Checker trade

[temple tree care]

they must be qualified in the first place to get on their ???? And some gypsies can do a tree Regarding British standards 3998 ??? Some people do depress me The ones that would work all day for nothing it's some dossers that as messed up the industry get their tickets and work all day for 150

[Luckyleaf]

I thought I would try checkatrade and have been signed up since Sept 2015. To date I have had 2 ........ Yes a whole 2 inquires, first job was 20mile from my location, and to reduce a small conifer hedge days work for 2 at most, so went in quite reasonable with a £450 quote, lady seemed v happy and said she would ring me in a day or two as she had one more quote to receive from another checkatrade member. She said I don't think that they will beat your price though as the last time it was reduced it cost me £600 doh !! ......

 

Didn't hear anything so I decided to ring her about a week later and "oh sorry I was going to get back to you but the other checkatrade guy who come round said he could do it for £220 😱😱😱

 

 

Problem with Checkatrade is that our industry is too difficult for them to understand and vet properly ...all you need is :-

 

1 x NPTC chainsaw related certificate

1 x PL insurance document .... I don't think it would even matter if you had a 1m height restriction

10 x happy customer reports

1 x £800 yearly fee

 

The guy who came round to "vet" me thought my main affiliation certificate was a NPTC cert !, alarm bells started ringing then and I should have pulled the plug. I'm sure some peeps do get work from being Checkatrade approved. technically you could short course your 4 main NPTC units in 1 month and be checkatrade approved the day after, as long as you had 10 mates that would write nice stuff about you )

 

Any way that's my experience of Checkatrade and when my membership comes up for renewal I will be using the money for a years green fees at my local course 👍

Edited May 1, 2016 by Luckyleaf

[Tom D]

All these directories are just leeches on the industry. Same with rated people and all the others.. Google allows people to leave reviews, and it's also the way that most people find trades, plus it's free..

[dan494]

All these directories are just leeches on the industry. Same with rated people and all the others.. Google allows people to leave reviews, and it's also the way that most people find trades, plus it's free..

 

 

This is a route I'm trying at the mo, trying to get Google reviews. With the check a trade etc some people say it's their main source of new customers others it doesn't work for so but of a minefield. I think it takes a few years for word of mouth to kick in enough to sustain you so it's all trial and error until then!

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Looking at getting a checkatrade account... Can someone advise me of what the requirements are to be allowed on? Cheers

 

 

They check that you have insurance and relevant nptc certs.

If you get too much bad feedback you get banned.

They don't check to see if you're a good practitioner of your trade, they take your word for it!

They don't know if your feedback is from clients or from your mates!

It's now a big commercial money maker and the system is seriously flawed in terms of quality assurance.

Their slick advertising and strap lines convinces the public that we are all good practitioners and can be trusted. That's certainly not the case in my area!

[Al Cormack]

Only advertise on checkatrade now since ditching yellow pages a couple of years ago.

Works great for me, regular flow of new calls from customers finding me through it.

[HertsWood]

Don't do much advertising - except vehicle signage, website & Twitter; plus I'm listed on SafeContractor & WoodSure/HETAS.

[Burgess]

You forgot mentioning your remote flail at every opportunity

[HertsWood]

True, but unless you talk about it, no one will know about it...

[GTW]

You basically pay for the listing, the guy who comes to "vet you" knows nothing about the trade at all, there are companies on there with only 30/31 (if you're lucky) with no academic qualifications calling themselves fully qualified tree surgeons......

 

But remember, they have been vetted and approved.

 

What they mean is, the cheque cleared.

 

Don't get me wrong tho, there's some good guys on there too.