What a trade website has to state correctly

Licence display

Many states require licensed contractors to show a licence number in ads, and a website is an ad. Some specify where and how clearly.

Where you work across state lines, each state's rule applies to the work done there.

Put it in the footer so it appears on every page, and set a reminder to check it against the expiry date twice a year.

Put it in the footer so it appears on every page, and set a reminder to check it against the expiry date twice a year.

Insurance wording

Fully insured is vague and invites a question you would rather answer precisely. Say what cover you hold, in normal words.

Liability cover and workers compensation are different things, and customers asking about insurance usually mean a specific one.

Keep the wording current when a policy changes. This is the same discipline as the licence number.

Liability cover and workers compensation are different things, and a customer asking about insurance usually means one specific one.

Estimates and quotes

Say plainly whether an estimate is fixed or indicative, what it includes, and what usually changes it. Materials, access, disposal, permits.

Where a call out fee applies, say so before somebody books, not when the van arrives.

A page that explains how pricing works converts better than one with no prices at all, and it prevents the argument at the invoice.

• Whether the figure is fixed or indicative
• What it includes
• What typically changes it
• Whether a call out fee applies, and when
• How long the quote stands
• Who pulls and pays for any permit
• What happens if the job turns out larger than expected

Warranty language

If you stand behind work for a period, say exactly what is covered, for how long, and what voids it.

Vague assurances create expectations you did not intend. Specific terms are both safer and more persuasive.

Avoid absolute promises about outcomes you cannot control, such as a repair never failing.

Emergency and response claims

Twenty four hour service and same day response are promises customers rely on at the worst moment.

If it means a phone answered and a visit next morning, say that. A promise you cannot keep in January is the one that produces reviews.

Be specific about the area you cover too, since the most common complaint is arriving outside the radius.

A map or a list of towns beats a radius in miles, because customers know their town and do not know their distance from your yard.

If twenty four hour service means a phone answered and a visit next morning, say that. A promise you cannot keep in January is the one that produces the review.

Photographs and reviews

Use your own job photographs, with permission from the homeowner. Stock images presented as your work are the most common quiet false claim in the trades.

Before and after pairs should be the same job from the same angle, with nothing changed but the work.

Testimonials need permission and should describe work you actually did.

Use your own job photographs with the homeowner's permission, which is covered in before and after photos.

What the builder covers

Pages here are written from a talk about your business, and the builder refuses outcome promises and unsupportable superlatives.

Every page passes a check that runs before anything publishes, validated against Google Search Essentials and modern web standards.

It does not know whether your licence lapsed last month or what your state requires. Nothing here is legal advice, and those two checks are a twice yearly ten minutes.

Permits and who pulls them

For work requiring a permit, say plainly whether you obtain it and whether the cost is included in your quote.

Homeowners frequently assume the contractor handles it. A sentence on the service page prevents a really expensive misunderstanding.

The same applies to inspections, disposal and making good. Naming what is not included is as useful as naming what is.