What Does a Tradie Website Cost in Cairns? Real 2026 Prices
A straight answer with real numbers: what websites actually cost in Cairns in 2026, what moves the price up and down, and why the cheapest option is usually the most expensive one.
What does a proper website actually cost in Cairns? Between $1,499 and $4,999 as a one-off for a custom trade site, plus around $275 a year to host and maintain. DIY builders look cheaper at $200 to $500 a year and cost you your evenings; agency retainers run far higher. Those are our real prices, on the record, and the rest of this guide explains exactly what moves the number up or down.
What websites cost in 2026: the full market
| Option | Typical cost | What you actually get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | $200-$500/yr, forever | A template you build yourself, on rented land | Your time, generic look, weak local SEO, never stops billing |
| Cheap freelancer | $300-$800 one-off | A template with your logo dropped in | Slow, unsupported, often abandoned in a year |
| Local custom build (us) | $1,499-$4,999 one-off | Hand-built, fast, built to rank, you own it | Not instant, a proper build takes 2-6 weeks |
| City agency | $8,000-$25,000+ | Similar build, bigger office, account managers | You are paying for their overheads, not your site |
What do the SoDutch tiers include?
Our pricing is public, which is rarer than it should be in this industry. The short version:
| Tier | Price + GST | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Plus | $1,499 | Getting a proper foundation: up to 2 custom pages, mobile-first, search-ready |
| Premium | from $2,999 | Most trades: up to 7 pages, blog, the full SEO structure |
| Enterprise | from $4,999 | Bigger operations: up to 15 pages, e-commerce, the lot |
Every tier includes a free .com.au domain for the first year and 3 months of hosting. After that, Hosting & Care is $275 a year: hosting, monthly updates, premium plugins and a lead safety net.
What actually changes the price?
- Page count. A page per service and per area you cover is how sites rank, and more pages means more design and writing.
- Features. Booking systems, calculators and e-commerce add build time. (The instant quote calculator we built for MYBUILD Group is a good example: more upfront cost, but it became their best lead source.)
- Content readiness. If photos and copy exist, you save. If we write and source everything, it costs more and it is usually worth it.
- SEO ambition. A site built to rank needs structure a brochure site does not. Ranking it afterwards is a separate, ongoing thing: here is what SEO costs in Australia.
Why the cheap option usually costs the most
A website that does not bring in work is not cheap at any price. Run the maths: a $500 template that produces nothing costs you $500 plus every job that went to a competitor. A $2,999 build that brings in two extra jobs a month at $600 average pays for itself inside the first quarter, then keeps paying. When we rebuilt Cairns Auto Works, the site plus SEO took them to 4x monthly revenue. That is the honest way to think about cost: not the invoice, the return.
Common questions
Can I start smaller?
Yes. Our TradeProof plan includes a fast 5-page starter site as part of the monthly service, and it becomes yours after 6 months. It is a genuinely good starting point, but for full control long term we always recommend a custom WordPress build.
Do I own the site?
With us, 100%: the site, the domain and the content are yours, no lock-in. That is not universal, so whoever you use, ask. We wrote a whole guide: do you actually own your website?
Is GST included in the prices above?
All prices on this page and our pricing page exclude GST, standard for business-to-business services in Australia.
Want a number for your exact situation, without a sales call? Use the instant quote builder, or book a discovery call and get a fixed price.