Checkatrade or your own website: the Southampton answer, trade by trade
Two questions decide whether a Southampton trade should pay a lead platform, build its own presence, or both: where your customers start.
By Daniel Stoychev, Webso Digital · 29 August 2026 · 4 min read
Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Bark and the rest sell leads; Google's map and your own site send customers. A Southampton trade does not have to choose one, but it does have to know which is doing the work, because the platform's fee is visible and the cost of never owning your customers is not. Two questions decide the mix for any trade: where do your customers start, and who ends up with the review?
Question one: where does the customer start?
A homeowner planning a loft conversion in Bassett starts with research, often on a platform, comparing three builders' profiles over a week. A landlord in Portswood with a burst pipe starts on Google's map and rings within a minute. The same trade can be on both sides: a plumber's emergency work starts on the map; his bathroom refits often start on a platform. Ask where the jobs you want most begin, not where the jobs you get most begin.
Question two: who owns the review?
Every job ends with a customer who might leave a review. On the platform, that review builds the platform's page and your standing inside it, which you rent. On Google, it builds your profile, which you own and which decides the map. A trade that has sent five years of reviews to a platform has a strong rented position and a weak owned one, and the day the platform raises its price there is nothing to fall back on.
Trade by trade
| Trade | Where the customer usually starts | The right mix in Southampton |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency plumber, locksmith, drainage | The map, in a hurry | Profile and reviews first; a platform only to fill the diary in the first months |
| Builder, loft and extension | A platform or a recommendation, then the site | Keep one platform; build the site with real projects and the areas; move reviews to Google |
| Electrician | Split: emergencies on the map, rewires researched | Profile for the emergencies, a page per job type for the rest; platform optional |
| Roofer, gutters, fascias | The map after a storm, a platform for planned work | Profile with seasonal hours and photographs; platform in the quiet months only |
| Painter, decorator, landscaper | Recommendation and Facebook, then a name search | The profile and the site must close the name search; platforms add little here |
| Marine engineer, rigger | The marina, the make, the water | Platforms are irrelevant; the profile at the yard, pages by make and water, the directories |
The Southampton twist
Two things make this city different from the towns around it. The university and the hospital create a churn of new residents every year who have no recommendations to ask for and start every search on Google. And the port and the marinas support trades whose customers never touch a lead platform at all, because a boat owner searches by the make of the engine and the name of the water. For both, the platform question barely arises; the profile and the pages are the whole game.
The one thing to do this month
Whatever your mix, ask for the Google review first. Keep the platform listing if your customers start there, keep its details identical to your profile, and at the end of every job send the customer your Google link before the platform sends theirs. Twelve months of that and the balance shifts on its own: the map sends more, the platform sends less, and you can decide what to do with the fee.
The platform is a tap you pay to open. The profile and the site are a well. Dig the well while the tap is running, not after it is turned off.
Questions on this topic
Which platform is best for Southampton?
It depends on the trade and it changes; ask three trades in your line where their planned jobs came from last year. The audit looks at who holds the map for your trade and centre, which matters more.
Should I show the platform's badge on my site?
If it reassures your customers, yes. It does nothing for Google, and it should never be the only proof on the page; the Google rating, real photographs and the register do the work.
Can I move my platform reviews to Google?
No, and you cannot copy them. You can ask the same customers, politely, to leave a Google review as well, and most happy ones will if the link is one tap.