I checked 48 Victorian trades websites. Most are quietly losing work.
Over the last couple of months I've run 48 Victorian trades websites, mostly electricians, through the same 11-point check I use on my own businesses. Booking paths, quote forms, mobile speed, email setup: the basics that decide whether the 9pm searcher becomes your job or the next bloke's.
The scores
The median score was 49 out of 100. Twenty-five of the 48 scored under 50. Ten cleared 70.
That median is now the benchmark line inside the free checker: when you run your own site, you're scored against this exact field.
Three patterns kept repeating.
1. 38 of the 48 have no way to book after hours
That's the single most expensive gap on the list. Most trades searches happen at night, at the kitchen bench, after the thing broke. If your site's answer is "ring us during business hours", the job goes to whoever lets them lock in a time on the spot. You don't hear about these losses. There's no missed call to return. The enquiry just never exists.
2. At least 22 of the 48 look abandoned
Footer copyright years old, no recent job photos, nothing moving. A customer can't tell the difference between "busy tradie who hasn't touched the site" and "business that folded in 2023". They don't gamble; they go back to Google.
3. At least 19 run their email through a consumer setup, or none at all on their own domain
Two quotes land in an inbox. One comes from a business address, one from a gmail. Same price, same scope. The business address wins more often than it should, and some of the gmail quotes never even arrive, because unprotected sending lands in spam.
None of this is a technology problem
Every one of these gaps has a first step a tradie can knock over in a weekend, or hand to their host with a one-line email. The pattern is just that nobody's looked.
That's the whole reason I put the checker online. It reads your site the way a customer and Google do, scores it out of 100 against the 48 sites above, and names your leaks in plain English. Takes about a minute, and the score shows before it asks for anything.
Find my tech leaks in 60 seconds →
I run trades service businesses myself. I don't need you to explain yours to me.
Where the numbers come from
Full re-run of the Tech Leak Check model over my audit dataset, July 2026. 48 Victorian trades and service sites scored; dead domains and my own ventures excluded. These are businesses sourced for outreach, not a random draw of the industry, so read the figures as "what the check finds in the wild", not a census. The leak counts are lower bounds: a site with more than three leaks only lists its top three. The qualitative companion piece is The State of Trades Admin 2026.
Questions about the 48-site check.
What did checking 48 trades websites find?
The median score was 49 out of 100. Twenty-five of the 48 scored under 50 and only ten cleared 70. Three patterns kept repeating: no way to book after hours, sites that look abandoned, and email run through a consumer setup. Most of these businesses are quietly losing work they never hear about.
What is the single most common problem?
38 of the 48 sites had no way to book after hours, and that is the most expensive gap on the list. Most trades searches happen at night after something breaks; if your site says "ring us during business hours", the job goes to whoever lets the customer lock in a time on the spot. You never hear about these losses, because the enquiry simply never exists.
How were the websites scored?
Each site was run through the same 11-point Tech Leak Check model I use on my own businesses, covering booking paths, quote forms, mobile speed and email setup. It is a full re-run over my audit dataset in July 2026, with dead domains and my own ventures excluded. Leak counts are lower bounds: a site with more than three leaks only lists its top three.
How does my own website compare?
The median of 49 is now the benchmark line inside the free Tech Leak Check. Run your own site through it and you are scored against this exact field of 48. It reads your site the way a customer and Google do, names your leaks in plain English, and shows the score before it asks for anything. It takes about a minute.
Is this a representative sample of all trades businesses?
No, and I am upfront about that. These are Victorian trades and service sites, mostly electricians, sourced for outreach rather than a random draw of the industry, so read the figures as "what the check finds in the wild", not a census. The direction is clear even if the exact percentages are not a statistical claim.
Is any of this hard to fix?
Rarely. Every one of these gaps has a first step a tradie can knock over in a weekend, or hand to their host with a one-line email. None of it is a technology problem. The pattern is just that nobody had looked, which is the whole reason I put the checker online.
Where does your site sit against the 48?
Run the same 11-point check on your own website. It reads your site the way a customer and Google do, scores it against the 48 above, and names your leaks in plain English. The score shows before it asks for anything.