For South West people going out on their own: a tradesperson leaving an employer, someone making jams and relishes in a home kitchen in South Bunbury, a consultant working from a home office in Australind. A first site built from your own words and photos, a domain in your name and email that matches, and nothing to pay until you approve the draft.
Greater Bunbury is four councils, not one, and each sets its own rules for working from home. The City of Bunbury's policy goes down to opening hours and sign size, and a first website should be set out to fit it rather than promise something the approval doesn't allow.
Australind is in the Shire of Harvey, Eaton in the Shire of Dardanup and Dalyellup in the Shire of Capel, and each has its own planning scheme. The home-business rules that apply to you, and so what the site can say about visits, depend on where you live, not on the word Bunbury in your business name.
The City of Bunbury's policy sets standard hours for a home business of Monday to Saturday, 7 am to 7 pm. Put the hours you're approved for on the site, and let a contact form take messages on Sundays and evenings, with a line saying when you'll reply.
A home business in the City can have a single unlit sign of up to 0.6 square metres on a wall or fence. That's a name and a number at most; the site carries your services, photos and prices.
If clients come to you, tell them where to park and which door to use, and keep the street address for booking confirmations if you'd rather not publish it. If nobody visits, show the suburbs and towns you work in instead.
A home kitchen business in Bunbury is approved for particular low-risk foods. List those, give the ingredients and label details customers ask about, and open orders after the City's final inspection.
Leaving an employer to start your own trade or practice? Your licence number, years in the work and photos of your own jobs give a new name something to stand on until reviews arrive. Our Bunbury tradies page covers putting your WA licence and registration numbers on the site.
The statewide basics are on our page for new Perth businesses: free advice from the Small Business Development Corporation, WA's standard definitions of a home office, home occupation and home business, and WA Health's requirement that home food businesses register with, or notify, their local government. Here's how that plays out around Bunbury.
The Greater Bunbury Region Scheme covers the City of Bunbury and the shires of Harvey, Dardanup and Capel, and each council keeps its own local scheme and policies. Inside the city, Local Planning Policy 2.1 exempts a home office and a home occupation from development approval where the zone permits them. A home business needs approval, and the policy's standard settings are a single detached house on a lot of at least 500 square metres, one unlit sign of up to 0.6 square metres fixed to a wall or fence, trading Monday to Saturday between 7 am and 7 pm, and a parking bay for each employee on top of the usual residential requirement. It also notes that if the business takes up more than 10% of the dwelling's floor area, Building Code compliance may be needed. The City's Planning Services are on (08) 9792 7000.
Home kitchens have a process of their own. The City's home-based food business information, updated in February 2025, says to check with Planning Services first, then apply to Environmental Health Services with ingredient lists, recipes, label details for packaged foods and evidence of shelf life, register under the Food Act 2008, and arrange a final inspection before you start. The low-risk foods it gives as examples include jams, cakes and biscuits without cream or custard, chutneys and relishes that are cooked, pickled onions and cake decorating. That sequence is why we'd launch a food maker's site with the range and a sign-up, and turn ordering on once the inspection is done.
For advice on the business side, IPS Management Consultants is the state-funded SBDC Regional provider for the South West, and it's headquartered in Bunbury. The advice is free and covers testing a business idea, licences and permits, business planning, market research and marketing, for owners from Bunbury and Busselton to Margaret River, Donnybrook, Bridgetown, Manjimup and Pemberton (1300 275 477). The City's business support page also lists the Bunbury Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which says it has backed local business since 1897 and runs free monthly networking events for members, and the free Bunbury Grant Finder, a database of more than 500 grants. If you're starting in Collie, the Collie Futures Small Grants Program reopened in March 2026 with grants of up to $100,000 for businesses and organisations in Collie, taking applications while funding lasts.
We're an Adelaide team and work with South West businesses by phone and email. We haven't built a site for a WA client yet, so the examples below are from regional New South Wales. Bunbury runs on Perth time, 1.5 hours behind Adelaide, or 2.5 while South Australia is on daylight saving, and we reply within 24 hours. If your customers are up the coast as well, see our page for new Mandurah businesses.
We don't call these clients start-ups, as we don't know how long each had been trading when they came to us. Both work well away from a capital city: Tomi's single page lets a regional trade's photos do the talking, and Phoenix Housekeeping spreads its service area across several councils with suburb pages.
Bobcat and excavator work, structural landscaping and licensed pool building across the Bega Valley. One page with three service sections, a swipeable 42-photo gallery, a testimonial carousel, a contact form with a thank-you page and tap-to-call on mobile.
Visit the Tomi's Bobcat site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
A family-run cleaning business in Lake Macquarie that also works in Cessnock and on the Central Coast. Published prices, service pages, suburb pages across its area, and a quote form with a discreet call-back option.
Visit the Phoenix Housekeeping site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
“…Salem walked us through everything, gave us a fixed quote so we knew exactly what we were paying, and turned around the build faster than we thought possible.”
★ 5.0 from 33 Google reviews (opens in a new tab)
See all 14 recent client sites in our portfolio.
Our suggestion for most new South West businesses
$399
For a home office, a new trade or a market maker: what you do, the towns or suburbs you cover, your hours, how to order or enquire, and tap-to-call, with your domain and email set up.
$899
A home page, a page for your services or products with prices if you publish them, and an about page with your licences, background and photos of your own work.
$1,499
For a business opening across Greater Bunbury and down to Busselton, or with staff and several services: a page for each, a news page for launches, and Google Analytics visitor stats.
No. Australind is in the Shire of Harvey, so its scheme and policies apply; Eaton is in the Shire of Dardanup and Dalyellup in the Shire of Capel. Ask your own council what your category allows. The website side is the same either way: we set out your hours, visits and service area to match what you're approved for.
Show the hours you're approved for, which under the City of Bunbury's policy are normally Monday to Saturday, 7 am to 7 pm, and let the contact form take messages the rest of the time with a note on when you'll reply. If your approval changes, updating the hours is a text change covered by the $30 monthly hosting.
Your approved range with ingredients and the label details people ask about, a few good photos, where you sell in person, and an order form that goes live after the City's final inspection. A handful of products fits on one page with an order form; for a bigger range, our online stores start at $799 for up to 25 products with one payment gateway and basic order management.
IPS Management Consultants is the SBDC Regional provider for the South West, based in Bunbury, and its advice is free (1300 275 477). The SBDC's own advisory line is 133 140. The website is our part: we arrange your words and photos into pages, register the domain and set up email.
Sometimes, and it changes often. The City's Bunbury Grant Finder is a free database of grants, and in Collie the Collie Futures Small Grants Program reopened in March 2026 for local businesses and organisations. Check eligibility with the funder; we can't advise on grants, only build the site.
Yes, by phone and email. We're an Adelaide (South Australia) web design team working with businesses Australia-wide, with current clients in SA, NSW, VIC and QLD. You send your words and photos, we send a draft link, and you pay once you approve it. Most sites are live within 5–10 days of us getting your words and photos; bigger sites (up to 8 pages) take 2–3 weeks.
Tell us what you'll do, which council you're in and the towns you'll cover. We'll check whether your .com.au is free, quote the site and build a draft that you pay for only once you're happy with it.
We reply within 24 hours. Prefer email? info@webcraftstudio.com.au