Summary
- Only 19.5% of 600 audited UK trade websites publish any price of their own.
- Plumbers and heating engineers are most transparent (32.5%); roofers and carpenters least (6.7%).
- London stands apart: 43.3% of London firms show a price, vs 16.9% elsewhere.
- 58% of published prices are 'from' prices; only 6% of all firms publish an hourly rate.
- Median published benchmarks: electrician £90/hr, boiler service £92.50, one man and a van £52/hr.
*By Oscar Aston Brovall, Marketit. Websites checked in October 2026.*
In an audit of 600 UK trade business websites across ten cities, 117 (19.5%) published at least one concrete price in pounds for work they carry out. The other 483 show none, and typically ask the customer to request a quote.
Key findings
One in five show a price
117 of the 600 websites show at least one concrete figure in pounds that the business presents as its own price for work it performs: a job, an hour, a day or a call-out. A site counts only if the figure is the firm's own price. These do not count:
The other 483 firms (80.5%) show no price of their own. A "free quote" or "free estimate" prompt was shown on 500 of the 600 sites (83.3%).
By trade
Three trades sit between 24% and 33%. Two sit below 7%.
| Trade | Firms | With a price | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbers and heating engineers | 120 | 39 | 32.5% |
| Electricians | 120 | 33 | 27.5% |
| Removal companies | 120 | 29 | 24.2% |
| Carpenters and joiners | 120 | 8 | 6.7% |
| Roofers | 120 | 8 | 6.7% |
In the first three trades, 101 of 360 firms (28.1%) show a price. Among roofers and carpenters, 16 of 240 do (6.7%).
The kind of price differs as well. Of the 39 plumbing and heating firms with a price, 23 give a fixed price for a defined job, such as a boiler service. Of the 29 removal firms, 17 give an hourly rate. Among the eight roofers and the eight carpenters, "from" prices are the most common form, used by five and six firms.
The study did not ask firms why they do or do not publish prices. The pattern is consistent with how the work is sold: a boiler service or an hour of van hire can be priced before anyone visits, while a roof repair or fitted joinery usually needs a survey first.
For planning ranges when no price is published, see our price guides for electricians, plumbers, removal companies, carpenters and roofers.
London and the other nine cities
London is the one city where the figure is clearly different. 26 of the 60 London firms show a price. In the other nine cities combined, 91 of 540 do.
The London effect sits in the three trades that publish prices most often: 9 of 12 plumbing and heating firms, 7 of 12 electricians and 7 of 12 removal companies. For carpenters and joiners it is 2 of 12, and for roofers 1 of 12.
Here's the full list:
| City | Firms | With a price | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast | 60 | 10 | 16.7% |
| Birmingham | 60 | 9 | 15.0% |
| Bristol | 60 | 9 | 15.0% |
| Cardiff | 60 | 9 | 15.0% |
| Glasgow | 60 | 14 | 23.3% |
| Leeds | 60 | 7 | 11.7% |
| Liverpool | 60 | 12 | 20.0% |
| London | 60 | 26 | 43.3% |
| Manchester | 60 | 10 | 16.7% |
| Newcastle | 60 | 11 | 18.3% |
Seven of the ten cities are in England, where 84 of 420 firms show a price (20.0%). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are each represented by one city: Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast. Those figures describe the city samples and are not national estimates.
What the published prices look like
These figures cover the 117 firms that show a price. A firm can show more than one type.
| Type of price | Firms | Share of the 117 |
|---|---|---|
| "From" price | 68 | 58.1% |
| Fixed price for a defined job | 57 | 48.7% |
| Hourly rate | 36 | 30.8% |
| Call-out fee | 22 | 18.8% |
| Day rate | 6 | 5.1% |
More firms give a starting figure than a fixed price. Measured against the whole sample, 57 of 600 firms (9.5%) publish a fixed price for a defined job and 36 (6.0%) an hourly rate.
Where the price sits. For 63 firms (53.8%) the most prominent price is on a page for a specific service. 33 (28.2%) have a dedicated pricing page, 19 (16.2%) show a price only on the homepage and 2 (1.7%) in an FAQ. Only 33 of the 600 firms (5.5%) have a dedicated pricing page with prices on it.
VAT. 70 of the 117 (59.8%) do not say whether their prices include VAT. 28 (23.9%) quote prices excluding VAT, 15 (12.8%) including VAT, and 4 (3.4%) mix the two. The 70 cannot be read as 70 firms leaving something out. A business with taxable turnover under £90,000 does not have to register for VAT, and a firm that is not registered has none to add. The study did not check registration.
Emergency and out-of-hours rates. 22 of the 117 (18.8%) state a surcharge or a separate rate for emergency, evening or weekend work.
What the published prices say
The firms that show prices publish enough comparable figures to report levels for eight common jobs in three trades. The table lists benchmarks quoted by at least nine firms.
| Benchmark | Firms | Median | Middle half | "From" prices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrician: first-hour or hourly charge, weekday daytime | 14 | £90 | £90 to £99 | 21% |
| EICR (electrical safety report), typical home | 11 | £195 | £150 to £235 | 45% |
| Consumer unit (fuse box) replacement | 10 | £615 | £427 to £700 | 70% |
| EV charger installation | 10 | £672.50 | £388 to £699 | 80% |
| Annual boiler service | 14 | £92.50 | £80 to £100 | 29% |
| Boiler installation | 14 | £1,775 | £1,562 to £2,056 | 86% |
| Removals: one man and a van, per hour | 12 | £52 | £49 to £61 | 33% |
| Removals: two men and a van, per hour | 9 | £65 | £65 to £99 | 22% |
These are advertised prices from the minority of firms that publish them. They are not prices paid, and firms that publish may differ from firms that do not. The electrician figure combines hourly rates and first-hour charges, so it is not a running hourly rate.
For the two electrical jobs where most figures are "from" prices, the published median sits below what cost guides give as typical. Whito's compilation of 2026 UK cost guides puts consumer unit replacement at £780 to £1,000 and a fitted 7kW EV charger at £800 to £1,200. The medians here are £615 and £672.50, and 70% and 80% of those figures are "from" prices.
What the rules say
The pricing rules enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority do not oblige a business to advertise a price. The authority's price transparency guidance (CMA209), published on 18 November 2025 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, says traders "may have a choice whether to include pricing information in their advertisements and marketing" (paragraph 2.8). An advert or web page with no price is not an "invitation to purchase", which is what the pricing rules attach to.
The rules apply once a price is shown to consumers. The guidance says the total price must include mandatory charges and taxes, and that traders advertising to the public generally "must always include VAT in the total price" (paragraph 4.7). Where a total cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the trader has to explain how the price will be calculated (paragraph 4.10). The guidance accepts "from" pricing as useful and warns that it can mislead (paragraph 3.5).
The guidance therefore bears on the one firm in five that shows a price, and most directly on how VAT and call-out charges are presented. This study recorded what websites show. It did not assess whether any site complies with consumer law. The guidance allows VAT-exclusive price lists for trade customers, and the study did not record who each firm sells to.
How this compares with earlier work
The closest earlier measurement is Whito's UK Price Transparency Study, published in August 2026. It checked 200 small business websites in ten trades and ten cities, 20 per trade, and used the same basic test: any concrete figure in pounds for the firm's own services. Across its five home-service trades, 16% published a price. We found no other published measurement of how many UK trade businesses show prices online.
Two trades appear in both studies, and the results differ. Whito found a price on 0 of 20 plumbers' sites and 2 of 20 electricians' sites. This study found one on 39 of 120 and 33 of 120. In the six cities both studies cover (Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester), the figures here are 14 of 72 plumbing and heating firms (19.4%) and 17 of 72 electricians (23.6%).
Three differences in method probably account for most of the gap:
Both studies sample firms that rank well in Google, and both note that the share across all firms is probably lower.
We have run the same kind of review in Sweden — see our studies of electrician hourly rates, plumber hourly rates and moving company hourly rates.
Method
Sample. 600 business websites: 12 firms in each of five trades in each of ten cities. The trades are electricians, plumbers and heating engineers, carpenters and joiners, roofers, and removal companies. The cities are Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle.
Selection. Firms were taken from Google Places text searches for "[trade] in [city]", in Google's ranking order, keeping the first results with a UK address and their own website. Directories, lead platforms and social media pages were excluded. Each domain counts once. Sites that could not be loaded were replaced with the next result.
Limitations
Citation
To cite the study: Marketit, *UK Tradesperson Price Transparency Report 2026*, this page.
Questions, corrections and requests for the figures for a single city or trade: Oscar Aston Brovall, oscar@marketit.io.
About Marketit
Marketit is an AI marketplace for local services, based in Stockholm, Sweden. This study was designed and funded by Marketit. Read more about us or see how it works.