Describing a job

A lot of customers find describing a home improvement job daunting, but it is easy if you follow a few simple steps. Remember, you don't have to fix the boiler, or do the roof yourself; you just have to describe what you want done to ensure you get the right rated tradesman for you!

Fill in trade and job type

To make sure it is easy to post a job we have provided drop-down menus for the trade and job type under our Find a recommended tradesman now section. There are a wide range of options within these, but if you do not find an exact match, just pick the option that fits best. For example, if it is a boiler maintenance job, you will need to pick "heating engineer" for the trade, and pick "boilers" as your job type. A job involving your toilet could be either a bathroom specialist or a plumber, depending on whether it is a toilet seat that needs replacing or blockages that need removal. But don't worry too much about getting it right - there will be plenty of opportunity in the job summary to be more precise.

Job summary

A good summary drives good response and helps ensure that the most suitable local tradesmen contact you to provide quotes. It doesn't take a lot of effort to put together a simple summary. In order to help the tradesman get a good view of the job, here are a few simple tips:

• Clearly state the job in simple terms (e.g. Remove an old gas hob and install a new one in a fitted kitchen)
   
• If there is a problem you are dealing with, describe it as you see it (e.g., roof leaking around chimney area or lights don't work in kitchen)
   
• Add more detail only if you are confident (e.g. checked fuse which looks OK), but don't if you are unsure, as this may cause problems with the tradesman later
   
• Provide any useful measurements or details to hand (e.g., Boiler Bosch Model 3.2 not working or Ceiling needs plastering. Dimensions 4mx5m)

If it is an urgent job, you may want to mention this in the summary, in addition to choosing your start date as ASAP.

Additional details

Completing a more detailed description of your job is purely optional. It can however help the tradesmen immensely in deciding whether they are suitable to quote for your job, as well as providing a fair estimate. Photographs describing the job are very useful - a cracked ceiling, a close-up of the model of your kitchen hob, your leaky roof - are all useful input for a tradesman and will help make your later conversations easier.

You can complete a more detailed description of your job and upload any photographs from your own homepage once you have registered on the site.

Click here to: Post your job with xpertfind