Websites for concreters

Concrete is bought on trust, because once it's poured the customer can't see what lies underneath. A buyer wants to know what happens before the truck arrives: how the ground is prepared, what goes in for reinforcement and where the water will run. A concreter's site works best when it shows that preparation as well as the clean finished surface.

Most enquiries start with a photo of a cracked driveway or a bare patch of yard, so a form that takes a photo and a rough size does more than a long contact page. Give driveways, patios, sheds and decorative finishes pages of their own. Show your crew, your equipment and a few jobs from months ago, so people can see how the work holds up.

What the site carries

• Photos of finished jobs taken some months later, so a buyer can see how the surface has held.
• The preparation shown and described: excavation, base, reinforcement and formwork.
• A short form that takes a site photo, the rough size and the suburb.
• Finishes on separate pages with a clear photo of each: plain broom, exposed aggregate, coloured, stencilled and polished.
• How you price, whether by the square metre or as a quote, and what the price covers, such as removing the old slab.
• What you do about drainage and falls so water runs away from the house.
• Who deals with the council where the driveway meets the street, you or the customer.
• Your concreting licence number beside the business name, where your state licenses this work.
• What the customer must do before the day, such as moving cars and clearing access.
• Your own trucks, pumps or tools in the photos, so people can see the crew behind the job.
• Whether you take on structural work such as footings and house slabs or stay with driveways and paths.

The work your customers look for

• driveways
• exposed aggregate
• concrete slabs
• shed and garage floors
• paths and patios
• pool surrounds
• stencilled and coloured concrete
• polished concrete floors
• retaining walls
• concrete removal and replacement
• footings

What they type

• "concreter"
• "concrete driveway"
• "exposed aggregate driveway"
• "concrete slab for shed"
• "driveway replacement"
• "concreters near me"
• "pool surround concrete"
• "patio concrete"

Where your state licenses this work, show the number beside the business name on every page, and leave it off if you don't have one rather than writing a placeholder.

A price per square metre should say what it covers, and any total shown has to include compulsory charges and be at least as prominent as any part price, under the ACCC single price rule.

Words like crack-free or lifetime set an expectation concrete can't meet, and Australian Consumer Law covers misleading claims, so describe your actual warranty instead.

Show photos of your own jobs only, since a borrowed driveway photo presented as yours is misleading.

How the rules differ across Australia for concreters

New South Wales	Whether a concreter in New South Wales needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with Building Commission NSW. If your work as a concreter is covered, advertising for licensed residential work carries the licensee's name, the licence number with its category of work, and a phone number, and the rule reaches the internet.
Victoria	Whether a concreter in Victoria needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with the Building and Plumbing Commission. If your work as a concreter is covered, domestic building advertising carries the practitioner's name and registration number, print and online, social media included.
Queensland	Whether a concreter in Queensland needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with the QBCC. If your work as a concreter is covered, websites head its list of advertising that carries the licensee's name and number, and the name has to match the licence, so a trading name alone can fall short.
Western Australia	Whether a concreter in Western Australia needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with Building and Energy. If your work as a concreter is covered, the Building Services (Registration) Act asks for the registration number in any advertising.
South Australia	Whether a concreter in South Australia needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with Consumer and Business Services. If your work as a concreter is covered, building work advertising carries the name and the licence number.
Tasmania	Whether a concreter in Tasmania needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with CBOS. If your work as a concreter is covered, the site shows the licence number.
ACT	Whether a concreter in the ACT needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with Access Canberra. If your work as a concreter is covered, the site shows the licence number.
Northern Territory	Whether a concreter in the Northern Territory needs a licence depends on the work and the size of the job, so check with the Building Practitioners Board. If your work as a concreter is covered, the site shows the licence number.

Rules change. Have your licence and wording checked against your regulator before the site goes live.

• Wet, fresh photos that look glossy on the day and say nothing about how the surface wears.
• A gallery with no sizes, so a buyer can't tell a path from a double driveway.
• A price per square metre with no word on removal, base work or reinforcement.
• All finishes on one page, so exposed aggregate and a plain broom finish look like the same job.
• A phone number with no form, when most people already have a photo of the problem ready.