Hiring a Web Designer for Your Trade Business: Questions to Ask

Most trade owners hire a web designer the same way they'd pick a sub they've never worked with: a referral, a decent-looking sample, a price that seems fine. Then a year later they find out they don't own their domain, can't change a phone number without a support ticket, and have a five-page site that never shows up for anything.

You can avoid almost all of that with a few direct questions before you sign. Here's the list.

Ownership: the questions that matter most

Ask these first. If the answers are vague, stop there.

1. Who will own the domain name? The domain (yourcompany.com) should be registered to your business, in a registrar account you log into, with your email on it. If the designer already registered it "for you," get it transferred into your own account now while everyone is friendly.

2. Who owns the website itself? There are three common setups:

A rental model isn't automatically bad. Some owners prefer a monthly fee that covers everything. Just know which one you're buying, and get it in writing.

3. Will I get admin access to everything? That means the domain registrar, hosting, the site's admin panel, Google Business Profile, Google Analytics, Google Search Console and any ad accounts. You should be an owner on each, not just a "user" they added.

4. Who owns the photos and written content? Your project photos are yours. But if the designer wrote the copy or licensed stock images under their account, the contract should say you can keep using them after you part ways.

Hosting and maintenance

Ask how and where the site is hosted, and what the monthly or annual cost covers:

• Hosting and SSL certificate (the padlock in the browser)
• Backups, and how often
• Software and plugin updates, and security monitoring
• Small edits (new phone number, a new service, seasonal promo). How many per month, and how fast?
• Uptime monitoring. Who notices if the site goes down on a Saturday in July?

Ask for the turnaround time on a simple edit. A busy HVAC shop that needs to post "now booking AC tune-ups" in April can't wait three weeks.

Page structure and SEO basics

A trade site that ranks is usually not five pages. Ask the designer to show you the sitemap they're proposing. You want to see:

• A page for each core service. Not one "Services" page listing everything. A plumber should have separate pages for water heaters, drain cleaning, repiping and so on.
• Service-area pages for the towns you actually work in, with real local detail, not the same paragraph with the town name swapped. We explain why in why trade businesses need local service pages.
• Project or gallery pages with real photos.
• About, reviews and contact pages.

Then ask how they handle the technical basics:

• Unique title tags and meta descriptions on every page
• One clear H1 per page, logical headings below it
• Mobile layout tested on real phones
• Structured data for a local business
• A sitemap submitted to Google Search Console
• Redirects from your old page URLs if they're rebuilding an existing site, so you don't lose whatever rankings you have

That last one gets skipped constantly. If your old site had a page that ranked for "chimney repair [town]," killing it without a redirect throws that away.

For trade-specific must-haves, see electrician website must-haves. Most of that list applies to any trade.

Speed and lead capture

Ask: "How fast will the site load on a phone, and how will you measure it?" A good answer mentions testing with Google PageSpeed Insights or similar, image compression, and not loading a pile of scripts nobody needs. We go deeper in website speed and local rankings.

Then ask what happens when someone wants to hire you:

• Is there a tap-to-call button visible on every page on mobile?
• Where do form submissions go? Just an email inbox, or into a CRM where they get tracked and followed up?
• Can people book an estimate or upload photos of the job?
• Will calls and forms be tracked so you know which pages and sources produce leads?

A pretty site that sends form fills to an inbox nobody checks is not a lead generation tool.

The contract: what to read before you sign

Look for these in writing:

• Scope: number of pages, what's included (copywriting? photos? town pages?), and how many revision rounds.
• Timeline: what you need to provide and when, and what happens if either side is late.
• Payment terms: deposit, milestones, final payment.
• Ongoing fees: what the monthly or annual charge includes, and whether it can go up.
• Term and cancellation: minimum commitment, notice period, and what you walk away with.
• Ownership and handoff: explicit language that the domain, content and accounts belong to you, and that they'll cooperate with a transfer.

If you're signing a 12- or 24-month agreement, read the cancellation section twice.

Red flags

• They register the domain in their own name or won't tell you whose name it's in.
• They won't give you admin access "for security reasons."
• The portfolio is all templates with the logo swapped, and every site looks the same.
• They promise "page one of Google" or a specific ranking. Nobody controls that.
• Every client site has the same five pages.
• They can't explain where your leads will go after someone fills out a form.
• The price is extremely low, with the real cost hidden in a long monthly contract.
• They don't ask you a single question about your services, towns, best jobs or ideal customers.

That last one is the biggest tell. A designer who doesn't ask how your business makes money is going to build a brochure, not a sales tool.

A short script for the first call

If you want to keep it simple, ask these six in your first conversation:

1. Will the domain, hosting and site be in accounts I own?
2. Can you show me the page list you'd build for a business like mine?
3. How do you handle town or service-area pages?
4. Where do leads go, and how do I know which ones came from the website?
5. What does the monthly fee cover, and how fast are edits?
6. What happens if I want to leave in a year?

Good designers will be glad you asked.

How RGS helps

We build custom, mobile-first sites for trades like electrical contractors and carpenters and remodelers, with dedicated service and town pages, lead capture wired into a CRM and fast load times. If you'd like straight answers to the six questions above, see our web design service or get in touch.