GetTheCall vs Rated People: Real Cost per Booking Compared
Rated People charges per lead before you know you've won. What that costs across a year of trading versus GetTheCall's pay-per-job model.
Rated People has been selling leads to UK tradespeople since 2005. The model hasn't fundamentally changed: you buy credits, spend them on leads, and hope the win rate justifies the spend. This comparison runs the numbers on what that actually costs per confirmed booking, and how it stacks up against paying only when you've already won.
| GetTheCall | Rated People | |
|---|---|---|
| Payment timing | After the customer confirms you on the call | Credits spent before any outcome |
| Who else gets the lead | Eligible members ring; first answer connects privately | Up to 3 other contractors receive the contact details |
| Starting cost | Nothing upfront | Credit pack required before first claim |
| Bad month cost | £0. You simply receive fewer calls | Credits spent on leads you didn't win |
| Speed of contact | Live call, seconds after customer dials | Notification → claim → contact → compete |
Rated People and the Problem It Tries to Solve
Rated People launched as one of the UK's first pay-per-lead platforms for tradespeople and has operated on the same fundamental model since: customers submit a job request, the platform notifies registered tradespeople in the relevant area, and interested contractors pay credits to receive the customer's contact details. The platform charges per lead attempt, not per confirmed booking.
For a model that predates Checkatrade's subscription approach, Rated People made a reasonable improvement on pure directory listings. You paid per call rather than regardless of call volume. But paying per call still means paying before you know whether you will win the job. And on Rated People, those calls are shared with up to three other tradespeople simultaneously, each of whom is also paying for the same lead.
The Notification Gap, Why Live Calls Beat Email Alerts
Rated People notifies tradespeople about job requests via email or WhatsApp. You see the notification, log in, review the job details, decide whether to claim it, pay the credits, and then contact the customer. By the time you complete this process, even if you are fast, the customer has received calls from other tradespeople who also claimed the lead and may have already committed to booking one of them.
For planned project enquiries, this sequence is acceptable, the customer is not in crisis and is prepared to hear from several tradespeople over the next day or two. For emergency work, the sequence is commercially fatal. A customer with a boiler failure who submitted a request at 8pm has made a booking decision before most contractors have finished their tea and checked their notifications.
GetTheCall's live call routing eliminates this gap. The customer calls a screened number, eligible available members ring at once, and the first to answer has a real-time conversation with the homeowner. The connected call is not shared with contractors responding later by email.
How the Platforms Compare
| Feature | GetTheCall | Rated People |
|---|---|---|
| When you pay | After confirmed win only | When you claim the lead, before any outcome |
| Cost per lead / job | £80 per confirmed job | £8-30 per lead attempt (win not guaranteed) |
| Leads shared with | No contact-detail resale; first answer connects | Up to 3 other tradespeople |
| Lead delivery method | Eligible members ring; first answer connects | Email / WhatsApp notification of job request |
| Emergency urgency check | Verified before every call | Self-declared by customer on form |
| Cancellation | Pause or stop anytime by WhatsApp | Subscription and credits model applies |
What the Maths Actually Looks Like Over a Year
A tradesperson on Rated People spending £150 per month on credits claiming 10 leads per month at a 25% win rate books 2.5 jobs per month from the platform. Implied cost per booking: £60. Annualised: £1,800 spent, 30 jobs booked.
The same tradesperson on GetTheCall booking 30 jobs in a year pays 30 × £80 = £2,400. Marginally higher annual cost, but every pound spent corresponds to a confirmed job. The Rated People model produces 7-8 months of paid-for-but-not-won leads generating zero revenue. On a slow month where win rate drops to 15%, 10 leads cost £150 and deliver 1.5 jobs, £100 per booking, while the GetTheCall equivalent would be exactly £80.
The variance problem: Rated People's effective cost per booking fluctuates with your win rate, which fluctuates with lead quality, competition density, and response speed. GetTheCall's cost per job is fixed regardless of external conditions. For a sole trader managing cash flow, predictability has real commercial value beyond the average cost comparison.
A Fair Assessment
Rated People works best for tradespeople who respond very quickly, have a strong review profile on the platform, and operate in categories with relatively low contractor density, meaning fewer people competing for the same leads. In those conditions the implied cost per booking is manageable and competitive. For high-density trades in major cities, the competition for each lead is intense enough to make the win rate materially lower than the platform average suggests.
For emergency callout work, the fundamental limitation is the notification-and-claim sequence, which is too slow for genuine emergencies. The notification-and-claim sequence is simply too slow for a customer whose boiler has stopped working at 8pm in February. Compare GetTheCall's electrical or heating for the specifics of your trade.
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.