What should a painting company website have? I checked 48 West Michigan painters: only 31 listings lead to a live website, and none of the 30 I could read shows a price

Most advice about painting company websites comes from the companies selling them, and it lists everything a website could have. It cannot tell a painter which of those things their competitors already have and which would set them apart. That can be counted — and for painters, two questions come first: does the listing lead to a website at all, and which credential can a painter actually print?

The measurement: 60 listings, 48 painters, six towns

On 23 September 2026 I asked the Brave Search API for its local results for “painters <town> MI” in the eight towns I track — Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Kentwood, Grandville, Walker, Holland, Muskegon and Kalamazoo — and took the first ten listings in each: Brave Search’s local results for “painters <town> MI”, read 23 September 2026 — not Google’s map pack, and not a ranking. Walker returned no listings, as it did for every trade I swept that morning, and for painters Grand Rapids returned none either, so this page covers six towns (three businesses listed for the suburbs have Grand Rapids in their name). The six gave 60 listings. One website is one business: a painter listed in several towns counts once, and a brand whose offices share one website counts once, which leaves 48.

For each listing that names a website I fetched that page once with curl, the way a search crawler or an AI engine does, and read the HTML for a tel: link, LocalBusiness-family schema, an FAQ (FAQPage schema or an FAQ heading), a phone viewport, a contact form, reviews shown (a widget, a star rating or a count), online booking, the towns named, and the phrases a homeowner looks for: a free estimate, quote, consultation, inspection or assessment; financing or monthly payments; emergency or 24/7; “licensed and insured”; a printed licence number; a warranty or guarantee. For painters only: cabinet painting or refinishing, or the word “cabinets”, and the word “commercial”. I then read every dollar figure and licence-style number by hand. That found three phrasings the patterns missed; they were fixed, and every page read again, before the counts below were taken.

Before the website: where the listings lead

Where each listing leads (23 Sep 2026)	Listings	No website listed	Facebook or Instagram instead	Dead or parked domain	A live site
Wyoming	10	0	0	1	9
Kentwood	10	1	0	1	8
Grandville	10	1	0	0	9
Holland	10	3	1	1	5
Muskegon	10	2	1	2	5
Kalamazoo	10	3	0	0	7
Grand Rapids	no local listings returned — not measured
Walker	no local listings returned — not measured
Six towns, each website counted once	60 listings, 48 businesses	10	2	5	31

10 of the 48 listings name no website. That is what the listing says, not proof the painter has none — but a homeowner reading the listing cannot find one either. 2 link a Facebook or Instagram page instead of a website. Of the 36 that name a website, 5 lead nowhere useful: three domain names do not resolve, one is a page on a local business directory that returns “not found”, and one domain is parked, showing a for-sale page with no painting on it. That leaves 31 live sites. One of them is drawn entirely by script: its HTML carries no content until a browser runs it, so one fetch cannot read it, and it counts as unreadable rather than as a site missing everything below. The counts that follow are over the other 30.

It is not only painters: in the same sweep about one listing in five named no website for plumbers, landscapers, remodelers and HVAC companies, and nearly one in three for electricians, while roofers had 2 of 54. It varies by town, too — 26 of the 30 listings in Wyoming, Kentwood and Grandville led to a live site, against 17 of the 30 in Holland, Muskegon and Kalamazoo. And it is the cheapest fix here: check the website field everywhere your business is listed (where to list around here), and keep the domain renewed and in your own name (why it should be yours).

Only 31 of 48 painter listings in six West Michigan towns lead to a live website.

What the 30 sites have

What the site has (30 painter sites, read 23 Sep 2026)	Sites	Of 30
HTTPS	30	100%
A phone viewport tag	30	100%
The word “commercial”	26	87%
A tap-to-call link	24	80%
A free estimate, quote or consultation offered	22	73%
Cabinet painting or refinishing, or the word “cabinets”	16	53%
LocalBusiness-type schema markup	14	47%
Reviews shown on the page (widget, star rating or count)	11	37%
A warranty or guarantee mentioned	11	37%
A contact form in the page’s HTML	11	37%
“Licensed and insured”	8	27%
A book-online or schedule link, or a scheduling widget	7	23%
An FAQ	5	17%
Financing or monthly payments mentioned	4	13%
Emergency or 24/7 mentioned	1	3%
A printed licence number	1	3%
A price or price range	0	0%

Two things are universal and two are common. Every site is on HTTPS with a phone viewport tag, so neither sets anyone apart. 24 have a tap-to-call link and 22 offer a free estimate, quote or consultation; 20 have both. Roofers, read the same way that morning, were at 37 and 40 of 46 — level on the phone link, well ahead on the estimate. For a painter the estimate is the sale, so say it is free if it is and make it one tap to ask for: 6 of the 30 have no tap-to-call link a crawler can see, and 8 never mention a free estimate. A contact form sits in the HTML of 11 — a floor, since forms drawn by script are invisible to one fetch — and 2 sites show neither a phone link nor a form.

Cabinets and commercial: the two painter-only signals

These two are measured only for painters, and they say different things. The word “commercial” is on 26 of the 30 sites, and on every site read in Wyoming, Holland and Kalamazoo. The pattern is that one word, so it cannot tell a commercial division from “residential and commercial” in a footer — but it does show that saying you do commercial work sets no one apart here. If it is a real part of your business, give it what one word cannot: its own page, the kinds of property you paint, how you work around occupied buildings, and proof a property manager can check.

Cabinets split the field: 16 of the 30 mention cabinet painting or refinishing, or the word “cabinets”; 14 do not. It is a different sale from a repaint — weighed against new cabinets, and bought on kitchen before-and-afters, the finish, how long the kitchen is out of action and a price against replacement. That is a page, not a line: 30 of the 39 top-ranked Grand Rapids trade sites I read on 15 September link at least one service page from the homepage.

Town (23 Sep 2026)	Sites read	Free estimate	Tap-to-call	Cabinets	Commercial	Reviews	FAQ
Wyoming	9	5	8	5	9	4	0
Kentwood	8	7	7	6	6	6	2
Grandville	8	4	4	5	7	4	1
Holland	5	5	5	3	5	1	1
Muskegon	5	4	5	3	4	3	1
Kalamazoo	7	6	6	5	7	4	2
Grand Rapids	no local listings returned — not measured
Walker	no local listings returned — not measured

Each town row counts the listings in that town, so a website listed in five towns appears in five rows; the first table counts it once. That is why cabinets pass half the sites in every town but barely half the region: four of the five websites listed in several towns mention them. An FAQ is rare everywhere, reviews vary most (1 of 5 sites in Holland, 6 of 8 in Kentwood), and Grandville is weakest on the basics: 4 of its 8 sites read have tap-to-call, and 4 a free estimate.

The gaps: price, credentials, and the rest

A price. Two of the 30 sites print a dollar figure; I read both by hand (read 23 September 2026), and neither is a price: one is a first-job discount, 10 per cent off up to $500, and the other is financing fine print, monthly payments per $1,000 borrowed with a $50 minimum. Both are on franchise location pages. Not one site says what a room, an exterior or a kitchen’s cabinets cost, even as a range, and cost is the first thing a homeowner wants to know. A range per room or per house, with what moves it — size, ceiling height, prep and repairs, coats, a big colour change — would make you the only painter here who answers it (the case for prices).

A licence, and which one. A roofer should print a Michigan licence number; a painter’s case is different. The Occupational Code lists the trades a residential maintenance and alteration contractor’s licence covers — carpentry, concrete, swimming pool installation, basement waterproofing, excavation, insulation, masonry, roofing, siding and gutters, screen or storm sash, tile and marble, house wrecking — and painting is not among them (MCL 339.2404(3) on legislature.mi.gov, and LARA’s own list, both read 23 September 2026). A painter may still hold a licence, such as a residential builder’s, which anyone can check in LARA’s “Find / Verify a Licensed Professional or Business” lookup (michigan.gov/lara/online-services, read 23 September 2026). 8 of the 30 sites say “licensed and insured”; 1 prints a number. If you hold a licence, print the number and name it; if your point is insurance, name the cover and offer the certificate.

The credential that is about paint. The one an owner of an older house may ask about is federal. EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, as EPA sets it out on epa.gov (read 23 September 2026), requires anyone paid for work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978 to be certified; it names painters among the trades covered and says firms “cannot advertise or perform” that work without firm certification. Michigan is not on EPA’s list of states running their own programme (read 23 September 2026), so here the certification is EPA’s, and EPA has a public search of certified contractors. Minor repair and maintenance (six square feet of paint or less per room inside, 20 outside) and homes built in 1978 or later are exempt. My sweep did not look for it, so I have no count; if you hold it, put it on the homepage with its number. I am not a lawyer, and none of this is advice on what your work requires.

Reviews, an FAQ, booking. 11 of the 30 show reviews on the page — a widget, a printed star rating or a printed count — so 19 give a homeowner no rating without leaving. Someone letting a crew into their home for days wants proof, and a rating with a count, linked to the source, is the quickest (how to show them). 5 have an FAQ, though every estimate raises the same questions: how long, who moves the furniture, which paint, how many coats, the drywall, the weather (why and how). 7 let a visitor book online, worth testing when the estimate is an appointment anyway. 14 of the 30 have none of the three.

Where you work, and weight. The sites name a median of 1 of the 8 sweep towns, and 5 name none; roofers’ sites named a median of 2. Name the towns you actually paint in on the homepage and in your schema, and add a town page only with something true to say about it, not the same page with the name swapped. The median homepage HTML is 181 KB before images and scripts, the largest 1.8 MB — felt on a phone in a driveway (what speed is worth).

Verdict: what a painting company website should have

Element	West Michigan painters (of 30 sites read)	Verdict
A listing that leads to your website	31 of 48 listings	First. Check the website field on every listing; keep the domain renewed in your name.
HTTPS and a phone-ready layout	30 and 30	Table stakes.
A tap-to-call link	24	Yes. Six of the 30 have none a crawler can see.
A free estimate, said plainly	22	Yes. For a painter the estimate is the sale.
LocalBusiness schema	14	Yes. Cheap, and it tells search engines what and where you are.
Reviews on the page	11	Yes. A rating and a count, linked to where the reviews live.
A warranty, stated plainly	11	Yes. What it covers and for how long.
A page for cabinet work	16 mention cabinets	If you want the work: kitchen photos, the finish, a range.
A page for commercial work	26 mention the word	Only if it is real; the word alone is on almost every site.
An FAQ	5	Yes. Prep, furniture, paint, coats, timing, weather.
A price or price range	0	The open gap. A range per room or per house, with what moves it.
A licence, named and numbered	1 (8 say “licensed and insured”)	Only a real one; painting is not on Michigan’s maintenance and alteration trade list.
EPA lead-safe firm certification	not measured	If you work on homes built before 1978, show it with its number.
The towns you serve, named	median 1 of 8	Yes on the homepage; a town page only with something true to say.

What this reading does not prove

• Brave’s listings, not Google’s map pack. One search engine, six towns, one day: not a ranking, and not every painter in the region.
• A listing is not the business. “No website listed” means the listing names none, not that the painter has no site; a dead domain may belong to a painter who has moved to a new one.
• One page each, HTML only. A price elsewhere on the site, or a form or widget drawn by script after load, is invisible here — one site is drawn entirely by script and could not be read at all — and a pattern can miss a phrasing nobody anticipated. Every count is a floor, not a ceiling.
• Words, not substance. “Commercial” is a word on a page, not a commercial division. The one licence number is a number, not a phrase, but I did not look it up.
• Correlation, not cause. Nothing here says which element wins jobs; it says what a homeowner comparing these painters will and will not find.
• The law is summarised, from one section of the Occupational Code, LARA’s trade list and EPA’s pages, all in the receipts, and I am not a lawyer.

How we build it

A painting company site we build starts from this list: a domain in your name that every listing points to; the baseline; a free estimate one tap away; a page each for the work you want more of — interiors, exteriors, cabinets, commercial if it is real — with photos of your own jobs; reviews from your Google profile; an FAQ; a price range; your real credentials, named and numbered. The Starter Site is from $999 for up to three pages, or $149 a month for twelve months; the Business Site is $2,499 starting for five to eight pages, room for cabinets and commercial work to have pages of their own. It all applies whether or not we build yours.

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