UK directories for electricians
Part P scheme listings, the EV charging category worth claiming early, and which trade platforms actually pay for themselves for electrical contractors.
Around 65,000 electrical businesses compete in the UK, and the job mix is wider than most trades. A callout might be a £90 fault find or a £4,000 rewire, and the directories that suit one do not necessarily suit the other.
That range is the thing to plan around.
Compliance is the differentiator customers check
Electrical work in dwellings falls under Part P of the building regulations. Most domestic electricians work through a competent person scheme, which lets you self-certify notifiable work.
Those schemes publish public registers, and consumer advice consistently tells homeowners to check them:
- NICEIC, the largest, with its own consumer-facing search
- NAPIT, the other major scheme
- ELECSA and STROMA, also operating registers
Claim your entry on whichever you are registered with. It is included in a fee you already pay, and it is the credential a cautious customer verifies before letting somebody near their consumer unit.
Put your scheme name and registration number in the description field on other directories too. Customers are told to check it, so make it findable rather than making them ask.
Claim the EV charging category early
This is the opportunity most electricians are slow to take.
EV charge point installation is growing fast, the jobs are higher value than general callouts, and the directory competition is thin compared to "electrician", which every registered contractor has claimed since the directory existed.
Wherever a directory offers it as a category, take it, assuming you hold the relevant qualification. The same applies to solar and battery storage if you work in those.
Categories worth using
- Electricians
- Electrical contractors
- Emergency electrician
- EV charger installation
- Rewiring and consumer units
Take the specific ones over the generic where a directory allows more than one. "EV charger installation" is a better-qualified enquiry than "Electricians" and there is far less competition for it.
The trade platforms
| Platform | What it is | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Checkatrade | Vetted marketplace, strong consumer brand | Membership |
| MyBuilder | Post-a-job, you buy the lead | Paid leads |
| Rated People | Post-a-job marketplace | Paid leads |
| TrustATrader | Vetted directory, regional strength | Membership |
The wide job-value range matters here. A platform whose lead cost looks unjustifiable against small fault-finding callouts can pay for itself several times over on a rewire or a consumer unit upgrade.
So track cost per booked job by job type, not as a single average. Averaging a £90 callout and a £4,000 rewire together tells you nothing useful.
The paid listings guide covers how to judge these properly.
Local search basics
- Google Business Profile. Free, and the main source of domestic enquiries. Set service areas if you travel. List EV charging as a service if you offer it.
- Bing Places. Free, imports your verified Google profile.
- Apple Maps. Free, postal or phone verification, 2 to 4 weeks, so start early.
Emergency electrical searches behave like plumbing, urgent and mobile. Planned work like rewires and EV installs behaves more like a considered purchase, with comparison across several firms. Your listings need to serve both, which means accurate details for the urgent caller and enough substance for the researcher.
Then the general directories
Yell, Thomson Local, Cylex, FreeIndex, Hotfrog, Scoot, Trustpilot, Yelp and the rest of the UK list. Individually unremarkable. Together they are the consistency that makes the listings above credible.
See the full UK directory list, or the step-by-step submission guide to work through it yourself.
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