A Fairer Alternative to Bark for Yorkshire Gardeners

How Bark's credit system actually works

Bark is upfront that it costs nothing to sign up and nothing to see the leads matching your trade and area. The cost comes when you decide to respond. Bark's own pricing page for professionals states it plainly: you only pay to contact customers you think are the right fit for your business, using a credit system. Buy a pack of credits, then spend them to unlock a customer's phone number and email for any lead you choose to respond to.

The current standard price, per Bark's UK help centre, is £1.80 per credit, though the exact number of credits needed to contact any one lead varies by service type, job size, and demand in the area, so a single enquiry is rarely just one credit. Credits also expire: anything bought from 1 November 2025 is valid for three months, after which unused credits cannot be refunded.

The part worth being clear-eyed about is what that fee actually buys. Bark's own description of how the service works for professionals says matching leads are sent out to relevant tradespeople, not exclusively to one. That means more than one gardener can spend credits to contact the very same customer for the very same job, and only one of you will actually win it. Everyone who responded has already paid, win or lose. Bark does offer a one-off guarantee on your first credit pack, refunding it if you win no business at all, but that safety net does not extend to every pack after your first.

How Yorkshire Lawn & Garden compares

We run a website that ranks across Yorkshire for gardening and landscaping searches and turns them into real customers with a name, a postcode, and a job description. Each enquiry goes to one trusted local gardener or landscaper for that area, not several of you bidding credits against each other for the same job.

	Bark	Yorkshire Lawn & Garden
Cost to see a lead	Free	Free, you are simply sent it
Cost to respond	Credits, currently £1.80 each	None, ever
Who else gets the lead?	Can be sent to more than one pro	One gardener per job
Pay if you do not win?	Yes, the credit is spent regardless	No, nothing is owed
First job	Credits paid before you know the outcome	Free and direct, you keep everything
Ongoing cost	Credits per lead you choose to contact	10% of jobs actually completed and paid

The shape of the risk is the real difference. A credit system asks you to pay to be in the running, before you know if you will win. Our model only ever takes a share of work you have already done and already been paid for. Nothing lands, nothing is owed.

What you get from Yorkshire Lawn & Garden

• We generate the customers. They have already searched for a gardener and asked for help. No credits, no bidding against other firms for the same lead.
• You keep 90% of every job. One flat number. No credit packs, no top-ups, no expiry dates.
• You get paid fast on completion. Once the job is confirmed done, your money is sent straight to your bank, same or next day.
• No lead fees, ever. You never pay us to be sent a job. We only take our share out of work you have actually done and been paid for.
• Work the jobs you want. Too busy, wrong patch, not your sort of work? Say no and we place it elsewhere. No penalty for turning work down.
• Stay your own boss. Your business, your name, your tools, your way of working.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

How does Bark charge gardeners and landscapers?

Bark shows you leads for free, but charges a credit fee every time you choose to contact one. Bark's own UK pricing states the current standard rate is £1.80 per credit, and the number of credits needed to contact any one lead depends on the service, the size of the job, and demand in your area. Bark's own description of how it works for professionals also confirms that matching leads are sent out to relevant tradespeople, so more than one gardener can pay credits to contact the same customer for the same job.

Do Bark credits expire?

Yes. Per Bark's UK help centre, credits purchased from 1 November 2025 expire 3 months after purchase. Unused credits cannot be refunded once they expire.

Is Yorkshire Lawn & Garden really free to join?

Yes. There are no credits to buy and no fee to respond to a job. Your first job is free and direct, you keep every penny of it. After that you keep 90% of every job and we only take our share out of work you have actually completed and been paid for.

Do I have to sign a contract with Yorkshire Lawn & Garden?

No. There is no contract and no minimum term. If it stops suiting you, you simply stop taking jobs from us.

Can I use Yorkshire Lawn & Garden alongside Bark?

Yes, completely. Nothing about applying to us affects any account or credits you already have on Bark or anywhere else. The difference is simply that we never charge you to be sent a job.

More on getting work without paying for it

For the full picture of how gardeners find customers across Yorkshire, including word of mouth, Google Business Profile and the other paid platforms, see how to get more gardening work in Yorkshire. If Checkatrade is the platform you are weighing up, see our Checkatrade alternative for gardeners. If you just want the short version, go straight to gardening leads in Yorkshire.