Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fife start-up offers builders their own price comparison website

Buy Materials has grown from three to 20 staff in just over 12 months.

Buy Materials staff at work in the Dunfermline office.  Image: Buy Materials
Buy Materials staff at work in the Dunfermline office. Image: Buy Materials

A Fife technology start-up is hoping to build on its first year growth after launching a platform which acts as a cross between Amazon and Compare the Market for the construction industry.

Buy Materials opened in Dunfermline in May 2023, and has grown from three members of original staff to 20 in that time.

They offer an online market place for trades businesses to purchase building materials from in a streamlined process.

Trades people can search for the parts and materials they need, and input them in to the website or phone app.

Then, more than 150 venders across the UK are invited to bid for the contracts, leaving the trade clients to pick and choose what they need to their specifications.

Buy Materials grows from Dunfermline

Richard Falconer, head of marketing for the company, explained how founding partner Rob Lovell launched the company after struggling to find materials during the pandemic.

He said: “Buy Materials was founded in May 2023, by Rob Lovell. He was working in construction and had a lot of problems sourcing building materials.

“He realised the whole system is broken, so he came up with a way to fix it.

“The way our platform works, is we have 150 different merchants across the UK. If you want to purchase materials, you come on to the site and pick what you need.

“We then go to our merchants and ask if they want to bid for these contracts.

“Three bids are then sent to the client, and they then choose which quote they want. And these clients can pick and choose form the best prices across our merchant portfolio.

“The merchants then deliver their materials straight to the client.

“So it centralises the bidding process. And building companies can now just come to one place to source what they need. It saves them a lot of time and bother.”

Growth to be built on

Richard added the main goal for the company this year was to continue its expansive growth.

“We have gone from three members of staff to 20 within our first year of trading. And we believe this is a business which could grow to the hundreds of millions in terms of turnover.

Some of the BuyMaterials team. Image: BuyMaterials

“We are rapidly expanding. And our main aim for this next year is to offer full coverage across the UK.

“It’s like a cross between something like Compare the Market, or a price comparison website, and an online marketplace like Amazon.

“There’s nothing like what we offer in the UK, and a lot of our main market currently is the south east of England, but we do work across the country.

 

Conversation