Speed audit · July 2026
Most trades websites fail the phone test.
In July 2026 I ran mobile speed audits (Google Lighthouse, mobile preset) on more than 50 UK trades websites — electricians, plumbers, builders, roofers, landscapers. Roughly a third scored under 60/100. The worst took 31.6 seconds to show its main content.
Real audits below. No names — just the numbers.
July 2026 · 50+ UK trades sites
Scored under 60/100
On Google Lighthouse, mobile preset.
No trackers. No cookie banner. Just the audit results.
What I found
Seven audits, picked to show the range
Trade and region only. No business names, no domains — the point isn't to embarrass anyone, it's to show what's normal out there.
| Trade & region | Mobile score | Main content shown at |
|---|---|---|
| Electrician — Merseyside | 58/100 | 8.6 s |
| Electrician — Greater Manchester | 55/100 | 21.6 s |
| Plumbing & heating — East Midlands | 39/100 | 14.1 s |
| Builder — Nottinghamshire | 58/100 | 12.1 s |
| Landscaper — Merseyside | 33/100 | 24.1 s |
| Landscaper — West Midlands | 45/100 | 26.0 s |
| Builder — Greater Manchester* | n/a* | 31.6 s |
Real audits, July 2026. Names withheld — the point isn't to embarrass anyone. *Score not computable at this load time; first paint on this site landed at 14.4 s, main content at 31.6 s.
A mobile visitor typically gives up within about 3 seconds. Every row above is several times slower than that.
The sample breakdown
What the free report actually looks like
Here's the one-page breakdown I send, worked through on one of the sites above — the plumbing & heating firm scoring 39/100.
| Issue | What it means | The fix | Expected gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-megabyte photos, scaled down in the browser | The site sends a huge original photo and lets your phone squash it into a small box — you pay to download pixels you never see. | Resize and compress images to the size they're actually shown at. | Often halves load time on its own |
| 15–30 plugins, each loading scripts on every page | Every plugin adds its own file to download and run — even ones doing nothing on the page you're looking at. | Remove what's unused; load the rest only where it's needed. | Typically 1–3 s off |
| Render-blocking theme & page-builder CSS/JS | The browser has to fully load the page-builder's styling code before it draws anything — visitors stare at a blank screen meanwhile. | Strip it to the CSS actually used; load the rest after the page shows. | Usually a second or more off first paint |
| No caching headers | Every repeat visit re-downloads the whole site from scratch, as if it were the first time. | Set the server to tell the browser what to keep. | Return visits load close to instantly |
| Third-party embeds loading before the content | Maps, review widgets, chat pop-ups and video sit in the queue ahead of your actual words and photos. | Defer or lazy-load them so content shows first. | Content typically appears 1–2 s sooner |
Some of what's above is a 30-minute job. Some justifies a rebuild rather than a patch. The report says which — for your site specifically, not a guess.
What I build instead
The standard a fix or rebuild ships at
The "before" numbers above are other people's sites, measured this month. These "after" numbers are my own live builds, measured the same way — Google Lighthouse, mobile preset, on a mid-range phone.
That's the standard a fix or rebuild from me ships at. Not a promise — the same test, run on my own work.
This site · mobile · 4G
PageSpeed performance
Measured on a mid-range phone.
No trackers. No cookie banner. Nothing to consent to.
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