TradePoint is B&Q’s trade-only arm and offers trade prices on a large range of the trusted brands used by professionals on a daily basis. There are branches located throughout the UK supplying all the products needed for your building and maintenance needs. TradePoint members can choose from 12,000 products covering aspects such as building, decorating, plumbing, electrical, bathroom and kitchen fittings, hardware, tools, work wear, and landscaping to name but a few.
Tradepoint home page at a glance
Becoming a TradePoint member is completely free as long as you qualify as an eligible tradesman or handyman, no matter what field you fall under. Whether it be plumber, builder, electrician, gardener or decorator, you can take advantage of a variety of savings on tools and materials, as well as a number of additional services on top.
TradePoint top departments
How to buy?
TradePoint pride themselves on being open when other Trade builder’s merchants aren’t. You’ll find them open seven days a week, including on bank holidays, as well as opening from the early hours of the morning until late at night. One benefit of signing up is the range of ways you can get hold of the goods you need. Deliveries can be made right to your site and very often by the next working day. You can do this by ordering online or ringing their dedicated trade order line phone number.
TradePoint opening times
If you have the time to drive down there but don’t quite have enough time to run around the store to find your handyman supplies, you can use the Click & Collect option. Once you’ve selected your products online you can choose from next day or even a 1 hour Click & Collect option. You will also be given a tracking number and will be notified when your order is ready for collection, so you don’t have to waste precious working hours waiting around.
TradePoint click and collect 1 hr
Signing up
Before you’ve had a browse through TradePoint’s services and products you’ll want to get yourself registered. In the top right-hand corner of the webpage, you’ll see the link to do just that. Once you’ve found that page signing up is simple. You will need a few details and documents at hand to ensure that you are accepted.
The first part of the process is the usual personal details (and business name if applicable), contact details and address. This is followed by the part where they will decipher between genuine tradespeople and professionals and people trying to chance their arm on getting discount. The form is below.
The drop-down bar in the ‘Proof of Trade’ section gives you the ID options of:
- Business card
- Business letterhead
- Local newspaper advertisement
- Local directory entry
- An invoice
- Website address
- Photo of your sign-written van
Proof of trade at TradePoint
This may seem a little over the top but it does stop every Tom, Nick and Harry signing up and getting hold of discounted stock. After that, you can select what trade association memberships you have and your application is done and dusted. It could take up to seven days for TradePoint to get back to you, confirming that your submitted evidence is enough proof to see you granted membership.
When looking around at complaints about TradePoint, many have complained in the past that it seemed that anyone and everyone was being accepted for membership. This online process ensures that only the right people are getting the deals and benefitting from exclusive trade prices.
Review for Tradepoint from the past
Additional service
TradePoint members have access to a number of free services once they have signed up. These include:
- Free Paint Mixing – With TradePoint and their paint partnership with Valspar, you can select from 2.2 million colour combinations. There is even a process where you can pair up colours to household items or whatever you need to match it to.
- Free Brick Matching – Even if you have a complex or peculiar set of brickwork, TradePoint will get the closest product to match what you need. After using the free brick matching service as a member you are under no obligation to buy the bricks from there.
- Free Timber Cutting – Your first 15 cuts will be absolutely free without the need for any advanced booking before you turn up. After your free allocation is done it will then only cost 50p a cut thereafter.
- Free Bulk Delivery – For orders of over £350, TradePoint offer free delivery to your site, so you can just get on with your work whilst they do the hard work.
- Free Kitchen and Bathroom Design Services – Spaces design tool is TradePoint’s specially created service aimed to significantly reduce the time you will spend designing a new kitchen, bathroom or bedroom. This is what is included:
As a member, you can benefit from their dedicated made to measure staircase service, where you can have your custom-made stairs delivered within just three weeks of your first visit to a TradePoint centre. This is with industry specialists JELD-WEN.
TradePoint have partnered with timber specialists Donaldson Timber Engineering to offer a design service for roof trusses and the manufacture of structural timber roof systems, giving you expert backing on roofing work.
A number of financial service options are open to TradePoint members including Trade Account cards, fuel cards and trade insurance.
Trusted for over 35 years
Providing insurance and services to businesses since 1984Website features
The site itself is relatively easy to navigate. The tabs at the top of the page make it easy to find the type of products you are looking for, with it split into the different trade sectors and areas. The search bar adds another method of easily finding what you are looking for.
Once you have selected the area there are more departments to help you hone in exactly what you need for your upcoming jobs. For example, below you’ll see that within Garden & Maintenance it is then divided further, another way of easily steering around the website.
TradePoint tabs
If you are more suited to using a brochure to look for the products you want, you can download one from the website. The Quick Order tab at the top left of the page then allows you to just enter the product number and add it to your basket without having to root your way back through the different sections. Hunting down what you’ve already seen in the catalogue.
One extremely handy feature on the website is the Trade Talk blog section. This gives trade professionals news, tips and helpful information on topics ranging from growing your business, filling in tax assessment forms, industry news, budgeting, handy apps, working with contractors and much, much more.
TradePoint Reviews
As is normally the case with this type of service there are both positive and negative reviews. A quick look at Trustpilot would suggest it’s a service you should avoid, but this should be taken with a pinch of salt as the reviews are low in number and it does not paint a full picture. Below are some of the more recent comments from trade professionals online.
Reviews seem to be quite conflicting when it comes to the range of products available but one area where there seems to be consistent satisfaction is with ease of access to gaining products, especially because of the lengthy opening hours available.
TradePoint positive review
Discounts available on the website
TradePoint dropping prices
Members can gain access to exclusive discounts outside of purchasing tools and materials. TradePoint have partnered up with soletrader.com and you can gain £30 credit for designing your company or work website. You could also save on hires with Speedy, being awarded the 5 days for the price of 4 deal on week hires. If you sign up for vehicle finance options with Vanarama you will also receive a £150 voucher to spend at TradePoint on your next visit.
TradePoint and Soletrader partnership
It may also be worth keeping an eye online for a TradePoint discount code which appear from time to time.
Refund service
TradePoint offer a generous 45-day refund policy across their in store, home delivery and click and collect services. You’ll just need to provide the confirmation of your order, receipt or invoice and they will issue a refund or exchange your product for you. If you are returning products this can be done so at any TradePoint, whether you have purchased in-store or online.
TradePoint returns policy
If what you’ve bought is defective, or differs from their description, they will offer a refund, an exchange or repair if necessary. Your consumer rights will be unaffected.
Verdict on Price
TradePoint won’t allow you to save enough money to see thousands more in your account at the end of the year. However, it is certainly not any more expensive than other merchants and you can definitely expect fair pricing. Combine that with the additional services that come with the membership and you will be getting value for money.
Conclusion
When time is of the essence and you need flexibility in when you can buy your materials, TradePoint is the ideal service to turn to. The early opening hours and late closing times seem to be the main plus point for tradespeople who use the service. With the click and collect service, generous refund policy and delivery options, you know you can get what you need, when you want it and don’t have to worry about getting stock replaced.
When it comes to the topic of prices it seems that you won’t save much more than through other builder’s merchants, although it is still cheaper than buying from general D.I.Y stores. But you get so much more than your tools and materials with expert advice, specialised services for roofing and staircases and even help with estimations for jobs. The online blog section Trade Talk is a great little addition.
TradePoint TradeTalk for blogs and tips
If you are a small business or a self-employed handyman, the range of services available under one roof makes it easy to track a variety of different aspects of your business. From fuel to finances, vans to tools and then of course all the materials ordered. It cuts out a lot of fuss and makes it simple to find everything you need for upcoming work.
With locations nationwide you know, even if you are working away from your local area, you’ll have a familiar merchant experience not too far away. You also will not have to visit a plumbing centre, a timber merchant, a garden centre or a bedroom specialist on separate visits. The one huge selling point is the large range and variety of products available for trade professionals all under one roof.
TradePoint stores are located nationwide
For fair pricing, additional services and minimal fuss, TradePoint’s Trade Building Supplies is your place to go.
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1 Comment
Since the closure of the Rochdale branch and both Oldham and Bury being 8 miles away in any direction ,as a handyman service of over 10 years i find the travel to branch and back cuts an hour of actual working off the day. I managed with this scenario though I admit I was not impressed.
However the recent tradepoint change in the “earn 5% offnext month) scheme by spending £250 this month seems to be quite blatantly aimed at Builders and large companies who can easily spend the £250.00 in one transaction and thus cutting out the small but equally important trader like myself.
Having spent most of my career purchasing my supplies from Band Q in various towns I feel quite angry that my customers now have to purchase their own supplies if they require B and Q products as by the time I have left the job in hand to collect a small item results in a loss of time and fuel.
My views are shared by numerous small traders like myself.We feel the Tradepoint discount scheme now in place does not benefit us at all and most of us are now using other local suppliers that can offer a small discount on their products.
Quite often they will “price match then offer their usual trade discount off that price.
Conclusion is B and Q seem to have turned their backs on the little trader and are solely intent on focusing sales to the big construction companies. Grossly unfair practice I have to say.Seriously needs addressing if B and Q are to survive.