What Should a Vancouver Trade Business Blog About? Twelve Posts That Bring Calls, and the Ones to Skip

Most trade blogs die after four posts, and the four posts are about the company picnic, a new truck, “five tips for choosing a contractor” and “welcome to our blog”. None of them will ever be searched for. A trade blog works when every post answers a question a homeowner types into Google before they are ready to call. Here are twelve that do, with the search they are built for.

Cost questions

1. “How much does a new roof cost in Vancouver?” The most-searched question in every trade is the price. Give a real range for the region, say what changes it, and explain why the quote needs a site visit. The companies that answer this get the visit.
2. “How much does a panel upgrade cost?” Same idea for electrical, plumbing, HVAC. One post per major job. Update the numbers each year.
3. “Is it worth repairing or replacing?” Furnace, roof, hot water tank, garage door. Homeowners search this exact question, and an honest answer with an age threshold earns trust before the first call.

Permit and rules questions

4. “Do I need a permit to … in Vancouver?” Replace a panel, move a gas line, add a bathroom, install an EV charger. Each municipality is slightly different, which is exactly why a local post ranks.
5. “What does a home inspection flag on old wiring?” Knob-and-tube, aluminum wiring, Poly-B plumbing, insurance consequences. Buyers of older Vancouver homes search these in a panic.
6. “What rebates are available for a heat pump in BC?” Programs change; the post that stays current becomes the reference. Say what you handle on the homeowner’s behalf.

Seasonal and emergency questions

7. “What to do when a pipe bursts”, with the shut-off valve photo. Written for the person standing in water, and ending with your emergency number.
8. “How to prepare your roof for the rainy season”, or your furnace for winter, or your house for the first cold snap. Publish a month before the season; the marketing calendar has the timing.
9. “Why is there water in my basement after heavy rain?” Perimeter drains, sump pumps, older clay tiles. A Vancouver-specific problem with Vancouver-specific searches.

Proof and process

10. A real job, start to finish. “Replacing a 1970s roof in Burnaby: what we found and what it cost.” One post per month from the crew’s photos. These rank for the city and the service, and they are what homeowners forward to each other.
11. “What happens when you call us.” The process from first call to final inspection, with timelines. It removes the fear of the unknown that stops people calling.
12. “Questions to ask before hiring a …”, answered honestly, including the ones where you are not the cheapest option. It sets the comparison on your terms.

Topics to skip

Company news nobody searches for. “Tips” lists with nothing local in them. Anything about the trade industry rather than the homeowner’s problem. Posts written to hit a word count. Posts generated by AI and published without a tradesperson correcting them; Google’s 2026 updates were built to catch exactly those, and we retired dozens of our own for that reason.

How to write one in an hour

Record the answer on your phone the way you would explain it to a customer on the driveway. Have someone type it up and tidy it. Add two photos from a real job, a price range, the permit detail, and a link to the service page. Put the question in the title exactly the way people search it. Publish, then link to it from the service page it supports. That is the whole process, and it beats a thousand-word article written by someone who has never been on a roof.

What the blog is for

Every post links to a service page and ends with a way to call. The blog exists to catch people a few weeks before they need you, and to show Google and the homeowner that you know the work. Twelve good posts a year, each answering one real question, will do more than a hundred generic ones. It is how we run content inside every SEO plan.

Book a free strategy call and we will list the questions your dispatcher hears most, which is the only content calendar a trade business needs.

Related guides

• Content audit for a trade website: a real example
• Social media for Vancouver trades: what to post
• AI for Vancouver trade businesses: what actually saves time
• SEO services for Vancouver trades

Frequently asked questions

How often should a trade business publish a blog post?

One or two a month, consistently, each answering a real question. Frequency matters less than relevance and keeping the cost posts current.

Do blog posts help a contractor rank in the map pack?

Not directly; the map pack runs on the Google Business Profile and reviews. Posts help organic rankings, feed the profile’s own posts, and give the service pages more links and authority.

Should I use AI to write the posts?

To draft from your own recording, yes. To generate a post from nothing, no; it produces the generic content that Google now filters out.

How long should a post be?

As long as the answer. A burst-pipe post can be 400 words and a photo; a cost guide might be 1,200. Word counts are not a ranking factor; usefulness is.