Q4 2026 edition · data verified 2026-09-30 · next update January 2027

UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker: What Trade Directories Really Cost in 2026

None of the big UK trade directories publishes a complete price list. This tracker collects what is on record for Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Bark and TrustATrader, along with the final record for Rated People, which closed to tradespeople in September 2026: official prices, terms buried in T&Cs and help centres, and what tradespeople report actually paying. Every figure links to its source with a date and an evidence label. Where sources conflict, we show the conflict instead of averaging it away. Free to cite under a CC BY licence.

54 sourced data points across 5 platforms
0 of 4 directories still trading publish a complete price list
£5–£40 typical reported cost of one shared lead
£1,200–£2,000+ typical reported annual cost of a subscription directory

The Short Answer

As of 30 September 2026: Checkatrade officially starts at £30/month (+VAT), with lead-generating plans "from £59/month" on 12-month fixed contracts, and members report real bills of £80 to £500 a month. MyBuilder has no monthly fee and charges per shortlist, officially "from £7", typically £5–£35. Bark credits officially cost £1.80 each, putting a typical lead at £9–£36+, and credits expire after 3 months. TrustATrader publishes no prices at all: estimates put it at £240–£750 a year, billed annually in advance. Rated People closed to tradespeople on 16 September 2026, and its jobs now go to Checkatrade members. For comparison, a top-of-page Google Ads click for "plumber near me" costs £2.09–£13.41. Unlike a directory lead, a visitor to your own website is not shared with up to 20 competitors.

Deciding on one platform in particular? The tracker now has ten companion pages: the Checkatrade review for tradespeople, the full Checkatrade cost breakdown, a cancellation guide for members already in a contract, the MyBuilder cost guide covering shortlist fees from £7 to £940, and the TrustATrader review with its trader terms read clause by clause, plus Checkatrade vs MyBuilder side by side and what happened to Rated People, and the Bark review and MyBuilder review for tradespeople, and Checkatrade alternatives with every route priced, plus the free business directories worth listing on. By trade, plumbing leads in the UK compares the platforms on cost per won job.

If you would rather rank for the searches than pay a platform for them, the trade guides walk through it step by step: SEO for plumbers, SEO for electricians, SEO for builders, SEO for roofers, SEO for painters and decorators and SEO for window cleaners all use the lead prices on this page to show what ranking is worth.

What Changed in the Q4 2026 Edition

  • Rated People closed to tradespeople. Rated People Limited entered Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation on 16 September 2026 and every trade membership was closed. Checkatrade Group bought the brand and website, so a homeowner can still post a job there, but it now goes to Checkatrade members. Accounts and reviews do not move across automatically, and questions about a past membership go to the liquidators. The Rated People section keeps the last reported prices as a historic record, and this guide covers what former members should do.
  • Checkatrade added a pay-to-unlock lead board. The Opportunities Board lets members browse leads for free and spend credits to unlock them. Credits come in bundles of 10, 25, 50 or 100 and expire after 6 months. Checkatrade does not publish what a credit costs.
  • Checkatrade's sign-up offer changed. The pricing page now advertises "first month FREE"; the "2 months free" offer recorded in July has gone. Plan prices are unchanged at £30 and "from £59" a month.
  • Official prices held everywhere else. MyBuilder's "from £7" floor, Bark's £1.80 credit and TrustATrader's refusal to publish a price were all re-verified on 30 September 2026.
  • Google got dearer for roofers. The top-of-page bid for "roofers near me" rose from £16.37 to £17.93, while "plumber near me" eased from £13.98 to £13.41.
  • Trustpilot scores moved. Bark fell from 4.1 to 3.8 and MyBuilder from 4.5 to 4.3. Checkatrade rose from 4.6 to 4.7.

The Platforms Side by Side

Platform Model Official published price Reported real-world cost Lead shared with Contract Trustpilot
Checkatrade Subscription £30/mo; Growth "from £59/mo" £80–£500/mo (members); £1,200–£2,000+/yr (est.) 10–20+ trades (reported) 12 months fixed 4.7 (~88k)
MyBuilder Pay per shortlist "From £7" per lead £5–£35 typical; £540–£940 filmed on big jobs 3–5 trades (reported) None 4.3 (~57k)
Bark Credits per lead £1.80/credit (help centre only) £9–£36+ typical; £30–£70+ high-value Up to 5 pros (official) None (credits expire in 3 months) 3.8 (~112k)
Rated People Closed to trades since 16 Sep 2026 Via Checkatrade membership, from £30/mo Was £30–£60/mo +VAT plus £15–£40/lead (est.) Jobs now go to Checkatrade members All memberships ended 3.8 (~20k)
TrustATrader Annual membership None (callback quote) £240–£750/yr (est.) Directory capped at 10 traders/area 12 months, billed in advance 4.6 (~9k)

Estimates and member reports are not official prices; every figure is sourced and labelled in the platform sections below. Trustpilot scores retrieved 30 September 2026.

Platform by Platform: Every Figure on Record

Checkatrade

Officially from £30/month (+VAT); members report paying £80 to £500/month on 12-month fixed contracts, with three separate 2026 Reddit threads reporting £300 to £500/month.

How it charges: Monthly subscription tied to trade, postcode area and an annual lead volume. Not pay-per-lead.

Does it publish prices? Partial. The pricing page shows £0, £30 and "from £59" per month, but any real Growth-plan quote only appears after you enter your trade and postcode in the sign-up flow. Opportunities Board credit prices are not published at all.

What Figure Evidence Source
Approved plan (reputation tier, no lead stream) £30/month Official Checkatrade pricing page page updated 9 Feb 2026, accessed 30 Sep 2026
Growth plan (lead-generating tier) Full price only revealed after entering trade and postcode in the sign-up flow. VAT is not mentioned on the pricing page; Checkatrade’s own blog confirms prices are +VAT. from £59/month Official Checkatrade pricing page page updated 9 Feb 2026, accessed 30 Sep 2026
Joining fee "There is no joining fee." The same page puts the most basic plan at "£30 + VAT per month". £0 Official Checkatrade blog page updated 19 Dec 2024, accessed 30 Sep 2026
Typical monthly cost, active members £60–£120+/month Third-party estimate Local Search North comparison 8 Apr 2026
Typical annual cost £1,200–£2,000+/year Third-party estimate Local Search North comparison 3 Apr 2026
Individual member-reported monthly bills Three separate reports: "about £80 per month" (Reddit), "£306 per month" and "£442 per month" (Facebook trade groups). £80, £306 and £442/month Member-reported Tradespeople on Reddit and Facebook c. 2024–2026, captured 22 Jul 2026
2026 Reddit report: contractor listing cost "It was costing him £500 monthly for the listing, which only resulted in a handful of leads each year." The contractor has since cancelled. £500/month Member-reported r/DIYUK thread, 2026 2026, captured 22 Jul 2026
2026 Reddit report: business trying to exit contract "They charge us £390 a month, which feels excessive given the quality of leads we’re receiving." Posted while asking how to get out of the contract. £390/month Member-reported r/smallbusinessuk thread, 2026 2026, captured 22 Jul 2026
2026 Reddit report: recent sign-up "A hefty fee of over £300 monthly for minimal jobs." The same member reports being told that access to larger projects (rewiring, kitchen refurbishments) requires purchasing credits on top of the subscription. over £300/month, plus credits for larger jobs Member-reported r/DIYUK thread, 2026 2026, captured 22 Jul 2026
Historic entry price, rolling monthly contract Checkatrade has since moved from rolling monthly to 12-month fixed memberships. from £84/month (2020) Third-party estimate This is Money (Financial Mail on Sunday) 24 Oct 2020
Leads shared with No official Checkatrade figure published for plan leads. 10–20+ tradespeople per enquiry (reported) Third-party estimate Local Search North comparison 8 Apr 2026
Opportunities Board: pay-to-unlock leads (new in 2026) Browsing is free; each lead shows its credit cost before you unlock it. Credits are bought upfront, expire after 6 months and are only returned for invalid leads. credit bundles of 10, 25, 50 or 100; price per credit not published Official Checkatrade support: The Opportunities Board page updated Sep 2026, accessed 30 Sep 2026
Opportunities Board: trades per lead Board leads are the ones paying members did not take up, typically posted after about 4 hours. removed from the board once 3 trades unlock it Official Checkatrade: What’s New Summer 2026 page updated 1 Sep 2026, accessed 30 Sep 2026

Contract terms

  • 12-month fixed term: "Memberships are for 12 months" (join.checkatrade.com small print, accessed 30 Sep 2026).
  • September 2026 promotion: "Limited Time Only: Get your first month FREE!" The July edition also recorded "2 months free" on selected plans; that offer is no longer on the pricing page.
  • Opportunities Board credits are valid for 6 months, do not roll over, and are not refunded if the customer does not go ahead (official support page).
  • Since 18 September 2026 Checkatrade members also receive jobs posted on Rated People, after Checkatrade Group bought the Rated People brand and website.
  • Growth plans include a £100–£200 search-boost credit; Checkatrade Pay card fees are 1.29%–1.79%.

Where the sources disagree

  • Checkatrade officially states there is no joining fee, but one April 2026 comparison reports a £300–£500 one-off vetting cost. We show both; we could not verify the vetting charge against any official source.

Trustpilot: 4.7/5 from ~88,000 reviews (profile).

MyBuilder

No monthly fee; per-lead fees from £7 (official floor), typically £5 to £35, with member-filmed outliers of £540 and £940 on large projects.

How it charges: Pay-per-shortlist. Free to join and to express interest; a non-refundable lead fee is charged only when the homeowner shortlists you. No subscription.

Does it publish prices? Partial. No fee table exists anywhere on the site. The only official number is that lead fees "can start from £7".

What Figure Evidence Source
Joining / monthly / membership fee £0 Official MyBuilder support: "What are the fees?" 28 Oct 2024, verified live 30 Sep 2026
Lead fee floor Fee varies by job criteria, is shown before you respond, and is never adjusted afterwards. from £7 per shortlist Official MyBuilder support: "How are lead fees calculated?" 4 Dec 2024, verified live 30 Sep 2026
Typical lead fee, everyday jobs £5–£35 per lead Third-party estimate Nearby Traders comparison (and others) 2026
Lead fee including larger projects £5–£50 per lead Third-party estimate BuildMea ROI analysis 22 Apr 2026
Roofing lead fee £15–£60 per lead Third-party estimate UK Roofing Leads cost comparison 2026
On-screen shortlist fees filmed by a member The same member showed £250 of lead spend producing 6 jobs worth £775. £5–£7 small jobs; £540 and £940 on two large projects Member-reported YouTube: "Can MyBuilder actually work in 2024?" 2024
Tradespeople sharing each lead 3–5 per job (reported) Third-party estimate BuildMea / UK Roofing Leads 2026
Lead-to-job conversion 1 job per 5–8 paid leads (reported) Third-party estimate BuildMea / Bink analyses 2026

Contract terms

  • No contract, no minimum term, no subscription (official).
  • Lead fees are non-refundable once shortlisted; a limited refund-request process exists (official).

Trustpilot: 4.3/5 from ~56,500 reviews (profile).

Bark

Credits are officially £1.80 each; a typical lead needs 5 to 20+ credits, so roughly £9 to £36+ per lead, and credits now expire after 3 months.

How it charges: Credit system. Leads arrive free; you spend credits to unlock a customer’s contact details. No commission. Optional credit-pack subscriptions and an Elite Pro tier.

Does it publish prices? Partial. The public pricing page contains no numbers at all; the £1.80-per-credit rate is only published in Bark’s help centre.

What Figure Evidence Source
Standard credit price (GB) The public pricing page (bark.com/en/gb/sellers/pricing/) publishes no prices and carries a noindex tag. £1.80 per credit Official Bark help centre updated c. Jun 2026, verified live 30 Sep 2026
Credits needed per lead 5–8 small repairs; 10–15 mid-size; 15–20+ large projects Third-party estimate Noble Leads / Local Search North verified Apr 2026
Typical cost per lead at the official credit price £9–£36+ per lead Derived Official £1.80/credit x reported 5–20+ credits per lead Sep 2026
High-value service leads (kitchens, landscaping) £30–£70+ per lead Member-reported Tradesperson YouTube review 2025
Starter pack bought on camera 160 credits, list £240, paid £140+VAT (£168) Member-reported YouTube: "I Spent £168 on Bark Leads" Dec 2025–Jan 2026
Credit expiry Unused credits are non-refundable. 3 months (was 12 months before 1 Nov 2025) Official Bark help centre verified live 30 Sep 2026
Professionals who can buy the same lead Each lead shows how many professionals have already responded before you spend credits. up to 5 responses per customer Official Bark help centre: How many responses can a customer receive? updated c. Jun 2026, verified live 1 Oct 2026
Lead-to-job conversion 1 job per 5–10 leads; £150–£400 lead spend per job won (reported) Third-party estimate Digital Tradies summary of r/smallbusinessuk thread early 2026

Contract terms

  • Pay-as-you-go; no contract for standard credits (official).
  • "Get Hired Guarantee": the credits used from your first Starter Pack are returned once if you are not marked as hired, claimable 3 calendar days after your last lead purchase (official help centre, verified 1 Oct 2026).
  • Credit-pack subscriptions auto-renew and are cancellable any time, but cancelling within the first 3 months may disqualify you from future credit subscriptions (official).
  • Elite Pro subscription price is unpublished; includes 2 free leads/week (only leads unanswered after 48h) and 20% off credit packs (official).

Where the sources disagree

  • Most 2023–2025 reviews still cite £1.20+VAT per credit; Bark’s help centre now says £1.80 (mid-2026). We treat £1.80 as current and the older figure as stale. Whether £1.80 includes VAT is not stated.

Trustpilot: 3.8/5 from ~112,000 reviews (profile).

Rated People

Closed to tradespeople since 16 September 2026; its jobs now go to Checkatrade members. Before closure, reported costs were £30–£60/month (+VAT) plus £15–£40 per lead.

How it charges: Closed to tradespeople. Rated People Limited entered Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation on 16 September 2026 and every trade membership was closed. Checkatrade Group bought the brand and website; homeowners can still post jobs, but each one now goes to Checkatrade members.

Does it publish prices? Not applicable. Rated People leads can now only be bought through a Checkatrade membership, which the Rated People site says "starts at £30 per month".

What Figure Evidence Source
Status "Rated People memberships ended before the brand and website changed hands. To keep getting jobs from the platform, members need to sign up with Checkatrade." trade memberships closed; brand and website owned by Checkatrade Group Official Rated People: "Rated People is now part of Checkatrade Group" 17 Sep 2026, accessed 30 Sep 2026
Cost of Rated People leads today "Currently, you can only buy Rated People leads by becoming a Checkatrade member." Fixed lead plans are quoted by phone and run for 12 months. Checkatrade membership, "starts at £30 per month" Official Rated People: "Rated People is now part of Checkatrade Group" 17 Sep 2026, accessed 30 Sep 2026
Liquidation and account closure dates Accounts are not migrated to Checkatrade. Whether members get any money back is not yet known; questions go to the liquidators, S&W. Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation and all trade accounts closed on 16 Sep 2026 Third-party estimate MyJobQuote summary of Companies House records 19 Sep 2026
Historic (before closure): monthly membership fee £30–£60/month +VAT Third-party estimate Sleepless Tradesman review 2026
Historic (before closure): Unlimited Plan fee £72/month (moved up from a £24/month legacy plan) Member-reported Member review on Trustpilot c. 2025
Historic (before closure): cost per lead, typical £15–£40 per contact (~£15+VAT common) Third-party estimate Noble Leads review 2025–2026
Historic (before closure): cost per lead, full reported range £2–£65 +VAT Third-party estimate Tradesman Saver comparison re-cited 2026
Historic (before closure): tradespeople per lead max 3, average 1–2 Third-party estimate Noble Leads / Tradesman Saver / NI Trades 2025–2026

Contract terms

  • All Rated People trade memberships ended on 16 September 2026; nothing transfers to Checkatrade automatically (official).
  • Old leads, contacts and invoices are no longer in the Rated People account; former members request them through a form linked from the Rated People announcement (official).
  • Questions about a past membership, including refunds, go to the liquidators S&W at [email protected] (official).
  • Joining Checkatrade on a fixed lead plan means a 12-month term (official Rated People trade FAQ).

Where the sources disagree

  • Rated People’s announcement is dated 17 September 2026; Checkatrade’s own announcement says 18 September. We show Rated People’s date for the sale and 18 September for when jobs began routing to Checkatrade members.
  • On reviews, the Rated People trade FAQ says "your existing reviews stay where they are", while its sign-up page says members who join Checkatrade "will soon be able to transfer" them. No date has been given.
  • The July 2026 edition of this tracker listed official Rated People figures (Unlimited Plan scope, jobs posted per year). Those pages no longer exist, so the rows have been removed.

Trustpilot: 3.8/5 from ~19,600 reviews (profile).

TrustATrader

Publishes no prices; 2026 estimates put membership at £240 to £750 a year, billed annually in advance with no cancellation inside the 12-month term.

How it charges: Flat membership billed annually in advance. No per-lead fees, no commission. Customers browse the directory and contact you directly.

Does it publish prices? No. The join page is a callback-request form with no prices; the FAQ confirms "we charge a yearly fee for membership" without a number.

What Figure Evidence Source
Published prices on trustatrader.com Sign-up is an online application or a phone call; no membership price appears on the page. none (callback quote only) Official TrustATrader join page verified live 30 Sep 2026
Estimated annual membership £240–£660 (year one) Third-party estimate Local Search North comparison 3 Apr 2026
Estimated annual membership (alternative estimate) £360–£750 Third-party estimate Unavoidable Marketing comparison 17 Jul 2026
Historic journalist figure members "typically pay from £958.80 a year" (2020) Third-party estimate This is Money (Financial Mail on Sunday) 24 Oct 2020
Historic member-quoted fees £495–£830/year (2012–2017 forum reports) Member-reported UK Plumbers Forums / Screwfix Community / Electricians Forums 2012–2017
Effective cost per booked job £45–£375 (at 2–8 booked jobs/month) Third-party estimate Unavoidable Marketing comparison 17 Jul 2026
Competition cap The clearest exclusivity guarantee of any major UK directory. max 10 traders per trade category per area, with waiting lists Official TrustATrader trader T&Cs T&Cs updated 15 Feb 2023, accessed 20 Sep 2026

Contract terms

  • Fees are "calculated and payable annually… in advance" and non-refundable (official T&Cs).
  • "Once live on the Website you cannot cancel the membership agreement prior to the expiry of the 12 month membership period" (official T&Cs).
  • No automatic renewal: "we will contact you at the end of each year of your annual membership to discuss your renewal" (official T&Cs, clause 5(b)).

Where the sources disagree

  • One April 2026 comparison describes TrustATrader as rolling monthly; the platform’s own T&Cs specify annual billing in advance with a 12-month lock. The official terms win.

Trustpilot: 4.6/5 from ~8,700 reviews (profile).

Would a directory membership pay for itself on your numbers?

Put in what the platform costs you each month, how many leads it sends and how many you win. The calculator shows your true cost per won job and how much gross profit is left after the platform takes its share.

£0 cost per lead
£0 cost per won job
0 jobs won per month
0 jobs needed to break even

Gross profit only. Time spent answering alerts, calling leads back and quoting is not included, so the real break-even point is higher than this.

The defaults match a real 2025 quote reported by an electrician on Reddit: £150 a month for an estimated 4 leads, each also sent to three other contractors. Swap in your own quote and your own win rate.

What Google Charges for the Same Customer

For context, this is what one top-of-page click costs on Google Ads for each trade's head search term in the UK, alongside how many people search it every month. A click is not a lead. But unlike a directory lead, the visitor lands on your website alone, not in an inbox shared with 3 to 20 competitors. Source: Google Ads data via DataForSEO, United Kingdom, September 2026.

Trade Search term Top-of-page bid range (per click) UK searches per month
Plumbers "plumber near me" £2.09 – £13.41 90,500
Electricians "electrician near me" £2.02 – £10.29 74,000
Roofers "roofers near me" £3.75 – £17.93 33,100
Gardeners "gardener near me" £1.07 – £3.56 22,200
Builders "builders near me" £1.54 – £6.18 18,100
Painters & Decorators "painter and decorator near me" £1.12 – £4.05 18,100
Handymen "handyman near me" £1.09 – £4.60 18,100
Carpenters "carpenter near me" £1.50 – £10.61 12,100
Window Cleaners "window cleaner near me" £1.32 – £4.37 6,600
Cleaners "cleaner near me" £1.55 – £5.45 5,400

Roofing is the most expensive click in the UK trades at up to £17.93, and "plumber near me" alone is searched around 90,500 times a month.

How We Compile This Data

  • Sources. Platform pricing pages, help centres and terms & conditions (scraped directly), national press, third-party comparisons, and tradespeople's own reports on Reddit, trade forums, Facebook groups, Trustpilot and YouTube. Every figure links to at least one published source with a date. Reddit figures are only included when the amount is quoted verbatim in the post and the thread's year can be confirmed; candidates that could not be dated were excluded.
  • Evidence labels. "Official" means the platform itself published it and we verified the page live. "Member-reported" is an individual tradesperson's own figure. "Third-party estimate" is a journalist's or analyst's figure. "Derived" combines an official price with a reported quantity.
  • Conflicts are displayed, never averaged. Where an official claim and reported reality disagree (or two estimates disagree), we publish both and say so.
  • Dead and unverifiable sources are excluded. Several pricing figures widely copied around the web trace back to domains that no longer resolve or pages that no longer exist. If we could not load the source, the figure is out.
  • This is a floor, not a total. Most tradespeople never publish what they pay, and quote-only platforms mean prices vary by trade and postcode. Treat ranges as ranges.
  • Corrections. Platform pricing changes constantly. If you spot an out-of-date figure, or you are willing to share what you actually pay, email us and we will review it within one working day.
  • Update cadence. Quarterly. This is the Q4 2026 edition, verified 2026-09-30; the next update is due in January 2027.

The tracker is maintained by Local Ladder, a UK web design and local SEO agency for tradespeople, founded by Elliot Blackler.

Cite or Reuse This Data

Journalists, researchers and trade bodies are welcome to use this dataset free of charge under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Attribute it like this:

Source: Local Ladder UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker, localadder.co.uk/uk-trade-lead-cost-tracker/

Every platform section has its own anchor link for citing a specific figure. For a quote, a per-trade breakdown, or the underlying source list, email [email protected] and we will respond the same working day.

Download the full dataset (CSV)

Infographic: What UK trade leads really cost in 2026. 0 of 5 directories publish a full price list; £500/month is the highest reported Checkatrade bill; £940 is the highest filmed MyBuilder lead fee; up to 20 trades can share one single lead. Source: localadder.co.uk

Download the infographic (JPG, 1536×2048) for editorial use under the same CC BY 4.0 licence, with attribution.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Checkatrade cost per month?

Checkatrade officially charges £30/month (+VAT) for its Approved plan and "from £59/month" for lead-generating Growth plans, on 12-month fixed contracts. The full price depends on your trade and postcode and is only revealed during sign-up. Tradespeople report real bills of £80 to £500 per month: 2026 Reddit threads alone report £300+, £390 and £500 a month. Third-party analyses put typical annual spend at £1,200 to £2,000+. Its new Opportunities Board sells extra leads for credits, but the price of a credit is not published.

How much do MyBuilder leads cost?

MyBuilder has no monthly fee. You pay a lead fee only when a homeowner shortlists you: officially "from £7", typically £5 to £35 for everyday jobs (third-party estimates), and £50 or more on large projects. One tradesperson filmed shortlist fees of £540 and £940 on two big jobs. Fees are non-refundable whether or not you win the work.

How much does Bark cost per lead?

Bark credits officially cost £1.80 each (published in its help centre, not on its pricing page). A typical lead needs 5 to 20+ credits depending on job size, which works out at roughly £9 to £36+ per lead. Since 1 November 2025, unused credits expire after 3 months and are non-refundable.

How much does Rated People cost?

Rated People closed to tradespeople on 16 September 2026, when the company entered liquidation and every trade membership ended. Checkatrade Group bought the brand and website, so jobs posted there now go to Checkatrade members, and the only way to receive them is a Checkatrade membership from £30/month. Before closure, reviews reported £30 to £60/month (+VAT) plus £15 to £40 per lead.

How much does TrustATrader cost per year?

TrustATrader publishes no prices; sign-up is by phone callback. 2026 estimates range from £240 to £750 per year depending on trade and area. Membership is billed annually in advance, is non-refundable, and cannot be cancelled inside the 12-month term. Its T&Cs cap listings at 10 traders per category per area.

Which trade directory is cheapest?

It depends on how much work you need. Pay-per-lead platforms (MyBuilder, Bark) have no fixed costs, so they are cheapest to try: expect £5 to £40 per lead and roughly 1 job per 5 to 10 leads. Of the subscription directories, Checkatrade typically costs £1,200 to £2,000+ a year and TrustATrader an estimated £240 to £750, both on 12-month commitments. For comparison, a top-of-page Google Ads click for "plumber near me" costs £2.09 to £13.41, and a well-ranked website of your own has no per-lead cost at all.

How many other tradespeople get the same lead?

Bark leads can be bought by up to 5 professionals (official), MyBuilder shortlists typically involve 3 to 5 trades (reported), and Checkatrade plan enquiries are reported to reach 10 to 20+ members, though Checkatrade publishes no official figure. Leads on Checkatrade’s Opportunities Board come off the board once 3 trades unlock them (official). TrustATrader does not sell leads; instead it caps its directory at 10 traders per category per area.

Are directory leads cheaper than Google Ads?

Sometimes per click, rarely per job. A top-of-page Google Ads click costs £1.07 to £17.93 across the ten biggest trades (Google Ads data, September 2026), but a click is not a lead, and a directory lead is not a job either: reported lead-to-job conversion on Bark and MyBuilder is 1 in 5 to 1 in 10, because each lead is shared with several competitors. The only channel where the lead is exclusively yours is your own website.

Paying for Shared Leads Every Month?

The one channel where the lead is exclusively yours is your own website. Local Ladder builds websites and local SEO systems for UK trades so the phone rings without a per-lead fee attached.

Show Me Where I Rank