Answer
Does a local business still need a website?
Not always. If you are fully booked by word of mouth, a complete Google Business Profile is enough. You need a website once you want work you are not being referred for: bigger jobs, a second crew, or services people compare before calling. A profile cannot explain a $15,000 job.
When you genuinely do not need one
If your calendar is full three weeks out, every job comes from a referral, and you are not trying to grow, a website will not change your year. Claim your Google Business Profile, keep the hours right, collect reviews, and spend the money on a better van.
I would rather say that on a call than sell you a site you do not need. It is also the reason the homepage preview is free: you can see what it would look like before deciding it is not worth it.
When the absence starts costing you
The signs are specific, and most trades recognise at least one:
- You are quoting jobs you do not want and missing the ones you do
- People ask if you do a service you have done for years
- A competitor with worse work keeps appearing above you
- You want to hire, and nobody can find anything about you
- Insurance, property managers or commercial clients ask for a website before they will use you
Why a Facebook page is not a substitute
A Facebook page shows your most recent post, not your services, and it disappears for anyone who does not use Facebook. It also cannot be found by an assistant answering “who does backwater valves in London”, because that content is not on the open web.
It is a good place to show finished work to people who already know you. It is a poor place to be found by people who do not.
The order that actually works
Google Business Profile first, because it is free and it decides the map results. Reviews second, because they outweigh everything on a website. A website third, to explain the work the profile cannot.
Anyone who sells you step three without asking about steps one and two is selling you a website, not customers.
What each one is good at
| Question a customer has | Answered best by |
|---|---|
| Who is open near me right now? | Google Business Profile |
| Are they any good? | Reviews on the profile |
| Do they do this specific job? | A service page on your website |
| What will it cost, roughly? | Your website |
| Have they done work like mine? | Photos, on either |
| Are they licensed and insured? | Your website, in plain text |
Questions people ask
Is a Google Business Profile enough on its own?
For a small, referral-fed local business that is not trying to grow, often yes. It is free, it decides the map results, and it answers the two questions most customers have. It cannot explain a complicated or expensive service, which is where a website starts to pay.
Will a website get me calls straight away?
Usually not in the first month. Pages get indexed within days, but positions move for weeks, and a new site has no history. The faster returns come from sending the link to people who already found you: quotes, invoices, van, business cards.
What if I only do one kind of work?
Then a one to three page Starter site at $499 is genuinely enough, and anyone selling you ten pages is padding the invoice.