How much a removalist website costs in Australia
DIY, one-off build or managed plan: the first-year cost of each, and the hidden costs people forget.
Key takeaways
- The real cost of a website is the first year and the years after, not the launch price.
- A DIY builder costs the least in cash and the most in your time, and nobody else makes the edits.
- A one-off agency build is a large upfront payment, and changes after launch are usually billed separately.
- A managed plan spreads the cost into a monthly fee that includes hosting, security and a set number of edits.
- Published Google Ads click prices for removalist searches help you judge what a monthly website fee is worth.
Ask three web people what a removalist website costs and you will get three answers that are hard to compare. One quotes a build price, one quotes a monthly fee, and a website builder advertises a low plan price that leaves the work to you. The useful question is what each option costs over the first year and the second, once hosting, changes and your own time are counted.
This guide walks through the three common routes for an Australian removal business, the costs that get left out of quotes, and a way to sense-check a monthly fee against what you would pay for clicks on Google. Our own pricing is shown in full, so you can hold it to the same test.
Three ways to get a removalist website
Most removal businesses end up with one of these:
- A DIY website builder. You pick a template, write the pages and keep them up to date yourself.
- A one-off agency or freelancer build. You pay for the build, then own the site and pay for changes as needed.
- A managed monthly plan. You pay a setup fee and a monthly fee, and the provider builds, hosts and updates the site.
None of these is right for every business. A driver with one van and a steady referral base has different needs from a depot running three trucks and doing interstate work. The comparison page sets the options side by side, including the option of having no website at all.
DIY website builder: low cash, high time
Website builders sell monthly subscriptions and templates. The cash cost is usually the lowest of the three, which is why many small operators start there.
The cost that doesn't show on the invoice is your time. For a removal business you would need to:
- write every page, including service pages and an honest page for each area you cover;
- set up a quote form that asks for move size, access and dates, and make sure submissions reach you;
- check how the site looks and loads on a phone, where most people will see it;
- make every change yourself, from new prices to a new suburb, usually at night after a day of lifting.
If you enjoy that work and have the evenings, a builder can be fine. If the site gets set up once and then left, it tends to drift out of date, and an outdated site with old prices or a disconnected phone number costs jobs.
One-off agency build: large upfront, paid changes
A local agency or freelancer quotes a fixed price to design and build the site. Quotes vary widely with the number of pages, custom design and features such as quote forms, so ask for an itemised quote and compare what is included.
Before you sign, get written answers to these questions:
- Who hosts the site after launch, and what does hosting cost each year?
- Who applies security updates, and is that included?
- How much does a change cost, such as new prices or an extra service-area page?
- Is the domain registered in your business name?
- Can you take the site elsewhere if you stop working with them?
The build price is paid once, but the site keeps costing money. Hosting, updates and changes are either on a separate care plan or billed when you ask for them.
Managed monthly plan: the cost spread out
A managed plan turns the build into a smaller setup fee and a monthly fee. Ours costs A$249 a month plus A$499 setup, GST may apply, with a 12-month minimum term. That covers building the site, hosting, the SSL certificate and security updates, up to 5 content edits a month and a monthly report of the enquiries the site received. It does not include ads, logo design, writing your content or domain fees. The full list is on what's included.
What the plan costs in year one and year two
Show the data as a table
| Period | Setup | Monthly fees | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year one | A$499 | A$2,988 | A$3,487 |
| Year two | None | A$2,988 | A$2,988 |
The trade-off is the minimum term. You commit to 12 months, and in return you are not paying a large sum on day one or a separate bill every time a price changes. After the minimum term the plan runs month to month.
A sense check: the same money spent on Google Ads clicks
Another way to judge a monthly website fee is to compare it with paid search. Advertisers bidding on removalist searches in Australia pay these published cost-per-click ranges.
Cost per click on removalist searches in Google Ads
Here is the plain arithmetic. At $11-$16 a click on "removalists", a monthly fee of A$249 buys roughly 15 to 22 clicks. Clicks are visits, not jobs, and they stop the day the budget runs out.
This is not an argument against ads. Many removalists run both. The point is that your website is where every visitor lands, paid or not, and a site that doesn't turn visits into quote requests wastes the ad spend too. We cover what makes a site convert in what a removalist website needs.
Costs people forget to count
Whichever route you choose, put these on the list before comparing prices:
- Domain name. Paid to the registrar every registration period. Make sure it is in your business name.
- Hosting and SSL. Included in some options, billed separately in others.
- Security updates. Software behind a site needs updating. Someone has to do it, and someone has to pay for it.
- Edits. New prices, a new truck photo, holiday hours, an extra suburb. Count how many changes you make in a year.
- Your time. Every hour spent on the site is an hour not quoting or moving.
- Email and forms. A quote form that silently fails costs more than any of the above.
A note on GST in website prices
Prices shown only to businesses can leave GST out: the ACCC says a business displaying prices only to other businesses doesn't need to include GST1 in the total price. A supplier can only charge GST if it is registered, and businesses that are not registered don't include GST in their prices2. When comparing quotes, check whether each figure includes GST so you are comparing like with like. Our prices are shown as "GST may apply".
What to do next
- Write down every change you made to your site, or wanted to make, in the past year.
- Get each option's price for year one and year two, including hosting, updates and edits.
- Check who registers the domain and what happens to the site if you leave.
- Look at your current quote form on a phone and send yourself a test enquiry.
- If you advertise, work out what a month of clicks costs and whether your site turns them into quotes.
If you work solo or with one van, the man with a van page shows the smaller site structure we build for small moves. If you are weighing up whether you need a site at all, read website or Facebook page.
Our plan is one price, shown in full: A$249 a month plus A$499 setup, GST may apply, with a 12-month minimum term. See everything on the pricing page, or book a call to work through the numbers for your business.
Questions removalists ask
Is a website a tax deduction for a removal business?
Website costs are often a business expense, but how they are treated depends on your circumstances, including whether a cost is capital or ongoing. Ask your accountant or registered tax agent before you rely on it.
Who owns the domain name on a managed plan?
On our plan the domain is registered in your business name and you pay the registrar directly, so it stays yours if you leave. Check this on any plan you consider: a domain held in someone else's name is hard to get back.
What happens after the minimum term?
On our plan, after the 12-month minimum term it continues month to month, and either side can end it with notice before the next billing date. The plan terms page sets out the details.
Can I start with a DIY site and switch later?
Yes. Your words, photos and domain move with you. The design and any builder-specific features usually do not, so expect the new site to be rebuilt rather than copied across.