Info required for checkatrade!

[Baldmonkey]

I have been contacted a few times by checkatrade and wondered if anyone had any experience in dealing with them.
Ive spent most of my advertising budget on local advertising and wondered if the work is there through checkatrade?

Is it a monthly fee? Didnt want to show my vein to the sales vampire too quickly

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I have been contacted a few times by checkatrade and wondered if anyone had any experience in dealing with them.
Ive spent most of my advertising budget on local advertising and wondered if the work is there through checkatrade?

Is it a monthly fee? Didnt want to show my vein to the sales vampire too quickly

I joined in 2018 and it was great for me but some work was 10 miles away. I found it was good for customers in high earning bracket. Now the guy has sold out to Homeserve which has been bought by an American company I think so its lost its family structure. A lot of the trades have left because they doubled the price and changed a working structure. I am only £10 a month now because I am affiliated member as I don't need the work now but I like to be associated with them on my van and website. Ask for a free month to see how it goes if they refuse then I would walk away. If you have plenty of work then I wouldn't bother because it will eat up your time just visiting jobs. Go on their site and check how much opposition you have in the area. I think they wanted £150 a month off of me to continue for another year, when I started I think I was £80 a month. I use a local booklet from the council for £60 a month that is good for getting OAPs as customers who don't use the internet.

 

[Mx19]

It’s great for one off bigger ticket jobs, not so much for window cleaning! Although looking at my page that’s because of how I’ve got it set up, they charge per category and for me it’s more about the gutters and roof cleaning so didn’t choose window cleaning.

 

[Mattlekim]

It's really dependent on how you like to work. Personaly I want my work as compact as possible. Even charging more for jobs on there own I don't earn as much as when work is compact.

So for us it dosnt work. We also tryed similar things before and it's not been worth out investment.

If you are not desperate for work them your time and money may be better spent elsewhere

 

[ched999uk]

Checkatrade and Trusted trader seem to be a bit regional one is better up north the other down south but I can't remember which.
If you stop paying them then you lose all your reviews unless you pay for affiliate membership!!!
Check out your competition on there to see how many reviews others have.

 

[Baldmonkey]

Cheers @ched999uk @Mattlekim @Mx19 and @scottish cleaning service it was more for the roof cleans, conservatories etc..dont need any more windows at the minute..sounds expensive though at just shy of 2k a year

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Cheers @ched999uk @Mattlekim @Mx19 and @scottish cleaning service it was more for the roof cleans, conservatories etc..dont need any more windows at the minute..sounds expensive though at just shy of 2k a year

Remember, roof cleans and conny cleans are seasonal so you pay for a year and only really get 6 months of work. I must admit it was great for me when I was just starting up. They were flinging everything my way because you just paid £80 a month and it was under cleaning. They soon cottoned on that they could make more money by charging per item so plenty of folk left. I reckon they have shot themselves in the foot by raising prices and they know it. You only have to go on their sites and look for trades and very little come up so what is that telling you.

 

[Crystalalan]

I reckon theres definately scope to barter with them. I went from paying 70 or 80 a month. After a year or two years I had nearly enough custys so wanted to leave so they dropped there price to 35 pounds a month. They are worthwhile for those who are starting up. Its all about getting good reviews though

 

[Pjj]

I have never used them but it’s not a place I would look for a window cleaner , builder plumber maybe , I think it’s grossly overpriced advertising, much better and cheaper ways to get customers.

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

At £80 a month I would want at least 10 customers a month from them.

 

[Pjj]

At £80 a month I would want at least 10 customers a month from them.

Crazy money , my web site costs me £4 something a month and brings in loads of enquiries

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I reckon theres definately scope to barter with them. I went from paying 70 or 80 a month. After a year or two years I had nearly enough custys so wanted to leave so they dropped there price to 35 pounds a month. They are worthwhile for those who are starting up. Its all about getting good reviews though

I started the same as you and it was great to get new customers. At the start one has to spend money to bring in money. First 4 years it was all flowing out the moment it came in, its the same with any business. I got 3 referrals today from Checkatrade, a PW, Roof clean & new gutters and a window clean each month. Its the good weather I found brings in alot of work we do. Might have to even give up my local advertising from the new work coming in.

 

[K in Kent]

I agree with @Pjj and hndnave always thought Checkatrade was outrageously overpriced and opinions on the amount of work it generates also differ greatly.
Also bear in mind that results pages on these directories are a bit like a search engine within a search engine. They just produce more pages with lists of results and if you're not on the first page who will even see your listing?
To be fair I don't know the criteria they use for results but it is very VERY likely to favour their longterm customers who have been on the site the longest and the number of reviews from Checkatrade customers left on the site will almost certainly be important too. In other words it might be difficult for you to get noticed for a while.

On the other hand, there is money in roof cleaning and £80/month is fine IF it generates enquiries. Can you get membership on a monthly basis that you can cancel at any time? If so it could possibly be worth a punt if you're not tied in to a 12 month contract.

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

Surely you'd be better putting money into a lead generation company?

 

[Part Timer]

I don't use it but surely this is just another thing that works for some but not for others. Fairly certain @Ian Docksey uses it for FSG's and gutter clears and does very well from it

 

[scottish cleaning service]

You have got to join for a year but if you are the only one on it for your area then you get all the work.
I am getting too much work through it now maybe because they have guaranteed work up to £1000.

 

[Pjj]

You have got to join for a year but if you are the only one on it for your area then you get all the work.
I am getting too much work through it now maybe because they have guaranteed work up to £1000.

How can they guarantee you will get any work ? That’s not possible if ones don’t phone , don’t like your price you will get nothing so they cannot guarantee anything

 

[scottish cleaning service]

How can they guarantee you will get any work ? That’s not possible if ones don’t phone , don’t like your price you will get nothing so they cannot guarantee anything

Guarantee the tradespersons work if you make a mess of it but up to a grand. Mainly for bathroom fitters, kitchen fitters and large stuff like this. Not sure they would guarantee a pvc clean or window clean. Anyway I did 6 first cleans today and sealed a gutter drip which was like water torture they were telling me. Its all go up here now the rain is back overloading gutters with the downpours. I got a few jobs replacing gutters now because they can't handle the thunder storms.?