Somewhere between 0 and 15,000 euros — that's the honest answer, and it helps you exactly zero. So here's the actual breakdown: real price ranges for 2026, what drives the cost up, and how to recognise a bad quote before you sign it. I build websites for trades businesses, clearance companies, and moving services in Germany — these numbers come from real projects, not a glossy rate card.
The three price tiers in 2026
At the core, you have three routes to your own website. All three work — but each comes with a catch that conveniently goes unmentioned in the sales pitch.
- Site builders (Wix, Jimdo, IONOS): 0 to 30 euros per month. Sounds unbeatable. The hidden price is your time: expect 20 to 40 hours before you have something usable — evenings spent writing copy, nudging photos around, and fighting with menus. If your rate on the job site is 60 to 90 euros an hour, the "free" builder quickly becomes the most expensive option on this list.
- Freelancer: fixed price in the low four figures. Realistic range: 1,500 to 4,000 euros for a clean site with 4 to 8 pages, written copy, and a solid local SEO foundation. You talk directly to the person doing the work — no game of telephone across three layers of management.
- Agency: 3,000 to 15,000 euros. You get processes, meetings, and a project manager. That can be worth it if you run ten locations and have a marketing department. For a typical five-person operation, you're mostly paying for the overhead.
My honest take: for most trades businesses — electricians, plumbers, movers — the freelancer fixed price is the best deal, provided copywriting and local SEO are genuinely included. Because that's exactly where corners get cut.
What actually drives the price
Two quotes, both for a "trades business website", one at 1,800 euros and the other at 7,000. The difference almost always comes down to these five points:
- Page count. A homepage plus a contact page is built fast. Ten service pages plus location pages for three cities is many times the work — and those are exactly the pages that earn your Google rankings later.
- Copy. The biggest hidden cost. "Client provides all text" sits in the fine print of many quotes — and then the project stalls for three months because nobody at the company has time to write. Professional copy runs 100 to 250 euros per page depending on the provider, and it's almost always worth the money.
- Photos. Stock photos of grinning models in spotless hard hats fool nobody. Half a day with a local photographer costs 400 to 800 euros and visibly sets your site apart from the competition.
- SEO. Clean technical setup, fast load times, Google Business Profile, a page structure built around real search terms. Done properly, this is baked into the build from day one — not bolted on later as a "package".
- Maintenance. Updates, backups, small changes. Depending on the tech, anywhere from almost nothing (static sites) to 50+ euros per month (WordPress with a pile of plugins).
Red flags that should make you put the quote down
There are two business models in this industry I consider shady — not illegal, but almost always a losing deal for you as the customer.
Subscription models with no ownership. "Website from 99 euros a month, no upfront costs" sounds tempting. Do the maths: after three years you've paid 3,564 euros — and you own nothing. Cancel, and the site disappears, sometimes along with your domain. Always ask: if I cancel, do I keep the domain, the content, and the site itself? If the answer is vague, you have your answer.
"SEO packages" without content. Meta tags, a sitemap, a "Google listing" — that's basic equipment, not SEO. Without pages and copy that cover the searches your customers actually type ("emergency plumber Dortmund", "bathroom renovation cost"), nothing will rank. Anyone selling you SEO without content work is selling you hot air with a monthly direct debit.
Where spending money actually pays off
Three things decide whether a trades website brings in jobs or merely exists:
- Fast load times. Your customers search on their phones, often on patchy reception. A site that takes five seconds to load loses the call to the next result. Ask for concrete performance numbers from reference projects, not just promises.
- Copy that sells. Not "Welcome to our homepage", but answers to what customers actually ask: Do you do emergency call-outs? What does it roughly cost? How fast can you be here? Which areas do you cover?
- Local SEO. A well-maintained Google Business Profile, a dedicated page for each main service, your service area named clearly. That's the channel through which tradespeople actually get found — not Instagram.
These three points are exactly what I build my projects around — you can see what that includes in detail on my services page.
Checklist: compare quotes in 10 minutes
Before you sign anything, run through these questions:
- Do I own the domain, the content, and the website at the end — even if I cancel?
- Is the copywriting included in the price? Who writes it, and who supplies the information?
- What exactly does "SEO" mean in this quote? If the answer doesn't mention content: walk away.
- How fast do the reference projects load on a phone?
- What does a small change cost after launch — and how quickly does it get done?
- Are there references from the trades or similar service industries?
- Is the total cost over three years written down in black and white — including hosting and maintenance?
Point 7 is the most important one. A fixed price of 2,500 euros with 10 euros a month for hosting beats almost any "cheap" subscription after three years.
FAQ
Is a one-page website enough for my trades business?
To get started, often yes: services, service area, photos, phone number — done. But as soon as you want to be found for multiple services or cities, you need dedicated pages. A single page can't rank for "bathroom renovation", "heating maintenance", and "emergency call-out" all at once.
What does ongoing maintenance for a trades website cost?
Hosting and domain run 5 to 15 euros per month. Maintenance contracts cost 20 to 100 euros monthly depending on scope — sensible with WordPress, because updates and security are real work. Statically built sites need almost no maintenance; that's one of the reasons I prefer them.
Why is an agency so much more expensive than a freelancer?
You're paying for the machinery: project management, meetings, office, margin. That doesn't automatically make the website better — on a five-page project, one person ends up doing the work anyway. Agencies make sense for large projects with many stakeholders, not for a standard business website.
Comparing quotes right now, or already have one on your desk? Send it over before you sign — I'll tell you in plain terms what's solid and what's padding.