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Hipages versus your own website
Is hipages good for tradies? Sometimes. Here is how lead sites actually work, what you pay for, and when your own website is the better long term bet.
Ask a group of tradies whether hipages is good for tradies and you get both answers loudly. Some built a business on it. Some paid for months of leads that went nowhere. Both are telling the truth, because a lead site is a tool with a clear shape, and it suits some trades and stages of business far better than others.
This is not a review of hipages the company. It is a plain description of the lead site model, which hipages, Oneflare, ServiceSeeking and the rest all share, set against what a website of your own does, so you can decide where your money is better spent.
How a lead site works
What you are actually paying for
You pay per lead, not per job
A customer posts a job, the site sends it to tradies, and you pay to respond or to receive it. Whether you win the job or ever hear back is your problem. Pricing differs by site and trade, so read the current terms of whichever one you use rather than taking anyone's number for it.
The lead is shared
The same job usually goes to several tradies at once. You are in a race from the moment it lands, and the customer often picks on price because price is the only thing that differs between four strangers.
The customer belongs to the platform
They searched the platform, not you. Next time they need a tradie they go back to the platform, and you pay for the lead again.
It works fastest when you are new
No reviews, no word of mouth, no website: a lead site gets you jobs this week. That is real value, and it is why so many tradies start there.
How your own site works
What changes when the customer finds you directly
The lead is yours alone
Someone searches hot water Penrith, lands on your page about hot water, sees the licence and the reviews, and rings. Nobody else got that lead and you paid nothing for it.
You are checked, not compared
Most people who land on your site already have your name from a neighbour, a van or a job next door. The site's job is to prove you are real and licensed, which is a much easier sale than winning a price race.
It compounds
Reviews build, pages for each service start showing up on their own, and the site keeps working at two in the morning. A lead site resets to zero every time you stop paying.
It is slower to start
A new site does not bring in calls on day one. Google takes weeks to trust a new page, and the first calls usually come from people checking you out, not strangers. That is why keeping a lead site for a while makes sense.
A fair answer
Which one, and when
If you are new, short of work and have no reviews yet, use a lead site and treat every job as a chance to earn a Google review. If you are busy, established and tired of paying for leads that also went to four other people, your own site is where the next dollar should go. Most tradies we build for keep a bit of both for a year, then watch the lead site spend fall as the site starts ringing.
What a good one looks like for your trade is on websites for tradies, with the plumber, electrician and builder versions. The cost is on how much a website costs in Australia.
Fair questions
What tradies ask about lead sites and websites
Is hipages good for tradies?
What is the best website for tradies?
Do websites for tradies get reviews from Google on their own?
Can I keep hipages and have my own site?
Free mockup
See your own tradie site before you decide
Tell us the trade, the jobs you want more of and the suburbs you cover. We build a mockup of your own site and send it over. If you do not like it, that is the end of it and it has cost you nothing.