A custom-coded site vs Wix.
For a UK trade business. What Wix is good at, where it costs you, and how to check both yourself.
For a lot of firms starting out, yes. If the job of the site is to prove you exist and give people a number to call, Wix does that cheaply by the end of an evening. This page is for the next step, where speed on mobile data, templates that look like every other firm and getting out again start to matter. Ours is £1,000 for the build.
Wix is good at what it is for
Plenty of trade firms start on Wix, and for a lot of them it is the right call. You can have something on the internet by the end of an evening, for less than a tank of diesel, without ringing anybody. If the job of the site is to prove you exist and give people a number to call, Wix does that, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
This page is for the firm at the next step. You have the site up, it looks alright, and the phone is not ringing any more than it was. That is where a builder and a hand-built site start to pull apart, and it is worth knowing why before you spend money either way.
Where a builder costs a tradesperson
Speed on a phone, on mobile data
Your customer is standing in a wet garden looking at a drain. They are on 4G, one bar, and they are on your site for about four seconds before they go back and tap the next firm. A builder page carries the editor's own code as well as yours, and that weight lands on that four seconds. Do not take our word for it: pick any builder template, run it through Google PageSpeed Insights, and run your own site while you are there. Then run ours.
Templates that look like every other firm
Builder templates are popular because they are good. That is exactly the problem. The same layouts get used by the roofer two towns over, the same stock photo of a smiling bloke on a ladder, the same hero line. A homeowner comparing three quotes cannot tell you apart, so they go on price. Your own job photos and your own words are the only thing that fixes that, and they work harder on a layout built around them.
A subscription that never ends
A builder plan is rent. It is fine rent while the site is bringing in work, and it is a standing order when it is not. Wix publishes its own plan names, currently Free, Light, Core, Business and Business Elite, and states that the prices on that page are for yearly subscriptions paid in full up front. Check the figure on their pricing page on the day you buy, because it moves and it depends where you are. We read the plan names there on 15 September 2026.
Getting out again
This is the one most people find out late. Wix says on its own help page that because it is a software as a service product, your site has to run on Wix's servers, and the architecture does not support hosting it somewhere else. Your domain is yours and can be moved. The site is not portable, so leaving means building again. That is worth knowing on day one rather than in year three. Wix help centre, read 15 September 2026.
Ten towns, ten pages
Most of the work a trade firm wants comes from someone searching a job and a place. Covering ten towns properly means ten pages that each say something true about that town, and keeping all ten in step when you add a service or change a price. In a builder that is ten pages you maintain by hand. That is not a fault in the tool, it is just a lot of evenings.
Nine things worth comparing
| What you are comparing | Wix | Custom-coded by us |
|---|---|---|
| Price of the build | Nothing up front on the free plan, then a plan for as long as the site is up. Wix publishes the figures itself and they move by country and by term. Wix plans, read 15 September 2026. | £1,000 for the build, paid once, after you have seen it live. No tiers. Nothing a month at the sale. Our pricing page. |
| Speed on 4G | Template and editor code ships with the page. Test any template you like on Google PageSpeed Insights before you commit, and test it on a phone connection rather than your office wifi. | Hand-written HTML and CSS, nothing loaded that the page does not use. Our own homepage scored 99 out of 100 on Google's mobile speed test on 15 September 2026. Check it now. |
| Who owns it | Wix hosts and runs the site. Their help page states that a Wix site has to run on Wix's servers. Wix help, read 15 September 2026. | The site is yours once it is paid for, files and all. Your domain stays registered in your name from the first day. |
| Monthly cost model | A subscription for as long as the site is up. Wix names its plans Free, Light, Core, Business and Business Elite, and says the prices shown are for yearly subscriptions paid in full up front. Wix plans, read 15 September 2026. | Nothing a month at the sale. You pay for hosting, which is pennies, and for changes when you ask for them. |
| Local pages per town | You can build them, one at a time, by hand. Ten towns means ten pages you write, lay out and keep in step every time a service changes. | Each town gets its own page with its own content, built from one structure so they stay in step. Change a service once and every town page follows. |
| Quote tool | Contact forms and app-store add-ons. A form that asks a homeowner the right five questions about a blocked drain is not what these are built for. | A proper enquiry flow built for your trade, asking service, urgency, property type and postcode, so the lead lands already qualified. |
| Who builds it | You do, in the editor, in the evenings. That is the point of Wix and it is a real advantage if you enjoy it. It is your time either way. | We do. You send the firm name, the areas and your job photos. The hours go on your tools rather than on a website editor. |
| Time to live | An evening for something simple. Longer once you want ten town pages, real photos and copy that sounds like you. | Seven days from sign off to a site that is live and taking enquiries. You see the demo before any of that starts. |
| Moving away later | The domain can go. The site cannot: Wix states the architecture does not support hosting your site elsewhere. Wix help, read 15 September 2026. Rebuilding is the exit. | You take the files and put them on any host in the country. There is nothing to unpick and nobody to ask. |
Wix plan names and billing terms from wix.com/plans and the hosting statement from the Wix help centre, both read on 15 September 2026. Prices are not reproduced here because they vary by country and by term, so check them on the day. Our speed figure is Google's mobile test on our own homepage, 15 September 2026, and you can re-run it.
Who each one actually suits
The verdict
Wix if the site is a shopfront. Custom if the site is meant to bring in work.
Wix suits you if
- You want something live this week and you enjoy doing it yourself.
- You cover one or two towns and the phone already rings from word of mouth.
- You would rather pay monthly than pay once, and you want support on the other end.
- The site is there to prove you exist and give people a number.
It starts to cost you when
- You are chasing local searches across five, ten or more towns.
- Your customers find you on a phone, outdoors, on mobile data.
- You want the enquiry qualified before it reaches you.
- You want to own the thing you have been paying for.
Neither answer is clever. Most firms we build for were on a builder first and it did its job, right up until the point they wanted more than a shopfront out of it. If that is not you yet, stay where you are and spend the money on a van.
Five things firms ask us about Wix
Is Wix bad for a trade business?
No. Wix is a serious product and plenty of firms run on it happily. It is built so one person can put a site up without a developer, and it does that job well. The question is not whether it works. It is whether it earns its keep once you are chasing local searches in five or six towns.
Can I move my Wix site to another host later?
Not the site itself. Wix says on its own help page that because Wix is a software as a service product, your site has to run on Wix's servers, and the architecture does not support hosting it anywhere else. Your domain is a separate thing and you can connect one you own or move it away. We read that page on 15 September 2026.
What does Wix cost?
Wix publishes its own plans, currently named Free, Light, Core, Business and Business Elite. The figure you are shown depends on where you are and how long you commit for, and Wix states that the prices on the plans page are for yearly subscriptions paid in full up front. Read it on their site rather than ours, and read it on the day you buy. We checked the plan names on 15 September 2026.
Will a custom site rank better than a Wix site?
Nobody can promise a ranking, and anyone who does is guessing. What we can control is the part a template makes harder. How fast the page paints on a phone. How the area pages are structured. Whether each town has a real page, not the same page with a place name swapped in.
What if I already have a Wix site and I do not want to lose it?
You do not have to. We build your new site on a separate address and send you the link. Your Wix site stays up and stays live the whole time. Nothing changes until you look at the new one, say you want it, and we point your domain across. If you decide against it, you are exactly where you started.
We build your site first, put it on a real address and send you the link. No deposit, no contract to read, nothing monthly at the sale. Your current site stays up the whole time.
- Free live demo. We build your site first and put it on a real address. You open it on your phone before any money changes hands.
- Keep your domain. Your domain stays in your name. So does the site once it is paid for.
- Live in 7 days. Seven days from sign off to a site that is live and taking enquiries.
- One firm per area. We build for one firm per trade per area. When an area is claimed it is gone.
Our own homepage scored 99 out of 100 on Google's mobile speed test, measured on 15 September 2026. Run the test yourself.
Want to see yours next to the one you have?
Send your firm name and the areas you cover. We build it, send you the link, and you compare them on your own phone.
WhatsApp: 07833 228973
- Free live demo
- Keep your domain
- Live in 7 days