Service Central

[angela]

Hello

I found this website when googling for an estimate on having some ceiling fans fitted in our home, and am so far pretty impressed.

You log a job, just about every trade is included, and select a price bracket which you are willing to pay for the job. You only receive replies from tradies who are prepared to the job for your price, and they are all registered etc. There is also a feedback system from customers, similar to ebay type of thing.

Over the phone quotes I received for fitting 5 x ceiling fans ranged between $650 and $900, I put $500 as my maximum on Service Central and had 2 replies from local tradies within an hour. Getting them fitted next week for $500.

I have just logged another job to have gutters cleaned on a highset IP, willing to pay up to $150, have had one reply so far. Have heaps more little jobs that need doing, and as I have no tradesmen friends, this site is looking like a gem!

http://www.servicecentral.com.au/


Hope someone else finds it as useful as I have.

 

[Rob Williams]

That's a really cool idea. Thanks for sharing the link!

 

[boomtown]

Cool !


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[ianvestor]

Thanks Angela, it sounds a lot like how elance works. (A site for finding I.T. contractors).

 

[angela]

hadn't heard of elance before, but I've just added it to my favourites as well.
Benefit to me is that I won't be wasting my time, or tradesmens time in quoting for jobs that I can't afford.
I will use it when I am ready for new PPOR kitchen, have had quotes which are way over my budget, maybe someone who is short on work will be able to come in at my price.

 

[PrimeCommercial]

Great idea.

Thanks Angela, it sounds a lot like how elance works. (A site for finding I.T. contractors).

Exactly I've used elance before and a couple of other IT ones, A tradies site would be very handy.

Thanks

 

[units4me]

Wouldn't chasing the rock bottom price for tradies bring out the hopeless ones, and poor workmanship as a result?

 

[PrimeCommercial]

Wouldn't chasing the rock bottom price for tradies bring out the hopeless ones, and poor workmanship as a result?

I'd say that's what the feedback facility is for. Weed out the dodgy ones

 

[angela]

Wouldn't chasing the rock bottom price for tradies bring out the hopeless ones, and poor workmanship as a result?

I'd say that's what the feedback facility is for. Weed out the dodgy ones

I agree, hopefully the feedback system is a good one. For major work, like my new kitchen, I will be asking to see photos of their previous work. Also, I never pay the full amount until I am satisfied with the work done.

 

[COLJP]

Vetting process

I have used Service Central in Brisbane to find tradies to install aircon, electrical work and carpentry. So far all tradesmen have been excellent and I have used a couple of them again.

I believe there's some kind of vetting process before tradesmen are listed on the site, i.e. they need to provide quals info and references or something along those lines.

If you need something done, just write a brief description on the site and specify how many quotes you require and they are generally really quick in responding. Haven't had any 'no shows' yet and quotes have ranged from the reasonable to the outrageous. You need to specify budget for the project though, which is sometimes difficult if you don't know the type of work very well, so it's probably a good idea to specify the lowest end of your budget rather than a high figure that shows what you'd be silly enough to pay. I've found Archicentre is a good site to get an idea of rates for different trades.

Cheers, Col

 

[angela]

Thanks for the info Col. Good to hear from someone who has used the site, it looks really useful.
I have arranged for my fans to be fitted next week, at a very good price, and I have also been in touch with another tradie from the site who is going to clean gutters on one of my IPs and some other bits and pieces on another one.
Sooo much easier than spending the morning on the phone trying to get through to someone let alone hoping they turn up to quote.

 

[COLJP]

Someone who wants to do the job

Sooo much easier than spending the morning on the phone trying to get through to someone let alone hoping they turn up to quote.

Agreed Angela. Better than doing the ring around to find someone who actually wants to do the job in the first place and getting fobbed off in various ways by the ones who don't. The greatest part of it all is that they contact you.

It appears that Service Central checks their quals, insurances and monitors feedback to check they're playing fair.

http://www.servicecentral.com.au/faqs/consumers/

 

[dave99]

Have used Service Central and the guy was great. He mentioned several times if I could put feedback, so they are clearly motivated by the feedback system to do a good job. Seems like it's similar to eBay - one bad feedback turns off a lot of potential customers.

 

[poordeveloper]

Have used Service Central and the guy was great. He mentioned several times if I could put feedback, so they are clearly motivated by the feedback system to do a good job. Seems like it's similar to eBay - one bad feedback turns off a lot of potential customers.

I used Service Central to find electrical contractors to rewire a house. I was almost going to give to job to one electrician who came out and quoted - he was polite and informative and his quote was on the money. But I found two quite negative feedback comments, one which mentioned that he had aggressively demanded payment when the customer wasn't satisfied that the job had been completed. I didn't want to take chances, so I ended up going with another, slightly more expensive contractor.

Hopefully sites like this will keep tradespeople honest and allow the quality ones to prosper!

 

[RedPanda]

I have used the site before to get a dishwasher installed. Got two plumbers contact me promptly. That was 6 months ago. I wanted to get a garage door installed. Had a no show. Probably because I indicated that I am not willing to pay a fee for quote.

Cheers