We tested 46 trade-business websites on a phone. All 46 were too slow.
We ran Google's Lighthouse test, on a simulated phone connection, on 46 small trade-business websites in Tampa, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Manchester and Birmingham. Not one showed its main content within Google's 2.5-second target.
Client
Own research: plumbers, HVAC, roofing and electrical firms in the USA and UK
Sector
Local trades
Year
September 2026
Services
Small trade businesses pay for a website and then never see how it loads on a customer's phone. We wanted real numbers rather than opinions, so we tested 46 live sites exactly the way Google does.
- Ran Lighthouse 12 in mobile mode on each homepage, one at a time, from the same computer, between 24 and 29 September 2026.
- Recorded the performance score, the time until the main content appeared (Largest Contentful Paint), and the total page weight.
- Looked at what caused the slowness. In most cases: oversized images, scripts that load before the page, uncompressed video, and no caching.
- Used the results to design the Website Speed Fix service and its pay-after-you-see-the-score offer.
The outcome
46
Sites tested
52 / 100
Average mobile score
23 of 46
Scored under 50
9.2 s (Google target: 2.5 s)
Average time to main content
27.5 s
Slowest page
33.6 MB
Heaviest homepage
Every number on this page comes from a test we ran ourselves, on the date shown, and can be repeated on your site or file. We do not publish invented client stories.
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