Looking for Feedback / Input on website

lanod2407

Folks,

I've launched my new business - www.managemybuild.ie - and am looking for feedback or input from people. We did a 'soft-launch' at the Ideal Homes Show last October and then spent a couple of months refining the product before getting into hard selling mode last month.

Essentially ManageMyBuild is an online project management product for Self Builders. The Self-Builder registers online and pays a fee to join. The fee is valid for as long as the construction project takes.
The main Project Management process walks the user through the process, from initial configuration of the build - type and size of house, etc. through the Quoting, Supplier Selection & Scheduling elements to arrive at a stage where the Self-Builder has a complete Project Plan, with a detailed set of activities which have been costed and scheduled.

The product then tracks each item as it gets completed - highlighting areas where the user is going off plan on schedule or cost.

There are also Industry News and Tip of the Week features to provide additional value.

I'll say no more as I want people to hit the site as "raw" as possible - just as if you were searching google for help with a self-build and came across the site!


Your thoughts, inputs, etc. greatly appreciated.

TheWaterboy

I like the design and the layout - very simple and structured. I think its actually a good idea

Just some points from a technical point of view:

Terms & Conditions Page - There are two scrollbars appearing. One of the main window and then one one on the actual text div. Get rid of the one on the text div. Actually this seems to be the way on alot of the text pages (Privacy Policy etc).

FAQ page, http://www.managemybuild.ie/index.php?action=faq, just seems to go back to the home page

Tip of the Week - I would put in some sort of search facility or alternatively a drop down of previous tips. At the moment its impossible to search the archives for what your looking for

In Firefox on alot of pages, the footer text is slightly covered by a div

I would take the AboutUs out of the Contact page and put it in a page on its own.

On the signup form there is a county dropdown and also a country dropdown - If you choose UK it still remains with a list of Irish counties. Prob best to disable the county dropdown if you select another country

When signing-up, if you click the register button and havent filled out all the necessary pages, it outputs the errors but you now get a very messed up register page displayed - It also doesnt remember the county I selected.

I would put the credit cards you accept into the footer of the site. Helps improve trust in the site.

The calendar popup is very buggy in the manage my build area - Again im using it in Firefox. Sometimes I couldnt get it to popup. Why are all the dates in US format?

The gantt chart just displays a blank white page. Not sure whats happening there: http://www.managemybuild.com/php/project/gantt.php

The Configure menu (+ -) doesnt work in Firefox.


I dont mean to tear it apart but these are just the annoying bugs i saw while having a quick run through. Its a good idea, so I think if you iron out the bugs and tidy up the design/styles as you develop the site then you might do well with it.

Best of luck and if you have any questions then PM me.

silversurfer

I liked the website. I didn't go through it in full, but I did look at the pages that interested myself. It's clear and well layed out

1. I would add testamonials from users (as soon as you get established).
2. I would add text for upgrading homes, then people who are looking for an extension will feel the site is for them too.
3. There is space at the end of the pages (above the Home | Products | Register | My Account | Suppliers | FAQs | Tip of the Week | Terms & Conditions | Site Map | )
I'd ensure this is reduced, it'll make the site look more professional.

I found loading times of some of the site pages slow, could be that the picture sizes are too big?

best of luck
s

betonit

too slow loading, I would have moved off if I was just browsing around.

adsw

Nice looking site, however I did notice a few things I would change

Home Page - "Take the Tour" - It might be worth putting a back/previous button beside Next Step. I wanted to go back to check something I read in the previous step but not able to. If a user presses the back button, they may exit the site depending on which page they were viewing before.

Supplier page (Link from footer) - "You have to be logged to search for supplier" Not grammatically correct.

FAQ on footer takes you to the home page.

I would like to see a full online demo before registering. A lot of details required when registering, so would put me off signing up. After all, I don't know how good the product would be.

Also, personally I would remove the Resellers banner from the home page. From what I read on the site, I presume you are mainly targeting this at the future home owner/builder. Banner on home page might confuse visitors as to who you are targeting. A little Reseller Link in the footer or move the banner to About/Contact page. Also shouldn't be too hard to find a list of all registered builders in Ireland.

Just my 2 pence

Adrian

Lplated

Hey,
Best of luck with the venture.
Not sure if you want input on the look of the site only, or on the business, but anyway...

First, on the site - i like the layout, colours etc... but have a problem with the photos - they're a bit 'plastic' or 'unreal' looking to me, I would change at least some of them so that they're obviously Irish.

Second, on the business - i think right business, right time. Less people looking to trade for obvious reasons so more likely to do up their existing homes and/or have a go at building themselves.

On your prices, they start at 195 euro. I'm guessing this is for the self manage package. Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't there computer programmes that do something similar but would be a lot cheaper?
I can see why you would pay that amount, plus a lot more, where there was a human input/consultancy element involved, but i think the basic 'hands off' package may be priced too high.

I think you should add a forum. Would be useful for people to ask questions about your own products and how to work them, but may prove popular in sense of building a 'peer aid' group for people experiencing similar problems/issues with their own respective builds.

I also think you should try to organise some kind of buying network to get discounts on materials for those that are using your products. If you build up any head of steam at all I can imagine that building/materials suppliers would be delighted to negotiate 'group discounts' for your customers.

In addition to a list of suppliers, you might also think of putting up a list (maybe paid for classifieds) of tradespeople. No matter how much work a person intends to do themselves, they will likely need some kind of external expertiese from a plasterer, electrician etc..

You might also consider putting up details of or links to building regulations, planning laws, minimum specifications for insulation, BER ratings etc..

Looking at the site, it seems to involve 'entire self build' only - you might consider changing the language a bit to include things like partial renovations, extensions etc...

Hope thats of some help, and again, best of luck.

lanod2407

Folks

Thanks a million for your feedback - very much appreciated.

A lot of valuable information there

---

now down to the job of using the input to improve the product!

Thanks again!


DR

betonit

fair play for giving it a lash

lanod2407

Lplated wrote: »

Second, on the business - i think right business, right time. Less people looking to trade for obvious reasons so more likely to do up their existing homes and/or have a go at building themselves.

On your prices, they start at 195 euro. I'm guessing this is for the self manage package. Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't there computer programmes that do something similar but would be a lot cheaper?
I can see why you would pay that amount, plus a lot more, where there was a human input/consultancy element involved, but i think the basic 'hands off' package may be priced too high.

Lplated - Thanks for the input - much appreciated

There are packages such as Excel and Project that people can use, and I used these myself many years ago. However, these are essentially blank sheets into which the user must populate each and every activity and requirement. For the self-builder this is an immense task and frequently people forget activities or don't know that they are required.
There's also the issue of driving tasks in parallel to reduce the project time, and if the tool helps pull in the timeline by a month that's a month less paying mortgage / rental as you wait to move in ........ so there's a saving of €500 to €1,000 for the taking.

Regarding the price - we're offering €50 off right now via a coupon offer - and I can extend it for boards members - just enter 'boards' into the coupon field to get the discount. A small token of thanks for the great feedback!