Checkatrade and MyBuilder are marketed as a solution to the problem every tradesperson has: a reliable flow of leads. And they do deliver leads. The question is what you are really paying for them and what it is costing you beyond the subscription fee.
The Real Cost of Platform Leads
The headline subscription fee is not the full story. Here is how the costs stack up in practice.
You pay a monthly subscription to be listed. Then you pay per lead, or you bid for jobs in competition with other tradespeople. Then you often have to discount your rate to win the job because the customer is comparing you to four other quotes. Then you do the job, leave a good review, and the customer goes back to the platform next time they need someone.
Add it all up and the cost per job won is often significantly higher than it appears at first. Some tradespeople who have done the maths find they are effectively working for a platform margin on top of their usual costs.
You Are Building Their Business, Not Yours
Every job you complete through a lead platform builds the platform’s reputation, not yours. The customer found you through Checkatrade. They trust Checkatrade. When they need someone next time, they go back to Checkatrade.
If you left the platform tomorrow, that customer has no way to find you directly. You have no relationship with them. You never captured their contact details in a way that is yours to keep. You are starting from zero again.
Contrast that with a customer who found you through your own website. They bookmarked it. They saved your number. They might send your website link to a friend who needs the same work. That customer relationship belongs to you.
The Price Race Problem
Platform leads attract price-sensitive customers by design. The platform shows multiple quotes side by side. The customer compares. Price becomes the dominant factor.
Tradespeople who generate leads through their own website and Google ranking deal with a different type of customer. One who searched specifically for their trade, found them, looked at their reviews and photos, and decided to make contact. That customer has already done their research and chosen you before they even call. Price is still a factor but it is not the only one.
The Fee Creep Problem
Platform fees have a consistent history of going up over time. What costs €X per month today will cost more in two years. The platform knows you are dependent on the leads and uses that dependency to raise prices.
Your own website does not do this. The cost of maintaining it stays relatively flat while the results it generates tend to improve over time as your SEO builds.
What to Do Instead
This is not an argument for ignoring all lead sources except your website. When you are starting out or in a slow patch, platforms can fill the gap.
The point is that they should never be your primary or only lead source. The tradespeople who use platforms most successfully treat them as a temporary top-up while they build their own presence. Once their website is ranking and reviews are accumulating, the platform becomes optional.
Building your own lead generation takes longer. Six to twelve months to see meaningful results from SEO. But once it is working, it is yours. Nobody can change the pricing on it. Nobody can remove you from it. It generates leads while you sleep and while you are on the tools.
That is worth more than any platform subscription.
Written by Maebh Collins
ACA qualified, Dundalk-based. I build websites and write SEO content for trade businesses across Ireland and the UK. If you have questions, get in touch.