Jun 22
Kingfisher have announced that they plan to expand their B&Q stores into cities and market towns with smaller format stores over the next 18 months.
Their chief executive, Ian Cheshire, told attendees at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit on Monday that they have had successful trials in France and Russia and now hope to introduce the concept to the UK. The shops will be 35,000-40,000sq ft in size, and will focus on housewares.
“There’s 60 catchments where there isn’t a B&Q within 20 minutes’ drive time where you have got more than 40,000 people,” he said, adding that these were mostly in densely populated areas such as London or market towns.
Jun 21
The Budget tomorrow has prompted the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) to warn that a possible increase in the rate of VAT for repairs and maintenance work of buildings could be a charter for cowboys.
Richard Diment, Director General of the FMB said: “Any increase in the current rate of VAT for building work would merely result in a massive boost for the informal economy because more and more cash strapped householders would resort to ‘cash in hand’ as a way to avoid paying a possible 20% extra cost on maintaining their home. The end result will be not to raise more money as the Chancellor intends but simply a means to drive more money into the informal economy.”
He continued: “The danger of inadvertently boosting the informal economy is that more people will be put at risk by unscrupulous rogue traders who will exploit cash strapped customers. We know that two years ago more than £170 million was paid to rogue traders by members of the public and given the current economic crisis this figure will have probably increased as householders tighten their belts.”
Jun 18
DIY Doctor have launched a petition as part of their ‘Beat the Cowboy’ campaign. The aim is to start a National Building Register, which would be backed by the government. The register would be free for consumers to use and for tradesmen to join, but tradesmen would need to provide evidence of public liability insurance and membership of at least one trade organisation offering reference checks and arbitration services.
It would enable consumers to choose a tradesman safe in the knowledge that they are competent, reliable and trustworthy.
If you support the introduction of this scheme, please go to our sign up form and fill in your details.
Thank you!
Jun 17
DIY Doctor are now offering tradesmen work via lead generation, which can save you a lot on wasted advertising.
When a home owner wants some work done on their house or garden, and they feel it is beyond their DIY capabilities, they can come to our Find a Tradesman page and register, for free, to receive free quotes from competent, reliable, trustworthy and insured tradesmen to do the job.
This way, as a tradesman, you can pay for as many business leads as you would like, but you know the customers:
- genuinely want the job done
- already have a budget in mind
- are local to you, in the area you have chosen
- want work done in your chosen specialism
Jun 16
DIY and home improvement enthusiasts are being asked to give their unwanted or unused electricals a new lease of life during Recycle Week which is taking place between 21 – 27 June 2010.
Items such as drills, power tools and sanders can be recycled at centres across the country.
Those in working order can be donated to the British Heart Foundation’s network of over 90 furniture and electrical stores (recycle_week/bhf) who will test them and sell them in order to raise funds. If there isn’t a store nearby, there is the option of donating them to someone else through sites such as Freecycle (http://www.uk.freecycle.org/).
The request to get involved in Recycle Week comes from Recycle Now (recyclenow.com), the national recycling campaign.
Jane Hall from Recycle Now said: “Recycle Week aims to make people aware of what can be recycled as well as the benefits of reuse through donation. This year we’re focusing on electrical goods and thought that DIY and home improvement enthusiasts might have unwanted or unused items hiding away in a shed or a garage. It would be great if people could recycle or donate these items during Recycle Week.”
Mike Lucas, Director of Retail at the British Heart Foundation said: “Recycle Week is a new and exciting partnership for the BHF raising vital funds in the fight against heart disease – the nation’s biggest killer. We’re appealing for those unwanted electricals as the sale of just one item can go towards funding vital treatment for a heart patient. Many people don’t know what to do with their working items once they’ve been replaced with newer versions, but by donating them in Recycle Week, they could become a life saver.”
To find out more about Recycle Week please visit http://www.recyclenow.com/recycle_week/diy.html
