@serena23 Lol at HiPages.
Speaking from within the trades, the kind of people using HiPages to drum up business are what we call bottom feeders. The kind of people undercutting everyone else to get the work.
Sure, this sounds great to you, the end consumer. Tradies compete on price, great deals for you. Right?
Tradies don't charge what they do just because they can. We know we have to be competitive, but also provide real, tangible value to the customer so they can see where their money is going, and be willing to pay just a little bit more for our specific service. Whether that's in quality of end product, or quality of service. Basically the old predicament of good, quick, cheap - pick two. The bloke that's undercutting to get the work? Well he's already sold himself into being cheap, so that leaves one of the other two. The problem is that time is also money, so to make money while undercutting, you're also committing to either rushing it or providing a substandard end result for your business to make money. Which leads to the final truism - you get what you pay for.
Decent tradesmen don't need HiPages. They're already busy without it. Nothing beats word of mouth.