Is Checkatrade worth it for an electrician?
Directories mainly deliver one-off domestic work, which is the least valuable part of an electrician's business. They rarely bring the compliance and agent relationships that repeat. Judge it on whether it produces repeat customers, not enquiry volume.
Directories are built for the wrong half of this trade
Consumer directories connect homeowners with tradespeople for individual jobs. That's a reasonable product, and it's a poor match for a trade whose most valuable customers are letting agents needing certificates across a portfolio, on a cycle, for years.
So an electrician can be busy through a directory and still be missing the work that would actually change the business.
| What directories deliver | What compounds |
|---|---|
| One-off domestic call-outs | Agent relationships across a portfolio |
| Competitive quoting against others | Repeat certification on a known cycle |
| A new customer every time | Remedial work found during testing |
| Nothing retained when you stop | A client list that stays with you |
The check to run
- Add twelve months of membership to twelve months of lead charges.
- List jobs won through it, with values. Won, not quoted.
- Mark which produced a second job. This is the column that matters and almost nobody fills it in.
- Divide total cost by jobs won for cost per customer, then look at how many became repeat customers.
- If the repeat column is near empty, the platform is renting you one-off work at a fixed price forever.
What most electricians get wrong
Judging it purely on enquiry count. Volume is the easiest thing for any platform to deliver and the least useful measure in a trade where the money is in relationships.
The other mistake is cancelling before there's a replacement. Compliance pages tend to rank faster than domestic terms because so few electricians write them, so the sensible order is to build those, watch your own enquiries rise, then reduce the directory spend rather than stopping it.
Related questions
Is it worth it for a new electrical business?
Reasonably. With no reviews and no rankings you need enquiries from somewhere while the rest is built, and directory reviews are better than none.
Do agents use directories to find electricians?
Some do, but agent relationships are usually won on reliability and turnaround rather than through a platform, which is exactly why they're harder for a competitor to take.
What about commercial work?
Rarely a directory route. Commercial buyers work through accreditation, procurement and existing relationships.
Want to check whether it's paying?
Send us what you win through the platform and how much of it comes back. We'll work out your real cost per customer and say honestly whether it earns its place.