What should a contractor's website show before anyone calls?

Say who pulls the building permit, on every project page

Give each type of project you want more of its own page, and put the same line on every one of them: who applies for the building permit. In London, the City requires a permit for most construction, renovation and alteration work, and applications go through its online portal. A homeowner who reads that you handle it has one less reason to call someone else.

That list is London's. If you also work in the towns around it, check each town's own rules before a page says anything about permits there, and name those towns on one service-area page that matches the service areas on your Google Business Profile, which the local SEO page explains.

The City publishes what does and does not need a permit, so each project page can be exact rather than vague:

• Basements: finishing any part of one needs a permit, and so does a basement apartment
• Kitchens: new cabinets do not need one, but adding, removing or moving a sink does
• Bathrooms: replacing a toilet, tub or shower in the same spot does not; adding, removing or moving one does
• Additions and dormers: both need one
• Decks and porches: a deck more than 0.61 metres (two feet) high needs one, a lower deck does too if it is attached to the house, and so does a covered porch
• Windows: a same-size replacement does not; a new or enlarged window, such as a bigger basement window, does

A gallery that shows what the drywall hides

A finished kitchen looks much the same in a photo whether the work behind the walls is good or bad. What a renovator can show is the stage in between: the framing, the waterproofing behind a shower, the insulation and vapour barrier before the drywall goes on. That is the part the homeowner is paying you to get right, and the part nobody sees again once you leave. If you already take those photos for your own records, they belong on the site.

Use your own photos, never stock, and no testimonials you did not receive. Ask the homeowner before you post pictures of the inside of their house, and name the neighbourhood rather than the street or the address.

I build the gallery the way Google's image guidance suggests, so each photo gets a descriptive filename and alt text and sits beside the text about that job, and each project gets a caption that says:

• What the project was, and the neighbourhood or town it was in
• The scope: what came out, what went in, and which trades were involved
• Roughly how long it took, from start to handover
• What was hard about it: the load-bearing wall, the wet basement, the tight lot
• The permit, if the job needed one

A quote form that books a site visit instead of promising a price

Ontario tells homeowners never to accept a renovation estimate over the phone or without the contractor looking at the space, and to get written estimates from at least three contractors. The careful homeowners follow that advice, and they are the ones you want. So the form's job is to book the visit and give you enough to decide whether the drive is worth it.

It can ask more than the three fields I suggest for a roofer, and the difference is the job. A leak is someone who wants a person on a ladder today. A renovation is a large, planned piece of work, and the visit it leads to can take a good part of your day, so a few more answers up front are worth it on both sides. The questions that earn their place, with the last three optional so the form still works for someone who only wants a call:

• The type of project, and the address or town
• When they would like the work done
• How they prefer to be contacted
• Optional: a rough budget range, so neither of you wastes a visit
• Optional: whether drawings exist, and whether a permit has been applied for
• Optional: photos of the space as it is now

Show the credentials you hold, and only those

If you build new homes, your HCRA licence goes on the homepage in text, with a link to your profile in the Ontario Builder Directory. Building or selling a new home in Ontario without a licence is illegal, and the directory shows homeowners your licensing status, how long you have been active, how many homes you have built, any regulatory action, and a Tarion summary of warranty claims paid.

Custom builders are not an exception. HCRA says a builder putting up a contract or custom home on land the client already owns must be licensed as both a vendor and a builder, and Tarion's warranty covers those contract homes too. Explain the warranty on the site as well: the home is enrolled with Tarion before construction starts, and the one-, two- and seven-year warranties run from possession.

If you renovate, do not imply an HCRA licence. The regulator says renovations to an existing home typically do not need one, and claiming a licence you do not hold is worse than saying nothing. Show what you do carry:

• Your WSIB coverage, which Ontario tells homeowners to check with the WSIB directly
• Your liability insurance
• Your own workmanship warranty, on the how-we-work page and labelled as yours, so nobody mistakes it for Tarion
• For commercial work, on its one page: that you supply a WSIB clearance certificate. Anyone who directly hires a contractor for construction work, such as a business or a landlord renovating a unit they rent out, must get one before work starts, and it is free to look up online. A homeowner renovating the home they live in does not need one.

A how-we-work page that answers what homeowners are told to ask

Ontario requires a written contract for any renovation worth more than $50, and lists what that contract must generally include. Homeowners who check are reading the same list, so a process page that walks through it answers them before the phone rings.

Two numbers are worth knowing before you write it. When an estimate is part of the contract, the final price cannot be more than 10% over it unless the homeowner has agreed to new work or a new price. Ontario also recommends a deposit of no more than 10%, so if yours is higher, say why on the page, because the homeowner may already have read that advice.

What the process page should cover:

• What the estimate and contract include, with the materials named
• Your own workmanship warranty, in plain words and labelled as yours
• The deposit and payment schedule
• Start and completion dates, and what can move them
• Which subtrades you bring in, and who pays them
• Who prepares the work area and cleans up, and when

Project pages to choose from: pick the ones you want more of, not all seven

Questions people ask

Sources

• HCRA: Do I need a licence?
• HCRA: Your guide to the Ontario Builder Directory
• What to know before buying a home | ontario.ca
• Warranty coverage after you close | Tarion.com
• Coverage for Freehold Contract, Condo Units & Condo Conversions | Tarion.com
• Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs | ontario.ca
• A guide for home renovation and roofing businesses | ontario.ca
• Questions and answers: Clearances | WSIB
• Clearance Certificate in Construction | WSIB
• Building permits | City of London
• Before you apply for a building permit | City of London
• Common homeowner projects | City of London
• Image SEO Best Practices | Google Search Central