As part of the joyous task of trying to find someone for a roof repair (West Glasgow if anyone knows anyone 🙂 ) I found this site: http://www.ratedpeople.com

Has anyone here ever used it? The theory seems sound, but the execution?

Dunno about that, but try http://www.mybuilder.com/

Aye. Used it to get a sparky for the shop and he called withing about 10minutes of the form being submitted.

I think some people are quite active in using it whereas some get back to us a week later.

Just wonder why no one takes out an insurance policy against bad workmanship
so you can get your money back if all goes wrong.

No idea if this exists But a dam good idea for something to be in place

Yep, used them twice, first time for flat roof replacement, second time for asbestos soil pipe replacement.

Both times excellent workmanship and reasonable prices, check out the comments left for them at the site to get an idea of how good their previous work has been.