"Free" tradie websites: what you actually own

The deal is simple: $0 to build, then a monthly fee — often around $79 — that keeps the site online. Nothing wrong with that on its face. If cash is tight and you just need to exist online this week, paying nothing upfront is a genuinely low-risk way to get a tidy page with your name, number, and a few photos. Do not let anyone tell you that is worthless.

The thing to be clear-eyed about is the word "free". You are not buying a website; you are renting one. The build is free because the monthly fee is the product. That is a fair trade for some trades — but it is a rental, and rentals come with terms worth reading before you sign.

When can you take the site somewhere else? This is the big one. Some "free" or low-monthly deals only hand over your website files after a minimum period — a year is common. So "cancel anytime" and "you own it" can both be technically true while you still cannot actually move your site for twelve months. Read the terms for exactly when, and whether, you can take it to another host.

Who owns the domain, and what happens if you stop paying? Your domain is your address on the internet — if the contract does not clearly say it is registered in your name, ask. And on a rented model the site usually goes dark the moment the fee does, with no refund on fees already paid. That is normal for a rental — just know that is what it is, so "free" does not quietly become the most expensive option you cannot switch off.

Do the arithmetic before you sign. A $79/month fee is about $948 a year — and it never stops. Over three years that is roughly $2,844, and at the end you still do not hold a site you can freely move or a domain you can prove is yours.

A custom site you own outright is $3,000 inc GST, once. Somewhere around the three-year mark, the cumulative monthly fee passes what you would have paid a single time to own the thing — and then it keeps climbing every month after. "Cheap to start" and "cheapest over the life of the business" are not the same sentence.

Rent if you need a presence this week, have no upfront budget, and the website is not really carrying the business yet. For a sole trader living off word of mouth, that is a sensible first step — get online, come back to it later.

Own it when the site is meant to win jobs: when you want the domain in your name, the code in your hands, the speed that turns a phone-tapper into a booking, and no clause deciding when you are allowed to leave. That is what Smart Labs builds — one senior engineer, a fixed quote in writing before any code, and no deposit to start: you approve a free demo of your actual site before a cent changes hands. A custom build is $3,000–$12,000 inc GST depending on scope, you own it outright with no mandatory retainer, and the care plan exists only if you would rather never think about the site again.