CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

Dan

Dan

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CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

Thought I'd start a poll off to see if we can see who's with what type of rate-my-builder website, if at all. And which ones seem to work, and if they do, why etc.

I've also put some other options there to see where people are spending their time and money on marketing right now, should they not be spending it with the big few common names.

Current options are:-
My personal opinion on this, after reading so many threads on all our forums, is that they're a middle-man where one isn't needed. People who need jobs doing on their homes could search Google before they came about, and they'd find tradespeoples own websites. And it all worked fine. The full amount of money that the tradesperson charged went to their business. And it wouldn't cost much to get a website online and running well.

Now though, there's an annual charge, or a percentage of the job, going to a company that's spending millions on advertising and has directors driving around in expensive cars, salesmen on commission selling to existing customers and new ones, trying to get more listing features or whatever.

BBC covered a couple of them here: Fear over trusted trade website profiles - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42783279

You can get yourself a website using Wordpress, and update it yourself. Optimise it quite easy. Rank in Google naturally (no paying for ads), and get business coming in from it.

Or you can work on getting your listing with one of these companies up. Some of them encourage you to email your existing customers. Which obviously means there's no assurances the feedback actually comes from genuine customers then, you just get 20 free gmail accounts and send yourself the link to leave 10 star feedback so that when people search the website, your listing looks awesome and your feedback is spot on. Not seen a single listing ever with bad feedback on any of them.

That all said, I've not got a listing with a single one of them.

So I thought I'd run a poll, and have this handy thread for others to read and contribute to ongoing.

Feel free to discuss anything at all, pricing, experience, feedback, customers, type of work coming from them, whatever.

Please be constructive should you have criticism.

If a company you're with isn't in the poll, let me know, and I'll add it.

Please feel free to vote on as many of the options as you use yourself for your marketing.

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?
 
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Checkatrade,Mybuilder, Myhammer ratedpeople etc etc.. Your views?

Are they amu good as I am thinking if joining and one of their reps is coming next week!! Keep the cash and have xmas or spend it and have a bonanza Xmas next year?!?!!?
www.electriciansforums.net www.electriciansforums.net

www.electriciansforums.net

Checkatrade,Mybuilder, Myhammer ratedpeople etc etc.. Your views?

Are they amu good as I am thinking if joining and one of their reps is coming next week!! Keep the cash and have xmas or spend it and have a bonanza Xmas next year?!?!!?
www.electriciansforums.net www.electriciansforums.net

www.electriciansforums.net

Checkatrade,Mybuilder, Myhammer ratedpeople etc etc.. Your views?

Are they amu good as I am thinking if joining and one of their reps is coming next week!! Keep the cash and have xmas or spend it and have a bonanza Xmas next year?!?!!?
www.electriciansforums.net www.electriciansforums.net


Some threads that might be handy for anybody else looking into joining one or more of the rated people type websites. Please feel free to link to other threads you found handy yourself if you found some. :)
 
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Dan said:
CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

Thought I'd start a poll off to see if we can see who's with what type of rate-my-builder website, if at all. And which ones seem to work, and if they do, why etc.

I've also put some other options there to see where people are spending their time and money on marketing right now, should they not be spending it with the big few common names.

Current options are:-
My personal opinion on this, after reading so many threads on all our forums, is that they're a middle-man where one isn't needed. People who need jobs doing on their homes could search Google before they came about, and they'd find tradespeoples own websites. And it all worked fine. The full amount of money that the tradesperson charged went to their business. And it wouldn't cost much to get a website online and running well.

Now though, there's an annual charge, or a percentage of the job, going to a company that's spending millions on advertising and has directors driving around in expensive cars, salesmen on commission selling to existing customers and new ones, trying to get more listing features or whatever.

You can get yourself a website using Wordpress, and update it yourself. Optimise it quite easy. Rank in Google naturally (no paying for ads), and get business coming in from it.

Or you can work on getting your listing with one of these companies up. Some of them encourage you to email your existing customers. Which obviously means there's no assurances the feedback actually comes from genuine customers then, you just get 20 free gmail accounts and send yourself the link to leave 10 star feedback so that when people search the website, your listing looks awesome and your feedback is spot on. Not seen a single listing ever with bad feedback on any of them.

That all said, I've not got a listing with a single one of them.

So I thought I'd run a poll, and have this handy thread for others to read and contribute to ongoing.

Feel free to discuss anything at all, pricing, experience, feedback, customers, type of work coming from them, whatever.

Please be constructive should you have criticism.

If a company you're with isn't in the poll, let me know, and I'll add it.

Please feel free to vote on as many of the options as you use yourself for your marketing.

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?
Click to expand...
I know people who have tried them. I never advertised all my work was from recommendation for over 35years, and I was never out of work. If you do a good clean job at a proper price you don't need to pay a middle man. I have had customers wait over a year for me.You can have your own web site with pictures of your work.
 
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Thanks for the replies. Had a lot of replies to my PM saying most of their work is from word of mouth. Takes a lot to get going though these days, and until then, people need to somehow advertise themselves.

Hoping we get this thread going well and have some good views from both those who gain work from such sites, and those who struggled to gain on them, or found them to not be profitable in the end perhaps (which is what some of the more recent threads appear to suggest).
 
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Corbs said:
Nope never used them dan it’s another cut out of a very small pie (for advertisement) normally there ok for quick little jobs but anything more / big jobs I see it’s a race to the bottom
Click to expand...
I have never used them no need if you do a good clean job, charge a proper price and treat you customer with respect you will get all your work from recommendation. I did for 35Years.
 
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Eddie1 said:
I have never used them no need if you do a good clean job, charge a proper price and treat you customer with respect you will get all your work from recommendation. I did for 35Years.
Click to expand...
I think your first post was sitting in the approval queue for a minute or two. All approved now. :)
 
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Im on a few of these sites.
I gave checkatrade ago and at 80pm aint cheap that said its brought in over 4.5k of work in around 10 months.
Mybuilder is free to be on and for a few quid per job you pick up the odd smaller job. Lights, sockets etc... that said i have got 3 car charger installs from that despite being most expensive of 3. My quotes are in depth and detailed. So doing something right.
Ratedpeople am on as i got a very cheap deal. It brings in some work but wont be on much longer. Dont like the process. Its also expensive per job
 
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Gavin John Hyde said:
Im on a few of these sites.
I gave checkatrade ago and at 80pm aint cheap that said its brought in over 4.5k of work in around 10 months.
Mybuilder is free to be on and for a few quid per job you pick up the odd smaller job. Lights, sockets etc... that said i have got 3 car charger installs from that despite being most expensive of 3. My quotes are in depth and detailed. So doing something right.
Ratedpeople am on as i got a very cheap deal. It brings in some work but wont be on much longer. Dont like the process. Its also expensive per job
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply!

So checkatrade you pay per month no matter what?
Then mybuilder you pay per job?
And rated people is similar to checkatrade? You pay per month or something?
 
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I'm a DIYer, not professional but I thought it might be interesting to hear a point of view from the other side of the fence

I was shocked (and embarrassed) when someone I turned down from Mybuilder told me he'd had to pay to answer my request for quotes; he was a little slow getting back to me, by which time I'd given the job to someone else but he hadn't had the chance to actually quote. That doesn't seem fair, and actually puts me off asking for a quote (via MyBuilder) because sometimes the quote/visit makes you realise that your idea is not a sensible one.

I've had a mixed result when choosing from MyBuilder - although there are glowing reviews, sometimes you still have to look around for a while first. I don't use them any more.

I've found that NextDoor.co.uk is a really good source - you're asking your neighbours in your local area, and people tend to post up when someone asks for a referral. Maybe I've just been lucky, but the more local someone is the happier I've ended up. A solid local reputation is way better than a 5/5 rating on mybuilder etc.
 
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i tried rated people for a few months. got a few jobs out of it, but some were not worth doing e.g. a call-out 40 miles away for under £50. some customers wanted total,rewires with a budget of £1000. soon gave that up.
 
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littlejohn said:
I'm a DIYer, not professional but I thought it might be interesting to hear a point of view from the other side of the fence

I was shocked (and embarrassed) when someone I turned down from Mybuilder told me he'd had to pay to answer my request for quotes; he was a little slow getting back to me, by which time I'd given the job to someone else but he hadn't had the chance to actually quote. That doesn't seem fair, and actually puts me off asking for a quote (via MyBuilder) because sometimes the quote/visit makes you realise that your idea is not a sensible one.

I've had a mixed result when choosing from MyBuilder - although there are glowing reviews, sometimes you still have to look around for a while first. I don't use them any more.

I've found that NextDoor.co.uk is a really good source - you're asking your neighbours in your local area, and people tend to post up when someone asks for a referral. Maybe I've just been lucky, but the more local someone is the happier I've ended up. A solid local reputation is way better than a 5/5 rating on mybuilder etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply! Had a couple of replies to my PM about NextDoor. Kinda social media I guess. Is it free to post a job on there?
 
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Had a couple of replies to my PM about NextDoor. Kinda social media I guess. Is it free to post a job on there?
Click to expand...

Kind of. It's not a job site, it's aimed at people in a general local area to ask local questions - it could be as simple as "I've lost my cat", or "Found some keys" but also "anyone know a good local plumber". I've been able to post to sell things like the old oil tanks and bits and pieces, and I've seen that people are able to post up business cards and list their businesses on there

I've never been charged, but then I'm not commercial; and the people I've hired from their have been effectively advertised by their previous customers.
 
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I only used the free Yell listings, never got anything. In my short time, I never got to the point of signing up to any of these schemes. Some of the conversations I had with other sparks, gave pretty much 50/50 split on pros & cons.

There is also the government web site Competent Persons Register | Home - https://www.competentperson.co.uk/
for electrics, glazing, plumbing etc. I’ve suggested the site to people ringing me, since I closed my business. I personally wouldn’t recommend those other web site’s already mentioned, not withstanding not all sparks are in a GAPS.
 
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Signed up for rated people at the beginning of the year when I was quiet.
It didn’t really suit me as I don’t try to be cheap and wasn’t willing to fork out the money for the bigger jobs.
Did a few small, quick, local call outs aswell but got fed up with the process for even that.
Told them I wanted to leave and stopped paying them, then they took £300 out my account one day.
Turns out I didn’t read the small print or listen when my best mate craig was reading them to me.
Shower of arseholes in my opinion, won’t go near anything like that ever again.
 
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I've used both mybuilder and ratedpeople to find tradesmen for a refurb I did after moving to a new area and not having any recommendations or knowing anyone.

I can only comment on using them as a user rather than a provider as i'm a DIYer.

I found a totally mixed bag from total cowboys (you really couldn't make some of the stories up) to decent qualified tradesmen.

People are reassured by the rating system and seeing feedback from previous 'customers'. I found this to be fairly worthless in actuality as it is easy to game the system (for the unscrupulous) by getting friends/family to leave you feedback or creating fake accounts and leaving yourself feedback. In reality, i'd say as a user, it's as much a stab in the dark as doing a google search or any other random localised search.

I heard from a couple tradsemen that they were always battling with the fact that most people just went with the lowest quote (by no means the main factor for me personally). I'd recommend sticking to your usual pricing and if the customer just wants the cheapest they're probably not the customer you want to work for. They'll soon find out it's not the best tactic when hiring!
 
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I've used a few platforms, rated people I've given up, sometimes use MyBuilder but that feels a rip off with traders undercutting each other. The only one I really like now is Local Heroes as it's free. I don't mind paying the 20% as I usually win new clients when I explain to them how it works. Fortunately I've been really busy this year without hardly using any of them and hopefully long may that continue.
 
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If registering with mybuilder, be aware that your registered name will be linked to them via google searches (which are usually towards the top of the listings) for years !, even if you never do any jobs through them. To get your name removed from their database is v.hard work which requires letter writing/signatures and its a pita. Moral of the story is dont bother in the first place !
 
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bitcorax said:
I've used both mybuilder and ratedpeople to find tradesmen for a refurb I did after moving to a new area and not having any recommendations or knowing anyone.

I can only comment on using them as a user rather than a provider as i'm a DIYer.

I found a totally mixed bag from total cowboys (you really couldn't make some of the stories up) to decent qualified tradesmen.

People are reassured by the rating system and seeing feedback from previous 'customers'. I found this to be fairly worthless in actuality as it is easy to game the system (for the unscrupulous) by getting friends/family to leave you feedback or creating fake accounts and leaving yourself feedback. In reality, i'd say as a user, it's as much a stab in the dark as doing a google search or any other random localised search.

I heard from a couple tradsemen that they were always battling with the fact that most people just went with the lowest quote (by no means the main factor for me personally). I'd recommend sticking to your usual pricing and if the customer just wants the cheapest they're probably not the customer you want to work for. They'll soon find out it's not the best tactic when hiring!
Click to expand...
When customers told me they could get it cheaper, I agreed with them. I then asked for a pen an paper, they thought I was going to give them my quote. After they gave me them I picked up my case and turn and said, make sure you get there name and address because you will get a cheap job and possibly dangerous. I then started walking away. The number of customers that called me back. If you can drop you price you overcharged to start with. I never dropped the price.
 
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haptism said:
If registering with mybuilder, be aware that your registered name will be linked to them via google searches (which are usually towards the top of the listings) for years !, even if you never do any jobs through them. To get your name removed from their database is v.hard work which requires letter writing/signatures and its a pita. Moral of the story is dont bother in the first place !
Click to expand...
Or rank your website higher than theirs. Which should be easy to do for your own business name. I assume some of your customers were trying to contact you via their website rather than your own or something?
 
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In my early days I tried My Builder and Rated People. You have got to start SOMEWHERE to build the fabled word-of-mouth that everyone talks about. Both were a poor return. Race to the bottom prices and on occasions, I'd call a client, having paid for the contact, and discover the job wasn't worth anybody's time (repair a standard lamp). My profiles ticked all the boxes (photo's, reviews etc) but lost to price; the thing that really mattered.

I have heard a few good comments about Check-a-trade (one of the threads above is mine) but JEEZ! They need to review their fees 'cos I can't see they are worth it.

My cheapest work winner is a sign written van, followed by recommendation from friends or when I do a little job well. In the very early days; it's tough!

Also, you tend to drive nicely when your name and number are in bloody great letters on the van ;)
 
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Eddie1 said:
When customers told me they could get it cheaper, I agreed with them. I then asked for a pen an paper, they thought I was going to give them my quote. After they gave me them I picked up my case and turn and said, make sure you get there name and address because you will get a cheap job and possibly dangerous. I then started walking away. The number of customers that called me back. If you can drop you price you overcharged to start with. I never dropped the price.
Click to expand...
That's the way to do it. Well done. :)
 
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We use our own Website and a local Internet marketing company to help promote our website for natural listings. We have been advised against the rating sites like that because they charge money for membership. any company does that will prioritise cash flow above all else. We were always advised to think what would I do in this situation and more often than not if you need something now you search on Google direct from your phone. I would chose a link relevant to my search rather than a website that requires further searches. It has worked well for us. but nothing beats good word of mouth for business so always go that extra mile for a client and they will remember.
 
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Hi Dan,
Fortunately never had to use any.
As others have said,I’ve heard good and bad regarding most of them.
If I have a quiet spell I normally stick an add in the local rag,and it brings in the small jobs to fill the diary up.
Another vote for word of mouth.
 
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Dan said:
Or rank your website higher than theirs. Which should be easy to do for your own business name. I assume some of your customers were trying to contact you via their website rather than your own or something?
Click to expand...

If I googled my own business name it would come up towards the top linked to mybuilder. Even after deleting the mybuilder account, I found the name stays on google for years until you write a letter (not an email or phone call). I dont do CEO optimisation ectect so have not tried to rank my website higher than theirs. But still that how it is, I thought there was a law against that sort of stuff but it aint sunk in with mybuilder
 
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haptism said:
If I googled my own business name it would come up towards the top linked to mybuilder. Even after deleting the mybuilder account, I found the name stays on google for years until you write a letter (not an email or phone call). I dont do CEO optimisation ectect so have not tried to rank my website higher than theirs. But still that how it is, I thought there was a law against that sort of stuff but it aint sunk in with mybuilder
Click to expand...
Did you end up needing to write to google to do a result removal? Or write to mybuilder to get them to remove the name from pages?
 
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Dan said:
CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

Thought I'd start a poll off to see if we can see who's with what type of rate-my-builder website, if at all. And which ones seem to work, and if they do, why etc.

I've also put some other options there to see where people are spending their time and money on marketing right now, should they not be spending it with the big few common names.

Current options are:-
My personal opinion on this, after reading so many threads on all our forums, is that they're a middle-man where one isn't needed. People who need jobs doing on their homes could search Google before they came about, and they'd find tradespeoples own websites. And it all worked fine. The full amount of money that the tradesperson charged went to their business. And it wouldn't cost much to get a website online and running well.

Now though, there's an annual charge, or a percentage of the job, going to a company that's spending millions on advertising and has directors driving around in expensive cars, salesmen on commission selling to existing customers and new ones, trying to get more listing features or whatever.

You can get yourself a website using Wordpress, and update it yourself. Optimise it quite easy. Rank in Google naturally (no paying for ads), and get business coming in from it.

Or you can work on getting your listing with one of these companies up. Some of them encourage you to email your existing customers. Which obviously means there's no assurances the feedback actually comes from genuine customers then, you just get 20 free gmail accounts and send yourself the link to leave 10 star feedback so that when people search the website, your listing looks awesome and your feedback is spot on. Not seen a single listing ever with bad feedback on any of them.

That all said, I've not got a listing with a single one of them.

So I thought I'd run a poll, and have this handy thread for others to read and contribute to ongoing.

Feel free to discuss anything at all, pricing, experience, feedback, customers, type of work coming from them, whatever.

Please be constructive should you have criticism.

If a company you're with isn't in the poll, let me know, and I'll add it.

Please feel free to vote on as many of the options as you use yourself for your marketing.

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?
Click to expand...
Non, don't use any, but would consider my own website and advertising.
 
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I have dealt with many sites over the last 10 years as a consumer, HomeAdvisor, Angieslist, Houzz, Porch, Thumbtack, etc. They are all pretty much the same. Here in the states the problem is always the same. They are great if you live in a large city where there are many reviews but in the country, where I live, reviews are view and far between. Also I wish they would make it easy to find ratings for contractors instead of wanting to know what job I need done and then contacting contractors to contact me. Hope this helps.
 
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Dan said:
Did you end up needing to write to google to do a result removal? Or write to mybuilder to get them to remove the name from pages?
Click to expand...
TBH its still there, I emailed mybuilder and the response was i need to write to them asking for removal, I did write but no response and no action. I have not pursued it since but will do
 
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haptism said:
TBH its still there, I emailed mybuilder and the response was i need to write to them asking for removal, I did write but no response and no action. I have not pursued it since but will do
Click to expand...
You can fill in a form with Google and get them to remove any personal details from their listings. And then the page you say you want taken out of Google rankings will not be shown for the particular personal detail you were being shown for (i.e. your name).

That hits the website where it hurts then, it's rankings. That's the way I'd go about it.
 
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Hi All,
Here's my view as a 'customer' (yes a DIYer)

First me:
In the past I have re-wired my home, before part P was introduced. I have an HNC in electrical engineering, so not a total novice. The work was inspected by the local electricity board and was considered first rate.


Now we own 2 rentals, which need various jobs doing by qualified tradesmen/women in order to keep all the certification all above board. So far in 10 years we have used probably 10 different electricians. Each time I searched the internet for a local businness, checked for website, looked for reviews ... Each time I then go back for the next job no reply to my emails or messages. You could say that it must be me!

To counter that we use the same heating engineer that we have always used, the same goes for the plasterer, roofing work, windows/doors.

I am about to contact the latest electrician, found via MyBuilder, for the next job, we'll see.
All the tradesmen I have used via MyBuilder have all been excellent.

SteveN
 
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I have not used any of them as luckily I've never needed them however I know people who have used them and I haven't heard a single good thing from them. They take money from you at sometimes extortionate rates in return for very little work. Not for me I'm afraid.
 
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Not used any. Chucked a few leaflets out six months ago and have had several jobs. Builder that worked on my house is chucking work my way and I also appear to have lots of friends with dodgy wiring, sheds, garden lights etc that need sorting.
 
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haptism said:
If registering with mybuilder, be aware that your registered name will be linked to them via google searches (which are usually towards the top of the listings) for years !, even if you never do any jobs through them. To get your name removed from their database is v.hard work which requires letter writing/signatures and its a pita. Moral of the story is dont bother in the first place !
Click to expand...
The easiest way to beat MyBuilder at their own game is to have your own website and do whatever you need to do to get your website ranked above theirs in Google. It's not that difficult to achieve.
 
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Dan said:
CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?

Thought I'd start a poll off to see if we can see who's with what type of rate-my-builder website, if at all. And which ones seem to work, and if they do, why etc.

I've also put some other options there to see where people are spending their time and money on marketing right now, should they not be spending it with the big few common names.

Current options are:-
My personal opinion on this, after reading so many threads on all our forums, is that they're a middle-man where one isn't needed. People who need jobs doing on their homes could search Google before they came about, and they'd find tradespeoples own websites. And it all worked fine. The full amount of money that the tradesperson charged went to their business. And it wouldn't cost much to get a website online and running well.

Now though, there's an annual charge, or a percentage of the job, going to a company that's spending millions on advertising and has directors driving around in expensive cars, salesmen on commission selling to existing customers and new ones, trying to get more listing features or whatever.

You can get yourself a website using Wordpress, and update it yourself. Optimise it quite easy. Rank in Google naturally (no paying for ads), and get business coming in from it.

Or you can work on getting your listing with one of these companies up. Some of them encourage you to email your existing customers. Which obviously means there's no assurances the feedback actually comes from genuine customers then, you just get 20 free gmail accounts and send yourself the link to leave 10 star feedback so that when people search the website, your listing looks awesome and your feedback is spot on. Not seen a single listing ever with bad feedback on any of them.

That all said, I've not got a listing with a single one of them.

So I thought I'd run a poll, and have this handy thread for others to read and contribute to ongoing.

Feel free to discuss anything at all, pricing, experience, feedback, customers, type of work coming from them, whatever.

Please be constructive should you have criticism.

If a company you're with isn't in the poll, let me know, and I'll add it.

Please feel free to vote on as many of the options as you use yourself for your marketing.

CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?
Click to expand...
Apart from Yell.com and my Own website, I use Trading Standards 'Buy With Confidence' scheme and also a local homewatch scheme
 
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I'll just pop this here, it may add something.

I'm retired from the trade so wont use a middle man to drum up work but I sometimes need to search out different trades due to being a house owner, gas fitters, decent brickies and so on as the need arises. I would rather wait until word of mouth gives me a heads up on a decent trades person then use a middle man site.

I have my reasons but the main one is as stated by a few here, its another chunk out of your earnings that is simply making someone else rich from your hard work, there's enough hands in pockets already. Word of mouth or the ability to show your work as on these forums cant be beat.

--
 
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you have missed out the option to vote for none of the above.
so I cant vote in this poll.
:(:(:(
 
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I've used MyBuilder and Rated People in the past, but for a variety of reasons, I haven't used either website for quite a while and never will again. I have no need as I'm now in a position where I can pick and choose which jobs I take on, and am fully-booked until the end of March next year. Word of mouth recommendations and repeat business is the way to go!

For those starting out, my advice would be to stay away from the parasite sites and invest your money in a website instead. Even a very basic site with two or three pages will suffice at the outset. You can always develop your website further down the line. Utilise Google My Business to the maximum. Ask your customers to post feedback for you on Google+. You'll soon get noticed by new customers, I assure you. This approach has worked wonders for me and paid handsome dividends. :)
 
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Thread starter

Dan

Dan

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CheckaTrade | MyBuilder | RatedPeople | TrustaTrader etc - Who's with what and why?
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UK Electrical Forum
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Dan,
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