Short answer: the best long-term alternative to a lead site is your own website plus a properly set up Google Business Profile. Instead of paying for each shared lead, you own something that sends you enquiries that are only ever yours, and it keeps working after it's paid for. TradieWebsiteHQ builds and looks after that for $99 a month, nothing upfront.
How lead sites actually work
Sites like hipages, Oneflare and Airtasker are lead marketplaces. A homeowner posts a job, and the site sells that job to tradies as a lead. It's a quick way to find work, especially in a quiet patch, because the jobs are already sitting there waiting.
The catch is in the model, not the company. The same job is often sent to several tradies at once, so you're in a race to quote. You usually pay for the lead whether or not you win the work. And when you stop paying, the flow of work stops with it, because you never owned the customer, the enquiry or the reviews. You're renting.
The problem with renting your leads
- You pay again for every job. There's no point where the cost stops. Each new job is a new lead fee.
- You're one of several quotes. Shared leads push the job toward whoever's cheapest or fastest, not whoever's best.
- You don't build anything. Years on a lead site and you still own nothing: no site, no audience, no reviews that are yours.
- Turn it off and it's gone. The moment you stop paying, the leads stop. There's nothing left working for you.
The alternative: own the thing that brings the work in
Your own website flips it around. It's an asset you own that works around the clock: someone searches your trade in your suburb, finds your site, sees your real jobs and reviews, and calls you. That enquiry isn't shared with anyone. And once the site's paid for, the next enquiry doesn't cost you a lead fee.
| Renting leads | Owning your site | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets the enquiry | You and several other tradies | Only you |
| What you pay | Per lead, win or lose | One flat $99 a month |
| When you stop paying | The work stops that day | You keep the site and domain |
| What you build | Nothing you own | Your own site, reviews and web address |
"But hipages actually sends me jobs"
Fair point, and worth being honest about: it does, and a website won't hand you a job the day it goes live. A lead site is instant. A website builds. The smart play for most tradies isn't to rip one out for the other overnight.
You don't have to quit cold turkey
A lot of tradies run both for a while. Keep the lead site ticking over for the quick jobs, and let your website and Google listing build up in the background. As your own enquiries grow, you lean on the paid leads less, and more of the work coming in is yours to keep. There's no lock-in here, so you move at your own pace.
What a good tradie website does instead
- Shows up on Google when locals search your trade in your area, through your Google Business Profile set up properly.
- Looks the part with your real jobs, a clear list of what you do, and a tap-to-call number.
- Earns trust with your own reviews on your own listing, not a rating locked inside someone else's platform.
- Keeps working long after it's paid for, instead of switching off the day you stop paying.
Where TradieWebsiteHQ fits
We build the website and set up your Google Business Profile, then host and look after it for $99 a month, everything included, nothing upfront. No lock-in, cancel anytime, and your domain is registered in your name from day one. One won job a month usually covers the lot, and every enquiry after that is yours at no extra per-lead cost.
See how the deal compares, read the honest cost guide, or check what's covered by the guarantee. New to search? Read how to get found on Google.