Survey Results
When I first began to think about this website, I decided to do a bit of market research to make sure there really would be a demand for it. Here are the results of a survey I ran on my other website, elmour.com.
The Responses:
People were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with 5 statements:
1) It's very difficult to find a good tradesman except by word of mouth.
Disagree: | 10 | 3.2% |
Disagree somewhat: | 17 | 5.4% |
Neither agree nor disagree: | 33 | 10.5% |
Agree somewhat | 104 | 33.2% |
Agree | 149 | 47.6% |
2) I'm wary of using tradesmen because I've had bad experiences with one or more of them in the past.
Disagree: | 38 | 12.1% |
Disagree somewhat: | 11 | 3.5% |
Neither agree nor disagree: | 19 | 6.1% |
Agree somewhat | 97 | 31.0% |
Agree | 148 | 47.3% |
3) There are jobs around the house that I have put off because I can't find a tradesman I would trust to do a good job of them.
Disagree: | 64 | 20.4% |
Disagree somewhat: | 26 | 8.3% |
Neither agree nor disagree: | 38 | 12.1% |
Agree somewhat: | 78 | 24.9% |
Agree: | 107 | 34.2% |
4) I wouldn't mind paying a bit more to get a tradesman I knew I could trust.
Disagree: | 31 | 9.9% |
Disagree somewhat: | 24 | 7.7% |
Neither agree nor disagree: | 30 | 9.6% |
Agree somewhat: | 132 | 42.2% |
Agree: | 96 | 30.7% |
5) I know that you often get the best service from small local tradesmen but I'm more likely to choose a bigger company that I've heard of before.
Disagree: | 41 | 13.1% |
Disagree somewhat: | 33 | 10.5% |
Neither agree nor disagree: | 42 | 13.4% |
Agree somewhat: | 98 | 31.3% |
Agree: | 99 | 31.6% |
This survey appeared on elmour.com between 14th January 2006 and 7th April 2006.
There were 313 replies from qualifying respondants.
The survey technique was far from perfect because of the small sample size and the fact that the respondants were self selecting and limited to elmour.com visitors, rather than taken from a cross section of the population, but nevertheless I think the results are pretty conclusive.
To qualify, respondants had to be over 18, living in the UK and have had experience of dealing with tradesmen in the past 5 years.