Custom-built doesn't mean slow. Here's the actual sequence, from the moment you drop in your URL to the moment your new site is taking calls.
How Tradesfront builds your custom-built marketing site and lead engine
The sequence
From your URL to your first call.
| When | Step | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Before you start | You scan your site | Drop your URL into the scanner on the home page. We send back a free read of how crawlers + AI search see your site today — and what it'd look like as a Tradesfront site. No commitment. |
| Day 1 | You have a conversation (5 min) | Sign in and just talk to Trey — no form to wade through. He asks about your trade, your service area, the work you want more of, and anything you already have (a site, photos, a logo). Send photos straight into the chat. It keeps track so you can stop halfway and pick it up later. |
| 2-5 business days | We build the site | Custom-built marketing site on your own domain. Service pages per the work you actually do. City pages per the metros you serve. Your real photos of your crew, your trucks, your before-and-after wherever you have them; where you don't, photo-real images of your kind of work, never stock. Ready for Google + AI search on day one. |
| Alongside the build | We wire the plumbing | Phone tracking wired up (Growth: a tracked number per location). Form-to-CRM delivery configured (or straight to your email). Performance reporting switched on in your portal. Google Business Profile linked. |
| 1-3 business days | You review + go live | Email lands the moment your preview's ready. Click through, tell us what to change — copy, photos, layout, whatever. Usually 1-2 rounds. When you approve it, you add one DNS record at your domain provider (we send the exact instructions) and the new site takes over; your old URLs redirect. Your dashboard starts counting that day, and Trey emails you the month's numbers on the 1st. |
| Quarterly | We tune the site | Every 90 days we review what's converting, what isn't, and adjust. New service pages when you expand. New city pages when you cross a metro line. Marketing is maintenance, not a one-shot. |
What custom-built actually means
Not a template with your logo dropped in.
Not a template
Your business gets its own design decisions, its own page structure, its own copy. We are not dropping your logo into a wrapper that 50 other shops use.
Real photos, not stock
Your crew, your trucks, your work, wherever you have the photo. Where you don't, we create a photo-real image of your kind of work rather than drop in a model in clean coveralls. Stock photos signal 'I bought a website.'
Your domain, your site
We provision on your domain, not a *.tradesfront.com subdomain. You own the asset. If you ever leave, the site is yours.
Structured for AI search from day one
Every page ships with the technical markup Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity look for when deciding which local business to cite. Not bolted on later — baked in from the first draft.
Where the leads come from
Inbound, organic, and built to be the answer.
No ad budget to feed. The site, your Google listing and the structure behind them do the work: when someone searches, or asks an AI, for what you do where you do it, you're the one they find, and the page they land on asks for the call.
Google search
A page for each service you sell and each town you serve, built the way Google ranks local businesses. Not one home page trying to be everything.
AI answers
Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity cite sites they can read and trust: clear facts, structured data, real reviews. Yours is built to be quoted.
Your Google listing
Your Business Profile wired to the site, with the categories, reviews and details that put you in the map pack, and every call from it counted.
Every page converts
Each page ends in a call or a form. Calls are tracked, forms relay to your inbox and CRM in seconds, and you see which page earned the lead.
And it stays yours: the domain, the data and your Google listing are in your name from day one.
Reporting
Know what's working. See your return.
Your portal shows what came in and where it went, from your site, your Google listing and, on Growth, your tracking number. No analytics account to babysit. The one thing we ask is a minute to add us to your Google Business Profile so its numbers can show.
CallsGrowth
Every call to your tracking number, answered or missed, with what the caller asked for, pulled from the recording. On Starter you see how many people tapped your number on the site and on your Google listing.
Forms
Every submission, where it was delivered, and anything the spam filter stopped, so a real customer never disappears silently.
Your Google listing
Calls from your Business Profile next to calls from the site, once you've added us to the listing, so the whole picture of how people reach you is in one place.
Local Services Ads (coming soon)
Every lead Google charged you for, next to the ones from your site; the spam, duplicate and sales-pitch leads disputed for credit without you lifting a finger. Waiting on Google's Ads API access.
Visitors and AI reads
How many people visited, and how often ChatGPT, Perplexity and the search engines read your site to answer a question about your trade. Counted at the edge, no analytics script on your site.
Ask Trey
"How did last month go?" gets an answer from your own numbers, in your portal, by email, or from your own AI tool. Change a coupon or your holiday hours in the same conversation; on the 1st he sends the month's numbers without being asked.
Common questions
Before you sign up.
How is this different from Wix, Squarespace, or a templated WordPress?
Templates are designed for everyone, which means optimized for nobody. We build pages around the questions your specific customers actually search — service pages for the work you do, city pages for the metros you serve, and the technical markup AI search engines use to cite local businesses. It's the difference between a brochure and a lead engine.
Do I need to switch from my current CRM?
No. Tradesfront is not a CRM. Forms on your site relay directly into Housecall Pro, Jobber, ServiceTitan, HubSpot, Zapier, or just your email — wherever you already live. Calls route through tracking numbers to your real phone. We never become the place you manage customers.
What if I leave?
Your domain is yours. Your lead data is yours, exportable at any time. The content source is handed back to you on exit. We give you 30 days to migrate, then release your custom hostname setup and hand your DNS back to you. No hostage scenario.
Do you do paid ads or social media too?
No. We do inbound only: your site, your Google Business Profile, organic search and AI search. We're not a paid ads or social media agency. If you run those with someone else, we'll gladly work alongside them so the site and your listing back them up. Paid ads stop the moment you stop paying; ranking in Google and AI search keeps compounding.
What if my site doesn't rank in 3 months?
Many sites start bringing in calls well before the first three months are up. If leads aren't landing after that, we course-correct in the next tune-up. That's what tune-ups are for. If we're 6 months in and you're not getting calls, something structural is broken and we'd rather have that conversation than keep billing.
Is the price locked for me?
Yes — founding-customer pricing. The rate you sign up at today is the rate you pay for as long as you're a customer. If we raise prices for new signups later, you stay at your original rate. The lock holds across plan switches at the same tier.
Is there a setup fee?
No. The first month's payment covers build + wiring. No separate $1,500-$5,000 onboarding charge like most agencies.
What's the minimum commitment?
Three months, as one up-front sprint. It covers the build, the launch and the ranking work after it, and many sites start bringing in calls well before it ends. After the first three months you can cancel at the end of any billing period.
Can I use ChatGPT or Claude with my site?
Yes. Connect your own AI tool to your Tradesfront account (it speaks MCP; sign-in is your normal portal login) and work on the site from there: read any page, draft and publish posts in your site's voice, ask Trey for a change, take a post down, add a picture. Disconnect it any time.
Can I add a second location on Starter?
Yes, $250 a month per extra location: its own pages on the site, its Google listing and citations, its spot in the rankings grid. Ask Trey and it goes on your next bill.
Can I switch tiers?
Yes, any time. Up to Growth when you open a second location; down to Starter if Growth's strategy call isn't earning its keep.
Does AI recommend you?
When someone in your town asks Google AI Mode, ChatGPT or Perplexity who to call, we show you who they name. Free, twenty seconds, no signup.