Lead directories for trades: how the pricing actually works

Four models hiding behind the brand names

Strip away the logos and UK trade directories charge in one of four ways, sometimes two at once. The names and prices change often enough that quoting them here would date within months, so this piece deals with the mechanics. Check the platform's own pricing page for current figures before you sign anything.

Model	You pay when	Typical of	Rewards the platform for	Rewards you for
Flat membership	Every month, regardless of leads	Vetting-led directories	Keeping you subscribed	Having a profile that converts browsers
Pay per lead or shortlist	A homeowner picks you or your details are released	Job-posting marketplaces	Releasing as many leads as possible	Being quick and selective
Credits	You spend credits to contact a homeowner	Broad service marketplaces	Selling credits, not jobs	Judging which leads are worth a credit
Commission or managed booking	A job is booked and paid through the platform	Newer managed services	Owning the customer and the payment	Volume of small, repeatable jobs

Flat membership: paying for the badge

A monthly fee buys a vetted profile, a badge for the van and a place in the directory's search results. The lead count is not guaranteed. In a busy area with few members you may do very well; in a crowded one you are paying to be one of forty roofers on a page.

The hidden variable is position. Membership tiers often decide how high you appear, and the top tier can cost several times the entry tier. When a trade says "Checkatrade stopped working for me", it is often that the tier they are on no longer gets seen.

What membership does buy is the vetting itself. Homeowners recognise the badge, and for a new business with no reviews of its own that recognition has real value. The question is for how long.

Pay per shortlist: the lead you did not ask for

Job-posting marketplaces work the other way round. The homeowner describes the job, trades express interest, and the trade pays when the homeowner shortlists them or when contact details are released. No monthly fee, so the model looks cheap until you count how many shortlists turn into quotes, and how many quotes turn into jobs.

The structural problem is that the platform earns when it releases a lead, not when you win the job. Three or four trades can be shortlisted for the same bathroom, and all of them pay. The homeowner, meanwhile, has posted the job to compare prices, which is not the frame of mind in which anyone pays for quality.

Credits: a currency designed to be spent

Credit systems let you buy a bundle, then spend credits to respond to enquiries. The cost per response varies by job type and value. The advantage is control: you choose which enquiries to pursue. The disadvantage is that credits are easy to spend and hard to account for, and bundles tend to be priced so that buying more looks like saving.

Credit platforms also tend to cover every service imaginable, so the homeowner may be comparing a plumber's quote with a handyman's. Read the job description twice before spending.

Managed booking: the platform becomes the customer

The newest model, exemplified by Checkatrade Express which launched in May 2026, removes quoting altogether. The homeowner gets an upfront price for a small job, picks a slot and pays the platform. The trade accepts or declines the job knowing what it pays.

For gutter clearing and door hanging this is efficient. For anything that needs a survey it does not apply. And the customer relationship belongs squarely to the platform: the homeowner booked Express, not you. Whether that matters depends on whether you ever want that homeowner to ring you directly for the bigger job. Our analysis of why more tradespeople are walking away from directories picks that thread up.

Working out your true cost per job

The only honest comparison across models is cost per job won, and the only way to get it is to track three numbers for each platform over at least three months: total paid (fees, leads, credits, commission), enquiries received, and jobs won. Divide total paid by jobs won.

Here is a worked example with invented numbers to show the arithmetic. A kitchen fitter pays a flat £X a month to one directory and wins two jobs a quarter from it, so cost per job is 3X divided by 2. On a shortlist platform the same fitter pays nothing monthly but is shortlisted twelve times a quarter at £Y each, converting two, so cost per job is 12Y divided by 2. Plug in your real figures and the cheaper-looking platform is often the dearer one.

Two refinements make the number more useful. First, weight by job value, because a £300 callout and a £12,000 extension are not the same win. Second, add the time cost of quoting jobs you did not get. Our piece on why every cost per lead benchmark you have seen is wrong explains why published averages will not do this for you.

Contract terms that catch people out

• Minimum terms, often twelve months, with the fee rising at renewal.
• Notice periods that must be given in writing before a date buried in the terms.
• Reviews collected on the platform staying on the platform when you leave.
• Area and category limits, with extra fees to add a neighbouring town or a second trade.
• Lead dispute windows, sometimes a matter of days, after which a wrong-number lead is still charged.

When a directory makes sense

A directory earns its keep in three situations: a new business with no reviews, a move into a new area, or a quiet patch that needs filling fast. In each case the plan should include an exit, or at least a point where the directory becomes a top-up rather than the main supply.

That means capturing every customer the directory sends you into your own records, asking each one for a Google review as well as a platform review where the rules allow, and building the website and profile that homeowners check before they ring. The directory lead is expensive. The repeat job from the same customer is not.

Frequently asked questions