Who Owns Your Tradie Website? Check This Before You Sign

Short answer: not always you. Plenty of web designers build your site, host it on their own account, and keep the ownership in the fine print. If you stop paying or want to leave, you can walk away with nothing. Before you sign anything, find out who owns the site, who controls the domain, and what it costs to leave.

If you've ever been quoted a "$0 upfront" website, read this first.

How tradies end up locked in

It usually starts with a good-sounding offer. Low or no upfront cost, a site built fast, a monthly fee that looks small. Then the paperwork shows up, and somewhere in it is a 12, 24 or 36 month contract.

The site isn't really yours in that setup. You're renting it. Stop paying, and the site goes offline. Try to leave early, and there's an exit fee. Ask for your files, and you're told they can't be handed over.

That model works well for the provider and badly for you. It's not illegal, it's just not something most tradies notice until they're already in it.

The three things you need to own

1. The domain name

Your domain (yourbusiness.com.au) is your address on the internet. It should be registered in your name, with your email on the account. If the designer registered it under their own name, they control it, and you'd have to ask permission to move it.

2. The website itself

The design, the pages, the text, the photos. You should be able to take a copy of the site if you leave. Some providers build on a locked platform that can't be exported at all, which means starting from scratch if you ever switch.

3. Your Google and analytics accounts

Your Google Business Profile and analytics should be under your login, not the designer's. If they set it up under their account, you can lose your reviews and history when the relationship ends.

If any of those three sit with someone else, you don't fully own your online presence.

Questions to ask before you sign

Ask these out loud, and get the answers in writing:

• Is the domain registered in my name?
• If I leave, can I take the website with me? In what format?
• What's the minimum contract length, and what does it cost to cancel early?
• What's the monthly fee actually for, and what happens to the site if I stop paying it?
• Who owns the photos, text and logo you create for me?
• Is there a fixed price, or can it change partway through?

A straight provider answers these in about a minute. If you get vague answers, or "we'll sort that out later," treat that as your answer.

Red flags

• A long minimum term with an exit fee
• "Free" or near-free websites paired with a mandatory monthly plan
• The domain registered under the provider's name
• No way to export or hand over the site
• Pressure to sign today
• Nobody you can actually call or meet, just a ticket system or an overseas call centre

None of these automatically make a provider dishonest. Together, they describe a business model that depends on you staying put because leaving is too hard.

What a fair setup looks like

Not complicated. You pay a fixed price for the build. The domain is in your name. The site is yours outright, and you can take it elsewhere whenever you like. Any ongoing service, like maintenance, is optional, month to month, and you can stop whenever you want. If you want to see what that should cost, here's what a website should actually cost a tradie.

That's how Made by Max works: no lock-in contracts, the client owns the site outright, and it's live in around 15 days. You deal with Max directly, not an agency or an offshore team. Every package and price is on the pricing page, and if time is the worry, see how little a website actually takes.

What to do if you're already locked in

Don't panic. Start by finding your contract and reading three things: the term, the exit clause, and what it says about ownership. Then ask the provider in writing what it would take to leave and what you'd receive on exit. If the answer is unclear or unreasonable, it's worth getting advice before you pay anything. Consumer rights vary, so if real money is involved, a quick chat with a lawyer or a free small business advisory service is cheap insurance.

Either way, the next time you need a website, check ownership first and price second.