Rated People review (2026): the liquidation, the Checkatrade takeover, and what tradespeople should do now

Who were Rated People and what did they sell?

Rated People Limited (company number 05540422) was incorporated on 18 August 2005 and registered at 35 Luke Street in London. Its about page tells the origin story: a home renovation that went wrong when a builder walked off the job, and a ratings-based matching service built in response. By its own account the platform was trusted by more than four million homeowners.

What it sold tradespeople, until September 2026, was leads. A homeowner posted a job, up to three tradespeople bought the lead and quoted, and the homeowner chose. Membership was a monthly fee that included credit towards leads, with each lead priced dynamically by job size, location and demand. Latterly there was an Unlimited plan: a fixed monthly fee for as many leads as you liked on jobs up to £2,000.

What happened in September 2026?

According to Companies House the company's status is Liquidation. Trade press and rival platforms report that Rated People Limited entered creditors' voluntary liquidation on 16 September 2026, that tradesperson accounts were closed the same day, and that on 17 September the company announced its brand and website had been acquired by Checkatrade Group. Lewis Silkin, the law firm that advised Checkatrade Group, published a note on 24 September confirming the purchase of selected assets from Rated People.

Rated People's help page for tradespeople now says plainly that it closed all memberships before it became part of Checkatrade, that leads submitted through the platform are routed to Checkatrade tradespeople, and that a trade who wants that work should join Checkatrade, on a 12-month fixed plan or through the pay-per-lead Opportunities Board. The brand survives for homeowners; for trades, it is a signpost.

In our view the lesson for anyone who had a membership is simple: a directory you rent can close on you. The reviews you collected there went with it. The reviews on your own Google Business Profile did not.

What do customers say about Rated People?

Rated People has 19,613 reviews on Trustpilot with a TrustScore of 3.8: 74 percent five-star, 10 percent four-star and 11 percent one-star. Most are homeowners. A recent five-star review reads "Response was VERY quick - came next morning" (Stephen, Trustpilot, September 2026).

Trustpilot's summary of the reviews notes that some contractors failed to turn up and that some users considered the platform's fees expensive, which was the recurring complaint from trade members over the years. The page will likely stay up under Checkatrade's ownership, so expect the count to keep moving.

Who did Rated People suit, and who does the new arrangement suit?

Rated People suited the same trades Checkatrade and MyBuilder suit: responsive small firms in busy areas doing the home-repair jobs homeowners post. The Unlimited plan in particular appealed to trades doing many small jobs.

The new arrangement suits a trade who wanted Rated People's lead flow and is willing to take it from Checkatrade on Checkatrade's terms, which means a 12-month membership on the fixed plans (see our Checkatrade review for the prices). It suits a trade who was already unhappy with directory fees much less well: the fees have not gone away, just the brand.

Where Growth Bull fits instead

Growth Bull is the spend you keep. Growth Bull's Review Builder connects to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, HubSpot or Pipedrive and sends one text and one email asking for a Google review after every paid invoice. Those reviews sit on your own Google Business Profile, which no platform can close, and they are what lifts you into the map pack (the box of three businesses with a map at the top of Google). It costs £69 a month, with a 7-day free trial and no contract.

Complete Growth at £129 a month adds Rank Map, which scans a grid of points around your town and names who holds number one for your trade; Keyword Tracker, which follows your search positions; and AI Visibility, which asks ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI who they recommend in your town and shows whether you are named.

Growth Bull does not send leads. If you need matched enquiries this month, a directory is still the quickest way to get them, and Checkatrade is now the one with the Rated People traffic behind it. Running both is a reasonable answer: the directory for leads, the tool for the reviews that are yours.

Verdict

In our view, the Rated People story is the clearest argument there is for owning your own reputation. A twenty-year-old platform closed its trade memberships overnight and the reviews collected there stopped working for the people who earned them. If you were a member, decide whether you want to rent leads again from Checkatrade, and whatever you decide, start building the Google reviews nobody can switch off.

Growth Bull's Review Builder is £69 a month with a 7-day free trial at growthbull.io/signup, or book a call with Tom and we will talk through what to do with a Rated People budget.