The first independent building materials exchange will be available from early next year.
www.easymaterial.com will focus on bringing together the catalogues of small and medium-sized builders' merchants who do not have the resources for an online delivery service of their own. Users will be able to choose from more than 100 000 items in the site's online catalogue.

Users will be able to click onto the relevant area of the country, which will bring up a list of merchants signed up to easymaterial.com in that area. You can then compare price, availability and delivery from the participating merchants, order online direct to the merchant and have the materials delivered to site. Delivery time and conditions depends on the merchant used. Users can pay for the goods on a credit or a trade account, and need to register to use the site.

www.easymaterial.com will launch on 15th January 2001 for a trial period to selected contractors in London and the southeast. Easymaterial.com has four merchants in this area signed up to the service.