Looking to register as a tiler/decorator on one of these websites and was wondering how much it costs and whether it’s worth it? Does anyone on here actually get much work through these two companies? Also, are there any restrictions/t+c’s to be aware of? Many thanks.

Roofer I had round the other day swears by MyBuilder. Which is nice, cos it was created by a mate of mine.

Not heard of that one. Will check it out too.

How does this work then? Surely it is a customer that gives recommendations?

I presume you have to pay a fee to be on their list of trusted traders, but I’ve heard stories of bad reviews not being shown because obviously the website relies on the income from the trader and doesn’t want to lose them.

I had a very positive experience with my builder.com – although a couple of the builders that approached me through the site wanted to deal ‘offline’ in order to avoid fees!

I think my builder.com is a bit more impartial than trusted people – I have heard more negative things about the other sites…

Trusted Trader etc make money from the traders so don’t allow negative reviews, hence are a complete con. They also charge traders a fixed fee per referral regardless of whether the person takes them up on anything. They get slated a lot for ‘recommending’ complete cowboys / conmen, who are happy to pay the £25 referral fee for the chance to completely fleece a customer – bit like British Gas!

In my experience, and in the opinion of my local Trading Standards officer, these websites are basically cash generating scams for the operators. There is no vetting procedure other than forking over pound notes.

Most people I know choose tradesmen based on personal recommendations.

It’s a shame really, as I’m sure lots of people (like my mum) use these websites because they genuinely believe that everyone on there can be trusted 100%. We used to print stationery for several…err…travelling types and they just stuck the Checkatrade logo on it to make them look legit.

i used ratedpeople, and got a very good plumber indeed. He was saying he pays to bid for work.

THere all a rip off. Im a Carpenter and have used various forms of the over the years. Tradesmen have to pay a membership fee and then also pay to be able to quote for jobs. £ tradesmen allowed to quote for each job. Obviously I’m paying out money to come around to your house to give you a free quote. So naturally I have to make that money back somewhere. But the customers will naturally want something for nothing! and want to start a bidding war it seems. Some jobs on ratedpeople.com can cost upwards of £50 to view…

When we need tradesmen I open one of these things:

Luckily we now know a decent plumber, builder, sparky etc. Reccommendations from friends etc means a hell of a lot more than anything off one of those sites where, like its been said, traders pay to be on them which somehow makes them ‘trusted’.

Aren’t all those sites owned by B&Q or something as well?

i wouldn’t be seen dead on a site like that. if your good, you should be turning work down, from recomendations, not paying for leads

Look at getting a website that has been optimised for local SEO. So if someone googles “decorator in (your local area)” you come top.

Just to add to the negativity, I know a few guys who get work from one or two of these sites. It’s because a decent wooden flooring shop/wholesaler wouldn’t pass any work their way. I’ve also seen the estimates on certain jobs and know I couldn’t do it for the prices – too much “pricing to win”.

However, they seem to manage fine doing it. Paying for a lead sticks in my throat a bit though – but if you’re desperate for work, it might be worth a punt to tide you over until things pick up.

i used myhammer a few years back when work was tight, didn’t get a single job from it, it was like a reverse auction, people bidding lower and lower for jobs, stupid.
as above, if you’re decent, polite and tidy up, you’ll get work, tell mates what you’re doing, socialise, network

That’s what I was thinking. Just didn’t want to be left behind because I wasn’t on one of these sites. Will get a decent website up and running and make sure I’ll show up on a Google search.