Tommo has run his workshop in Pakenham for 15 years. He's a good mechanic. His customers know it. He's got 47 five-star reviews on Google. People who find him tend to stick with him.
The problem was that not enough people were finding him.
The Problem
Tommo's website was built about 8 years ago by a bloke who has since gone out of business. It was a basic five-page site with a stock photo of a spanner on the homepage, a paragraph about “quality service,” and a phone number buried in the footer.
It loaded in about 9 seconds on a mobile phone. It wasn't mobile-friendly. It had no online booking. It didn't mention a single specific service. It didn't mention Pakenham, Officer, Berwick, or any of the suburbs Tommo actually services.
When someone searched “mechanic Pakenham” on Google, Tommo was nowhere. Not page one. Not page two. Nowhere in the top 50 results.
His 47 five-star Google reviews were doing nothing because nobody was finding his listing through his website. He was running at about 60% capacity most weeks and relying on a fading base of repeat customers.
He told us he'd thought about getting a new website a few times but figured it probably wouldn't make much difference. “Websites are just digital business cards, aren't they?” he said.
The Solution
Tommo filled in the BuildSpark quiz on a Sunday night. Took him about 2 minutes. We sent him a site recommendation by email the following Tuesday.
His new site had dedicated pages for each of his core services: logbook servicing, brake repairs, pre-purchase inspections, air conditioning regas, and general car servicing. Each page targeted the specific suburbs around his workshop: Pakenham, Officer, Berwick, Beaconsfield, Nar Nar Goon.
We added an online booking form that let customers pick a service, choose a date, and leave their car details. It took about 30 seconds to fill in.
We embedded his 47 Google reviews directly on the homepage so visitors could see them straight away without having to go to Google separately.
The whole site was built to load in under 2 seconds on mobile. Clean, fast, and built for the way people actually search for mechanics.
Total cost: $790. One-off. No monthly fees.
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Within 5 weeks, Tommo's site was ranking on page one for “mechanic Pakenham” and “car service Pakenham.” By week 8, he was also showing up for “logbook service Officer” and “pre-purchase inspection Berwick.”
In the first month, he received 22 online bookings through the new form. That was 22 bookings that didn't exist before because there was no way for people to book.
He went from running at 60% capacity to being fully booked for 6 weeks straight. He had to bring on a part-time apprentice to keep up.
Here are the numbers from the first 12 months:
Online bookings
247
(from zero)
Average job value
$340
New revenue from website
$63,580
Return on investment
7,948%
That's not a typo. A $790 website generated over $60,000 in new business in its first year.
What Made the Difference
It wasn't magic. It wasn't a fancy design or a viral marketing campaign. It was three simple things:
1. He showed up on Google.
His old site was invisible. His new site was built for local search from day one. When people searched for a mechanic in his area, he appeared.
2. People could book instantly.
No calling during business hours. No leaving a voicemail and hoping for a callback. Just pick a service, pick a date, done.
3. His reviews were visible.
47 five-star reviews are incredibly persuasive. But only if people can see them. Embedding them on his site turned browsers into bookers.
Tommo's exact words when we checked in at the 6-month mark: “I've been here fifteen years and never had a website that actually did anything. This one pays for itself every single week.”
Your Turn
If you're a local business in Victoria and your website isn't bringing in new customers, it's probably not because your business isn't good enough. It's because your website isn't working hard enough.
A website that's built for local search, loads fast, and makes it easy for people to take action can change your business. It changed Tommo's.
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See what we'd build for your business. No calls. No meetings. Just a clear recommendation by email.
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