The MyBuilder experience

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there are unscrupulous company's that do use - traders naivity in SM /Webs etc to make ££s from them
SEO "Black Hat" some companies use this tactic (not successful)
others will use "White hat" more successful - I have been doms for 15 yrs I get a lot of recommends - I also churn a lot of work out - generating new leads using a web & SM helps me keep busy & "cherry pick" my work :-)
Mobile searching is the next prediction for 2016 to overtake laptops , so having a web optimised for tablet/phone is a must now
 
I think I'm blessed living in sunny Devon
Most of my work comes from builders I know/site work and word of mouth.
I imagine leaving in the city's working on domestic work is a little different
 
bobby said:
I think I'm blessed living in sunny Devon
Most of my work comes from builders I know/site work and word of mouth.
I imagine leaving in the city's working on domestic work is a little different
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We don't do any advertising at all now not 1 jot all been word of mouth and contacts..havnt advertised our work for about 2 years
 
The problem is some spreads don't work for builder or do site work.
That's just leaves you working on the domestic scene which for me is my least favourite work
I do all 3 which means we are busy a year round keeping 2 gangs busy
 
bobby said:
There's 3 of us on the books now scaled down from 5.
The rest subbies although they work for me full time.
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Dont think we wud ever take any on books 2 much ball ache and legal s**t required like holiday pay,sick pay time travelling to and from work etc
 
Kitchy said:
Dont think we wud ever take any on books 2 much ball ache and legal s**t required like holiday pay,sick pay time travelling to and from work etc
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Only me n business partner are on books as we are ltd so dnt mind paying oursens holiday pay etc
 
superspread said:
All I do now is domestic and never advertised thankfully
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Ur doing well there then you pretty much do full year on domestics? I find with domestics there want it doing yestarday! Dont give u much time to book them in etc,had sum1 leave me a voicemail this morning wanting a ceiling doing cnt be arsed ringing it bk sounded like 1 of them if ya know wat I mean
 
Yea ther
Kitchy said:
Ur doing well there then you pretty much do full year on domestics? I find with domestics there want it doing yestarday! Dont give u much time to book them in etc,had sum1 leave me a voicemail this morning wanting a ceiling doing cnt be arsed ringing it bk sounded like 1 of them if ya know wat I mean
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yea there is that downside to it ,but we seem to keep all the plates spinning somehow,and there is the fact that I'm quite happy aving a few days of between jobs if I have to
 
superspread said:
Yea ther

yea there is that downside to it ,but we seem to keep all the plates spinning somehow,and there is the fact that I'm quite happy aving a few days of between jobs if I have to
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I've had loads of people ring saying need this and that doing but I need it doing 2morrow..id worry if I was a customer and you rung a spread up saying can u do my job 2mz and there said yes surely alarm bells wud start ringing but there dnt seem to care there just want it doing asap rather Than wait a few weeks till u can book them in
 
Kitchy said:
I've had loads of people ring saying need this and that doing but I need it doing 2morrow..id worry if I was a customer and you rung a spread up saying can u do my job 2mz and there said yes surely alarm bells wud start ringing but there dnt seem to care there just want it doing asap rather Than wait a few weeks till u can book them in
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I would say 90% of my work is recommendations,so hopefully they know what standard of work they're getting beforehand and they know I'm not cheap,so if I get the call I've usually got one foot in the door
 
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superspread said:
I would say 90% of my work is recommendations,so hopefully they know what standard of work they're getting beforehand and they know I'm not cheap,so if I get the call I've usually got one foot in the door
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Yes uve got flexibility with reccomendation..i had sum1 ring me other week it was a recommendation mind he rang me on a wed nite wanted his kitchen and downstairs toilet doing I said id pop down Sunday nite to look n quote he txt me sat said he's accepted another price without me looking at it as he looked 1st I thought u fcking clown ur the 1 who rang me saying hi uve been recommended to me can u do my kitchen..fair play tho if u can do domestics all year round I cudnt do it all year round id get bored but dont mind a steady domestic here n there
 
Kitchy said:
Yes uve got flexibility with reccomendation..i had sum1 ring me other week it was a recommendation mind he rang me on a wed nite wanted his kitchen and downstairs toilet doing I said id pop down Sunday nite to look n quote he txt me sat said he's accepted another price without me looking at it as he looked 1st I thought u fcking clown ur the 1 who rang me saying hi uve been recommended to me can u do my kitchen..fair play tho if u can do domestics all year round I cudnt do it all year round id get bored but dont mind a steady domestic here n there
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Yea I get my fair share of those as well , but can usually sniff them out b4hand
 
superspread said:
Yea I get my fair share of those as well , but can usually sniff them out b4hand
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Wish I had your sense of smell..
Dizzy bird I got booked in for next Wednesday just texted to cancel
Happy 2016 got a feeling the customers are going to be the same as 2015 ,lol
 
We joined MyBuilder early last year with the view it could infill some gaps in the diary, or be a port in a storm.

Most of our work is recommendation or from regular customers (several builders and companies).
But last September things went quiet, so we started to dabble on mybuilder.

In my opinion there are plenty of pros and cons with it.
The biggest problem is trying to compete with Handymen and lads that are that desperate you can't get anywhere near their quotes. This may be regional I don't know but there's guys that would be better off working in Aldi than quoting what they are around here.
Too much power with the customer as well.
I went for a full reskim, semi detached house, cost me £21.00 Inc. VAT. Spoke to the guy on the phone and he hadn't even stripped the walls, so I gave him a rough idea on cost per room size and he said he'd get back to me.
Nothing.
So I chased it up asking him if he had got it done. Turns out it didn't need plastering in the end.
Is that not advertising a job that does not exist?
Goodbye £21

Another job on there, they accepted our quote, happy as anything showing us extra work that will come later in the year. Then they cancelled a few days before the start date.
Got someone cheaper and admitted it.

That seems to be the theme on mybuilder, they all want the cheapest guy and they want it done NOW. Stuff like qualifications, cards and stuff doesn't interest the customers and its difficult to book in advance.

We have had a few decent jobs off the site and you can filter a lot of the crap jobs out once you get into it. Which is difficult to do with phone enquiries through our website.
The fees are annoying, especially when you get charged just to be shortlisted, you may not even get to the stage of looking at the job but still be charged.
But I suppose it's similar to advertising, you could pay Yell thousands and hardly get any jobs from the calls.

We will persevere with the site but when things get busy again I won't give it a second glance.
 
Notts said:
We joined MyBuilder early last year with the view it could infill some gaps in the diary, or be a port in a storm.

Most of our work is recommendation or from regular customers (several builders and companies).
But last September things went quiet, so we started to dabble on mybuilder.

In my opinion there are plenty of pros and cons with it.
The biggest problem is trying to compete with Handymen and lads that are that desperate you can't get anywhere near their quotes. This may be regional I don't know but there's guys that would be better off working in Aldi than quoting what they are around here.
Too much power with the customer as well.
I went for a full reskim, semi detached house, cost me £21.00 Inc. VAT. Spoke to the guy on the phone and he hadn't even stripped the walls, so I gave him a rough idea on cost per room size and he said he'd get back to me.
Nothing.
So I chased it up asking him if he had got it done. Turns out it didn't need plastering in the end.
Is that not advertising a job that does not exist?
Goodbye £21

Another job on there, they accepted our quote, happy as anything showing us extra work that will come later in the year. Then they cancelled a few days before the start date.
Got someone cheaper and admitted it.

That seems to be the theme on mybuilder, they all want the cheapest guy and they want it done NOW. Stuff like qualifications, cards and stuff doesn't interest the customers and its difficult to book in advance.

We have had a few decent jobs off the site and you can filter a lot of the crap jobs out once you get into it. Which is difficult to do with phone enquiries through our website.
The fees are annoying, especially when you get charged just to be shortlisted, you may not even get to the stage of looking at the job but still be charged.
But I suppose it's similar to advertising, you could pay Yell thousands and hardly get any jobs from the calls.

We will persevere with the site but when things get busy again I won't give it a second glance.
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Wudnt checkatrade be a better option? We did yell.com for 2 years and made all of money we paid roughly £1300 for 2 years and let me say it paid it bk and then sum but came off It as we cudnt get round to pricing jobs as was just 2 busy and like urs there want it doing yestarday plus the amount of pointless calls we got were unbelievable I'm talking guys wanting kitchen ceilings skimming for £60 and it you get loads of calls from Pakistannis..we are still on it but free listing section which means practicly page 3 so get the odd call frm time to Time dont need advertising at minute thankfully but if did id try checkatrade..yell wont exist soon
 
Notts said:
We joined MyBuilder early last year with the view it could infill some gaps in the diary, or be a port in a storm.

Most of our work is recommendation or from regular customers (several builders and companies).
But last September things went quiet, so we started to dabble on mybuilder.

In my opinion there are plenty of pros and cons with it.
The biggest problem is trying to compete with Handymen and lads that are that desperate you can't get anywhere near their quotes. This may be regional I don't know but there's guys that would be better off working in Aldi than quoting what they are around here.
Too much power with the customer as well.
I went for a full reskim, semi detached house, cost me £21.00 Inc. VAT. Spoke to the guy on the phone and he hadn't even stripped the walls, so I gave him a rough idea on cost per room size and he said he'd get back to me.
Nothing.
So I chased it up asking him if he had got it done. Turns out it didn't need plastering in the end.
Is that not advertising a job that does not exist?
Goodbye £21

Another job on there, they accepted our quote, happy as anything showing us extra work that will come later in the year. Then they cancelled a few days before the start date.
Got someone cheaper and admitted it.

That seems to be the theme on mybuilder, they all want the cheapest guy and they want it done NOW. Stuff like qualifications, cards and stuff doesn't interest the customers and its difficult to book in advance.

We have had a few decent jobs off the site and you can filter a lot of the crap jobs out once you get into it. Which is difficult to do with phone enquiries through our website.
The fees are annoying, especially when you get charged just to be shortlisted, you may not even get to the stage of looking at the job but still be charged.
But I suppose it's similar to advertising, you could pay Yell thousands and hardly get any jobs from the calls.

We will persevere with the site but when things get busy again I won't give it a second glance.
Click to expand...
 
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@Notts thanks buddy for the input.

i have found it the same and we have picked up now and are booked up until mid feb, but with no help from that site.

i have only spent £20.00 but i doubt ill be spending anymore now on new leads due to their price increases which i find now a little too high.

i am in sheffield and found the exact same in fighting for work with handymen which is something i have no interest in, the rendering would interest me but i can't afford to risk £35.00 + vat to pay for a lead that i may not be able to contact and as happens with most rendering quotes anyway, they don't realise how expensive it is, something which again i doubt would go down too well with customers using that site.

i have emailed them expressing my concerns which i did put a few pages back but got the generic template shite reply they probably send out daily to disgruntled tradesmen who (with no shame) are short of work and feel a little ripped off.

all i got was that it takes time, thats how mybuilder works and thats how they keep their prices low (basically the money the dud leads generate helps them keep prices low)

£20.00 doesn't warrant a proper craic at it so its unfair to say its complete shite and i will keep my profile up just for the visibility, but can't help think that over xmas and early this year they will have made a packet from good, honest tradesmen who are short on work being puled into something thats not as black and white as it makes out.

im all for pricing plastering jobs up against fellow plasterers but no way can i price against handymen.
 
i gave my builder a try out a few years back , first job cost £16.00 a full house re skim when i got there job had already been half done and they was happy with his work and told me to price downstairs to see if they could get it done cheaper ,needless to say i walked off and never paid the £16.00 gave them the reason why i wasn't paying them , received many emails threatening me with court but i had proof and they didn't ,tossers just like agency's making money from other people's graft ,but in saying that people use them as stop gap
 
i joined mybuilder over the holidays, was I bit bored and came across it so thought I'd give it a go. Got shortlisted the next day and thought nice one this could be ok this site. Rang the girl and was a foreign accent polish or something which is ok im not bothered. So arranged to go out everything sounding good Got to the house and couldn't believe my eyes there was some c**t in kitchen skimming one wee tiny wall about 6 ft long average height and the rest of kitchen had been done that day or day before, walls were still very dark, boxes cut out an all. I said to the girl did you not ask him to price job and laughed but thinking at same time What a waste of f*****g time I'm never getting this. It was a Livingroom and diningroom ceiling and walls bit of bonding out to do aswell. Give her a very reasonably price and the look on her face said it all lol. Emm I've already had two quotes which are both cheaper. Wasnt a happy bunny on the way home lol.
 
You have to check these things out for yourself and make your own mind up, regardless of what others say.

I might, big might mind you, have a look at checakatrade again
 
ive used mybuilder now and then for about two years. ive done about twenty jobs on it. no problems. was doing the paperwork for my accountant the other day for april 14 to april 15 and added up the mybuilders fees and it was £109.20. the work bought in just over £3000 direct and then further work for the same people and few recommendations from jobs last year and this year. so was more than profitable for just pitching for the odd lead that they send you. but agree with mac about the price increases. looked on it yesterday and this job is on there. ten interested and with the vat the lead would be thirty quid. if the job poster shortlists just three of them thats £100 for the site. this type of job would have been about half the price before christmas. i mean you wouldnt touch it anyway. ten interested. if youre the first to reply and you can get round there the first day an work your charms before the others have a chance to quote, then maybe. still, £30 for a whole house aint bad. you could post an advert in the local paper for about the same price and be quoting against three other spreads. unless you get all your work word of mouth its all a gamble.

£25+ VAT

I'm interested No thanks
Job description


i moved into my house a few months back and have stripped all the wallpaper in my own time now i need to get a plasterer in to plaster the whole house walls and ceilings. theres 3 decent size bedrooms a bathroom thats half tiled, hall stairs and landing, 2 reception rooms and a large kitchen. one of the bedroom ceilings needs re boarding and so does the kitchen ceiling. ive already removed the 2 bad ceilings. as long as the house is ready by the end of march then whoever gets the job can do it either all at once or inbetween other jobs. i either need day rate or full price for job you decide

TradePlastering

PostedWed 6th Jan 2016 20:13 by danielle2008 (4 jobs)

Shortlist activity
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10interested
Interested tradespeople
 
I just cannot get my head around paying for a lead for a job.
Times have changed for sure
My phone has been ringing all week and not even returning some calls for profit less skimming one off rooms over artex
I do understand people need to find work but bloody hell.
The downside is I have tons of external work on:crying:
 
bobby said:
I just cannot get my head around paying for a lead for a job.
Times have changed for sure
My phone has been ringing all week and not even returning some calls for profit less skimming one off rooms over artex
I do understand people need to find work but bloody hell.
The downside is I have tons of external work on:crying:
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So why don't you sub the little jobs out surely you can make a few Bob out of it
 
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