Firmly aimed at the consumer, this guide advises consumers about the ways in which they can make their homes better places to live; better looking, more energy effi cient, more suitable to the way they live their lives and more valuable if they decide to sell up one day.
This guide starts at the beginning – with tips to help them find the right builder (YOU!), how they can work with their builder to achieve the house of their dreams (without the nightmares!) and property expert Phil Spencer shares his top tips for adding value to their homes.
The guide tells homeowners how to work effectively with their builder and we explain in plain English exactly what they should know about planning permissions and Building Regulations. We have included a section on energy efficiency measures to make their homes more comfortable and cheaper to run. There is a handy directory if they need further advice and throughout the guide we have used pictures of the most inspirational projects, all of which were finalists in the Master Builder of the Year Awards.
We are sure that homeowners will find the guide useful and in it, we encourage them to sign up to our monthly FMB consumer ezine. Click here to sign up.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE
Predominantly, the guide will be given to consumers at home building shows throughout the UK where the FMB has a stand. It is also heavily publicised through the FMB consumer ezine every month with a direct link to the FMB website where guide can be downloaded FREE. The ezine is sent to around 23,000 consumers - each of these consumers will have visited the FMB website and then signed up to receive an issue every month.
PROMOTING FMB BUILDERS TO CONSUMERS
Especially in times of financial constraints, consumers are quite rightly becoming increasingly anxious to spend their money wisely – in every area of their lives. They generally spend more time researching purchases (of all price brackets) and of course Internet access makes this much easier. Consumers shop around until they are sure they have found the best value for money – which isn’t the same as cheapest.
Our FMB ‘Find A Builder’ website was established to match consumers looking for a builder, with FMB members in their local area. Simple as that! We have recently completely redesigned the system and publicised it widely through the FMB consumer ezine.
Consumers simply log on to www.findabuilder.co.uk, enter the details of the job they want doing and we match it to local FMB members. Members will automatically receive an email when they are matched to a job in their area; additionally members can search for themselves for jobs in their area that they might be interested in quoting for.
GET MORE WORK
The most recent figures (for January 2011) show a massive FIVE-FOLD increase in the amount of jobs consumers have uploaded to the FMB Find A Builder service compared to the January 2010 figures. All these job leads were automatically passed on to FMB members to follow up.
Here’s what FMB member Antony Brown, of One Stop Building and Maintenance Ltd in Lancashire has to say about the FMB Find A Builder service: “We’ve had 52 job leads from the FMB Find A Builder service since Christmas and have already completed two jobs. We’re starting another job next week and I went to see another potential client last night, if we win that job, it will keep us busy for three months.”
Says it all really doesn’t it?
