I built 73 free construction calculators with Next.js — and learned the hard way that Google won't index a new site just because it exists

Every construction calculator on the first page of Google has the same problem: you search "how much concrete do I need," land on the page, and before you can type a number you're fighting a cookie banner, a newsletter popup, an AI chatbot bubble, and three display ads that shift the layout while you're tapping.

So I built the version I actually wanted: ProjectCalc

— 73 free calculators for construction, home improvement, and DIY. No signup, no popups, no chatbot. It runs entirely in your browser and works on a 4G phone with one bar.

This post is half "Show Dev" and half a brutally honest field report on the part nobody warns you about: **getting a brand-new domain indexed by Google is its own engineering problem, and shipping good content is only step one.

What it is