A lot of the "tradie website" deals you see advertised are monthly: $49, $99, $149 a month, site included. It sounds easier on the wallet than paying $1,500 up front. But there are two questions those ads never answer: what does it cost you over the life of the site, and who actually owns it at the end? Here are straight answers.
The Three-Year Maths
A website isn't a one-month thing — you'll have it for years. So the honest comparison is what you pay over the life of it, not the sticker price this month.
| Plan | 3-year cost | What you own at the end |
|---|---|---|
| $49/month | $1,764 | Nothing — the page is rented |
| $99/month | $3,564 | Nothing — the page is rented |
| $149/month | $5,364 | Nothing — the page is rented |
| One-off from $1,500 | $1,500 | Everything — it's in your name |
The cheapest-looking monthly plan costs more than a one-off site by the end of year one, and keeps charging you forever. And the day you stop paying, the site goes dark — because you were renting it, not buying it.
Monthly "website" plans are a lease on a page you never own. A one-off site is a tool you keep. For a tradie, keeping the asset almost always wins.
What the Cheap Monthly Plans Are Really Selling
Most $49-a-month "websites" are a profile page on the provider's own platform. It's the same idea as a rented shopfront: you get a spot while you pay rent, but you can't take the fit-out with you, and the landlord sets the rules. If they raise the price, change the template, or shut down, you have no site and nothing to move.
That's a different thing from a website you own. It might be fine as a stopgap. Just know what it is before you sign — a lease, not a purchase.
How to Check If You Actually Own Your Website
Whoever built your current site, run these three checks. They take five minutes and tell you exactly where you stand:
The ownership test:
- The domain — can you log in to the registrar (where yourbusiness.com.au is registered) in your own name and email? If your web person holds it, they hold your address.
- The hosting — do you have the login to where the site actually lives? If you can't reach it, you can't move it.
- Portability — could you move the whole site to a different provider tomorrow without asking anyone's permission? If the answer is no, you're renting.
If those answers make you uneasy, you're not stuck — a rebuild on a site you own starts from $1,500, with the domain and hosting put back in your name and your existing content carried across.
How I Do It
I build your site once, from $1,500, and put everything in your name from day one — the domain, the hosting, your Google, the code. No monthly fee to keep it live, no lock-in, no page that vanishes if you stop paying. If you want ongoing help later, that's month-to-month and cancel anytime — but it's optional, and plenty of tradies never need it. You own the thing either way.
Free mockup in 48hrs. Pay only if you love it.