Checkatrade,Mybuilder, Myhammer ratedpeople etc etc.. Your views?

[stuartcourt]

I know plumbers who have done ok but think its luck of draw, lots of time wasters on there who just want a price with no real intention of doing the work

 

[chilliwilly]

As per ususal with any advertising, the majority of your enquiries will certainly be time wasters, canvassers, other sites asking if you want to be on their site, folk asking you if you can do an inspection on a house their interested in buying, then ringing you back and asking you if the house owner might prefer a niccy or other endorsed spark to do it? How much will it cost to rewire their house without you coming out to it, do you give discounts to single parents, will you give some money to bogus charities, do you want a loan, do you want a debt recovering, etc.

But on the other hand you will get some work out of it once you've dealt with all the non business related calls, when I used to advertise in Y.P. and T.L. over 6 years ago, I worked it out at around 18% genuine business enquiries with about a 40% turnaround, roughly about 8% of total enquiries. As there is always someone that doesn't know of a bonafide trades person.

I suppose you could buy a pay as you talk sim and a cheap phone and use that as a contact number, if the enquiries are non business related and sickening you. Then dish the sims and the advertising, and carry on with your word of mouth, and the timewasters will almost cease to exist.

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

As with rated people I've done well out of my builder, fees are lot less than rated people , I've had about 8 jobs in 2 years and 5 of them rewires

 

[D Skelton]

As far as I'm aware, MyBuilder is the only one out of the lot of them that was set up by a tradesman for tradesmen. They only charge a (small) fee I believe when you actually get work. The leads you go for are like a quid each or something?? Compared to the £50-£60 leads you pay for decent jobs on other type of scam sites, a quid I could stomach lol.

I've only heard good things about MyBuilder. The complete opposite however is true with regards to the others.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

As far as I'm aware, MyBuilder is the only one out of the lot of them that was set up by a tradesman for tradesmen. They only charge a (small) fee I believe when you actually get work. The leads you go for are like a quid each or something?? Compared to the £50-£60 leads you pay for decent jobs on other type of scam sites, a quid I could stomach lol.

I've only heard good things about MyBuilder. The complete opposite however is true with regards to the others.

yeah damion...i know when i was working for this guy the chuffin phone never stopped ringing with offers of joining this site or that site....
his replys were short n sweet...on the lines of f**** o**...i`m busy...lol...

 

[Hudzspark]

Updated info for you if its useful. Signed up with MB and MyHammer, kept going in keen to win some work and build a good rating up. Shortlisted for a rewire and told by customer I have it and wants to start first week of Jan, pushed my price to bare min though but I am happy as you have to start somewhere. Got another job of mybuilder today, sent me 20 miles away to fix socket and test rcd, landlord sends her phone number but says I can't call because she is on holiday (what's the point in giving me the number) she gives me the address and says it's urgent because she thinks it may be dangerous. I drop another job to go over there and sort it as she is a landlord and may have more work down the line. Turned up at the right address and banged on door for a few minutes, no answer! About to leave when some young fat kid opens the door and doesn't have a cue what I'm on. I say no your landlord booked me, is this such and such address? He says yeah this is the address but the council own this place! Emailed and text the women who booked it, no reply!!! What a load of @$%#. Quoted over 20 jobs on myhammer and no replies from any and still showing active, questioning whether they are posting them themselves tbh as some of them I would have got for sure with the pricing.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

I shudder at the thought of these do-nothing middlemen websites.
vultures.
parasites.... What do they do....nothing just cream off some money.

 

[jimmymac]

I used My Builder when I lived in England. I thought they were ok but then again I only really used the site when I was quiet. You do get a few people that mess you about or want it doing for a tenner but you get that every where. I suppose it's quite good as a supplement to a strong customer base

 

[Rockingit]

These outfits have flourished as all the D.I. market / Electrical Trainee's flooded the market and you got Dave the insurance salesman turned D.I. doing board changes for £50. Why perpetuate the problem?

 

[xavierpj]

Recently gone self employed and have discovered these sites in addition to recommendation work. 'My builder' - like others have found ok.. reasonable priced leads, but still don't like the idea of 3 people being charged at once for leads. 'Rated people' - BAD BAD BAD.. expensive leads for the quality. Gave it a try and have walked away. Works for some, but not me as a lone sole trader looking for the smaller jobs.
Was looking at 'Checkatrade' or 'Which? trusted trader', Checkatrade are a blatant rip off for the money, so I refuse to use them and told the salesman that... but I may decide to pay a year with Which? as they pan out much cheaper for the same service - still to make a decision...