Websites for groundworkers
Groundwork web design for firms that tender for their work
Accreditations, a plant list, case pages and tender documents, so a main contractor shortlists you before the first call.
Groundwork web design for buyers who read before they ring
Groundwork web design is a different job from a site for a kitchen fitter. A homeowner who wants a driveway still searches and rings, but for many groundworks firms the bigger jobs come from developers, main contractors and housing associations. Their buyers read your site before they ring, and they read it like a tender return: which work, which plant, which cards, which jobs of a similar size, and can I download your documents.
Most groundworks sites answer none of that. A photo of a yellow excavator, a paragraph about quality and a phone number. The buyer moves on to the next name on the list. What a groundworks firm needs behind the site, from day sheets to CIS, is on our page for groundworks; this page is about the site itself, built through our website design service.
Driveways and drainage, found in Harrogate
New request
Block paved driveway, 60 m2, old concrete out, sketch attached
Paul, Harrogate, today 20:47
- A page per job type: driveways, drainage, footings, demolition
- A Google profile with photos of your sites
- A form that asks for size, access and a sketch
An example with made-up groundworks firms and reviews.
Two buyers, one groundworks contractor website
A groundworks contractor website serves two very different readers. Both have to find what they came for in a few seconds, and they look in different places.
| Buyer | What they search for | What they check | What wins the call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homeowner | Driveways, drainage repair, footings for an extension in their town | Photos of finished work, reviews, whether you come to them | Your own jobs in their area and an easy form |
| Main contractor or developer | A groundworker for a region or a type of job | Accreditations, plant, capacity, similar jobs, documents | A site that reads like a short tender return |
| Housing association or local authority | Approved contractors for a framework or a single scheme | Policies, insurance, past public work | Documents they can download without asking |
The homeowner side is the familiar one: a Google Business Profile, local SEO and pages per service. The trade side is where most groundworks sites are thin, and where one good page can open a relationship with a contractor who places work for years.
Regions a contractor can place you in
A homeowner searches by town. A contractor thinks in regions and travel time: can this firm work in North Yorkshire, can it reach a site in Leeds by half seven, will it take a job two counties away? Say it plainly on the site. A map or a short list of the areas you cover, with the yard you work from and the furthest you travel for a package of a given size, saves a buyer a phone call and saves you a tender you would not have won.
For search, the rule is the same as for homeowners: a page per area only where you have work to show there. A region page with three case studies and the sectors you served in it is worth more than ten town pages with the name swapped. Our local SEO tips explain how the map listing and the site work together, and steady Google reviews from homeowners help the trade side too, because buyers read them as well.
Accreditations a buyer looks for first
A buyer at a main contractor has a checklist before your name goes on a tender list. The site should answer it on one page, with the evidence attached.
| What the buyer checks | What to show on the site | How to keep it current |
|---|---|---|
| Cards on site | That your operatives hold CSCS cards and your plant operators hold the right plant cards | A line per card type, updated when the team changes |
| Health and safety prequalification | The schemes you are actually certified under, such as CHAS, Constructionline or SafeContractor, with expiry dates | Certificates as files with their dates |
| Insurance | Employer's and public liability, with the cover and the expiry date | A certificate that is replaced each renewal |
| Waste | Your waste carrier registration number, which starts with CB | The number and its renewal date |
| Tax status | Gross payment status under CIS, if you hold it | A line that changes if the status changes |
| Competence | Training and the experience of your site managers | Short profiles, with consent |
Show only what you hold. A logo for a scheme you are not in is the fastest way to lose a buyer who checks. Where a certificate has an expiry date, the site should show the date, so nobody downloads one that ran out last spring.
A plant list that answers the first phone call
The first question a contractor asks a groundworker is often what you can bring. A plant list on the site answers it before the call and shows the size of the firm better than any paragraph. Keep it to what you own or have on long-term hire, and say so.
| Machine | Number | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 21 t tracked excavator | 2 | Tilt rotator, machine control |
| 8 t excavator | 3 | Quick hitch, breaker |
| Mini digger | 4 | Rubber tracks for gardens and driveways |
| 9 t forward tipping dumper | 3 | Own transport |
| Twin drum roller | 2 | For sub-base and tarmac |
The table above is an example layout with made-up numbers, not a real fleet. Behind the page, the same list can come from the register you keep for services and inspections in fleet management software, so the site never shows a machine you sold last year.
A tender drawing as a first bill of quantities
An example: the AI works from your own rates per m3 and per machine, you decide.
Case pages built from a job you finished
- The facts of the jobType of client, location by town, the scope such as drainage, foundations and external works, how long it took and how many gangs and machines.
- Photos from start to finishThe bare site, the open trench before backfill, the finished road or slab. Taken on a phone by the gang leader is fine.
- What was hard about itA tight access, a high water table, a live road next to the site. This is what a buyer remembers.
- A word from the client, with permissionOne or two lines from a site manager or developer, with their name and role if they agree to it.
Case pages that read like a tender return
A buyer who places groundworks packages wants to see a job like theirs. Not a gallery of excavators, but a page per job: who it was for, what you did, how long it took and what went wrong and was solved. Three good case pages do more than thirty photos without context.
Group them the way buyers think: housing sites, commercial units, schools, drainage and utilities, driveways and gardens for homeowners. A developer then finds the housing work in one click, and a homeowner still finds the driveways. Ask the client before you name them or show their site, and leave out contract values unless they agree. Case pages also do well in search for specific work, which is where marketing for construction companies and SEO come in.
Tender documents a buyer can download
- Health and safety policy, signed and dated
- Insurance certificates for employer's and public liability
- A sample construction phase plan and sample RAMS
- Certificates of the prequalification schemes you hold
- Quality and environmental policies, if you have them
- Waste carrier registration
- Company details, the CIS status you hold and a short organisation chart
Tender documents behind a simple login
Buyers ask for the same documents every time they put you on a list. A download page saves your office those emails and shows a buyer you are organised before they have met you. Policies and certificates can sit behind a simple login or a request form, so you see which contractor downloaded what and can follow up. For firms that work for the same contractors year after year, this grows into a client portal with day sheets, photos and RAMS per site.
Operators who apply from the cab
An example with made-up names; you choose what the form asks an operator, from machine type to CPCS or NPORS card.
Recruiting operators through the site
A groundworker's site is also where good operators and gang leaders check you out before they move. A careers page that names the machines, the regions and how gangs are set up, with an application that takes three taps on a phone, reaches people who are not looking at job boards. The idea behind it is employer branding. The same site then shows buyers that you have the people to deliver, which matters when a contractor weighs whether you can take a second package.
Groundworks firms of every size, online
What the site has to do depends on who buys from you.
| Firm | Main buyers | What we would build |
|---|---|---|
| Sole trader with a mini digger | Homeowners and small builders | A compact site with service pages, local projects and an easy form |
| Two to four gangs | Builders, small developers and homeowners | Service and town pages, case pages, a plant list and a careers page |
| Six gangs or more | Main contractors, developers, housing associations | Accreditations page, plant list, case pages by sector, a document area and a tender request route |
We build websites from EUR 1,500, at a fixed price agreed after a first conversation; our guide to website cost in the UK explains what drives a price, and how to compare website quotes helps if you are weighing offers. A site with certificates and dates needs looking after, which is what website maintenance is for.
The same thinking applies to other trades: roofing website design for firms who live off urgent calls, and landscaping website design for those who finish the ground you levelled. The wider picture across trades is on website for contractors. Want to talk about your site? Contact us. For a construction company in Ghent we built a site where clients cost their own project step by step: SN Group.
Website design
How VBS helps you with this
We build your site from design to copy, imagery and code, in one team, so that Google and your buyers find it and get in touch.
- Design and copy built on your buyers' questions
- Fast, multilingual when you need it, at a fixed price
- Forms, cookieless analytics and hosting on AWS
How we approach it is on our page about Website design.
A site a main contractor shortlists?
Tell us who you want to work for and which jobs you can show. We tell you what the site needs and give you a fixed price.
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