You head to Google to find websites for local businesses every day, so you already know that a site for your roofing business is crucial.

But figuring out how much to pay is the tough part. Asking a marketing agency what you should pay for a website is like asking your girlfriend what you should pay for an engagement ring – it’s a loaded question.

So we’ve covered the top 3 ways to build a site – Website Builder, WordPress or a Web Design Agency – and broken down the individual costs to give you a big picture look at your possible spend.

Looking to save money and build an awesome website for your roofing company?

Of course, you are.

The problem is, this creates a market where super-cheap websites exist on Fiverr for $100 bucks. They’ll save you money, that’s for sure, but they won’t do a damn thing to help you get more customers. Which can spook roofers and send them to a full-service agency charging $5,000 and up for a website with all the bells and whistles.

So if you can get a website for $100 AND for $5,000 – how much does a new roofing website REALLY cost?

We’ll answer that question for you right now.

If you’ve grown your business without a website, or with the simple website you had built for you 10 years ago, it’s easy to think “why should I go through the hassle of a whole new site?”.

In short, because high-quality leads come through high-quality websites.

Here’s an example of two different types of leads:

It’s the roofers who look at those two leads and consider them to be equal that think they can get by without a website.

And It’s the savvy roofing specialist who realizes a lead from a website is qualified. These leads have gone looking for you with the intention of hiring a roofer. They’ve read your content and view you as the expert roofer in the local area. And they want to organise an estimate as a final test of your quality and professionalism.

When you tell Gary your prices he says “nah, no thanks”, because he only wanted a cheap service. But when you tell Mary your prices she says “amazing, when can you start?” because she wanted professional service and went looking for one online.

If you don’t have a roofing website, you can’t rank on Google.

With 93% of online experiences starting at a blank Google screen, it’s obvious that Google is the place to be. This boils down the argument for a roofing website to one simple fact – new customers won’t find you without a site. More than 50% of website traffic comes through search – meaning you lose 1 out every 2 possible leads until you build a site.

You can also use your roofing website if you plan on running a Google Ads campaign down the line. And by sending paid traffic to your website you can supercharge your site visitors and drive a steady stream of leads to keep the calendar full whether you work on residential roofs or commercial roofs.

But enough about WHY you need a roofing website. Let’s talk about how much a roofing website will cost.

It depends if you want to build your own website or pay someone to do it for you.

You could save money by painting your entire house a new shade of off-white, but you’ll be spending time every weekend for the next month to get the job done. Or you could pay a professional painter to finish the whole house in a weekend. As a bonus, when you pay the pros, the finished result is better than anything you could have done (no offense).

The same logic applies to a new roofing website.

You could save money by building your site on your own, but depending on the complexity of the site you’ll be spending time every weekend for the next month to get the site done. Or you could pay a professional freelancer or agency to finish the whole site for you. This will cost more, but as a bonus, when you pay the pros, the finished site is designed to bring in traffic, generate leads, and convert at a higher rate.

Paying someone to build your site isn’t just about saving time, but ending up with a roofing website that gets you more work – which we call a ‘customer-conversion engine’ because it runs without you involved and sends leads to your inbox each week.

To help you map out your potential costs, let’s break down some ballpark costs of building a website using the three most common methods.

Don’t make your final choice based on price alone. Your website budget will be influenced by how much time and effort you want to spend getting your new roofing site launched

As much as average website pricing figures help paint a picture, price only tells part of the story.

OPTION A – HIRE AN AGENCY: If you want your new site to bring in weekly leads and rank at the top of Google, you’ll need to weigh up whether paying an agency is a more effective choice. It will cost more, but the end result is a site that’s designed to bring in new work on a regular basis, so you make your money back and start turning a profit.

OPTION B – BUILD A WORDPRESS SITE FROM SCRATCH: If you want your site to bring in weekly leads and rank at the top of Google you could also create a WordPress site and save on agency costs (most agencies build premium websites on WordPress because they provide advanced SEO and marketing features). But this will require plenty of spare weekends to master the steep learning curve.

OPTION C – USE A WEBSITE BUILDER: If you want your site to bring in weekly leads and rank at the top of Google you could also use a website builder to save time AND money. But you’ll need to choose the right website builder as some are suited for trade and home improvement business – and some are absolutely terrible for the job. So you’ll need to be careful to avoid choosing the wrong website builder.

Wondering if you should DIY your site, hire an agency or ask your cousin Bob to build it?

Check the complete pros and cons of building your own roofing site vs hiring someone to do it for you

Website builders are a popular option with roofers because they require zero experience, but can still create a site that’s SEO-friendly and built to attract new customers. 28% of small businesses spend less than $500 on their website, so you don’t have to splash the cash to pay for a great roofing website.

But with so many affordable website builders to choose from, the “right” choice is a tough question to answer without knowing the goals of your roofing business, and the type of website you’re looking to launch.

If you know what type of site you want, and want features you want included – whether it’s SEO-friendly pages, eye-catching design, high-converting design inclusions, or the ability to publish awesome blogs – head on over to our latest guide: ‘How To Pick The Best Website Builder For Your New Roofing Website’.

You’re the heart and soul of your roofing business. Whether it’s throwing a ladder against the roof and taking the tools in your own hand, or drumming up positive word of mouth face-to-face with your customers, the company relies on you.

But that doesn’t mean you should be doing the grunt work – in fact, the more you spend on those small, time-intensive tasks, the less time you have to deliver a great service and put your roofing business out there.

We’re talking about time-consuming tasks like:

· Fielding frequently asked questions
· Replying to emails 24/7
· Heading out to every job site to provide an estimate
· Qualifying leads to see who’s wasting your time
· Entering data into a project management software or CRM

But your website does ALL of these things for you (and you don’t need to shell out overtime wages for any of its hard work).

Here’s an example of how a website will earn you new roofing customers.

If that process sounds simple…it is.

It’s easy to get lost in articles and guides that convince you building a website should be a work of art, or that you need to pay $10,000 to do it.

That’s not true. A website grows your roofing business by using your content to rank on Google. And since people find you when describing their problems with specific keywords, like “affordable slate roof replacement” or “how to add value to my home with a metal roof”, they’re pre-qualified.

That means you end up providing free roofing estimates to a higher-quality lead, and since you’re only heading out to meet qualified leads, your conversion rate goes up too.

The entire process snowballs into a roofing business that can spend less on advertising (say goodbye to ordering 10,000 flyers each quarter) and generates more revenue.

And it all starts with a website.

Your morning cup of coffee is a business expense (if accounts will let you get away with it) because you drink it on the way to work and it’s gone.

A website is NOT a business expense.

When deciding how much to spend on a roofing site, keep the focus on your new site as an INVESTMENT.

The money you spend, whether it’s on a website builder plan, a WordPress theme, or agency management fees, is being used to bring in more money in the other direction. That’s why going with the dirt cheap option isn’t necessarily the best.

If a cheap website lacks the ability to rank on Google and turn leads into sales, your money is wasted. But if your website cost goes towards a site that brings qualified leads through Google and converts them into new customers, then your money will come back in the form of ROI.

Scrolled straight to the bottom? We’ll make it quick…

You can build a house without a roof, but you’re asking for trouble when the weather turns and a storm rolls in. Just as you can run a roofing business without a website, but you’re asking for trouble when the leads slow down and the calendar is empty.

Every roofing website is unique, so these are ballpark figures but use these estimates to help make your decision:

Website Builder: Cheapest option, an average of $50 a month for a paid plan that includes hosting, ready-made roofing themes, and security. The right website builder comes with built-in marketing and lead-gen strategies to deliver the fastest ROI.

WordPress: Full control over what your site looks like and how much you pay, set-up costs around $200 can get your site up, with $50 a month in ongoing subscriptions and fees. A WordPress site is extremely time-intensive, so be prepared to spend hours each week mastering the learning curve.

Web Design Agency: $5,000 and up plus $500 a month in management fees, but you’re paying for a premium site that’s been optimized to a). rank on Google and b). bring in regular work, so if you’re playing the long game you can generate your money back and then some.

If you’re ready to build a site and need help with the design, discover the 9 features all successful roofing websites share

If you’d like to speak to us about building your new roofing site, claim a FREE strategy session to find out how we can help