Checkatrade Roofers Compared for Leaks, Repairs and New Roofs

Water dripping through a bedroom ceiling after a night of high wind is not the moment to learn how roofing websites work. If that is where you are now, a search for something like "checkatrade roofers near me" is a natural first step, but the sites that come up do not all work the same way. On some you phone a roofer yourself straight away. On others you describe the leak and wait to see which roofers reply. One ranks every listed roofer in your town by Google star rating weighed against the number of Google reviews, and does not sell places in that ranking.

This guide looks at Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Bark, TrustATrader, Rated People and Top Rated Roofers through the jobs roofers actually get called for. A storm leak, a few slipped tiles and a full re-roof each ask something different of a website. Everything said here about the other sites is taken from their own published pages, read on 8 November 2026 or, for two sites, from earlier Internet Archive copies of those pages. TrustATrader and Rated People pages were read from Internet Archive copies because their live sites blocked access that day. Prices and terms can change.

Three roofing jobs and the kind of search each one suits

Start with the job, not the website. The urgency, the cost and the paperwork are very different from one roofing job to the next.

• An active leak or storm damage is about reaching a capable roofer quickly. A list you can phone from straight away is one way to reach a roofer, and a request form is another.
• A small repair such as slipped tiles, a cracked ridge or a tired flashing is about price and workmanship. Comparing two or three roofers with a long review history and asking each for a written quote is a sensible approach.
• A new roof or a re-roof is a large job with building regulations attached. Here the roofer's registration with a competent person scheme, the guarantee and the contract matter as much as the reviews.

What each site does when you need a roofer

The split that matters most during a leak is between sites where you make the call and sites where roofers decide whether to respond. With a directory the timing is in your hands. With a request form, the replies come from roofers who chose to respond.

When the rain is already coming in

A leak tends to bring a rush of decisions, and the first is how to reach someone.

On Top Rated Roofers you can open the page for your town, see each roofer's Google rating, review count and the breakdown by star, and ring several in a row. A shortlist of up to three lets you put them side by side on one screen. Because contact is direct, there is no request to wait on.

Checkatrade offers both routes. You can search and contact members yourself, or use request-a-quote, where Checkatrade members choose whether to respond. Its terms say relevance, reviews, availability, location and market conditions shape which trades you are shown or matched with.

MyBuilder and Bark are built around a posted request. On MyBuilder roofers express interest and you choose who gets your contact details. Bark lets up to 5 professionals respond to any one request.

Whichever route you use, ask the roofer what a temporary repair would involve and what it would cost before they climb up. The guide on why a roof leaks and what to do next covers the usual causes, and if you plan to claim on your home insurance, check your policy for what your insurer asks you to do first.

Who pays the site, and how the order of roofers is set

Roofers pay most of these sites in one way or another, so it helps to know how, and whether that payment touches the order you see.

Top Rated Roofers

No roofer pays to be listed and the organic ranking cannot be bought. The order comes from each roofer's Google star rating, adjusted for how many Google reviews sit behind it with a Bayesian average, and the About page sets out the method. In plain terms, a rating built on many reviews counts for more than the same rating built on a few. Some county and town pages carry up to three Featured spots. Each carries a Sponsored label, and none of them changes where a roofer sits in the ranking.

Checkatrade

Roofers pay Checkatrade through a monthly plan, per lead, or through credits on its Opportunities Board. Checkatrade's paid promoted placements, called Sponsored Listings, may show above the regular results and inside Request a Quote. Roofers on a free profile can appear on the site, but Checkatrade's terms say they have not been through its checks and you cannot contact them through it.

MyBuilder

A roofer is charged once you add them to your shortlist. When MyBuilder orders trade profiles, its terms put relevance first, then distance, customer feedback and how many replies the trade sent in the past week, with a random lift for trades active on the site for 2 months or less. Paid sponsored placement is sold for an extra monthly fee, and MyBuilder says it is marked as sponsored and leaves the organic factors unchanged.

Bark

Professionals spend credits each time they contact a customer. The match list you see is sorted by how relevant each professional is to your request, and Bark's help centre says Elite Pro, a paid subscription, lifts a professional higher in the seller list customers see.

TrustATrader

TrustATrader runs on membership, with no pay per lead. It caps how many members of each trade it takes in a region, and no formal rule for ordering results was found on its pages.

Registrations to check before a re-roof

Roofing has a piece of paperwork that can come up again years later, when you sell. GOV.UK lists replacing roof coverings on pitched and flat roofs among the alteration projects that may need building regulations approval. You do not need to get approval yourself if the work is done by someone registered with a competent person scheme.

For roof coverings, GOV.UK names two authorised schemes, NAPIT and CompetentRoofer, which is run by the National Federation of Roofing Contractors. A registered roofer can self-certify the work and will give you a certificate within 8 weeks of completion. GOV.UK says that certificate can be used as evidence of compliance and will show up in solicitors' searches when you sell. You can check a roofer's registration on the Competent Persons Register.

The NFRC Competent Person Scheme explains when this applies. Replacing 50 per cent or more of a roof means the insulation must be upgraded and a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate obtained. Jobs replacing less than half the roof fall outside the scheme, as do solar panels, trussed rafters and new build work, so ask the roofer or building control whether the work still needs to be notified. Garage roofs are not reportable unless the garage has fixed heating. GOV.UK says you may have to correct the work or pay a fine, and the NFRC scheme warns of possible enforcement action requiring the roof to be altered or removed at the owner's cost. The guide on building regulations for a new roof goes through the rules in more detail.

Here is how each website's own checks compare. None of them replaces asking the roofer for a registration number.

• Checkatrade describes a set of up to 12 checks on members, among them photo ID, qualifications and a financial check, and says most are run again at intervals. Public liability insurance appears as optional in the list on its trade pricing page.
• MyBuilder says trades either hold certifications for regulated jobs or pass an online skills check. The pages read do not say which roofing jobs it treats as regulated, and its terms say homeowners must verify insurance and qualifications themselves.
• TrustATrader's roofers page says all roofers on it are vetted and reviewed, and its joining process asks for insurance documents and at least 5 references.
• Bark is open that verification is not universal. A professional has been through its ID, background and business checks only if they show the Bark Verified badge, which is a paid add-on.
• Top Rated Roofers only lists a roofer with a verified Google Business Profile that is active, a website that works and 5 or more Google reviews. Insurance and qualifications are not checked, so ask the roofer for evidence of both.

The NFRC trade body runs its own checks too. It says members pass an inspection before joining, are inspected every three years after that, and must show employers' and public liability insurance.

Scaffolding, ladders and safety on your roof

Roof work carries real risk, so it is worth asking every roofer how they will get onto the roof and protect the edges. The Health and Safety Executive says all work on roofs is highly dangerous, even if a job only takes a few minutes, and that almost one in five deaths in construction work involve roof work.

HSE guidance says sloping roofs require scaffolding to stop people or materials falling from the edge. HSE says properly secured ladders and roof ladders may be used where the work is of short duration, with tasks measured in minutes. It also says every roof should be treated as fragile until a competent person has confirmed it is not.

Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the client duties on a job at your own home normally pass to the contractor if there is a single contractor. So where one roofing firm does the whole job, it takes on those client duties as well as its own. A quote that leaves out access altogether is worth asking about, and so is how any scaffolding has been priced.

Guarantees on roofing work

Problems with roofing work can take a while to show, sometimes not until the next spell of bad weather, so the guarantee behind the work deserves a close look. There are two separate kinds to think about, one from the website and one from the roofer or their scheme.

The NFRC scheme says its insurance backed guarantee comes into effect if the roof fails and the contractor has ceased to trade. Its contractors must also give you a sales contract with a 14-day cooling-off period. Checkatrade lists exclusions to its guarantee, including wear and tear, cosmetic or style issues, knock-on losses and materials you supplied yourself. The full TrustATrader terms were not read, so check its exclusions as well. Checkatrade states a maximum of £1,000 per approved claim and TrustATrader says cover up to £1,000, so read each set of terms against your own quote and ask the roofer about their own guarantee in writing.

Reading a roofer's reviews the useful way

Each site has its own review rules.

• Top Rated Roofers uses Google reviews, which are left on each roofer's Google Business Profile.
• On Checkatrade anyone who enquired, got a quote or had work done can leave a review. Checkatrade says every review passes verification and fraud checks before going live.
• MyBuilder reviews come from homeowners who hired through MyBuilder, after the work began or a deposit was paid. A roofer can add a maximum of five more from customers found elsewhere, each backed by a paid invoice.
• Bark reviews do not have to come from Bark customers, and professionals can bring in their Google and Facebook reviews.
• TrustATrader requires reviewers to register, and it contacts the customer behind any less positive review.

Roofing reviews have one quirk worth knowing. A repair that looks fine on the day may only be tested by the next spell of heavy rain. So look for reviews that mention how the roof held up over a winter, and for replies from the roofer to anyone who had a problem. A large number of recent reviews gives a clearer picture than a perfect score from a handful.

Matching the site to your roofing job

Top Rated Roofers fits when you want the roofers listed in your area laid out in order of Google rating and review count, with up to three compared together and a way to call or visit the website of each.

Checkatrade fits when the checks it describes and its discretionary guarantee are what you value, and contacting members or sending a quote request suits you.

MyBuilder, Bark or Rated People suit you if you would rather describe a planned job once and let roofers respond.

For a re-roof, whichever site you start from, the registration and the contract matter a great deal. The guide on how to choose a roofing company lists the questions to ask at the survey.

From first search to signed contract

1. Decide whether the job is an emergency, a repair or a replacement, because that decides which kind of site helps most.
2. Pick three roofers with a strong rating built on plenty of reviews, and read the newest ones as well as the score.
3. For a re-roof, check each roofer on the Competent Persons Register and ask which scheme they will register the work with.
4. Ask to see the public liability insurance certificate and the access plan, whether that is scaffolding or roof ladders.
5. Get written quotes that spell out the materials, the guarantee and who provides the building regulations certificate.
6. Keep the certificate with your house papers once the work is finished, because a buyer's solicitor may ask for it.

When you are ready to compare local firms, find a roofer near you and see how the roofers in your town are ranked.