What a basic website costs a concrete company, and when it pays back
What a simple concrete contractor website costs to build and run, the options from DIY to custom, and how many jobs it takes to pay for itself.
A lot of concrete contractors run their whole business off a phone number, a truck and a Google profile. It works, until a homeowner gets three names for a new driveway and two of them have a website with photos of finished pours and the third has nothing to click. That third company is often you, and you never hear about the bid you did not get to make.
In our data, 25.7% of concrete companies have no website linked on their Google profile. Their median review count is 2. Companies with a site have a median of 10. A website does not create reviews by itself, but the companies that look established online tend to win more jobs, and more jobs means more reviews.
So what does a site actually cost, and when does it pay for itself? Here is the breakdown.
What a concrete website needs to do
Before talking price, be clear on the job. A concrete company site is not a brochure. It has four tasks:
- Show proof: real photos of driveways, patios, slabs and stamped work you have poured.
- Say what you do and where: one page per main service, with the towns you work in.
- Give a price range so homeowners know you are in their ballpark.
- Make it easy to call, text or request a quote from a phone.
Anything beyond that is optional. The website essentials guide covers each piece in detail.
Option 1: do it yourself with a builder
Cost: roughly $15 to $40 a month for a site builder plan, plus about $15 to $20 a year for a domain.
Time: a weekend to set up if you are comfortable with a computer, then an hour a month to add photos.
Good for: owners who want something live this month and have good photos on their phone already.
Watch out for: templates that look nice on a laptop and load slowly on a phone, and a contact form buried at the bottom. Test every page on your own phone before you call it done.
Option 2: a freelancer builds a simple site
Cost: roughly $800 to $3,000 to build a five to eight page site, then $25 to $100 a month for hosting and small updates.
Time: two to six weeks, mostly waiting on you for photos and text.
Good for: most concrete contractors. You get a clean site with service pages and a quote form without learning a builder.
Watch out for: a freelancer who owns your domain or hosting account. Always register the domain in your own name. Ask for the login to everything before you pay the final invoice.
Option 3: a custom build with ongoing marketing
Cost: roughly $3,000 to $10,000 or more to build, and often $300 to $1,500 a month if it comes bundled with search work, ads management or content.
Good for: larger companies doing commercial and residential work across several cities, or anyone already spending real money on ads who needs landing pages that convert.
Watch out for: long contracts and monthly fees that are mostly for the site sitting there. Ask exactly what the monthly fee pays for, in hours or tasks. The guide on hiring an agency lists the red flags.
When does it pay back
Here is a hypothetical. Say a freelancer builds your site for $2,000 and you pay $50 a month after that. Your first-year cost is $2,600.
Now say your average residential job is a driveway or patio at $6,000 to $10,000, and you keep about 20% to 25% after materials, labor and equipment. That is $1,200 to $2,500 of profit per job.
At those numbers, the site pays for itself the first year if it brings in one to two extra jobs. Not leads. Jobs. That is a low bar for a site that shows up when someone in your town searches for a concrete contractor, and that you can send to every homeowner who asks "do you have pictures of your work."
If your average job is smaller, like sidewalk repairs or small pads, the math still works, but it takes more jobs. Run your own numbers before you pick an option. The calculator can help you see what a few extra jobs a month adds up to.
The cheap part is the build. The value is what goes on it
A site with three stock photos and "quality concrete work" on the home page will not pay back at any price. A cheap site with forty real photos, a page for each service, a price range and a tap-to-call button often will.
Three things to add in the first month, whatever option you choose:
- Before and after photos of every job. Take them with your phone, same angle each time.
- A starting price on each service page. "Most two-car driveways in our area run $X to $X." The pricing guide covers how to word it without boxing yourself in.
- A text-us option. Homeowners at work will text a photo of their cracked driveway before they will call.
What to do this week
If you have no site, pick the option that fits your budget and get a simple version live within 30 days. If you have one, open it on your phone and check that the number is tap-to-call, the photos are yours, and each service has its own page.
The benchmark report shows how your profile and reviews compare to other concrete companies.
If you want a site built or fixed without a contract, the free 14-day trial covers any one service, no card: text or call (385) 832-6924.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, concrete contractors among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor