Trades / Home Services · Fremantle, WA
Trades / Home Services · Fremantle, WA
The Brief
An established Australian plumber with 15 years of experience and zero web presence beyond a directory listing. Emergency callouts were being missed because customers couldn't find or verify them after hours.
The Challenge
Trades websites are almost universally terrible — stock photos of smiling tradespeople, Comic Sans-adjacent fonts, and no sense of what makes one plumber worth calling over another. The challenge was making Clearwater feel like a brand, not just a business listing, without losing the directness that the target customer — a homeowner with a burst pipe — actually needs.
The Approach
White background was a deliberate choice against the industry default of dark blue. Safety orange (#f97316) for all interactive elements borrows its authority from worksite signage — the colour of caution tape, high-vis vests, and things that actually get done. Bebas Neue headings at scale communicate volume and confidence.
The animated counters — 15 years, 847 jobs completed, 24/7 emergency response — aren't just numbers. They're proof. Each counter triggers on scroll via IntersectionObserver, starting at zero and running for 1.8 seconds. The motion draws the eye and burns the numbers in.
Eleven sections sounds like too many. It isn't. Emergency plumbing is a trust sale. Every section answers a different objection: Are they experienced? (Counters.) Do they work near me? (Service area map.) Will they show up? (Emergency CTA, above the fold, always visible.)
Tech Stack
Technical Decisions
IntersectionObserver triggers → requestAnimationFrame loop → easeOutCubic for the last 20% of count. The deceleration at the end makes the number feel like it's settling, not stopping.
Position sticky on mobile, always visible in top-right viewport corner. The call button is never more than a thumb-reach away.
Unsplash stable IDs with ?w=1400 params — consistent load, correct framing, no layout shift.