Lead sites or your own leads? What's better for a UK roofer

Pay for a lead site when you're new and need to borrow trust. After that, it should fill gaps, not fill your diary. Homeowners are scared of rogue roofers, so a vetted badge helps. But that trust is rented, and it goes when the payments stop.

Rated People shows how quickly the ground can move. It went into liquidation in September 2026, and its leads now go to Checkatrade tradespeople. Anyone relying on it had to join Checkatrade to keep getting those leads, or look elsewhere.

My stake: we sell services that help you win your own enquiries, so read my view with that in mind. I've said where a lead site is the better buy.

The platforms side by side

This is what I could confirm on 6 November 2026. None of these pages gave a price for roofing, and terms change, so check before signing.

What each one means for a roofer

Checkatrade

I'd guess it's the name homeowners know best, and it's been loud about rogue roofers. It backed a campaign in early 2026, says it declines one in three roofer applications, and was reported to have turned away 2,365 roofers in 2024, up from 1,219. So acceptance means something, though those are its own figures and it has a commercial interest. Its list of 12 checks doesn't mention insurance, so keep showing your own.

The terms deserve a slow read:

• Membership runs 12 months, then renews for 12 more.
• You stop renewal by phone, and no earlier than 35 days before the date.
• Stopping your direct debit doesn't end the contract.
• Your fee can go up once a term, tracking RPI.
• When you leave, your right to use its reviews ends, and they must come off all your business materials. A former member may show as "Previous Member", with a limited number of reviews.

During membership, you can use those reviews in your materials under conditions. The terms I read show no date, so check the current version. I couldn't confirm what the other sites do with reviews, so put the question to each.

Bark

You see leads free and pay to contact the customer. Bark says it'll return all your credits if your first pack doesn't win you business, though I didn't read the conditions. Its pricing page doesn't say how many sellers can answer one lead, so ask, and ask how much roofing work it gets in your area.

MyJobQuote

No contract is the draw. Up to three tradespeople can buy each lead, disputes must go in within 48 hours, and credits last 6 months. The help pages behind this were last reviewed in 2022 and 2024, so confirm the details.

TrustATrader

It wants at least five references, two years' experience and your insurance documents, and it limits members per trade and area, so a good patch may have a waiting list. You pay a year upfront and can't cancel once live, though renewal isn't automatic. Those terms date from February 2023, and the fee isn't published.

Which? Trusted Traders

Think of this as a trust badge. The trader FAQ I read doesn't mention leads. Lose a dispute and there's a £240 + VAT fee. Introductory offers come and go, so ask what's running when you apply.

NFRC

It isn't a lead site, but it belongs here. Members pass an inspection before joining and every three years, and the contractor search gets over 290,000 hits a year, NFRC says. A homeowner told to check for a real trade body can look you up by postcode, and that signal doesn't depend on buying leads. It usually wants at least a year of audited accounts, so it's not a day-one option.

Google Local Services Ads

Roofers are a listed UK category. You pay per valid lead, not per click, and Google runs business and insurance checks that take 3 to 4 weeks after you send your documents. Don't leave applying until a storm's forecast.

Here's a catch for anyone on a roof all day. Google's help page says you can be charged if you miss a call in business hours and the caller stays on for more than 20 seconds, and for voicemails. Set your ad schedule with care. Non-US accounts are also due to move to Google Ads in 2027.

Rated People

Closed to members. Its help page says former members must join Checkatrade to keep getting those leads, on a 12-month fixed plan or through an Opportunities Board where you pay per lead. Ignore any old pricing you find online.

A badge isn't a shield

Citizens Advice says traders thrown off platforms re-register under new names, and a Cornwall warning after Storm Goretti said approved-trader websites were being exploited. So some homeowners may start doubting badges as well. That's one more reason to carry your own proof: real photos, a real address and reviews in more than one place.

A repair and a re-roof aren't the same lead

A lead's price tells you little. In roofing, one full roof can hide a pile of bad repair leads, so do the sum both ways.

Same spend, three very different months. Track each site for three months, with repairs and full roofs apart, and count your evenings on quotes that went nowhere. If you aren't winning enough, speed may be the issue. Read why roofers lose work after the first call.

What you build for yourself

Your own enquiries come from your Google profile, your reviews, your website, your past customers and the banner on your scaffold.

Those timings are my judgement. The evidence for a local name is better: 36% of people who used a trader found them through someone they knew, in Citizens Advice's 2026 survey.

In my view, a scaffold banner is the best advert a roofer can buy, because the whole street's staring at that job. Get your scaffolder's and customer's OK first.

The mix I'd use

• Year one: one vetted site for borrowed trust, with your Google profile and reviews running from the first job.
• Year two: apply to NFRC, and trim lead spend as reviews build.
• Stuck on small repairs: move money into your website and full-roof pages.
• Diary full: cancel the leads when the contract allows, and put your prices up.

Sort your phone before any of that. Paying for a lead and missing the call from a scaffold is the most expensive way there is to lose a job.

David Bell, founder of Real Business Systems

David helps small UK businesses get found, answer every enquiry and keep customers coming back. We sell some of the services mentioned here, and we say so where they come up.