My hammer website

Mum_of_3_3

My other half has been a self-employed builder since leaving school (over 20 years ago) and has never, ever had to advertise. All of his work comes from word-of-mouth and he has never been without work, even in this climate he has 6-8 months work ahead!!

In my opnion if a tradesman has to go trawling through these websites then they must be short of work and I would ask myself why they are short of work!

I always say that you should ask friends/familiy/co-workers who does their building work/plumbing/repairs etc and if they recommend them go with them. You may end up paying a few £ more, but at least you know you're not going to be employing a cowboy.

M_o_3

misgrace

Mum_of_3 wrote: »

My other half has been a self-employed builder since leaving school (over 20 years ago) and has never, ever had to advertise. All of his work comes from word-of-mouth and he has never been without work, even in this climate he has 6-8 months work ahead!!

In my opnion if a tradesman has to go trawling through these websites then they must be short of work and I would ask myself why they are short of work!

I always say that you should ask friends/familiy/co-workers who does their building work/plumbing/repairs etc and if they recommend them go with them. You may end up paying a few £ more, but at least you know you're not going to be employing a cowboy.

M_o_3

I agree to a point, as I am booked for months ahead also, and turning work away, but I have advertised in the past, as sometimes work becomes slack, so advertising tends to generate more work, and yes, 80% of my work comes from recommendation, but sometimes I do advertise, but not on these websites.

What strikes me, and I have been looking through Myhammer at some of the jobs and the bids, and am so shocked at how low in thier bids these tradesmen are willing to go, and some are prepared to travel 175 miles or so for a job they have bidded £180.:eek:

It is so sad that these tradesmen are so desperate for work that they are practically doing it for slave wages, I know its good for the customer, but I feel for some of them who are bidding so low to get the job, that they are prepared to travel a long way for so little money.

sparky883

They might bid at the low prices but how do you know thats what the customer pays.I used My Hammer once to see what it was like,We won the bid because the time limit had run out and ours was the lowest price,Never heard from the customer,And My Hammer billed us £12.
Contacted My Hammer told them in no uncertain terms where to go and asked for all our details to be removed,And have heard no more,Think they are Dutch/German company,As i have said before there are more of these sites than there are reliable tradesmen.Tradesmen are making a rod for thier own back using these sites where the customer decides how much a job is worth,Since when has this been the case??

EliteHeat

Mum_of_3 wrote: »

My other half has been a self-employed builder since leaving school (over 20 years ago) and has never, ever had to advertise.

This makes no sense whatsoever.

Your OH has been a self employed builder since leaving school? how? are they doing GCSEs in fully experienced general building now?

There is just so much wrong with this post that I don't know where to begin.

Mum_of_3_3

EliteHeat wrote: »

This makes no sense whatsoever.

Your OH has been a self employed builder since leaving school? how? are they doing GCSEs in fully experienced general building now?

There is just so much wrong with this post that I don't know where to begin.

Not quite sure what I've done to offend you so much Elite Heat & not quite sure why you don't believe me :mad:

Also not sure why I should justify myself to you, but here goes.

My other half left school at Easter before his exams (you were allowed to back then (1985), so he doesn't even have GCSE English, let alone anything else

When he left school he bacame self-employed & worked alongside his Dad who was also a builder (& a qualified draughtsman).

My partner spent every school holiday working with his Dad & older builders around here remember him falling off of scaffolding when he was helping his Dad reroof someone's house at age 8 :eek: .

So as you can see he has no formal qualifications (this is not unusual for most builders of his age), but can build & roof better than most even if he had his hands behind his back.

Also to last 23 years in his job and never been short of work or had to beg or look around for it either is a testament to the quality of his work.

If you have a problem with this EliteHeat, then I feel very sorry for you.

M_o_3

bigdoozer

Mum o 3, plumbers, over charge /paid, but still worse wingers .......you will find many a bitter and twisted type on this site. just smile and leave em 2 it. Myhammer.... builder pays a commission if he gets the job, and then the client has a chance to rate them. Most of the rest of these site builder pays up front either credits or per hit. In all cases checks are minimal as the site owners are in business to make money from the site.Myhammer is based in Germany, so theres a tale. I have used myhammer for work I needed doing... all oK, and also to find work..... all OK. Nuff SED PS: yellow pages is the worst marketing out there, we get more calls selling stuff to us than potential customers.. YP is NO guarantee of a companies worth.

soulmate4ever

Surley if a tradesman is prepared to lower his price in a bidding war on MyHammer he (or she) can't be up to much !
I've used Checkatrade.com and Buy with Confidence and both have given me excellent trades.