Pricing · Tradies · Website
What Does $50 a Month Website Maintenance Actually Cover?
Executive Summary
Key takeaways: what you'll get from this guide
- What the $50 a month Base plan includes in plain English (and what it does not)
- What Grow at $100 and Scale at $250 add on top, and who each one is for
- The 48-hour turnaround on text and photo changes and what counts as in-scope
- How it differs from hosting alone, doing it yourself, and $400+ a month agency retainers
- Which tier fits which kind of tradie, and what sits outside every plan
Website maintenance here means ongoing work after your site is live: keeping it online, updating phone numbers and photos, watching for downtime, and giving you a straight read on traffic and enquiries. It is not a second website build every month.
Made 4 Tradies builds are yours to own. Every build then runs on one of three monthly plans: Base $50, Grow $100 and Scale $250 (see the full comparison). Base is the one most tradies start on, and it is the plan this guide spends most of its time on.
If you are still comparing build options, start with how much a tradie website should cost in 2026. This post is for tradies who already have (or are about to get) a site and want to know what the monthly fee actually buys.
What Is the $50 a Month Base Plan?
It is a managed upkeep plan for tradie sites we built. You keep owning the domain and site. We handle the technical rhythm so you stay on the tools.
Base covers three things tradies actually care about:
- Unlimited text and photo changes (not full rebuilds or new pages), turned around within 48 hours
- Uptime monitoring with alerts so we know if your site goes down before you do
- A quarterly performance report so you can see traffic and enquiries without learning a dashboard stack
Behind those three, Base also covers website hosting, a secure website certificate, weekly backups, DNS, form spam filtering, and security updates. The annual website audit, where we go through the whole site against current best practice and fix what has drifted, sits on Grow and Scale.
What Base does not include is the annual audit or any Google Business Profile work. Both start at Grow.
What Do Grow and Scale Add?
Base keeps the site healthy. Grow and Scale add the annual website audit and then go after the phone ringing, and the rest of the difference is almost entirely Google Business Profile and reviews, because for a tradie that is where the local calls come from.
| Base $50/mo | Grow $100/mo | Scale $250/mo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website backup | Weekly | Daily | Daily |
| Secure Website Certificate | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website hosting | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Unlimited Content edits (48-hour turnaround) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uptime monitoring with alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Performance report | Quarterly | Monthly | Monthly |
| Annual website audit and best practice updates | No | Yes | Yes |
| Google Business Profile posts | No | 1 per month | 4 per month |
| Review monitoring and response prompts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Google Business Profile activity and ranking report | No | Monthly | Monthly |
| WhatsApp group for job photos, we write and publish the posts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Review requests sent by text, and we write the replies | No | No | Yes |
The WhatsApp group on Grow is the part tradies underrate. You photograph the job on site, send it to the group, and we write and publish the post. No writing, no logging in, no thinking about it on the drive home.
Scale is for tradies who want the review engine run for them: four profile posts a month, review requests going out by text after each job, and us drafting the replies.
Google Ads is never bundled into a monthly plan. It is a separate service with its own scope, because ad spend and management should never be blurred into a maintenance fee.
What Is Included (In Scope)
| You ask for | What we do | Typical turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| New mobile number, email, hours | Update the site. On Grow and Scale we check your Google Business Profile matches | Within 48 hours |
| Swap hero or gallery photo | Replace image, compress for mobile speed | Within 48 hours |
| New testimonial or review quote | Add to reviews block | Within 48 hours |
| Tweak service blurb or FAQ line | Update copy | Within 48 hours |
| "Site looks broken on my phone" | Investigate and fix | Urgent if down |
| Quiet month, no changes | Uptime checks running, nothing to do | Automatic |
Unlimited means reasonable tradie-sized requests, not a full rebrand every month. One email or text with what changed is enough. You do not need to log into anything, which is the whole point of paying someone to do it.
We run a health pass (site up, forms working, analytics firing, structured data still valid) before each performance report goes out. That is the same checklist we use after go-live, adapted for ongoing clients.
What Is Not Included (Out of Scope)
These are quoted separately so the monthly plans stay honest and sustainable:
- New pages (extra service page, suburb page, campaign landing page), on every tier including Scale
- New sections or layout changes (colour rebrand, moving the whole homepage around)
- Blog posts or content marketing beyond small copy edits
- New integrations (booking systems, payments, extra CRM wiring)
- Full site rebuild or migration from another platform
- Google Ads management, which is a separate service, never part of a monthly plan
- Your own login to edit the site. By default we do the edits and you do not get a CMS login. If you want to edit it yourself, that is a one-off setup add-on, priced on our pricing page
Rule of thumb: if it is editing what exists, it is in. If it is building something new, it is a one-off quote.
How Does It Compare to Your Other Options?
| Approach | Monthly cost | Your time | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do nothing | $0 to us | Zero until something breaks | Rarely wise if you depend on your website for work |
| DIY hosting and self-edits | ~$0 to $30 hosting | You update it yourself | You enjoy admin and have the time |
| M4T Base | $50 | Near zero for routine updates | You want one message and it is done |
| M4T Grow | $100 | A photo from site now and then | You want the profile worked, not just the site kept alive |
| M4T Scale | $250 | Almost none | You want reviews chased and answered for you |
| Freelancer on retainer | $150 to $500+ | Medium (chasing, briefing) | You already trust one person |
| Agency SEO retainer | $400 to $2,500+ | Low | Big marketing budget, not most sole tradies |
The number is not the test. The test is whether you can say out loud what arrives each month. If you cannot get a straight list of deliverables out of whoever is billing you, the price is not the problem, the vagueness is. Everything on our three plans is in the table above, and you can read the whole thing in ten seconds. The first two rows are what the wider market does; a site we build goes live on one of our three plans.
A single extra $400 job a year from a site that stays fast and trustworthy covers Base for a year. The real cost of doing it yourself is often weekend hours and missed calls when mobile speed slips or your old number is still on page two.
Compare build-vs-ongoing totals in the tradie website cost guide. Compare lead platforms in is hipages worth it: $50 a month owned vs $200 to $600 a month rented leads.
Which Monthly Plan Should You Be On?
Every site we build goes live on a plan, so the question is which tier, not whether. Base is the default and it is where most tradies stay.
Base is enough if:
- Your site is a stable single page or close to it
- Your phone number, services, or photos change a few times a year
- You will not log in to update the site and want one inbox for changes
Grow or Scale earns its keep if:
- You rely on Google search or Maps for most of your work
- You want your Google Business Profile actually worked rather than sitting there
- You want review requests going out and replies written for you (that is Scale)
One thing worth being straight about: a plan does not come with your own CMS login. By default a new build ships without one, because the plan's value is us making the changes. Self-edit access is a separate one-off setup fee, and it sits alongside your plan rather than replacing it.
Going out on your own? Pair the plan with a proper launch plan in first customers when going solo. Established and referral-heavy? See when word of mouth is not enough before you treat "set and forget" as forever.
Action: If you are unsure, book a call and we will say straight which tier fits your trade and suburbs.
How Do You Request a Change?
- Email or message the intake address we give you at onboarding
- Say what to change ("new number 04xx", "swap hero to this photo", "add this review")
- We confirm if it is in-scope, ship within 48 hours, and reply when it is live
For emergencies (site down), say so in the subject line. Uptime monitoring usually alerts us first.
Builds and monthly plans, what it costs
- Core Multi-Page$1,999
core site, About, Reviews, Contact + a page per service
- Max Multi-Page$2,999
everything in Core + 10 local suburb pages
- Pro Multi-Page$6,498
everything in Max + 10 more suburb pages, GBP optimisation and 30 directory listings
Maintenance: from $50/month after your build.
A 20-minute call and a plan for more leads. No sales pitch.
Build once. Pay monthly only if you want to. A new build currently includes three months of managed service free (Winter Special, to 31 Aug 2026). Check pricing for what is running when you read this. Not sure which tier fits? Book a call and we will recommend Base, Grow, Scale, or none of them, based on how often your details change and how much you rely on local search.
Want a Straight Answer for Your Site?
- Book a call: we will tell you which plan makes sense, or if you should self-manage.
- Free website audit: if you already have a site elsewhere, we will flag what is costing calls before you sign any retainer.
- Free Google listing audit: your listing and site should match. We work the profile monthly on Grow and Scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Made 4 Tradies $50 a month plan include?
Base at $50 a month covers unlimited in-scope text and photo updates within a 48-hour turnaround, uptime monitoring with alerts, website hosting, a secure website certificate, weekly backups, DNS, form spam protection, security updates, and a quarterly performance report. The annual website audit against current best practice starts on Grow, as does Google Business Profile work, and new pages or redesigns are quoted separately on every tier.
What is the difference between Base, Grow and Scale?
Base ($50) keeps the website healthy. Grow ($100) adds the annual website audit, a monthly performance report, daily backups, one Google Business Profile post a month, review monitoring with response prompts, a monthly profile activity and ranking report, and a WhatsApp group where you send job photos and we write and publish the posts. Scale ($250) steps that up to four posts a month and review requests sent by text with us writing the replies.
Is a monthly plan mandatory after a build?
Yes. Every new build comes with a monthly plan, and Base is the entry point. The website itself is still yours to own, and the plan is what keeps it hosted, monitored, backed up and updated once it is live. Step up to Grow or Scale when you want the Google Business Profile work on top.
How fast are content updates?
In-scope text and photo changes are handled within 48 hours of a clear request, on every tier. Site-down issues are treated as urgent and the uptime monitor usually tells us first.
Can I cancel?
The plan runs with the site rather than as a cancel-anytime subscription. Notice periods and any initial term are set out in your service agreement, so talk to us if your circumstances change and we will work it out. You keep your domain and website either way.
Can I edit the website myself instead?
Only if you buy self-edit access, which is a one-off setup fee listed on our pricing page. New builds do not ship with a CMS login by default, because the point of a monthly plan is that we make the changes for you. It is a real option, just not a free one.
Is a monthly plan the same as SEO?
No. Base keeps the site healthy. Grow and Scale work your Google Business Profile and reviews, which is the part of local search that moves the phone for most trades. Ranking growth still depends on reviews, service and suburb pages, and time. See how long SEO takes for tradies.
Do I get a report?
Yes. Base gets a quarterly performance report covering traffic, searches, form enquiries and uptime. Grow and Scale get that report monthly, plus a monthly Google Business Profile activity and ranking report.
References:
Published by Made 4 Tradies. Built by online experts who understand tradies. Serving Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle, and the Hunter.
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