Checkatrade is a legitimate way to get leads. Plenty of tradespeople use it and get work from it, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. If it's bringing in jobs, that's a good thing.
But there's a question worth asking: what happens to your business if Checkatrade changes its pricing, changes its algorithm, or you decide you can't justify the annual cost? And separately — are you invisible to the majority of people who never go near Checkatrade and just search Google?
The answer to both is: yes, there's a problem. Here's what it is, and what a website does differently.
What Checkatrade Actually Does for You
To be fair about it, Checkatrade does a few things genuinely well.
It gives you a profile with verified reviews, which carries some trust with customers who specifically go to Checkatrade to find a trade. It handles some of the credibility-building for you — the vetting process, the badge, the star rating system. And for tradespeople who don't have a website, it's often the fastest way to get any kind of online presence at all.
For some trades in some areas, particularly plumbers and electricians in high-demand locations, it can deliver a decent volume of leads. So yes, it has genuine value.
What It Can't Do
The fundamental issue with Checkatrade — and with any directory — is that the leads don't belong to you. You're paying to be listed on someone else's platform, and the customers who find you there are, in a sense, Checkatrade's customers first. When they finish comparing your profile with three others on the same page, the one who calls you might also call two of your competitors.
There are a few other problems worth understanding:
You're invisible on Google Search
When someone Googles "plumber in Livingston" or "roofer near me", they are not going to land on your Checkatrade profile. They'll land on Checkatrade's website, which lists you alongside everyone else in your area. Your individual profile is not what ranks — Checkatrade's website is. Your name is buried inside it.
Your own website, set up properly with local SEO, can rank for those searches directly. That's a completely different type of visibility — and it sends enquiries straight to you, not to a comparison page.
The cost mounts up
Checkatrade membership costs several hundred pounds a year for most trades. That's an ongoing cost every year, indefinitely. A one-off website investment — from £99 with us — is a single payment for something you own outright and that works for you year after year without another invoice. The maths on that over five years is fairly stark.
You don't control your profile
Checkatrade sets the rules. They decide how profiles are displayed, how reviews are ranked, what you can and can't say, and what happens if there's a complaint. They can change any of it at any time. Your own website is yours — you decide everything about how it looks and what it says.
The dependency risk: the tradespeople I worry about are the ones whose only online presence is a Checkatrade profile. If Checkatrade doubles its prices next year, or decides your category is too competitive and starts charging per lead instead of per year, your entire online pipeline is affected. A website you own is immune to all of that.
Checkatrade vs Your Own Website
Checkatrade Only
- Annual cost, every year, forever
- Your profile sits alongside competitors
- Invisible on Google direct searches
- Platform controls rules and display
- Leads go to Checkatrade, then to you
- Gone if you stop paying or get removed
Your Own Website
- One-off cost, yours forever
- Full attention on your business only
- Can rank directly on Google searches
- You control everything about it
- Enquiries go straight to you
- Works regardless of what directories do
The Google Search Problem
This is the one that catches most people out. The searches that generate the best leads — urgent, high-intent searches like "emergency plumber Edinburgh" or "electrician Musselburgh" — almost never end up on Checkatrade. People doing those searches are clicking the top Google results, which are a mix of Google Maps listings (Google Business Profile) and individual websites.
Checkatrade doesn't have a Google Business Profile for your business. It has one for Checkatrade. You need your own. And to rank well in those local searches, you need a website that Google can read, understand, and match to the query.
That's not complicated to set up — the local SEO guide covers exactly what's involved — but it does require having your own site. There's no shortcut to that visibility through a directory.
The Case for Doing Both
I'm not saying ditch Checkatrade. If it's bringing in work and the cost makes sense, keep using it. The point is that it shouldn't be your only online presence, and it shouldn't be what you rely on if you want stable, long-term lead generation.
The tradespeople who do best tend to have:
- A proper website with local SEO — their own presence on Google
- A Google Business Profile — visibility on Google Maps and local results
- A directory listing (Checkatrade, MyBuilder, or similar) as an additional channel
- Regular reviews flowing in across all of them
Each of those reaches a slightly different group of potential customers. The website and Google Business Profile reach people who go straight to Google. The directory reaches people who specifically use directories. Word of mouth reaches the people who already know someone who knows you.
More channels, less dependency on any one of them. That's a more robust business.
The way I think about it: Checkatrade is rented visibility. Your website is owned visibility. Rented is fine while you're paying the rent, but if the landlord puts the price up or changes the rules, you have a problem. Owned compounds over time and nobody can take it away.
Common Questions
Checkatrade vets its tradespeople. Doesn't that make my profile more trustworthy?
It adds a layer of credibility for customers who specifically trust the Checkatrade vetting process. But a lot of customers don't know or care about that — they're searching Google, seeing who comes up, and deciding based on your reviews, your website, and how professional you look. The vetting badge doesn't appear in a Google search result. Your reviews, your site, and your star rating do.
What if I'm already getting enough work through Checkatrade?
Then you're in a good position. The question is whether you want that to be sustainable long-term, and whether there's work you're missing from people who never look at directories. "Enough work now" is different from "a stable business that generates leads on multiple channels". A website is cheap insurance against the second scenario.
Is it worth it for a sole trader who just wants steady work?
Especially for a sole trader. You don't need a high volume of leads — you need a reliable, consistent flow of good ones. A website that ranks locally generates that without you having to keep paying for it. Once it's set up and indexed, it works while you're on the job. And it takes less than 48 hours to have one live.
Can I use my Checkatrade reviews on my website?
Not directly — Checkatrade's reviews are on their platform and can't be embedded or exported to your site. What you can do is ask customers who left you a Checkatrade review to also leave one on Google, and then use those Google reviews on your website. The best approach long-term is to build up reviews in both places.
What about MyBuilder, Rated People, and other directories?
Same principle applies to all of them. Pay-per-lead models mean the cost scales with your workload. Annual subscription models are ongoing cost for rented visibility. There's nothing wrong with using them as one channel among several — the problem is relying on any of them as your only online presence. The same argument that applies to Checkatrade applies equally to Facebook, social media, or any platform you don't own.