Speedi isn't a directory. Here's what it actually is.

If you've used Checkatrade, MyBuilder, or Rated People before, you probably think you already know what Speedi is. A boiler breaks, you post the job, a few tradespeople get notified, and you wait. Maybe someone calls back today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe never.

That's not Speedi. And the difference isn't cosmetic — it's the whole point.

The problem with "post a job and wait"

Directories solve one problem: finding someone who does the trade you need. They don't solve the problem that actually matters when your boiler's gone or your fence has blown down in the night — finding someone who's free right now.

You post a job. It goes out to however many tradespeople pay to be on the list. They're busy, mid-job, driving, or just haven't checked the app yet. So you wait. And the trade or service person on the other end has the same problem in reverse: they're paying for leads that might go nowhere, with no idea if the person who needs them is desperate or just browsing.

Neither side actually knows what the other side is doing right now. That's the gap.

What Speedi does differently

Speedi shows live availability. Green means a tradesperson or service provider is free and ready to take your job this minute. Amber means they're free within the hour. If they're busy, you don't see them at all — there's no point.

You're not posting into a queue and hoping. You're looking at a map of who's actually free, right now, near you, and connecting directly. No waiting for a callback that might not come.

For tradespeople and service providers, it works the other way: instead of paying for leads that go cold, you show your real-time availability and get found by people who need you now — not people who posted three days ago and have already booked someone else.

So is it a directory at all?

Not really, no. A directory is a list. Speedi is a layer of live information sitting on top of the trades and services world that's always been there — it's the difference between a phone book and knowing who's actually answering their phone right now.

Think of it less like "another place to find a plumber" and more like the traffic-light system at a level crossing. The trades and tradespeople were always there. What's new is finally being able to see, in real time, who's free.

Built by someone who's stood on the other side of the van door

Speedi wasn't built by a tech company looking at the trades industry from the outside. It was built by a plumber and heating engineer with 20 years on the tools, who got tired of the same problem from both directions — customers stuck waiting, and good tradespeople losing jobs to slow response times that had nothing to do with the quality of their work.

That's why Speedi is built around speed and honesty about availability, not around being the biggest list.

What this means for you

If you need a trade or service done, Speedi means you stop guessing whether anyone's actually going to call you back today — you can see who's free and get straight to them.

If you're a tradesperson or service provider, Speedi means the jobs that come to you are ones where the person genuinely needs you now, not a lead you're competing for blind against ten other people who paid for the same enquiry.

It's not another directory. It's the live layer that was always missing.