CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

[Dan]

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

Thought I'd start a poll off to see if we can see who's with what type of rate-my-builder website, if at all. And which ones seem to work, and if they do, why etc.

I've also put some other options there to see where people are spending their time and money on marketing right now, should they not be spending it with the big few common names.

Current options are:-

• MyBuilder.com - MyBuilder.com - Find trusted builders and tradesmen - https://www.mybuilder.com/
• Federation of Master Builders - https://www.fmb.org.uk/
• CheckaTrade.com - Checkatrade: Find a tradesperson you can trust - https://www.checkatrade.com/
• RatedPeople.com - https://www.ratedpeople.com/
• TrustaTrader.com - Find Trusted Traders and Local Tradesmen - https://www.trustatrader.com/
• TrustedTraders.Which.co.uk - Find traders near you with Which? Trusted Traders | Which? - https://trustedtraders.which.co.uk/
• MyJobQuote.co.uk - MyJobQuote.co.uk - Get quotes from Local Builders and Tradesmen. - https://www.myjobquote.co.uk/
• Yell.com - Yell.com - the UK's leading online business directory - https://www.yell.com/
• Google Adwords (Google Paid Listings) - Google Ads - Get More Customers With Easy Online Advertising - https://ads.google.com/
• Own Website with Natural Google Listings (No Ads Bought)
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc)
• Reply with any other options and I'll add them to the list.

My personal opinion on this, after reading so many threads on all our forums, is that they're a middle-man where one isn't needed. People who need jobs doing on their homes could search Google before they came about, and they'd find tradespeoples own websites. And it all worked fine. The full amount of money that the tradesperson charged went to their business. And it wouldn't cost much to get a website online and running well.

Now though, there's an annual charge, or a percentage of the job, going to a company that's spending millions on advertising and has directors driving around in expensive cars, salesmen on commission selling to existing customers and new ones, trying to get more listing features or whatever.

BBC covered a couple of them here: Fear over trusted trade website profiles - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42783279

You can get yourself a website using Wordpress, and update it yourself. Optimise it quite easy. Rank in Google naturally (no paying for ads), and get business coming in from it.

Or you can work on getting your listing with one of these companies up. Some of them encourage you to email your existing customers. Which obviously means there's no assurances the feedback actually comes from genuine customers then, you just get 20 free gmail accounts and send yourself the link to leave 10 star feedback so that when people search the website, your listing looks awesome and your feedback is spot on. Not seen a single listing ever with bad feedback on any of them.

That all said, I've not got a listing with a single one of them.

So I thought I'd run a poll, and have this handy thread for others to read and contribute to ongoing.

Feel free to discuss anything at all, pricing, experience, feedback, customers, type of work coming from them, whatever.

Please be constructive should you have criticism.

If a company you're with isn't in the poll, let me know, and I'll add it.

Please feel free to vote on as many of the options as you use yourself for your marketing.

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

 

[Dan]

Some similar threads:

Trusted Trader / Bark / MyBuilder / CheckaTrade in a new area - in - UK Electrical Forum

, Trusted Trader / Bark / MyBuilder / CheckaTrade in a new area, UK Electrical Forum, ElectriciansForums.net Est.2006 | Free Electrical Advice Forum and page_number.

www.electriciansforums.net

Trust Mark, but can it be trusted??? - in - UK Electrical Forum

, Trust Mark, but can it be trusted???, UK Electrical Forum, ElectriciansForums.net Est.2006 | Free Electrical Advice Forum and page_number.

www.electriciansforums.net

Apparently we are the most trusted trade! - in - UK Electrical Forum

, Apparently we are the most trusted trade!, UK Electrical Forum, ElectriciansForums.net Est.2006 | Free Electrical Advice Forum and page_number.

www.electriciansforums.net

Trust a trader, checkatrade, rated people - in - UK Electrical Forum

, Trust a trader, checkatrade, rated people, UK Electrical Forum, ElectriciansForums.net Est.2006 | Free Electrical Advice Forum and page_number.

www.electriciansforums.net

Rated People, Trust a Trader, My Builder etc - in - UK Electrical Forum

, Rated People, Trust a Trader, My Builder etc, UK Electrical Forum, ElectriciansForums.net Est.2006 | Free Electrical Advice Forum and page_number.

www.electriciansforums.net

Trust a Trader vs Rated People - in - UK Electrical Forum

, Trust a Trader vs Rated People, UK Electrical Forum, ElectriciansForums.net Est.2006 | Free Electrical Advice Forum and page_number.

www.electriciansforums.net

Checkatrade,Mybuilder, Myhammer ratedpeople etc etc.. Your views?

Are they amu good as I am thinking if joining and one of their reps is coming next week!! Keep the cash and have xmas or spend it and have a bonanza Xmas next year?!?!!?

www.electriciansforums.net

Checkatrade,Mybuilder, Myhammer ratedpeople etc etc.. Your views?

Are they amu good as I am thinking if joining and one of their reps is coming next week!! Keep the cash and have xmas or spend it and have a bonanza Xmas next year?!?!!?

www.electriciansforums.net

Checkatrade,Mybuilder, Myhammer ratedpeople etc etc.. Your views?

Are they amu good as I am thinking if joining and one of their reps is coming next week!! Keep the cash and have xmas or spend it and have a bonanza Xmas next year?!?!!?

www.electriciansforums.net

Some threads that might be handy for anybody else looking into joining one or more of the rated people type websites. Please feel free to link to other threads you found handy yourself if you found some.

 

[Eddie1]

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

Thought I'd start a poll off to see if we can see who's with what type of rate-my-builder website, if at all. And which ones seem to work, and if they do, why etc.

I've also put some other options there to see where people are spending their time and money on marketing right now, should they not be spending it with the big few common names.

Current options are:-

• MyBuilder.com - MyBuilder.com - Find trusted builders and tradesmen - https://www.mybuilder.com/
• Federation of Master Builders - https://www.fmb.org.uk/
• CheckaTrade.com - Checkatrade: Find a tradesperson you can trust - https://www.checkatrade.com/
• RatedPeople.com - https://www.ratedpeople.com/
• TrustaTrader.com - Find Trusted Traders and Local Tradesmen - https://www.trustatrader.com/
• TrustedTraders.Which.co.uk - Find traders near you with Which? Trusted Traders | Which? - https://trustedtraders.which.co.uk/
• MyJobQuote.co.uk - MyJobQuote.co.uk - Get quotes from Local Builders and Tradesmen. - https://www.myjobquote.co.uk/
• Yell.com - Yell.com - the UK's leading online business directory - https://www.yell.com/
• Google Adwords (Google Paid Listings) - Google Ads - Get More Customers With Easy Online Advertising - https://ads.google.com/
• Own Website with Natural Google Listings (No Ads Bought)
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc)
• Reply with any other options and I'll add them to the list.

My personal opinion on this, after reading so many threads on all our forums, is that they're a middle-man where one isn't needed. People who need jobs doing on their homes could search Google before they came about, and they'd find tradespeoples own websites. And it all worked fine. The full amount of money that the tradesperson charged went to their business. And it wouldn't cost much to get a website online and running well.

Now though, there's an annual charge, or a percentage of the job, going to a company that's spending millions on advertising and has directors driving around in expensive cars, salesmen on commission selling to existing customers and new ones, trying to get more listing features or whatever.

You can get yourself a website using Wordpress, and update it yourself. Optimise it quite easy. Rank in Google naturally (no paying for ads), and get business coming in from it.

Or you can work on getting your listing with one of these companies up. Some of them encourage you to email your existing customers. Which obviously means there's no assurances the feedback actually comes from genuine customers then, you just get 20 free gmail accounts and send yourself the link to leave 10 star feedback so that when people search the website, your listing looks awesome and your feedback is spot on. Not seen a single listing ever with bad feedback on any of them.

That all said, I've not got a listing with a single one of them.

So I thought I'd run a poll, and have this handy thread for others to read and contribute to ongoing.

Feel free to discuss anything at all, pricing, experience, feedback, customers, type of work coming from them, whatever.

Please be constructive should you have criticism.

If a company you're with isn't in the poll, let me know, and I'll add it.

Please feel free to vote on as many of the options as you use yourself for your marketing.

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

I know people who have tried them. I never advertised all my work was from recommendation for over 35years, and I was never out of work. If you do a good clean job at a proper price you don't need to pay a middle man. I have had customers wait over a year for me.You can have your own web site with pictures of your work.

 

[Corbs]

Nope never used them dan it’s another cut out of a very small pie (for advertisement) normally there ok for quick little jobs but anything more / big jobs I see it’s a race to the bottom

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the replies. Had a lot of replies to my PM saying most of their work is from word of mouth. Takes a lot to get going though these days, and until then, people need to somehow advertise themselves.

Hoping we get this thread going well and have some good views from both those who gain work from such sites, and those who struggled to gain on them, or found them to not be profitable in the end perhaps (which is what some of the more recent threads appear to suggest).

 

[Eddie1]

Nope never used them dan it’s another cut out of a very small pie (for advertisement) normally there ok for quick little jobs but anything more / big jobs I see it’s a race to the bottom

I have never used them no need if you do a good clean job, charge a proper price and treat you customer with respect you will get all your work from recommendation. I did for 35Years.

 

[Dan]

I have never used them no need if you do a good clean job, charge a proper price and treat you customer with respect you will get all your work from recommendation. I did for 35Years.

I think your first post was sitting in the approval queue for a minute or two. All approved now.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Im on a few of these sites.
I gave checkatrade ago and at 80pm aint cheap that said its brought in over 4.5k of work in around 10 months.
Mybuilder is free to be on and for a few quid per job you pick up the odd smaller job. Lights, sockets etc... that said i have got 3 car charger installs from that despite being most expensive of 3. My quotes are in depth and detailed. So doing something right.
Ratedpeople am on as i got a very cheap deal. It brings in some work but wont be on much longer. Dont like the process. Its also expensive per job

 

[Dan]

Im on a few of these sites.
I gave checkatrade ago and at 80pm aint cheap that said its brought in over 4.5k of work in around 10 months.
Mybuilder is free to be on and for a few quid per job you pick up the odd smaller job. Lights, sockets etc... that said i have got 3 car charger installs from that despite being most expensive of 3. My quotes are in depth and detailed. So doing something right.
Ratedpeople am on as i got a very cheap deal. It brings in some work but wont be on much longer. Dont like the process. Its also expensive per job

Thanks for the reply!

So checkatrade you pay per month no matter what?
Then mybuilder you pay per job?
And rated people is similar to checkatrade? You pay per month or something?

 

[littlejohn]

I'm a DIYer, not professional but I thought it might be interesting to hear a point of view from the other side of the fence

I was shocked (and embarrassed) when someone I turned down from Mybuilder told me he'd had to pay to answer my request for quotes; he was a little slow getting back to me, by which time I'd given the job to someone else but he hadn't had the chance to actually quote. That doesn't seem fair, and actually puts me off asking for a quote (via MyBuilder) because sometimes the quote/visit makes you realise that your idea is not a sensible one.

I've had a mixed result when choosing from MyBuilder - although there are glowing reviews, sometimes you still have to look around for a while first. I don't use them any more.

I've found that NextDoor.co.uk is a really good source - you're asking your neighbours in your local area, and people tend to post up when someone asks for a referral. Maybe I've just been lucky, but the more local someone is the happier I've ended up. A solid local reputation is way better than a 5/5 rating on mybuilder etc.

 

[telectrix]

i tried rated people for a few months. got a few jobs out of it, but some were not worth doing e.g. a call-out 40 miles away for under £50. some customers wanted total,rewires with a budget of £1000. soon gave that up.

 

[Dan]

I'm a DIYer, not professional but I thought it might be interesting to hear a point of view from the other side of the fence

I was shocked (and embarrassed) when someone I turned down from Mybuilder told me he'd had to pay to answer my request for quotes; he was a little slow getting back to me, by which time I'd given the job to someone else but he hadn't had the chance to actually quote. That doesn't seem fair, and actually puts me off asking for a quote (via MyBuilder) because sometimes the quote/visit makes you realise that your idea is not a sensible one.

I've had a mixed result when choosing from MyBuilder - although there are glowing reviews, sometimes you still have to look around for a while first. I don't use them any more.

I've found that NextDoor.co.uk is a really good source - you're asking your neighbours in your local area, and people tend to post up when someone asks for a referral. Maybe I've just been lucky, but the more local someone is the happier I've ended up. A solid local reputation is way better than a 5/5 rating on mybuilder etc.

Thanks for the reply! Had a couple of replies to my PM about NextDoor. Kinda social media I guess. Is it free to post a job on there?

 

[littlejohn]

Had a couple of replies to my PM about NextDoor. Kinda social media I guess. Is it free to post a job on there?

Kind of. It's not a job site, it's aimed at people in a general local area to ask local questions - it could be as simple as "I've lost my cat", or "Found some keys" but also "anyone know a good local plumber". I've been able to post to sell things like the old oil tanks and bits and pieces, and I've seen that people are able to post up business cards and list their businesses on there

I've never been charged, but then I'm not commercial; and the people I've hired from their have been effectively advertised by their previous customers.

 

[Midwest]

I only used the free Yell listings, never got anything. In my short time, I never got to the point of signing up to any of these schemes. Some of the conversations I had with other sparks, gave pretty much 50/50 split on pros & cons.

There is also the government web site Competent Persons Register | Home - https://www.competentperson.co.uk/
for electrics, glazing, plumbing etc. I’ve suggested the site to people ringing me, since I closed my business. I personally wouldn’t recommend those other web site’s already mentioned, not withstanding not all sparks are in a GAPS.

 

[cheifybouy]

Signed up for rated people at the beginning of the year when I was quiet.
It didn’t really suit me as I don’t try to be cheap and wasn’t willing to fork out the money for the bigger jobs.
Did a few small, quick, local call outs aswell but got fed up with the process for even that.
Told them I wanted to leave and stopped paying them, then they took £300 out my account one day.
Turns out I didn’t read the small print or listen when my best mate craig was reading them to me.
Shower of arseholes in my opinion, won’t go near anything like that ever again.