Sussex tradesman launches completely free local trade marketplace

A completely free marketplace for Sussex homeowners and trade businesses has launched, giving independent tradespeople another way to receive local enquiries without subscriptions, lead charges or commission.

Sussex resident Neal Drummond launched TradeKind in July 2026 after combining around 20 years of experience as a painter and decorator with a decade working in web development, online marketing and search engine optimisation.

Homeowners can browse local business profiles, contact a particular trade or post details of a job for relevant businesses to consider.

Tradespeople can create a profile, receive direct enquiries and respond to job opportunities without paying. There are no setup fees, subscriptions, credit systems, charges for leads or commission on work secured through the marketplace.

Neal, who grew up in Sussex, said the idea developed from seeing how difficult it can be for capable tradespeople to establish a business and remain visible to new customers.

“You can be very good at the actual work and still struggle to get the business moving,” he said.

“When you work for yourself, you are doing everything. You are completing the jobs, buying materials, answering the phone and trying to find the next customer.

“You do not have a marketing department behind you, but you are still competing with established companies that may have been visible for years.”

Paid lead services can provide one route to potential work, but Neal said the costs can quickly mount when enquiries are poorly matched, outside the business’s working area or still at an early research stage.

“There is nothing wrong with a homeowner comparing their options or finding out what something might cost,” he said.

“The problem is when a tradesperson has to pay simply to discover whether an enquiry is relevant. A small business can spend a considerable amount without ever having a proper conversation with the customer.”

Why TradeKind was created

Neal’s decision to create an alternative was partly influenced by his own experience with a major national trade lead provider.

He said he was initially told that a service would be free, but hundreds of pounds later began leaving his account. After he complained, he was sent a recording in which a cost was mentioned briefly near the end of the call, although Neal said the figure still did not explain the substantially larger amounts collected or attempted.

“The experience showed me how exposed a small business can feel when something goes wrong,” Neal said. “It helped shape my decision to build TradeKind as a free Sussex marketplace.”

A separate incident made him question how some large websites investigate suspicious reports and reviews.

Neal said he believed a competitor had repeatedly reported his business profiles and left negative reviews across several websites in an attempt to damage its reputation and visibility.

He contacted the platforms involved but felt that each incident was being considered separately, without anyone examining the wider pattern.

“One report might look ordinary on its own,” he said.

“But when the same kind of activity starts happening across several websites at around the same time, somebody needs to step back and consider the full picture.

“Sometimes a little human judgement and logic are all that is needed to see that something does not add up.”

Those experiences influenced both TradeKind’s free model and Neal’s approach to handling genuine concerns raised by homeowners or businesses.

“I do not expect every disagreement to have a simple answer,” he said.

“But people should feel that somebody will take the time to understand what has happened rather than relying entirely on an automated decision.”

A Sussex-only marketplace

TradeKind launched with 62 trade categories covering 256 towns and communities across East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove.

Businesses select the services they provide and the areas they genuinely cover. A roofing company may work across much of the county, while a cleaner, decorator or other local business may prefer to remain closer to home.

Neal said keeping TradeKind exclusive to Sussex was an important part of the idea.

“A national platform has to divide its attention across the entire country,” he said.

“By concentrating on Sussex, we can build around the towns our tradespeople actually serve and the questions local homeowners are genuinely asking.”

Roofing Workz among the first businesses to join

One of the first businesses to join was Roofing Workz Ltd, a Shoreham-by-Sea roofing company serving customers across Sussex.

Chris Thompson of Roofing Workz said: “I’m really appreciative of what Neal is building. TradeKind gives Sussex tradespeople another professional local place to be found, and it is particularly useful for smaller independent businesses.

“The platform is still growing, and I’m looking forward to seeing it become more widely known and receiving more local enquiries as that happens.”

Built for the way people now search

The marketplace is supported by local trade and town pages, alongside a growing library of practical articles for homeowners.

The articles are intended to answer common questions, help people understand what type of tradesperson they may need and explain what to consider before arranging work.

Where relevant, readers can then continue from an article to businesses offering that service in their part of Sussex.

Neal said this local information is also being developed around changes in how people discover businesses online.

Homeowners may begin with a conventional search engine, ask an AI assistant for a recommendation or find an article that answers the problem they are experiencing.

“People are no longer searching in only one way,” Neal said.

“They may use Google, ask an AI assistant or find a helpful article while trying to understand what they need.

“TradeKind is being built to give Sussex tradespeople a better opportunity to be discovered wherever that search begins.”

The aim is to combine that modern approach to online visibility with the simplicity of a traditional local marketplace.

“The work behind the platform can be modern, but the experience for homeowners should remain straightforward,” Neal said.

“They should be able to explain what they need, find a relevant local business and make contact without having to understand anything happening behind the scenes.

“It should have the simplicity of a classic marketplace while being built for the way people are likely to search in the future.”

Neal believes this approach could be particularly useful for independent tradespeople who have developed strong reputations through recommendations but remain difficult for new customers to find online.

“Word of mouth is still incredibly important in the trades, but it also has limits,” he said.

“A business can be highly regarded among its previous customers and almost invisible to somebody living only a few miles away.

“TradeKind is not intended to replace personal recommendations. It gives homeowners another place to start and local businesses another fair opportunity to be discovered.”

Further information is available at TradeKind.co.uk