Job referral websites - Checkatrade etc

[Richard Measures]

Hi all.
I’m interested in views on the various job referral schemes and how they’ve worked for people. I’m wanting to attract more work.
As far as I can tell there are 2 types of schemes : membership schemes such as Trustatrader and Checkatrade and then commission schemes such Local Heroes and MyBuilder etc...
They all have different features, positives and negatives - what’s worked for you?

TIA

ps - I have asked this question on the Screwfix forum but got few answers from actual traders...

 

[Geckoesltd]

Just my two pence worth but from personal experience, I tried quite a few of the different schemes and found mybuilder brilliant for getting quick jobs and picking and choosing once you have some reviews, I would never go near the checkatrade/ rated people model again imho the whole point of these websites apps etc is to get you work in during your first year of buisness if after that you are still heavily relying on them for work then I would suggest you aren’t adding value to your customers enough to get the word of mouth going. Customers are starting to view a lot of these websites with a side of caution because of some of the reports of the rougue traders these platforms support so I would 1 never pay for a subscription because you pay it if you are to busy for extra work or not and 2. Never put there sticker on your van I’ve won jobs over other contractors because they had a checkatrade sticker on there van.

 

[Baddegg]

Check a trade works for me, expensive but it’s the most well know brand, I’d steer clear of my builder etc they are badly run IMO and a race to the bottom price wise, I’ve stated before that I’m not convinced that some of the jobs you pay leads for even exist and you have no way of knowing either as payment doesn’t guarantee you get to speak/sell yourself to the customer, most will just go for the lowest price offer and complain about the quality afterwards....

 

[Richard Measures]

Check a trade works for me

Thanks - when you say it works, what kind or response and return do you get?

 

[Baddegg]

Thanks - when you say it works, what kind or response and return do you get?

I had 15 calls last month, and appeared in 990 searches which considering we are in lockdown is not bad, those are only the calls for electrical works I receive more for carpentry, loft conversions and other works, I guess location and population is an issue, I am in an extremely high populated area so it’s not hard to make a living, i did for many years with no advertising whatsoever and only went over to Checkatradre when I started to concentrate more on electrical works, as I said the costs are high mine is £140 ish a month but it’s a business cost so is reclaimed on tax but also reflected in my charges, I would say in my experience the service offered from Checkatradre is reflected in the price and they are always on the phone and reply to all contact and will also protect you and ya business when the inevitable awkward customer comes along....

 

[Richard Measures]

Thanks. I’m leaning towards TrustATrader over Checkatrade for a number of reasons. We’ll see. I hope that I should be able to go without once I’ve built up enough customers to rely on referrals alone.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Checkatrade has greater brand awareness but trustatrader is catching up.
Am with checkatrade but with the shutdown of late not seen the benefits.
It has however brought several grands worth of work in so can't really complain

 

[Baddegg]

No reason you can’t do them all,