Need a roofer - can I trust Checkatrade and the like?

[BeBraveAndBeKind]

We need a roof repair. I've tried recommendations from friends but they've either not got back to me or not sent a quote. It's getting a bit desperate now.

Has anyone had a good experience with those trade sourcing sites like Checkatrade etc?

The only time I've used them previously (years ago now) resulted in some unpleasant interactions.

Is one better than the others?

You could have a look for a roofer on www.nfrc.co.uk/find-a-roofing-contractor. Haven’t used them yet myself, but will be one of the first places I try when I need one.

I've had I've experience with check a trade and it was a bad one. I was clear that I could tile the kitchen myself but wanted it done on time for my wife's birthday and I didn't have the time of inclination - all I expect is that they, as so called professionals, do the job at least as well as I can - really they should be able to do a better job - that means looking carefully at where the cuts need to be made so you don't get, or minimise, the number of visually distracting odd or narrow cuts. I was so appalled I threw the guys out and made them pay for the next lot of tilers to undo their terrible work and do the job properly - the original guys were the top rated tilers on the local site - father and son, as usual the father had all the skills and experience and the son was a lazy slapdash halfwit. Unfortunately the father had succumbed to some kind of illness that meant that he had very shaky hands and was physically quite weak - not something I noticed when he came round to measure up and give me a quote.

Don't use either, they recommend whoever pays the most (I used to work for a building firm) and they caused us loads of hassle.

My mum got a builder off checkatrade and is terrified to leave a negative review or complain as she is a pensioner living on her own. He did a complete bodge job and she had to pay cash so can’t even get the bank to help.

Can you look at your local trading standards website?
Our LA trading standards website has their open scheme which can't be commercially bought and is an independent check

It's funny reading complaints about Checkatrade. Some years ago there was a thread in which folk were slagging it off. Checkatrade sent a legal letter to Mumsnet to a) Shut the thread down and b) Compel them to hand over the members' actual names and contact details. Mumsnet did a) but to its credit not b)

As for not leaving neg comments 'missing the point' well it depends what point you mean. As its tradesmen pay well over a grand to be registered with it, it works very well as the firm gets loads of money and isn't too keen to just chuck its registrants off, seeing it loses them cash. Tbf I suppose it does list tradesmen who are above board and you may be able to gauge what they're about. However, the tradesmen we now have are not on it and as they are overloaded with work, there'd be no need for it.

I know what you mean about being 'ghosted' by tradesmen, that's another one where they turn up, take photos and chat for half an hour, say they'll send you a quote and never get back to you or pick up.

If you get a good, decent tradesman ask if they can recommend anyone else in another area, i.e. get a plasterer off an electrician or vice versa.
It helps if you pay not upfront but in full immediately after the job is done, or within the week, in terms of one's own reputation, we've found.

I wouldn't use a Checkatrade ever after a plumber came to give me a quote and told me he had to pay to be on Checkatrade so just added the cost onto the customers quote. Had a bad gut feeling about him before he even said that. Maybe they do have to claim the cost back but the way he articulated it was not professional. www.nextdoor.com and personal recommendations from neighbours on there seem to be better.

Have you used any other tradespeople recently? I have found that the best way to get recommendations is from other tradespeople you've been happy with. Our plumber recommended the roofer we used recently, and he was brilliant.

another person reporting a terrible experience with checkatrade - and it is difficult to complain, because the person you are complaining about knows your address....

I believed the lies about the reviews being genuine

The damage cost me twice as much to put right as the job should have cost in the first place

Dont touch them with a bargepole

Trying Trading Standards is a good shout

Not really, at least IME; traders can pay Council staff to be put on their lists, just as they pay websites

As a PP suggested, if friends' recommendations haven't brought results I'd try the neighbours

Some awful experiences here! It's just shocking that these people get away with this behaviour! Thank you for the warning.

@TheRealKatnissEverdeen I'm in Gloucestershire.

@Puzzledandpissedoff Oh, I didn't realise that! Will approach with caution then and check if our local council has an independent list.

I asked our estate agent who they used for roof maintenance on the rental properties they managed. We were in the process of selling our house with them and needed our flat roof done.

Recommendation was brilliant and we then further used him for some work on the roof at our business premises.

I trusted Checkatrade once. Never ever again. Awful cowboy.

I used to go to the local Council to get a list of recommended tradesmen but after I found out how dodgy the Council is, never again. We were recommended one tbf famous firm for damp proofing our flaky exterior wall - this was around 2015 - and got quoted around £10K - we eventually got round to doing it in the last six months (!) for less than £5K.
Another tradesmen on the Council's list left it in a right old state acc to another one we hired out who we felt was more trustworthy.
It's a shame, you go from thinking any State operative is bona fide and trustworthy to thinking the opposite, after you've encountered the State albeit I think I was seen as a whistleblower over local care homes back then, so it's just possible I was on their list as someone to mess about.

Never trust Checkatrade

Builders pay a fee to be included there. If you DARE to leave a bad review expect repercussions. It has happened to me.

If you have used a good tradesperson that you trust in the past then nothing to lose by texting or emailing them to ask for a recommendation since they will sometimes work on the same jobs or engage each other.

Very sorry to hear you've suffered similarly, NewspaperTaxis

In my own case, having decades of experience with the Council, I was very foolish to have trusted their "lists" in the first place, but I really thought they might just have got this one thing right

I was wrong ...

Have had this issue recently but I have no advice as the person I used was rubbish and it’s going to cost me more money to fix the work he did.
Dont trust check a trade, Facebook full of the same people recommendations, the roofers listed by NFRC seem to all have mixed reviews. My council appears to hold no list of approved trades. Asking previous trades is fine assuming you’ve had good ones in the past. Honestly the industry is the wild west.

TRUSTATRADER IS VERY GOOD ALTERNAATIVE

I'm currently negotiating with a trader from Checkatrade so I'm a bit wary now after reading the posts, but this trader is also on MyBuilder, which does allow a customer to leave a neutral or a negative review.

I've chosen someone from Trustatrader a couple of times and was very pleased with both of them.

They can literally put reviews up themselves.