Posting a job and hiring a local tradesperson

Open your community on the web (/c/<your-slug>) or in the customer mobile app and tap the "Find a handyman" tile. The board lists every open job inside your community plus a Post a job button.

Each job card shows the title, category, urgency, locality and how many tradespeople have responded so far.

Tap Post a job. Fill in:

• Title — short, plain English ("Fix a leaking kitchen tap", "Weekly dog walking for two springers").
• What needs doing — free text. Include access info, parking, gate codes — anything a tradesperson would ask.
• Category — Handyman / Gardener / Plumber / Electrician / Painter / Cleaner / Roofer / Carpenter / Dog walker / Other.
• Urgency — Within 24 hours / Within a week / Flexible.
• Optional estimated hours and budget range. Leave blank if you'd rather get quotes first.
• Postcode and locality. Your full address stays private until you accept a tradesperson's response.

Registered tradespeople in the community get notified automatically. Their responses land on your job page.

Each response shows the tradesperson's message and an optional proposed visit time. Read through, then tap Accept on the one you want.

That opens an Appointment — the trade gets your full address + a Maps link so they can drive over. The other responses stay visible but pending; you can come back later if the first choice doesn't work out.

The visit is purely for the trade to assess the job. No money has changed hands at this point.

After the site visit, the trade submits a quote: total price, optional labour + materials breakdown, optional notes, optional estimated completion.

You'll see it on the job detail page. Two buttons:

• Accept + pay — opens Stripe Checkout. You pay the quoted amount plus a 10% finder's fee into escrow. On a £100 quote that's £110 total — the £100 sits in escrow until you sign off, the £10 covers our platform costs (we pay for matching, escrow, comms and chargeback risk).
• Reject — with an optional reason. The trade can submit a new quote if they want to revise.

Once escrow is paid, the tradesperson proposes a visit schedule:

• Cadence — One-off (single visit), Weekly, or Fortnightly.
• First visit date + time.
• Number of visits in the block (1 for one-off, N for recurring).
• Optional visit length in minutes.

You see the proposed dates on the engagement card. Tap "Approve schedule" once you're happy. The trade can re-propose if you'd rather different dates.

Once approved the visits become live — the trade can press Start on each one when they arrive.

Each scheduled visit gets its own card showing the date / time / duration. As the trade works:

• They press Start when they arrive on site — timestamp + GPS recorded.
• They press Finish when the work's done — timestamp + GPS recorded.

You see both events on the visit card. There's also a comments thread on the engagement — both sides can post. Tradespeople can flag a comment as "Needs more hours" or "Needs another job" so scope creep stays visible.

Either side can propose moving a not-yet-started visit. Tap Reschedule on the card, pick a new date/time, optionally add a reason ("running late", "weather", "I have to be out").

The other side gets Accept new time / Decline buttons. The original time stays put until both sides agree — so nothing silently vanishes from your diary.

Visits already in progress or completed can't be rescheduled. If something goes wrong with a finished visit, use the dispute path instead.

When every visit in the block is complete, the trade uploads photos and marks the engagement complete. You'll see the photos + notes on the engagement card.

Tap Accept + release funds to send the agreed payout to the tradesperson's Stripe Connect account (their quote minus our 10% platform fee).

Tap Something's wrong to raise a dispute instead — funds stay in escrow and our admin team gets involved. Disputes need a reason of at least 20 characters.

Once funds release you can leave a star rating + comment on the trade's directory listing.

On a £100 quote:

• Customer pays: £100 + 10% surcharge = £110.
• Held in escrow: £110.
• On release, tradesperson receives: £100 − 10% platform fee = £90.
• Platform retains: £110 − £90 = £20 (~18% of what you paid; ~20% of the quote).

Same maths whether it's a one-off £80 hedge trim or a £600 block of 8 dog walks.