columns for Squarespace and WordPress.com are annual-billed prices shown per month. ProjectCostEstimator figures are a model, not a survey.