Trade Business Websites: A Study of 1,097 Directory Listings in Germany (2026)
In July 2026 we reviewed 1,097 Yellow Pages listings for trade businesses (roofers, electricians, painters, joiners, and heating/plumbing firms) across eight towns in Germany's Märkischer Kreis. 38% had no website listed. Of the sites we tested, 78% loaded slower on mobile than Google's recommended speed. All the numbers from that study are on this page. The method is at the bottom.
Key findings
1,097
directory listings reviewed across 8 towns in the Märkischer Kreis (roofers, electricians, painters, joiners, heating/plumbing)
38%
had no website listed in the directory
78%
of the websites we tested loaded their main element on mobile slower than Google's recommended 2.5 seconds
5.9s
median time to show the main element on mobile (LCP)
23%
of the websites we tested still ran without HTTPS encryption, triggering a browser "Not secure" warning
69
median PageSpeed performance score out of 100 (half of the sites scored below 70)
Of the 1,097 listings, 675 carried a website link (337 distinct sites) and 422 did not. Among the sites that existed, we tested a random sample of 120 with Google's official PageSpeed Insights (mobile measurement); 99 produced a usable result, the rest were unreachable or returned no result during testing.
What a website is actually worth, by the numbers
Two example calculations; the assumptions are stated, so check them.
- Roofing business: assumed average job value €2,000, assumed margin 15% = €300 per job. A €4,000 website plus €99 a month in hosting and care (our prices, excl. VAT) costs €5,188 in year one. Break-even is roughly 17 extra jobs in year one: one or two a month. From year two, the threshold drops to about 4 jobs a year.
- Painting business: assumed average job value €1,200, assumed margin 20% = €240 per job. A €4,000 website plus €99 a month in hosting and care (our prices, excl. VAT) costs €5,188 in year one. Break-even is roughly 22 extra jobs in year one, dropping to about 5 a year from year two, about one a quarter.
Run the same logic for your own business: annual website cost divided by the profit per job (job value times margin). If the required number of jobs sounds unrealistic, a website builder may be the better fit for now: our guide Website builder or agency? covers when a builder plan (list prices around €10 to €40 a month, as of July 2026) is actually the right call.
Methodology, for verification
Data collected July 2026: 1,097 industry listings (Yellow Pages) for roofers, electricians, painters, joiners, and heating/plumbing (SHK) firms in Iserlohn, Lüdenscheid, Menden, Hemer, Plettenberg, Altena, Werdohl, and Meinerzhagen. Of these, 675 had a website, 422 did not. Performance sample: 120 randomly selected websites, tested with Google PageSpeed Insights (mobile measurement); 99 produced usable results, the rest were unreachable during testing or returned no result. Both example calculations above are models: plug in your own numbers. Counts are listings, not deduplicated firms; a firm listed under two trades or towns counts twice. Five of the 40 trade-town searches returned more than one results page and only the first 50 entries were counted. Each site was measured once (lab data, 16 July 2026).
Google's recommended threshold of 2.5 seconds for the main element to load (Largest Contentful Paint, LCP) is documented here: web.dev: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
Each table adds up to the same 1,097 listings. Counts only, no business names. Source: public listings on gelbeseiten.de, collected 16 July 2026.
Listings by trade
| Trade | Listings | With website | Without website (share) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roofers | 175 | 104 | 71 (41%) |
| Electricians | 258 | 181 | 77 (30%) |
| Painters | 238 | 104 | 134 (56%) |
| Joiners | 154 | 102 | 52 (34%) |
| Heating and plumbing (SHK) | 272 | 184 | 88 (32%) |
| Total | 1,097 | 675 | 422 (38%) |
Listings by town
| Town | Listings | With website | Without website (share) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iserlohn | 220 | 130 | 90 (41%) |
| Lüdenscheid | 156 | 103 | 53 (34%) |
| Menden | 163 | 97 | 66 (40%) |
| Hemer | 207 | 119 | 88 (43%) |
| Plettenberg | 68 | 40 | 28 (41%) |
| Altena | 115 | 75 | 40 (35%) |
| Werdohl | 94 | 60 | 34 (36%) |
| Meinerzhagen | 74 | 51 | 23 (31%) |
| Total | 1,097 | 675 | 422 (38%) |
Five searches were capped at the first 50 results (electricians, painters and heating/plumbing in Iserlohn; electricians and heating/plumbing in Hemer). The Iserlohn and Hemer rows and the electrician, painter and heating/plumbing totals are therefore minimums.
Read the full guides
The builder-versus-agency comparison behind the example calculations is in our guide Website builder or agency? What actually pays off for trade businesses.
For the wider market picture (website builders, freelancers, and agencies across Ireland and Germany) see What does a website cost?.
See how your own site compares
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