The MyBuilder alternative with no per-lead fees
OptiTech Automation vs MyBuilder. MyBuilder charges a shortlist fee every time a homeowner picks you out, win or lose. OptiTech Automation is the MyBuilder alternative where customers book you directly and pay a deposit at booking. No fee per enquiry, one published monthly price.
| Feature | MyBuilder | OptiTech Automation |
|---|---|---|
| Owns the customer | No, the marketplace introduces you | Yes, the relationship is yours |
| Lead cost | Shortlist fee per lead, paid win or lose (their published model, Verified August 2026) | None, £599 a month up to fifteen on the tools |
| Booking page | No, homeowners post jobs and shortlist trades | Yes, your own page where customers self-book |
| Deposit at booking | Not part of the model | Taken automatically at booking, into your own Stripe account |
| Worker dispatch | Not part of the model | Auto-dispatch offers the job to the right worker, owner keeps final say |
The price, in the open
MyBuilder
MyBuilder has no membership fee. You pay a shortlist fee each time a homeowner shortlists you, and their own support pages are clear the fee is paid whether or not you win the job. Each fee is priced per job, so there is no single price list to publish. Checked July 2026.
OptiTech Automation
Standard is £599 a month plus £249 setup and covers up to fifteen on the tools, with Growth at £1,749 taking you to thirty. No shortlist fees, no per-lead charges, no paying for a job that goes to someone else.
Every tier is public on our pricing page. You can price the decision before you ever speak to us.
Paying to quote is a tax on losing
The MyBuilder model is honest about what it is: you pay for the introduction, not the job. When a homeowner shortlists you the fee is due, and it is due again next time even if this one went nowhere. Over a year, the fees for jobs you did not win are a real line in your accounts. They just never arrive as one bill.
A booking platform inverts that. There is one published plan fee, and the work that arrives through your page arrives booked, not as an invitation to compete. You are not buying a chance to quote. The customer has already chosen you and paid a deposit to prove it.
From shortlist to self-booked
On MyBuilder the homeowner posts a job, trades express interest, the homeowner shortlists, and then the phone calls start. It can work, but every stage leaks time, and none of it is yours to keep.
On OptiTech Automation the customer opens your booking page, picks a slot that is genuinely free, and pays a deposit by card at the moment of booking. The deposit lands in your own Stripe account automatically. The money never touches OptiTech Automation. No call-backs, no bidding, no fee for the privilege.
The deposit changes who turns up
Ask any owner what kills a week: the no-show, the cancelled morning, the customer who was collecting three quotes and stopped answering. A deposit taken at booking filters most of it out. People who have paid something turn up, and people who will not pay a deposit were rarely going to book anyway.
That is why we made the deposit a property of the booking itself rather than a request someone sends later. Nobody on your team has to remember to ask for money. The system already did.
The sum a marketplace never shows you
Here is the honest arithmetic to run before you decide anything. Take your last three months of shortlist fees, all of them, including the jobs that went nowhere. Add the hours you spent calling homeowners who were also talking to other trades. That total is your real cost of sale on the marketplace.
Then price the other side. £599 a month plus £249 once, covering up to fifteen on the tools. If your marketplace total is smaller and the enquiries convert well, stay, and we mean that. If the total is bigger, or the evenings are the real cost, the plan fee starts paying for itself before the software does anything clever.
Built for the owner with a team
MyBuilder serves the trade hunting for the next job. OptiTech Automation serves the owner running a diary of them: UK trade firms of any size up to 90 workers, with the employed team at the centre.
Within Standard, up to fifteen on the tools, a new van or a new pair of hands adds nothing to the bill, and the Growth step to £1,749 for up to thirty is published too. The worker app, auto-dispatch and two-way Xero sync are all inside the plan, and one accountable UK founder answers the emails.
Keep it while you build your own pipeline
The honest route out is gradual. Keep answering marketplace enquiries while your booking page takes the repeat and referral work, then let the shortlist fees wind down as your own diary fills. Your customer list exports and imports in an afternoon.
We never promise leads and we never promise rankings. What we promise is that the attention you already earn stops leaking: booked, deposit-paid and dispatched without you doing the admin.
Who should stay where
Stay with MyBuilder if
- You are starting out and need enquiries this week. A marketplace is the fastest tap to turn on.
- You like paying per introduction with no monthly commitment, and the fees still make sense against your win rate.
- You work alone, mostly one-off jobs, and running a team is not your problem yet.
Move to OptiTech Automation if
- Repeat and referral customers are becoming the heart of the business and you want them booking you directly.
- You are done paying for enquiries you do not win.
- You have a team, and scheduling, deposits and dispatch eat your evenings.
Questions owners ask about switching from MyBuilder
MyBuilder is a marketplace. Homeowners post jobs, shortlist trades, and you pay a fee each time you are shortlisted, whether or not you win. OptiTech Automation is a booking platform you own. Customers book directly, pay a deposit at booking, and there is no fee per enquiry.
Yes. OptiTech Automation publishes everything: £599 a month plus £249 setup on Standard, which covers up to fifteen on the tools, with no shortlist or lead fees. MyBuilder has no price list to publish because each shortlist fee is priced per job (their published model, Verified August 2026).
Build the direct pipeline first. Set up your OptiTech Automation booking page, point repeat and referral customers at it, and let the marketplace enquiries wind down as your own diary fills. Your customer list imports in an afternoon.
For repeat and referred customers, yes, and that is usually the profitable half of the diary. For brand-new enquiries from strangers, no software honestly replaces a marketplace overnight, and we never promise leads or rankings. We give you a booking page of your own and turn the attention you earn into deposit-paid bookings.
Yes. Build your booking page and direct pipeline while you still answer marketplace enquiries. Your card is authorised at signup, but your subscription is not charged until you go live.
See the numbers for yourself
Our pricing is public, the worth-it calculator does your own sums in about two minutes, and the call is 15 minutes with the founder, not a sales team.