Stu Clark
Stu's a UK-trained plumber. He did his apprenticeship in the UK and went on to run his own plumbing and bathroom renovations business there for 10 years, managing a team of 8 tradespeople and subcontractors. That's around 12 years working the British trade from the inside.
He handled all his own web design and marketing while running that business, which is where the digital side started. He emigrated to New Zealand at 30 and kept working in the trade, until a bad accident at 35 changed his direction: a 5-metre fall off a roof put him off work for almost six months. He used that time to set himself up to do something different, and to stay off roofs, founding EightySix Digital in Christchurch, a digital agency that works specifically with tradespeople and service businesses to help them get found online and bring in more work.
Top5Trades came from a simple frustration: watching friends and family back in the UK struggle to find a tradesperson they could actually trust. Not because good tradespeople don't exist, they do, but because the existing directories make it nearly impossible to tell the good from the bad. So he built something different.
Who We Are
Top5Trades is an independent UK trade directory with a simple idea: instead of hundreds of unvetted listings, give people the five best options in their area. No pay-to-rank. No lead generation. Just honest, independently researched shortlists of the tradespeople we'd actually recommend.
The problem with most trade directories isn't a shortage of listings. It's the noise. Hundreds of unvetted businesses, review platforms where anyone can post anything, lead generation sites that sell the same enquiry to five companies at once. None of it actually helps homeowners find the best person for the job.
Having spent 15 years in the trade, Stu built Top5Trades the way he'd want to use it: the kind of shortlist you'd get if you asked someone who actually knows the industry. No bull, no jargon. Just the five businesses worth calling.
Top5Trades is run by EightySix Digital, a New Zealand-based digital business.
How We Select the Top 5
Our selection process is the same for every trade and every location. Here's how it works:
We research the local market
We start by identifying the active, trading businesses in each location and trade category, looking at who's actually operating locally rather than just who ranks well in directories.
We check reviews and reputation
We look at verified reviews across Google, Checkatrade, Which? Trusted Traders, Trustpilot and other platforms. We look for consistency, volume and recency, not just an overall star rating.
We make our selection
We pick the five businesses we'd genuinely recommend. The list is editorial: no business pays to appear in the organic Top 5. Lists are reviewed and updated at least every three months.
A note on Featured placements
Each trade page has one Featured placement available, a highlighted spot that sits above the organic Top 5. This is clearly labelled and is our only paid product. The Featured business is chosen by us and must meet our quality standards. The organic Top 5 below it is always independently selected and cannot be influenced by payment.