Best apps for tradesmen

With thousands of apps out there, we’ve narrowed it down to six useful apps for UK tradespeople.

In alphabetical order...

Checkatrade

Lauding itself as the UK’s no. 1 website for finding tradespeople, Checkatrade gives tradespeople the ability to create a profile, upload photos of their work and display verified customer reviews.

Expert Trades

Expert Trades gives you the opportunity to list your business in a trusted directory. However, it goes a lot further than this in terms of helping you to run your business with ease. Expert Trades’ app enables you to keep track of all your jobs, paperwork and schedule in one place - and it can be synced with all your electronic devices.

It’s free to join their directory, Verified, and unlike many other directories, Expert Trades doesn’t take fees for leads. What’s more, becoming an Expert Trades member gives you access to member benefits - from vehicle leasing to phone discounts - not forgetting insurance!

Fixington

Fixington, does feature a directory but its star offering is in its calendar functionality, enabling you to keep track of work. It’s free package gives you access to this via your phone, but for £7.50 a month their Fixington Pro package gives you access to your calendar through multiple devices and browsers - particularly useful if you’re not a one man band and have employees or a partner that needs to access your admin information.

They’ve also recently launched a bookings system, enabling you to accept local leads that come through their directory (if you want to), book and schedule them in via the app.

MyBuilder

Unlike more traditional directories, MyBuilder also enables you to pitch for jobs. If a customer likes your offering, they’ll shortlist you and MyBuilder will enable you to make telephone contact with the customer (for a fee). To get an idea of how much leads are charged, take a look at MyBuilder’s recently completed building jobs list, which describes jobs and the lead cost.

Rated People

Similar to MyBuilder, Rated People allows homeowners to post jobs (also known as leads). A trades membership enables you to access relevant leads. There’s a monthly fee (starting at £35 plus VAT) to join and an additional cost for each lead you follow up (£15 on average).

They also have a pretty great trade advice centre on their website, featuring useful business content for tradespeople, covering everything from how to brand your van in order to stand out to customer complaints resolution.

Yell

Sounds familiar? That’s because Yell is the digital incarnation of the Yellow Pages business directory, which ceased printing in 2019.

These days, Yell offers much more than a free directory listing on the Yell.com website and app (which also enables your business to appear on Amazon Alexa, Apple Map and more).

They provide a full range of managed digital marketing services such as website design and online advertising, plus some great free tools including a website performance report, online visibility checker and downloadable guides focused on helping your business to be found and chosen online.