How to Get Repeat Work as a Tradesperson in 2026: 9 Free Ways, Review Scripts and Landlord Jobs (Google, Checkatrade, Jobbit Pro)
How to get repeat work as a tradesperson in the UK in 2026 without paying for leads: 9 free ways, copy-and-paste review and referral scripts that stay inside Google's rules, a repeat work calendar with typical prices, landlord and letting agent jobs, maintenance plans and a 30-day plan.
The boiler you serviced last October is due again this month. The customer will either get a text from you with two dates to choose from, or a leaflet from someone else. Plenty of tradespeople lose that job without ever knowing it was there, then pay a lead site for a stranger who needs convincing from scratch.
Past customers already trust you, and new customers check you before they ring. In a survey of 2,000 UK homeowners published by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and TrustMark in January 2025, a personal recommendation gave confidence to 64% of them, while 52% admitted they do not trust tradespeople. A 2021 Checkatrade survey of 2,000 UK adults found people read at least six reviews before booking a tradesperson. Yet they leave a review for a trade business only 24% of the time, mainly through lack of motivation, not seeing it as a priority, or forgetting. This guide shows how to get repeat work as a tradesperson and make every finished job bring in the next one: nine free ways, the scripts to copy, the rules that keep your reviews safe, and a calendar of jobs that come round again.
Want repeat customers and new ones in the same place? Create a free Jobbit Pro profile: 300 free agent credits on sign-up plus 100 free credits every day, a website for your services once your profile is complete, and no fee until a paid job completes.
How we checked this guide
- UK sources first. FMB and TrustMark, Checkatrade's published surveys, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), legislation.gov.uk, the English Housing Survey and HMRC statistics.
- American data labelled. The best current review research, BrightLocal's 2026 survey, asked 1,002 adults in the United States. It is marked as US data every time it appears.
- Rules read at source. Google's review policies, the Competition and Markets Authority's guidance on the fake reviews ban and the advertising code were read on 3 October 2026.
- Gaps admitted. No recent UK survey cleanly splits where tradespeople's work comes from. The fix is free: ask every new customer "how did you hear about me?" and write it down.
The repeat work calendar: 12 dates for your diary
Repeat work is not luck. It follows cycles set by law, by guarantees and by the weather. Put the date in your diary on the day you finish, not the day the customer remembers.
| Job | How often | Why it repeats | Typical price (Checkatrade) | When to send the reminder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landlord gas safety check | Every 12 months | A legal duty: the record is kept for 2 years and a copy goes to tenants within 28 days | £60 to £90 | At 10 months, because the check can be done up to 2 months early and keep the same due date |
| Gas boiler service | Every year | Boiler makers such as Vaillant require an annual service to keep the guarantee | £80 to £120 | 11 months after the last service |
| Oil boiler service | Every year | Usually recommended once a year | £75 to £110 | Late summer |
| Electrical report for a rented home | At least every 5 years | A legal duty in England: the report goes to tenants within 28 days | £100 to £250 (2024 figure) | 6 months before the report expires |
| Electrical check for a homeowner | Every 5 to 10 years | Recommended for owner-occupied homes in Checkatrade's guidance | £100 to £250 (2024 figure) | At 5 years, or when they plan building work |
| Alarms in a rented home | Whenever a tenant reports a fault | In England landlords must repair or replace a faulty smoke or carbon monoxide alarm once told | Usually part of another visit | Offer to test alarms on every landlord job |
| Gutter clearing | Once a year | Leaves and moss come back every autumn | £50 to £120 for a small terraced house, £130 to £165 for a 4-bed detached house | September |
| Garden maintenance | Fortnightly or monthly in season | Hedges and borders grow back | £15 to £40 an hour | Book the next visit before you leave |
| Grass cutting | Every 1 to 2 weeks in the growing season | It grows back | £15 to £30 an hour | Offer the whole season in March |
| Boiler care plan | A monthly payment | Homeowners already pay for boiler cover | £8 to £13 a month is the benchmark | Offer it at the annual service |
| End of tenancy repairs | Each change of tenant | Tenants move on and the landlord needs the home ready for the next one | Priced per job | Ask the landlord for tenancy end dates |
| Check after a big job | Once, 6 to 12 months later | Good practice: you find snags before they become complaints | Free, or your minimum charge | Diary it on completion day |
Prices come from Checkatrade's cost guides, with tables dated March to September 2026, except the two electrical rows (September 2024). All exclude VAT, so add it only if you are VAT registered. For your own city, see the trade rates by UK city guide.
Reviews: the free asset that brings the next customer
A recommendation gets you on the shortlist and your reviews decide whether you stay on it. Checkatrade's 2023 research with Opinium found that 38% of people trust a word-of-mouth recommendation enough to hire on it, that 49% had been disappointed after trusting only a recommendation, and that 30% do no further checks online. So about seven in ten do check.
1. Ask every customer for a Google review
In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of US consumers, 83% of those who said they had been asked for a review said they went on to leave one. Asking is the biggest single step. Get your link from your Google Business Profile: choose "Read reviews", then "Get more reviews", and copy the link or save the QR code (the QR code can only be created in a computer browser). Send it on the day you finish, while the job is fresh:
Hi Mrs Shah, thanks for having me in today. If you have two minutes, an honest review on Google helps other people find me: LINK. Whatever you write is fine. Thanks, Jamie.
For a job from a few weeks back, change the opening to "thanks again for having me in back in July". Print the QR code on your invoice and on a card for the van. The free QR code generator makes one that never expires. The customer needs a Google account to leave the review.
2. Reply to every review
In the same US survey, 80% said they are likely to use a business that responds to all its reviews, and half were put off by replies that read like a template. Google's own advice is to keep replies short, personal and free of sales talk, to answer criticism promptly and to move a dispute to the phone:
Thanks for taking the time, Mr Evans. I am sorry the job ran over by a day. I have called you this morning to arrange the snagging visit.
Google adds that a mix of positive and negative reviews often feels more trustworthy. In the US data, 68% will only use a business rated 4 stars or more, and 47% will not use one with fewer than 20 reviews, so steady numbers matter more than perfection.
3. Complete your Google Business Profile
A Business Profile is free. Google says customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if its profile is complete, which means your services listed, real photos, a description, opening hours and the review link. If you work at customers' homes, set yourself up as a service-area business: hide your home address, add up to 20 areas, and keep them within about two hours' drive. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence (how well known the business is). It says more reviews and positive ratings can help, and that you cannot request or pay for a better local ranking.
Referrals and repeat customers: ask, remind, repeat
4. Leave a job record the customer keeps
Send one message on completion with what you did, photos before and after, the parts you fitted, the guarantee and the date the next check is due. It answers the question a customer's friend will ask ("who did that, and were they any good?") and it is the kind of record a landlord is encouraged to keep. Give your quote and your job record the same reference number.
5. Ask for the referral at the right moment
The right moment is when the customer says thank you. Do not wait for them to think of it:
Glad you are happy with the bathroom. If a neighbour or a friend ever needs a plumber, I would be grateful if you passed on my number. I look after people who come recommended.
Some tradespeople thank referrers with money off the next service. We found no specific UK rule on referral rewards, so keep any reward completely separate from reviews, for the reasons in the rules section below.
6. Send reminders on the customer's calendar
Use the calendar above. The reminder that works is specific, priced and easy to answer:
Hi Mrs Shah, your boiler service is due this month. I am in your area on Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th. Same price as last year, £95. Reply with a day and I will book you in. Reply STOP and I will not remind you again.
For landlords, lead with the legal date:
Your gas safety record for 22 Park Road runs out on 14 January. I can do the check any time from 14 November and you keep the same anniversary. Certificate to you and your tenant the same day.
Only message customers who gave you their number for the job, and give a way to opt out in every reminder, as in the STOP line above. The Information Commissioner's Office publishes the rules for messages that promote a service. WhatsApp Business is a free app with quick replies and labels, which makes repeat messages quicker to send.
Landlords, letting agents and plans: work that books itself
7. Win landlords and letting agents
The private rented sector is a large pool of repeat work. The English Housing Survey counts 4.7 million privately renting households in England, 19% of the total, and HMRC's 2026 statistics show 2.88 million landlords outside companies declaring rental income across the UK. In the government's 2024 survey of landlords who register deposits themselves, 45% owned a single property and the 17% with five or more held 49% of tenancies. About half of those landlords (52%) used no agent, so you can approach them directly. Among landlords with five or more properties, 63% used an agent for letting, so for portfolios you may need to impress the agent too.
Landlord work repeats because the law says so. The HSE's landlord guidance requires a gas safety check on every appliance and flue each year, and the electrical safety rules for rented homes in England require an inspection at least every five years. Since the first phase of the Renters' Rights Act began in England on 1 May 2026, the government's landlord checklist suggests keeping a digital record of safety certificates and repair logs, so a tradesperson who sends dated job records is easier to keep.
What a landlord or agent wants from you fits on one page, so send it before they ask:
- Proof. Insurance certificate, and your Gas Safe or electrical scheme registration (NICEIC, NAPIT or similar) where the work needs it.
- Speed. A stated response time for urgent calls and for routine jobs.
- Evidence. Dated photos before and after every job, sent the same day.
- Clean paperwork. An invoice with the property address on it, and certificates sent to landlord and tenant together.
- A calendar. You hold the due dates, so they never have to chase a certificate.
The trade guides for plumbers, electricians and handymen cover the qualifications and day rates for each.
8. Offer a maintenance plan
A plan turns one visit a year into a monthly payment and a customer who does not shop around. Checkatrade puts ordinary boiler cover at £8 to £13 a month, and two local heating firms whose prices we read on 3 October 2026 sell their own plans from £7.50 to £35 a month. The simplest version is service only: the annual service, priority booking and a fixed discount on repairs.
Three rules apply. A consumer who signs up at home or online has 14 days to cancel. A plan that promises "all repairs included" for a flat fee can start to look like insurance, which is regulated, so keep to servicing and discounts or take advice first. And new rules on subscription contracts, with renewal reminders and a cooling-off period at renewal, are due to start in 2027, so check the date before you sell anything that renews automatically.
9. Give past and new customers one place to book you
Every customer who liked your work needs somewhere to send the next one. A Jobbit Pro profile is free to create and keep. Customers and Jobbit's agent send briefed, scoped jobs to professionals, the customer pays up front and Jobbit holds the money in escrow until the job is done, and a fee applies only when a paid job completes. Give past customers your profile link so they know where to find you. The first clients guide walks through the set-up.
The rules on reviews: stay on the right side
Three sets of rules cover reviews in the UK, and they do not say the same thing.
- Google. You may ask customers for reviews. You may not offer money, discounts or free work in return, ask only your happy customers, or pressure anyone into leaving one. Reviews that break the policy are removed.
- UK law. Since 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act has banned fake reviews and incentivised reviews where the incentive is hidden. The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance treats payment, discounts and vouchers as incentives.
- Advertising rules. The advertising code says reviews in your marketing must be genuine, that any incentive must be made clear, and that you must not present reviews in a misleading way, for example by removing the bad ones.
UK rules do not ban every incentive: a clearly disclosed reward for an honest review may be lawful, but a reward for a positive review is not. Google bans any incentive at all. Since Google is where your reviews live, the safe rule is simple: ask everyone, in the same words, and offer nothing in return.
What lead sites cost, and why repeat work wins
Paid platforms have their place when the diary is empty. On 3 October 2026 Checkatrade's pricing page showed a Free plan at £0, which gives you a profile to collect and display reviews, Approved at £30 a month and Growth from £59 a month. On the same day Which? Trusted Traders listed a one-off assessment fee of £248 and then £69 a month for a firm with up to three employees, with a half-price offer running until 11 November 2026. MyBuilder charges a shortlist fee when a homeowner picks you, whether or not you win the job. Trustpilot's free plan allows 50 review invitations a month.
A repeat customer costs a text message. A 2014 Harvard Business Review article estimated that winning a new customer costs 5 to 25 times more than keeping one. That is a rule of thumb, not a UK trades figure. But if you have ever paid for ten leads to win two jobs, you will recognise it. The trade lead sites comparison works out the cost of a won job on Checkatrade, MyBuilder and Bark.
How an AI agent helps you keep customers
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Manus and Meta's Muse can all draft a polite reminder if you give them the details. Jobbit's agent can work through the whole list with you, and a free Jobbit Pro profile gives new customers somewhere to find you.
- Builds your reminder calendar. Ask it to turn last year's invoices or a list of jobs into a month-by-month schedule of who is due what.
- Writes the messages in your voice. Review requests, referral asks and reminders, with the customer's name, the date and last year's price filled in.
- Drafts replies to reviews. Short and personal, one for each review, for you to approve and post.
- Makes the landlord pack. Ask for a one-page PDF listing your insurance, registrations, response times and a sample job record, then check it before you send it.
- Makes the QR code. A review QR code for invoices and the van. The free tool does not track scans; the QR tracking guide shows how to count them with your own link and analytics.
- Free agent credits from the first day. A new Jobbit Pro account gets a 300-credit sign-up bonus on top of 100 free credits every day, with no card.
- A website when your profile is complete. Finish your Jobbit Pro profile and you get a website for your services with an enquiry form, so a referral has somewhere to land.
Mistakes that cost you the second job
- Asking only the happy customers. It breaks Google's policy and it shows: a wall of five stars with no detail convinces nobody.
- Paying for reviews. A discount for a review is banned by Google and, if hidden, by UK law.
- Waiting for the customer to remember. The Checkatrade survey found lack of motivation, low priority and forgetting are the main reasons people never leave a review.
- Reminders with no date or price. "Your service is due" gets ignored. "Tuesday 13th, £95" gets a reply.
- Telling landlords the wrong law. The annual legal duty is the gas safety check. A boiler service is good practice and usually a guarantee condition, not a legal requirement.
- Selling an all-repairs plan without advice. Keep plans to servicing, priority and discounts.
- No record of where work comes from. If you do not ask, you cannot tell which of these nine is paying.
Your 30-day plan
- Week 1: get the link and the list. Complete your Google Business Profile, copy your review link, print the QR code, and list every customer from the last 12 months with the job and the date.
- Week 2: ask and reply. Send the review request to everyone from the last three months, in the same words apart from the date of the job, and reply to every review you already have.
- Week 3: build the calendar. Put next year's due dates in your diary for every boiler, gas check and report on the list, and send this month's reminders with two dates and a price.
- Week 4: go after landlords. Make the one-page pack, send it to five landlords or agents you have already worked for, and create your Jobbit Pro profile, completing it to unlock your website.
- Every job from now on: job record on the day, review request the same evening, next due date in the diary.
Frequently asked questions
How do tradesmen get repeat customers?
By treating the end of a job as the start of the next one. Send a job record with photos, ask for a review the same day, put the next due date in your diary and send a reminder with two dates and a price before it falls due. Boiler services, gas safety checks, electrical reports and gutter clearing all repeat on a known cycle.
How do I ask a customer for a Google review?
Copy your review link from your Google Business Profile under "Read reviews", then "Get more reviews", and send it by text or WhatsApp on the day you finish, with one friendly line. Ask every customer in the same words and do not offer anything in return.
Is it illegal to offer a discount for a Google review?
Do not do it. Google bans any payment, discount or free work in exchange for a review and removes reviews that break the rule. UK law has banned hidden incentives for reviews since 6 April 2025, and a reward for a positive review is not allowed. A disclosed reward for an honest review may be lawful, but it still breaks Google's policy.
How many Google reviews does a tradesperson need?
There is no UK figure. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of US consumers, 47% said they would not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 74% only cared about reviews from the last three months. Aim for 20 and keep new ones arriving every month.
How often does a landlord need a gas safety check and an electrical report?
A gas safety check is required every 12 months on each gas appliance and flue, and it can be done up to two months early without changing the due date. In England an electrical installation report is required at least every five years. Copies of both go to the tenants within 28 days.
How do I get work from letting agents?
Send a one-page pack before you are asked: insurance, Gas Safe or electrical scheme registration, response times, a sample job record with dated photos and an invoice showing the property address. Agents and landlords keep the tradesperson who makes their paperwork easy and holds the due dates for them.
How do I get more work without paying for leads?
Reviews, referrals, reminders, landlords and a free profile that takes orders. Create a free Jobbit Pro profile: 300 free agent credits on sign-up plus 100 a day, a website when your profile is complete, payment held in escrow before work starts, and no fee until a paid job completes.
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