Start with the jobs you actually want to win
A one-person decorator who mainly repaints occupied homes has different needs from a team tendering for commercial refurbishment work. Before comparing web design packages, write down the services you want more enquiries for, the towns you cover and whether customers should call, send photographs or request a site visit. If the package cannot support that journey, a long list of included features is not much help.
The essential pages in a useful starter package
- Homepage: a clear service description, real areas covered, proof of work and one obvious route to enquire.
- Services: separate clear explanations for interior painting, exterior decorating, wallpapering or specialist finishes where relevant.
- Projects: selected before-and-after images with captions explaining preparation, surfaces and outcomes.
- About: who visits customers’ homes, how you work and any verifiable qualifications or experience.
- Contact: mobile-friendly phone, email and a usable quotation form, with clear response expectations.
- Privacy information: explain how personal details and uploaded project photographs are handled.
A tiny decorating company may be fine with a concise service overview rather than six separate pages. An established business with genuinely different offerings may benefit from individual service pages. The point is clarity, not reaching a promised page count.
Ask how the project gallery will work
Project photographs are the decorator’s strongest asset, yet a generic gallery can make quality work hard to judge. Ask the designer how landscape and portrait photos will display on a phone, whether images are compressed for speed and who adds new projects. Useful captions describe the job rather than reciting keywords: “Hallway walls repaired and repainted; banister sanded and finished” tells a prospective customer more than “best painter in Bristol”.
- Can customers compare before-and-after photographs easily?
- Can the business add new work without rebuilding the site?
- Do photo captions and descriptions explain the actual work?
- Is there a clear process for customer permission and private-address details?
What should the enquiry form do?
A good initial form collects a name, a way to reply, the project postcode and a short description. Optional questions might cover interior or exterior work, the rooms involved, preferred timing and photo uploads. It should not force a homeowner to supply exact measurements or a budget they cannot yet estimate.
Ask where submissions arrive, whether notifications can fail silently and what confirmation the customer sees. If photo uploads are offered, discuss file limits, storage and access. If you prefer phone calls, do not let an elaborate form hide your number.
Which SEO work is actually included?
“SEO included” can mean anything from writing page titles to an ongoing campaign. A credible launch package should at least cover descriptive titles, sensible headings, crawlable text, mobile usability, appropriate image descriptions and a sound technical setup. It does not automatically mean you will rank first for “painter and decorator near me”.
If local SEO management or Google Business Profile work is offered, ask for the exact deliverables and reporting. Be wary of anyone promising rankings for dozens of towns just because they can generate duplicate location pages.
Hosting, changes and security: the questions most packages hide
- Who controls the domain registration and renewal?
- Are hosting, SSL, backups and security updates included?
- Who updates opening hours, service areas, offers and new project photos?
- How quickly are support requests handled, and is urgent support available?
- What is included in monthly fees, and what triggers extra charges?
- What happens to the domain, website and content if the agreement ends?
There is no universally superior answer to “subscription or upfront payment?”. An upfront build followed by separate hosting may suit a business happy to manage updates. A managed subscription may suit a decorator who would rather spend evenings quoting jobs than troubleshooting plugins. Compare costs over a realistic period, and read the actual ownership and cancellation terms.
Worked example: two packages that look similar
Package A offers a five-page site at a low initial cost, but photography preparation, ongoing edits, hosting and form troubleshooting are separate. Package B has a regular monthly fee and includes managed updates and support, but custom upload features cost extra. Either could be sensible. The better choice depends on how regularly you add projects, how confident you are updating content and how much help you want after launch.
Where LLTT Media fits
Further reading
Related guide: How Much Does a Painter and Decorator Website Cost in the UK?