Where to Buy Trade Leads in the UK (and What to Pay)
The main UK trade lead platforms, what a lead should cost, shared vs exclusive, and the one question that shows if you're buying leads or jobs.
- UK trade leads are sold three ways: subscriptions, pay-per-lead, and pay-per-job.
- A typical resold trade lead costs £10-£45; outcome-based models cost more per win but do not charge for losses.
- Ask every platform when payment triggers, whether contact details are resold, and how calls are routed.
- GetTheCall rings nearby eligible available members and charges a Platform Fee only when a call converts.
The Three Ways Trade Leads Are Sold
This guide is for tradespeople deciding where to spend their marketing money. GetTheCall routes homeowner calls to trades, not the reverse, if you are a homeowner who needs to hire a tradesperson, EmergencyLines can help instead.
Every UK lead platform fits one of three models, and the model matters far more than the brand name.
Subscriptions (Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People and similar) charge a monthly fee for a profile in a marketplace. You pay the same whether twenty calls arrive or two. Good in steady, high-volume months; punishing in quiet ones.
Pay-per-lead charges for each call, typically £10-£45 for a trade lead depending on urgency. You pay whether or not you win, and the same call is usually sold to several tradespeople at once.
Pay-per-job charges only when a customer confirms they have chosen you on the call. There is no fee for the call itself and nothing for the ones you don't win. You pay a flat Platform Fee only on a confirmed job, never per lead.
What a Trade Lead Should Cost
Headline prices vary widely, but as a rough 2026 guide:
| Model | Headline cost | You pay even if you lose? | Shared? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | £80-£200/mo | Yes, every month | Usually |
| Pay-per-lead | £10-£45/lead | Yes, per lead | Usually 3-5 ways |
| Pay-per-job | £40-£150/win | No | Provider-specific; GetTheCall rings eligible members simultaneously |
The pay-per-job fee looks higher line for line, but it is the only model where the number you see is the number you pay per actual job. With the other two you have to divide your total spend by jobs won to find the real figure, and that figure is often higher than it looks. There is more on this in what cheap leads really cost.
The One Question That Cuts Through It
"When does the fee trigger, and is the lead exclusive to me?" If the answer is "on subscription" or "on each shared call", you are carrying the demand risk. If it is "only when the customer confirms me, and the job is mine alone", the platform is.
Everything else, dashboards, badges, review systems, is secondary to those two facts: the payment trigger and exclusivity. They decide your real cost per job and your win rate.
Paying Only on a confirmed job
If you would rather pay on outcomes than on chances, pay-per-job is the model to look at. You set your trade and area; when a homeowner calls, nearby eligible available members' phones ring at once and the first to answer connects privately. You pay a single known Platform Fee only when the customer confirms they chose you on the call. No subscription, no minimum term, no fee for the ones that don't land.
See it in action for roofing, plumbing, electrical and heating, or compare it directly with a subscription platform.
Emergency trade callouts across the UK
GetTheCall routes homeowner emergency calls to tradespeople in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Nottingham and Glasgow, plus 85+ other UK cities.