How good are our jobs?

We take the process of job posting very seriously and here are the things we do to help ensure we only have genuine jobs on our site.

1.  All jobs are reviewed by a member of our team before approval.

2.  We do not accept jobs from other sources. If it was not posted on our site, it wont be shown on our site

3.  We ask many detailed questions because we want to discourage people who are not serious. Many sites ask basic questions so as to not discourage people from posting jobs. It takes on average 12 minutes to post a job with us, 17 if photographs are added

4.  All job posters must confirm their email address and activate their jobs by clicking on a link we send to them by email

5.  We will never sell the job more times than the homeowner has asked for contacts. They choose the number. 2, 3 or 4. You always know this number and therefore the maximum number of portential competitors, 1, 2 or 3

6.  We capture the IP address of everyone who joins to ensure that we can trace people who are deliberately posting 'non' jobs. Unfortunately there are some people out there who like to post false jobs, including some tradespeople who try to test the system. When discovered they are removed from the site, reported and blocked.

7.  We have automated systems to report suspicious postings

8.  We ask the job posters how urgent the job is and therefore how long they are prepared to wait in order to receive replies from tradespeople

9.  To make this easier for you we have a feature on the site called 'Report Contact Issue'. If you ever buy a job where no contact was possible or at first contact, the job was already gone within the contact period (despite the homeowner promise) we will investigate and refund where collaboration or no answer from the homeowner is received.

10. An exclusive reference number scheme protects both you and homeowners, now only companies with a unique (1 time use only) reference number for the job will be accepted by the homeowner. It is almost impossible for companies to buy a job from us and sell it to others. This reduces the risk of extra competition for the same job. Our homeowners report duplicate numbers and we remove offending companies.

11. We havd captured the pre-defined satisfaction criteria provided by the homeowner so you can: Tailor your estimates and proposal to win the business. Avoid any surprises about what is/was expected.

12. We tell the homeowner when you have agreed to contact them so they are expecting your call/contact and can look up your details on the site. Don't forget to update your company details to help homeowners choose you over your competition. A little extra time adding details to your account will give you an edge over those who have just provided basic information.

We know that our reputation and therefore success is in the hands of our customers, both tradespeople and homeowners and it is vital to us that we provide the service you all want, where we can bring you and homeowners together in the most effective and beneficial way.

Get familiar with your customers

We will take the information you provide to us on the join up form and create your standard free advert. As soon as your membership is activated your standard free advert will be available for our homeowner members to see. There is no charge for this service and your advert will remain online for as long as you keep your account active and continue to receive job notification emails. Job notifications are sent to you telling you about jobs as soon as they are posted so that you can see which ones interest you.

If you prefer you can upgrade to our Advert+ advert and have your advert displayed in full on our public pages not just our member pages and this includes your own unique website address that you can add to your business documents, vehicle etc.

This Advert+ advert, gives you many benefits over the standard free advert including:-

1. Your own web page to use on your business cards, headed paper, vehicle etc.
2. A Gallery where you can upload up to 15 photos of previous work 
3. Your contact details viewable by the general public
4. Your company image viewable by the general public

Many tradespeople have told us that they like the format of the standard free advert and the fact they can tailor it when they want to but would like it to have a web address that they can use on their business cards, give to their friends, families and of course clients....and therefore anyone can click on it. They have also asked that we display all their contact details on the version of their advert that we show on the public search page http://www.findatrade.com/homeowners/search/ and not just the homeowner members page. At the moment for security all members of the public who want to see your contact details (for free) must become members and a provide a verifiable email address.

Many members of the public have written to us and said they would prefer not to have to join in order to get the contact details of a company they want to contact.

This optional Advert+ advert, including a gallery tab where you can upload up to 15 business related images (e.g. the type of work you do or have done) and allows potential customers to see what you can do,  does not affect the standard free advert. If you wish to just have the standard free advert, you need do nothing except join. If however you would like your own web page, with your full contact and other details, displayed to all the public so they can contact you without joining the site, a gallery for your photographs and the ability to edit your page when you want to, just click on the upgrade button after you join. There will be a small fee for the  Advert+ advert to cover administration and maintenance, as follows:-

• For 3 months £25
• For 6 Months £45
• For 12 months £80

(If you credit your account with £80 this will automatically give you a £20 bonus, meaning that for the same price, you get the web page advert for a year and £20 towards jobs on our site, making the actual cost only £5 a month
We will never automatically renew your Advert, we will send you a reminder a week before renewal but it will be up to you to say you wish the web page advert to continue. We will NEVER debit your account – We never have access to your card details so again only you decide if you would like the web advert and indeed any jobs on the site.)

We do not charge membership fees, renewal fees or notification fees, the standard free advert, visible to homeowner members and other tradespeople, is not altered and remains free and the current system where you only ever pay if you see a job you wish to be one of the 2, 3 or 4 companies (maximum) to purchase the contact details, also remains unaltered.

You will be able to update / change your advert at any time including uploading testimonials and pictures of previous work you have done.

To Join, go to the Join as a Trade page and fill in the simple form, providing as much relevant detail as possible. Listed below are the details we need to create your free web page/ad with us.

In Section One, information about your business:

• Contact name

• Address

• Telephone numbers

• Other contact information

Section 2 is for defining the type of work you do / service you offer and what area you want to cover

Section 3 allows you to tell potential clients more about you and your company (this is done after you sign up in your account)

• References

• Photos

• Associations, accreditations etc.

The Join as a trade form is designed to better help you find work. We take your input and contact all homeowner members who have asked to be notified when someone offering your services joins in their area. We also use this information to contact you immediately a job is posted that fits your profile.

Ready to join and advertise....for free....Jump right in and start your free advert and start receiving free job notifications - Join as a Trade

Get notified about about new jobs - Log in and see available jobs.

We will notify you when a new job is posted in your area for one of more of the services you provide. You can also log in to your account and see all the jobs available at any time.

To help you even more ...

• You can sort the jobs page in the order you want...date posted, distance, title....whatever takes your fancy

• You can change your own coverage area whenever you want and get the details for jobs in those surrounding areas

With all of this help, we put you in control

• YOU choose the jobs and you decide if/when to purchase any contact details

To purchase the contact details for any job your account must be in credit to the sum equal to or greater than the cost of the job. You can add credit at any time when logged in to your account. All transactions are handled by Paypal and we do not store or have access to any of your card/bank details. We therefore never make any charges against you at any time, only you can add credit and commit to charges on the site. No-one from FindaTrade Ltd will ever ask you for your credit/debit card or bank details.

Our SecuriTrade unique referencing system will also ensure only 2, 3 or 4 trades/companies can contact the homeowner, depending on how many estimates they requested.  SecuriTrade is exclusive to FindaTrade.

Once you have made contact with the homeowner and depending on the type of job, you will then need to provide them with an estimate for the job. In the Members area of our site we give you some detailed hints and tips and suggestions on some of the things you can do to improve your chances of winning the contract/business. One particular feature includes some predefined client satisfaction criteria that if used as part of the estimate, will certainly increase your chances of success.

In the tab called 'Advise to Homeowners' we will also show you the advice we give to homeowners on what to look for when choosing a company, which will also help you provide an estimate and proposal that is designed to win the business, deliver a quality result and meet all expectations.

It is often too late to sort out any problems or misunderstandings when the work is done. Although we ask homeowners to evaluate a trade / company when the work is finished, we also recommend that you (especially on larger projects) ask them to do this during the project. If you show the homeowner that you really care about meeting their expectations and those expectations have been defined before the work began, you will:

• Be more likely to meet those expectations
• Keep the customer happy
• Get excellent recommendations

So we recommend that you keep referring back to the estimates and plans to monitor progress. For larger jobs, don't leave it until the job is finished to review the satisfaction criteria, get the homeowner to discuss progress to date with you.

We always ask our homeowners to leave ratings (based on the predefined satisfaction criteria) and a comment or two.

Why use us? Because : -

• Your advert is placed on our website for our homeowner members to see –  Whether or not you ever decide to purchase the contact details of one of the jobs we have that matches your criteria, your advertising and contact details will be listed for free for our homeowner members to see. No hidden charges, no annual, monthly or any other type of membership fee...NO HIDDEN COSTS. There is a small charge for your own (optional) Web page that you can use on your business cards, vehicle, headed paper etc and for your advert to be published on our public pages for everyone to see but this is a completely optional feature and you always decide if you want to credit your account with us. We have NO access to your bank or card details and no one from Findatrade Ltd will ever ask you for them.

• All jobs are posted directly on our site. We do not accept jobs passed on by third parties. Here is an extract from a reply we sent to yet another company trying to sell us their unvalidated jobs. "Dear xxxxxx, Thank you for your enquiry. We have found that the reseller market does not provide sustainable and reliable business. We are a quality organisation and have built our reputation on the quality not the quantity of jobs. We have a very specific set of principles, procedures, questions and follow up processes we use in order to offer our trade members more concrete, targeted and genuine leads. This is part of our branding which we do not wish to dilute. Adding an extra level into the equation does not seem to have worked as it appears that most of these types of reseller companies cannot guarantee the true quality of the leads they offer....not to mention the delay in processing and the lack of personal contact. If you were able to provide the leads in exactly the format we need, also able to validate the quality of the lead and branded with our name then it may be an option but we suspect that would cause you too much reprogramming work. You are around the 9th or 10th company to offer this service to us this year alone and so far none of the others have not been able to meet these basic requirements."  It is an expensive process to bring in quality jobs which is why many 'job lead' companies buy these types of jobs. We never will. If it was not posted on our site, we will not offer it.

• We have been successfully matching tradespeople to homeowners for the last five years. We continually respond to our trade member's feedback and suggestions, improving our service to you. As a result of requesting feedback we have : -

• Implemented a comprehensive 'job posting' process, which asks more searching questions of our homeowners than anyone else to ensure they are serious about wanting work done. It makes the process a little longer but it improves the quality of the matches we find for them and the validation of their intentions.

• Asked the homeowner to tell us (and you) how urgently they need contact.

• Asked our homeowners to agree that any company who contacts them within the 'urgency' time period defined in the question, (within x days), they will allow them to quote for the job.

• Limited your competition! You will always know the maximum number of times a job will be sold and how many competitors there are for that job. There will never be more than 1, 2 or 3 other companies contacting the homeowner. (This number is controlled by the homeowner, they choose how many contacts they would like).

• Reduced the risk of jobs being passed on to friends. An exclusive reference number scheme protects both you and homeowners, now only companies with a unique reference number for the job will be accepted by the homeowner.

• Captured the pre-defined satisfaction criteria provided by the homeowner so you can:

• Tailor your estimates and proposal to win the business.
• Avoid any surprises about what is/was expected.

• Ensured that no-one can post a job on our site without validating their email address. We also capture IP addresses to reduce the risk that job posters are not serious.

• You will always see all the information about a job before you decide whether or not you want to provide an estimate/pursue the job. We tell you what the job is, where it is, when it was posted, how long is remaining before the homeowner removes it.

• We tell the homeowner when you have agreed to contact them so they are expecting your call/contact and can look up your details on the site.

• When you have finished and the homeowner gives you a recommendation, we make it available for everyone to see and that will help increase your profile, enhance your reputation and win more business.

• Finally....We save you having to chase around trying to find work. Our homeowner members have posted jobs that match the skill set you have and are within your coverage area. Tell us what you offer and how far you are willing to travel and we will find jobs posted and homeowners who are looking for people with your skills/offerings.

We know that our reputation and therefore success is in the hands of our customers, both tradespeople and homeowners and it is vital to us that we provide the service you all want, where we can bring you and homeowners together in the most effective and beneficial way.

We have no membership fees of any kind, so to create your free advert which includes free email notifications of jobs posted and your advert viewable by all our homeowner members, just go to the trade join page.

There is a small fee for the contact details of each job but those details will never be sold more times than the homeowner has asked for estimates and so all tradespeople will know before hand if they have 1, 2 or three competitors for that job. (This number is controlled by the homeowner, they choose how many contacts they would like). Once you have seen all the details of any job, you and only you decide if you want to be one of the (up to) 2, 3 or 4 people to purchase the contact details.

Each job will be unique, so there is no 'average' fee. The best way to see prices will be to log in and see the price of each job and how many contacts the homeowner wants, in order for you to decide if it is a job for you. Job contact details are typically £2-£25 with smaller jobs being the cheaper ones but bigger jobs not going much past £23-£25 even for the biggest jobs.

The optional Advert+ advert, including a gallery tab where you can upload up to 15 business related images (e.g. the type of work you do or have done) and allows potential customers to see what you can do,  does not affect the standard free advert. If you wish to just have the standard free advert, you need do nothing except join. If however you would like your own web page, with your full contact and other details, displayed to all the public so they can contact you without joining the site, a gallery for your photographs and the ability to edit your page when you want to, just click on the upgrade button after you join. There will be a small fee for the  Advert+ advert to cover administration and maintenance, as follows:-

• For 3 months £15
• For 6 Months £25
• For 12 months £45

(If you credit your account with £40 this will automatically give you a £5 bonus, meaning that a 12 month subscription will in fact only cost £40 which works out at just over £3 a month.
We will never automatically renew your Advert, we will send you a reminder a week before renewal but it will be up to you to say you wish the web page advert to continue. We will NEVER debit your account – We never have access to your card details so again only you decide if you would like the web advert and indeed any jobs on the site.)

We do not charge membership fees, renewal fees or notification fees, the standard free advert, visible to homeowner members and other tradespeople, is not altered and remains free and the current system where you only ever pay if you see a job you wish to be one of the 2, 3 or 4 companies (maximum) to purchase the contact details, also remains unaltered.

Our aim is to be the company everyone wants to use because we price fairly, provide a great site and customer experience.

All transactions are handled by Paypal and we do not store or have access to any of your card/bank details. We therefore never make any charges against you at any time, only you can add credit and commit to charges on the site. No-one from FindaTrade Ltd will ever ask you for your credit/debit card or bank details.

What our members say

Why use us?....Because:

Our members not only provide us with suggestions to help us improve, they also tell us when we have helped them...here are a few of their comments

"We have found findatrade to be a vital part of our advertising campaign" - Steve & Sue

"Well done for creating such a useful source of information. Well done -The site improves every time I look at it." - Karen Jones

"Our first client recommended us to their friends so we are not only receiving work through Findatrade but also getting recommendations from previous clients through word of mouth."

"We now recommend the site to both Clients and other trades" - Steve & Sue Davidge

"Findatrade was recommended to us from a friend who had advertised his own trade on the site. We find the site very easy and user friendly as we only get emails from people who are looking for our particular trade and thus saves on wasted time visiting jobs that aren’t suitable."

"After just 2 weeks advertising with you we had two positive outcomes already"

Job Name: Construction of a new bathroom
Job Description: Originally a double bedroom with shower, loo and basin. All now removed. Looking to recondition old floorboards, waterproof and put in new shower, bath, loo and basins. 3 of 4 walls in decent condition
 
Job Name: Kitchen Extension
Job Description: Extension and refurbishment of a cottage kitchen. New cupboards/units, install appliances, some tiling and plumbing required
 
Job Name: Purchase & fit en-suite bathroom
Job Description: Fit en-suite bathroom upstairs. Fit shower, toilet, sink and tile as appropriate.
 
Job name: New bathroom, new kitchen
Job Description: My apartment requires a new bathroom (WC, basin & bath with shower attachment) and new galley kitchen (new wall cupboards, new sink unit, new cupboard doors & worksurface) & painting throughout the apartment. There needs to be some attention to tiling, plumbing and electrics as well. I need a reliable person to carry out the work in Nov or Dec. The apartment is not very big - 34 sqm in total. Help with sourcing the kitchen & bathroom would be appreciated.

Job Name: Plasterer
Job Description: Qualified plasterer needed for large house. Half is plaster-boarded already, the other half to be done in a couple of months, so the Job will be in 2 parts. the first half is for 3 bedrooms, a hallway and a kitchen. All taping and dubbing out already done. Needed as soon as possible.

Job Name: Painting and decorating
Job Description: I need a price to have my lounge decorated. It will involve papering the walls, painting the ceiling (and glossing the skirting boards, doors and windows. I have ALL the materials.

Job Name: Tiling large kitchen floor and 4 bathrooms
Job Description: We have the tiles on site, we require a tiler to tile approx 74 m2 of kitchen floor floor in 3 bathrooms and walls in one 1 small kitchen swimming pool shower and floor area 20 m2 work can start 1st week of sept 09

Job Name: Building work
Job Description: We are looking for a reliable builder to cut out and install two windows for us. We want the work carried out in august, we have drawings indicating what needs to be done. We also need two bathrooms renovated, plus kitchen and extensive work to the outside of the house including the garden.

Job Name: New internal walls
Job Description: A new internal wall to be built to make one room (18' by 14') into 2 rooms. This will include fitting 2 new internal doors and making a cupboard in each room. Needs to be ready for plastering, but no plastering required at this stage.

Job Name: Conservatory
Job Description: Build a conservatory of approximately 15 metre square to rear of house on a house within a protected area. Roof in polypropylene, front wall 0.80m.

Job Name: Villa Extension & renovation & new pool
Job Description: New extension to house, also the complete renovation of existing house and relocation of swimming pool to rear of property (filling in existing pool at side of property) and significant garden landscaping (terraces and steps). Also addition of balcony/terrace to upstairs of existing house.

Job Name: New timber framed house. Foundation work
Job Description: We are going to to build timber framed house approximately 87square meters. We would like to get quotes about doing the foundation of house asap, it is urgent work,so please contact me asap.

Job Name: Concrete Floor
Job Description: I need a 35m2 suspended timber floor removed and replaced by a proper insulated and damp proofed concrete floor. Void under existing floor varies between 100mm to 250mm. Also 2 new doorways created within the old internal walls.

Job Name: Hedge cutting and garden maintenance
Job Description: Small garden needs taking care of for two busy professional people. We like doing the small stuff but have no time for the big stuff! Can you help. Experienced Gardner required. Thanks Julie

Job Name: Renovation of a small house
Job Description: Seeking architect/building/project manager to design and oversee the renovation of a small house [3 levels, 750m2]. Works include: new kitchen, bathroom, toilet, laundry, en suite and walk-in-closet, minor repairs, and masonry work for realigning the main gate. There is very little structural work to be undertaken as the building is generally in good condition and does not require major capital works. Architect to also advise on the future scope of a possible 2nd phase renovation in 2010. This could include the renovation of up to five vaulted cellars, including the transformation of the cellars into a wine cellar, bedroom, small media room, and kitchen/studio. This would include the sanding of the stone walls, refurbishment of cellar doors, concealment of some existing plumbing, installation of small fuel-efficient wood stoves etc. Depending on the cost of works, the above may be undertaken at the same time as the 1st phase. Very keen to use recycled building materials, as well as explore alternative materials, such as concrete.

Job Name: Complete rebuild of property
Job Description: We currently have planning permission for a demolition and rebuild project. It is a two storey detached house, plans by local architect, looking for builders who can start now (General description. The architect plans can be viewed when contact is made)

Job Name: Renovation
Job Description: We have just purchased a cottage and need all new electrics, plumbing, internal walls re-rendering and skimming, lower floor levelling, stairs repositioned, roof re-done, upstairs floors replaced, bathroom, new doors and windows, rear entrance doorway. We would like to receive quotes within a week of tradespeople/companies looking at the Job

Job Name: Planning permission for barn conversion
Job Description: I need a set of drawings and Project Plan for my barn

Job Name: Restoration of farmhouse
Job Description: Plans to be drawn up for restoration of farmhouse. + Project manager to oversee all restoration work for the farm house.

Job Name: Alterations to house
Job Description: I am looking for an architect to draw up a plan of the house as it is and also to draw 3 elevations to show where I would like to position an outdoor spiral staircase, change an existing window into a small door and put 2 Velux windows in.

Job Name: Wiring a loft extension
Job Description: The ground floor of the house has been rewired. We are extending into the loft and have two lots of work 1). install wiring for ceiling lights and wall sockets in two bedrooms + 2). install wiring for landing, bathroom and two further bedrooms-this will not be needed until 2010

Job Name: Water Solar heating
Job Description: Solar heating required for hot water system for 2 bathrooms 1 kitchen and Laundry room + All radiators (12) – Quote for parts and work.

Job Name: Plumber
Job Description: plumber needed to plumb 3 bathrooms and connect 15 central heating radiators already in position – All material supplied by us

Job Name: Plumbing work
Job Description: I need my kitchen tap changed, a leak fixed and the thermostat checked on my immersion heater. This work is urgent.

Job Name: Rewiring
Job Description: Have an old section of our house that requires rewiring. Some parts of the wiring only seem to be fused to the main house fuse, rather than be on the smaller fuses. A quote for a bedroom with 4 plug points, a 2 way light switch and adding additional central overhead light required. Plus stairway with 2 way switch and wall light. An office with 4 wall plugs plus, 1 wall light and 4 overhead lights. Kitchen (where mains electricity enters the house) make safe 7 wall plugs, change 2 overhead lights fittings. Also wiring here for outside spot light. I would need the Job to be viewed and then quoted.

Job Name: Roof overhaul
Job Description: We are buying a large detached village house, we expect to complete in October. The house is in a protected village next to the Church so this will have to be taken into consideration if the canal tiles are changed. The house is 17th century and has a footprint of 300m2, the roof area is about 390m2. There are eight chimneys and some of these will need to be rebuilt above the roof level. The wooden structure does not use the expected over sized timbers normally found, some of the timbers need to be replaced/reinforced, the roof has sagged in places and has leaked in numerous areas, so it is a major Job . The house in on a road on the front and one side with good access one the other two, the roof is double hipped, well triple as one end wall is staggered. We would be hoping to get the work done this year if at all possible. Thanks

Job Name: Refurbish roof
Job Description: Strip existing tiles and battens from roof. Remove old fibreglass insulation. Treat timber (fungicide etc - certificated) Insulate roof with thermo-réflecteur multi-layered material. Replace battens as required (treated) Re tile using new tiles. Approximately 3,750 tiles (20 x 30cm)

Job Name: Replace Roof
Job Description: 2 x 80m sq roof to be replaced in townhouses Old tiles to be reused. Most existing framework replaced either concrete or timber

Privacy and Security

We understand that personal privacy and the protection of personal data is very important to our members. We also know that our members use us because we go further to ensure the highest level of service.

We therefore thought you would like to know the following:

• When you promise to contact a homeowner, you will both be given an identical reference code unique to that job for your company, which the homeowner can ask for at any time.

• We comply fully with the Data Protection Act and never sell or pass on your personal details (save for the purpose of securing work) to any third parties who are not members, without your knowledge or permission.

• We only pass your contact information on to homeowner members who are looking for tradespeople

• We will normally only contact you by email, however we may call you if it is in regard to details you have posted or events regarding jobs posted, where it is to your advantage to resolve a question about those details / events.

• All information is stored remotely on our secure server

For more detailed information please see our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions