You want a number. Most people who write about this will not give you one, because the honest answer is that it depends on what you are buying and who is doing the work. Here is the straight version, with real price shapes and the parts of the bill that nobody mentions until the invoice lands.

The short answer

A contractor website in Halifax typically lands in one of four price shapes. A DIY builder runs a few hundred dollars a year. A freelancer build is typically low thousands. A local agency build is typically several thousand and up. A done-for-you monthly plan is a flat fee with nothing up front, which is what we charge at $297 a month. What moves the number is page count, whether someone writes the copy for you, whether you have usable photos, and how much of the ongoing upkeep you want to handle yourself.

How much should a contractor website cost in Halifax?

There are only four ways a Halifax contractor ends up with a website. A DIY builder you set up yourself. A freelancer who builds it and hands it over. A local agency that designs something custom. Or a done-for-you monthly service that builds it, hosts it, and keeps it running.

They do not just cost different amounts. They cost in different shapes. The first three are mostly one big number up front, then smaller costs forever. The fourth is a flat monthly fee with nothing up front. Neither shape is wrong. They suit different people.

What each one typically runs

These are broad bands, not quotes. What moves the number is how many pages you need, whether someone writes the words for you, whether you have decent photos of your own work, and how much of the ongoing work you want to do yourself.

  • DIY builder: typically a few hundred dollars a year in subscription and domain fees. Cheapest on paper. The real cost is your evenings, and most of these sites never get found because nobody set them up to be found.
  • Freelancer: typically low thousands for a straightforward trades site. You usually own it outright. Quality swings hard depending on who you hire, and you are on your own when they get busy or move on.
  • Local agency: typically several thousand and up, sometimes well up if the site is complex. You get design, strategy and a proper process. Most agencies then hand you the keys and charge hourly for changes.
  • Done-for-you monthly: a flat fee, nothing up front, and the build plus the upkeep are both included. You do not own the code, and if you stop paying, the site comes down.

If you are still weighing up whether you need one at all, start with does my trade business need a website.

The costs nobody quotes you

The build price is not the whole price. Here is what gets added afterward.

Hosting and a domain name, every year, forever. An SSL certificate so browsers stop warning people off your site. Software updates, because an out of date site is how you get hacked. Photos, if you do not have good ones. Copy, because "we do quality work at fair prices" is what every other site in the province already says.

Then there are the small changes. You change your hours. You add a service. You get a new phone number. You want a photo of last week's job on the front page. Each of those is a phone call and an invoice if you bought a one-off build with no support attached. That is the part that quietly turns a cheap site into an expensive one over three years.

Why cheap can be the expensive option

A website is not decoration. It has one job, which is to turn someone who is looking for a plumber at nine at night into a booked job on your calendar.

A cheap site that nobody finds is worth nothing. A site people find but that has no phone number above the fold, no proof, and no easy way to book is worth close to nothing. And a site that does everything right but sends the call to a voicemail box is worth exactly as much as the call you never returned.

You are on a roof, under a sink, or driving between jobs. You are not answering. That is not a character flaw, that is the job. But the customer does not know that. They call the next name on the list. Whatever you paid for the site, that missed job cost you more. We put a method to that in the real cost of missed calls.

This is where a lot of contractors get it backwards. They shop hard on the build price and then leave the two things that actually produce revenue, being found and answering the phone, completely unhandled. More on that in what an AI front desk is, which walks through how the answering side works.

What being found locally costs you

Price is not the only thing that changes across HRM. If you work Dartmouth and Bedford as well as peninsular Halifax, your site needs to say so in plain words, because that is what people type when they search. A roofer who covers Sackville and a plumber who runs out to the South Shore are competing in different searches, and a site built without that in mind quietly costs you the jobs it never showed up for.

The same goes for your reviews. A short trail of recent Google reviews from the neighbourhoods you actually work does more for a local search than another round of design. That is why we bundle review collection rather than selling it separately.

What we do, plainly

Our plan is called The Front Desk. It is $297 a month, no contract. That covers a website built for you and maintained, an AI front desk that answers your phone and books jobs around the clock, and an automated review engine that asks happy customers for a Google review so you stop having to.

There is no build fee. You do not pay for hosting, the domain, the SSL, or updates separately. When your hours change or you add a service, you tell us and we change it. You can see what the sites look like on our websites page and the full breakdown on pricing.

If you want the next tier with marketing, content, ads and outreach on top, that is The Back Office. Most trades do not need it on day one.

When a one-off build is the better call

We are not going to pretend the monthly model suits everyone.

If you want to own your site outright, as an asset that stays yours no matter what happens with any vendor, buy a one-off build from a freelancer or an agency. If you already have someone in the office who answers every call on the second ring, you do not need an AI front desk and you should not pay for one. If you are winding down in a few years, a cheap DIY site may be all the situation warrants.

Pick the shape that matches how you actually run. Just go in knowing the ongoing costs, because they show up either way.

Questions, answered

Is a monthly fee cheaper than paying once?

Over one year, usually yes, because there is nothing up front. Over five years the arithmetic can flip, if you count only the build. It rarely flips once you add hosting, updates, edits and the jobs a one-off site misses because nothing is answering the phone.

Do I own the website?

On a one-off build from a freelancer or agency, generally yes, and you should confirm that in writing before you pay. On our monthly plan, no. You are renting a working system, the same way you rent your phone number and your software. If that matters to you, buy a build instead.

What actually drives the price up?

Page count, custom design work, whether someone writes the copy, whether you supply usable photos, and any booking or payment features. Two plumbers can get quotes thousands of dollars apart for that reason alone.

How long does it take?

A DIY site takes as long as your evenings allow. A freelancer or agency build typically runs a few weeks to a couple of months, mostly waiting on content from you. Ours goes live fast because we do the writing and setup on our end.

Should I budget for phone answering as well?

Yes, if nobody in your shop is free to pick up during the day. A site that produces calls you cannot answer has not finished the job. The going rates are set out in how much an AI receptionist costs.

See it work before you decide

Book a 15 minute call at /book. On the call we ring the front desk right there, so you hear it handle a customer and book the job. Then you get a straight price, $297 a month, no contract. If a one-off build is the better fit for you, we will tell you that too.