News : Refurber.com – Another Big Build For Market United

20-6-2007

Forget your spanner, drill bits and that collection of odd nails, the most important thing to have in your renovation toolbox is this: Refurber.

Refurber was launched by Market United in June and is the latest “advice-opedia” from Vibe Capital, the owners of parenting Web 2.0 site Minti.com.

With the aim of sharing valuable advice on a range of home renovation related topics—including tips on DIY projects, landscaping and design—Refurber members create content in the form of articles, which are then tagged, rated and commented on by other members.

In addition to sharing renovation expertise, members of the Refurber community can take advantage of a range of Web 2.0 technologies including flickr-style photo storage, ranking and tagging; a detailed Question and Answer facility (similar to Yahoo! Answers ); extensive RSS feeds which connect articles to search results; and free blogs to share their renovation project trials and triumphs.

To build Refurber, Market United used Vibe Capital’s proprietary "vibEngine" software which was originally designed for Minti.com to support ranked-advice communities. The Market United technical team coded the vibEngine to Vibe Capital’s specifications in order to reach a new audience of renovators in the same way that Minti.com has been embraced by the online parenting community.

“The launch of Refurber has been a ground-breaking piece of business for us,” said Marc Loveridge, Managing Director of Market United. “After more than a year of receiving valuable feedback from the Minti.com community, we were thrilled to work with Vibe Capital again to launch a new Web 2.0 community. Refurber is a fantastic resource for renovators, builders and those of us who like to dabble in DIY.”

Vibe Capital were equally enthusiastic to be collaborating with Market United on the development of this second wholly-owned vertical community.

“The Market United tech team are uber-geeks—in the most positive way—while the marketing and design team are very switched on to our vision,” said Matthew Macfarlane, co-founder of Vibe Capital. “Given the popularity of both Minti.com and Refurber so far, expect more where this came from!”