It’s the question half the trades in Gloucestershire have asked at renewal time. The honest answer is: it depends on where your business is — and most firms never actually run the numbers.
This isn’t a hatchet job. Directories like Checkatrade, MyBuilder and Bark do something useful. The question is whether they’re still the best use of that money for your firm, right now.
What you’re actually paying for
Directory memberships and lead fees buy you three things:
- Visibility in front of homeowners who are already looking
- A trust badge — vetting, a logo, a place for reviews
- Enquiries, either through your listing or as leads you pay to receive
Pricing changes often and varies by trade and area, so check your own invoices. Many established trades we talk to are spending somewhere between £1,200 and £2,000 a year once membership, add-ons and lead fees are counted together.
Work out your cost per job won
This is the number that matters, and it takes two minutes. Take the last twelve months:
- Add up everything you paid the platform
- Count the enquiries that came from it
- Count the jobs you actually won from those enquiries
Divide the total cost by jobs won. That’s your real cost of a directory job. If it’s £150 on a £12,000 kitchen, that may well be fine. If it’s £600 because most leads were tyre-kickers comparing five quotes, that’s a different conversation.
The part nobody puts in the sales pitch
Two things are easy to miss when you sign up.
You’re in a list. Homeowners on a directory are, by design, comparing you with other firms. On lead-based platforms the same enquiry is often sold to several trades at once. You start every job in a price competition.
You’re building on rented land. Your profile, your badge and — most importantly — the visibility that comes with them are tied to your membership. Stop paying and that shop window closes. Everything you’ve invested stays with the platform.
When it is worth it
Be fair about this. A directory can be a sensible spend when:
- You’re new to an area and nobody knows your name yet
- Your diary has gaps and you need enquiries this month, not next year
- Your jobs are small, quick and high-volume, where speed of response wins
When it probably isn’t
It’s worth a hard look when:
- Most of your work already comes from referrals and repeat customers
- Your typical job is £5,000 or more and homeowners take weeks to decide
- You’re winning on quality, but directory leads keep dragging you into price fights
For firms like that, the same budget can build something that doesn’t disappear at renewal.
What to spend it on instead (or alongside)
The alternative isn’t “do nothing”. It’s spending a similar amount on assets you keep:
- Your Google Business Profile — free, and where most local searches start. Kept active with recent jobs, it’s often the best-converting listing you’ll ever have.
- Finished jobs written up properly — a before, during and after, and two lines on what the customer wanted. That’s what makes a homeowner stop comparing on price.
- Your own website — the one place the enquiry comes only to you.
None of this works overnight. But a year from now it’s still there, still working, and still yours — which is more than you can say for a lead.
Want to run the numbers properly?
Send us last year’s directory spend and roughly how many jobs it won you. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s earning its keep — and if it isn’t, what the same money would build instead. Email info@torqpoint.com or see how Engine compares.