Anyone on here use Checkatrade?

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Jackospread

Jackospread

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Or similar review sites?

If so, what's your honest opinion.

Thinking of trying this year. The Checkatrade review system seems to give a good online presence for private customers.

Thanks.
 
I use checkatrade, its by far the best form of advertising going, however it takes time to become established on there, don't join and expect loads of phone calls! Once you have built up a good customer base and high rep they will come!

However times are quiet no matter what form of advertising you are using!
 
I live vrry near Checkatrade and I hsd lunch with kevin the guy who started it. I went round the offices and saw the whole process.... I was quite impressed to say the least.

Down our way it was very popular and if you are not with them you are at a disadvantage.

give them a call, if you do use them mention use and you get £50 off

Danny
 
Sorry for been a down on these type of sites but the cowboys use them all the time and put in good reports of their work from made up customers, all you have to do is set up a few email accounts and praise the great work etc. its also what was said earlier when work is quiet nothing seems to help and when its busy everyone one rings but you have not got the time. finally lots of people ring you to get written quotes for insurance jobs and all the while their uncle will do the job.. I know this is a very dark view...
 
johniosaif said:
Sorry for been a down on these type of sites but the cowboys use them all the time and put in good reports of their work from made up customers, all you have to do is set up a few email accounts and praise the great work etc. its also what was said earlier when work is quiet nothing seems to help and when its busy everyone one rings but you have not got the time. finally lots of people ring you to get written quotes for insurance jobs and all the while their uncle will do the job.. I know this is a very dark view...
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Checkatrade is the only one I know that is not like that... they actually check back on the reviews and what not.... Its not a perfect solution but its one of the best ways to do things.

Danny
 
As Danny said, checkatrade isnt like the other sites.. yes some cowboys and stuff will be on there and can fabricate feedback TO A POINT but they couldn't rely souly on that as checkatrade do chase up customers to stop this happening..

But compared to any other form of advertising there will be LESS cowboys on checkatrade than any other, and it does swing jobs, no need for a website when you have your checkatrade page with pictures, customer reviews etc/ Its the best there is to sort out the **** situation that is bad tradesmen.

Now, if only there was a checkacustomer.com because they are out there, and are the sorts of self preservating, greedy, moraless ***** that need shooting.
 
The odd thing about reviews is people normally only post bad reviews or nothing at all, glad to see that checkatrade try to get rid of the fabricators, private work is difficult or at least more difficult for platerers as there is less room for mixing etc, more protection of floors,carpets, furniture etc although I have done loads of it I prefer site work or total refurbs. Best of luck to CHECKATRADE and those seeking work from it.
 
I know a few local spreads on there, and a few of them are on this forum, seems to work well for them, once established.

And yes, seems to be genuine check back on work too.
 
i cant help but think itll be like all the other shite such as myhammer where people want a house floating skimming and rendering for £100
 
beddy said:
i cant help but think itll be like all the other shite such as myhammer where people want a house floating skimming and rendering for £100
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Nah its nothing like them Beddy :) its just like word of mouth advertising with a twist :)

Danny
 
Just been on there website and searched for plasterers in my area and it only came up with 1 result which was a building company 15 miles away..........Does that mean that i could have the niche where i live?? or thats its shite??
 
artisan yes you you be the top of the list if you join. i joint checkatrade and have had alot of work form them. if you do different aspects of plastering aswell it puts you in front. the more ref you you get the better the more customers ring you. the advertising payed for itself in the first month. i would recommend this to anyone. also if you have time on a tuesday try something called bni. if you want to know more please ask thanx tony
 
BNI is a waste of time, effort and money.
It only works if you are in the fortunate position to be managing your trade and not actually picking a trowel up.
 
checkatrade is £500 a year ? I used to use yellow pages but got fed up with the time wasters although we did get a few nice earners on occasion from it. I expect checkatrade suits those who do mostly private stuff rather than those who work for builders ..
 
I looked a check a trade a couple of months ago and it seems to be more southern based and at £500 a year it seems a bit steep to take a chance on it, if you live north of Watford.

I was talking to a customer on Friday about how she got in touch with tradesmen if she needed one, she hadn't heard of check a trade and used my builder, to which she then told me she tried to leave some negative feedback and it got removed, also some positive feedback which got removed and when questioned she was told that my builder thought they were family or friends as the feedback seemed overly positive. Wtf.

I'm not keen on these sites, no offence if anyone uses them but i just don't like them, it kind of takes the personal touch off the domestic jobs knowing that its all set up by a small office 50 miles away that employs 12 people taking a small cut or a membership fee.

How far are you meant to go with advertising,

Local rag - £200 per month /that's ours anyway for credit card sized ad/
Check a trade - £45.00 per month
My hammer - £40.00 approx
Rated people - £15.00 approx plus buying leads plus £20.00 = £35.00
Hosting your own site - £10.00 per month

It's a ******* lot of outgoings that plus your regular overheads of insurance, fuel ect ect
 
My site was free, although I recently had to pay about a fiver for 3 years domain rental or something :)
 
The biggest problem i find with advertising is the weekly 20 advertising companies hounding you to advertise somewhere else...............:RpS_thumbdn:
 
lets be honest. i would say at least 75% of people who want work now use internet search engines, predominantly google. i would rather have a well placed website than use myhammer rated people mybuilder checkatrade combined.
 
The fact that these 'agencies' even exist shows that there is a MASSIVE problem with the image of the Building Industry as a whole with regards to public trust, so some kind of regulation needs to be implemented to build that trust, just as long as it's not government controlled :RpS_thumbup:

 
Agree there bubbles, morally wrong how these agencies take money from tradesmen who are struggling if we're being honest, on the CHANCE of getting a bit of work, somebody else taking a slice of a very small pie.

Makes me laugh when they expect YOU TO PAY, for a phone number of someone that wants some plastering doing.

One point of call needs setting up where all domestic customers go for tradesmen, not all these shitty little companies fighting for a few quid.

Why don't customers pay for good tradesmen leads, with the agency taking responsibility, why don't customers pay a monthly subscription fee to have access to good, vetted tradesmen ?
 
off course with builders from hell, cowboy builders etc, stories abound about 40,000 for a roof repair or a new drive, no stories about a decent days work for a decent days pay, I work on and off in 4 to 100 mill properties and these people are laughing at us fighting for work, they are getting everything done cheaper than 10yrs ago. 2009 was my quietest year in 25 yrs of work, builders were saying oh we need polish prices, I just stopped quoting for 3 months, eventually people came back for the tradesman who knew what he was doing," oh we can get trowels for 80 pound a day" had died down...Not off thread here I think as this has led to the rise in these sites verifying us..
 
Those programmes are ****, I tell anyone and everyone to take them with a large pinch of salt.

55 minutes of a customer moaning about this that, then 5 minutes of a shocked, suprised tradesmen trying to defend himself which is heavily edited.

The programme makers don't seem to dig too deep into the customers not paying on time or adding extra work and expecting no extra cost. Very favourable to the customers and appealing to the viewers.

I suppose this has what's drove the agency sites such as my hammer rated people to grow.
 
Those programmes are ****, I tell anyone and everyone to take them with a large pinch of salt.

55 minutes of a customer moaning about this that, then 5 minutes of a shocked, suprised tradesmen trying to defend himself which is heavily edited.

The programme makers don't seem to dig too deep into the customers not paying on time or adding extra work and expecting no extra cost. Very favourable to the customers and appealing to the viewers.

I suppose this has what's drove the agency sites such as my hammer rated people to grow.
 
Mac - you can hardly stick up for the builders on cowboy builders, even IF the customers didn't pay on time, at times, the work on there is shocking and dangerous, and the fact they have always paid out much more than what the work would have cost.. yeh a lot of customers are ***** but as far as cowboy builders goes, the builders are ALWAYS ***** on there.
 
Some of you seem to be missing the point of checkatrade, its not some agency that's creaming it off struggling tradesmen.. its PURELY an advertising site... you don't pay for leads, you don't fight with people trying to work for 50 quid a day, you simply give them £40-50 a month to have a web page, that if searched, comes up with other spreads in your area, to which customer can choose who to call based on good feed back from previous customers. Saying that these sites are bad is like saying ALL advertising companies are in the wrong because they charge you to stick your business on there.. well why would they allow you on for free? they are doing you a service by putting your name about.. that should never be free! If you wanna go down the route of not parting with any cash, ever, then fair enough! IF you are able to get your name about enough to generate work that is!

At the end of the day, if a customer has the choice of two spreads.. one has only his own website.. the other has his checkatrade website with 70+ customer feed back from previous jobs, with pictures combined from those jobs, proof of liability insurance, and also the peace of mind that they can leave shockingly bad feedback if they want to and it CANT be removed..

Its a no brainer which they'd choose.
 
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