Would you use a cost comparison site for building materials?

[Directmaterialquotes]

Hi

We offer a comparison service for all building materials from ready mixed concrete to bricks to timber to sanitaryware to electrical cable and anything inbetween.

Potential customers e-mail us their material requirements (will be facility on our website to enter requirements very soon) and we send them a comparison sheet that will list the material description, prices and delivery leading times of several suppliers. The sheet will also show a fee (generally around 5-8% of lowest quotation value upto maximum £250), once the potential customer has paid this fee via our secure paypal account we will send them the full detailed cost comparison sheet that will list all the previous information plus each supplier, their contact details and quotation reference/copy of quotation. If the prices etc are not of interest then no fee is due, so basically you would be in a no lose situation.

This means that we do not mark up any materials, do not add another source to the delivery chain but by using our procurement experience and utilising our contacts are able to offer very keen rates through very good reliable suppliers.

This is generally aimed towards the DIY market, small tradesman, medium sized building companies etc. Even for larger companies who already obtain very keen rates with their regular suppliers we can save them time with products they are not familiar with, save estimating time by sending our one enquiry etc.

So after all that my question is....would this be something you would consider using?

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

Okay I guess the question maybe better as why would you not use a cost comparison service for your materials?

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

That sinking feeling when you receive a reply notification but...........the question still remains unanswered would you use the cost comparison service or why wouldnt you

 

[Fenland]

So I pay you to get a quote on building materials?

Why dont I just spend 5 mins phoning the local merchants playing them off against each other?

Seems like just another middle man to me.

Not trying to dismiss your business or you, just giving you my honest, shooting from the hip response

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

Obviously that is the initial negative but we can in a vast majority of instances offer you better rates than you could get via national stores or ringing local merchants, mainly because;

1) Joe public would get a price solely based on their quantity ie 4 packs of bricks where the price we would be able to achieve would be based on the current and potential spend of all our customers ie currently/potentially 50 packs of bricks therefore reducing the costs

2) We have knowledge of and access to many more suppliers thanks Joe public who would reasonably only have access to suppliers via Internet, local press etc

3) If Joe public were to call suppliers and negotiate prices this would generally be with the person who answers to phone who with no disrespect will likely not have the interest nor influence to offer much below shelf prices

Besides the above our potential customers would have nothing to lose by getting a comparison sheet from us then seeing if they can get better prices even after allowing for our fee, we supply the initial comparisons FOC our fee is only payable if they want to have the suppliers full details, quotations etc

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

For small tradesman ie one man bands or teams of half a dozen so and general DIYers what form of adertising would you respond to?

I have a flyer/advert that I am planning on using locally (ie 20 mile radius or so) and using to advertise in local and national press, self build mags etc and also handing to builders on sight ie when we notice extensions being built etc

Would the above flyer/ads appeal?

 

[Estimator]

I am intrigued, lets try your system out shall we?
Suppose I am a small builder and have a domestic extension to build. Location for purposes of this trial say near Old Trafford - post code M16 0PX.
I need a few basic things to get going, the following materials:
20N readymixed concrete - 4m3
A142 mesh - 3 sheets
Visqueen 1200 - 1 roll
40mm crusher run - 15 tonnes
Class B Engineers - 2,000 nr
100mm 7N dense concrete blocks - 60m2
50mm Kingspan TW50 or equal - 30m2
100mm Hepsleeve & couplings - 30m

Lets suppose I need the hardcore, visqueen and mesh Monday am and the concrete Wednesday am, the rest by end of the week.

Can you post your price comparison sheet for the above on this forum so that the forum members can see an example.
ASAP please, as this is a normal request in construction.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

Sounds like a reasonable suggestion. I am out at the moment but in a couple of hours I'll pop up a quick example of what you would get before my fee ie no cost obligation to customer at all, an idea of fee that would be payable and the comparison sheet you woul get after paying the fee.

If this is something you would want actual working prices for I can definately get this for you tomorrow afternoon/early evening with no cost obligation.

Be very interested to have feedback etc

 

[Curious]

Be intrigued to see the outcome of this actually.

 

[fisicx]

There's a builders merchant about 5 miles down the road that does all sorts of DIY stuff.

I ring them up with my order and they deliver that afternoon or the next morning. I've got everything I need in a few hours.

If I used your system I'd have to wait for your quote and then place the order and then wait for delivery. I'd also have to pay you for the privilege of waiting a couple of days for my stuff which might not be any cheaper than the local merchants.

So I can't see any advantage in using you to find a cheaper bit of guttering.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

There's a builders merchant about 5 miles down the road that does all sorts of DIY stuff.

I ring them up with my order and they deliver that afternoon or the next morning. I've got everything I need in a few hours.

If I used your system I'd have to wait for your quote and then place the order and then wait for delivery. I'd also have to pay you for the privilege of waiting a couple of days for my stuff which might not be any cheaper than the local merchants.

So I can't see any advantage in using you to find a cheaper bit of guttering.

As with everything it is horses for courses, if you need £30 worth of guttering probably best to get it from local merchant, although i would be disapponted if we was not at least competitve with our prices. We come into our element for either larger jobs ie building a porch, tiling a bathroom, building an extension etc, sourcing materials that are unusual to our customer or for items that tend to be overpriced at typical merchants for Joe public ie reasonable quality taps or timber.

 

[fisicx]

What you don't offer is convenience.

I can go to the local DIY store and buy my taps. I might pay £20 more but I had time to browse and talk and decide which ones I liked. I pay my money and take them home with me.

I can't see many people registering and them paying you to do something they can do themselves. That's half the fun of DIY!

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

What you don't offer is convenience.

I can go to the local DIY store and buy my taps. I might pay £20 more but I had time to browse and talk and decide which ones I liked. I pay my money and take them home with me.

I can't see many people registering and them paying you to do something they can do themselves. That's half the fun of DIY!

What I do not offer is the facility to see the product in real life but this doesn't stop amazon etc. Using the above scenario why not visit your local merchant did the tap you like and well give you the best rates we can negotiate etc and also where possible give you prices for a similar equivalent if cheaper, if we do not beat your local merchants price simply buy from there, at least you'll know youve paid a fair price.

We offer a great convinience when pricing for an extension etc as you would only make one enquiry to us, whereas to get a similar amount of quotations on your own you would maybe need to make upwards of 30 enquiries.

So I disagree we do offer a great deal of convinience!

 

[fisicx]

Your opening post said you were targeting the DIY market.

Building an extension is not normal DIY. I get the builder in to do that. And he will have an account at the local merchants. I can't see him using your service and paying with paypal when he already gets his discounts elsewhere.

I'm sure you do a great service but I think you are providing a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

And you don't help the builder/DIYer who needs a bag of nails today. He will back from screwfix before you have got your quote together.

 

[TOKN]

I don't really see DIY as your market. DIY doesn't tend to be done with any real urgency so why wouldn't a hobbyist take a while planning the job then sit down and make calls or walk into a merchants and wander around. A DIYers brief is pretty flexible. They may want to go to wickes and look at all the tiles for inspiration and make it up when they're there. Only knowing before hand what the dimensions of the room are. That's how I do mine. The service you offer may add an extra (at best) hour or two to the scale of the job which in essence is ok but if I'm DIYing then I'd rather do that myself too.

If I'm a builder. I've written up a quote, looked at the job with my builders eyes and I know what kinda gear I need. I might give you a call. But then a potential conflict of interest arises here too. I'm now a business man, there's a high chance I'm self employed, my time is precious. How long is this quote list going to take to get to me and how will I get it?

I'm a DIYer, I used to work in landscape gardening. These are just my opinions.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

Your opening post said you were targeting the DIY market.

Building an extension is not normal DIY. I get the builder in to do that. And he will have an account at the local merchants. I can't see him using your service and paying with paypal when he already gets his discounts elsewhere.

I'm sure you do a great service but I think you are providing a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

And you don't help the builder/DIYer who needs a bag of nails today. He will back from screwfix before you have got your quote together.

Using the extension scenario. You get a price from your builder for your extension of say 10k for materials and 4k for labour. How do you know the material aspect is reasonable? Get prices from us for say 8k and either use that to barter the builder down (whilst we wouldn't receive a fee at this the builder may use us) or supply the materials to the builder.

To clarify the builder or our customer would still need to order with the supplier but we would give them the suppliers quotation to make things simple. Our fee is payable by paypal and for the extension materials would be say £100 but could offer savings of 2k or similar to the customer.

Again horses for courses and I would not recommend getting prices from
Us for 1 bag of screws.

 

[maxine]

Yes I would be interested. What happens at the moment for me is that I only really focus on most common materials as don't have enough time to shop around on everything. I guess on a project even a small one it could all add up to decent saving

What I would want to be absolutely certain about though is stock and delivery times and quality too as saving a few quid at the overall expense of completing a job on time or without faults and issues would be important

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

Yes I would be interested. What happens at the moment for me is that I only really focus on most common materials as don't have enough time to shop around on everything. I guess on a project even a small one it could all add up to decent saving

What I would want to be absolutely certain about though is stock and delivery times and quality too as saving a few quid at the overall expense of completing a job on time or without faults and issues would be important

Hi, Thanks for the positive comments Yes the savings can be quite decent, generally between 15-40% against 'usual' buying sources depneding on the materia, qty etc.

Delivery leading times are stated before any fee is paid so you will not receive amazing prices but find no stock when you go to order. The specification will always be made clear and I would always use good reputable suppliers so quality and reliability would not be a problem.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

I don't really see DIY as your market. DIY doesn't tend to be done with any real urgency so why wouldn't a hobbyist take a while planning the job then sit down and make calls or walk into a merchants and wander around. A DIYers brief is pretty flexible. They may want to go to wickes and look at all the tiles for inspiration and make it up when they're there. Only knowing before hand what the dimensions of the room are. That's how I do mine. The service you offer may add an extra (at best) hour or two to the scale of the job which in essence is ok but if I'm DIYing then I'd rather do that myself too.

If I'm a builder. I've written up a quote, looked at the job with my builders eyes and I know what kinda gear I need. I might give you a call. But then a potential conflict of interest arises here too. I'm now a business man, there's a high chance I'm self employed, my time is precious. How long is this quote list going to take to get to me and how will I get it?

I'm a DIYer, I used to work in landscape gardening. These are just my opinions.

All quotes will be received within 3 working days although most will be received same day/next day. Also as you say a builders time is precious so why spend hours sourcing materials/prices, driving to merchants etc when they can send me their enquiry day or night. They would receive a comparison sheet with prices from several suppliers via e-mail. As much as people like walking around B&Q etc do they enjoy cramming the stuff in their car and would they pay several hundreds of pounds more to buy from them or similar, they can always choose what they want from the store and give us the details to provide a quotation for, if we beat the stores price then they save money if not its cost them nothing and at least they know theyve paid a fair price.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

I am intrigued, lets try your system out shall we?
Suppose I am a small builder and have a domestic extension to build. Location for purposes of this trial say near Old Trafford - post code M16 0PX.
I need a few basic things to get going, the following materials:
20N readymixed concrete - 4m3
A142 mesh - 3 sheets
Visqueen 1200 - 1 roll
40mm crusher run - 15 tonnes
Class B Engineers - 2,000 nr
100mm 7N dense concrete blocks - 60m2
50mm Kingspan TW50 or equal - 30m2
100mm Hepsleeve & couplings - 30m

Lets suppose I need the hardcore, visqueen and mesh Monday am and the concrete Wednesday am, the rest by end of the week.

Can you post your price comparison sheet for the above on this forum so that the forum members can see an example.
ASAP please, as this is a normal request in construction.

I cannot post attachments at the moment but I have the example of the comparison sheets both with and without supplier details. I can e-mail these to anyone who wants to see them please PM me your e-mail address and I'll send it over ASAP.

 

[13acrelandscapes]

I have read your thread a few times and i am drawn between if i would use your service or not. The idea is good and i can see how at times it could be helpfull, so i think my answer would be if we were swamped i would certainly give your service a try. But contractors are creatures of habbit, we often use the same suppliers as we trust them, the service and more importantly the product which i feel may be something that you cant supply on a price comparison as price isnt always the determining factor.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Ok,

Let's put a scenario your way.

You have a customer whom is in the building trade, they use your facilities.

They have a customer who also uses your facilities in order to "barter down" as you've put it.

Said customer contacts said builder who states that they have used your facilities and have seen that they are overcharging by £2000 (this could actually be the builders profit margin)

Said builder contacts you, ranting and raving about how much profit they are going to loose because of your services to the DIY Market, therefore wishes a full refund of any money already given to you because you've cost them a job and that you are loosing them money.

Where do you stand?

Personally, in all honesty... the idea is fine, but as soon as you attempt to touch the DIY market you shoot yourself in the backside. You should be concentrating on the Trade customers, forget about DIY - They've already got the likes of B&Q.

With regards to particular trade customers, you'll be hard pushed to get prices down anymore than anywhere else already struggling in the current climate.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

I cannot post attachments at the moment but I have the example of the comparison sheets both with and without supplier details. I can e-mail these to anyone who wants to see them please PM me your e-mail address and I'll send it over ASAP.

I have read your thread a few times and i am drawn between if i would use your service or not. The idea is good and i can see how at times it could be helpfull, so i think my answer would be if we were swamped i would certainly give your service a try. But contractors are creatures of habbit, we often use the same suppliers as we trust them, the service and more importantly the product which i feel may be something that you cant supply on a price comparison as price isnt always the determining factor.

Hi, thanks for the interest.
I totally get an understand your comments about using trusted suppliers etc but as an experienced buyer and as I'm sure you'll agree the relationship is really with your contact hence why many customers will follow their contact when they change jobs.
With regards to the quality of products, references or specifications are supplied with all comparison sheets.
A you've mentioned above as well as being useful when busy we also come into our element if you need to source a product that you are unfamiliar with or your usual supplier cannot obtain in time, in instances like these we save you a lot of time. Thanks again for the interest an who knows we may be able to help you!

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

A you've mentioned above as well as being useful when busy we also come into our element if you need to source a product that you are unfamiliar with or your usual supplier cannot obtain in time, in instances like these we save you a lot of time. Thanks again for the interest an who knows we may be able to help you!

Majority of Trade suppliers have a "Specials Department" to cover for products that they don't usually stock.

Let me give you a quick test... with 2 brief descriptions of a product how long will it take you to PM me or post here.

1. Window key locking chain.

2. Wireless Intruder alarm with a 500 mtr radius for External PIR and contacts

Time is of the essence.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

Majority of Trade suppliers have a "Specials Department" to cover for products that they don't usually stock.

Let me give you a quick test... with 2 brief descriptions of a product how long will it take you to PM me or post here.

1. Window key locking chain.

2. Wireless Intruder alarm with a 500 mtr radius for External PIR and contacts

Time is of the essence.

Nothing like a bit of pressure

In all honesty as these are more specialist items, more so the alam, this would be next day and I would also need more information for example the window lock would this be a lockable restrictor, finish is brass, White etc and the alarm I would ask for specific details ie make, model etc or a speciication due to the number of variables. Also a little out of the building material scope.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

I know that the above are not "building Materials" but these are two items that I am asked for on a number of occasions.

To be honest, I understand that you're probably busy with work that is currently paying for your services but these two products are quite easy to come by via a search engine.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Nothing like a bit of pressure

In all honesty as these are more specialist items, more so the alam, this would be next day and I would also need more information for example the window lock would this be a lockable restrictor, finish is brass, White etc and the alarm I would ask for specific details ie make, model etc or a speciication due to the number of variables. Also a little out of the building material scope.

Granted as I said in my previous email, they are not building materials as such, but both can be found very easily on the internet.

With regards to the restrictor the finish wouldn't matter at this point, that is the benefit of being able to give the finish within the reply, i.e.

Would you like Brass, Black, Brown, Chrome or White? - This then gets the customer thinking that you're giving them a quality service.

With regards to the Alarm - again, doesn't matter on the manufacturers details, that is for you to provide the correct product to meet my request, also gives you the chance to provide a service again whereas you ask the question how many PIR's and Door contacts, do you want an outside bellbox, will the customer also need a fused spur installing - These are things that not many DIY folk actually think about, so by going back with more information including a rough price for the products also gives you time to locate the correct things for them


Ill be honest with you though, as I said earlier in my previous post both are items that are very easily found on the internet with just brief descriptions they'll get something close to what you're wanting, which gives the customer a number of possible suppliers to contact... in all fairness the service that you're offering is already there and free. :| (fair enough 20 minutes isn't long for a reply when you're busy, but still no relative answer )

Would you also mind answering my previous post. #22 Thank you

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

I know that the above are not "building Materials" but these are two items that I am asked for on a number of occasions.

To be honest, I understand that you're probably busy with work that is currently paying for your services but these two products are quite easy to come by via a search engine.

The problem with sourcing from a search would be how many alarms would meet that brief spec I would guess you would be talking hundreds, certainly enough to make like for like comparisons hard. Also as this would be in your specialist field I would suggest that you would have better supplier knowledge but if you send me the make and model we'll give it a go

 

[fisicx]

I do think your idea has got legs - it's just the implementation that needs more thought.

The DIY market isn't going to pay you to find the bits they can pick up this afternoon in B&Q. So forget them.

The building trade already has their favoured suppliers and an account at each. So you need to convince them to change.

You can probably source things cheaper but you can't compete with the builder and his flat bed loading up the stuff from Travis Perkins that he needs for today's job. He doesn't want to faff about waiting for the delivery man from Newcastle to drive down to London with his bricks and mortar.

Your niche is the project managers and buyers on larger projects. But they won't touch paypal, they will want an invoice. And they will want to use your site without registering.

Even if I was going to see if you could get my guttering cheaper I'd want to fill in my request without creating an account. If you can remove that single block you will get more people using the service.

 

[Estimator]

I cannot post attachments at the moment but I have the example of the comparison sheets both with and without supplier details. I can e-mail these to anyone who wants to see them please PM me your e-mail address and I'll send it over ASAP.

That's unfortunate, I don't give out my email to strangers on internet forums, besides I wanted the forum members to have a look as many are in the building trade.
You did ask for feedback, but I can't say - I suspect that some people can be unaware that buying for construction projects is different from ordering a paperback from Amazon online.
Do you have any previous experience working for a Builder's Merchant?

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

Ok,

Let's put a scenario your way.

You have a customer whom is in the building trade, they use your facilities.

They have a customer who also uses your facilities in order to "barter down" as you've put it.

Said customer contacts said builder who states that they have used your facilities and have seen that they are overcharging by £2000 (this could actually be the builders profit margin)

Said builder contacts you, ranting and raving about how much profit they are going to loose because of your services to the DIY Market, therefore wishes a full refund of any money already given to you because you've cost them a job and that you are loosing them money.

Where do you stand?

Personally, in all honesty... the idea is fine, but as soon as you attempt to touch the DIY market you shoot yourself in the backside. You should be concentrating on the Trade customers, forget about DIY - They've already got the likes of B&Q.

With regards to particular trade customers, you'll be hard pushed to get prices down anymore than anywhere else already struggling in the current climate.

Okay if the above scenario did occur, should the public come first I would advise the builder they have already contacted me so would be unable to offer prices, should the builder approach me first I would again advise that I could not obtain prices. To clarify no fee would be payable unless my customer wants the suppliers details etc so in reality they shouldn't be paying my fees until they have been given the go ahead by their customer.

Your points about DIY customers being a minefield could indeed be valid and may be a lot involved from my site in terms of brief specs etc but ultimately I think should be okay and it is such a vast Market to simply ignore.

We negotiate better terms than a builder who may spend a couple of thousand a year with a supplier whereas the combined spend of our customers improves our rates plus we have knowledge and access to a wider range of suppliers.

Sorry if I have missed any points but a bit awkward on my I phone

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

If you have lets say over 1000 customers on your database, how can you ensure that the new customer who has contacted you is not already using a builder who is already using your services?

 

[maxine]

You know, surely it's all about choice for the DIY-er, trader etc.

I've had people who spend enormous amounts of time on ebay looking for cheapest 2nd hand items and on the flip side people who leave all the purchasing of materials to us so I think it varies by the amount of time people are prepared to spend searching around.

I don't think it causes any more problems that are currently out there with finding something cheaper than the trader quotes. There's nearly always something cheaper. What's a pain is when people come back asking all the time for comparisons on the quality when they cannot compare the quality themselves

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

To clarify some of the points about the website. We have changed the way we are working and are half way through changing the website, hence wanting the feedback to tr and cover everything on the revised website.

There's no need to register at all. To obtain comparison sheets you just need to send us and email and there will be a submit an enquiry section on the website. Trade customers and larger domestic customers ie self builders will also have the option of end of following month payment terms.

 

[Directmaterialquotes]

That's unfortunate, I don't give out my email to strangers on internet forums, besides I wanted the forum members to have a look as many are in the building trade.
You did ask for feedback, but I can't say - I suspect that some people can be unaware that buying for construction projects is different from ordering a paperback from Amazon online.
Do you have any previous experience working for a Builder's Merchant?

I have almost 20 years experience as a buyer for various sized construction, Joinery and shopfitting companies. Hopefully this has lead to good relationships with numerous suppliers and a knowledge of who's reliable, fair prices etc.

 

[Curious]

I have almost 20 years experience as a buyer for various sized construction, Joinery and shopfitting companies. Hopefully this has lead to good relationships with numerous suppliers and a knowledge of who's reliable, fair prices etc.

IMO you should make that information prominent on your site. I looked at it and it didn't really appeal or give me any compelling reason why I should use you.

If you had that information prominently displayed I'd immediately think you had experience and knowledge of getting low prices, organising deliveries etc and knowing what you're talking about. Just my 2p.

 

[Young Recruit]

I don't think this is a viable business.

Lets look at each of the market segments:

In general a DIYer normally does small projects with order amounts that would not qualify outsourcing their procurement. They can just spend the day doing an internet search to get good prices. You say you will find prices for specialist products but there is not likely to be that many specialist products in a standard DIY project so is there really a big enough market for specialist products?

Small to medium sized businesses will be aware of which suppliers are cheapest with certain products. Also, small to medium sized businesses can bargain, even if one suppliers price is slightly more than another supplier the builder can usually get a discount to match or beat other one. Why would these guys think you could do any better than them?

Large organisations will have their own procurement who will have access to bigger discounts to you.

Perhaps they might be some DIYers who might want to use your service but have you got the marketing budget to reach that small segment?

Finally, people do not buy just on price otherwise we would do a price comparison on everything we pick up in a supermarket. We also buy for convenience and people would still have to order the stuff after you give them prices.

JA

 

[TOKN]

Okay if the above scenario did occur, should the public come first I would advise the builder they have already contacted me so would be unable to offer prices, should the builder approach me first I would again advise that I could not obtain prices. To clarify no fee would be payable unless my customer wants the suppliers details etc so in reality they shouldn't be paying my fees until they have been given the go ahead by their customer.

Your points about DIY customers being a minefield could indeed be valid and may be a lot involved from my site in terms of brief specs etc but ultimately I think should be okay and it is such a vast Market to simply ignore.

We negotiate better terms than a builder who may spend a couple of thousand a year with a supplier whereas the combined spend of our customers improves our rates plus we have knowledge and access to a wider range of suppliers.

Sorry if I have missed any points but a bit awkward on my I phone

I really don't see how you're ever going to keep info from one party.
People here are just offering opinions. The majority of us are entrepreneurial minded and/or potential customers. I don't want you to feel like we're getting your back up.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Okay if the above scenario did occur, should the public come first I would advise the builder they have already contacted me so would be unable to offer prices, should the builder approach me first I would again advise that I could not obtain prices.

This is what I'm asking though... how would you know that both customers are contacting you for the same job?

I mean, the builder isn't going to give you a customers address until delivery is required, therefore you won't be able to send stock until after giving him a quote and him winning the job.

If that builder gets the job based upon his prices, and the customer starts acting like a complete git once he's started by pulling out your quotes (and believe me, they will) who looses out? - Will you cancel your fee's to the builder?

To clarify no fee would be payable unless my customer wants the suppliers details etc so in reality they shouldn't be paying my fees until they have been given the go ahead by their customer.

Wait a minute... you're going to give the contact details of your supplier to the builder/end user? - And what if your supplier only supplies to wholesale and refuse to sell to trade?

Technically speaking of course, you're being the middleman, therefore you're acting as a wholesaler, whether you have a shop or not would be down to the discretion of the supplier.

Your points about DIY customers being a minefield could indeed be valid and may be a lot involved from my site in terms of brief specs etc but ultimately I think should be okay and it is such a vast Market to simply ignore.

Could well be a vast market, but in all seriousness are you really going to try and compete with the likes of B&Q as a source to DIY'ers? I don't see it as a viable business if that is the case.

We negotiate better terms than a builder who may spend a couple of thousand a year with a supplier whereas the combined spend of our customers improves our rates plus we have knowledge and access to a wider range of suppliers.

As a buyer you will know that by negotiating better terms than a builder, you'd have some serious promises of purchase to make to the supplier, i.e. a guaranteed order quota of specific stock items such as sand and cement... if you don't meet that guarantee you'll renege on your contractual terms therefore loose the contract, or they'll just be awkward and send it to your business address with a fleeting comment such as "It's your order, pay up"...

There are no suppliers that I am aware of within the building trade that will accept a non-contractual agreement of purchasing items with better terms just so you could be the middleman for them without there being a serious complication for you if and when you fail to meet the requirements.

They will cover their own backsides, and watch you fall.

Sorry if I have missed any points but a bit awkward on my I phone

As said above, we're just offering our opinions on whether or not the business idea will work, if you keep the idea that you can go for the DIY market I honestly believe that side of the business will fail and bring the company down with it.

 

[maxine]

Okay if the above scenario did occur, should the public come first I would advise the builder they have already contacted me so would be unable to offer prices, should the builder approach me first I would again advise that I could not obtain prices.

Yeurgh. Unfortunately that for me is where it falls down

If you get small trades on board they will tend to be very loyal.

I would certainly weigh up the approach you mentioned versus an approach of looking after the trader.

You will get less hassle with the trader than you will with the consumer. Believe me, they are a right royal pain sometimes. There is nothing more irritating than a DIY-er who is also "project manager" who hold an entire project up and a small team of subcontractors because of one low cost item that is on a ship from china because it was cheapest on the internet. (eek!)

Consumers also have a completely different attitude to customer service (the consumer is always right) and all sorts of weird consumer rights understanding and they can be much higher maintenance and credit risk.

Why not have two brands? one for the trades and one for consumers and see which one works out best (think plumb centre versus bathstore).

Having a % built in for hassle factor might be a good option therefore the traders will always get cheapest which is aligned to volume, repeat business, less hassle, less risk.

Good luck in any event