Websites 4 August 2026 2 min read
Checkatrade, a website builder, or your own site: which brings in the work?
Most trades use some mix of directories, a builder site and word of mouth. Here is what each one is actually good for, and where the enquiries you keep come from.
Short answerDirectories bring leads you pay for and share with competitors. Builder sites are cheap and rarely rank. Your own site, done properly, brings enquiries that come straight to you and keeps bringing them.
Every tradesperson has had this conversation. Checkatrade or not? Is a Wix site enough? Do I need a “proper” website? Here is the honest version.
Directories: Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People, Bark
What they are good for. Getting started. When you have no reviews and nobody knows you, a directory puts you in front of people who are actively looking. Some trades build a whole business on them.
What they cost. A monthly fee, or a fee per lead, or both. And the lead goes to you and five others at the same time. You are in a race to reply, and the customer is comparing you on price before you have spoken.
The catch. The reviews you earn live on their site, not yours. The customer relationship is theirs. Raise your prices or stop paying and it is gone. You are renting your reputation.
Website builders: Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy
What they are good for. Having something. A page with your name, your number and a few photos is better than nothing, and it costs £15 to £40 a month.
What they cost. Your evenings. Builder sites are never finished, and the owner is always the one finishing them.
The catch. They rarely rank. Templates are built to look nice, not to be found. There is no page per service, no page per town, and the pages are heavy and slow on a phone. And you do not own it. Stop paying and it disappears.
Your own site, done properly
What it is good for. Enquiries that come straight to you, from people who searched for what you do in the town you work in, with nobody else copied in. Reviews on your own site. A domain in your own name. An asset that gets more valuable the longer it runs.
What it costs. More up front than a builder. A fixed fee for the build and a monthly plan to keep it running, see our pricing. Less than a directory once you count what a directory actually costs per job won.
The catch. It has to be done properly. A “proper” site with one page and a slideshow is no better than the builder. Done properly means a page per service, a page per town, fast on a phone, reviews on it, and somebody keeping it up.
What we actually recommend
Use a directory while you are building reviews, if it works for your trade. Build your own site as soon as you can, and make it the place all the enquiries end up. Once your own site is bringing in enough, decide whether the directory still earns its fee. For a lot of the trades we work with, it does not.
Whatever you decide, do not build your business on rented ground. See what your own site would look like with a free demo.