Website vs Checkatrade for Landscapers — Which Gets You More Work?

If you're a landscaper trying to decide between paying for Checkatrade or investing in your own website, you're asking the right question. Both can bring in work, but they do it in very different ways — and one is a much better long-term investment than the other.

Let's look at both honestly.

How Checkatrade Works for Landscapers

Checkatrade is a directory. You pay a monthly fee, set up a profile, and homeowners searching on the platform can find you alongside other landscapers in your area.

What's good:

• Instant visibility to people actively looking for landscapers
• Vetting badges and reviews build trust quickly
• No technical setup — just fill in your profile
• It's a well-known brand that customers recognise

What's not so good:

• You're listed right next to your competitors
• Customers can compare three or four landscapers on the same page
• You pay every month regardless of whether you get leads
• Limited space to showcase your work — you get a handful of photos and a text description
• The platform controls your visibility, pricing, and rules

That last point about photos is the big one for landscapers. Your work is visual. A stunning garden transformation deserves more than a small thumbnail in a directory listing.

How Your Own Website Works

Your website is a piece of digital real estate that belongs to you. When someone searches "landscaper near me" or "garden designer in [your area]" on Google, a well-built website can appear in the results. When they click through, they land on your site — no competitors in sight.

What's good:

• Full control over how you present your work
• A dedicated portfolio page with full-size before-and-after photos
• No competitors on your page — the customer's entire focus is on you
• SEO builds compound traffic over time — the older your site, the stronger it gets
• You can rank for specific services: "patio builder," "garden design," "driveway installation"
• One-time cost with no ongoing platform fees

What's not so good:

• Takes time to rank on Google (typically 3-6 months for local searches)
• Requires an upfront investment
• Needs the occasional update to keep content fresh

The Visual Portfolio Advantage

Here's where landscapers have a unique edge that makes a website especially valuable.

Landscaping is one of the most visual trades. A finished garden, a newly laid patio, a complete outdoor transformation — these are stunning pieces of work that sell themselves when presented properly.

On Checkatrade, you get a limited gallery. Small images, no control over layout, and they sit alongside your text description and reviews. It works, but it doesn't do your work justice.

On your own website, you can create a full portfolio page with:

• Large, high-quality before-and-after images side by side
• Project descriptions — what the client wanted, what you delivered, materials used
• Categories — visitors can browse patios, gardens, driveways, fencing separately
• Video walkthroughs of completed projects

This is the difference between showing someone a postage stamp of your work and inviting them to walk through it. For a visual trade like landscaping, that portfolio page is your most powerful sales tool.

Cost Comparison

Let's look at actual numbers.

Checkatrade:

• Monthly membership: roughly £60-£120/month depending on area and categories
• Annual cost: £720-£1,440/year
• Every lead is shared with other landscapers on the platform

Your own website:

• One-time build cost: from £497 (hand-coded, SEO optimised)
• Annual domain renewal: £10-15
• Hosting: included in the build
• First year total: approximately £510
• Every year after: approximately £15

By the end of year one, the costs are comparable. By year two, you've spent over £1,400 on Checkatrade but only £525 total on your website. By year three, the gap is even wider — and your website is only getting stronger on Google while Checkatrade is still charging you the same monthly fee.

Lead Quality: Exclusive vs Shared

This is the biggest practical difference.

Checkatrade leads are shared. A homeowner submits an enquiry, and multiple landscapers receive it. You're competing on speed and price before you've even had a conversation. It often becomes a race to the bottom.

Website leads are exclusive. Someone has searched on Google, found your site, browsed your portfolio, read about your services, and decided to contact you specifically. They've already chosen you in their mind — the call or form submission is just confirming it.

These exclusive leads convert at a much higher rate, and the customers tend to be less price-sensitive because they've already seen the quality of your work.

The Compound Effect

Checkatrade is like renting a market stall. You pay every month for your spot. Stop paying, and you vanish. The stall next door sells the same thing.

A website is like owning a shop. You invest upfront, and then it's yours. Every month it's open, more people discover it. Google learns what you do and shows your site to more relevant searchers. Blog posts you write this month can bring in leads for years. Your portfolio grows with every completed project.

After a year, your website is more powerful than it was on day one. After two years, it's stronger still. Checkatrade on day one is the same as Checkatrade on day 730 — same fee, same listing format, same competition.

The Smart Approach: Use Both

Here's the practical answer. If your budget allows it, use both — but use them strategically.

1. Get your landscaper website built first — this is the foundation that everything else builds on
2. Link your website from your Checkatrade profile — landscapers with websites get more clicks because customers want to see more of your work
3. Use your website as the landing page for any Google Ads — sending paid traffic to your own site converts better than sending it to Checkatrade
4. Let your website's SEO build over time — within 6-12 months, organic traffic from Google may reduce your dependence on Checkatrade entirely

The Verdict

For landscapers specifically, a website is an even stronger investment than it is for most trades. Your work is visual, and a website showcases it properly. Checkatrade gives you a thumbnail; a website gives you a gallery.

If you can only pick one, pick the website. It pays for itself faster, costs almost nothing after year one, and every lead is exclusively yours.

If you want a professional landscaper website with a portfolio that does your work justice, we build them from £497. Hand-coded, SEO optimised, and designed to turn visitors into customers.

Axel

Full-stack developer specializing in Shopify and Django. Building automated e-commerce solutions.