01The question
Trades win work on trust — a roof is expensive, invisible from the street, and easy to get burned on. What does a trade website need to do, and what is it allowed to skip?
02What we looked at
- How homeowners shortlist contractors: proof of legitimacy first (license, insurance, reviews), price conversation second.
- Where trade sites lose people: buried phone numbers, quote forms hidden behind pages of service copy, stock photos that read as fake.
- The mobile reality — a homeowner with a leak is on a phone, not a desktop.
03Findings
- Every screen should end at the quote form. The site’s one job is to make the company easy to trust and easy to call; everything else is supporting cast.
- Trust markers (licensed, bonded, insured; real job photos; named reviews) outperform any amount of persuasive copy.
- Clear coverage matters: saying exactly where you work filters out mismatched calls and reads as honesty.
04How it shaped the build
Ocean Breeze got a site with clear services, clear coverage, and a fast path to a free quote on every page — a salesperson that never sleeps.