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SA app serves notice to dodgy building operators

Cape Town – A new mobile app aims to connect honest tradesmen with South African consumers.

Honest Abe is a mobile application where plumbers, electricians and builders sign up to deliver services to consumers on a platform is designed to limit the incidence of dodgy operators.

“There will always be dodgy operators, but Honest Abe tries to vet as far as possible the validity of the operator through the various organisations governing the construction industry,” James Mittan, co-founder of the Honest Abe app, told Fin24.

Mittan developed the app with Derick Bolton because of their experience in the building trade.

“My partner and I work in the building services industry and we have seen how a lot of smaller tradesmen struggle to find regular work. This isn’t because the work isn’t out there for them, it’s because many homeowners are wary of inviting strangers into their homes to quote on jobs and to do the work,” he said.

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Larger operators do not have an unfair advantage in being able to squeeze out small businesses on the platform.

“All operators will be notified of listed projects, regardless of the project size, and the operator has the choice to respond or not, based on their capabilities. On the other hand, the homeowner now also has the opportunity to respond to the received bids or ‘tenders’ whether it is a smaller operator or one of the bigger companies,” said Mitten.

There is no cost for home owners to submit projects, but the app is funded by tradesmen who submit bids for work as well as a registration fee which goes toward a vetting process.

“After this initial process, they [tradesmen] would be able to receive notifications of potential projects in their field of expertise. Should they wish to bid or ‘tender’ for these projects they would be able to buy prepaid ‘bids’ to bid on these potential projects,” said Mitten.

You have to register to use the application which utilises your location to serve tradesmen in your area. Similar to Uber, you can also rate the service from tradesmen who complete jobs.

“Fly-by-night operators who give the industry a bad name won’t be listed on Honest Abe and, through this form of informal verification, homeowners will have the confidence to stop doing dodgy or dangerous DIY themselves and rather start hiring experienced people to do the job for them,” the company said.

Mitten said that so far 15 000 operators have been listed on the platform in construction related industries.

“Currently, we will be starting on a process of allowing all operators free access for three months to allow them to test the platform and see what it could do for their business,” he added.


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