Does AskBaily understand listed-building consent for New Town and Old Town?

Yes — every Edinburgh brief is checked against Historic Environment Scotland's listed-building register and the City of Edinburgh Council eDevelopment portal. Listed-building work routes only to firms with documented listed-building experience.

Do you verify SELECT and SNIPEF for electrical and plumbing?

Yes — SELECT registration for electrical and SNIPEF for plumbing are verified at intake and re-checked every 90 days. We treat them with the same weight as English NICEIC and CIPHE.

How does Edinburgh's tenement common-repair regime affect AskBaily jobs?

Common-repair work needs majority owner consent under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004. The brief flags whether the homeowner has secured consent and from how many co-owners, so you know whether the job is shovel-ready or pre-consent.

Is AskBaily available across Lothian (East/West/Mid) or only Edinburgh proper?

We currently match across the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, and West Lothian. The brief tags the council so you only see drivable work.

Does Building Standards (Scottish) work differently to Building Regs in England?

Yes — Scotland uses a Building Warrant system, granted by the local authority before work starts. AskBaily flags whether the warrant is granted, applied for, or pending. You don't price unknowns blind.

For contractors · Edinburgh · United Kingdom · GBP

Join AskBaily in Edinburgh: The Anti-Checkatrade Contractor Platform

Edinburgh general contractors are drowning in lead-platform fees. On Checkatrade, RatedPeople, TrustMark, you pay attempts — subscriptions of £40–£300 per month, lead-unlock fees of £5–£80 each, and a 4-to-5-firm shortlist that guarantees four losers for every winner. AskBaily flips that. We charge a closed-job take-rate of 8–15% of contract revenue and nothing else: no listing fees, no lead-unlock fees, no losing-bid spend, no monthly subscription. The first time you see an invoice from us is after a homeowner has signed a contract with you. Every partner is verified against TrustMark / Companies House / HMRC CIS / SELECT (electrical) so the homeowner sees your real credentials and the brief carries the consent path before you ever quote.

The Edinburgh math: 8–15% take-rate vs the lead-fee model

Checkatrade and the wider Checkatrade / RatedPeople cohort run a shared-lead economic model: every brief gets sold to multiple firms, each pays for the chance to bid, and only one wins. That is a tax on attempts, not on outcomes. AskBaily charges only on wins. Three worked examples on real Edinburghproject sizes:

Small job

Checkatrade: £900/yr Checkatrade Scotland + per-lead £8–£20

AskBaily: 8–15% take-rate, no upfront fees

Listing-fee compounding goes away

Mid-size renovation

Checkatrade: £35,000 New Town tenement renovation — listed-building consent specialism is rare on Checkatrade

AskBaily: 12% of £35,000 = £4,200 only on the win

Specialism premium pays back faster on a win-only model

Premium / luxury job

Checkatrade: £150,000 Georgian flat full-fit-out — bidding against 4 trades on Checkatrade

AskBaily: 10% of £150,000 = £15,000 only on signed contract

No 4-way bid pressure; matched 1-to-1

How Edinburgh regulatory credibility is verified

The single biggest reason Edinburgh homeowners distrust shared-lead platforms is that any pro can pay to appear, regardless of their actual licensure status. AskBaily flips that: every partner is verified against the TrustMark / Companies House / HMRC CIS / SELECT (electrical) registry on intake, and re-verified every 90 days. The authoritative reference is TrustMark, Companies House registration, HMRC CIS, SELECT (Scottish electrical trade body), and SNIPEF (Scottish plumbing). When your registration lapses, you drop off the match queue automatically — there is no manual gate to slip through. Permits and consent paths are pulled live from the City of Edinburgh Council eDevelopment portal portal so the homeowner brief carries the real consent timeline, not a guess. You quote against the actual permit pathway, never against unknowns. Liability and warranty cover are also verified at intake — region-appropriate insurance certificates are checked for active dates and adequate coverage limits before the first lead is routed.

Why Edinburgh homeowners prefer AskBaily over Checkatrade

On Checkatrade, a homeowner submits a brief, then three to five firms bombard them within hours — phone calls, emails, push notifications. The homeowner becomes a triage problem for themselves. AskBaily replaces fan-out with a single match: Baily, our AI scoping agent, talks to the homeowner first to extract the real scope, budget range, timeline, and consent path. We then match exactly one verified contractor to the brief. One conversation, one contractor, one quote. Homeowners get back their evenings; you get a brief that has already been pre-scoped for cost-range and consent path before you ever read it.

The other moat is that AskBaily's homeowner side is a real product — not a directory. Homeowners can resume scoping conversations from the day before, share photos, attach floor plans, and see transparent take-rate pricing on their side too. They feel that they're using a product, not running a gauntlet of pros. That quality of front-end experience converts faster, which is why our match-to-signed-contract rate sits roughly 3× higher than the Checkatrade shortlist economics.

How onboarding works in United Kingdom

Step one: submit your TrustMark / Companies House / HMRC CIS / SELECT (electrical) registration number and a current insurance certificate. We verify the registration against the public register and the insurer against your active cover dates. Step two: upload three to five recent project photos with brief descriptions of scope and timeline — this is what the homeowner sees on your match card. Step three: a 20-minute video call with our partnerships team to walk through how the matching cadence works, what the invoicing looks like, and how the homeowner-facing experience renders. Step four: your first match. From signed-up to first-match is typically 48 hours.

There is no setup fee, no monthly subscription, no listing fee, no badge fee, no premium-tier tier — there is only the closed-job take-rate. The first AskBaily invoice you ever see is after a homeowner signs a contract with you. We take the take-rate from the homeowner's payment when contract milestones release. You see your net payout before the matching engine even shows you the brief.

Apply now: Edinburgh contractor onboarding

48-hour review · No setup fee · No monthly subscription · No losing-bid charges. AskBaily verifies your TrustMark / Companies House / HMRC CIS / SELECT (electrical) status, runs an insurance check, and slots you onto the Edinburgh match queue with no fixed cost. The first invoice arrives only after a homeowner signs.

Start your application →

Frequently asked questions — Edinburgh

Does AskBaily understand listed-building consent for New Town and Old Town?: Yes — every Edinburgh brief is checked against Historic Environment Scotland's listed-building register and the City of Edinburgh Council eDevelopment portal. Listed-building work routes only to firms with documented listed-building experience.
Do you verify SELECT and SNIPEF for electrical and plumbing?: Yes — SELECT registration for electrical and SNIPEF for plumbing are verified at intake and re-checked every 90 days. We treat them with the same weight as English NICEIC and CIPHE.
How does Edinburgh's tenement common-repair regime affect AskBaily jobs?: Common-repair work needs majority owner consent under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004. The brief flags whether the homeowner has secured consent and from how many co-owners, so you know whether the job is shovel-ready or pre-consent.
Is AskBaily available across Lothian (East/West/Mid) or only Edinburgh proper?: We currently match across the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, and West Lothian. The brief tags the council so you only see drivable work.
Does Building Standards (Scottish) work differently to Building Regs in England?: Yes — Scotland uses a Building Warrant system, granted by the local authority before work starts. AskBaily flags whether the warrant is granted, applied for, or pending. You don't price unknowns blind.

Also see: Why pros choose AskBaily · All international recruitment regions · AskBaily vs Checkatrade · United Kingdom market report