What a general contractor website needs: pages, words and photos

A general contractor website needs to answer three questions fast: what kind of projects you take on, where you work, and whether you are a licensed, insured outfit that finishes what it starts. Everything else on the site supports those three answers. Most homeowners who look you up already have a project in mind and a few names on a list, so the site's job is to keep you on that list and make the call or the estimate request easy.

What a homeowner checks in the first minute

Picture someone planning a kitchen remodel or a garage addition. Before they pick up the phone they usually look for:

The type of work you do. Remodels, additions, new homes, decks, basements, insurance repair work. If you do kitchens and baths but not new construction, say so.
Your towns. A contractor two counties away is often a no. Name the towns and counties you work in.
A license number. Many states require contractors to show it on advertising, and careful homeowners look it up on the state board's site. Put it in the footer of every page.
Finished work that looks like their project. A bathroom owner wants bathrooms, not a parking garage.
A real person. A name, a face, a sense of who shows up on the job.
How to start. A phone number they can tap and a short estimate form.

If your home page answers those six things above the first scroll on a phone, you are ahead of most contractor sites.

The pages that do the work

You do not need dozens of pages. A solid general contractor site usually has these:

Home. One headline that says what you build and where, such as "Remodels and additions in Lake County since 2004". Under it, a tap-to-call button, an estimate button, three or four project photos and a short line about your license and insurance.

Services. One section or page per kind of work you actually want more of. For each, write what is included, the typical length of a job, and what you handle for the owner: permits, inspections, design help, subcontractors. If you only want larger jobs, say plainly that you take projects of a certain size and up, without a dollar figure if you prefer. The guide on writing a page for each service you offer goes deeper on that.

Projects. This is the page people spend the most time on. More on it below.

How we work. Walk through your process in five or six steps: first visit, estimate, contract, permits, build, final walkthrough. Homeowners worry most about the middle of a project, so add how you keep them informed, who their contact is and how the site is left at the end of each day.

About. Who owns the company, how long you have been building, who runs the crews. Mention whether you use your own carpenters, trusted subcontractors or both. People like to know who will be in their house.

Reviews. Short quotes from past clients with their first name and town, plus a link to your Google reviews.

Contact. Phone, email, office address if you have one, hours, and the estimate form.

Project photos and the words next to them

A gallery of fifty unlabeled pictures does less than eight projects with a few lines each. For every project, write:

What it was: "Second-story addition, two bedrooms and a bath."
The town, not the street address.
Roughly how long it took.
One problem you solved: an old beam that had to be replaced, a tight lot, a permit snag.

Show progress photos, not only the glossy finish. Framing, a new foundation, a gutted kitchen with the subfloor exposed: these tell a homeowner you do the unglamorous parts properly. Phone photos are fine if they are sharp and taken in daylight. Ask the homeowner before you post pictures of their house, and keep house numbers and license plates out of the frame. For more on this, see before and after photos that show your work.

Make the first contact easy, even from a job site

Most contractors spend the day on a site, not at a desk, and calls get missed. Plan for that instead of hiding the phone number:

Put the number at the top of every page as a link a thumb can tap.
Next to it, say what happens if you miss the call: "On a job site? Leave a message and we call back the same day."
Keep the estimate form short. Name, phone, email, town, type of project, rough timing, and a box for details. An optional photo upload helps for repair work.
Say what happens after they send it: "We call within one business day to set up a visit."

If a homeowner has to guess whether anyone will answer, they move on to the next name on the list.

What to leave out

General contractor sites often carry weight that only slows people down:

Stock photos of hard hats and blueprints. They make a real company look like a template.
Vague claims such as "quality craftsmanship" and "customer satisfaction". Every competitor says them. Replace each with a fact: years building, number of crews, the warranty you give on workmanship.
A long list of every trade you could possibly coordinate. List the projects, not the subtrades.
Projects you no longer want. If you have moved away from small handyman jobs, take them off the site.
Old news, like a "new website coming soon" banner or an offer that ended years ago.

Licenses, insurance and the paperwork homeowners ask about

A short "Licensed and insured" line is a start, but specifics are better. Show your state license number and class, say you carry general liability and workers' compensation, and offer to send a certificate of insurance on request. If you are a member of a local builders' association or hold a lead-safe certification for older homes, list it. Explain how payments usually work on your projects, such as a deposit at signing and draws at set stages, in plain language. Homeowners who understand the payment schedule before the first visit are easier to work with. The guide on showing licenses, insurance and certifications has more on wording.

Rules about what a contractor must show in advertising vary by state, so check your state licensing board's guidance or ask your attorney if you are unsure.

What to do this week

Look up your own site on your phone and check that the license number, the towns and a tappable phone number are easy to find.
Pick your six best projects and write the four lines for each.
Rewrite the home page headline so it names your main type of work and your area.
Cut the estimate form down to the fields you actually use.
Ask your three most recent happy clients for a short review.

If your current site has good projects but looks dated or is hard to use on a phone, you can see your site rebuilt first and judge the result before deciding anything.