Hiring and getting quotes

BldFox is a construction and contracting hub for the UAE. You can find contractors, tradespeople, suppliers and consultants, see their finished work and reviews, and post a job so businesses send you quotes.

It's free for customers, whether you're a resident or a company: searching, contacting businesses and posting a job cost nothing. BldFox takes no commission. You agree the price with the business and pay them directly.

Not to look around. Without an account you can browse the directory, read profiles and reviews, and call or WhatsApp a business from its listing.

To post a job, message a business or leave a review, create a free account and confirm your email. Then fill in the short form under Post a job.

You can also start before you sign up, by describing the job to Get Quoted, our AI assistant. Your chat and the job it drafted come with you when you create the account.

One account does both: you can post jobs and list a business with the same account.

Construction and contracting of every size: AC repair and servicing, plumbing, electrical work, painting, cleaning, pest control, carpentry, renovation and fit-out, landscaping, swimming pools, moving and snagging inspections. You'll also find suppliers, equipment hire, architects and engineers, and shops and showrooms.

It isn't only for homes. Offices, shops, restaurants, property managers and building owners find businesses and post jobs the same way, from a single repair to a yearly maintenance contract, in all seven emirates.

Open Find a contractor. Search in your own words, such as “AC repair in Dubai”, or browse every trade; each trade has its own page.

Filters narrow the list by emirate, Verified businesses, trade licence, reviews, maintenance contracts, emergency call-outs, who the business works for, rating and years of experience. You can sort by Top rated, Most reviewed, Most experienced or Newest.

Rather have businesses come to you? Post a job and the ones that fit it send you quotes. Not sure which trade it is? Describe the problem to Get Quoted, our AI assistant, and it drafts the job with you.

Verified means our team checked the business's trade licence and confirmed with the business that it runs the listing. Unverified means we haven't confirmed that; the business can still be listed and quote on jobs. Read what the Verified badge means.

A listing can also show its rating and number of reviews, how quickly the business usually replies, its response rate once it has had enough enquiries, and how many customers hired it through BldFox. Its profile adds its services, location, photos, finished projects and reviews.

Our guide to choosing a contractor shows what to look at, step by step.

Every listing shows the ways the business chose to be reached. Call and WhatsApp work without an account. Message opens a conversation in Messages and needs a free account, which keeps your conversations in one place.

A business can't message you first. It can only answer a message you send, or reply to a job you post.

You need a free account with a confirmed email. There are two ways to post:

1. The form. Open Post a job and fill in the headline, the trade, the emirate, what needs doing and when you need it.
2. The assistant. Describe the job to Get Quoted in your own words. It asks for anything missing and drafts the job; nothing is posted until you check it and press Post job.

Either way you can add the area, a budget, the size of the job, who supplies the materials, and photos or files. A preview shows how businesses will see it before you post.

Write what you'd tell a business on the phone: what the job is, where, how big, and when you need it done. “Bedroom split AC leaking water, villa in JVC, this week” gets better quotes than “AC problem”.

Add photos of the problem or the space, and name any brands or materials you want. Leave your phone number out of the words: it has its own place, under How businesses reach you.

Our guide to choosing a contractor starts with how to describe the job.

Yes, once your account email is confirmed. A job can have up to 12 photos and 10 files, such as drawings or a PDF of the plans. Each photo can be up to 5 MB and each file up to 10 MB.

Files are scanned for viruses before businesses can open them. Zip archives, old Office formats and programs aren't accepted.

Businesses with a live listing can read your job on the jobs board, with its photos and files. Your name and number are never shown on the jobs board.

Under How businesses reach you, BldFox Messages is always on. If you add Phone call or WhatsApp, you choose who gets your number: Businesses that reply to this job, or Only businesses I choose, where you share it from a conversation with Share my number.

You can stop sharing with a business at any time. Businesses see your number only while the job is open; the business you hire keeps it.

Open the job from My jobs. Edit job changes the headline, description, area, timing, budget, details and photos, and the changes are checked before they show. Businesses that already replied are told it changed. The trade and the emirate can't change: for a different one, close the job and post a new one.

Close job takes it off the board and stops new replies. You'll be asked whether you hired someone, and your conversations stay open.

A job stays open for 14 days. A closed or expired job can be reopened for another 14 days, unless you hired someone through it. Jobs can't be deleted on their own; they go when you close your account.

It goes on the jobs board, and up to five businesses that fit it best are told straight away. Other businesses in that trade can find it on the board.

Businesses with a live listing and a confirmed account email can quote or ask you questions. Up to ten businesses can reply to one job, and each reply arrives in Messages, with a notification and an email.

If no business has answered after two days, we'll email you a link to the directory and to your job, in case more detail would help.

Open My jobs and choose Compare quotes. Quotes are listed cheapest first, each with the business's timing and note; an updated quote shows its old price beside the new one.

Questions from businesses wait under Questions for you. Open conversation takes you to a business's thread in Messages, where you can ask about anything its quote leaves out.

Compare like with like: the same scope, what's included, timing and any warranty. Our guide to choosing a contractor shows how.

If no one has answered after two days, we'll email you. Photos, the size of the job or a clearer description often help: open the job and choose Edit job.

You can also look for businesses yourself in the directory and message or call them. When the 14 days are up, you can reopen the job from My jobs.

Agree the details with the business first. Then, on the job's page, press Hire on its quote and confirm with Hire them. The job closes and the business is told. The others that replied are told you chose another business, but not which one or at what price.

A hire can't be changed afterwards. If you hired someone outside BldFox, or you're not going ahead, say so when you close the job.

A week later we'll ask you to rate the work. Your review helps the next customer.

You agree the price with the business and pay them directly. BldFox takes no commission and never handles the money: there is no payment, deposit or escrow through BldFox.

BldFox isn't a party to the agreement, the payment or the work. Put the scope, price, timing and payment stages in writing before work starts. See Is it normal to pay an advance?

Open the business's profile, go to Reviews, choose your stars and write what happened. You can add up to 6 photos. You need to be signed in, and you can review each business once.

Every review is checked before it shows. Write about your own experience: our Terms don't allow reviews of businesses you've never dealt with, or reviews from the business's own team, family or staff.

Yes. On the business's profile, choose Update review or Delete on your review. An update is checked again, and while our team looks at it, your review stays as it was.

A deleted review comes off the business's page and out of its rating. You can write a new one later.

When the business answers, its reply shows under your review as Owner reply.