How each platform works
Checkatrade is a membership directory. You pay a fee to be listed, go through their checks, and customers find you through their site and app. The cost depends on your trade and area.
Bark works on credits. Customers post a job, and you pay credits to contact them. Several trades can buy the same lead, so you're often one of a handful of people messaging the same customer.
MyBuilder lets customers post jobs that trades express interest in. You pay a fee when a customer shortlists you, whether or not you go on to win the job.
What the leads really cost
The headline price of a lead or membership doesn't tell the whole story. What matters is the cost per job you actually win. If you pay for five leads and win one, the real cost of that job is five times the lead price.
Shared leads are where costs creep up. When several trades contact the same customer, it often turns into a race to the bottom on price, and the job goes to whoever is cheapest or quickest to reply.
Work out what an average job is worth to you, and how many leads it takes to win one. That tells you quickly whether a platform is paying its way.
Who owns the customer
On a platform, the customer found the platform, not you. When they need a trade again, they'll often go back to the platform and start the process again, and you pay again to reach them.
Your reviews live on the platform too. If you leave, you can't take them with you, and a lot of the trust you've built stays behind.
With your own website and Google Business Profile, the customer found you directly. Your reviews, your photos and your reputation stay with your business.
When a platform makes sense
Platforms are useful when you need work quickly, for example when you're just starting out, moving into a new area or filling a quiet patch.
They also suit trades whose customers tend to use them. If people in your area go straight to Checkatrade for your type of job, being there can make sense.
Treat a platform as one source of work, not the whole plan. Keep track of what you spend and what you win, so you know when to cut back.
When your own website wins
Your own website wins on cost over time. Once it's ranking on Google and your listing is getting found, each enquiry costs you nothing extra, and you're not competing with four other trades for it.
It also wins on the type of work. You choose what to show and which services to push, so you can attract the jobs you actually want, at the prices you want to charge.
And it builds something you own. Every review, every photo and every page adds to a business asset that keeps working whether or not you're paying a platform that month.
Using both
For most trades, the sensible approach is both: use a platform to keep work coming in now, while your website and Google listing build up in the background.
As your own enquiries grow, you can rely on the platform less and less, and keep it for quiet months or specific types of job.
Whatever you use, ask every customer how they found you. It's the simplest way to know where your work is really coming from.
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