Painting and decorating · Christchurch
2G Interiors
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Trade association shown
- Says how fast they reply
Benchmark · NZ trades · 2026
NZ Trades Website Benchmark 2026: 150 businesses tested.
I spent more than 15 years as a plumber before I moved into marketing. I tested the websites of 150 NZ trade businesses on speed, lead capture, trust signals, local SEO and Google reviews. Here is what the data shows, who is doing it well, and how to check your own.
| Businesses tested | 150 |
|---|---|
| Trades / towns and cities | 6 / 8 |
| Tested | October 2026 |
| Median score | 55 / 100 |
A benchmark of a stated sample, not a census. Individual scores are private.
Headline findings
What 150 trade websites got right and wrong.
All figures are for the 150 independent businesses tested. Each trade has 25.
51%
show a tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
75% have one somewhere on the mobile homepage.
83%
have a quote or contact form
Only 5% let customers book or request a quote through an online tool.
6%
say how fast they reply
23% mention emergency or after-hours work.
34%
state a licence or registration
Of the 100 businesses in trades where one applies.
57
median mobile speed score out of 100
29% score under 50. 1 of 145 score 90 or more.
36
median Google reviews, at 4.9 stars
47% have fewer than 30.
The detail
Lead capture, trust, speed and local SEO.
All charts: 150 businesses. Each site was tested once on a phone-sized screen in October 2026.
A licence counts when the page states a licence or registration status. It does not mean a number was checked against the register.
5 sites returned no PageSpeed result and are left out, not scored as zero.
Doing it well
10 trade websites worth learning from.
The highest-scoring eligible businesses on the rubric, in alphabetical order. Ranks and scores aren’t published, because the differences between them are within the margin of error.
Roofing · Tauranga
Adco Roofing Tauranga
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Licence or registration stated
- Trade association shown
Landscaping · Christchurch
Affordable Landscaping and Hydroseeding in Christchurch
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Says how fast they reply
- Local business markup that tells Google what they do
Electrical · Auckland
Marshall Electrics Limited
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Licence or registration stated
- Local business markup that tells Google what they do
Building · Wellington
Poneke Construction
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Trade association shown
- Local business markup that tells Google what they do
Electrical · Wellington
Silver Fern Electrical
- Quote or contact form
- Licence or registration stated
- Says how fast they reply
- Local business markup that tells Google what they do
Painting and decorating · Auckland
Smart House Painters Auckland
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Local business markup that tells Google what they do
- 170 Google reviews at 5.0
Roofing · Auckland
Solution Roofing
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Licence or registration stated
- Trade association shown
Plumbing and gasfitting · Auckland
Water Works
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Quote or contact form
- Trade association shown
- 343 Google reviews at 4.8
Roofing · Christchurch
Winter And Son Roofing
- Tap-to-call button on the first phone screen
- Licence or registration stated
- Local business markup that tells Google what they do
- Fast on mobile (speed score 96 out of 100)
What they have in common: 9 of the 10 have a tap-to-call button on the first phone screen, 71% state a licence or registration (against 34% of all businesses where one applies), and 90% have local business markup (against 40%). Their median is 102 Google reviews against 36 overall, and a median mobile speed score of 80 against 57.
Google ratings are credited to Google and shown as at October 2026. Businesses are linked so you can see their sites. Being named means a site scored well on this rubric, nothing more. 6 of the 10 are also listed on TopChoice, a directory I run; see the conflict of interest note below.
By trade
How each trade compares.
Each trade has 25 businesses, so read these as a guide, not a verdict.
| Trade | Score | Tap-to-call | Quote form | Speed | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building | 57 | 48% | 84% | 57 | 26 |
| Electrical | 60 | 64% | 92% | 53 | 76 |
| Landscaping | 49 | 24% | 88% | 60 | 16 |
| Painting and decorating | 50 | 28% | 76% | 61 | 18 |
| Plumbing and gasfitting | 60 | 80% | 88% | 57 | 102 |
| Roofing | 52 | 64% | 68% | 57 | 28 |
Score, speed and reviews are medians (score out of 100, mobile speed out of 100, Google reviews). Tap-to-call is the share with a tap-to-call button on the first phone screen.
What the website is built on
| Platform | Sites | Median score | Median speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 58 | 58 | 60 |
| Not detected | 48 | 57 | 57 |
| Squarespace | 17 | 48 | 53 |
| Wix | 13 | 57 | 68 |
| other platforms (each under 8) | 14 | 52 | 58 |
Platform is detected from the page and is descriptive only, not part of the score. Platforms with fewer than 8 sites are merged, and sample sizes are small, so don’t read this as one platform being better than another.
What to do about it
Six fixes that move your score.
Based on what separated the strongest sites from the rest.
01
Put your phone number where a thumb can reach it
Only 51% show a tap-to-call button on the first phone screen, and 9 of the 10 named businesses do. See how we build trade websites that get the phone ringing →
02
Make it easy to ask for a quote, and say how fast you reply
83% have a form, but only 6% say when you will hear back and 5% offer online booking. See how we turn website visits into quote requests →
03
Show your licence and who vouches for you
34% state a licence or registration, 36% show a trade association and only 9% mention insurance. Put your registration number, association logo, guarantee and insurance where customers can see them.
04
Tell Google what you do and where
Only 40% have local business markup, and 46% don’t name the areas they cover. See how local SEO gets trades found in their own town →
05
Fix the mobile basics
The median mobile score is 57 out of 100 and 29% score under 50. Oversized photos and too many scripts are the usual cause.
06
Keep collecting Google reviews
The median business has 36 Google reviews, and 47% have fewer than 30. A text with a review link after every job is the cheapest way to build this.
Methodology
How the benchmark was done.
Simple enough to repeat, and written down so you can check it.
01
Who was tested
150 NZ trade businesses with their own website: 25 each in plumbing and gasfitting, electrical, building, roofing, painting and decorating, and landscaping, across 8 towns and cities. Found through Google Maps searches (about 90%) and public trade association registers (about 10%), then drawn at random. Not a random sample of all trades and not a census.
02
What was checked
One load of each homepage on a phone-sized screen and one contact or quote page, in a real browser, with a clear user agent and a delay between requests. Google PageSpeed Insights on mobile, three runs spaced apart, median. Google ratings and review counts. Everything was collected in October 2026.
03
The score out of 100
Speed and mobile 25. Local SEO and technical 25. Lead capture 20. Trust signals 15. Google reviews 15. Anything that couldn’t be measured is left out, never counted as zero, and the licence check is skipped for painting and landscaping, which have no licence requirement. Businesses with less than 90% measurable are not eligible to be named.
04
How lead capture was judged
A working tap-to-call link, a phone number visible without scrolling, a quote or contact form, an online booking or quote tool, emergency or after-hours wording, and a stated reply time. Only things a script can detect reliably are scored. Things that need judgement, like real job photos, are left out.
05
Who is named
The highest-scoring eligible businesses, shown alphabetically with no ranks or scores. Ties at the cut-off are all included. Everyone else is anonymised.
06
Conflict of interest
EightySix Digital sells web design, SEO and lead-capture help, so lead capture was deliberately weighted below speed and local SEO. I also run TopChoice, a directory: 48 of the 150 businesses tested are listed on it, found through Maps and registers rather than the directory, and scored the same way. 6 of the 10 named are listed there. One business that is a paid or featured listing, a client or a site I built is in the averages and not named.
Limitations
- The sample comes from Google Maps searches and three trade registers. Maps favours businesses with a Google profile and a website, so businesses with no web presence are under-represented. About 6% of the businesses Google Maps returned had no website or only a social page, and that is a floor, not a share of all NZ trades.
- One point in time. Websites and Google ratings change.
- Speed scores are lab tests. Five sites returned no speed result. Real-user data exists for only some sites and is labelled where used.
- Each site was tested once on a phone-sized screen, plus one contact page. Things deeper in a site, or shown only as images, can be missed. Detection is by text and code patterns and can miss unusual layouts.
- Plumbing, building and roofing have no usable public register, so those samples come from Maps only. Chains and franchises that share one website were left out, which may also leave out some single companies with several branches.
- AI search visibility is not part of the score and has not been tested yet.
Free scorecard
Get your website scored against the benchmark.
Whether or not your business was one of the 150 we tested, I’ll run your site through the same checks and email you a private one-page scorecard: your score against the average, and your top three fixes. It isn’t published, and there’s no obligation.
What is the NZ Trades Website Benchmark?
It is a test of the websites of 150 NZ trade businesses on speed and mobile experience, local SEO, lead capture, trust signals and Google reviews. It covers plumbing and gasfitting, electrical, building, roofing, painting and decorating, and landscaping in eight towns and cities. It is run once a year so you can see how the trades are changing.
Which businesses were tested and how were they chosen?
150 independent trade businesses with their own website, 6 trades with 25 each, in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin, Nelson and Palmerston North. They were found through Google Maps searches and three public trade association registers, then drawn at random. It is a benchmark of a stated sample, not a census and not a random sample of all NZ tradespeople. Chains and franchises that share one website were left out.
How is the website score worked out?
Out of 100: speed and mobile 25, local SEO and technical 25, lead capture 20, trust signals 15 and Google reviews 15. Anything that could not be measured is left out, never counted as zero. The full breakdown is in the methodology section above.
Why aren’t individual scores published?
To avoid shaming anyone. The report names only the businesses that scored best, in alphabetical order with no ranks or scores, and shows everyone else as anonymised averages. You can ask for your own private scorecard.
How can I get my own score?
Use the scorecard form on this page. Any business can request one, whether or not it was in the sample. You get a private one-page scorecard that shows your score against the average and your top three fixes. Businesses outside the sample are scored afterwards using the same method and compared against the published results, and those scores are never added to the benchmark. It is free and it is not published.
What if something about my business is wrong, or I would rather not be named?
Get in touch through the contact page. I will check it, correct it, or remove you from the named examples.
Why isn’t AI search visibility in the score?
AI answers change between people, places and runs, so they are measured as a separate sample, not as part of the website score. That check hasn’t been run yet. If you want to know what ChatGPT and Gemini say about your business, ask about an AI visibility audit.
Is there a conflict of interest?
Yes, and it is disclosed. EightySix Digital sells web design, SEO and lead-capture help, so lead capture was deliberately weighted below speed and local SEO. I also run TopChoice, a directory of local businesses: 48 of the 150 businesses tested appear in it, and 6 of the 10 named. They were found through Google Maps and trade registers, not through the directory, and are scored the same way. One business that is a paid or featured TopChoice listing, a client or a site I built is in the averages and is not named.
Get more of your visitors to ring or request a quote.
Part of a wider plan to get trades more work. No bullshit, no jargon: tell me what you want to fix and I’ll tell you what it would take.