Websites for home builders

What this service is

A new website for a residential builder, built from scratch and handed over ready to update. It suits companies building new homes, design-and-build firms and builders who take on large alterations alongside new work. The finished site runs to eight to fifteen pages, depending on how many types of build you offer and how many finished projects you can show with the owners' permission.

The starting point is NZD 6,800, plus GST where applicable. The pricing page shows how that figure is built up.

Why a builder's site is planned differently

A new home is a large commitment, made over months, with a builder the client may not have met. The official guidance on building.govt.nz tells them to get detailed quotes, compare like with like, and weigh experience, references and past projects alongside price. A builder's website is where much of that checking starts.

So the plan follows the questions a careful client is told to ask:

• What do you build? Service pages for each type of work, such as new homes, architecturally designed builds, extensions or design and build.
• Have you built something like mine? A project portfolio with a page per finished job, written up from your notes and photos.
• Who are you? An about page that names the people, the area you cover and how you run a job.
• How do I ask for a price? A quote request form short enough to finish on a phone, with a clear note on what happens next.

What is included

• a site plan agreed before design starts, listing every page and what it is for
• page layouts drawn for your business, using your photos rather than stock images
• up to six service pages and a project portfolio set up with your first projects
• a quote request form, built and tested, with an enquiry notice that meets the Privacy Act information rules
• an about page, a contact page and the policy pages a small business site needs
• page titles, descriptions and structured data for each page
• checks on phones, with a keyboard and with images switched off
• a written handover covering how to add a project and edit a page

Licensing and claims on the site

If your team includes Licensed Building Practitioners, saying so is useful information for clients, and building.govt.nz explains that homeowners can check the public register. We will only publish licence details you give us, in the form the register shows them, and we suggest a link to the register so clients can confirm them. We do not add phrases such as fully licensed or certified unless you can back them up, because a claim like that has to be accurate when it is made.

The same applies to guarantees, memberships and awards. If you hold one, we will show it with a link to the body that issued it. If you do not, the page simply leaves it out.

Material we ask you for

The quality of the finished site depends more on your material than on our design. Before the build starts we ask for:

• a list of the types of work you want more of, and any you would rather not attract
• three or more finished projects, with photos you have the right to use and the owners' agreement to publish them
• the towns and districts you cover, and any you deliberately avoid
• who in the business answers enquiries, and how quickly they can reply

The website project planner collects this information and gives you a text file to send with your enquiry.

Search basics, kept honest

The site is built so that search engines can read it easily: clear page titles, descriptive addresses, a sitemap and the local business structured data Google documents for businesses with a public address. Google's own starter guide is plain that there is no secret formula, and we do not sell one. What a builder site can do is describe each type of work accurately on its own page and show real projects, which is also what a client wants.

Google indexes the mobile version of a site, so the phone layout gets as much attention as the desktop one. The same content, images and structured data appear on both.

Outside this service

Hosting and domain costs are paid directly by you, so the accounts stay in your name. Photography is not included; if your photos are not good enough to show the work, we will say so and suggest what to reshoot. After handover, each change gets quoted separately, or charged at NZD 160 an hour plus GST where applicable.