What lead platforms cost UK roofers in 2026 (and what they will not tell you before signup)

Last Updated on September 17, 2026

None of the five big UK lead platforms publishes exact prices for roofers. Checkatrade sells membership on a 12-month minimum term. MyBuilder charges a fee when a homeowner shortlists you. Bark sells credits. Rated People sells a subscription. Exact figures appear only after signup.

Checked on 11 September 2026. Every claim below comes from a page we fetched that day.

We went to each platform’s own public pages and wrote down what a roofer can actually see before handing over any details. The short version: the pricing model is public, the price almost never is.

The five platforms compared

None of the five pages we fetched stated whether their prices include VAT. Assume quoted membership and lead prices are ex VAT until the contract says otherwise, and check before you sign.

What each model means in practice

Membership (Checkatrade, TrustATrader). You pay a fixed monthly or annual fee whether you win work or not. Checkatrade’s join page prices membership by trade type, the postcodes you cover and the number of leads you want per year, on a 12-month minimum term. That is a year of payments committed on day one.

Per shortlist (MyBuilder). Registration is free. You pay only when a homeowner shortlists you, and the fee buys their contact details. You are not paying to browse jobs, but a shortlist is not a job. You can pay and still lose the quote.

Subscription (Rated People). The current public offer is an Unlimited plan, one fee for unlimited leads. The page says it suits trades regularly quoting under £4,000, which excludes most full reroofs, and that it is not available for some trades. Whether roofing qualifies is only visible after signup.

Credits (Bark). You buy a pack of credits, then spend them to contact customers. The price per contact moves with the service, the job value and local supply and demand. So a roofing lead in a busy postcode can cost more credits than the same lead elsewhere, and you cannot budget precisely before you are inside the system.

The arithmetic that matters: cost per won job

A lead price on its own tells you nothing. Most platforms sell or expose the same enquiry to several trades. What decides whether the spend works is your cost per won job.

The worked example below is illustrative arithmetic with stated assumptions. It is not platform data.

Assume: a roofing lead costs £40, the enquiry goes to 5 trades, every trade quotes, and the homeowner hires one of them. Your best case is a 1-in-5 win rate.

• 10 leads bought: £400
• Jobs won at 1 in 5: 2
• Cost per won job: £200

Now assume, more realistically, that 1 homeowner in 3 never hires anyone. Your win rate falls to roughly 1 in 7 or 8:

• 10 leads bought: £400
• Jobs won: 1, sometimes 2
• Cost per won job: £270 to £400

On a £600 repair, £270 of lead cost is most of your margin. On a £6,000 reroof it is noise. Same lead price, completely different business decision. Before you sign anything, ask the platform how many trades receive each enquiry. If they will not say, price your bids as if it is five.

Why these platforms matter more than they used to

Whito’s September 2026 study asked Google AI Mode to recommend trustworthy roofers in 20 UK towns, then checked all 79 named businesses against Companies House. Every one of the 20 answers cited at least one trade platform among its sources. Checkatrade was cited in 17 of the 20 towns, TrustATrader in 10. That was the highest platform dependence Whito has measured in any sector.

So a platform profile now does two jobs: it brings its own leads, and it feeds the sources AI assistants lean on when someone asks for a roofer. That is a reason to understand the costs, not a reason to pay any price asked.

Red flags before you sign

• A 12-month minimum term sold on a phone call. Get the total contract value in writing (monthly fee times twelve, plus VAT) before you agree to anything.
• Auto-renewal. Check whether the contract renews automatically and how much notice cancellation needs. Put the notice date in your calendar the day you sign.
• No answer on how many trades get each lead. If a platform sells the same enquiry to five firms and will not say so, your real cost per won job is being hidden from you.
• Prices only available after signup or a sales call. Not an allegation, all five platforms here do some version of it. But it means the number you are quoted is negotiable. Treat the first price as an opening offer.
• Credits that expire. If you buy a credit pack, check the expiry terms before you pay, not after.

Before you pay for leads

Bought leads rent attention. A few free things compound instead: claim and complete your Google Business Profile, keep your own website’s prices and coverage area current, and get listed in free directories. Whito’s directory is free to join and free to stay in, and nobody can pay to appear or move up. That is the extent of the advice here, the full argument is in the leads trap.

What this page does not cover

• Exact membership or lead prices. None of the five platforms publishes them, so this page does not guess them.
• Lead quality, dispute rates or refund policies. We did not test these.
• Smaller or roofing-specific lead sellers.
• Google Local Services Ads and paid search, which are a different cost model.
• Whether any platform is worth it for your firm. That depends on your job mix and win rate, not on a table.

Method and limits

We fetched each platform’s own public join or pricing pages on 11 September 2026 and recorded only what those pages stated. Where a page hid prices behind signup or a phone call, we say so rather than quoting third-hand figures. Pricing models and promotions change, so verify at source before signing. The cost-per-won-job example is illustrative arithmetic with stated assumptions, not measured platform data. The AI citation figures come from Whito’s own September 2026 study linked below.

Sources

• Checkatrade join page (membership model, 12-month minimum term, prices behind signup)
• MyBuilder tradesperson registration (free registration, shortlist fee for customer contact details)
• Rated People for tradespeople (Unlimited subscription offer, prices behind signup)
• Bark pricing for professionals (credit model, variable cost per contact, no figures published)
• TrustATrader join page (membership, no per-lead fees, price on application)
• Whito: AI-recommended roofers vs Companies House (platform citations in AI answers across 20 towns)

Before you go

Check how visible your business is. The free Whito Visibility Check runs seventeen automated checks on what search engines and AI assistants can see on your homepage. Seventeen checks, about twenty seconds, no email, no sales call. Run the free Visibility Check.

List your business free. The Whito directory is free to join and free to stay in. Nobody can pay to appear, and nobody can pay to move up. Add your listing.

More guides for roofers: Whito’s roofers hub.

Related research: AI-recommended roofers checked against Companies House.

Whito

Whito is an independent UK research bureau. We ask the AI engines what they recommend, then check the businesses they name against Companies House and the sector registers. Figures we publish carry the date they were checked. Companies cannot pay to appear or to rank.

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