Finally Yourfloors has activated the fitting and accessories part of the website. If you have a Yourfloors site then please read this very carefully before you activate the fitting and underlay.
Firstly, a screenshot of it working:
It works! However be careful for a couple of reasons.
Firstly your fitting charges need to include gripper/adhesives. They have emailed us all to remind us of that, but it’s something to bear in mind when adding your fitting prices to the site.
Also there does not appear to be any way to set a minimum fitting charge. That can be scary. Imagine selling a 2m x 2m bathroom carpet and getting the princely sum of £10 or £12 to fit it! That must be changed and I’m certain it will be. People can knock the website all they like, but it will work successfully in the years ahead, I have no doubt.
Aside from that there is a minor problem with carpet tile fitting where 4 tiles, according to Yourfloors, means 16 square metres of fitting – oops.
I do like it though. You can decide what accessories to sell and add any underlays you like, regardless of who you buy them from. There are not enough fields for door bars (only 6?!?! – you need more like 20+), whereas you can add up to 6 types of scotia (?).
You can add uplift of old, removal of furniture and door cutting (or not if you don’t do it), so it does have a lot of the bases covered (though not all, obviously). Yourfloors is very much a case of ‘swings and roundabouts’ for the retailers who have signed up. Some things will seem a bit of a headache – “oh no I have to deliver a 2m x 2m for free”, but remember you might just get a big order off the back of it, so grin and bear it!
To consumers, Yourfloors now offers a complete service and I recommend you use it. You can compare all of your local independent retailers who are specialists and have every reason to provide you with a much better and more personal service than the big shops. They will also have every chance of winning on price.
Remember, the price per square metre and the final fitted price are not the same thing! Big carpet chains will often lead with prices that appear to be lower, but the on the floor price will end up being much higher than your local retailer.
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