Checkatrade sells your leads to your competition.
Checkatrade is the biggest name in trade lead gen. And the most complained about. Shared leads, price wars, monthly fees just to be listed. JobFilter does the opposite — territory-routed signals, no shared auctions, one flat price.
No credit card required. £39/mo after free scan. No contract. 30-day money-back.
NO CHASING
NO COMPETING
REAL UK LEADS
STAY IN CONTROL
THE PROBLEM YOU ALREADY KNOW
YOU'RE PAYING TO COMPETE WITH YOURSELF.
SHARED LEADS
You pay for a lead that 4-8 other trades also receive. The homeowner picks the cheapest quote. You lose.
PRICE WARS
When everyone gets the same lead, the only way to win is to undercut. That race has no bottom.
MONTHLY FEES JUST TO BE LISTED
£50-£90/month per category before you see a single lead. And you still pay per-lead on top.
NO VISIBILITY INTO WHAT YOU'RE BUYING
A name and phone number. No budget check. No timeline. No job scope. You drive to the quote and hope.
CONTRACTS LOCK YOU IN
12-month memberships with no cancellation clause. You pay during quiet months whether it works or not.
This isn't opinion. It's what trades say on Reddit, forums, and review sites. The system is broken. JobFilter was built to fix it.
THE LEAD AUCTION
EVERY LEAD YOU BUY GOES TO 4 OTHER BLOKES.
You pay £15 for a lead. So do four other trades. One of you wins. The other four just funded their own competition. That's not lead generation. That's a tax on hope.
LEAD
Homeowner posts a job
TRADES PAY
All get the same lead
WINS
First to quote
LOSE
Paid for nothing
You paid £15. Four other trades paid £15. One person got a job. Four people paid to compete with themselves.
JobFilter: one signal, one trade, no auction. You see it or you don't. Scored before it reaches you — trade, patch, and timing all checked.
FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE
THE BUILDER WHO TURNS UP FIRST GETS THE JOB.
Industry data shows 70% of jobs go to the first person to quote. Not the cheapest. Not the best reviewed. The first. JobFilter tells you where to turn up before anyone else knows the job exists.
WITH JOBFILTER
ON CHECKATRADE
70% of jobs go to the first quote. JobFilter gets you there first. Checkatrade puts you in a queue.
THE JOBFILTER WAY
NO SHARED LEADS. NO PRICE WARS. NO GUESSWORK.
CHECKATRADE
- Pay £50-£90/month just to be listed
- Leads sold to 4-8 other trades
- You call them, filter time-wasters yourself
- Hope they have budget. Hope you're first.
- "Leads" = a name and phone number from a form
- 12-month contracts reported
JOBFILTER
- £39/mo — all trades, all signals
- Signals controlled before delivery — no shared auction, no five-trade blast
- We score every signal. GOLD means worth chasing
- Verified signals — planning, energy, contracts. Not forms
- Buyer name, value, urgency shown before you act
- No contracts. Cancel anytime. 30-day guarantee
CHECKATRADE vs JOBFILTER
THEY SELL ATTENTION. WE PROTECT IT.
Lead model
Checkatrade: Shared — sold to 4-8 trades
JobFilter: Territory-routed — scored, filtered, first in your patch
Monthly fee
Checkatrade: £80-£370/mo at renewal (reported)
JobFilter: £39/mo — all trades, all signals
Per-lead cost
Checkatrade: Yes — pay-per-lead on top of membership
JobFilter: No — unlimited scans, one price
Lead quality
Checkatrade: Name + phone number from a form
JobFilter: Official signals with buyer, value, urgency
Budget visibility
Checkatrade: None — you find out on the call
JobFilter: Estimated value shown before you chase
Urgency scoring
Checkatrade: None — all leads look the same
JobFilter: GOLD / SILVER / BRONZE — chase what pays
Planning data
Checkatrade: No
JobFilter: Yes — approved applications
Energy signals
Checkatrade: No
JobFilter: Yes — retrofit properties flagged
Council contracts
Checkatrade: No
JobFilter: Yes — buyer named, value shown
WhatsApp alerts
Checkatrade: No
JobFilter: Yes — within minutes, not batched
Contract lock-in
Checkatrade: 12-month auto-renew — 14 day cancel window
JobFilter: No contracts. Cancel anytime.
Price stability
Checkatrade: Renewals reported doubling year-on-year
JobFilter: Founder price locked forever while active
Money-back guarantee
Checkatrade: No
JobFilter: 30 days. No quibbles.
INTELLIGENCE ENGINE
TEN SIGNALS. ONE SCAN. BEFORE ANYONE ELSE KNOWS.
Checkatrade waits for homeowners to fill out a form. JobFilter reads ten verified signals that tell you work is coming — before the homeowner even thinks about posting a job.
Planning approved
Approved applications before they hit any directory.
Energy signals
Low-rated properties legally need retrofit work.
Council contracts
Public tenders with buyer names and values.
Property sales
Recent sales show where owners are ready to invest.
Business starts
New commercial premises needing fit-out work.
HMO licensing
Landlords need compliance work before the licence clears — fire doors, electrics, plumbing.
Building control
Projects past planning and into real site movement — extensions, conversions, structural.
Auction property
New auction wins need fast turnaround: refurb, roof, damp, electrics, heating.
Void premises
Business distress and empty premises create urgent make-safe and refit work for local trades.
Retrofit grants
Funded upgrade windows create timed demand for insulation, solar, heating and electrical work.
THE DIFFERENCE
CHECKATRADE GIVES YOU LEADS. WE GIVE YOU FILTERS.
GOLD
WORTH CHASING
High value, real urgency, official source confirmed. This is the job you drop everything for.
SILVER
WORTH WATCHING
Good signal but timing is unclear. Keep it on your radar. Might be your next job.
BRONZE
QUIET-WEEK LIST
Real signal, not urgent. Low value or too much competition right now — revisit when your diary is quiet.
Checkatrade sends every lead and hopes you sort the good from the bad. We do the sorting so you stay on the tools.
WHATSAPP BODYGUARD
NO MORE WAITING FOR LEADS. THEY COME TO YOU.
Checkatrade makes you log in, browse, and bid. JobFilter scores the signal and fires Gold leads to your WhatsApp within minutes. Before the homeowner even posts the job publicly.
98% open rate
Not email. Not an app. WhatsApp — where you already work.
Within minutes
Gold leads fire instantly. Not batched. Not delayed.
Before the competition
Official signals fire before the job hits any directory.
FOUNDING 30
£39/mo ALL-IN. VS £50-£90/MO + PER-LEAD FEES.
Checkatrade charges £50-£90/month per category, then charges per-lead on top. Trades report £200+/month before any work arrives. JobFilter is £39/month flat. Unlimited scans. No per-lead fees. No category restrictions.
FREE
See the signals. Know what's out there. No card needed.
Preview leads only
FOUNDING 30
£39/mo
(founder price, locked while active)
Full access. WhatsApp alerts. Source links. Price locked while your plan stays active.
- Full lead details unlocked
- WhatsApp gold alerts
- Official source proof links
- Buyer names & deadlines
- Price locked while active
STANDARD — £79/mo
Full access at standard price. Available after founder slots are gone.
No lock-in. Cancel anytime.
30-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE. NO QUIBBLES. NO HOOPS.
WHAT YOU GET
ONE JOB PAYS FOR THE MONTH. EVERYTHING AFTER IS PROFIT.
Territory-routed scans
Gold signals controlled by trade, patch, and timing before WhatsApp delivery. Not shared. Not resold. Not blasted to five other trades.
Verified signals only
Planning approvals, public contracts, energy efficiency data. Not forms. Not ads. Not guesses.
No per-action cost
Scan as much as you want. One price. No credit packs. No per-lead fees. No category charges.
Built for trades
Made in Birmingham. For people who work with their hands. Not for corporate sales teams.
Cancel anytime
No contracts. No lock-in. No 12-month memberships. Leave if it doesn't work for you.
30-day guarantee
Try it. If it doesn't pay for itself, we refund. No questions. No hoops.
FULL MARKET VIEW
THE WHOLE INDUSTRY IS BUILT ON SHARED LEADS. JOBFILTER ISN'T.
Every major UK lead platform sells the same lead to multiple trades. The auction is the business model. Here's how they all stack up.
Checkatrade
Cost: £80–£370/mo (renewal)
Model: Shared — 4-8 trades per lead
Price doubles at renewal. 12-month lock-in. No quality filter.
Bark.com
Cost: £10–£50 per lead (credits)
Model: Shared — 3-5 trades per lead
Credits expire in 3 months. Fake leads reported. High churn.
MyBuilder
Cost: £25–£65 per shortlist
Model: Shared — homeowner picks from 6+ quotes
You pay before you're selected. Most spend £300 before a job.
Rated People
Cost: £2–£65 per lead + monthly
Model: Shared — up to 3 trades per lead
Customer support cut back. AI chatbot replacing humans.
Houzz Pro
Cost: From $399/mo (~£320/mo)
Model: Profile listing + shared enquiries
12-month auto-renew. US-first product. UK coverage thin.
TrustATrader
Cost: £70–£120/mo
Model: Directory listing — consumer chooses
No proactive lead gen. You wait to be found. No scoring.
JobFilter
Cost: £39/mo (founder price, locked)
Model: Territory-routed — one trade per postcode cluster, priority routing
—
Pricing based on published rates and tradesperson-reported renewal figures (May 2026). Shared lead counts from platform documentation and user complaints.
COMMON OBJECTIONS
WHY NOT JUST USE CHECKATRADE?
Fair question. Here's the honest answer to every objection.
"Checkatrade has the reviews and the brand trust."
True — for homeowners. But you're not a homeowner. You're a trade paying to access those homeowners. The brand trust Checkatrade built is theirs. Your reviews on their platform are theirs. If you cancel, you lose your profile. JobFilter finds jobs before they go to any directory — brand trust is irrelevant at that point.
"I already pay Checkatrade and it's working OK."
If it's genuinely working, keep it. But check your numbers: how many leads did you buy vs win? What did each won job cost in lead fees? Multiple tradespeople report £200-£400/month before a single job — and that bill doubles at renewal. JobFilter is £39/mo with a 30-day refund. The comparison is straightforward.
"I don't trust new tools. How do I know this works?"
We only list postcodes with verified live signals. You can scan free before paying a penny — no card needed. Try it, see what's active near you. If you subscribe and don't see one job worth chasing in 30 days, we refund. No hoops. Checkatrade doesn't offer that.
"What if my area has no signals?"
Check free first at /find-jobs — it shows you exactly what's active in your postcode before you spend anything. We only offer territory locks where signals are genuinely live. If signals drop below viable levels for 60 days, we release the lock and refund that month.
No credit card required to scan. 30-day money-back if you pay and it doesn't deliver.
SCAN YOUR AREA FREE
STOP COMPETING. START FILTERING.
Scan your area free. See what work is active near you — before it hits Checkatrade. No card needed. No signup wall. Just results.
BUILT FOR TRADES. NO CONTRACTS. FAIR SYSTEM.