Best online middle man

[chris day]

After signing up with checkatrade i am averaging an extra 4 jobs a week which is brilliant.

What other online middlemen are great as some i know are a waste of time?

 

[Octopus]

Hum ................... so you've paid about £700 per year to Checkatrade - what other advertising do you do?

 

[Pete999]

After signing up with checkatrade i am averaging an extra 4 jobs a week which is brilliant.

What other online middlemen are great as some i know are a waste of time?

Not a lot to say about "checkatrade" Chris, I have had some bad experiences with these middlemen as you call them, all I can say is be careful, and don't cut corners. Oh and good luck hope it works out for you.

 

[Midwest]

After signing up with checkatrade i am averaging an extra 4 jobs a week which is brilliant.

What other online middlemen are great as some i know are a waste of time?

Just for the record, for others future reference, what is the cost of this contract with Checkatrade?

 

[Pete999]

Just for the record, for others future reference, what is the cost of this contract with Checkatrade?

Checkatrade: Frequently asked membership questions - http://www.checkatrade.com/Join/FAQ.aspx
Can't see any costs

 

[Octopus]

Checkatrade: Frequently asked membership questions - http://www.checkatrade.com/Join/FAQ.aspx
Can't see any costs

Ring them up and ask ......

 

[Midwest]

Ring them up and ask ......

Why bother, Chris can tell us.

 

[chris day]

I have had 5 jobs this week form them, two of the jobs paid for the year cost being £700 i would defiantly recommend

 

[SparkyChick]

Aside from your membership, how much has it cost you to get those jobs?

 

[Midwest]

An in depth breakdown on the process would be nice, 'cos it often gets asked?

 

[Octopus]

Aside from your membership, how much has it cost you to get those jobs?

Nothing except your time to visit the client and do the job ...... Is my understanding.

I can't justify check a trade as it's more than my entire marketing budget and I have more work, generally, than I can cope with and / or need

 

[davesparks]

One issue I have seen with checkatrade is customers holding tradesmen to ransom for a good rating.
You have to get a 10/10 rating in everything to keep at the top of their list, and customers know this so they use it as a way to get extras done for free.

And with the way their rating system is set up you automatically get marked down for any extra works done and charged for which were not at the customers request, so if you find something which is dangerous and fix it for the customer then you either have to not charge for it or get a lower score than if you ignored it and left the dangerous situation.

As I see it the system is great for people like decorators, gardeners, window cleaners etc where they don't have the problem of hidden faults requiring extra work to fix.

 

[Pete999]

One issue I have seen with checkatrade is customers holding tradesmen to ransom for a good rating.
You have to get a 10/10 rating in everything to keep at the top of their list, and customers know this so they use it as a way to get extras done for free.

And with the way their rating system is set up you automatically get marked down for any extra works done and charged for which were not at the customers request, so if you find something which is dangerous and fix it for the customer then you either have to not charge for it or get a lower score than if you ignored it and left the dangerous situation.

As I see it the system is great for people like decorators, gardeners, window cleaners etc where they don't have the problem of hidden faults requiring extra work to fix.

That's about the best description Ive seen

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I have often wondered what the true costs of all these schemes are. the very fact they are reluctant to publish costs online and make you ring them to get the sales pitch makes me cautious.
Checkatrade, ratedpeople are pretty much the same. i may be wrong but i think mybuilder doesn't charge a fee only costs are for individual job leads/quotes...
Given we have to pay the schemes/scams for the privilege of signing off our own work and to display a van sticker. i seriously think they ought to be running there own cheaper more cost effective job matching service for its members.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

And with the way their rating system is set up you automatically get marked down for any extra works done and charged for which were not at the customers request, so if you find something which is dangerous and fix it for the customer then you either have to not charge for it or get a lower score than if you ignored it and left the dangerous situation.

That is interesting, i did not know thats how the system works, you would think the fact you did some extra for the customer would reflect positively, but no doubt its the website getting funny as they have missed out on a tiny bit of extra commission.

 

[davesparks]

That's about the best description Ive seen

Yeah, I do the boiler wiring for a local plumber, he's a checkatrade member and swears by it but just can't see how much he loses out buying a good rating. He's ended up repainting whole rooms or paying for professional cleaners to come in to a house to deal with marks or stains which were there before he started the job just to get a good rating!

 

[SparkyChick]

I have often wondered what the true costs of all these schemes are. the very fact they are reluctant to publish costs online and make you ring them to get the sales pitch makes me cautious.
Checkatrade, ratedpeople are pretty much the same. i may be wrong but i think mybuilder doesn't charge a fee only costs are for individual job leads/quotes...
Given we have to pay the schemes/scams for the privilege of signing off our own work and to display a van sticker. i seriously think they ought to be running there own cheaper more cost effective job matching service for its members.

NAPIT have one but all it is is a discounted account on some third party service and it's not cheap.

My biggest issue is that these sites have switched the cost of getting quotes from customers to the tradies. You've got the time taken to read through the jobs, then you have to pay for a lead and if you're lucky (I know MyBuilder is different in this respect) you've got the cost of going out to quote. Where as before, the customer picked up the bill for finding trades people... the price of a little bit of their time and a few phone calls, all we had was the overhead of going out to quote.

 

[Pete999]

That is interesting, i did not know thats how the system works, you would think the fact you did some extra for the customer would reflect positively, but no doubt its the website getting funny as they have missed out on a tiny bit of extra commission.

Better and Better

 

[davesparks]

That is interesting, i did not know thats how the system works, you would think the fact you did some extra for the customer would reflect positively, but no doubt its the website getting funny as they have missed out on a tiny bit of extra commission.

Thee isn't any commission charge as far as I know, it is purely a rating system which does not take account of the nature of electrical work, or any job where hidden faults can exist.

Have a look at their website to see how the ratings work.

 

[Octopus]

I've witnessed a plumber offering a discount for a clean sweep of 10's