Four ways to put a removal business online
A managed plan, a builder subscription, a one-off agency build, or nothing but a social page. Each one genuinely suits somebody. Here are the trade-offs, with the downsides of our own plan left in.
Side by side
| Way to do it | Upfront | Ongoing | Your hours | Built for moving work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This plan | A$499 | A$249 a month | Content, then messages | Yes, in the build |
| Website builder | Low | Subscription and add-ons | Heavy | Only what you wire up |
| Agency build | High | Hosting, plus paid changes | Briefing and reviews | As good as your brief |
| Social page only | None | None, or ad spend | Posting and replying | No |
Builder and agency prices swing too widely to quote fairly, so they are described in general terms and no provider is named.
This managed plan
A site built around the way removal work is quoted, then hosted and kept current for one monthly fee. A$249 a month, A$499 setup, GST may apply.
What it gives you
- The move-size form, the suburb pages and the insurance page are part of the build, not extras you have to think of
- Up to 5 changes a month, so a winter rate rise takes a text message
- Hosting, the SSL certificate and security patching are handled off your desk
- A known number each month after the setup fee, with nothing else appearing on the invoice
What it costs you
- A 12-month minimum term, which puts A$3,487 on the table in year one
- The content is on you: the facts, the photos, the rates
- If you leave, the design and code stay with us, though the domain and your content go with you
- Logo work and paid advertising sit outside it
Right for: Removal businesses that want the site working properly without anyone in the yard maintaining it.
Build it yourself on a website builder
A drag-and-drop platform on a monthly subscription. The design, the words, the form and the upkeep are all yours.
What it gives you
- Cheap to start, and you can be looking at something the same night
- Any change you make is live the second you hit publish
- Plenty of ready-made layouts to work from
What it costs you
- It is paid for in evenings: pages, a working form and a layout that behaves on a phone all take real hours
- Templates are written for nobody in particular, so a form that asks bedrooms, stairs and heavy items means wiring the fields yourself
- Paid add-ons for forms or bookings climb on top of the subscription
- Sites built this way tend to stay stuck on that platform if you ever want to move
Right for: Owners who enjoy the tinkering, have the hours spare, and will genuinely keep rates and suburbs up to date.
A one-off build from a designer or agency
Someone builds the site for a project fee and hands you the keys, after which running it is your problem.
What it gives you
- A design of your own, if the budget stretches that far
- You usually end up owning the files
- A good agency arrives knowing what tends to work
What it costs you
- The biggest cost lands before the site has taken a single enquiry
- Hosting, security and changes are commonly billed on the side once it is live
- Sites go quietly stale when every new suburb or rate costs another invoice
- Results swing wildly, and anything specific to removal work depends on how sharp your brief was
Right for: Bigger removal companies with budget to spend and somebody in the office to look after the thing afterwards.
Five questions worth putting to any of them
Which way you go matters less than what the finished site does on a Saturday morning. Put these five to a builder template, an agency quote, or to us, and compare the answers you get back.
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Can somebody get a price out of it without ringing you?
Moves get compared late at night and between jobs. If a phone call is the only way in, the mover with a form is the easy one to ask first.
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Does the form ask about the job, or just for a name?
Bedrooms, stairs, heavy items, packing and dates are what a price is built from. A form that skips them has only booked you a second conversation.
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Is there a page for each suburb and run you actually work?
A single line promising every area gives somebody in one suburb nothing that confirms your trucks come that way.
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Can a customer see how the goods are covered before they book?
Consumer agencies tell people to ask for a copy of the Certificate of Currency2 and to check AFRA membership1 before they book, so the answer belongs on your site rather than in a phone call.
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Who changes the rates, and what does each change cost?
A site that bills you every time the hourly rate moves is a site that ends up showing last year prices.
What decides whether any of it brings work in
Whichever way you go, people look for a mover on Google, and Google sorts local results on relevance3, distance3 and prominence3. A page per move type and per suburb is what gives relevance something to grip. So does a site that behaves on a phone, since Google works from the mobile version4 of a site when it indexes and ranks.
The other road is advertising. Advertisers are paying $11-$165 for one click on "removalists", so a click that lands on a page with no way to send the move details is an expensive way to lose somebody. Ads are not part of this plan, but if you run them, the site is where that money ends up.
Our guide on running on a Facebook page digs into the social-only route, and what a removalist website costs works through the figures.
When this plan is the wrong call
- You want your hands on every page whenever the mood takes you. A builder subscription suits that better.
- You need something well beyond a removalist site, with features built to order. Brief an agency properly.
- You are not confident the business will still be running in 12 months. Stay on a social page and come back when the work is steady.
- You want somebody to write your business from scratch or run your ads. Neither of those is in here.
If one of those is you, we say so on the call instead of taking the sign-up.
Not sure which of the four suits your yard?
Book a 20-minute call and ask. If a builder subscription or a social page is the smarter move for where your business is right now, we will say so. We build websites, we are not a removal business, and we have no interest in signing up somebody the plan cannot help.
A$249 a month, A$499 setup, GST may apply. The price in full
We build and look after websites. We are not a removal business, and nothing we write for you is advice about moving, lifting or insurance cover.
No website, just Facebook or Instagram
A business page, marketplace listings and whatever the local community groups send your way.
What it gives you
What it costs you
Right for: Brand new operators testing whether the work is there, so long as a proper site follows once it is.