Why I started MyBuilder.com
Why I started MyBuilder.com Last updated:5thNov 2020 2020-11-05T14:43:45+00:00 2012-07-16T17:59:09+01:00 MyBuilder
整整八年前，2004年7月16日，我做了一个强烈的梦。感觉如此真实，凌晨3点就把我震醒了。这是那些一点也不像梦的梦之一……但这是唯一能解释我为什么会在凌晨3点在床上直挺挺地坐在熟睡的妻子身边的原因。这是我做过的最奇怪的梦，主要是因为它很有意义。这是一个想法……事实上，这是个好主意(仅此一次!)我的心跳加速。我试图叫醒我的妻子，告诉她这个好消息，但她听到的却是一连串的脏话。我没有被吓住(如果有一点被冒犯的话)，跑下楼把这一切都写了下来。
Back in 2004, I was living in Bristol, working as a stonemason and trying to support my growing family. I had learned the trade informally while living in Southern France and working for a German builder and mason. I was relatively inexperienced, but my work was good. I specialised in building random rubble walls and arches. Before that, I was an artist... but that's another story.
Before MyBuilder - working in the Ardeche
生活是困难的。我必须适应在一个新的国家的生活(我妻子是英国人)。我不得不学习一门新的语言(布里斯托尔语)。我必须适应一种新的工作方式(自雇)。我刚当了爸爸，睡得不多。我们在路上又遇到了一个，医生告诉我们孩子有健康问题，但他们并不完全了解。我从一份分包工作转到另一份，薪水并不高。我们入不敷出，向父母乞讨和借钱。我做的一项工作是单程两个半小时的车程。光是柴油的价格就意味着我带回家的钱只比最低工资高一点点。 Another job I worked on saw the main contractor go bust and I was out two weeks of pay. I remember hearing that my wife rang up and gave them hell. They were lucky she didn't show up in person.
So this idea that hit me like a bolt of lightning really did feel like it came from above. The idea was, of course, MyBuilder.com. In my dream, I had created the matchmaking process, trade profiles, the feedback mechanism... pretty much everything that is core to the site today. I can't explain why I had the dream. It obviously related to what I was doing at the time, but I wasn't interested in starting a web business and I'd never seen any sort of website like this before. If someone would have told me the day before that I was about to start a web business, I'd say: "Sorry, you got the wrong guy". It was literally the last thing I would imagine that I'd do and I certainly didn't know how to go about doing it.
So I can't explain why I had that dream, but I can explain why I decided to pursue my business idea.
Starting out
Firstly, it was special because it was my own idea. I've always valued original ideas and despise copying other people. There's no way I would have pursued it if I had found a website like MyBuilder that already existed. The ironic thing is that my insistence to be original was a severe handicap when it came to convincing people to invest in my business. I thought that there was no point in doing something that has already been done, whereas investors wanted proof of concept in an existing business - basically, something I could copy. I was eventually able to dig up some other businesses that were similar enough, but while it placated investors, it demotivated me. I got over this by completely ignoring competitors and that's still the way I operate today.
Secondly, I believed in the idea very deeply. I knew that we needed something like MyBuilder. Tradesmen need a better way to get work and homeowners need a better way to find the right tradesman. I very much felt that the industry was broken in the UK. What I loved about it was also the source of its problems: self-employment. Why tradesmen in the UK became self-employed is another story, but the end result is that tradesmen who just want to get on with their trade find themselves having to run businesses. And from the homeowner point of view, there are so many white van men to choose from, it seems impossible to tell one from the other. And after the job is done and they've been paid, the fear is that they'll just disappear into the fog.
The reason that my idea made so much sense to me is that it promised to solve the biggest problems in the industry: matchmaking and accountability.
Tradesmen don't know where the work is and homeowners don't know where the right tradesmen are. Why was I driving down to Dorset when I knew there was plenty of work for me in Bristol (somewhere)? Why were homeowners complaining that they can't find any available tradesmen when all the guys I knew, who were top notch, complained that they couldn't find enough private work? This kind of matchmaking is exactly what the internet is great at.
Building the team at a recruitment fair
The lack of trust between homeowners and tradesmen is a result of a lack of accountability, pure and simple. In the 'old days' we hired tradesmen and building firms in our local community because everyone knew everyone. You knew the local plumber, builder, carpenter and the gossiping community dealt with reputations. Life is dramatically different for many of us today. I live on a street of about 50 households and depressingly, I know only two of my neighbours by their first names. The feedback system, pioneered by eBay, brings the accountability of a community back into our lives. Being able to see what previous customers say, regardless of where they lived or which social circles they were in, was a powerful, exciting concept.
每当日子艰难，我想放弃的时候，我总会发现自己回到2004年的那一天，仍然对我的梦想感到兴奋，仍然相信这是前进的方向。即使在许多绝望的情况下，阻止我放弃的是我的信念，我知道如果我不让这件事发生，别人也会。我不打算让别人接受我的想法，继续做下去。
what a fascinating story, I'm so happy we choose to go with you at my builder without this I think we would of gone under in all honesty I know we would of gone. and the feedback system is the key and has defiantly paid of. We know where not the cheapest but people want a good job doing and no come backs and our feedback gives them confidence in us and our work. we are doing really well on my-builder and would like to thank you for setting this up as we don't know what we would of done without it. Thanks Stiled Home Improvements Ltd
I sincerely wish you all the very best its because of your "dream" and then the determination to see that dream through to reality that many builders in the uk can find that much needed work. In a word SUPERB.
你的反馈系统已经帮助了所有真正的商人，它削减了牛仔谁现在留下的广告在当地报纸没有责任，建立一个新的业务的实力，你的网站触摸木材似乎正在腾飞，并给我额外的工作在这些困难的经济时期，我喜欢给予信贷时，应有的，所以大拇指我的建设者。
regards
Joseph
This site is amazing and making a huge difference to my monthly income. Every bit of positive feedback is not only good for business but great for morale. I only wish I'd thought of this idea!
Ross
RAC Plumbing & Heating
Good story,real people behind.5+
祝你好运。
Mybuilder.com has been a revelation for me personally, after literally grafting my a&&e off on building sites for the last 15years I was desperate for a way out and something to keep me focused on my trade, mybuilder.com has provided me with both of these and gave me inspiration to explore new opportunities and progress my business as much as possible. I truly am grateful because it has given me and my business a new lease of life. Thank you.
Ryan
RB Plastering Damp-proofing & Refurbishment.
thanks for doing it
It's a great story! mybuilder has made a massive difference to my buissness - long may it continue, thank you!
You have to act on a lead as soon as possible, don't let it go cold or you lose the job and someone else nabs it! I find going in with good rates and good feedback and also not forgetting doing a top notch job speaks volumes. I do find a lot of people just enjoy getting jobs priced up for the fun of it sometimes but I think the good outweighs the bad for my trade maybe not all. Thanks my mybuilder been a big help through 2012
The story is great and the concept is good, the reality is not so rosy for trademen! The fee structure for jobs is erratic to say the least, the customer service team are poor to useless and pass the buck on any issue that is flagged up for them to look into/resolve. Overall the site layout is marginally better than some of the others in this genre, but other platforms have more sensible and consistent pricing structures and the ability to ask questions before the shortlist fee stage. It could be so much better, and I have offered a lot of suggestions, but these comments seem to get ignored? yet we keep hearing of so called improvements that never materialise? Was so much better when you were only charged when you won the job, getting charged just to be shortlisted with a 20-30% of getting the job is far from ideal. Needs a radical overhaul!
It's a great site - it has helped me find tradesmen that have time on their hands and have supplied quotes for me quickly.
One question - some people when giving feedback say that we can contact them if we need further information. How is this possible? Or is it not possible?
When I first joined I only used to pay for jobs when I won them. Now I get short listed for so many jobs and hardly win any of them. I think like most company's growing you have got greedy.
谢谢大家的评论。这对我来说意义重大，我们可以在帮助你们的企业度过困难时期方面发挥一点作用。我承认我们的制度并不是对每个人都适用。听说MyBuilder上的一些商人不成功让我很沮丧，但现实是没有什么能为每个商人提供工作。竞争很激烈，尤其是在这种困难时期，一些商人会牺牲其他商人的利益而获得更大的成功。话虽如此，我们可以改进MyBuilder，您的评论和反馈是宝贵的和良好的接收。我一直在思考这些问题，我知道你们中的一些人的名字，因为你们之前的评论类似。目前，我的首要任务是找到办法在网站上找到更多、更高质量的工作。我所说的“高质量”是指那些致力于雇佣商人或建筑工人的人(而不是仅仅考虑)。这不是一个容易解决的问题，但它是当务之急，我们有决心取得成功。 We need to consider all ideas and in fact, this will be a good topic for our next online trade meeting.
I do find it frustrating when you cant ask the customer questions prior to going for the lead,,you use to be able too..some of the leads I go for I price blind as they are 40-50 miles away which is uneconomical to travel to just to quote, so some of the leads posted I don't go for as there's not enough information. ie: cove lounge. whats the good of that??..what size is the lounge and what size, contour coving do you want....??
I priced on coving job blind and it worked out fine apart from when I'd finished the lady asked me when was I coming back to decorate!...it was worked out in the end between us,,but if I could have asked relevant questions prior it would have been much easier.
I seriously think this needs to be changed.
Kind regards.
First of all great story!!
But I must agree with the other comments regarding the shortlisting fee.. Why why why did you put this in to place? I was doing great without the system in place and was winning around 7 out of 10 jobs that I showed interest in .. Now every time I want to show interest in a job I have to pay around £8.00 on average every time and half the time they are dud..+ all the builders have to pay a membership fee! I think you need to change the system or you might find builders looking else where
Houston Roofing
Like everything in life the site is not perfect.
I can!t see how Peter can keep the time waister customers from using the site.
I do however ,wonder why we cannot ask the potential client more information about a job when it is lacking
I like how it's explained, best put into practice, i do think the era ing. Potential of Mybuilder has greatly outweighed the support and cost to us the tradesman. Even though there are means to earn and obtain leads, the job posters are not fully aware of the implications of costs to us and many don't get the information to look at our profiles before choosing. Making most leads a first come first served rather than your dream of matching contractors to jobs.
Kevin
Dec build builders
Why do we have to pay a fee if we're invited to a job? We have no way of sending a message to ascertain if the person looking for a quote is genuine or is a timewaster by inviting a certain number of tradesmen.
如果我们对一份工作表现出兴趣，我们可以发送一条信息，了解一些细节，而不会被收费，除非我们被个人列入候选名单。
我必须承认，我确实最喜欢过去的日子，而且出于某种未知的原因，是在没有入围费的情况下赢得更多的工作吗?现在我要花一大笔钱在候选名单的费用和处理浪费时间的人，他们在我有时间引用之前取消了约会，来吧Ryan，回到你的梦想模式，做点什么。对了，我得说你的广告太逊了，我认为你应该把你现在从我们的候选名单上赚来的钱投资到体面的黄金时段广告上，而不是让竞争对手获得所有的回报。
我是相当新的在这里从评级的人，我认为这是一个更好的系统。然而，在花了钱进入没有回报的候选名单后，我现在正在考虑再次使用评级的人。至少我花钱买的工作是我得到最多的，在这个系统中，就像我说的，你付了钱就抓住了一个非常小的机会。一点都不好。在我看来，为什么这个系统已经改变的答案是，我的建设者可能通过这种方式赚了更多的钱，这对他们来说是好事，对购买线索的商人来说是坏事，它需要所有的商人聚在一起，在一两个月不使用网站，然后观察系统的变化.....
我同意很多评论，有好的部分，但系统还远远不够完美。我曾遇到过关于费用的问题，很多客户不回电话或回复电子邮件，更不用说给你一个报价的机会，这完全是浪费我的时间，更重要的是我的钱。我曾多次向“团队”提出这个问题，但都被搪塞了几句废话，或者让网站的部分内容被剪切和粘贴。As said in my previous messages if I am going to be charged to be short listed for a job then the customer should have to give me a reasonable amount of time to contact them and then get my quote done , if they don't you should refund the fee .
并不总是建造者。还有很多浪费时间和不付费的用户。商人都是努力工作的人，他们应该得到客户更多的信任和尊重，因为客户认为我们的存在只是为了敲诈他们。他们会说"既然你在这里，你就这么做吧"，想要什么都不花钱，但你不能去超市不花钱买东西，对吧?
Amazing story just started on this site been on checkatrade and this is on another level compared to them thanks for giving us better opportunities.