BRITISH GAS - WWW.HOUSE.CO.UK

The House.co.uk that British Gas Built - British Gas Launches Online Home Management Service

With two thirds of the population saying they never seem to have enough time to get things done, a new website has been created to take away the daily hassles of running your home.
British Gas launched House.co.uk in October 2001. It can help with all the mundane
but essential household management tasks such as paying your bills or finding a plumber, and also gives advice on the more enjoyable aspects of being a home-owner such as updating your kitchen or buying new gadgets.

The site is an on-line, complete home management advice service and is specifically designed to help run the home more smoothly.

A programme of research, Planning for Consumer Change conducted by the Henley Centre throughout 2000, shows that 66% of people agree that they never have enough time to get things done. This figure rises to 74% among full-time workers. With the home being classed as only second to our family as an important source of pride, it is a key area that we devote our increasingly precious time to.

The website helps users manage their home in the following main areas:

*Fix a problem - request an appointment with a British Gas engineer, find a tradesman or get advice on doing it yourself.

*lmprove your home - source a professional, find out about getting a home loan to finance your improvements or get advice on making your home more energy efficient.

*Move home - the whole process from researching the area, finding a place, appointing a solicitor, and getting a mortgage to transferring your accounts and telling people you've changed address.

*Manage your bills - deal with your British Gas, gas, electricity and telephone accounts online.

*Protect your home - from sorting out your home insurance to getting a home security system installed.

*Products & services - gas, electricity, telephone, home heating, home appliances, mortgages, loans, home security, breakdown cover.

Nick Smith, British Gas Director of Marketing, said, 'House.co.uk is British Gas's response to the stress and speed of modern life. We're all faced with an increasing number of choices and decisions and have less and less time to deal with them. This new site should help ease the pressure as it lets you organise all the essential services for your home from one trusted place.'
Nick continued 'We know our customers want their lives made easier and we've matched that with our experience in providing services to the home. House.co.uk also brings together knowledge and expertise from several established and well known companies into one single website making it an easy and convenient service to use.

The site includes a range of products and services offered by six external partners carefully selected by British Gas:

• Easier2move - provider of on-line conveyancing services with all work carried out by solicitor firms on a postal basis.

• Rightmove - database for selling, buying and letting properties across the UK. with over 160,000 properties available to view at any one time.

• Charcol - on-line mortgage search, product selection, on-line application and full support from dedicated Customer Service Advisers throughout the application process.

• Experian- information on the local area of your choice. lncludes details of schools, public amenities, house prices and trends, maps of the neighbourhood and typical neighbour profiles.

• Consignia (Royal Mail) - change of address facility, which enables home movers to inform multiple organisations of their new address details.

• Homepro (pictured above) - database of 'trusted tradesmen', allowing users to search for insurance approved tradesmen by profession and postcode.

Tea Breaks Could be the Rogue Traders Giveaway
 
Countless tea and biscuit breaks could be the biggest giveaways of cowboy traders, according to a new register of UK tradesmen.

The British Gas website http://www.house.co.uk is clamping down on dodgy traders with a new ‘Trusted Tradesmen Register’ and a ten-point checklist of cowboy warning signals.

And top of the list of signs householders should look out for is workmen with enough time on their hands to raid their biscuit tins.

Richard Hepworth, of house.co.uk, said: 'The best tradesmen are always in demand, will more than likely have another job to move on to and won’t want to waste time with unnecessary breaks.

'We’ve asked reputable tradesmen to turn their tools on the rogue traders and help homeowners weed out the worst offenders with our cowboy checklist so that they can spot the warning signs.'
Other cowboy warning signals are a reluctance to provide previous customer references, discounts for cash and tradesmen who don’t offer a free written quote.

But British Gas website house.co.uk is helping householders avoid the cowboys with the UK’s first insurance approved register of over 60,000 reputable tradesmen.

The ‘Trusted Tradesmen Register’ allows users to search, by postcode and profession, for workmen who have met a strict set of criteria and are ‘insurer approved’ – householders can take out an insurance policy against home improvements done by a member of the register.
Richard Hepworth added: 'There are quality tradesmen out there but it can be a case of ‘pot luck’ finding one when you need them.

'Using the register will help give householders peace of mind that they are employing a long-standing professional whose work is approved by an insurer.'

To obtain a place on the ‘Trusted Tradesmen Register’, a business must:

· Have been trading for over four years
· Allow ten previous customer references to be randomly selected
· Allow checks for excellent legal and financial records

Some of the characters the professionals warn householders should avoid are:

Mr Tea: every job takes twice as long because it’s always time for tea. Remember to add costs of biscuits to quote.

Bully Boy: he always knows best and when it comes to paying up time, there’s no way he’s accepting a cheque.

Mobile Man: he’s too busy talking to his wife, his mum, his mates and his auntie in Australia to work. His ring tone will be giving you nightmares for months to come.

Invisible Mender: he never has the parts he needs and will disappear for an entire day to get them.

And members of the ‘Trusted Tradesmen Register’ have put together the following checklist to help spot the cowboys:

Cowboy Warning Signals

1. Being able to start a project straight away. Most reputable tradesmen will already be committed to existing customers and will need to give you a starting date.

2. Being too keen to down tools and break out the biscuits. The best tradesmen are in demand and will have other jobs to start as soon as yours is finished.

3. Reluctance to provide previous customer references.

4. Can only provide references older than six months for work similar to that you are having done.
5. Tradesmen who only provide a mobile number or a PO Box as their address.

6. Quotations more than 10 – 15 per cent cheaper than others should be viewed with caution – in most cases, you get what you pay for – as should those that are only provided verbally.

7. Unwilling to provide an itemised quote. With a larger job, such as an extension, you should always get the quote broken down into phases of work, e.g. electrics, windows etc. This will help you keep better track of the project.

8. Tradesmen who offer a discount for cash.

9. Use of an unmarked vehicle – a reputable company usually relies on the advertising on its vans.

10. Tradesmen who make unsolicited calls, e.g. 'we just happened to be in the area'.

Web: http://www.house.co.uk