Consensus re building trades sites

Legacy_user

Is there a consensus re mybuilder.com and similar?

phill99

TBH The good builders are booked up for a reason. The guys that tend to be on paid for listing websites are mainly those that are struggling for work.


That should be enough for you to formulate your own answer.

EssexExile

Look for similar work going on locally, knock & ask how it's going, what do they think of their builder?

parking_question_chap

Get word of mouth reviews from people you know. Many of those sites cannot be trusted.

Doozergirl

I can understand why those sites might be useful for a decorator who has lots and lots of little jobs over the course of a year, but for £50k projects, most builders get more enquiries for work than they can handle in a year.

A personal recommendation is good for both you and the builder.

Risteard

gabriel73195 wrote: »

So... would joining facebook be the best way to find a builder and tradesman do you think?

No. It definitely wouldn't.

Doozergirl

gabriel73195 wrote: »

Thank you Doozergirl and thank you everybody who gave me a message! I've started to read through the posts about those sites here and I notice many people saying that they feel the reviews are "fake" and manipulated. Well as I've seen people openly and regularly advertising to write false reviews I can quite believe they are often not genuine.

So... would joining facebook be the best way to find a builder and tradesman do you think?

Some towns have genuinely good community groups where people ask for, and receive, recommendations.
A lot of people recommend themselves, which defeats the object.

In fact, my very local 'recommendations' page is just full of the same self-serving idiots recommending themselves. So I wouldn't recommend a 'recommendations' page :rotfl:

Where I come from, though, and another area I'm currently working in, have more general community groups which are more helpful. Te chat is about anything and everything. We actually found our new plumber when I saw his name recommended by a friend of ours on a group. Did a bit of research and it turns out we have a huge number of mutual friends. The more general the page, the more genuine the conversation, I think. But you MUST do your due diligence - go and visit those people recommending a person and see what they've had done! Check other references via phone or email, ask for photos.

Organise stage payments based on work actually done, get things agreed in writing, blah, blah...

Kiran

Ok, couple of questions,

How do you know it's £50k worth of work?
Who gave you this estimate?
If I was to hazard a guess you've had an architect draw up some plans and that the figure they've given you?
If that's correct ask them for a couple of names of builders. Proceed with caution as you don't know what back handers could be going on here but you are no more at risk that picking a name out of the hat on mybuilder etc. You still need to feel them out and do due diligence. Most importantly agree a realistic payment schedule that doesn't leave you exposed.


Personal recommendations are the best way to source reliable trades but in the absence of those see who you can find working in your local area, make visits to their jobs, speak to their previous customers and trust your gut.

ka7e

I caught out a fraudster posting fake pictures of past work on mybuilder etc and FB - use Google reverse-image search to check pictures (including profile pics) are genuine.

LandyAndy

For a £50k project are you using an architect? I had a similar sized job a couple of years ago.

My architect gave me a list of local builders that he had worked with and would be happy to work with again. I put my project out to three of them and got someone who proved to be very good.

naf123

LandyAndy wrote: »

For a £50k project are you using an architect? I had a similar sized job a couple of years ago.

My architect gave me a list of local builders that he had worked with and would be happy to work with again. I put my project out to three of them and got someone who proved to be very good.

you would be surprised how quickly 50K goes in London on just a general refurb, rewire, replumb and new kitchen . No need for architect.

To the OP - what sort of works do you need doing?