mybuilder.com?

Jib111

Hi we are renovating our 1920s house and it's got to the time now that we are ready to re-plaster pretty much every room.

The man who we would like to do our work is busy on his own house until July so we need to find someone else.

So I just want to know if these reviews seem legit and would you trust what people have posted about them?

http://www.mybuilder.com/plasterers/nottinghamshire/nottingham

Might seem a little silly but you can never be too sure in today's world.

Many thanks.

ceredigion

I'm a spread , did a good old fashioned apprenticeship ( 5 years worth) 30 odd years ago. Never used any of the websites such as my hammer , all my work comes from recommendations, in fact in all the years i've been self employed , never spent a halfpenny on any form of advertising and i have more work than i know what to do with it.
Reputation is everything .
I'm in know way saying that the people you've linked too are anything other than fine genuine tradesmen , however i dislike the concept of these sites , remember they are charging the tradesmen for your details , the leads so to speak and that money has to be recooped somewhere within the contract. In my opinion , you will always be better off going for a local fella with a reputation to protect. My reputation is worth more than anything else, that should apply to anybody you employ. If i was you i would go and have a word with the bloke that you would like to do it and if he`s really not in the position to sort you out , ask him to recommend someone else.

premkit

+1 ask around friends family neighbours, church.

baldelectrician

Look at the age of the references- some companies have only been on the site since the start of the year.

Try your local trading standards- they may have a trusted trader scheme
If TS don't have such a scheme you could call them up and ask if they have complaints logged against any companies before you use them

Leif

Short answer: see above.

I have read in many forums that some trades post fake reviews on these sites. I have no way of verifying that information. One big problem with at least one of these sites, and maybe all of them, is that the customer rates the trade on completion of the work. If subsequently the wall falls down, or the wiring kills someone, the customer cannot change their review. They can remove it, but they cannot add an amended review. I've had three people from CheckATrade. One bathroom installer was a cowboy, thrown out, and £1800 compensation obtained ~1 year later, thanks to Trading Standards. One was a boiler installer, and I recently found out the gas pipe is too small, and the boiler could be classed as 'At Risk' and disconnected. They have offered to inspect the work. And the third trade was a Gas Safe engineer who serviced the boiler, but did not take the cover off, which they should have done according to Worcester Bosch, as they should have examined the insides, and cleaned them if necessary.

And don't believe that they will remove bad trades, they don't. The trades pay them, not you. And when it comes to a dispute, they side with the trade, even if Trading Standards rule against them.

Oh, and I had three other trades from other sources (high street shops) and they were excellent.

In fact I tend to think that the trades on these sites are the ones who cannot get trade by word of mouth because they are not that good. I am sure some are good, but I haven't found any, although some people on this forum say they have, and I know someone who got a very good trade.

simplymegreg

But the problem is... what if you have nobody to ask?

I will hopefully have my own place in London shortly and will need to hire various tradesmen. I don't have family down in London and I don't have friends who have used tradesmen down here either. This creates a problem which presumably these types of sites solve.

mo786uk

there is some coverage for London

http://www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk/sitepages/bwchome.aspx

Leif

simplymegreg wrote: »

But the problem is... what if you have nobody to ask?

Get to know your neighbours, find out who did work for them, and check to see if it is good. Also, I had a kitchen fitted by Optiplan, a respected kitchen company. I asked them to recommend a floor tiler, and he did an excellent job. Independent kitchen and bathroom companies will use trades they know to be good. Of course you can't be sure they are not doing a mate a favour, but if you talk to the manager, rather than the salesperson, hopefully you will be okay. I would not ask at places like Homebase though, they are too big, and the quality of trades will vary too much. I think they just hire whoever turns up.

Happychappy

I used a so called builder or bodge merchant with excellent reviews etc, on Mybuilder, turned out to be nothing better than a barely competent DIYer, recommendations and family and friends are the way to go

nickj_2

can't the bloke you wanted reccomend someone ... other than that do you use any other tradespeople that you trust , i have a list of other trades that i give to my customers if they want a reputable person , if not nieghbours , friends , etc .
most good trades don't need to advertise .

clockworks_2

I used my builder on two occasions in the last 6 weeks. I went with people with good feedback and have no qualms. It's a good service and stick to people with good feedback and you won't have a problem.