How to get more scaffolding work

Scaffolding work comes from two very different customers. The builder or roofer who needs a scaffold up on Monday, and will ring three yards until one says yes. And the homeowner who needs a scaffold for a roof repair or a chimney, has never booked one before, and is worried about the pavement, the neighbours and the cost.

Getting more scaffolding work means winning both. The trade customer is won by answering the phone and hitting the date. The homeowner is won by looking safe, legal and organised before you’ve met them.

What we have seen

Gane Access, a scaffolding firm in Newport, South Wales, had 5.0 from 23 Google reviews on 19 September 2026. In the 60 days to 1 October 2026, 19 people got in touch, and 18 of them rang. How we work with scaffolders.

“Not one went cold” means every enquiry in those 60 days got an answer, either way. That matters more in scaffolding than in most trades, because one builder who gets a quick answer can turn into years of repeat work.

How scaffolding customers choose

	Trade customers (builders, roofers, other trades)	Homeowners
How they find you	Recommendation, past jobs, then Google if their usual yard is busy	Google, and their builder or roofer
What they want	Up on the date, down when asked, a fair price	Safe, legal, tidy, insured, a clear price
What loses them	A missed call, a scaffold that’s late	No reply, no sign of insurance or a licence
How quickly they decide	Often the same day	Over a few days, after comparing

So you need two things working: a phone that never leaves a builder hanging, and a Google listing and website that reassure a homeowner.

1. Never leave a builder hanging

A builder ringing round for a scaffold often books the first yard that answers and can do the date. If you’re up on a lift, you can’t pick up. So:

• Text back every missed call within a minute. “Sorry I missed you, I’m on a scaffold. What’s the job, where, and when do you need it up? I’ll call you back within the hour.” See missed call text back.
• Ring back the same hour. A text back holds them for a while. It doesn’t hold them all afternoon.
• Keep every trade contact in one place. The builder who rang once in March is worth a message when you’ve got a gap in June.

A message to past trade customers when you have capacity:

“Hi Gary, it’s Lee at Northgate Scaffolding. We’ve got a crew free from the 14th if you’ve got anything coming up. Happy to price from photos or drawings.”

Read why missed calls cost jobs for what a missed call is really worth.

2. Claim your Google listing and work it

Plenty of scaffolding firms have a Google listing they’ve never claimed, with old photos, the wrong number and a handful of reviews. That’s the first thing a homeowner sees.

• Claim it, and check the name, number and hours are right.
• Your address: if customers don’t come to your yard, Google says to remove your address from your Business Profile and set the areas you serve, which “shouldn’t be more than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based”.
• Your services, in plain words: residential scaffolding, commercial scaffolding, temporary roofs, edge protection, chimney scaffolds.
• Photos of real scaffolds: boarded, braced, netted, with the pavement kept clear and the lights on at night.
• Reviews from every job. Ask homeowners at strike, and ask the builders you work with too. Google says “more reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking”.

Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence, and says “there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google”. The full method is in how to rank higher on Google Maps.

3. Show the paperwork that worries homeowners

Homeowners have heard about scaffolds going up without a licence, and they don’t know what’s needed. If you show it and handle it, you’re the safe choice.

The council licence

In England and Wales, section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 says no one may put up scaffolding that obstructs the highway “unless he is authorised to do so by a licence in writing issued for the purposes of this section by the highway authority”. It also says the scaffold must be “adequately lit at all times between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise”. Breaking the rules is an offence.

Each council sets its own fees and conditions. Two examples, from the councils’ own pages, checked 2 October 2026:

	Swindon Borough Council	Newport City Council
Fee	£156	£195
How long it lasts	21 working days (standard licence)	Three months
Time to issue	At least five working days	Within five working days
Public liability insurance	At least £10 million	At least £5 million
Also asks for	Chapter 8 signing, lighting and guarding cards or certificates	A site location plan, a dimensioned elevation plan and any special safety measures

Swindon’s page also says “the licence application must be made by the scaffolding or hoarding company”, and Newport’s says “do not start erecting the structure until you receive the licence”. Say on your website that you apply for the licence, and roughly how long it takes. Plenty of homeowners don’t know it exists until you tell them, and it sets you apart from the firm that doesn’t mention it.

Your scaffolders’ cards

The HSE says scaffolds “must be designed, erected, altered and dismantled only by competent people”, and that “every scaffold gang should contain a competent scaffolder who has received training for the type and complexity of the scaffold”. It points to the Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) for the levels of competence.

CISRS describes its cards as “Preferred by CSCS, NASC, Build UK, UNITE and the largest scaffold systems manufacturers”. If your team carries CISRS cards, say so. Main contractors will ask anyway.

Membership, inspections and insurance

• NASC. The National Access and Scaffolding Confederation says its contractor membership is “regarded by countless principal contractors, local authorities, utility providers and other organisations across the UK as a mark of quality, safety and professionalism”. Only show it if you’re a member.
• Inspections. The HSE says scaffolds must be inspected “following installation/before first use”, “at an interval of no more than every 7 days thereafter”, and after anything that could affect safety, such as high winds. Saying you inspect and record it reassures the homeowner and the builder.
• Insurance. Say what public liability cover you carry. Councils ask for it before they’ll issue a licence.

4. A website for both kinds of customer

Your website has two jobs, so give each customer a path:

• For builders and trades: how to book, how much notice you need, the areas you cover, and a direct number that gets answered.
• For homeowners: what happens from quote to strike, that you handle the licence, how long a typical job stays up, and a rough idea of cost, such as a “from” price for a chimney or a two-storey house front.
• A page for each service: residential, commercial, temporary roofs, edge protection.
• Photos and reviews from real jobs, and your insurance and cards stated plainly.
• A short form that asks for the address, the job, the start date and a photo of the house.

5. Quote fast and chase every one

Homeowners usually get two or three prices. Quoting quickly and following up politely gives you the best chance.

• Price from photos where you can, and visit only when you need to.
• Send the quote in writing: what’s included, how long it’s up for, what happens if it overruns, and that the licence is covered.
• Chase it: two days later, a week later, and a final “shall I close this off?” after two weeks. Word-for-word texts in how to follow up a quote.

How we work with Gane Access

Gane Access are in Newport, out of our home county, and their calls and messages land in our enquiry system. In the 60 days to 11 September 2026, that meant about 12 real enquiries a month and not one contact gone cold. In the 60 days to 1 October 2026, 18 of the 19 people who got in touch rang.

How we do it, and why it works

For a scaffolder, we’d do three things.

Found. Your Google listing claimed, set up properly and worked every week, a review asked for after every job, and a website built to be called, with a path for builders and a path for homeowners.

Answered. Calls ring you, as they always have. Miss one from a mobile and the caller gets a text back in your name. Every form and message gets a reply in your name, anyone who goes quiet is followed up, and every quote is chased to a yes or a no.

Counted. After each enquiry, a text asks whether you won it and for how much. Once a month, one page: what came in, what you won, and what it was worth.

It works because scaffolding is won on reliability, and reliability starts before the scaffold goes up: with the call that got answered, the quote that went out the same day, and the follow-up nobody else bothered with.

You pay nothing until you’ve won £500 of work through us, which in scaffolding can be the first job. Then it’s from £500 a month, no contract, 30 days’ notice, and any month the work you win through us comes to less than £500 is free. We do the Google work for one scaffolding firm per town, and a firm whose town is taken can still have us reply to and chase its enquiries. The free check shows the scaffolders Google lists in your town, where you sit, and whether your town is still free.