Do I need a website when I'm just starting my trade business?

You need a Google Business Profile on day one, and a simple website soon after - because the profile gets you found while the website gets you picked. When a homeowner compares you against two established competitors, your site with real photos and a quote form is what makes a brand-new business look like a safe choice. Google also no longer offers its free profile websites (shut down March 2024), so the profile alone is the whole of the free option now.

Is a Facebook page enough instead of a website?

A Facebook page is worth having, but it is rented ground - the algorithm decides who sees you, the layout is Facebook's, and plenty of customers do not use it. It also signals hobby rather than business to some buyers. Pair it with a site on your own domain, which you own outright and which gives you a professional email address.

Should a new contractor buy leads from Angi or Thumbtack?

Treat bought leads as an optional backstop for slow weeks, not the foundation. Pros commonly report paying for leads shared with several competitors or for inquiries that never answer - and the costs run whether or not jobs book. Build the free, compounding channels first: profile, website, reviews, and word of mouth.

How fast can a new business get a website live?

Same day. RunCabin builds a site from a few questions - your trade, your city, your name - with photos, services, and a quote form that goes to your inbox, live on your own domain for $39.99/mo with no setup fee. You change anything later just by asking the AI in plain English.

RunCabin Blog · For new owners

Just licensed? How new contractors get their first customers

June 12, 2026 · 6 min read

You passed the exam, the LLC paperwork is in, maybe the truck has your name on it. Congratulations - genuinely. The trade forums are full of posts from people standing exactly where you are: excited, a little overwhelmed, asking some version of "okay... now what?"

Here is the now-what. Five moves, in order, none of which involve paying per lead. Everything on this list is either free or cheap, and everything compounds - meaning it works harder for you every month instead of billing you every month.

1. Claim your Google Business Profile (today, it's free)

Before business cards, before a logo debate, claim and verify your Google Business Profile. This is what puts you in Google Maps and the local results when someone searches "electrician near me." Pick your categories carefully, set your service area, and upload real photos - even three phone shots of real work beat an empty profile.

This is the universal first-step advice in every trade community, and it is correct. It is just not the finish line.

2. Get a simple website live (this is what makes you look established)

Here is the uncomfortable truth about being new: when a homeowner finds you next to two competitors with ten years of reviews, you need something that makes choosing you feel safe. That is what a website does. Your story, photos of your work (even from your apprenticeship years - the work is real), the services you cover, your area, and a quote form.

The profile gets you noticed; the site gets you chosen - we wrote up the full split here, including why "Google gives you a free website" stopped being true in March 2024.

And a quiet bonus while you are at it: a domain gives you you@yourbusiness.com. Quoting a $4,000 job from a gmail address costs you trust you cannot spare yet.

3. Tell every human you know (yes, really)

Your first jobs will probably come from people, not algorithms: family, friends, the GC you used to work under, neighbors, your old coworkers. Make it easy for them to refer you - a one-line text they can forward ("My buddy just started his own plumbing company, licensed and insured, here's his site") does more than any ad. Notice that the forwardable line works much better when there is a site to forward.

Business cards with a QR code to your site still earn their keep at supply houses and on job sites. Every handshake should have somewhere to land.

4. Build the review habit from job one

The single highest-leverage habit a new contractor can form: ask for a Google review after every completed job, every time. Text the link the same day, while they are still happy. Five reviews separates you from the no-website-no-reviews crowd; twenty-five makes you look established. Reviews are the compounding asset - the ones you earn this summer are still converting strangers in three years.

5. Show up where your neighbors actually look

Nextdoor, local Facebook groups, the community board at the hardware store. Not with ads - with usefulness. Answer the "anyone know a good painter?" threads. One helpful answer with a real website behind it converts better than a month of boosted posts.

What about buying leads?

Angi, Thumbtack, and friends will find you soon enough (so will the website companies with $449 setup fees and 12-month contracts). The short version: bought leads are a backstop for slow weeks, not a foundation - pros report paying for leads shared with multiple competitors and inquiries that never answer the phone. We unpacked the whole model here. Build the owned channels above first, so the meter is always optional.

The one piece we can do for you

Four of the five moves cost you nothing but follow-through. The website is the one with a real build step - and that is the part RunCabin does for you. Answer a few questions (your trade, your city, your name) and we build the real thing: photos, services, quote form to your inbox, your own domain and email, free AI logo. $39.99/mo, no setup fee, live the same day. Change anything afterward by asking the AI in plain English - "add drain cleaning to my services" is a complete instruction.

Just licensed? Be live by tonight.

See a real preview with your name, your trade, and your city - free, sixty seconds, no card.

See your free site preview →