Search for job leads for tradesmen and every result on the first page is a platform trying to sign you up. Checkatrade, MyBuilder, and half a dozen others, each telling you it’s the one to pick.
None of them will tell you where their own model falls short. They’re all selling the same thing: access to homeowners who need work done. Below, we lay out how these models actually charge, what they cost in practice, and where free channels still do a better job.
Why does every “best leads” search result look like an advert?
Because it is one. Lead generation is the whole business model for every name on that page, so the content is written to get you signed up, not to help you compare.
That’s not a criticism of the platforms themselves – plenty of tradespeople get solid work through them. It just means nobody ranking for this term has a reason to point out where their own charging model gets expensive, or where a job comes through cheaper without them.
What are the different ways platforms actually charge?
Strip away the branding and there are really three charging models in play, and most platforms sit close to one of them:
- Membership or subscription style. You pay a recurring fee, often annual, for a profile and a place in the listings. The fee’s the same whether a quiet month brings you two jobs or ten.
- Pay-per-lead or credits. You buy credits and spend them to see contact details or respond to a specific job. Bark and MyBuilder both run on versions of this.
- Commission on the win. Some newer platforms skip the upfront charge entirely and take a cut only when you win the job. There’s no monthly fee and nothing to lose on a job you don’t get. But the platform’s take comes straight off your margin on every job that does land.
A smaller group (HomeForce is one) sells each lead to a single tradesperson rather than several at once. They only charge once the job’s gone ahead. That exclusivity tends to cost more per lead than a shared-credit system.
How do you work out if a lead is actually worth what it costs?
The number that matters isn’t the price of one lead – it’s the price per job actually won. If a lead costs £15 and you win one job in four, your real cost per booked job is £60, not £15. Compare that figure against the job’s value and your margin on it.
Exclusivity changes the maths too. A lead shared with four other tradespeople is usually cheaper, but your odds of winning it are lower from the start. A lead sold to you alone costs more.
Track it for a month or two on whichever platform you try: leads bought, jobs won, and what those jobs were actually worth. Without that, “expensive” and “good value” are just guesses.
What don’t these platforms mention on their sign-up page?
Many will ask to see proof you’re covered before they’ll put your profile live. That usually means showing them your public liability insurance – not just ticking a box to say you have it.
Lead quality can vary significantly between enquiries. For example, one enquiry may come from a homeowner looking to book work in the near future, while another may be from someone gathering several quotes before making a decision.
A credit or fee spent on a no-show, a job that falls through, or a customer who was never serious is money gone. That’s true whichever charging model you’re on.
Is it worth relying on free lead sources instead?
Referrals, a decent Google Business Profile, and repeat customers cost nothing per lead. They tend to convert better too, because someone’s already vouching for you before you pick up the phone.
The trade-off is speed. A platform can put a job in front of you today, whereas a referral network takes months of good work to build up. It’s slower to fill a quiet week.
Most tradespeople who do well end up running both: paid leads to smooth out the gaps, free channels doing the steady background work. If you want the wider picture, branding, website, reviews, word of mouth, Tradesman Saver’s guide to marketing your trade business covers that ground.
So which model should you actually pick?
That depends on your trade, your area, and how tight your margins are, not on which platform has the loudest marketing:
- A subscription suits someone who can rely on steady work to spread the fixed cost across.
- Pay-per-lead suits someone who wants to dip in and out without a standing commitment.
- Commission suits someone who’d rather pay nothing upfront and accept a smaller cut on the jobs that land.
Try one model for a month. Track the real cost per job won against what you’d have earned without it.
Whichever leads you win, the cover needs to keep up
However the work comes in, insurance is one thing worth sorting before the jobs start landing, not after. Tradesman Saver has arranged cover for tradespeople since 1984, directly rather than through a comparison site. Public liability, products liability, financial loss, legal expenses, and accidental death insurance cover come as standard.
If your current policy hasn’t kept pace with the work you’re winning, it’s worth a few minutes to get a quote from Tradesman Saver and check.
