We build websites for one roofer in a town. Not two. If we have built for a roofer in Wakefield, we will not build for another roofer in Wakefield, and we will tell the second one why. It costs us work every month and we are not changing it.
The rule, in one line
One trade, one area, one client. A roofer in Leeds and a drainage firm in Leeds are not competitors, so both are fine. Two roofers in Leeds are competitors, so the second one is a no from us.
The area is drawn around where you actually get work, not a random radius. We agree it with you at the start and we write it down, so there is no argument later about whether the next town over counts.
Why it matters to you as well as to us
Think about what the alternative looks like. A studio builds you a site. It does well. Six months later your nearest rival rings the same studio and gets a site built on the same structure, with the same pages, the same quote form and the same trade knowledge, aimed at the same town.
You paid for that. Then it was sold to the person you are bidding against.
That is not a small thing when a site is built around local search. Everything that makes your page a good answer for "roofer in Wakefield" is the same thing that would make theirs a good answer. Build both and you have put two of your own clients in a fight and taken money from both. We would rather have one client in that town who trusts us.
There is a quieter benefit too. When we only work with one firm in a patch, we can be properly useful about that patch. We can use what we learn from your enquiries to improve your pages without wondering whether it also helps someone else we work for.
What the rule means in practice
Plain terms
- One firm per trade per area. We write the area down before we start.
- We will never build the same site for your nearest rival.
- A different trade in your town is fine. A cleaner and a roofer do not compete.
- If your area is already taken, we say so straight away rather than quoting you.
- If you stop working with us, the area opens up again. It is held while you are a client.
- You can ask us at any time who else we work with near you.
What it means for who we can take on
Two honest consequences. The first is that some areas are closed. We have built more than forty sites and we are in ten areas, so if you ring us about a trade and a town that is already taken, we will tell you on the call. We will not quote you, take a deposit and then work out the clash afterwards.
The second is that we take on fewer clients than we could. That is the trade we have made. It means a smaller book, and it also means we are not a factory turning out the same site for everyone in a postcode.
It does change how we choose, and we would rather say so than pretend. When two firms in the same town ask in the same week, we take the one who answers their phone, has photos of their own work and knows where they want the work to come from. Not the one who asks first.
How to check whether your area is open
Quickest way is to ask. Message us on WhatsApp with your trade and your main town and we will tell you within the day, with no pitch attached if the answer is no.
Before that, have a look at the trades we build for. If yours is on the list, we know the trade, we know the searches and we know what the quote form needs to ask. If yours is not on the list yet, it is still worth a message, because a new trade in an open area is exactly the sort of thing we say yes to.
One thing worth knowing if the answer is no. We keep a note of the trade and the town, and if the area comes free we get in touch. We do not pass your details anywhere else and we do not add you to anything.
The short version
You should not have to wonder whether the people who built your website are building the same thing for the firm parked on the other side of the estate. With us you never have to wonder, because the answer is written down before we start.