Guide · For Trades
How to get off Checkatrade — and get your own leads instead
Sick of renting your leads off Checkatrade? Here's how to build a setup that brings in your own work — and keeps it.
If you’re paying Checkatrade, MyBuilder or Bark every month, here’s the uncomfortable bit: you’re renting those leads. Stop paying and they vanish — along with the reviews and the profile you spent years building. You’re also bidding for the same job as three other trades, racing to the bottom on price.
There’s another way to do it, and it’s the one the busiest trades in the North West England & North Walesalready use: own the whole thing yourself. Here’s how.
Why renting leads keeps you stuck
Lead-gen sites work for them, not you. The lead is shared, the margin is thin, and the customer found the platform— not you. The day you stop paying, you’re invisible again. It’s rent, and rent never builds equity.
Your own setup flips that. Every job you win makes your own asset stronger — your site, your Google profile, your reviews. It compounds.
What “your own leads” actually means
Three things, working together — and you own all of them:
A website that books jobs
Fast, mobile-first, with a tap-to-call button on every screen. It's on your domain, in your name. Nobody can switch it off.
Local SEO + Google Business Profile
When someone searches "roofer near me" or "electrician [your town]", you show up in the map pack — the top three results that get the calls.
Google Ads for when you want it now
Flip it on and you're top of the page this week for the exact jobs you want. Flip it off when the diary's full. You control the spend.
Want this set up for you?
We build the lot for trades across the North West England & North Wales— month-to-month, no big upfront cost. Have a quick chat and we’ll tell you straight if it’s worth it.
What it costs vs Checkatrade
Most trades are surprised it’s comparable to what they already hand over for shared leads — except this time the spend builds something that’s yours. We work on a simple monthly figure with no 12-month tie-in: web only, or web plus SEO and ads. You’ll get a straight number on the first call.
How to switch without losing work
Don’t cancel anything on day one. Get your own site and Google profile live and ranking first, switch ads on to fill the gap while SEO builds, and then wind the platforms down as your own leads take over. Done right, you never feel a quiet week.
The short version
Renting leads keeps you on the hamster wheel. Owning your setup gets you off it. If you work the North West or North Wales and you’re done paying for shared leads, that’s exactly what we build.
Looking for a specific area? See the towns we cover →