If you built your building and renovation business website more than three or four years ago, it is worth spending half an hour looking at it the way a new customer would. This checklist tells you what to look for and what to fix first.
Sign 1: It does not answer home renovation builder [your suburb] within ten seconds
Open your homepage on a phone. If a stranger cannot tell what you do, where you work and how to call you before scrolling, the structure needs work, not the colours.
Sign 2: The photos are stock, or five years old
A builder website should show wide finished shots, before and after pairs, and progress photos that prove you were on site. Replacing stock images with your own is the single highest-impact change most refreshes make.
Sign 3: Prices have quietly disappeared
You cannot quote a renovation online, but you can publish realistic ranges for a bathroom, a kitchen or a single-storey extension and explain what moves the number. Sites lose their prices over time because nobody wants to update them; a refresh is the moment to put them back.
Sign 4: The mobile version feels like a compromise
Tap targets too small, menus that hide the phone number, text that wraps badly. Most of your visitors are on phones, so the phone version is the website.
Sign 5: It describes last year's business
Services have changed, areas have changed, the team has changed. Check that kitchen and bathroom renovations, home extensions and second storeys and decks and pergolas and the suburbs you actually cover are what the site says. Renovation enquiries rise after the January holidays and again around the end of financial year when people plan spending; outdoor work like decks is quoted in spring.
Sign 6: The trust signals are missing or hidden
Customers look for your builder registration number, domestic building insurance and a portfolio with addresses or suburbs and completion dates. If those are in a footer or an about page nobody reads, move them to where decisions are made.
Refresh or rebuild?
A refresh keeps your domain, structure and useful content while fixing presentation, mobile usability and outdated sections. A rebuild makes sense when the information architecture itself is broken — visitors cannot tell what you sell — or when you need features the current site cannot support. For most builders and renovators, a refresh is enough. See website refresh for how that works.
What to fix first
- Phone number, hours and service area visible on the first screen of the homepage.
- Replace stock photos with your own.
- Put prices or ranges back on the service pages.
- Check every page on a phone and fix the three worst problems.
- Match every detail with your Google Business Profile.
Common questions
How many projects do I need in a portfolio?
Five well-documented projects with captions, suburbs and scope beat fifty uncaptioned photos.
Should a builder publish prices?
Publish ranges and what affects them. Owners with a $40,000 budget and owners with $400,000 both need to know quickly whether you are the right fit.
Will a new website guarantee Google rankings?
No one can guarantee rankings, and anyone who does should be avoided. A well-structured site with honest local content and a complete Google Business Profile gives you the best foundation; results depend on competition and time.
YINO builds focused websites for Australian local businesses: $499 for a one-page site delivered in 3 business days, $999 for up to 8 pages. If you are weighing up a refresh versus a rebuild, start with website refresh; otherwise get in touch.
