How to Follow Up Checkatrade Leads Fast and Win More Jobs
Paid leads are won or lost in the first few hours. Here is how to follow up Checkatrade and MyBuilder leads quickly, what to say, what to automate and how to tell whether the spend is paying off.
If you want to know how to follow up Checkatrade leads properly, the answer is simple to say and hard to do: reply within minutes with a short, personal message, offer a specific time to talk or visit, then chase twice if you hear nothing. Track every lead in one place so you can see which ones turn into paid work. Price matters, but speed and follow-up are the parts you control most easily.
Why the first reply often wins the job
When a homeowner posts a job or sends an enquiry, they are usually contacting several trades at once. The first one to reply with something useful sets the tone. Everyone after that is being compared with them.
The most quoted research on this is old and American. In The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, published in Harvard Business Review in 2011, the authors audited how quickly 2,241 US companies responded to online enquiries. The headline finding, as reported in summaries of the study such as CustomerThink's (the full article sits behind HBR's paywall), was that firms which tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited even an hour longer. It was US data from 2011 and not about trades, so treat it as a rough guide.
Platform design pushes the same way. On MyBuilder, for example, you express interest with an introduction message and customers decide who to share their details with, according to MyBuilder's tradesperson page. Your first message is your shop window.
How to follow up Checkatrade leads: what a good first reply looks like
A good first reply is short, uses the customer's name, mentions their actual job and offers a next step with a time attached. It should read like a person typed it on their phone, because ideally a person did, or at least approved it.
Template 1: the instant text
"Hi Sarah, it's Dan from DM Plumbing. Thanks for your message about the leaking radiator valve. I'm on a job until 3 but can ring you at 3.30, or pop round tomorrow between 8 and 10 to take a look. Which suits you?"
Template 2: the email with photos request
"Hi Mark, thanks for getting in touch about the new consumer unit. To give you an accurate price, could you send a photo of your current fuse board and the meter? I can usually quote within a day of seeing them. If it's easier to talk, reply with a good time and I'll call. Thanks, Priya, Bright Spark Electrical."
Template 3: the friendly chaser
"Hi Sarah, just checking you got my quote for the radiator valve. Happy to answer any questions, and I've still got a slot on Thursday morning if that helps. No worries if you've sorted it elsewhere, just let me know so I don't keep pestering you."
The same rules apply to MyBuilder. Mention the customer's job in the first line, say when you could visit, and keep your profile photos and reviews current, because customers look at those before shortlisting you. Generic copy-and-paste intros are easy to spot.
Automating the reply without losing the personal touch
You can't reply within minutes while you are on a roof. That is where automation helps. The aim is to respond to Checkatrade leads faster by taking the typing and remembering off your plate, while you still make the calls that matter.
- Lead capture. Each new enquiry lands in your CRM as a contact with the job details, so nothing lives only in an app notification or an email.
- Instant acknowledgement. A short text or email goes out straight away, in your words, with a call-back time.
- Task for you. You get a reminder to call or quote, with the job details in front of you.
- Quote chasers. If a quote has been sent and there is no reply, a polite chaser goes out after 2 days and again after 5. It stops the moment the customer replies.
- Won or lost. When you mark the job won, it moves into your job software. When it is lost, you record why.
Be careful with anyone selling a Checkatrade CRM integration. Ask exactly how leads will reach your CRM and check it fits the platform's terms, because how platforms allow their data to be used can change. Prices vary widely: Spotdev, a HubSpot partner, lists a Checkatrade and HubSpot integration at £5,000 + VAT as a one-time setup fee. Our automation builds start from £1,000 per standard automation.
One pipeline for every lead source
Most trades get work from several places: Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Google, the website form, Facebook and word of mouth. If each source lives in a different app, you can't see what is waiting for a reply, and you can't compare which source is worth paying for.
The fix is one pipeline with the same stages for every lead, whatever the source. We usually build this in GoHighLevel, tagged by source.
| Stage | What happens | What can be automated |
|---|---|---|
| New lead | Enquiry arrives from any source | Contact created, source tagged, acknowledgement sent |
| Contacted | You have spoken or messaged | Reminder if nobody has called within a set time |
| Survey booked | Visit in the diary | Confirmation and reminder texts |
| Quote sent | Price with the customer | Chasers after 2 and 5 days |
| Won | Customer accepts | Job created in your job software |
| Lost | Customer goes elsewhere or goes quiet | Reason recorded for your monthly review |
Here is a real example. For CAS Plumbing & Heating in Hornchurch, new Checkatrade jobs arrive in GoHighLevel as a contact, note and opportunity within about an hour, with duplicates skipped. When the team moves a lead forward, the ServiceM8 job is created with the photos attached. It has been live since June 2026, and in the latest check it completed 31 out of 31 hourly runs.
Are Checkatrade leads worth it? Measure cost per won job
Whether Checkatrade leads are worth it depends on one number most trades never work out: cost per won job. Checkatrade sells membership for a fixed monthly cost, with memberships running for 12 months according to its join page for plumbers. MyBuilder charges a fee only when a customer shortlists you. Different models, same question.
| Source | Monthly spend | Leads | Jobs won | Cost per won job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform A | £300 | 20 | 5 | £60 |
| Platform B | £150 | 15 | 2 | £75 |
| Website and Google | £100 | 8 | 4 | £25 |
Then compare cost per won job with the profit on an average job. If a source costs £75 per job won and your average job makes £300 profit, it is working. If it costs £75 and your average job makes £90, it is barely worth the van fuel.
For context, Tradify says in its UK Trades Report that trade businesses on its platform turn 82% of quotes into jobs, based on 3,271 UK firms between June 2025 and May 2026. That is Tradify's own data about its own users, so treat it as their claim, not an industry average. Your own quote-to-win rate is the figure that matters.
Mistakes that waste lead spend
- Replying tonight. By the evening the customer has often booked someone who replied at lunchtime.
- One message, then silence. Many people mean to reply and forget. Two polite chasers are not pushy.
- Generic replies. "Hi, we can help, call us" tells the customer you didn't read their job.
- No source tracking. If you don't know which platform produced your best jobs, you can't decide where to spend.
- Leads stuck in an inbox. If enquiries live in email notifications, they get buried under supplier invoices.
- Taking every lead. Small jobs miles away can cost more in travel than they earn. Set your area and job types honestly.
Write your three templates, set a reminder to reply to every new lead within an hour during working time, and start a simple spreadsheet of source, quote value and outcome. After a month you will know which platforms pay. When you are ready to automate it, see our client work or book a free call.
Frequently asked questions
How quickly should I reply to a Checkatrade lead?
As quickly as you reasonably can, ideally within the hour during working time. Customers usually contact several trades at once, and the first useful reply sets the standard for everyone else. If you are on a job, an automatic acknowledgement with a specific call-back time buys you a few hours without looking slow.
Can Checkatrade connect to my CRM?
It depends on what the platform allows and how the connection is built, so ask any supplier exactly how leads will reach your CRM and check it fits the platform's terms. We have built a working setup where new Checkatrade jobs arrive in GoHighLevel within about an hour and duplicates are skipped, but we never describe it as an official integration.
Are Checkatrade leads worth it?
They can be, but only your numbers will tell you. Work out cost per won job: what you spend on the platform in a month divided by the jobs you won from it. Compare that with the profit on an average job. If the gap is healthy, keep going. If not, improve your follow-up before giving up on the platform.
What should I say in my first message to a lead?
Use their name, mention their actual job, and offer a specific next step with a time, such as a call at 3.30 or a visit tomorrow morning. Keep it to three or four sentences. Ask for photos if they help you price. Avoid generic lines that could have been sent to anyone.
Stop losing paid leads to slow replies
Book a free 30-minute call and we'll map how your leads arrive today and where they slip through. You'll leave with a plan, whether or not you work with us.
Book my free callSources
- Harvard Business Review, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads (March 2011)
- CustomerThink, How Fast Are You? (March 2011, summary of the HBR study)
- MyBuilder, Find leads in your area (tradesperson sign-up page)
- Spotdev, Checkatrade and HubSpot integration
- Checkatrade, Join as a plumber
- Tradify, UK Trades Report
