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Launched in 2005, RatedPeople.com helps people find tradespeople who are recommended by others in their area. The site is based in London but serves all of the UK. Andrew Skipwith, founder and CEO, launched the site with money from friends and angel investors.

Here are some of the questions Andrew has been asked in a recent interview. 

Explain your business to my Mum.

It’s a website that introduces people with home improvement projects to tradesmen who have been rated and recommended by others.

• How does that work?

It works like online ‘word of mouth’. You let us know what you’d like to do, and we put you in touch with recommended local tradesmen showing you their feedback and ratings from previous customers. Because we make the introductions, we know the ratings people post are genuine.

• How do you make money?

For your Mum it’s free. Our tradesmen pay to be part of our service; for them it’s a better way to find work as they can choose jobs to fit in with their schedule and find work they’re genuinely interested in quoting on.

• Any weird business experiences so far?

Being asked by ITV whether we might buy Friends Reunited.

• What’s your background?

I used to work for a steeplejack that was scared of heights. He’d send me up church roofs to fix tiles. It was OK because we had very long ladders but these days I suspect you’d use scaffolding.

RatedPeople.com • How are personalisation and recommendation part of your business?

Our business is all about ratings and people so personalisation and recommendation is part and parcel of that. We’ve created a platform that allows for everyone to know who’s good at what they do and who’s not. On the other hand we help the tradesmen who deliver good service and leave their customers happy, grow their business.

• How will you survive the second dot com crash?

Useful businesses thrive when things are uncertain as people reassess value for money and we’re growing fast as more people find out about us. As the credit crunch hit our business grew steadily. Other tech business owners have had the same experience. I believe this situation is very different to the first dot com crash: yes, M&A has stopped dead for the time being, but the volume of underlying commercial activity and deal making remains strong.

• How many users do you have now, and what’s your target within 12 months?

We’re fast approaching our 500,000th customer. We don’t fixate on ‘user targets’ as such, rather than the quality of service we provide. But as more people find out about us we’re expecting to see rapid growth as people ditch their business directories. People don’t know where to start when presented with a long list of phone numbers. Getting introduced to a few interested people is much easier and much more likely to lead to a happy experience. Watch this space!

• Which tech businesses or web thinkers are the ones to watch?

I talk to as many CEOs and tech business owners as possible. It’s a small community and we help each other. That said I don’t watch any one person. It’s too dangerous – no one has all the answers and most of us are making it up as we go along!

• Who’s your mentor?

Bill McAneny. I met Bill fairly recently through a friend. He’s one of the most thoughtful and insightful people I know. He’s helped people try and understand other people for most of his life. I’m back at school and loving it.

• How do you plan to survive the financial crisis?

We’re finding that the financial crisis is actually helping us because people are ‘improving not moving’. When money is tight everyone wants work done right and work done well.

• What’s your biggest challenge?

Because we’re ‘innovative’ (i.e. making stuff up as we go along!) our biggest challenge is staying focussed and deciding what not to do.

• How’s your work/life balance?

Fine because I have a great team. I also have three young kids so I work a four-day week to spend more time with them. I’m not one of those people that can put in 15 hour days, 7 days a week. No one wants a stressed out workaholic as their business leader.

• What’s the most important piece of software or web tool that you use each day?

I don’t use many web tools as such unless you count email software and Microsoft packages. The greatest asset for me is being able to work with my team every day.

• Name your closest competitors.

Ratedpeople.com sets itself apart in the market currently but our biggest competitors are the old fashioned directories like Yellow Pages and Thompson. They are the ones we watch.

• Where do you want the company to be in five years?

To become the top website that people go to when they need tradesmen.

Visit Ratedpeople.com and post a job to be entered in a FREE prize draw to win £1000 in John lewis vouchers!

The votes are in, and not only have metal roofing materials ceased to be considered as stark, industrial and boring – they’ve become the new architectural style-staple, while also being favored by those looking to diminish their carbon footprints, save electricity and improve the fire rating of their homes.

Furthermore, metal roofing is much more recyclable than other type of roofing materials – unlike fiberglass it can be easily melted down and reshaped. Quite aside from such social and environmental issues, metal roofs are also known for being the most durable and safe option around. Many insurance companies will actually give discounts topping 25% off your payments if you have a metal roof, given their resilience when faced with the hazards of hail, strong wind, and fire.

You’ll be pleased to find that, since metal roofs moved from factories to top the most desirable suburban homes, residential metal roofing materials have come a long way in terms of their design aesthetics, as well as their functionality. You’ll even find metal shingles treated and colored to resemble all manner of traditional products, including clay tiles and wooden slats.

If youre keen to move into the new era of design, on the other hand, panels crafted in that raw exposed style, in copper, stainless steel and aluminum, have never been more meticulously crafted or of better quality. Galvalume is known as the strongest of all materials ” galvanized sheet steel coated in a silky-sheen layer of zinc-alloy, its hardiness approaches that of kevlar.

The most modern, and some would say aesthetically pleasing, metal roofing material is that of standing-seam roofing panels, which are both easily installed and virtually immune to wind, ice, snow and hail damage. If youd like to go even stronger you can find these in Galvalume, galvanized sheet steel coated in a Zinc-Aluminum alloy that possesses the most impressive corrosion resistance of any roofing material, meaning that it will last a very long time.

How long will it last? Well, manufacturers are notoriously conservative in how they issue warranties, and the average metal roofing material manufacturer issues a forty year warranty on properly installed roofs. Scientific estimates of how long modern built metal roofs will last range more to the sixty or seventy year mark. So invest now, and look forward to a roof that will protect your home as long as you choose to live in it.