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

Roofing is one of the most competitive trades on Checkatrade. There are a lot of roofers listed, customers are cautious about who they hire, and the platform makes it easy to compare you with half a dozen competitors. So is Checkatrade actually worth it, or would you be better off investing in your own website?

Let's break it down properly.

How Checkatrade Works for Roofers

Checkatrade is a directory where homeowners search for roofers, view profiles, read reviews, and request quotes. You pay a monthly membership to be listed, and your profile competes alongside other roofers in your area.

What's good:

• Homeowners on Checkatrade are actively looking for a roofer — high intent
• The Checkatrade brand carries trust, which matters in roofing where cowboy operators are common
• Vetting and reviews help legitimate roofers stand out
• Quick to set up with no technical knowledge

What's not good:

• Roofing is one of the most crowded categories — you're up against dozens of competitors in most areas
• Customers compare you directly with other roofers before getting in touch
• You pay every month regardless of whether leads come in
• Limited ability to showcase your work — a few photos on a profile doesn't do a re-roofing project justice
• You have no control over the platform. Pricing, algorithms, and rules can change overnight

How Your Own Website Works

A website puts you on Google. When someone searches "roofer in Manchester" or "emergency roof repair near me," a properly optimised site can appear in the search results. The customer clicks through and sees your services, your completed projects, your accreditations, and your reviews — with nobody else on the page.

What's good:

• You control the entire presentation — proper project galleries, drone footage, detailed service descriptions
• No competitors alongside you
• SEO compounds over time — more months live means more traffic
• You can rank for specific high-value searches: "flat roof replacement," "storm damage repair," "emergency roofer"
• One-time investment with minimal ongoing cost
• The hub for all your marketing — ads, social media, and Checkatrade all link back to it

What's not good:

• Takes time to build organic rankings — typically 3-6 months for local terms
• Requires upfront investment
• Benefits from occasional updates and new content

The Emergency Search Advantage

Here's something specific to roofing that makes a website particularly valuable: emergency searches.

When a storm rips tiles off someone's roof at 11pm, they don't open Checkatrade and compare profiles. They grab their phone and Google "emergency roofer near me." They call the first result that looks professional and answers the phone.

Checkatrade doesn't appear in these searches. Your website can.

Emergency roofing searches are some of the highest-intent, most valuable leads you can get. The customer needs help now, they're not price shopping, and the job often leads to a bigger contract. A roofer website optimised for emergency keywords captures these leads directly — no competition, no shared quotes, no price race.

Cost Comparison Over a Year

Checkatrade:

• Monthly membership: roughly £60-120/month depending on location and categories
• Annual cost: £720-£1,440/year
• Competing for every lead in one of the platform's most crowded categories

Your own website:

• One-time build: £497 for a hand-coded, SEO-optimised roofer website
• Domain renewal: £10-15/year
• Hosting: included
• First year total: around £510
• Every year after: roughly £15

After the first year, your website is essentially free to run. Checkatrade bills you the same amount every month, year after year.

Lead Quality

This is where the comparison gets interesting for roofers.

Checkatrade leads are shared. A homeowner posts a roofing job, and several roofers get the same opportunity. You're competing on price and response time. For a trade where trust is everything, being reduced to a price comparison is frustrating.

Website leads come to you directly. The customer has searched, found your site, looked through your project photos and accreditations, and decided to contact you. They've already done their research. They're not comparing you with five other roofers on the same screen — they've chosen you.

These exclusive leads convert at a far higher rate and tend to be less price-sensitive. For big roofing jobs worth thousands, the difference between a shared Checkatrade lead and an exclusive website enquiry can be significant.

Competition on Checkatrade

Roofing is one of the toughest categories on Checkatrade. In any given area, there might be 30 or 40 roofers listed. Standing out in that crowd is difficult, no matter how good your profile is.

On Google, you're not competing with 40 roofers on the same page. A well-optimised website competes for position in search results, and once you're in the top three for your area, you're visible to every relevant searcher — without sharing space with a list of competitors.

The Compound Effect

Checkatrade is a monthly expense that never changes. Month one is the same as month 24 — same listing, same competition, same cost.

A website appreciates over time. Every month it's live, your domain gains authority with Google. Blog posts you publish now bring in traffic for years. Your portfolio grows as you add completed projects. After 12 months, your website is significantly more valuable than on day one.

This compound growth is particularly relevant for roofers. A post about "how much does a new roof cost in 2026" can rank for years and bring in enquiries long after you've written it. Drone footage and project photos you add to your portfolio make every future visitor more likely to get in touch.

The Verdict

For roofers, a website is the better long-term investment. The ability to capture emergency searches, the higher lead quality, the project showcase, and the compound growth of SEO all tip the balance firmly in favour of owning your own site.

But the best approach is using both together — especially when starting out. Checkatrade gives you immediate visibility while your website builds momentum. Link your website from your Checkatrade profile to boost credibility and give customers somewhere to see more of your work.

The smart strategy for roofers:

1. Get a website first — it captures emergency searches that Checkatrade can't
2. Link it from your Checkatrade profile — makes your listing stand out from competitors
3. Display NFRC accreditation and drone footage on your site — this is what wins high-value jobs
4. Use the website as a landing page for Google Ads — especially for emergency and storm-related keywords
5. Let SEO compound — within 6-12 months, organic traffic may let you reduce or drop your Checkatrade spend

If you want a professional roofer website built to bring in customers, we can have you online in 7 days. One-time payment of £497, no monthly fees, and hand-coded by a developer who understands the roofing trade.

Axel

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