Do it yourself or pay someone? An honest split for a one-van business

The short answer

Do the free jobs yourself: claim your Google Business Profile, set up a Facebook page, start asking for reviews and switch on two-step logins. Pay once for the things that are hard to do well: a decent logo and a simple website you own. Leave paid ads and TikTok alone until the basics bring calls in.

How we split it

If you run a one-van business, somebody is always trying to sell you something online, and nobody tells you which bits you could do yourself on a Sunday night.

So here is how we sort it. Everything goes into one of three piles.

• Free, and worth an evening: costs you time only, and you will be glad you did it.
• Worth paying for once: a one-off job that is hard to do well yourself and that you use for years.
• Not worth it yet: costs money every week or time every week, and only pays off once the first two piles are sorted.

We sell things in two of those piles, so we say plainly further down where we sit. The split holds whether you ever speak to us or not.

Free, and worth an evening

Start with your Google Business Profile. That is the listing with your name, your reviews and a call button that shows up when someone searches for a plumber near them, and on Google Maps. Google’s own help page says you can add or claim your business at no charge. If you work out of the van and go to customers rather than having a shop, Google’s guidelines say a service-area business should hide its address, so your home address stays off the map. Our guide to claiming your Google Business Profile takes you through it step by step.

Next, reviews. Google’s tips page says you can ask customers to leave a review by sending them a link or getting them to scan a QR code. Text the link to every happy customer the day you finish the job, while they are still pleased with you. Reply to the reviews you get, good and bad, because Google recommends it and because the next customer reads your replies too. One rule to know: Google says offering free or discounted work in exchange for reviews is strictly prohibited, so ask, never pay.

Then Facebook. Meta’s own page says setting up a business Page is simple and free. Put your trade, the towns you cover, your number and a few honest job photos on it. If you already use Instagram, its business help page shows how to switch an existing account to a professional account from the settings menu, which takes a couple of minutes.

Last, lock it all down. The NCSC (the government’s cyber security centre) calls two-step verification one of the most effective ways to protect your online accounts, and says setting it up only takes a few minutes. Turn it on for the email you use for work, your Google account and Facebook. A tradesperson locked out of their own Facebook page loses more than an evening getting it back.

None of this needs a laptop or a designer. A phone, an evening and a cup of tea will do.

Worth paying for, once

A logo is the first one. It goes on the van, the invoices, the Facebook page, the Google listing and the hi-vis. You can knock one together yourself in a free design app, and plenty of people do. Our view is that this is the one small spend that makes everything else look like a proper firm, because every customer sees it before they ring. It does not need to cost much. It needs to be simple, readable on the side of a van at thirty miles an hour, and yours.

While we are on names and logos: GOV.UK says registering a trade mark costs at least £205 and lasts 10 years. For most one-van businesses that is a question for later, once the name is settled and the work is steady. If you think someone might copy your name, ask someone qualified.

The second is a website. You can build one yourself on a website builder, and Google’s own guidance on search says that if you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the search work yourself. The building is where the evenings disappear: writing the words, sorting the photos, connecting the domain and getting it right on a phone. That is why we put it in the pay-once pile. You pay for it to be done properly, then it sits there working for you.

Two things matter more than who builds it. The domain should be registered in your name, so the site is yours. And if you trade as a limited company, GOV.UK says your website must show the company’s registered number, its registered office address, where it is registered and that it is a limited company. Whoever builds it should know that without being told. Our guide on what a website should cost a tradesperson has the questions to ask before you sign.

Not worth it yet

Paid ads first. Ads are not a waste of money. They are a waste of money when they send people to an empty Facebook page or a Google listing with two reviews. Meta’s own pricing overview says there is no one-size-fits-all answer to what ads cost, and advises setting a budget that runs for at least seven days. On a daily budget, it says it may spend up to 75% more than your daily figure on some days, averaging out across the week. That is fine when you know what you are doing. It is a slow leak when you do not.

Our rule: get the free pile done and the reviews coming in first. If the phone is still quiet after a few months of that, ads are worth a proper look.

TikTok next. It runs on video, and video every week. For a one-van firm on the tools all day, that is a lot of time for an uncertain return. When someone’s boiler packs in, our bet is that they search Google and ask round, rather than scrolling for a plumber. If you enjoy filming and you are good at it, go for it. Otherwise it can wait until everything else is ticking over.

Then monthly search retainers. Be wary of anyone selling a monthly search package to a sole trader with no website yet. Google’s own guidance says no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google, and that if someone promises you first place, you should find someone else. Get your listing and reviews right first. That is most of what local search comes down to for a small firm.

Where we sit in this

Honestly: we sell things in the first two piles.

Our Socials sorted package is £149, one-off. It does the free-pile jobs for you, including tidying up your logo or making a simple one if you have none, matching your Facebook and Instagram, and claiming and filling in your Google listing. Everything in it, apart from the logo, you can do yourself for nothing using the steps above. What you pay for is not having to.

Our website is £499 to build, hosted for the first year, then £199 a year for the hosting, your domain and small changes. The domain goes in your name.

Our Done for you package is £199 a month, three months to start, and we run your Facebook and Instagram from your job photos. It does not include paid ads, and if ads would make sense for you, we say so. VAT goes on the invoice for all three, and the full detail is on our packages page.

If you have the evenings and you like doing this sort of thing, do the first pile yourself and save the money. We would rather you did that well than paid us for something you did not need.

How to tell which pile you are in

Ask yourself two questions.

Is the phone busy? If word of mouth fills your diary, the free pile is probably all you need for now. Keep the reviews coming and leave it there.

Is it quiet, or are you getting the wrong jobs? Then you need people who do not know you yet to find you and trust you. That is when the logo and the website earn their money, because they are what a stranger checks before they ring.

Ads and TikTok come after both of those, and only if the numbers still do not add up.

What to do next

Tonight, search your own trade and town on Google and look at what a customer sees when they find you. If your listing is missing or half empty, claim it and fill it in this week, for free. If you would rather someone told you straight which pile you are in, our free check-up does exactly that.