Websites for trades
A project case study template for builders and landscapers
A useful project case study explains what the customer needed, what your team actually did and how the finished space works. Start with one relevant job, three purposeful photographs and a short factual account. You do not need an award-winning project or a long write-up.
Choose work that resembles the next job you want
If you want more domestic extensions, a clear account of a modest extension is more relevant than an impressive commercial job you only helped on briefly. A landscaper seeking whole-garden projects should show layout decisions and usable space, rather than only close-ups of individual plants.
Write down your role before choosing photographs. If another contractor handled the groundworks or a designer prepared the layout, describe your own contribution accurately. A project can still demonstrate good work without claiming every part of it.
Copy this project brief into your job notes
Capture the details while you still remember the brief. Ask the person who ran the job to answer the prompts in ordinary language. These notes become the page; they are not a request for polished marketing copy.
Leave out anything you cannot substantiate. A cost or duration is optional, not a requirement for credibility. If you include either, explain the scope and what it covers so readers do not mistake one past job for a fixed offer.
- Project type and broad location: what was done, and which town or area?
- Customer brief: what did they want to change or make possible?
- Starting point: what limitation did the existing space have?
- Your scope: which work did your team carry out, and what was outside it?
- One useful decision: a material, layout or practical constraint and how it was addressed.
- Finished result: describe the observable change, not an invented customer reaction.
- Evidence: before, progress and finished photographs with permission to publish.
- Next step: link to the relevant service and invite a similar project enquiry.
A worked example: a small rear garden
The following is a fictional writing example, not a Zece customer or a claimed project result. It shows how the same brief can become a short page without adding sales language or unverified performance claims.
Keep the account proportionate to the job. One useful decision and a clear explanation of your scope are better than a list of every product used. If your real job differs, change the facts rather than copying the example wholesale.
Our landscaping website approach gives this kind of project evidence a clear place alongside services and enquiries.
Brief and starting point
“The owners wanted a seating area outside the kitchen and a clear route to the shed. The existing garden had separate small paved areas, which made the space feel broken up.”
Work carried out
“Our team removed the old paving, prepared the agreed base and laid a single patio with a connecting path. We installed the planting borders shown in the plan; the owners supplied the plants.”
Finished result and next step
“The finished layout connects the kitchen door, seating area and shed. The photographs show the previous layout, work in progress and the completed paving. Planning a similar garden project? Tell us about the space and the area you live in.”
Choose photographs that answer a question
A wide before-and-after pair explains the change. A progress photograph can show the part of your work that the finished surface hides. A detail photograph is useful when it illustrates a decision, such as a threshold or an edge finish; it should not replace the view of the whole job.
Use comparable viewpoints when possible, and add a caption telling the reader what changed. Avoid filters that alter material colours. Do not label a stock photograph as your work or use another contractor’s image without permission.
- Before: show the original layout or problem.
- During: explain the work visible and your team’s role.
- After: show the finished space from a useful distance.
- Detail: explain one relevant finish or practical decision.
- Before publication: agree image use and remove visible personal details, house numbers or identifying information the customer does not want shared.
For roofing projects, adapt the same evidence brief to the services and project information a roofing website needs.
Give each project a useful route back to your services
Use a descriptive title such as “Rear extension with a new kitchen layout in [town]”. Only name the real location at a level the customer is comfortable sharing. “Another happy customer” tells a visitor very little about whether your experience matches their job.
Place the project beside the service it demonstrates. Link an extension story from the extension service page, and link back from the story to the service and enquiry route. Do not create a separate near-identical page for every nearby town.
Before sending the brief to your website provider, check names, scope, photo permissions, captions and the final contact link. Repeat the process after the next suitable job; a small set of useful examples is manageable for a busy team.
For deciding when and where to use your garden projects, follow our seasonal landscaping enquiry plan.
For a construction business, see how we organise builder websites around services, projects and enquiries.
If collecting content changes the scope of your website quote, use our website-cost comparison questions.
Explore our approach to websites for builders or see our pricing and what is included.
