When do people search for tradespeople? The UK trade search calendar
Trade searches follow the seasons. October is the most common peak month, when heating, chimney and roofing searches all top out. Outdoor trades peak in spring, from April to June, and gardeners are the most seasonal of all, swinging 8.6 times between December and May. Electricians and plumbers barely change through the year.
The figures are monthly UK search estimates from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer for 20 common trade searches, such as “boiler service”, “roofers near me” and “gardeners near me”, from September 2024 to August 2026.
Key findings
- October is the most common peak month for UK trade searches: 6 of the 20 trades checked peak then, including boiler servicing, roofing and chimney sweeps.
- Gardeners are the most seasonal trade, swinging 8.6 times between about 1,900 searches in December and 16,100 in May.
- Electricians and plumbers barely move: “electrician near me” varies only 1.2 times across the year.
- Outdoor trades peak in spring, from April to June, while heating and indoor trades peak from October to December.
How to cite this research: Lekker Marketing, “When do people search for tradespeople? The UK trade search calendar”, 2026. Please link to this page when you quote a figure.
Where the data comes from: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, UK database, pulled 19 September 2026. Figures cover September 2024 to August 2026. Full method at the end of this page.
When does each trade get searched for most?
The trade search calendar
Each month’s UK searches as a share of that trade’s busiest month
View as a table
| Trade | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landscapers | 3,305 | 4,685 | 6,235 | 6,383 | 6,316 | 5,304 | 5,226 | 3,997 | 6,063 | 4,145 | 2,486 | 2,718 |
| Fencing contractors | 4,838 | 4,125 | 5,806 | 6,119 | 5,051 | 4,509 | 4,339 | 4,226 | 4,487 | 5,521 | 3,691 | 3,282 |
| Driveway cleaning | 1,478 | 1,846 | 2,199 | 2,683 | 1,809 | 2,073 | 1,962 | 1,825 | 1,810 | 1,321 | 1,278 | 1,229 |
| Gardeners | 5,185 | 8,190 | 11,534 | 13,898 | 16,067 | 13,896 | 11,942 | 11,450 | 7,028 | 4,717 | 3,156 | 1,878 |
| Window cleaners | 2,638 | 4,292 | 5,145 | 7,052 | 7,274 | 8,153 | 6,628 | 6,457 | 7,041 | 5,486 | 4,503 | 1,826 |
| Builders | 6,260 | 6,657 | 7,267 | 7,464 | 6,815 | 7,582 | 7,557 | 7,004 | 6,969 | 6,891 | 6,582 | 4,821 |
| Pest control | 10,065 | 9,315 | 9,707 | 10,646 | 12,174 | 13,124 | 14,677 | 13,511 | 11,926 | 10,665 | 10,890 | 9,876 |
| Air conditioning installers | 1,424 | 1,553 | 1,623 | 1,933 | 2,949 | 4,289 | 5,677 | 4,906 | 1,792 | 1,522 | 1,233 | 1,174 |
| Tree surgeons | 7,271 | 8,257 | 8,679 | 8,453 | 8,490 | 8,845 | 8,540 | 8,834 | 10,131 | 8,349 | 7,042 | 4,704 |
| Gutter cleaning | 4,634 | 6,364 | 7,793 | 4,489 | 7,541 | 8,000 | 6,329 | 7,452 | 8,777 | 6,433 | 7,053 | 4,324 |
| Boiler servicing | 18,464 | 16,588 | 14,060 | 11,836 | 10,792 | 10,875 | 11,732 | 13,971 | 18,003 | 20,523 | 19,780 | 16,403 |
| Heating engineers | 8,298 | 6,076 | 5,696 | 5,177 | 4,510 | 4,139 | 4,411 | 4,699 | 7,874 | 9,544 | 8,243 | 7,045 |
| Chimney sweeps | 6,853 | 6,312 | 6,490 | 6,415 | 6,116 | 6,201 | 6,588 | 8,032 | 11,047 | 11,300 | 10,281 | 7,308 |
| Roofers | 13,996 | 14,028 | 11,440 | 10,416 | 10,465 | 11,516 | 11,830 | 13,773 | 11,877 | 14,659 | 14,233 | 11,087 |
| Painters and decorators | 6,417 | 6,420 | 6,885 | 6,583 | 6,627 | 6,413 | 6,429 | 6,560 | 7,474 | 7,879 | 5,334 | 4,171 |
| Damp proofing | 3,551 | 3,116 | 2,592 | 2,451 | 2,379 | 2,280 | 2,481 | 2,667 | 3,354 | 3,647 | 3,518 | 2,738 |
| Plumbers | 14,620 | 15,029 | 14,708 | 13,097 | 12,679 | 13,354 | 14,337 | 14,602 | 14,042 | 15,405 | 15,979 | 15,092 |
| Electricians | 25,142 | 24,016 | 23,253 | 21,971 | 21,625 | 22,457 | 23,670 | 23,786 | 24,532 | 25,443 | 25,633 | 22,633 |
| Boiler repair | 6,731 | 6,423 | 5,752 | 4,376 | 3,724 | 3,382 | 3,459 | 3,769 | 4,847 | 6,220 | 7,000 | 7,857 |
| Emergency plumbers | 7,757 | 7,718 | 8,067 | 7,697 | 6,790 | 6,846 | 7,128 | 7,466 | 7,690 | 7,948 | 7,827 | 10,681 |
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer · UK · September 2026 · Jan–Aug 2026 and Sep–Dec 2025
The calendar splits into two seasons:
- Autumn and winter: heating, roofing and the inside of the house. Six trades peak in October: boiler servicing, heating engineers, chimney sweeps, roofers, painters and decorators, and damp proofing. Plumbers and electricians peak in November, and boiler repair and emergency plumbers in December.
- Spring and summer: the garden and the outside of the house. Landscapers, fencing contractors and driveway cleaning peak in April, gardeners in May, window cleaners and builders in June, and air conditioning and pest control in July. Tree surgeons and gutter cleaning peak in September.
Which trades are the most seasonal?
| Trade | Busiest month | Quietest month | Busiest ÷ quietest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gardeners | May | December | 8.6× |
| Air conditioning installers | July | December | 4.8× |
| Window cleaners | June | December | 4.5× |
| Landscapers | April | November | 2.6× |
| Boiler repair | December | June | 2.3× |
| Heating engineers | October | June | 2.3× |
| Roofers | October | April | 1.4× |
| Plumbers | November | May | 1.3× |
| Electricians | November | May | 1.2× |
Selected trades, September 2025 to August 2026. Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, UK, September 2026. Monthly figures for all 20 trades are in the table view under the calendar.
Gardeners get more than eight times the searches in May that they get in December. Electricians and plumbers are close to steady: people need them all year, whatever the weather.
Which trades get searched for most?
Over the latest 12 months, the biggest searches in this set were “electrician near me” (about 284,000 UK searches), “boiler service” (183,000), “plumber near me” (173,000) and “roofers near me” (149,000). More on how people search for individual jobs is in what customers search for when they need a tradesperson.
What does this mean for trades businesses?
Get ready before the rise, not during it. Heating trades should have service pages, prices and booking details up to date by September. Outdoor trades should be ready by February or March, when searches start to climb.
Use the quiet months. The low season is when there’s time to add pages for each job, collect reviews and update your Google Business Profile, so they’re working when searches return. A fixed-price SEO audit for your trades website is a sensible way to find out what to fix first.
Steady trades still have seasonal jobs. Electricians and plumbers see steady demand overall, but individual jobs, like boiler repairs in December, still peak. A page for each job catches those peaks, which is the core of SEO for plumbers, electricians and builders. For the map results that sit above them, see local SEO for trades businesses. Devon trades can also see SEO services in Devon.
How was this measured?
I used Ahrefs Keywords Explorer’s UK database to pull monthly search estimates for 20 common trade searches from September 2024 to August 2026. Busiest and quietest months, and the ratio between them, use the latest 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026). The calendar shows each month as a share of that trade’s busiest month.
Limits. Ahrefs’ monthly figures are modelled estimates, so they’re best used for the shape of the year rather than exact counts. Some trades, like boiler repair and emergency plumbers, show almost identical curves in both years, which reflects that modelling. Each trade is represented by one search phrase; real demand includes many more.