--- title: "Shared or Exclusive Roofing Enquiries? A 2026 Buyer's Guide" description: "Bought roofing enquiries in 2026 are shared with up to five firms, unlocked by several or won at auction. What the sellers' own terms say, and what to ask." canonical: https://buildmydigital.co.uk/blog/shared-or-exclusive-roofing-enquiries/ --- Bought roofing enquiries in 2026 are shared with up to five firms, unlocked by several or won at auction. What the sellers' own terms say, and what to ask. Source: https://buildmydigital.co.uk/blog/shared-or-exclusive-roofing-enquiries/ [Home](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/) · [Blog](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/blog/) · Shared or Exclusive Roofing Enquiries? A 2026 Buyer's Guide # Shared or Exclusive Roofing Enquiries? A 2026 Buyer's Guide 6 November 2026 · By a member of our team Most roofing enquiries you can buy are shared. One UK marketplace lets a homeowner's request go to up to five firms, and another lets several trades unlock the same job. Auction sites sell each enquiry to one bidder, but the homeowner can still ring other roofers. **Key takeaways** - There are three common ways to buy an enquiry: a request sent to several firms at once, a board where several firms can unlock the same job, and an auction where one firm wins it. - On all three, the sellers' own terms say you pay whether or not the homeowner answers, books a visit or picks you. - "Exclusive" on an auction site means the site sells it to one firm. Its own terms say it can't stop the homeowner asking other roofers. - Refunds are narrow: a dead number or wrong details, reported within a set number of days. - A booked visit is a different thing to buy. With us it's £100 a booked roofing quote visit, only after we reach the number agreed in writing, and nothing if we don't. ## The three ways roofing enquiries are sold We read the published terms of three UK sellers on 6 Nov 2026, one of each kind. We've described each by how it works rather than by name; the links in the sources take you to their own pages. ### A request sent to several firms The homeowner fills in one form and the site passes it to a handful of firms. Then the race starts. One UK marketplace's terms for professionals say a customer "may choose to submit a general request to up to 5 unspecified Professionals" ([terms for professionals, clause 2.4](https://www.bark.com/en/gb/terms/)). You spend credits to get the contact details. Those terms also say credits aren't returned when the details are correct "but where the Prospective Customer chooses not to respond to your introduction, or if you do not secure the job" (clause 9.1). A return is possible only for things like a phone number that doesn't connect, reported within 7 days (clause 9.2). ### A board where several trades unlock the same job Here the jobs sit on a board and you pay credits to unlock the ones you want. One trade directory's terms for its board say plainly that jobs "are not recommendations or reserved for You, and multiple trades may unlock the same Opportunity" ([product terms, Opportunities Board](https://www.checkatrade.com/product-terms-opportunities-board)). The same terms say you get no refund "if a customer does not respond, cancels the job or chooses another trade." Its own trade update from summer 2026 says a job comes off the board once three trades have unlocked it ([What's New, summer 2026](https://join.checkatrade.com/whats-new-summer-2026/)). ### An auction where one roofer wins This is the model sold as exclusive. A roofing auction site sends out an enquiry, roofers bid, and the winner gets the homeowner's details. If you're outbid, you pay nothing. Its terms say it does not sell the same enquiry to more than one installer on its platform ([terms, clause 3.3](https://hammerdownleads.co.uk/terms)). Read the next clause too. The site says it "cannot guarantee that the customer has not requested quotes from other installers independently, filled out forms on other websites, or received quotes from other sources" (clause 3.4). Its terms also say it doesn't guarantee a booked appointment (clause 3.2), every purchase is final (clause 3.5), and any dispute about a dead or wrong number has to be raised within 7 days (clause 3.6). So "exclusive" only means that site won't sell it twice. A homeowner after a new roof may well want more than one quote, and nothing in an auction stops them getting them. ## What shared and exclusive do to your chance of a booked visit On a shared enquiry, the homeowner hears from several roofers, often within minutes of each other. The roofer who gets through first and fixes a time has the head start, and being the best roofer of the five counts for little if you were on a roof when the others rang. Picture it: you're stripping tiles on a job across town when the alert comes through. By the time you're down the ladder and ringing back, the homeowner has already agreed a time with someone who answered first. On an auction, you've removed the other buyers from that site, but you still have to reach the homeowner before someone they found elsewhere does. The auction site's own terms recommend calling within 5 minutes (clause 5.2). Either way, the work that turns an enquiry into a visit in your diary is still yours: answering, calling back, booking a time, sending the quote and chasing it. Our post on [whether calling back within a minute really works](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/blog/does-calling-a-lead-back-in-60-seconds-really-work/) goes into the speed side of that. Answering fast is where plenty of local businesses fall down, roofers or not. When our caller rang 238 UK local businesses between 21 Sep and 30 Sep 2026, 216 (91%) did not pick up on the latest call: 119 rang out and 97 went to voicemail. The most common result was a phone that rang out with no voicemail at all, so a caller had nowhere to leave their name. If you buy enquiries and miss the callback, you've paid for someone else's job. To see what missed calls cost you now, put three numbers from your own week into the [missed call calculator](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/missed-call-calculator/) and it shows the working. ## Buying enquiries or paying per booked visit Every option above sells you a chance to win a job. Pay per booking sells you a homeowner already in your diary. With us, a booked visit is a named customer with a phone number and an address, booked into your diary for a quote visit. We set up your Google ads on your own account, your Google Business Profile, a page for the roofing jobs you want, answering for the calls you miss, quote chasing and review requests. You fund the ads direct with Google at a daily budget we agree. Google's own help page says that over a month you'll be charged "no more than 30.4 times your average daily budget" ([Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375423?hl=en-GB)), so you know the most the clicks can cost. Before we start, we agree in writing how many booked visits we'll get you and in how many days (14 for roofers). Until we reach that number you pay us nothing. After it, each booked roofing quote visit costs £100. If the customer cancels and doesn't rebook within 7 days, that visit is free. If we don't reach the number in time, you've paid us nothing; the ad spend has gone to Google and we never refund it. The enquiries come from your own ads, so they're yours alone. A homeowner can still ask other roofers to quote, the same as on any site, which is why answering and chasing come built in. The full breakdown of the fees, including £60 a booked heating or plumbing install quote visit, is in our post on [what pay per booking costs](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/blog/what-pay-per-booking-costs/). ## The options side by side | Option | How many firms get the same enquiry | What you pay for | Who answers, books and chases | If no visit is booked | | Request sent to several firms | Up to five, by the seller's own terms | Credits for the contact details | You | Credits gone, unless the details were wrong | | Board where trades unlock jobs | Several; the seller's update says it comes off after three | Credits to unlock each job | You | Credits gone, no refund for a customer who picks someone else | | Auction | One from that site; the homeowner may ask others | Your winning bid | You | Bid gone; disputes for wrong details only, within 7 days | | Pay per booking with us | Your own ads, so nobody else buys it | Clicks, billed by Google to your account, plus £100 a booked roofing quote visit after the agreed number | We answer missed calls, book the visit and chase the quote | You've paid us nothing; the ad spend has gone to Google | ## How to choose Whoever you buy from, get these answered in writing first: - How many other firms get this same enquiry, and is that number in your terms? - What exactly counts as a valid enquiry, and what counts as a bad one? - What can I get my money back for, and how many days do I have to report it? - Am I paying for contact details, a chance to bid, or a homeowner booked into my diary? - Who rings the homeowner back when I'm up a ladder? - Whose account do the ads run on, and do I keep it if I stop? If a seller won't answer the first question, assume the enquiry is shared. Our [pricing page](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/pricing/) lists every price we publish. ## Where we fit, and where we don't We work with roofers doing re-roofs and big repairs, where the average job is £2,000 or more, there's more than one person in the business and you'll fund the agreed ad budget. If your work is mostly small call-out repairs, a cheap shared enquiry may suit you better, and we'd rather say so. If it does fit, our [roofers page](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/roofers/) has the details, and the [home improvement page](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/home-improvement/) lists every trade we cover. Homeowners check you before they ring, so it's worth reading [what they look for on a roofer's website](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/blog/what-homeowners-check-before-calling-a-roofer/) too. To see where your own site stands, the [48-check scan](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/scan/) is free. Or [book a 20-minute call](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/book/) with a member of our team; nothing is paid on the call. ## Sources - Terms and conditions for professionals, clauses 2.4, 9.1 and 9.2, [bark.com/en/gb/terms](https://www.bark.com/en/gb/terms/), read 6 Nov 2026. - Product terms, Opportunities Board, [checkatrade.com/product-terms-opportunities-board](https://www.checkatrade.com/product-terms-opportunities-board), read 6 Nov 2026. - What's New, summer 2026, [join.checkatrade.com/whats-new-summer-2026](https://join.checkatrade.com/whats-new-summer-2026/), read 6 Nov 2026. - Terms and conditions, clauses 3.2 to 3.6 and 5.2, [hammerdownleads.co.uk/terms](https://hammerdownleads.co.uk/terms), read 6 Nov 2026. - Google Ads Help, [About overdelivery and your average daily budget](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375423?hl=en-GB), read 6 Nov 2026. - Build My Digital, our own call records: 238 UK local businesses rung between 21 Sep and 30 Sep 2026. ## Common questions ### Are bought roofing enquiries shared with other roofers? Usually. One UK marketplace's terms let a general request go to up to five firms, and a trade directory's board lets several trades unlock the same job. Auction sites sell each enquiry to one winner, but say the homeowner may still ask other roofers. ### What does exclusive mean on an auction site? It means that site sells the enquiry to one roofer. The auction site we read says it can't stop the homeowner asking other firms or filling in forms elsewhere. ### Can I get a refund on a bad enquiry? Only in narrow cases. The terms we read return credits for things like a dead or wrong number reported within 7 days. None refund you because the homeowner didn't answer or chose someone else. ### How is pay per booking different? You pay for a named customer booked into your diary for a quote visit, not for contact details. With us that's £100 a booked roofing quote visit, only after we reach the number agreed in writing, and nothing if we don't. ### Who pays for the Google ads? You do, direct to Google, on your own account. We never refund ad spend. ### What your missed calls cost you. **£780** a month £180 a week, £9,360 a year, going to whoever answers first. As an example from these numbers, **£631** a month is left over after the receptionist ’s £ 149 starting price. Illustrative only, not a promise of earnings. These are example numbers. Change them to your own. Worked out as 5 missed calls a week, times £120 , times the 30 % who would have booked, then over a month (52 weeks divided by 12). A receptionist that answers every call in seconds, day or night, is £149 to £399 a month. It has to pay for itself in the first month, or you get every penny back, setup included. Both calculators, calls and messages, on one page: [the missed call cost calculator](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/missed-call-calculator/). Want more booked jobs? We get high-ticket home improvement firms and private clinics more booked jobs, and we’re only paid when the bookings come in. We set up your Google ads and profile, answer the calls you miss, chase every quote and bring in the reviews. You fund the ads direct with Google. Not sure where your site stands? Run the free scan first: 48 checks, no charge. ### 9 things that decide whether your phone rings. Found this useful? [Add us as a preferred source on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=buildmydigital.co.uk). ## Get your website, free. Tell us your business name and town. We’ll send back a scan of your current web presence and a preview of your site. The build costs nothing, and you don’t have to book a call to get it. Open Monday to Friday, 7am to 10pm. Calls and WhatsApp answered same day, emails within one working day. Or [book a callback](https://buildmydigital.co.uk/book/) at a time that suits you. Find us on