DIY Doctor was an idea conceived by one man – Mike Edwards, who, having worked in the building industry for many years, recognised that his knowledge of processes and materials was something that he could share with people over this new medium ‘the internet’. (His idea struck in the 90′s so it was relatively new then.)
When dressed in building clothes and browsing in the DIY sheds he would often be approached by customers wanting some help with their purchases. This displayed two things to him, firstly that the help people needed was not available instore and secondly that he knew exactly what they needed and how to explain it to them.
So DIY Doctor became a reality in 2000, and has since built up into the biggest free UK DIY resource on the web. At the risk of blowing our own trumpet we wanted to just remind you of some of the things we do. All the blue writing are links to the appropriate areas, so if they interest you just click and read more.
Project Pages and Tips & Tricks – There are literally hundreds of Project Pages on the site ranging from plumbing to decorating, tiling to carpentry and everything in between. They are written in easy-to-follow format with plenty of pictures of real jobs and where possible they also have video tutorials. You will find the Project Pages by clicking on the button on the left of the main site. Projects are listed alphabetically, or you can search using the box at the top of the page. Tips and Tricks do ‘what is says on the can’, we share some quick and easy ideas with you to help you with DIY and Home Improvement in general.
DIY Videos – much like the Project Pages above, these are videos giving help and advice on various jobs, to suit those of you who like to watch a tradesman at work rather than read about it.
Home Improver Protection Solution (HIPS for short) – This is an area on the site designed to help homeowners avoid expensive building mistakes, specifically by avoiding rogue tradesmen. There are various tools in this section including:-
- Price Doctor a web based piece of software that allows you to price up extensions for free, either for your own plans or to check a builder’s quote. The paid version also allows you to print off materials lists, and works out labour costs. It takes around 20 minutes and you need very little computer knowledge to use it (if you are reading this blog you will be able to use Price Doctor).
- Desired Outcome Building Contract a free contract, written in simple English, with comprehensive notes giving advice on how to interview potential tradesmen, ways to check their references, and maintain a good working relationship to be in control of your building works all the way through the project.
- Third Party Payment Plan Keep your money safe during your build this service from Bond Pay has a free arbitration service and an independent warantee for a year after work is completed.
- Find a tradesman many “Lead Generation” companies on the market do not ensure their tradesmen are insured. We recommend Trustmark, The Government backed Agency, who run checks on their tradesmen to ensure they are insured, and are members of trade bodies which offer ombudsman schemes.
Green Living section – For this area we have a partner Be Energy Smart who are experts in the field of Green Energy and the products you can employ to make your home more ‘green’. This section gives you up-to-date information on different areas of the subject including information on the Government’s Green Deal. These include solar, insulation, wind power, heat pumps and many more items.
The Forum – We monitor our forum to ensure safe and decorous postings. We are lucky to have a wide following of experienced DIY enthusiasts and tradesmen who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise with others who have questions or problems that they cannot answer from the Project Pages.
Tool Reviews – impartial reviews on tools that you might be thinking of buying, there is a huge range of different tools inspected here: power tools, storage, chainsaws, mowers, drills, vacuums, and we are adding to the range all the time. They include a break down of what is supplied, a star rating system a video review and a pros and cons breakdown. We are open to our users suggesting what we review and to tool suppliers submitting tools to review.
Newsletter signup – we only send out newsletters when we have something to say. We might have free tickets to trades shows, or a new product (like Price Doctor which we launched this month) or we could be fundraising or showing off because we got on the telly again, but we promise you wont be bombarded and we hope to keep you interested and entertained.
Press section – well yes this is a bit of a boasting area, but you might be interested to see what we have been up to.
Shop – here you can buy tools and equipment, books (Including the one we wrote, DIY Doctor ‘How to’ Master Basic DIY)
Suppliers – a listing of advertisers. DIY Doctor is free because we sell advertising, if you use any of the products or services you see advertised on our site please let them know that you found them here. That way they will continue to advertise and we can keep the service free.
Advertise – if you have products or services that are related to our site then please do visit this area to see how we can help promote them for you. We have around 90,000 users per week to our site.
We hope we have encouraged you to explore the site a bit more – if so please go to the DIY Doctor home page and have a look for yourself.
