What do home-service contractor websites have? A study of 5,072 sites
Most homepages in our sample had the basics: 3,941 of 4,433 homepages had a click-to-call link. Fewer made the next step easy: 2,605 had a form, 2,448 offered a free estimate or inspection and 1,636 showed any online booking signal. We crawled the websites of home-service businesses in 8 trades and 50 US metros, from our Home-Service Visibility Study.
By Youssef Hodaigui, Mindflow Marketing · Sites crawled in October 2026
- 1
A homeowner has a job to do
roof repair near me - 2
They look in three places
Google resultsThe mapAn AI answer - 3
They check before they call
Reviews, photos of real work and a page that answers their question.
- 4
They request an estimate
Your form or phone number, working on their phone.
Not an actual ranking, listing or result.
| Sites crawled | 5,072 |
|---|---|
| Homepages saved and matched | 4,433 |
| Homepages with a form | 2,605 of 4,433 |
| Sites with three or more location pages | 1,501 of 5,072 |
Which sites did we check?
Every business in the study's Google Maps top three, Google's local pack or ChatGPT's answers for 8 trades in 50 US metros, where we could find and save a website. We saved one homepage per business and crawled up to 100 pages of each site in October 2026. Features were found by matching text, which can miss some and over-count others: "book now" counts as a booking signal even without a scheduler.
What do most contractor homepages have?
In our sample, the basics were common. Most homepages had a click-to-call link, a "since" year or years in business, and an emergency or 24/7 line. The steps that turn a visit into a request were less common: 2,605 of 4,433 had a form on the homepage, and 1,636 showed any online booking signal.
| On the homepage | Homepages (of 4,433) |
|---|---|
| Click-to-call link | 3,941 |
| "Since [year]" or years in business | 3,103 |
| Emergency or 24/7 service stated | 2,810 |
| Form on the homepage | 2,605 |
| A free estimate, quote or inspection offer | 2,448 |
| "Licensed" stated | 2,375 |
| LocalBusiness schema | 2,348 |
| Financing mentioned | 1,680 |
| Any online booking signal | 1,636 |
| A review widget | 1,610 |
| Review-rating markup | 699 |
Source: Mindflow research, saved homepages, October 2026, from the saved files as collected, before the rulings that later adjusted listings in 23 metros.
How deep do contractor sites go on services and areas?
Service pages are standard; area pages are not. Of 5,072 crawled sites, 3,618 had five or more service pages, but only 1,501 had three or more location or service-area pages, and 1,930 had a page for reviews.
| On the site | Sites (of 5,072) |
|---|---|
| At least one service page | 4,180 |
| Five or more service pages | 3,618 |
| A blog | 3,233 |
| At least one location or service-area page | 2,495 |
| A reviews page | 1,930 |
| Three or more location pages | 1,501 |
Source: Mindflow research, site crawls of up to 100 pages, October 2026, saved-file basis as above. 2,689 sites reached the 100-page limit, so page counts for large sites are floors.
How do the sites of businesses ChatGPT named differ?
Among businesses in the Google Maps top three, the ones ChatGPT named when asked who to call more often had built-out sites: three or more location pages on 142 of 323 sites, against 156 of 752 for those it didn't name. LocalBusiness schema was no more common among the named (139 of 298 homepages, against 352 of 648). Named businesses also had far more Google reviews (a median of 295 against 57; see review patterns), so these differences may reflect business size rather than the website itself.
| Maps top three, named by ChatGPT | Maps top three, not named | |
|---|---|---|
| Three or more location pages (sites we could crawl) | 142 of 323 | 156 of 752 |
| Five or more service pages (sites we could crawl) | 269 of 323 | 412 of 752 |
| A reviews page (sites we could crawl) | 136 of 323 | 187 of 752 |
| Online booking signal on the homepage | 134 of 298 | 176 of 648 |
| Financing on the homepage | 128 of 298 | 136 of 648 |
| LocalBusiness schema on the homepage | 139 of 298 | 352 of 648 |
| Review-rating markup on the homepage | 47 of 298 | 99 of 648 |
Source: Mindflow research, saved-file basis as above. "Named" uses the saved collection flags, so these groups don't match the final counts on the study page exactly. Site features are counted out of the sites we could crawl, homepage features out of the homepages we saved. Unlike our review figures, these groups include Detroit's Maps listings in Windsor, Ontario. ChatGPT means the OpenAI API with web search, asked which companies a homeowner should call. An association, not a cause.
Does it differ by trade?
Yes. Each trade's sites lean on different parts of the path to a request. Trades are listed alphabetically; each row keeps its own base, and each trade links to its full results.
| Trade | Homepages | Form | Free estimate offer | Booking signal | Financing | Crawled sites | 5+ service pages | 3+ location pages | Reviews page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical | 561 | 294 | 255 | 240 | 178 | 646 | 383 | 123 | 252 |
| Garage door | 577 | 291 | 399 | 294 | 141 | 623 | 492 | 213 | 264 |
| HVAC | 549 | 337 | 258 | 371 | 450 | 633 | 489 | 224 | 266 |
| Pest control | 605 | 454 | 484 | 178 | 47 | 661 | 538 | 220 | 258 |
| Plumbing | 566 | 347 | 215 | 366 | 324 | 637 | 489 | 214 | 246 |
| Remodeling | 584 | 309 | 197 | 52 | 115 | 659 | 382 | 109 | 230 |
| Roofing | 546 | 344 | 468 | 80 | 326 | 612 | 467 | 189 | 273 |
| Water damage | 445 | 229 | 172 | 55 | 99 | 601 | 378 | 209 | 141 |
Source: Mindflow research, saved-file basis as above. Homepage features are out of each trade's homepages; site features out of its crawled sites.
What does this mean for a contractor's website?
Check the path, not just the phone number. From a phone, can a homeowner request an estimate, book a time or see your reviews in a tap or two? And do you have a page for each service and area you want more work from? Online booking, a reviews page and area pages were each missing on most sites in our sample: a booking signal on 1,636 of 4,433 homepages, a reviews page on 1,930 of 5,072 sites, and three or more location pages on 1,501 of 5,072. Our website design and conversion work pages explain how we approach them; no site change guarantees a ranking or a mention in an AI answer.
What can't this study tell you?
- Not random.We chose the 50 metros; they don't represent every US market.
- One snapshot.Collected in October 2026; sites, reviews and searches change.
- Association, not cause.No figure here shows why a business was or wasn't named.
- No names.We report totals only and don't identify any business.
- Text matching.Features were detected from page text and URLs, not reviewed by hand.
- Crawl limit.Large sites reached the 100-page limit, so their page counts are floors.
Can you use or cite this data?
Yes. Download contractor website counts by group and trade as a CSV with no business names or identifiers. You can reuse it with credit and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0).
Suggested citation: Mindflow Marketing, "Contractor website study (October 2026)," mindflowmarketing.com/research/contractor-website-study/, sites crawled October 2026.
Spotted an error? Email youssef@mindflowmarketing.com. Our editorial standards explain how we correct pages.
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