The UK Guild of Handymen

[Andy Champ]

(presumably if I used such services much I wouldn't be here). I did find these two an amusing mix though:

Awesome Africa Handyman AllWhite Handyman Service

Andy

[Dave Liquorice]

One of my hits was 46 miles away, the nearest 20...

All of my results were for non-members. All had some version of "handyman" so I suspect they may have trawled other online sources for name etc.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Probably the same person ;-)

[<me9]

Brought up loads but non local (11-50 miles away). None were members.

[Nick Leverton]

He's got a 9" angle grinder and he's not afraid to use it ...

Nick

[The Medway Handyman]

There was a multiple choice test, not especially difficult at all. Some of the questions were a bit vague and you had 15 mins to answer IIRC. Plenty of time to Google for the odd answer. I hit 90% in 4 mins, but as I said, some of the answers were vague.

TBH I could find dozens of positive reviews in 5 minutes. I'm hardly likely to offer any negative reviews an I?

True, but at £22:50 a year its very cheap advertising.

[Bob Neumann]

4" probably

[The Wanderer]

60-70 miles away.

My thoughts exactly.

That ultimately depends on the integrity of the web site. If it acquires a bad reputation, you will tend to be tarred with the same brush.

I'd put it on the back burner for a 12 month, see how active it is then.

[Roger Mills]

I'm sure you could - and genuine ones at that. But the point I was making that even if you were totally useless and/or a complete rogue, it wouldn't be difficult to conjure up a few positive references.

Still a nice little earner for the site owner. Get your customers to recommend you on Which? Local - that's free!

[F]

I'm in the north-west of Leeds. Nearest was 2 miles, furthest 33 miles, none of them members and never heard of any of them.

[The Medway Handyman]

When I searched for my postcode I got people in Tlbury & Grays in positions 6 & 8.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Nah, it's more like one of those organisations that springs unbidden into being, to make someone a buck or two. Just like the Guild of Master Craftsment.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

It's like something out of White Van Man.

[Frank Erskine]

Actually it sounds extremely complicated. The term "handyman" is so wide-ranging that you'll have to have Boy-Scout type badges for numerous different skills. Just because somebody is "competent" (and how do you define that?) in, say, wallpapering, doesn't mean that they have a clue about laying decking (yuk!) or changing a light switch.

UNLESS the idea of this 'guild' is purely from a point of view of business ethics, such as completing a job before accepting any payment, giving a proper quotation for a job rather than just an estimate, and so on.

[Lawrence]

The only member to come up just happened to have the same postal address as the Guild itself!

Lawrence

[Man at B&Q]

Harrassing cyclists.

MBQ

[chris]

FWIIW, I find that there is an inverse relationship to the number of such free or low price logos (i.e. purchasing "respectability") and the quality of the person on site

The MH whose posts indicate that he is well above average in quality and experience surprises me with even considering such a punt. You are far better than that. Let your work speak for yourself.

Chris

[Roger Chapman]

I am in Keighley and probably got much the same selection of 20 but my closest are 2 in Bradford at 8 miles with the nearest Leeds one at 10. Furthest away was one in Manchester at 30 miles (as the crow flies but considerably more by the fastest route). I wonder how much his call-out fee would be.

Oh well. Since I had the stone roof on my barn turned back in 1981 I have only needed the services of a builder twice so I don't suppose I will ever need to employ a handyman.

[Biggles]

the same postal address as the Guild. The Guild web site says nothing about the structure of the organisation or who runs it. Looks suspiciously like an organisation run by one bloke - that's enough to ring the alarm bells for me, as a consumer.

Biggles