Guide To Develop An App Like Thumbtack

Last Updated on June 7, 2022

When we need to do something ourselves or get something done by someone else —  the first thought that comes to our mind is “is there an application for that?”, as it has become the habit as if applications have always supported humanity. 

But not to our surprise — there are several applications that can help you solve your problems these days. There are many remarkable examples of applications that can help you from getting the dessert you wish to eat tonight, to finding you the right help to clean up your house.

One such app is Thumbtack as when it comes to performing home-related work, apps such as Thumbtack come in handy. In fact, there are a number of top home service apps such as Thumbtack that help to facilitate your household tasks. According to reports, Thumbtack is valued at $3.2 Billion as of 2021!

In this blog, we’re going to address apps like Thumbtack and how you can build such an app if you want to. 

The benefit of such apps is that if something or anything else is going wrong in our household, and you just can’t find the right time to fix that issue, no matter how much you try to do — these apps allow you to get the professional help you need to do your chores for you, with just a single tap on your phone.

But when it comes to developing an app like Thumbtack, the price of making such an app will involve several variables. No mobile app development team can provide you with a comprehensive cost estimate without knowing the major factors of such a mobile app, such as app business logic, features, development team location, and structure.

However, if you have any idea of your software capabilities, you can find the expenses for developing apps and their features below. 

In addition, in this article, you can find tips on app MVP, which involves prioritization and development processes depending on the complexity of an app.

But let’s work out the key steps in measuring the cost of your mobile app, but first, let’s understand what Thumbtack is and how exactly it works.

What Is Thumbtack?

In the USA, Thumbtack is the biggest on-demand job platform that connects a plethora of service providers of numerous industries with customers who are actively seeking their services. 

No matter what users of Thumbtack need to do, they could find the best professionals in the field. From services like cleaning the house to planning a birthday party – one can hire professionals from all walks of life using Thumbtack.

In 2008, when they realized the complexity of finding a good professional in their local region, CEO Marco Zappacosta and his business partner had the thought about the concept for Thumbtack.

Nevertheless, the company was not immediately successful. Thumbtack leadership failed to obtain investments and many times had to rethink their initial approaches to leading the company. But eventually, the idea took off and today, Thumbtack provides more than 1000 services to customers and enables trained professionals in all 50 US states to make money through the platform.

How Does Thumbtack Work?

In essence, the Thumbtack app connects the clients who are searching for the best service providers to conduct their tasks qualitatively with service providers who are looking for work.

Clearly, Thumbtack has a complex business model with two interconnected stakeholders who are both required to accomplish services.  Thumbtack connects the customers to the service providers by requiring the customers to answer a few basic questions about their exact specifications, or as the online service marketplace names. 

Thumbtack shares that information with the professional according to the scope of the customer’s job by keeping the contact details of the customer secret in order to avoid the issue of contact masking and bombarding the inbox of the customer.

Within a few hours, the curious and accessible person will inform the applicant by paying to submit the quotes by posting the job description, and then the quote will be transmitted to the customers.

The commission model can not be incorporated into the network, considering the issue of touch masking when the service provider is employed. Yet Thumbtack has an all-out solution. Unlike its rivals, it devised a new business model. To submit the quotes on the website, the service providers pay. This is how the transaction is already established and at this point of the process, contact sharing can be done.

Mostly on the basis of quote estimation, customer rating, contact data, personalized posts, and business profiles, Thumbtack helps clients to compare professionals. Even if customers are skeptical after the comparison, they still have the choice of hiring the best professionals by calling or texting them if they need more information about their service.

The website also allows them to negotiate the price by enabling them to plan a conversation and connect with them. And when the negotiation is completed, the professional may be hired by the clients.

Related Read:

• Guide To Build An App Like Handy
• Top Home Services Business Models
• Uber For Handyman App Development Guide

Must-Have Features To Include In Your Thumbtack Like App

Features play an integral role in the success of mobile applications built on the on-demand model. The same applies to on-demand home service apps. The following is a list of essential features for the On-Demand Home Services app. 

• Browse experts using different filters 

The user should be able to find the service easily. So the application should provide different types of filters to simplify the process.

Filters such as finding service providers by cost, distance, and discipline can significantly improve the user experience.

• Schedule Service 

Gives users the flexibility to choose services at the desired time of day. This feature allows users to book services in advance. This feature isn’t just an on-demand app feature — it adds another dimension to your app.

• Approval Notice 

Real-time notifications play an important role in the functionality of on-demand apps. It also plays a similar role in on-demand home service applications. Therefore, you need to ensure that your users are notified once your service provider approves their request. 

• Protect multiple payment options 

Make sure your app has multiple payment options — Credit, debit card, cash, digital payment, wallet, etc. Everything. 

Sticking to one of the payment methods will backfire, as every user has their own preferences. In addition, it guarantees full security of transactions through a robust payment gateway. 

• Order history 

Order history is one of the essential features of an app solution that provides on-demand home services. This is a centralized option that gives users access to a detailed history of their orders.

In addition, connect users to the best service providers in their area or location. At the same time, the order history section informs the user of the service provider, name, date, time, contact details, and more.

• In-App Chatting

Within the customer app for on-demand home services, you can provide in-app messaging to seamlessly respond to customer inquiries. This feature is much faster than calling customer service. 

In-app messaging capabilities help retailers and customers better understand each other. In addition, you can reduce the possibility of confusion and errors.

However, you need to make sure that the network you provide is encrypted so that you can maintain the privacy of your communications.

• Tracking service 

Real-time GPS tracking software allows customers to track home services from the beginning. For example, if a user has booked an AC service, they can see the actual location of the technician and get the estimated time of arrival. 

• Rate & Review 

When the service is over, the app needs a confirmation function. We need to allow users to rate and review service providers. This feature is very useful as it acts as feedback and helps other users choose a service provider with a higher rating.

• Help and support 

Both new and existing users face many issues while using the app. To resolve this issue, you need this feature, which combines FAQ, customer helpline support, chat support, and onboarding tutorial videos.

Must-Have Features To Include In Your Service Provider App

• Rapid registration and profile sharing 

 Your app should have a simpler registration process for service providers that do not take too much time. Once the profile submitted by the service provider is approved, he will begin to acquire quests according to his area of ​​expertise. 

• Real-time request 

It is imperative that the service provider receive request notifications in real-time. The faster the notification, the better the app and service will run. All request notification options such as email, text notifications, push notifications, etc. should be included.

• Payment details and additional costs 

Service providers can add various payment details. PayPal, your bank account number, or where you want to receive your payment. In addition, if the user lives far away, we can mention additional costs such as shipping. 

• Customer feedback 

The feedback process works in both ways. Therefore, you need to include a customer feedback feature that allows service providers to evaluate users based on multiple criteria. These criteria include the experience of the service provider’s user, the correct instructions of the user,  and so on.

Must-Have Features To Include In Your Admin Panel

• Interactive dashboard 

The admin user panel requires an interactive admin dashboard. The interactive dashboard acts as a control center for the entire app. You can control and track all actions in your app. For best results, give easy access to the admin panel dashboard of your mobile home services app. 

• Creating and managing service lists 

Administrators can list the home services they want to provide. You can also easily manage them by adding or removing these services. Through this management, administrators can provide a better customer experience.

• Service Provider Management and Review 

You need important features that allow you to manage all service providers. You can also add a new service provider manually. Apart from that, you need to check the profiles of all service providers to prevent unauthorized registration.

• Manage payments 

You need to be very clear about commissions and other payment details so you don’t get confused later. It also ensures fast and secure transactions between users and service providers. This feature should help solve all payment issues. Apart from that, it also helps you manage various payment options. 

• Price Tag 

The price tagging feature allows owners to tag the prices of various home services. Apart from that, the administrator can also add additional costs and taxes from here.

• Request approval or rejection 

The administrator is empowered to review the order request from the customer. Then confirm the work and select or reject accordingly. However, the administrator must take certain precautions to prevent the service provider from denying the request.

• Action management 

We can offer a variety of favorable promotions and discounts to promote your home service provider app. This feature allows you to track the progress associated with the discounts offered. It helps you get useful statistics that help you offer better and more relevant discounts and promotions.

• Manage reviews 

Ratings are an important feature as they guide both parties in choosing an ally. This feature helps you see all the reviews from both sites. You can flag bad performers and refer to top performers based on their ratings. 

• Analysis 

 This is very important as it gives important insights into your business. These insights and statistics will help you make better decisions to improve the on-demand home services market. Through analytics, you can revisit your progress and make the necessary changes to get your on-demand home service application on track.

• Service Support 

In the on-demand home service business model, customers can face serious problems. And to resolve these issues, you’ll need extensive FAQs, video tutorials, and 24/7 chat or call support.

For this reason, it’s important that the Home Services app includes a customer help and support section that allows users to resolve their questions more quickly. This feature can also save time for home service store administrators. 

You can also give your customers the option to add a contact number or issue to allow them to discuss questions or issues that are not on the list. It also keeps you informed of the latest issues that your consumers are facing so you can be prepared in advance.

Related Resource: Complete Guide On Home Services App Features List

Suitable Tech Stack To Develop An App Like Thumbtack

• Application and Data: jQuery, Python, Bootstrap, AngularJS, Go, Memcached, Amazon S3, Amazon EC2, Apache Spark, Hadoop, R language, Lua, InfluxDB, PHP, NGINX
• Utilities: Google Analytics, Twilio Sendgrid
• DevOps: GitHub, Docker, Grafana, Pagerduty, PuppetLabs, AmazonEC2 Container service
• Business Tools: Slack

Best Team Composition To Build A Home Services App

• Project Lead
• UI/UX Designer
• Front and Backend Developer
• Quality Assurance Expert
• Business Analyst
• Android/iOS Developer

The team composition of your app development team is also a very important factor in the cost of home services app development and therefore the team must be used in the most optimal form possible.

Conclusion

In order to create an app like Thumbtack, core interaction is a top consideration you need to think about. In order to obtain the value they are for, it determines the user flow from registration. When it comes to building a platform like Thumbtack, it is fundamental. But it will become much simpler to create a P2P platform if you consider these four processes: creation, curation, customization, and consumption.

Frequently Asked Questions To Build An App Like Thumbtack

How should I recognize suitable developers for my App?