mybuilder.com - any good?

Be_Happy

Used MyBuilder recently and was very impressed with result.

Noticed one broken tile on single storey extension, near gutter edge, and had a spare tile. Phoned around local tilers, with same result - warned that there would be a call-out charge on top of work done and would fit it in when they could - didn't know when.

Posted on MyBuilder had 5 'interested' tilers. Chose nearest one and arranged for him to do work. He called round at 8.30 next morning, on his way to another job. Did the work and charged only the call-out fee, £50.

So entire process took less than a day.

Cloth_of_Gold

Hi, my first post.

I currently want some work done in my home but the only people who I know who have had work done recently do not live near me and so I decided to try Rated People. Unfortunately, you can't choose the tradesmen you wish to approach, you post the job and they decide whose details to send. I didn't like this idea so turned to Mybuilder as on there you decide who to invite to quote. I invited 6 tradesmen and sent them a detailed job spec but none replied. I got 3 further approaches from people who MyBuilder themselves had sent my job details to (I wasn't aware they did this). One had no feedback and the other had 1 feedback and whilst they may be great I didn't feel that I had anything on which to make a decision. They both have websites but one was jus a single page with some rather random pictures and didn't fill me with confidence. The other website made some impressive claims which I expected to be able to verify by searching on the web but in fact I could find nothing. The third person looked ok and I am currently waiting for a quote.

As I had got only 1 person (potentially) from Mybuilder I turned to Checkatrade.com. I have approached several people listed on the site; one asked me to send the job details but didn't reply despite a follow-up e-mail and I am waiting for two others to give a quote.

After looking on here I discovered Buy With Confidence. Unfortunately there is hardly anyone on there near to where I live but I and have approached two tradesmen listed on the site. One I left a message for and am waiting for the call to be returned (if it is) and the other asked me to send the job spec and said he will ring me.

So I have tried 3 different sites just to get 3, possibly 4 people to quote (assuming they do). I will report back later and let everyone know how I got on. I get the impression here that on the whole people aren't keen on these sites, although some people have had good experiences. Trust Pilot (which I also found through this site :T) has hundreds of glowing review for both Mybuilder.com and Checkatrade.com so I'm a little confused. I wondered if Trust Pilot also only has positive reviews and so looked at a couple of other sites including an online clothing company that I have used without problem many times over at least 10 years and consider to be excellentand it had terrible reviews on Trust Pilot! The whole thing seems to be a minefield but hopefully (I'm the eternal optimist) the end result will be ok, although my partner is convinced it will be a disaster.

MrsAngry123456

Hired a builder through MyBuilder.com. This builder's website had 10 reviews all 10 out of 10. I now realise these were probably family and friends posting dummy reviews. From day 14 everything went wrong with my build, not turning up, short days 11 till 2 pm, lots of excuses, he then went bankrupt whilst on my project taking all my savings. Contacted MyBuilder who were very dismissive and difficult to contact, all in all not very interested in my concerns. PS. They still advertise this builder who has set up a new company. Since posting as many negative reviews as I can, I have been contacted by numerous people who have experienced the same problem with this builder. Why is this allowed to happen . So angry.

aylesby

I have used Mybuilder a number of times in the last year. Their website is less messy than their competitors and I have no DIY skills. No chosen tradesman proved bad but many will chase jobs irrespective of the distance they travel and that needs watching.
Read their reviews and check the services offered. You should be able to sort the better local ones out. The good ones are busy and do need to look for the work all the time.
When I can not find a tradesman I cancel the job and try somewhere else.

PittmanDecor

My builder and any such similar websites are complete Crap. The description of the works that get written out by the customers arent very descriptive. Customers tend to be only on there for the cheapest quote and most of the time don't even want the work done. We trade's have to pay for the leads and 90% of the time we don't win them. The demographic seems to be people using my builder or similar sites tend to be complete time wasters, not sure of what they want done, suspicious of any tradesman because they friends won't recommend people to them because they're total idiots. Websites like these are trying to put the power in the customer's hands, that can only be bad news when you consider that most customers are !!!!ing idiots. You can't trust any reviews because they're mostly written out by the cowboys themselves. If you want a decent tradesman for your job. Ask a friend to recommend someone, get 5 quotes from different companies AND USE YOUR BRAIN TO MAKE A CHARACTER JUDGEMENT ON THAT COMPANY OR INDIVIDUAL.

Patr100

PittmanDecor wrote: »

My builder and any such similar websites are complete Crap. The description of the works that get written out by the customers arent very descriptive. Customers tend to be only on there for the cheapest quote and most of the time don't even want the work done. We trade's have to pay for the leads and 90% of the time we don't win them. The demographic seems to be people using my builder or similar sites tend to be complete time wasters, not sure of what they want done, suspicious of any tradesman because they friends won't recommend people to them because they're total idiots. Websites like these are trying to put the power in the customer's hands, that can only be bad news when you consider that most customers are !!!!ing idiots. You can't trust any reviews because they're mostly written out by the cowboys themselves. If you want a decent tradesman for your job. Ask a friend to recommend someone, get 5 quotes from different companies AND USE YOUR BRAIN TO MAKE A CHARACTER JUDGEMENT ON THAT COMPANY OR INDIVIDUAL.

Thanks for your "character judgement" on customers you've never met. Says a lot about you. too.

DominicH

PittmanDecor wrote: »

If you want a decent tradesman for your job. Ask a friend to recommend someone, get 5 quotes from different companies AND USE YOUR BRAIN TO MAKE A CHARACTER JUDGEMENT ON THAT COMPANY OR INDIVIDUAL.

I recently had a simple job done, and called seven local tradesmen. Only two came back to me with estimates. So I would have to call maybe twenty of them to get the five quotes that you suggest. That's like half a day of telephone tennis in itself.

Then there's the people who do give you a quote, but don't actually respond if you want to proceed, or cancel the job or whatever. So make that twenty-five people you have to contact.

And after all that, the person you get may be crap, as was the case with the work I had done. Personal recommendations are hit and miss too, in my experience.

So yes, it is all a bit of a lottery. All you can do is, if you find a good tradesman, be nice to him and hang on to him!

another_casualty

Interesting thread .
I only heard of my builder , if I do a google search and ask a building type question . Great answers . Good site

I was going to get a quote for a new bathroom from rated people last night
I held back at the last ( for now)as there seemed to be a few disclaimer/at your own risk terms and I felt a bit uneasy .
I've sent van email to a local gas engineering / plumbers who do showers and all see what they say first . A good tradesperson is worth their weight in gold if you can get them .

Michael8876

There is no support or protection from MyBuilder if there is an issue with a trade, as I had with AW Roofing & Building of Stockport. I emailed them and their CEO 4 times before he rang me and declared they 'wouldn't get involved because AW Roofing & Building had so many positive reviews'. My review and the insulting, libelous replies from AW are there to be seen. Any normal company would have censored at least the trader. As long as the trader pays for enquiries, MyBuilder are content..

bored_uk

Hi,
I have heard through the grapevine about these sites, had a bit of time on my hands so decided to register with MyBuilder as a electrical contractor, reading their profile they do the checks to make sure suitable qualifications are in place when registering, this consists of sending certificates City & Guilds etc. to them via your phone with passport and photo of yourself, I am not sure how they check the certificates as you would have to contact City & Guilds to verify certificate number against the name on the certificate, does any one know how this done? They also ask registration number of governing bodies which is forwarded to them, I assume that anyone with a computer these days can doctor any information on certificates and if not confirmed and checked is a free passport to carry out electrical work without creditation. We assumed that is was criteria that electrical companies carrying out this work could only do so after being a member of a governing body which is then checked via the governing body to make sure you are competent and suitably qualified, this is not the case with this site as further enquiries with |My Builder confirmed that they do not require a electrician to be registered with a governing body (WORRYING). so we proceeded with registration and was successful and started getting leads to which we responded, after numerous times replying to these leads without success we decided to check the trades being shortlisted to which the electrician has to pay ranging from £3.00 upwards, after checking credentials of the electricians responding granted some were affiliated with a governing body, but worryingly some were not they were offering their services to a range of jobs which would require certification under the Part P Scheme Building Control which could not be complied with, one electrician was offering to carry out certification via a 3rd party (not a good idea) as in the event of a danger situation occurring the legalities for the home owner would be quite complex. So we carried on deciding to post our own job on My Builder to see who responds, for a £40.00 electrical job we had 22 so called electrical companies respond granted some were legitimate not bad for My Builder had we responded to 22 electricians at £3.00 a shot, needless to say we did not waste these guys time. The long and short of it is go to google where you will find local tradesmen check the address against the company name with the governing body they are affiliated to get them to come around and give you a face to face quotation.


When these leads are posted on this site for such jobs as electrical the lead description to not put a finer point on it is of a very basic nature, on more in depth jobs it would be impossible to give a quotation based on this information and therefore could be misleading to the customer when they receive the quotation without a site visit again (WORRYING). I found many customers using this site purely to obtain free quotations for work that may not materialise a waste of time for the tradesman especially if they have had to pay for a lead. This service may be of use if My Builder tightens the controls on verification for tradesmen and also control on the reviews process one review gives you 100% feedback this can also be misleading and open to people generating their own feedback.