How Much Does a Trade Website Cost in Australia? (2026 Prices)

The Three Tiers of Trade Website Pricing

Tier 1: DIY Website Builders ($0-30/month)

Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy

What you get:

• A template you customise yourself
• Basic hosting and SSL
• A subdomain (free plan) or custom domain ($15-30/year extra)
• Drag-and-drop editing
• Limited SEO tools

What you don't get:

• Professional content written for your trade
• Local SEO optimisation (suburb pages, schema markup)
• Google review integration
• Ongoing content or updates
• Phone support or site management

Real cost: $0-360/year in fees + 20-35 hours of your time to build + 2-4 hours/month to maintain. At trade rates ($80-150/hour), that's $2,000-5,000 in opportunity cost for the first year.

Best for: Businesses just starting out with a limited budget who have time to learn website building.

Tier 2: Managed Trade Platform ($149–$199 + GST per month, plus a go-live fee)

TradeDraft, trade-specific website services

What you get:

• Professional design built for your trade
• Content written by people who understand your industry
• Local SEO with suburb pages and Google Business Profile setup
• Google review display and schema markup
• Ongoing hosting, SSL, updates, and support
• 4 starter articles, then monthly article drafts to approve (on Growth)
• Analytics and performance monitoring

What you don't get:

• Direct code access (managed for you)
• Custom functionality such as booking systems or customer portals (we link to the ones you use)

Real cost: $499 go-live fee + $1,788–$2,388/year, plus GST. Zero hours of your time. Live within 5 business days of your approval.

Best for: Established trades who value their time and want a professional online presence that generates calls.

Tier 3: Custom Web Agency ($3,000-10,000+)

Local web design agencies

What you get:

• Fully custom design (unique to your business)
• Unlimited design revisions during the build
• Custom functionality (booking systems, customer portals)
• Portfolio-quality visual design

What you don't get:

• Ongoing content or SEO (usually charged separately)
• Hosting (usually $30-100/month extra)
• Updates or maintenance (usually $100-200/hour)
• Any guarantee the site will rank on Google

Real cost: $3,000-10,000 upfront + $360-1,200/year hosting + $1,200-4,800/year maintenance. Often another $1,000-3,000/year for SEO if you want to rank.

Best for: Established businesses with a significant marketing budget who need a completely unique design or custom functionality.

The Question Nobody Asks

Instead of "how much does a website cost?", the better question is "how much does NOT having a good website cost?"

If you're a plumber charging $180/hour and you're missing 5 calls per month because your website is bad (or non-existent), that's roughly $900/month in lost revenue. Over a year, that's $10,800.

A $149 + GST per month managed website that captures even 2 of those 5 missed calls pays for itself more than twice over.

What to Look For in Any Option

Regardless of which tier you choose, make sure your website has:

• Mobile-first design that loads fast
• Your phone number visible everywhere
• Google reviews displayed
• Suburb-specific content for your service areas
• SSL certificate (HTTPS)
• Schema markup for local business

The cheapest website isn't the one with the lowest price tag — it's the one that delivers the highest return on investment.