diy.co.uk ( B & Q ) > Reviews > Shop by yourself for do-it-yourself

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Masses of products, great prices, useful other sections
Disadvantages:	None found so far

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I’m in the process of buying my first house and when I finally get it it’s going to need quite a bit of work. So for the first time in my life I’ve taken an interest in things DIY and, more specifically, places SELLING things DIY.

Last weekend I set off on what was meant to be quick trek around my local DIY shops but alas it turned out to be a very long, very stressful and very unproductive exercise. The parking, the traffic, the out of stock items, the jostling shoppers and the queues just put me right off traditional shopping and had me rushing home to do my research and purchasing online and ALONE.

That’s how I discovered diy.co.uk (I suppose people would get confused if they used their real name – do you type b and q or b & q?).

Anyway, the site looks good. It’s in nice sort of orangey-browny shades and everything is clear and uncluttered – very unusual for a site selling a big range.

And this site sells a MASSIVE range of goods. There is more on the B&Q web site than there is in the average large store, covering every aspect of home and garden possible.

Searching the site is easy, or you can use the navigational bars to take you to predefined categories such as ‘Bathrooms’, ‘Kitchens’, ‘Lighting’ and ‘Flooring’ to name but a few.

Once at a category page you are then offered plenty of sub-categories to choose from. There wasn’t one thing I was looking for that I didn’t find quickly and easily here.

Items are displayed with small pictures which you click on to enlarge. The quality of photographs is very good and they load quite quickly. Prices are also well displayed and you can click for more information on any product. Whether or not delivery will be charged and how much it will be is also clearly stated with each product. For example, if buying something bulky like floorboards, you will be charged a fiver for transportation, which I think is fair enough.

Back to the range of products again, and I was looking for a plain white bathroom suite as cheap as I could get. In my local store, the cheapest one on offer was £300. On the web site, however, they are offering one for an incredible £199. So it’s always worth checking the site as they seem to have more products than the stores.

Buying is straightforward, secure and fairly swift, and contact details are clearly displayed for if you have to contact customer services.

I can’t comment on delivery because I haven’t ordered anything yet but will certainly be doing so and will then update this op.

Lastly, the site doesn’t just sell things. There is a section called ‘Inspiration’ which is full of great decorating and furnishing ideas and articles, and a superb section called ‘DIY Advice’ which takes you through the how-to’s of many DIY tasks such as fitting a kitchen, fitting a bathroom, painting and wallpapering and much, much more.

Overall an excellent site that I will be spending a LOT of time on over the next few weeks.

Now, where’s that spanner?