Checkatrade (and Bark, MyBuilder) find you new homeowners and often share that enquiry with several other firms. RoofFlow answers the calls you already get — from your own number, your website, your van, Google — so none of them go to voicemail. They are not the same product. Here's how they actually compare.
| Checkatrade / Bark / MyBuilder | RoofFlow | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Lists your business in a directory and sends you enquiries from homeowners browsing the platform | Answers calls to your own number when you can't, asks the job questions, texts you the lead |
| Where the calls come from | New homeowners searching the platform | Callers who already found you — your number, Google listing, website, referral, van |
| Lead exclusivity | Often shared — several tradespeople can be sent the same enquiry | Always exclusive — it's a call to your own business |
| Cost model | Membership fee plus variable per-lead or credit costs | Flat £349/month founding rate, no per-call charges |
| Speed-to-lead | Whoever calls the homeowner back first usually wins the job | Calls are answered and qualified the moment they come in, 24/7 |
| Reviews & reputation | Built-in review and ratings system | Not a review platform — that's not what it does |
| Best used for | Generating new enquiry volume when your own pipeline is thin | Making sure calls you're already paying to generate don't go to voicemail |
Checkatrade, Bark and MyBuilder exist to put your business in front of homeowners who don't already know you. That's a genuinely useful job, and it's a different job to answering the phone. The catch most roofers run into is the one covered in our piece on why the shared-lead portal model is breaking down for UK roofers: you're often bidding against several other firms for the same enquiry, and the contractor who calls back fastest tends to win it — not the best one.
RoofFlow doesn't compete with that model. It sits behind your own phone number and makes sure that whoever is calling you — a portal lead, a Google search, a repeat customer, a referral from a neighbour — gets answered, qualified by job type, postcode, urgency and budget, and turned into a clean SMS lead summary instead of a missed call and a voicemail nobody checks until the evening.
If your pipeline is thin, a lead portal can help fill it. If you're already generating enough calls but losing too many of them to missed calls and slow callbacks, that's exactly what RoofFlow's roofing answering service is built to fix.
Not exactly. Checkatrade is a directory and lead-generation platform that sends you new enquiries from homeowners browsing the site, often shared with other tradespeople. RoofFlow is a call answering service: it answers and qualifies calls to your own number when you can't, then texts you the lead. They solve different problems, not the same one.
No. RoofFlow does not generate new demand or send you enquiries from a directory. It answers and qualifies calls you already receive, from your existing number, website, van signage, Google listing or referrals, so fewer of those calls end up in voicemail.
Yes. Many roofing contractors use a lead portal for extra enquiry volume and RoofFlow to make sure none of those calls, or any other calls to their business number, go unanswered.
The most common complaints are shared leads (several tradespeople quoting the same homeowner), per-lead or membership costs that add up, and lead fatigue from homeowners who have already been contacted by multiple firms before you call. See our full breakdown in Is Checkatrade Failing Your Roofing Business?
Highest-value action
Whether the call came from Checkatrade, Google or your van, RoofFlow makes sure it doesn't end up in voicemail.