Who is Websites 4 Trades? The £30 a month trade website builder

The founder's route into web design

Most trades web agencies are started by designers who later pick a niche. Websites 4 Trades went the other way round. Carl Hancock's own account describes a background in plastering and labouring, followed by a move into marketing, then building and eventually selling a large carpet cleaning business.

That matters because it shapes the pitch. The site is written by someone who has priced jobs, chased invoices and watched the phone, rather than someone translating an agency template for a new sector. It does not guarantee a good website, but it does mean the brief is unlikely to miss the basics that matter to a one-van business.

What £30 a month buys

The standard package bundles the build, the hosting and ongoing maintenance into one monthly payment of £30, with no setup fee. Unlimited changes are included on the standard package, which is unusual at this price and worth holding the company to in writing.

You buy your own domain name. That is a small cost and a sensible arrangement, because it means the address your customers know stays in your name if you ever leave. Logo design is charged as an extra and an SEO service is offered separately.

• Website design and build with no upfront payment
• Hosting and maintenance included in the £30
• Unlimited changes on the standard package
• Client registers and owns the domain
• Logo design and SEO available as paid extras

Trades the company says it serves

The named list is wider than the usual building trades. Alongside builders, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and roofers it includes gardeners, carpet cleaners, oven cleaners, window cleaners and commercial and domestic cleaning firms. Given the founder's history in carpet cleaning, the cleaning sector appears to be a genuine strength rather than a list filler.

The company does not state where it is based, and the website is clearly aimed at a UK-wide audience rather than one region.

Evidence on the site

There are no written case studies. Instead the homepage carries a wall of client logos, each linking to a live site across roofing, plumbing, cleaning and other trades. For a company at this price point that is arguably more useful than a glossy case study, because you can click through and judge the finished work yourself.

Take ten minutes to do exactly that. Look at how the sites load on a phone, whether the phone number is tappable at the top, and whether the service pages read like the trade or like a template. Our guide to what a trades website should include gives you a checklist to score them against.

Where the limits are

A £30 a month site is a brochure with a phone number, and that is fine for many sole traders. It is not a lead generation system. There is no advertising, no review automation and no CRM in the standard package, and the SEO service is priced separately.

Pay-monthly arrangements also raise the question of what happens to the site itself if you stop paying. The domain is yours, but the design, content and hosting sit with the company. Ask directly whether you can take the files with you and what the notice period is. The answer tells you a great deal about the relationship.

The absence of a stated location and of any published founding team beyond Carl Hancock is normal for a business of this size, but it does mean the company is effectively one person's reputation. If you prefer a larger team with a published office, the firms in our list of website designers for tradesmen give you a range to compare.

Our assessment

Websites 4 Trades sits at the cheapest credible end of the market. The founder's trade background, the unlimited changes and the client-owned domain are real positives, and the lack of upfront cost removes the main barrier for someone replacing a Facebook page with a proper site.

It suits a sole trader or two-person firm that needs a presentable website quickly and does not want to think about hosting. It is a weaker fit for anyone who wants their website to be the engine of their marketing rather than a shop window, in which case the broader systems in our ranking of trades marketing agencies deserve a look.

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