Full disclosure: Iron Canyon Co builds replacement websites for contractors, so we’re one of the options for this job. Most of this guide applies whoever builds your new site, and our prices are near the end for anyone who wants them.
Replace it or fix it?
A replacement is a bigger job than a fix, so check whether a fix would do first. Run your site through the contractor website checklist or the free Website Punch List. If the problems are a missing phone button, a broken form or out-of-date photos, fix those first and see whether more calls come in.
Replacing makes sense when
- You can’t change anything without paying someone, or nobody can find the logins.
- The site looks broken or is hard to use on a phone.
- It puts every service on one page, so nobody searching for a specific job finds you.
- It still lists old services, an old phone number or an old service area.
- It runs on a platform you no longer want to pay for every month.
What to collect first
Before you talk to any builder, find out who controls each piece. A new site is easy. Recovering a domain that a former web person registered in their own name is not.
- Domain. The company where your web address is registered, and a login that is in your name or your company’s name.
- Hosting or builder account. Where the current site lives, and whether the plan renews soon. Leave it running until the new site is live and checked.
- Email. Which service your company email runs on. See don’t break your email below.
- Google accounts. Access to your Google Business Profile, and to Search Console and Analytics if they were ever set up.
- A list of your current pages. Every page address on the old site. Your sitemap, usually at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml, often has the full list of addresses.
- Content worth keeping. Real job photos, reviews you have permission to use, license numbers and any text that still fits.
Keep what Google already knows
Google has learned your old page addresses. If the new site uses different addresses and the old ones just stop working, the pages Google was showing turn into dead links. Searchers land on an error, and Google has to discover the new pages from scratch.
- Keep the same domain. The new site goes up at the same web address.
- Match old pages to new ones. For each old page, decide which new page covers the same thing, then redirect the old address to it with a permanent (301) redirect.
- Keep the old site up until the switch. Cancel the old plan only after the new site is live and you’ve checked every page.
- Tell Google after launch. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console and watch its page report for errors over the next few weeks.
Ask any builder how they’ll handle your old page addresses, and get the answer in writing before the work starts.
Don’t break your email
Your domain’s settings point to both your website and your email. Moving a website means changing some of those settings, and a careless change can stop email from arriving. Before the switch, write down your current domain settings. Make sure whoever does the move changes only the website records and leaves the email ones alone. If the move also changes where those settings are managed, which often happens when leaving Wix or Squarespace, every email record has to be copied over first. Then send yourself a test email after launch.
Moving off Wix or Squarespace
A site built on a builder doesn’t move as it is. Wix’s help center says a Wix site needs Wix’s servers to run, so you keep your domain and the new site is rebuilt elsewhere. Squarespace exports only part of a site as a WordPress file: some pages, one blog, and text and image blocks. Plan on rebuilding either way, and save your photos and any text you want to keep before you cancel. Our Wix or Squarespace vs a custom site guide compares staying with leaving.
What it costs with us
A replacement site with Iron Canyon Co is priced like any new site: $1,497 (Starter, up to 3 agreed pages), $3,497 (Pro, up to 5 agreed pages with local search structure) or from $5,997 (Custom, quoted by scope). Prices are for the build, plus applicable tax. Domain, hosting and paid tools are separate, and required ones are confirmed before purchase.
- Scope in writing. We confirm the pages, features, timeline and costs with you in writing before you pay anything.
- Timeline. Most standard builds take about 10 business days once the details, materials, access and approvals are ready.
- Payment. Standard builds are paid 50% to start and 50% after you approve the site, before launch and handoff.
- Revisions and guarantee. Two revision rounds, and a 30-day workmanship guarantee from launch that covers defects, not a change of preference. Our service terms give the guarantee’s full wording.
- What you keep. Your domain and hosting accounts stay under your control, and after final payment you receive the project files with a handoff guide.
The full breakdown, including what basic SEO setup covers and what you own after handoff, is in how much a contractor website costs.
Common questions
Will I lose my Google rankings if I replace my site?
You can lose some for a while, especially if old pages disappear without redirects. Keeping the same domain, redirecting old addresses and submitting the new sitemap help protect what you have. Nobody can promise rankings either way.
Can I keep my domain name?
Yes, as long as you control the account it’s registered in. Check that before anything else. If a former web person registered it, getting it transferred to you is the first job.
Should I cancel my old website plan first?
No. Keep it until the new site is live, your email still works, and you’ve saved every photo and piece of text you want to keep.
Can you reuse the text from my old site?
Text and photos you own can be reused if they’re still accurate. Old service descriptions often need rewriting anyway if your services, area or phone number have changed.
How long does a replacement take?
With us, most standard builds take about 10 business days once we have the details, materials, access and approvals.