I’m Kayla. I test tools for a living, but I also help small trades crews get online. This spring, I built three real roofing sites, each with a different website builder. Storm season hit hard where I live, so the phones needed to ring. Fast.
If you’d like the play-by-play breakdown (screenshots, timelines, and all), I put together a separate, nerd-level recap of the project in my full roofing case study.
I used:
- Wix (with a roofing template)
- WordPress + Elementor (on SiteGround)
- Squarespace (Bergen-style layout)
For anyone curious about how other builders stack up, you can check the full rankings over at Website Builder Awards. Contractors who want an even deeper comparison of page-building platforms can skim the ultimate guide to website page builders for construction companies—it’s packed with pros, cons, and screenshots.
Three crews. Three sites. Three very long weeks. Here’s the story, with the good, the bad, and a few “well, that broke” notes.
Why I Needed a Roofing Website Builder
Roofers don’t have time for tech. They want calls, not clicks. That means:
- Big “Call Now” button on mobile
- A fast quote form that goes somewhere useful
- Photos that load quick
- Storm-damage info up top
- Reviews that show trust
Seems simple, right? Kind of. But tiny choices matter. One extra tap, and a lead bounces. One slow page, and the call goes to a competitor.
Site 1: Wix For Red Oak Roofing (Tulsa, OK)
I started with Wix. I used a Home Repair template and tweaked it for Red Oak Roofing, a three-person crew in Tulsa.
What I built, step by step:
- I set a sticky “Call Now” button on mobile. One tap, straight to dial.
- I made a “Free Roof Check” form with Wix Forms. It fed into a Google Sheet. I added email alerts for fast follow-up.
- I used Wix SEO tools to fill title tags like “Hail Damage Roof Repair Tulsa.”
- I pulled in Google Reviews with a reviews widget. Stars near the top gave us trust right away.
- I added a gallery with before/after shots. Clean and simple.
Real-world result:
- First week: 18 form leads, 31 calls during hail week.
- A homeowner said, “I liked the photos and the call button.” That’s the whole ballgame.
What I liked:
- Fast to build. I finished the first draft in about six hours.
- The editor felt friendly. Drag, drop, done.
- The mobile view was easy to adjust.
What bugged me:
- Image compression was just okay. I had to resize photos before upload to keep pages fast.
- The blog felt basic. It works, but it’s not my favorite for SEO-heavy content.
- Custom bits (like a before/after slider with a handle) needed third-party apps.
Who Wix fits:
- Small crews who want speed, calls, and a clean look.
- Folks who don’t want to fiddle with hosting.
Site 2: WordPress + Elementor For Prairie Peak Roofing (Wichita, KS)
This one was for an owner-operator who wanted “more leads from Google.” So I used WordPress with Elementor, hosted on SiteGround.
What I built:
- Theme: Astra. Builder: Elementor. Plugins: WPForms, Rank Math, Smush, and a before/after slider (Twenty20).
- I wrote service pages like “Roof Replacement Wichita” and “Hail Damage Repair Wichita.”
- I added local schema with Rank Math and a simple FAQ section for “Do you work with insurance?” and “How fast can you tarp?”
- I set a sticky mobile call button and a Zap that sent form leads into JobNimbus.
Real-world result:
- After two weeks, we saw better rankings for “hail roof repair near me.” He got three jobs from those pages in month one.
- Speed on mobile held up after I optimized images and turned on caching. Site felt snappy.
What I liked:
- Total control. I could shape every block.
- SEO tools were deeper. Titles, schema, redirects—no sweat.
- Before/after slider looked sharp and loaded fine.
What bugged me:
- Setup takes time. Hosting, SSL, backups—lots of steps.
- An update broke a header layout. I fixed it, but it was a tense hour.
- You need to babysit plugins. Not hard, but it’s upkeep.
WordPress also let me reuse a bunch of tricks I learned when I rebuilt a home-builder website from the ground up. Same platform, different trade, similar wins.
Who WordPress fits:
- Crews who want to rank in nearby cities and run real content.
- Anyone who’s okay with a bit of maintenance or hiring help.
Site 3: Squarespace For Blue Ridge Roofing (Asheville, NC)
They wanted a modern look, lots of pretty roof shots, and clear pricing ranges. I used Squarespace with a clean template.
What I built:
- A bold header with “Emergency Tarping Today” on the announcement bar.
- A Services grid with simple prices like “Asphalt Shingle Repair: from $199.”
- A gallery by roof type: metal, shingle, cedar.
- A “Get a Fast Quote” form that emailed the office and posted to a Google Sheet.
Real-world result:
- They loved the look. The site looked pro with very little fuss.
- Calls were steady, but not as strong as the Wix site during storms.
What I liked:
- Clean design with less effort. Photos looked great right away.
- Editing felt calm. You won’t get lost.
What bugged me:
- I couldn’t add a true sticky call button on mobile without code. I hacked one with code injection, but it wasn’t perfect.
- SEO controls were there, but more limited.
- Fewer roofing-specific widgets.
If you need inspiration for other trades that go heavy on visuals, check out the roundup of the best home-builder websites I actually use—many of those design cues translate straight to Squarespace.
Who Squarespace fits:
- Brand-focused roofers who care about visuals.
- Teams who want a site they can update without fear.
The Small Details That Moved The Needle
Across all three builds, these things mattered most:
- A giant phone button on mobile (not hidden in the menu)
- A short form (name, phone, address, drop-down for “storm damage”)
- A clear service area map and city list
- Real photos and at least one before/after slider
- Reviews near the top, not buried
- Simple copy: what you do, how fast you show up, and who calls you back
I often tell crews that writing punchy, action-driven copy is a lot like sending a confident text—you keep it short, vivid, and focused on the next move. If you’ve never studied that kind of micro-messaging, these real-world sexting examples break down exactly how to spark an immediate response with concise wording, and those same principles translate directly into sharper calls-to-action and headline copy for a roofing site.
Along the same lines, whenever I coach a crew on trimming fluff, I tell them to “skip the games”—ditch the extra clicks and drive visitors straight to the action. The principle is illustrated in the blunt, real-world breakdown at Skip the Games Harrison, and scanning that page shows how a stripped-down user journey can boost conversions in any industry.
I also added a “Do you work with insurance?” box on each site. People clicked it. A lot.
For more field-tested pointers beyond roofing—think framing crews and concrete guys—my crew liked the brutal honesty in this list of the best construction websites straight from a job trailer.
Speed And SEO, In Real Life Words
- Speed: WordPress (tuned) was fastest, Wix was good, Squarespace was fine but image-heavy at times.
- SEO basics: titles, headings, and real city pages helped all three. WordPress gave me the most control.
- Reviews and photos: huge trust boosters. Real faces beat stock people every time.
- Storm pages: a short “Hail Damage Today” page with a map and a phone button got traffic during hail week. It wasn’t fancy. It worked.
If speed is your jam and you wrench on more than just roofs, my notes from when I built two HVAC websites line up almost one-to-one with what you’re reading here. For another SEO-centric take on picking the right platform, the team at Roofing Webmasters breaks down popular website builders with a focus on ranking factors.
Stuff That Broke (Because It Always Does)
- WordPress: one plugin update messed up spacing on the hero section