Website Builder vs Web Designer: What a Wix Site Really Costs a Tradesperson

A web designer costs more in cash, but does that work for you. For some tradespeople, doing it yourself is still the right call. This guide shows you how to tell which one fits your business.

Why this question comes up so often

For years, many trades had a free website made with their Google Business Profile. That option has gone:

Google turned off websites made with Business Profiles in March 2024.

Google pointed those owners towards website builders such as Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and Durable [6]. So a lot of roofers, plumbers and electricians now face the same choice: build it yourself, or pay someone.

The difference between a builder and a designer

A website builder is software you rent. You pick a design, or let the builder’s AI make one, then you fill it in. The monthly fee covers the software and the hosting. The work is yours.

A web designer is a person you pay to plan, write and build the site. After launch, someone still has to host it and keep it up to date. Some designers hand that job back to you. Others offer a monthly care plan and make your changes for you.

There’s a middle route too: a freelancer who builds your site on Wix or Squarespace. That can work well. Just check whose account it sits in. If the account is in their name, you don’t really control the site.

Do professional web designers use Wix? Some do, and for a simple site it’s a fair choice. We build ours by hand as fast, simple sites that can move to any host. Neither approach is wrong. What matters is what you get, what you pay over time, and whether you can leave.

What website builders cost in 2026

These are the plans most small businesses pick, as listed in August and September 2026.

US prices from each builder or a price tracker [1][2][3][4]. The builders’ own UK prices differ and change often, so check before you sign up. The pound figures for these plans use the European Central Bank reference rates of 18 Sep 2026 [5].

A typical trade site on Wix Core costs $357 a year in plan fees, or about £268. After the first year you also pay to renew your domain. The fees are low. That’s the honest case for a builder, and it’s a good one.

The hidden cost: your time

Builders sell speed. Durable says it can launch your site “in 30 seconds” [4]. An AI first draft really is quick. The slow part is everything after it:

• writing a clear section for each job you do, in words a customer understands
• choosing, cropping and shrinking photos of your own work
• adding a call button, a quote form and your opening hours
• linking your Google reviews and your Business Profile
• setting page titles so Google knows your trade and your town
• checking every page on your phone, not just on a laptop
• changing prices, hours and photos later, and fixing things when a template or app updates

None of this is hard on its own. It just adds up, and it usually happens in the evening after a day on the tools.

Work it out with your own numbers

Fill in the right-hand column. The example numbers are made up to show the maths. They’re not averages, and only you know how fast you work.

If your answer is small, a builder is probably fine. If it’s bigger than a designer’s price, your time is the expensive option. An hour on your website is an hour you’re not quoting, invoicing or at home.

The honest comparison

Here’s how the two routes compare for a typical trade business. We’ve put our own prices in the right-hand column so you can see real numbers, not “contact us for a quote”.

Two rows need a fair word.

Speed. Builder sites aren’t slow by default. In HTTP Archive’s 2025 data, 74% of Wix sites passed Google’s Core Web Vitals on mobile, against 45% of WordPress sites [8]. Across the whole web, most sites still fall short:

Only 48% of mobile websites pass Google’s Core Web Vitals.

What slows most small sites down is heavy photos, sliders, pop-ups and add-on apps, whoever builds them. So if you go DIY, keep it simple.

Taking it with you. Several builders, including Wix and Durable, offer no way to export a working copy of your site [9]. If you stop paying, the site goes offline and you rebuild somewhere else. That’s not a scandal. It’s how rented software works. Just know it before you put years of work into it.

When doing it yourself is the right call

Be honest with yourself. A builder is a sensible choice if:

• You’re just starting out and every pound needs to go on tools, a van or insurance.
• You only need the basics: what you do, where you work, your phone number and a few photos.
• You enjoy it and have the evenings to spare.
• Most of your work comes from a few regular customers or other trades, not from strangers searching online.

If you go DIY, get these six things right and you’ll be ahead of a lot of trade websites:

1. Put your phone number at the top of every page as a button people can tap to call.
2. Say what you do and where in the first line, for example “Roofer in Leeds and the villages around it”.
3. List your main jobs, and show real photos of your own work.
4. Show your Google rating and link to your reviews.
5. Register the domain in your own name, not a friend’s or the builder’s.
6. Open the site on your phone and try to call yourself. If it takes more than one tap, fix it.

Our small business website checklist has the full list.

When paying a designer makes sense

A designer is usually worth it when one or more of these is true:

• People see you on Google Maps, but the phone doesn’t ring. The gap is often the website. Our guide to Maps views with no calls walks through the usual reasons.
• You offer several services or cover several towns, and each one needs its own clear page.
• You don’t have the time, or you hate writing about yourself.
• You want someone else to make the changes, so the site stays up to date without you.
• You need a second language for some of your customers.
• You’ve been burned before by someone who kept your domain or your site. Our guide to who owns your website explains what to check.

How AI builders changed things in 2026

The big builders have gone all in on AI. Wix launched Harmony, an AI agent that works alongside its visual editor, in January 2026 [10]. Squarespace includes AI credits in its plans [11]. AI-first builders like Durable make a whole site from a few answers [4].

That’s good news for anyone on a tight budget. A decent first draft now costs almost nothing.

What AI hasn’t fixed:

• Sameness. Reviewers describe AI-made sites as following a similar structure, with fairly generic words [12]. If every roofer in town has the same layout and the same “reliable, professional service” line, nobody stands out.
• Knowing what makes a customer call. Someone with a leaking roof wants your number, how fast you can come and whether you’re insured. An AI draft doesn’t know your call-out times or your guarantees unless you tell it.
• Your time. The draft is instant. The checking, the photos and the updates are still yours.

Customers are changing how they search, too:

Use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for local business recommendations jumped from 6% to 45% in a year among US consumers.

These tools read your website and your Google profile. Clear service pages and the same name, address and phone number everywhere help them understand what you do. That’s true whether you build the site yourself or pay someone.

Six questions to ask before you choose

Ask these of any builder, freelancer or agency, including us:

1. Is the domain registered in my name? It should be, from day one.
2. If I leave, can I take a working copy of the site? Get the answer in writing.
3. What will I pay in year two, not just in the first month?
4. Who makes changes, and how quickly? “Unlimited changes” usually has limits, so ask what they are.
5. Is the price fixed in writing, with everything that’s included?
6. How fast does it load on a phone? Test any site at PageSpeed Insights [13]. It’s free and takes a minute.

If you’re weighing up monthly deals, our guide to pay-monthly websites compares the main models over three years.

What a designer-built site costs with us

We’ll be straight about it: in cash, a builder is cheaper. Wix Core costs about £268 in its first year. Our one-page Launch site costs:

• £590 to build + £39 a month for hosting, your domain, security and 30 minutes of changes (3-month minimum). Minimum total £707 · First year £1,058.
• Prefer to spread it out? £89 a month for 12 months (total £1,068), then £39 a month. The site is yours after payment 12.

The difference pays for the words, the set-up, the changes and your evenings back. You get one long page, written for you, live in 5 working days once we have your content and deposit. After the first 3 months you can cancel with 30 days’ notice, and you keep your site and your domain.

Already on a builder? We can move your content across for £190. Every price is on our pricing page.

We can’t promise you more calls or a top spot on Google. No one honestly can, and Google says so itself [14]. We promise what we control: a fixed price, a launch date, a fast site and quick replies. The details are in our promises.

The easiest way to compare is to see what you’d get. Tell us your business and we’ll design your new homepage within 2 working days. It’s free, there’s no card, and you only pay if you go ahead. Get your free homepage preview, or first see what a roofer’s website needs.