A homeowner is planning a side return extension. They find a builder's website with a gallery of forty photos. Some look like kitchens, some like loft conversions, but there are no descriptions. They cannot tell whether the builder has done a side return before, how long it took or roughly what it cost. They move on to a builder whose site shows three similar projects with short notes on each.
Portfolio pages are one of the most important parts of a builder's website. Many fail to do their job.
What homeowners are looking for
Homeowners want reassurance that a builder can do their kind of project well. They look for:
- Projects similar in type and size to theirs
- A description of what was involved
- How long it took
- Any problems that came up and how they were solved
- A rough indication of cost, or at least scale
- What the client thought
A gallery of photos without context answers none of this.
Turning photos into case notes
For each featured project, add a few lines: the brief, the work done, the timescale, a challenge solved and a short client comment if you have permission. Three well-described projects are more persuasive than forty unlabelled photos.
Agencies face the same issue, as covered in portfolio pages that should be answering questions.
Cost and scale
Homeowners often want to know whether a project like theirs is in their budget. A rough cost range on each case note, or at least an indication of scale, helps. The broader approach to budget questions is covered in budget questions homeowners ask builders first.
References and reviews
Some homeowners want to speak to a past client. Offering references, where clients agree, is a strong signal of confidence. Linking to genuine reviews helps too.
Answering portfolio questions
Homeowners often have follow-up questions: "Have you done one with a flat roof?" "How long did the one in Oakfield take?" SpideyChat for contractors and builders can answer these from your own project pages and capture the homeowner's project details for you to follow up.
Homeowner: Have you done side return extensions before? Assistant: Yes, the projects page includes several side return extensions, including one in Oakfield that took around twelve weeks on site. If you'd like to discuss yours, could you share the location, roughly when you'd like to start and whether you have plans yet?
Before and after photos
The most persuasive portfolio images show the same space before and after. Homeowners can picture their own home transformed. Take a few photos at the start of every project, from angles you can repeat at the end. Over a year, this builds a collection of comparisons that sells your work far better than finished shots alone.
Portfolio as qualification
A clear portfolio also helps homeowners self-select. If your projects are mostly large extensions, homeowners wanting a small repair will look elsewhere, saving time on both sides.
Keeping it current
Add new projects regularly and remove ones that no longer represent your work. Outdated portfolios are among the common mistakes covered in contractor website mistakes that lose projects.
Questions to ask yourself
When choosing any tool to help with enquiries, it is worth asking the right questions first, as covered in questions to ask before buying an AI receptionist.
Getting started
Pick your best recent projects, write short case notes for each and let homeowners ask questions about them at any hour. See the options on the features page, or try SpideyChat on your own site.