Website project planner

What the planner does

It takes what you know about your business and arranges it into the shape of a contractor website. The plan lists the pages the site needs in order of importance: home, a page for each service, projects, about, a quote form and the policy pages. It turns your list of towns into a single coverage statement and, if you have an existing site, adds the steps for moving it safely.

It also lists gaps: things the site will need that you have not supplied yet, such as fewer than three finished projects or nobody named to answer enquiries.

How to fill it in

Services. Write each service on its own line in the words a client would use. "Bathroom renovations" is better than "Wet area solutions". List only the work you want more of.

Areas. List the towns or districts you cover. Leave out places you visit only occasionally.

Projects. Count the finished jobs where you have usable photos and the owners have agreed to publication. Be strict: a job with no photos, or one where you have not asked, does not count yet.

Who answers enquiries. A name or role. If nobody is responsible for replying, a website will collect messages that go unanswered.

Features. Tick what you want. Photo uploads and booking links need a little more work and should be mentioned when you ask for quotes.

Current website. If you are replacing a site, the plan adds the inventory and redirect steps from Google's guidance on site moves.

Why it suggests these pages

The plan follows the questions a careful client asks before choosing a builder, which line up with building.govt.nz's advice to homeowners: compare detailed quotes, and look at experience and past projects as well as price. Service pages answer what you do, projects show you have done it, the about page says who you are and the form lets them ask for a price.

The order matters if you build in stages. Service pages and the form let a site take enquiries from the first week; projects strengthen it as they are added.

Using the plan

Send the downloaded file to every provider you ask for a quote. When each quote responds to the same list of pages and features, the quotes are much easier to compare. The cost guide lists the questions to ask about each one.

If you are building the site yourself, the plan is your checklist. Work through it in order and tick off each page as it goes live.

Limits

The planner applies the reasoning in our guides; it does not know your market, your competitors or your customers. Treat its suggestions as a starting point. It does not look at your existing website, so if you are replacing one, you still need to list its pages yourself before planning redirects.

Privacy

Everything you type stays in your browser. The page does not send the form anywhere, does not use cookies and does not remember your answers after you close it. Download the plan if you want to keep it.