mybuilder.com - any good?

raul_ross

my builder.com do not ask anybody for qualifications only insurance!!!!!

raul_ross

I'm going to trust sites like mybuilder...myhammer....ratedpeople as soon as I find out who control them???
where you go if you have a problem with one of them?
as a tradesman or as a customer where you report them for any abuse?

keystone

Why make only one post when three will do?

Cheers

Fed_Up_Tradesman

I am a registered tradesman with mybuilder and am now totally fed up with the situation on that site.

As someone else posted earlier, their fee structure changed quite drastically last year .

Previously, the way mybuilder operated was as follows:

1. Customer posts a job
2. Trades get notified based on their skills and location
3. Trades send message to customer with contact details
4. Telephone calls / email / mybuilder messages to discuss job
5. Site visit where required
6. Quote submitted
7. Quote accepted by customer who awards job to tradesman
8. Job gets done
9. Customer completes job on mybuilder
10. Tradesman invoiced for Success Fee = 5% of quote + VAT
11. Customer adds feedback on mybuilder

This arrangement worked well for me because I am honest and valued the opportunity to build up a mybuilder profile based on positive feedback for completed jobs.

Note: No fees were charged by mybuilder for jobs that were not completed.

In Nov 2011 mybuilder abandoned the Success Fee and replaced it with Shortlist Fees.

The way it works now:

1. Customer posts a job
2. Trades get notified based on their skills and location. Shortlist fee for lead is displayed.
3. Trades express interest with 1 intro message only
4. Customer cannot send message but can only decide to shortlist trade or reject them. No further messages can be sent by either party until the customer shortlists the trade(s) they like the sound of. Customer can shortlist 5 trades maximum.
5. When sortlisted by the customer, each trade immediately gets invoiced by mybuilder for the Shortlist Fee shown for that lead + VAT. Fsshtinggg !!!!

Note: Intro messages from trade are scanned by mybuilder to check that the trade has not included any telephone numbers or contact details in the message.

6. After being shortlisted, telephone calls / email / mybuilder messages can be exchanged to discuss job.
7. Site visit where required
8. Quote submitted
9. Quote accepted and job awarded to tradesman
10. Job gets done
11. Customer completes job on mybuilder
12. Customer adds feedback on mybuilder

It's my guess that mybuilder's cash flow and (VCap funded) business plan was threatened under the previous Success Fee arrangements because a lot of jobs were being cancelled by the customer once they'd met the trades, to avoid paying the Success Fee.

Cancelling jobs to avoid the Success Fee also meant that the trade could not receive any feedback for the job - because it had been cancelled. Incredible but true - just to save a few quid. Defeated the whole purpose of being registered on the site in the first place - that being to build up a solid reputation based on customer feedback.

So now we have the Kafkaesque situation where you are simply paying for leads before you have been able to discuss the job with the customer.

There are so many customers on these types of site that are just looking for quotes / prices to see if a job is worth doing etc., who then shy away when the real business of discussion begins. This means that the tradesman can be spending £££'s just to contact supposed customers who may have little or no intention of getting the work done.

mybuilder also rebuke any trade that tries to include a reference to the Shortlist Fee in their one and only intro message and customers are encouraged to report any trade that tries to pass on the mybuilder fee directly to the customer by clicking the Report button.

Personally, I cannot see this business model being anymore successful than the last business model.

I am less inclined now to go after the main work that I do and that I used to show interest in before the change, because these type of leads are priced at around £12 + VAT - so how many of them can a tradesman afford to pursue in any one week? Especially when many of them don't go on to have the work completed or are cancelled.

It's a real shame in my view as I was very happy with the service mybuilder provided in the past. I paid my success fees, or rather, the customer paid them in the price of the job.

Now, it's becoming cost prohibitive to go after the work because of the cost of the leads and the amount of time wasting so called customers on the site.

All trades pay a quarterly membership fee also to mybuilder on top of the shortlist fee.

Not that many customers realise this of course. They seem to think because it's on t'interwebs and posting a job doesn't cost them anything, that these companies rent their offices, pay their staff and run their servers on thin air and that tradesman are just waiting to pay out for fees to pay for all that infrastructure for so called jobs, a good many of which are never completed.

How in the name of Bob The Builder, are you supposed to quote on jobs that have one line descriptions such as:

I need a new bathroom

I would like my kitchen done.

Leak in bathroom.

MDF skirting in lounge.

Do customers and mybuilder really, seriously think that tradesmen are not only likely to respond, but are willing to pay to respond to such drivel?

mybuilder - your days are numbered imo.

Fed Up Tradesman on mybuilder

keystone

Naughty, naughty Jamie. Site rules are that you do not advertise your products and services on it. As you are a noob you won't get reported for spam (by me at least) if you edit your post - actually it would probably be better if you deleted it altogether. By all means post to help people with problems and welcome to do so but don't please do this.

Oh and BTW as OP posted in 2009 its more than likely that they have had the job done by now so your demonstrated attention to detail by offering them a quote ain't going to attract many customers to you.

Cheers

Leif

keystone wrote: »

Oh and BTW as OP posted in 2009 its more than likely that they have had the job done by now so your demonstrated attention to detail by offering them a quote ain't going to attract many customers to you.

Stating the obvious, but he has no interest in that job, he just wants to advertise more generally, hence I have reported presence of pink meaty substance.

keystone

Leif wrote: »

Stating the obvious, but he has no interest in that job, he just wants to advertise more generally, hence I have reported presence of pink meaty substance.

As have I some time ago now (gave him an extra half hour - was that too generous?) seeing as he didn't take up the invitation to remove the offending post of his own volition.

Cheers

Plumstead

I asked 7 guys to come on site and give me a quote for a job. They all got there on time. Their prices were higher than the other 5 I found from yellow pages.

keystone

Plumstead wrote: »

I asked 7 guys to come on site and give me a quote for a job. They all got there on time. Their prices were higher than the other 5 I found from yellow pages.

Not meaning to be rude but three or four should be enough otherwise you look like a tyre kicker just wasting peoples time. As a matter of interest with 12 quotes how did you differentiate between them and was your eventual choice low, mid range or high in the costing stakes?

Cheers

bk1967

I received this reply from mybuilder when I posted negative feedback for someone I had hired. Make up your own minds whether this is biased towards the tradesmen.

Dear ...,
We saw the piece of negative feedback you recently posted for ... Regrettably, we have removed your comment as our feedback system is designed specifically for customers to review and compare quality of work.
We're very sorry to hear that you were let down and appreciate the frustration that job posters feel when a tradesman fails to make an appointment. This has two consequences: other tradesmen are denied work and MyBuilder's credibility is brought in to disrepute.
We will issue a warning to this tradesman which will be held on record. If similar incidents are reported, we will take appropriate action.
We're sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused you and hope that you continue to support MyBuilder.
Kind regards,
Peter Wellock
Head of Customer Service