The web is having a significant and positive impact on the fortunes of builders, according to a new study.

The research by thebestof, a national network of local marketing websites, shows that small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) plan to grow their businesses by on average 38% in the coming year. However the more web-savvy SMEs, including builders, have growth ambitions that are twice those of their conventional SME counterparts (41% vs 20%).

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The research, which explores SMEs general approach to marketing, reveals that builders typically spend £3,000 marketing their businesses and 80% of them plan to spend as much, if not more, on marketing in the coming year. However a significant group are focusing this spend on the web - and that this spend is delivering results. For instance, the internet-enabled builders get 24% of their enquiries from the web.

Nigel Botterill, Chief Executive of thebestof, commented: “The first wave of the internet seemed to be all about the major brands and retailers, or businesses like lastminute.com or ebay, whose whole premise is built on the internet.

"What this research shows is that there’s a whole generation of ordinary small businesses – like builders - who have been quietly working in the background, using the Web to steal market share from their bigger competitors.”

(CL/SP)