How to get more work as a tradesman

Ask ten trades where their work comes from and most will say word of mouth. Then ask how a recommended customer found their number, and the answer is usually the same: they searched for them on Google.

That’s the shift worth understanding. Recommendations still happen, but they’re checked on Google. And people without a recommendation go straight to Google and ring one of the first three or four firms they see. Getting more work comes down to two things: being one of those firms, and not losing the customers who do get in touch.

Where the work actually comes from

Here’s how enquiries reached three firms we work with, counted from their call and message records:

What we have seen

• Wiltshire Junk Busters (rubbish removal): about 39 real enquiries a month in the 60 days to 11 September 2026, every one a phone call.
• Luke and Dan’s (tree surgery): 71 people got in touch in the 60 days to 1 October 2026. 31 rang, 22 filled in the website form, the rest texted or messaged.
• A.P. Berrystone (building, and a family firm: the owner is Tyler’s dad): 17 of his last 24 enquiries before 11 September 2026 came through his website forms.

See all three case studies.

Three different trades, three different ways in. A rubbish removal customer wants it gone today and rings. A tree customer often rings, and nearly a third use the website form. Most of a builder’s enquiries come through the form.

So the work splits into two halves: getting found, and not losing what you get.

Part one: getting found

1. Get your Google Business Profile right

This is the map listing with your stars, your number and directions. For a lot of trades it’s the biggest single source of calls, and it’s free.

The basics: your real trading name with nothing added, your main trade as the primary category, your address hidden if customers don’t come to you, the towns you genuinely cover, true opening hours, every service listed in the words customers use, and real photos of your work.

Google ranks the map on three things: how well you match the search, how close you are to the person searching, and how well known you are, including your reviews. We’ve written the full method in how to rank higher on Google Maps. If you can’t find yourself at all, start with why isn’t my business showing on Google Maps.

2. Get a review after every job

Reviews do two jobs at once: they help you rank, and they’re what a customer reads before choosing between you and the firm next to you on the list. Google’s own help pages say more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.

The trick is asking every time, not when you remember. Send a short text with the review link the same day you finish, while the customer is pleased. We’ve written the exact texts in how to get more Google reviews without begging.

3. Have a website that does the selling

A Google listing gets you noticed. A website is where a customer decides, especially for bigger jobs. It should say your trade and your town on the first screen, show your real work, have a page for each main service, and put your number one tap away on a phone.

It also gets you found in the towns further out, where the map favours firms closer to the searcher but the normal search results don’t in the same way. For A.P. Berrystone, the website now brings in most of the enquiries. More on this in does a tradesman need a website.

Part two: not losing the work you already get

This is where most trades leave money on the table, and it’s the cheapest part to fix.

4. Answer every enquiry, fast

If you’re up a ladder when the phone rings, the customer doesn’t wait. They ring the next firm on the list. In an urgent trade, a missed call is often a lost job.

You can’t answer every call. You can make sure nobody who rings you is left with nothing. A missed call text back sends the caller a text from your business within a minute: “Sorry I missed you, I’m on a job. What do you need doing? I’ll ring you back shortly.” The customer feels answered and is far less likely to ring round. We explain how it works and what it costs in missed call text back: is it worth it.

Do the same for website forms and Facebook messages: a reply the same day, ideally within the hour, with the questions you’d ask on the phone.

5. Chase every quote

A quote that goes out and is never followed up is easy to lose, sometimes to a firm that simply got back to the customer first. Customers go quiet for ordinary reasons: they’re busy, they’re waiting for a second quote, they’ve forgotten.

A short, polite follow-up a couple of days later, and another a week after, turns some of those back into jobs, for the price of a text. Our guide to following up a quote has the exact texts and when to send them.

6. Count what works

Most trades don’t know which of their jobs came from Google, which from a lead site and which from the van. Without that, you can’t tell what’s worth paying for.

Ask every new customer how they found you, and keep a simple list: who got in touch, how, whether you won the job, and what it was worth. After a few months you’ll know exactly where your work comes from.

What about lead sites and adverts?

Lead sites like Checkatrade, Bark and MyBuilder can fill gaps, particularly when you’re new and have few reviews. The trade-off is that you pay every month or for every lead, and many jobs are sent to several trades at once. We’ve compared them from their own terms in is Checkatrade worth it for tradesmen and Checkatrade vs TrustATrader vs MyBuilder vs Rated People.

Google Ads can work too, but they work best once your listing, reviews and replies are sorted. Paying to send customers to a firm that misses their call is the most expensive way to lose a job.

The order to do it in

1. This week: set up a missed call text back, and start chasing every open quote.
2. This week: fix your Google Business Profile: name, category, areas, hours, services, photos.
3. From your next job: ask every customer for a review, the same day, with the link.
4. This month: make sure your website says your trade and your towns on the first screen, with a page for each main service.
5. From now on: write down where every enquiry came from and what each job was worth.

How we do it, and why it works

What we do for trades is these six things, done properly, every week, so you don’t have to:

• Found: your Google listing set up and worked every week, a review asked for after every job, and a website built to be called.
• Answered: calls still ring you, but a missed call from a mobile gets a text back in your name, every form and message gets a reply in your name, and every quote is chased until it’s a yes or a no.
• Counted: after each enquiry, a text asks whether you won it and for how much. Once a month you get one page: what came in, what you won, and what it was worth.

It works because it fixes both halves at once. Being found brings the enquiries; answering and chasing stops them leaking away; counting shows you what it’s all worth. Junk Busters got about 39 real enquiries a month and Luke and Dan’s about 35, both in the 60 days to 11 September 2026, counted the same way.

You pay nothing until you’ve won £500 of work through us, and any month the work you win through us comes to less than £500 is free. We take one firm per trade in each town for the Google work, so the free check starts by showing who Google lists for your trade in your town, where you sit, and whether your town is still free.