Website copywriting example for a house builder
This website copywriting example for a home builder is about trust and educating clients so they can compare apples with apples.
People don’t trust builders. And it’s not hard to see why. According to our copywriters’ research, it’s not uncommon to have had a bad experience with builders. Builders don’t answer calls, they ask for more money, their results are different from what they had promised.
Or worse, builders disappear before the job is complete.
Paul Metlege, the builder behind Renovate8, is none of those things. But he struggled to escape the poor reputation that dogs the construction industry.
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The job of a builder’s website copywriting
When Paul approached our Sydney website copywriters, he wasn’t looking for a website to convince prospects to choose him, not right away. That would be unrealistic given that most prospects will approach at least two or three builders to quote for a project.
Instead, Paul needed a website that would build trust with his prospects. Enough trust to ensure Renovate8 would get in the room with the client so it could be included in the quoting process.
The typical reader of a builder’s website
Most of Renovate8’s prospects have only worked with builders a couple of times in their lives. So they aren’t experts in sorting the wheat from the chaff when it comes to builders. As a result, many of them have ended up regretting the choice they made. Or if they haven’t regretted their own choice, they know someone who has.
The case for subtly educating a website reader
Our copywriters decided on an underlying technique of educating the reader.
The potential customer reading Renovate8’s website won’t necessarily realise they’re being “educated”. Nonetheless, they will leave the site skilled up with some excellent questions to ask other builders. The answers to these questions will help them eliminate some builders while moving Renovate8 to the top of the list.
1. A headline that tells readers who the builder is (and tells Google where they are)
The headline explains to readers what Renovate8 does and where they do it in Sydney.
These details are important:
- Because the job of any website is to build confident in the reader that they’re in the right place — because uncertain readers don’t buy. (See our list of 7 things anyone can do to increase their conversion rate, which includes a clear positioning statement.)
- For SEO copywriting purposes. The locations mentioned in the web copy example tend to be have home owners who can afford to invest in quality homes and renovations. (Later, the web copy lets prospects know that Renovate8 is experienced with building and renovating homes in those areas, all of which have their own challenges for building.)
Renovate8 is a family-run builder with expertise in building and renovating in Sydney’s inner west, eastern suburbs and northern beaches, where sites can be challenging and getting the best results requires experience.
This web copy is an example of subtle problem agitation. Many of the homes in the inner west, eastern suburbs and northern beaches of Sydney are built closely together. This is illustrated in the picture above.
Renovation projects that involve tightly packed homes can be challenging for builders, particularly in accessing tight blocks of land and sequencing projects (so you’re not digging the pool at the back after you’ve closed off the front of the house with no side access).
2. Research backed copywriting
We will spend as much time with you as necessary to make sure you get the result you’re looking for.
This sentence may look like a throwaway remark. But it was actually painstakingly crafted based on our copywriters’ research findings.
We understood from our research that trust in the construction industry is low. Builders are known to try to save costs by rushing through projects. Other builders are notorious for agreed to whatever home design the owner wants, regardless of whether or not it’s based on bad ideas.
Builders who cut costs or who say yes without trying to give advice contribute to cost and regret down the line for the home owner.
Our web copy presents Renovate8 as being different from this sort of builder. Instead, Paul will take the time to have a conversation with the client. He will explain to homeowners the restrictions and challenges that came with each project. And he will try to find ways around those challenges in order to achieve what the clients want.
And we’re careful about planning how we will get there – sites in the inner west, the eastern suburbs and the northern beaches often require creative planning because of tight access, boundary concerns or other restrictions.
This web copy is another great example that reinforces our client’s experience and expertise in building homes for those locations.
3. Call to action
Our copywriters like to include a call to action on each of our clients’ website homepages. That’s because not all traffic come from Google or other search engines. Some prospects arrive at a website via word-of-mouth referrals. These prospects already have a project in mind; they simply want to know if this builder can meet their needs.
Having a call to action on the homepage saves prospects the trouble of navigating the rest of the site. Instead, prospects have the option of taking action immediately. And why make it harder than it needs to be for a prospect to take action?
4. Copywriting based on research
At first glance, this web copy looks like a list of features offered by a typical construction company. But this list of features was actually created to address issues that really matter to prospects. We discovered these concerns through our copywriting research process on our copywriters’ research and conversations with both Paul and his clients.
Our workplace is often your home and we treat it as such. On larger projects we employ a fulltime labourer to keep things tidy.
For example, most people might not think that prospects care about having a tidy building site. After all, building sites are often messy. But in reality, renovations are often done while homeowners still live in the home. And even if they’re not or it’s a new build, it turns out that it matters to prospects very much that their building sites are kept neat and tidy.
At the time this website was written, keeping a tidy site was not a commonly mentioned feature on builders’ websites. It is possible that builders consider a neat site par for the course, so it’s not worth a mention. Alternatively, they don’t keep a tidy site and don’t realise that matters to their prospects.
5. Copywriting that educates
This website’s copy does more than persuade. It educates.
When it comes to writing a builder’s website, it’s unrealistic to expect prospects to be converted right away. Most prospects will speak to several builders to get different quotes on their projects before deciding who to hire.
That’s understandable, but the problem is that prospects don’t know how to compare apples with apples. This is a problem for Renovate8 because they play straight and could lose a client to a builder who seems to offer a better deal, but only because all will not be as it seems.
However, Australia doesn’t warm to websites that go low — “Our competitors are shonky”. Therefore the trick is to plant a seed in the reader.
So the purpose of this site was to gently educate readers on what to ask builders to make sure they’re comparing apples with apples.
For example, some builders don’t keep separate accounts for different client projects. This explains a lot of behaviour people complain about. Builders are using advances on one project to pay for suppliers for another project. Juggling the finances causes delays and problems the builder is unwilling to explain.
Our client, on the other hand, maintains separate accounts for different projects, so we said so.
Every job has its own bank account and credit card. Your job will not be held up or involve extra costs because of what’s happening on another site.
We’re presenting a benefit of our client while at the same time suggesting, you might want to ask the other budilers you’re talking to about how they handle project finances.
6. Example of SEO copywriting
As mentioned before, listing the suburbs Renovate8 is a great way to improve the website’s copywriting SEO.
builder website copywriting proof
7. Social proof on a website
The builder’s website offers pictures and information about past renovation projects completed by the company. Nothing says you can do the next job better than evidence that you nailed the last job.
8. Website case study
The website offers a description of Renovate8’s past projects and the ways in which the team enhanced their clients’ homes.
When our copywriters wrote this website, there weren’t many builders’ sites that presented pictures that could be seen to be actual projects of the builder, not stock images. That’s not to say the other builders were misleading anyone, only that there was no verification. Offering details in the copywriting creates confidence.
9. Website copywriting that adds context
Throughout the website, our copywriters continues to build upon the builder’s knowledge and expertise. Here, the web copy adds context to the case study by detailing the challenges faced by the team. This offers further proof that this is a builder who will solve their clients’ problems and produce excellent results.
10. Demonstrating authority with website copywriting
Our background is in managing building projects of up to 250 apartments.
This is an example of website copywriting that builds authority, one of the six principles of influence. Renovate8 had previously managed a project that involve 250 apartments. So prospects could trust them to do a good job building a single home.
11. Copywriting that addresses client objections
Today we build individual homes and apartments but we bring the same controls and standards of management to every project.
Every building project is unique but a standard process for engaging us as your builders would be:
According to our copywriting research, builders tend to be viewed as unreliable and unprofessional.
This web copy example addresses those concerns by explaining this builder’s process. The same building process that oversaw the successful construction of 250 apartments. This detail goes a long way to reassuring prospects that Renovate8 is a professional and well-organised construction company.
12. Copywriting that educates
Our copywriters know that prospects are likely to approach several builders for a quote on a construction or renovation project. And that these prospects will most likely hire the builder that offers them the cheapest quote. However, homeowners are unaware that some builders practise cutting corners on the quality or amount of materials used in a renovation project. This allows them to offer a cheaper quote and increase the chances of them being hired.
Renovate8’s website doesn’t try to hide this information from its prospects. Instead, the web copy assures prospects that Renovate8 will work with them to find a cheaper alternative if necessary. Addressing this problem in their website helps to dispel concerns about Renovate8’s honesty and integrity. At the same time, prospects are being prompted to ask about such issues to other builders.
builder website About us copywriting
13. Social proof embedded in the About us page
When our copywriters wrote this website for a builder, we took a different approach from the standard builder websites. Unlike other builders’ websites, our copywriters included a real picture of Paul. Clients are able to put a face behind the person they’re speaking to. This helped to establish an early rapport between Paul and his clients.
Paul graduated from UNSW with a bachelors’ degree in civil engineering majoring in construction management.
It wasn’t common for builders to have a university degree. Many builders chose to enter the trade early as apprentices. However, the website copy thus far has been built around Paul’s professionalism and credibility. So having a degree in construction management complemented his brand message perfectly.
The son of a builder, Paul started his career after university as a project manager for the RTA, where he was responsible for major civil works.
He moved into the private sector, working for McDonald’s as a project manager.
Before starting his own business, he worked for a developer as project manager on a complex of 250 apartments.
Where some prospects will favour a “professional” builder, other clients will prefer to work with builders who began early with a trade. These clients will be reassured to learn that Paul is the son of the builder. That’s one reason the website copy highlights the fact that Paul comes from a family of builders.
Paul also has a long and extensive building experience. He began his career carrying out major civil works for the RTA. Later, Paul was employed as a project manager at McDonalds. After that, he was put in charge of a development project involving 250 apartments.
Our copywriters shines the spotlight on Paul’s construction experience in the public sector, large multinational corporations and major building projects. By doing so, our copywriters prove time and time again that Paul is more than capable of building custom-made homes.
It has had other names, including Kingston Homes, as we experimented with branding and business models but it has always operated under the same ABN.
This website copy offers more evidence that this isn’t a cowboy’s website. The company has operated under the same ABN for 20 years in an industry notorious for builders going bust only to re-emerge later with a new logo.
We build on this continuity by mentioning that clients they’ve worked with during these 20 years still contact them for work that needs to be done.
The results
Prospects have and always will get quotes from different builders before they choose the right one for them. Feedback from the client is that this website has proven to be powerful at getting the builder into the quoting stage.
The website has also boosted their visibility to architects, another important market for the builder.
“Having no idea of where to even start, or of what I was comparing other prices to, I have come through the other end of developing a website with Taleist that was a real eye opener to how much more a professionally developed, researched and planned team can deliver results – that we are still getting benefits from today. Looking forward to work with the team at Taleist again soon when re-vamping the website and sale strategy.”
- Paul Metlage, Renovate8
Build your business on trust
Generating trust with your clients means having honest answers to their questions. That starts with educating clients on the questions they should be asking to make an informed decision. If you’re looking for a website that puts you ahead of the competition, talk to us.