Does my contractor website need a redesign or just a fix?
By Yaz Caleb, founder of KatsaUpdated
Short answer
Fix it if the problems are specific: a phone number that doesn’t tap to call, no privacy page, an old copyright year or a free email address. Redesign it if the structure is the problem: you can’t edit the site, it fails on phones, or the pages don’t show what you build and where. If you can’t tell, start with the home page and fix the rest from a list.
Fixes: problems with a clear repair
Each of these is a small job on any platform. The shares come from Katsa’s review of 171 builder and remodeler websites, read on October 30, 2026.
| Problem on the home page | Share of sites in our review | Where to start |
|---|---|---|
| The phone number isn’t a tap-to-call link | 28% of sites that show a number | Tap-to-call steps |
| No privacy page linked | 67% | Privacy policy basics |
| A copyright year before 2025 | 24% of sites that show a year | Edit the footer text |
| A free email address such as Gmail or Yahoo | 11% of sites that show an email | Use an address on your own domain |
| No phone number | 23% | Add it to the header |
Signs you need a redesign
- You can’t edit it. Nobody on your team can log in, or every change needs the person who built it. Start with who owns my website.
- It fails on phones. Google uses the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking, so a layout that breaks on a phone is the version Google judges.
- It fails Google’s page experience questions: good Core Web Vitals, pages served securely, content that displays well on mobile, no intrusive interstitials, and main content that’s easy to tell apart from the rest.
- It’s slow. Google’s Core Web Vitals ask for the main content to load within 2.5 seconds, a response to taps and clicks in under 200 milliseconds, and a layout shift score under 0.1.
- The pages don’t say what you build or where, or don’t show your own work. That’s a content problem, and a small fix won’t reach it.
Note
An old platform version isn’t always a redesign. A Squarespace 7.0 site can move to 7.1 with the update tool, which keeps SEO, domains and URL mappings, though you can’t reverse the update.
A test you can run today
- Open your site on your phone and tap the phone number. If nothing happens, that’s a fix.
- Scroll to the footer. Check the copyright year, and tap the privacy link to see that the page exists.
- Show the home page to someone who hasn’t seen it and ask what you build and where. If they can’t say, the home page needs rebuilding.
- Log in and change one sentence. If you can’t, sort out access before anything else.
If only the first two turn up problems, make the fixes. If the third or fourth fails, the job is bigger than a fix.
The middle route: rebuild the home page, fix the rest
Katsa’s home page rebuild sits between the two. We rebuild the home page inside the platform your site already runs on, from your own photos and facts, and include a fix list for the rest of the site.
You see the page on your own site before it goes live and before you pay. A full site starts at $9,000, and if one starts within 30 days of the page going live, the home page price comes off it.
The home page checklist lists what the page has to show, and the redesign timeline covers how long the bigger job takes.
Questions
Can I make the fixes myself?
Mostly, yes. The phone link, the footer year and the privacy link are edits you can make in any of these editors, and tap-to-call steps walks through the phone link on each one. An address on your own domain needs email set up for that domain first.
What does each option cost?
Fixes cost the time it takes to make them. Published redesign prices run into the thousands of dollars, and what a redesign costs lists them by source.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Understanding page experience in Google Search results, accessed November 4, 2026
- Google Search Central: Mobile-first indexing best practices, accessed November 4, 2026
- Google Search Central: Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results, accessed November 4, 2026
- Squarespace Help Center: Move from version 7.0 to version 7.1 using the update tool, accessed November 4, 2026
Work with Katsa
We rebuild builder and remodeler home pages inside the platform you already use, for one fixed price. You see yours finished on your own site before you pay.