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'Check a Trade'..or your local authority equiv. IS IT WORTH IT?

J

Jimbo

Who checks you? Who checks you for what? How can they be sure????????

More importantly....at least to me........

Who are they ? What are they? If it wasn't for the £175 they want for a poxy vinyl badge then i could be anybody.

How can I be sure? ...well i am sure,,,i can trust meself ....it's them that worries me.....

Trust or rust ?

 
Lots of tradesmen put in a pit and forced to fight it out in a giant price war....fk that. Customers giving thier opinions on your performance for all to see....fk that. Paying for the privilage....FK OFF!!!

 
EXACTLY BROTHER !!!!!!!!

Come forth you squinty eyed betrayers of the grey scrim...........

SHOW YOUR TRUE SELVES !!!!!!!!!!

 
EXACTLY BROTHER !!!!!!!! Come forth you squinty eyed betrayers of the grey scrim...........

SHOW YOUR TRUE SELVES !!!!!!!!!!
.....sorry i mean't to add.....HAHAHAHAHAHA ( menacing tone from stage right)

 
Feedback is bad enough on ebay, can you imagine some little ***** canyoujuster holding your feedback to ransom because you didnt remove the birds nest from the gutter while you were doing a £12 window clean.

 
Lots of tradesmen put in a pit and forced to fight it out in a giant price war....fk that. Customers giving thier opinions on your performance for all to see....fk that. Paying for the privilage....FK OFF!!!
Thank you Brother Purd....just a shame there's not an icon on this site for violent,informative and creative optimism. Biggles .....Flies Undone.

 
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Lol at not wanting customers to give an opinion for all to see. Thats what I want, I want them to preach at how good my work is! /emoticons/biggrin.png

Pretty sure you choose who can give you feedback as you have to give them a card, so you just wouldn't give it to the idiot customers. I can see the benefit of those sites from a customers perspective as how do they know who to use without a recommendation... well I could if they were real and not fixed and if everyone didn't have 9+ ratings because no arsey or unsatified customer will get given a card therefore rendering it totally pointless. It is also proper expensive and not worth it for a low pay per job like a window cleaner with the upfront cost and cut they take, I know alot of people who use then for other tradesman though.

 
Lol at not wanting customers to give an opinion for all to see. Thats what I want, I want them to preach at how good my work is! /emoticons/biggrin.png
Pretty sure you choose who can give you feedback as you have to give them a card, so you just wouldn't give it to the idiot customers. I can see the benefit of those sites from a customers perspective as how do they know who to use without a recommendation... well I could if they were real and not fixed and if everyone didn't have 9+ ratings because no arsey or unsatified customer will get given a card therefore rendering it totally pointless. It is also proper expensive and not worth it for a low pay per job like a window cleaner with the upfront cost and cut they take, I know alot of people who use then for other tradesman though.
That aint how it works signor Bump. Customers put jobs they want doing on the site- description and pic. Tradesmen come along and bid on said job. Customer looks at prices and feedback and pics a contractor. Once you have done the job, they rate you a bit like ebay.

I signed up many moons ago for my plastering and handyman business free for a month. Heres a few observations;

Most of the tradesmen are inexperienced, young, keen...and no idea how to price a job....but what does it matter, since they are still living at home with mum. Why is it only inexperienced? ...because the ones that have experience have already built up a customer base and good word of mouth, they don't need it.

Its one huge price war. The ones with the low feedback will put in stupidly low bids just to get the job and build their profile. This brings down the 'going rate' for everyone.

The whole site works on the assumption that tradesmen are all scumbags and cheats, and as such should be regulated/rated publicly for all to see. ...but where is the rating for the customers? How do I decide if I want to work for that person? How do I know that something vital hasnt been left out of the description- safety related/bad access/the electric cable that was buried where you are digging and the customer not sure where it is....but wont mention it so as not to raise the price.

Your feedback is very important to you, and the customer knows this, so they can hold you to ransom making you perform all manner of canyoujusts, safe in the knowledge that the ball is well and truly in there court. Just like marriage, the best and most healthy relationships are a 50/50 power split.

 
Just like MARRIAGE

you mean the 80/10 power split in favour of the woman while convincing yourself you're really in charge lol

 
Just like MARRIAGEyou mean the 80/10 power split in favour of the woman while convincing yourself you're really in charge lol
Your maths is about as good as mine dave./emoticons/biggrin.png

 
Christ on a bike lads ! I was only asking!!!
I'm not up on checkatrade mate but I now lot of windies round my way and they get loads of work through the local authority trusted trader and it's only £39 also you then get registered on there approved contractor list for council work etc

A windie I sold my old van to was on it and has built a big round shortly and said 90 percent off the work came through that

I'd be on it in a flash if needed the work

 
check a trade, and the other one, window cleaning only i wouldnt bother, you would get calls from outside your work zones. driveway cleaning , conny cleaning etc maybe ok.

but window cleaning only nnnaaahhh, £600 i got quoted, up here in north east,

i nearly chocked on my spit

 
Yeah checkatrades a rip. Think ratedpeople is too. Its one of those sites tolish you give the customers a card, or used to be a few years ago, not sure which. Shame its just a price war. Your lucky to be shopping for customers, but then if your on one of those sites its because you need the customers. Its up to you whether to take canyoujusters in your stride or not. I almost always just reply instantly with a price.. "can you clear that gutter there" "yeah sure, that bit will only be a tenner, do you want it done now or next time?" then you see if they actually want it done or are just trying their luck. You get to reply to their feedback. Its no different to them leaving feedback on your facebook, twitter, googleplus or whatever. It must work as lots of tradesman and customers use them as its easy. It is totally not worth it though for how much it costs for us windies. But each to their own who likes or dislikes it or thinks its good value or not. I reckon its about 70/20 not worth it /emoticons/biggrin.png

 
If you need to rely on outbidding each other for work you've not been canvassing/leafletting/facebooking enough

 
Check with local council about there scheme now the trusted trader around my way is 39 and that's it and people get loads work and if u get few council contracts they can be good

There just building a new super leisure centre in my town and it will be only trusted trader people who can quote it

 
Lol at not wanting customers to give an opinion for all to see. Thats what I want, I want them to preach at how good my work is! /emoticons/biggrin.png
Pretty sure you choose who can give you feedback as you have to give them a card, so you just wouldn't give it to the idiot customers. I can see the benefit of those sites from a customers perspective as how do they know who to use without a recommendation... well I could if they were real and not fixed and if everyone didn't have 9+ ratings because no arsey or unsatified customer will get given a card therefore rendering it totally pointless. It is also proper expensive and not worth it for a low pay per job like a window cleaner with the upfront cost and cut they take, I know alot of people who use then for other tradesman though.
This is it Mr.B. I'm a man of principle. I know my local Cu..Council only too well. For me to pay them £175 to gain kudos and a few extra Mickey jobs is pathetic. It's a bloody con and really, when you look at it, they are promoting mistrust in the general public. It's almost a protection racket ' if we don't approve you, then buyer beware'.

 
I get it from both sides. From our pov its a rip off. From the customers, unless its a recommendation they don't want to fall foul of a cowboy. I had to find an electrician a few weeks back, all recommendations were busy when I needed them and so I had to trawl through random numbers. I didn't use checkatrade, just google, but for anything bigger than a quick fix I can see how it could be useful as a starting block. It's still a con tho ;-)

 
Check with local council about there scheme now the trusted trader around my way is 39 and that's it and people get loads work and if u get few council contracts they can be goodThere just building a new super leisure centre in my town and it will be only trusted trader people who can quote it
And the best of luck to any poor soul thinking of getting involved with their local authority. I've seen too many get shafted over the years to get involved. Always be prepared to take a hit and make sure you can financially cover it. I'm not Balfour Beatty and i don't pretend to be.

 
Trust-a-trader based their business model on Solar Steve.

Nowt to do with trustworthy business practices or people - once you are paid up on your dues and they are recommending your services you have a degree of exclusivity to an area as they only 'permit' one or two traders per area.

I don't trust Solar Steve business model so why would I trust someone else that wants to bill me for 'exclusivity' ?

 
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