MyTradesman came about because Jan’s plumber was late.

Like many Christchurch home owners, Jan found hiring a new tradesman a bit of a lottery. Would he turn up? Would the work be up to scratch? Would the bill be what she’d expected? It was while waiting for the plumber (who never showed up at all) that Jan started thinking about other people with her problem. So she called her son, Chris. And Chris called his friend, Matt. And together they got to work creating an online community where Kiwis could share their experiences – good and bad – of tradesmen in their area.

"I just wish," Jan says, "that before I basically threw a dart at the Yellow Pages, someone had said to me ‘let me tell you about my tradesman.'"

So "MyTradesman" it was.

Chris and Matt started by researching which qualities people look for in a tradesman. They interviewed homeowners, landlords, and property managers and discovered that, among other things, few people cared if a tradesman was cheaper than his competition, that value for money was crucial however, and that the quality of a tradesman’s work is vastly more important than how well presented he is. From this research, Chris and Matt designed a rating system that could accurately measure the performance of everyone from glaziers to tree surgeons. Then they recruited web-designers and programmers to help turn it into a website.

After almost a year of hard work, we are proud to welcome you to MyTradesman.co.nz. Jan wanted there to be a place where she could find reliable, trustworthy tradesmen and MyTradesman is the first step towards that goal.

Now it’s up to all of us, so get reviewing!

Cheers,

Chris & Matt

Managing Directors,

MyTradesman