The Directory Badge Is Not a Guarantee
CMA rules, bigger invoices and a run of cowboy stories have not stopped Checkatrade and MyBuilder selling trust. The badge still leaks. The fee still lands. A site you own is the part nobody can switch off.
The van still wears the tick. The homeowner still thinks that tick means someone checked. Then the roof comes off, or the shortlist fee hits an empty number, and both sides discover the same thing. The badge was a listing, not a safety net.
That is the story of Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Bark and Rated People in 2025 and 2026. The platforms got stricter on paper. The invoices got heavier. The disasters did not stop.
Two sets of victims, one middleman
Homeowners get the television version. The BBC followed a Leeds man who ran several MyBuilder profiles in 2025 and 2026. One customer paid £9,000 up front for a kitchen extension and got a day’s wreckage. Another couple paid nearly £2,500 toward a chimney breast job, then borrowed £5,000 to make the house safe. Profiles took weeks to come down. Work was still arriving after the first complaint.
Checkatrade’s twelve-point check has the same problem. The Guardian found a convicted offender with a county court judgment still listed for roofing. In 2026 a nurse was left with a £13,000 repair bill after a builder used a partner’s identity to get onto the site. The advertised guarantee is often capped at £1,000. Fine print does not rebuild a roof.
Trades get the Trustpilot version, which rarely makes the news. Memberships that used to sit around £130 a month jumping toward £180 or £200, on twelve-month contracts instead of three. A call offering another £70 to £90 to sit at the top of search. Decline it, and the next quarter is quiet, blamed on “not enough recent reviews” even when fifty old ones are still live.
MyBuilder charges when the customer’s details are shared, not when the job is won. Ghosts still cost money. Some “customers” push the chat onto WhatsApp and send a link to “verify” the trade account. That is a shortlist fee plus a phishing attempt. Bark cut new credit life from twelve months to three in November 2025. Unused balance vanishes.
None of the big five publishes a complete price list. Shared leads are normal. You are often buying a place in a queue.
The law moved. The bill did not shrink.
In 2024 the Competition and Markets Authority told trader recommendation sites to stop loose “trusted” claims, vet properly, handle complaints, watch members after they join, and treat reviews honestly. From April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act made fake reviews and misleading vetting claims a sharper legal problem. In May 2026 the CMA wrote to platforms again. Some of those duties were still not being met.
Checkatrade’s answer was more paperwork for staff and subcontractors, plus sponsored listings that can charge for the click and again if the homeowner then gets in touch. MyBuilder updated terms and started selling paid prominence with no promise of work. The regulator is arguing about the marketing copy. The trade is still paying to be in the room.
That is useful to know. It is not a reason to build a second career as a compliance officer. It is a reason to stop treating the badge as the shop front.
The usual doubt comes next. Cancel everything tomorrow and the phone goes dead. Nobody is asking for that. The platforms still send work, especially in emergency trades where the brand is what the homeowner types at 11pm. The mistake is letting that brand be the only door. When a quiet month arrives, or a sponsored listing starts charging twice, there is nothing else to point a neighbour at.
What still belongs to you
A directory can stay in the mix if a month of fees still turns into paid work. Treat it as a tap. When the ranking rules change, or the contract lengthens, or the leftover jobs get sold again as “opportunities”, the tap can be turned down.
What cannot be switched off from a head office is a page on a domain you own. Name, area, a few sharp photos of real jobs, a number, a form that still takes a message at 9pm. The enquiry lands in an inbox on that same domain. A professional email that matches the business looks like a firm. People remember it. Those customers are yours, not Gmail’s and not the directory’s.
Quality beats volume here. One homeowner who chose you from a page they can bookmark is worth more than four shared leads that die after a price shop. The directory will still sell the idea that more badges mean more trust. After a year of CMA letters and BBC kitchens, that idea is looking thin.
The practical four-part version of that setup (site, Google listing, Facebook page, matching email) is already written here: How Tradesmen Can Escape Checkatrade and MyBuilder. This piece is the why. That one is the how.
Keep the tools. Drop the technical evening.
Most trades stay on the paid lists because a website sounds like another trade. Hosting, plugins, a week of “can that button be a bit bluer”. OnePageSites exists so that evening never starts. One page, fixed process, simple sites from £10 a month. The site, the domain and the email belong to the business.
Have a look at the Examples. If this month’s directory bill would cover a page that still answers when the platform goes quiet, Get in Touch.
