Tap for a tradie

Australians can now pay for tradies through an app, with WhatsApp-style messaging and Uber-like payments now available through hipages.

There are over 1.5 million Australians already using hipages, an Australia-wide website for finding, hiring and rating tradespeople. It has over 70,000 registered and verified tradies on the platform and more than 80,000 jobs posted each month.

With consumers dishing out around $130 billion in home improvement services annually, the app offers a different user experience to book as well as pay for services using a credit card. It also allows for tradies to quote jobs based on descriptions and photos without a site visit.

According to hipages, nearly two in three tradies do not accept credit cards because the technology to do so is cumbersome and expensive.

Payments made through the app are powered by payment engine PromisePay.

“Integrating payments with the PromisePay platform is a great way to make it faster, simpler and more secure. hipages will also automatically issue a receipt of the transaction for peace of mind,” said David Vitek, co-founder and CEO of hipages. 

“Whether you are looking for a plumber, electrician, painter, builder, cleaner, gardener or any other home improvement professional, this is the easiest way to pay your tradie right from your smartphone.”

Vitek believes this kind of transaction will be just the beginning.

“We see a world where you can easily pay deposits in escrow, schedule monthly payments to the gardener, apply for loans and more, all with just the tap of a finger,” he said.

The updated app is free and available on the Apple iTunes and Google Play stores.

Founded in 2004, hipages is a venture-backed company which also secured funding from News Corp in 2015.

Image courtesy of Scott Lewis under CC-BY-2.0