Does this idea have any possibilities?

barryhynd · #1 (**permalink**) 12-11-08, 20:46

This is a bit of an experiment here but I recently managed to obtain a very good .co.uk domain centred around tradesmen. My idea is to launch an online website that allows people to ask for quotes from tradesmen.

Now these tradesmen would have been rated by other people who have used them and the people asking for a quote would have access to these testimonials. I know there are a few sites like this out there so maybe i've missed the boat.

What do you think folks does this idea have any merit or should I bin it now? Happy to answer and question and also take on board other ideas of how this could work

Brian McIntosh · #2 (**permalink**) 12-11-08, 20:56

A bit more info on the nuts and bolts would be helpful Barry.

barryhynd · #3 (**permalink**) 12-11-08, 21:06

OK you need a some joinery work done at your house but you dont know anyone personally. You might turn to something like the yellow pages or yell.com to find a few local ones, make some calls and get a few round to give you a quote.

This type of site would allow you to post this job up onto the site where all local tradesmen who were registered were notified either by email or text and given very brief details of what the job is. They would submit some initial costings based on the information you put up which could also include photographs etc. You can then evaluate the quotes both by price and rating. Their rating would be achieved by other people having used them and marking them in a few different areas. This would be totally free for you to use but trades people would pay to get alerts etc but the ratings could not be influenced and would be independent.

This is just an idea at present and I'd like to flush out where peoples issues are with it etc

TFGtv.com · #4 (**permalink**) 12-11-08, 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryhynd

OK you need a some joinery work done at your house but you dont know anyone personally. You might turn to something like the yellow pages or yell.com to find a few local ones, make some calls and get a few round to give you a quote.

This type of site would allow you to post this job up onto the site where all local tradesmen who were registered were notified either by email or text and given very brief details of what the job is. They would submit some initial costings based on the information you put up which could also include photographs etc. You can then evaluate the quotes both by price and rating. Their rating would be achieved by other people having used them and marking them in a few different areas. This would be totally free for you to use but trades people would pay to get alerts etc but the ratings could not be influenced and would be independent.

This is just an idea at present and I'd like to flush out where peoples issues are with it etc

There's a spark of something there Barry.... Back in Springburn I could have told you who the man to see about a bit of wiring or spraying a car was. Here even my local (trusty) mechanic can't even point me in the direction of a good bloke who can spray a motor.... I'd struggle to get a decent plumber; as for the local sparks!!!

ScottJ · #5 (**permalink**) 13-11-08, 14:34

It's been done by a few but never successfully, I would guess the problem being to work you almost need a full database of tradesmen ready, if you soft launched it and I tried to find a local electrician and the nearest your site had was one 200 miles away I'd maybe never use your site again and there-in lies the problem, to work it needs to be fully working from day one so perhaps a town by town roll out would be the only way to keep it fully functioning.

frockery · #6 (**permalink**) 13-11-08, 15:08

I'm afraid I don't see this working all that well for a few reasons, including the point made by ScottJ about coverage.

Among his varied business interests, my DH has a small plumbing business, and new work invariably comes by referral without the need for advertising (though Yell get quite shirty when you tell them no thanks!)

Quoting for plumbing jobs without seeing them, no matter what the customer describes, is a no no as there are too many variables, especially variables which lurk under floorboards (lead pipes being just one

). I assume it's much the same for other trades.

The Boxby model is sound as it is basically about the movement of packages of defined dimensions between specified locations. However, the diverse range of jobs in various trades, including those which may require dovetailing with other trades, means there is an infinite number of unknowns, all of which does not lend itself to online quoting - except perhaps by cowboys.

I may of course be entirely wrong and this could be the Next Big Thing, but it's not something DH would consider using before the Forfar Dispatch or the Brechin Advertiser if work ever dried up - something that's most unlikely in the plumbing game.

anned · #7 (**permalink**) 13-11-08, 18:46

I think the idea is great and would really welcome something like this, but so many attempts to do something similar just never get off the ground. I thought when the "Best Of" sites started out that's what they would be, but they turned out to be more paid advertising.
Similarly, a local business has tried to get such a directory going, but has only managed to get 4 tradesmen to sign up.
The crux seems to be that good tradesman will always have more than enough work, so have no need to participate in anything like this.

A great pity as I always really struggle to find anyone -and end up not doing things

Anne

Third Sector Forums · #8 (**permalink**) 14-11-08, 07:53

I think the others are right, there's too many factors that could mean this flops. However...as Anne says, there is a need for such a service so perhaps you could look at a twist on the theme?

Rather unhelpfully I have no idea what that twist would be but I think you'll need to approach this from leftfield to differentiate your site and give the public/tradesman a new approach.

Gutsy · #9 (**permalink**) 14-11-08, 08:55

Yes - this is a very interesting idea. My immediate thought was the same as Anne's - a good tradesman always has enough work, has enough referrals and is getting enough queries, in essence is too busy to need a service like this, unless he's starting out and it's one of his first marketing ventures - you could market it at technical colleges and other places where people learn trades to grab new people coming into the field. In other words I think the newbie tradespeople would probably be 90% of your target market.

Would the tradesman pay to be registered on the site? I know you said he'd pay to receive alerts - so is tradesmen registering and receiving alerts the way that you make money out of this? Would there also be a commission payable to you based on a quote being accepted through your site?

What about something like making it a community kind of thing, ie market it as a community services site or something like that? Your spin could be "support your community" or somethng like that ... where say for example I'm looking for a plumber, I can come on your site, enter my details then click WHERE I'm looking for one and what radius I'm prepared to consider. Then my query can go out to every listed tradesman in my area.

My friend and I were thinking of doing a similar thing for B and Bs here in SA.

Hope it helps,
Gaynor