Trusted Trader / Bark / MyBuilder / CheckaTrade in a new area

[electricdave]

Hi All, I have just moved to a new area, am self employed. Just wondering if anyone has had success advertising with Trusted Trader/Bark/MyBuilder/CheckaTrade etc?

 

[Baddegg]

Never minded check a trade, good setup that works.....all the others forget about it’s just a race to the lowest price and more than person I’ve spoken to have the opinion that a lot of the jobs on there are fake....

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I actually have grown to like checkatrade. Was a cynic but in the few months i have been on it. Its brought a couple of grands worth of work in. More im quoting for now.
Mybuilder is a race to the bottom. Ratedpeople less so. Still competing with silly quotes mind.
Not looked at trusted trader though.

 

[Baddegg]

Never minded check a trade, good setup that works.....all the others forget about it’s just a race to the lowest price and more than person I’ve spoken to have the opinion that a lot of the jobs on there are fake....

Angry this morning @Pete999?

 

[Charlie_]

I think Pete is angry due to there being no bad spelling tag

 

[electricdave]

Thanks for your replies. I think that some of them are a rip. I guess it depends if it brings in work...I don't mind paying as long as it brings results. I spent about £200 with google and a miserly £40 with FB both with no results...

 

[Deleted member 26818]

I should imagine with Google, the things at the top of the list, will be Check a Trade and all the rest. Same as with car insurance.
Don’t think anyone trusts Facebook, too many scams.

 

[123]

Thanks for your replies. I think that some of them are a rip. I guess it depends if it brings in work...I don't mind paying as long as it brings results. I spent about £200 with google and a miserly £40 with FB both with no results...

£200 with google and £40 with facebook...over how long a period?

 

[NDG Elecs]

Thanks for your replies. I think that some of them are a rip. I guess it depends if it brings in work...I don't mind paying as long as it brings results. I spent about £200 with google and a miserly £40 with FB both with no results...

I got myself to the top of the Google rankings for local electricians. Needed to tweak the keywords on my website, add a few legit links on there and get some reviews off customers. Apparently all those help the Google algorithms to think you are a good shout so to speak.
I did initially use AdWords but that can be costly with little benefit I found.

Edit: I just double checked, and ratedpeople and checkatawt are above me but they are the paid ads and I'm the first one directly below them.

When I was first getting reviews off folks I will admit I posted a fake one. Google soon took it down! But they have also taken legit reviews off too which is annoying.

Get a cheap website - dead easy to do the design yourself if you use computers a bit, and get some reviews. Yell, as much as they annoy me, have been the source of a few jobs with only one customer review on there.

Good luck (unless you're on my patch!!)...

 

[electricdave]

Thanks. Unfortunately I've moved from a rural area where I had been trading for 20 yrs to a small town, which seems to be drowning in sparks. Good move...?

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Thanks. Unfortunately I've moved from a rural area where I had been trading for 20 yrs to a small town, which seems to be drowning in sparks. Good move...?

Key is get yourself known. Find the hmo register on your councils website and send leaflets, letters even a free pen to the license holder.
Likewise the letting agents and lots of bright signage. Dont enter a price war present yourself professionally to reflect your standard of work.

 

[electricdave]

Key is get yourself known. Find the hmo register on your councils website and send leaflets, letters even a free pen to the license holder.
Likewise the letting agents and lots of bright signage. Dont enter a price war present yourself professionally to reflect your standard of work.

I agree, not interested in a price war. No-one wins that. Council is a good idea - I didn't bother at my previous location since the council wanted me to jump thru too many hoops, and pay £150 H&S assessment to be on their list, and £150 annually to be on their register.

 

[Andy78]

Key is get yourself known. Find the hmo register on your councils website and send leaflets, letters even a free pen to the license holder.
Likewise the letting agents and lots of bright signage. Dont enter a price war present yourself professionally to reflect your standard of work.

Presenting yourself as not cheap but as high quality and specifically targeting letting agents and HMO landlords is certainly an unorthodox strategy.

 

[electricdave]

Presenting yourself as not cheap but as high quality and specifically targeting letting agents and HMO landlords is certainly an unorthodox strategy.

hmm.. yes generally HMOs stuff is in my experience pretty poor quality. Letting agents always want things done quickly and for not much $$.
There must be some joy tho in using sticky trunking and no spirit level. BT use sticky back backboxes which must be a joy (untill they come off)

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Bath is nearly 20% student population out of around 90k population. Its now end of tenancy season and phone ringing but im booked up until late August already.
Hmos everywhere. I find if you deal with landlords directly around here they pay for reliable trades as council are very much on the ball regards licensing. The agents are all about £$€. Prefer to deal direct. They Also add 20% on to my bill to the landlord. So i sometimes pop a copy over by email if they annoy me, they then get funny but often landlord comes direct in future!!
People bemoan checkatrade but i am liking it, its brought in nearly 5k of completed or agreed work since March. Not bad for £2 a day.
You could consider preferred management for the insurance call outs in your area, say 30 mins each way... if local they pay alright.