It's the tail end of June here in Spokane, and we're finally getting that dry Inland Northwest heat — the kind that makes you grateful for a jobsite with any shade at all. Summer 2026 is here, and if you're in the trades like me, you're probably running faster than you'd like and still playing catch-up.

But here's what's been eating at me. Every time I turn around this year, something costs more. Lumber. Copper. PVC. Fittings. According to the Associated Builders and Contractors' report a couple weeks back, construction materials were up nearly 10% year over year as of May. Ten percent. You feel that in your bids, your margins, that knot in your stomach when a job you quoted in March suddenly costs more to finish than you figured. And with the industry short nearly half a million skilled workers, good help is harder to find than ever. Every dollar and every hour counts more than it did last season.

So I started looking hard at where my money and time were going — and I had to get honest with myself about something I'd been avoiding for years.

The Hat That Almost Cost Me a Job

When I started my business out of my truck, I did what everybody does: wore every hat. Estimator. Bookkeeper. Accounts receivable. Marketing director. Web designer.

That last one nearly sank me.

I spent three weekends building my own website. Watched tutorials, picked a template, made it look halfway decent on my laptop. Then I got busy — you know, doing actual paying work — and that site sat untouched for over a year. My portfolio still showed a job from 2023. My services page was missing half of what I offer. And on a phone? Let's just say it looked like something my kid made in computer class. Text overlapping images. Buttons that didn't work. The whole deal.

Then a homeowner told me straight up she almost didn't call because my website looked like I might've gone out of business. That stung worse than any punch list revision ever did.

Why That Matters Right Now, This Summer

We've got work. Plenty of it. But the big outfits with their polished websites and search ads are scooping up the easy leads before most of us even know they're out there. When a homeowner searches for a contractor on their phone, they're making a call in seconds. If your site loads slow, looks clunky, or was clearly built in an afternoon five years ago, they scroll to the next name — even if you'd do better work at a fairer price. That's just how it works now.

In Spokane, that's even more true. We're seeing more people move here from the west side every year — folks who don't have a regular guy yet. They're Googling. Checking reviews. Looking at your site before they ever pick up the phone. And with the North Spokane Corridor shifting traffic patterns and new subdivisions going up all over the valley, the competition for those customers is only getting tighter. First impressions matter more than they used to, and a bad website is a noose around your neck.

I finally did what I should've done years ago: I stopped pretending to be a web designer and focused on what I actually know how to do. I found codelamar.com, which builds website kits specifically for tradespeople — plumbers, electricians, roofers, guys like us. Not a generic template you wrestle with. Something built for a contracting business from the ground up. Took me an afternoon to set up, and for the first time in years, my website doesn't embarrass me. It loads fast, works on a phone, and tells people what they need to know: who I am, what I do, and how to call me.

Since then, I've picked up at least four jobs that started with a customer saying, "I found you online and your site looked professional." Four jobs. That's real money. That's the difference between a site that works for you and one that works against you.

You've Got Pipes to Run and Decks to Build

I'm not saying a website fixes everything. Materials are still volatile. Labor is still tight. You'll still have that one client who takes three weeks to pay a net-15 invoice, and you'll still have to deal with the endless paperwork that comes with running a small business. But if your online presence is working against you instead of for you, that's a problem you can fix right now — without learning to code or spending a fortune you don't have.

Summer's short in Eastern Washington. The sun's out, the days are long, and there's real work to do. Don't spend another weekend wrestling with a site builder when you could be with your family or just catching your breath between jobs.

Let somebody else handle the pixels. You've got a business to run.