Can you build a marketplace where both customers and service providers have their own apps?

Yes. Most home services marketplaces need three surfaces: a customer-facing booking app, a provider-facing job management app, and an ops dashboard for your team. We build all three in a single engagement, sharing the same backend so job state, payments, and messaging stay consistent across every surface. No separate project is needed to connect them after the fact.

How do you handle provider vetting and background checks in the platform?

Provider vetting is built into the onboarding flow. We integrate background check APIs such as Checkr or Sterling, document verification services, and license validation steps before any provider is approved to take jobs. Providers who fail verification are flagged and held with a clear reason code, not silently dropped, so your compliance record stays clean. Certification expiry tracking sends alerts before a document lapses.

How long does it take to build a home services marketplace platform, and what does it cost?

We launch a validated v1 in 12 to 16 weeks, then grow it. A first module is usually customer booking plus dispatch. Cost depends on the number of service categories, geographic complexity, and the integrations required. We scope every project before pricing. Fixed cost is agreed before development starts.

Can you integrate Stripe for customer payments and provider payouts on the same platform?

Yes. Stripe Connect is the standard for two-sided marketplace payments. Customers pay through Stripe, funds are held in escrow until job completion, and providers receive their payout automatically on the schedule you configure. Stripe handles the KYC for provider accounts, reducing your compliance burden. We also wire up invoicing, refund workflows, and dispute handling so every transaction has a complete audit trail.

We already have a basic booking system. Can you extend it or do we start from scratch?

It depends on the architecture. If your existing system exposes a clean API and the data model supports your growth requirements, we can extend it. More often, booking systems built quickly to test an idea carry technical decisions that constrain growth. A rebuild on a solid foundation is faster and cheaper over a two-year horizon than layering new features onto a fragile core. We assess the existing system during discovery and give you a direct recommendation, not a default answer.

We're paying per-tech pricing that grows with every hire. How does custom software change the cost math?

Per-user pricing is a growth penalty: the software costs more exactly when the business is scaling. Custom software flips the math. You pay once to build it, then the marginal cost of the next hire is zero. For a 5-person shop the off-the-shelf tool may still win; for a growing operation the breakeven point arrives fast. We run the numbers with you during discovery and will say plainly if the platform is still cheaper.

Can the platform tell us whether we actually made money on each job?

Yes, and this is the question off-the-shelf tools answer worst. We build job costing into the platform: labor time logged against the job, materials used, travel time, and the invoice amount. Each job shows its margin when it closes, and the dashboard aggregates margin by service category, provider, and week. A dead-simple way to see if you actually made money on that install, not just whether the booking happened.

Home Services Marketplace Software Development

Service Titan was great but horrifically expensive. Contractors report it costing $400 to $600 per tech per month all-in, and the platform gets more expensive exactly when your business is scaling. And the owner is still juggling calls, scheduling, dispatch, customer notes, follow-up, because the software does four jobs in four different places. A platform built around your specific service categories, geography, and provider model cuts that friction and answers the question no off-the-shelf tool answers simply: did we actually make money on that job?

Provider onboarding and vetting with background check API integration, license verification, and service area configuration
Job booking, intelligent dispatch, and real-time GPS technician tracking for customers and your ops team
Stripe-powered payment collection, escrow, provider payouts, and automated invoicing
Review and rating management with post-job prompts, moderation tools, and provider quality scoring

The problem

Sound familiar?

Losing bookings because customers can't self-serve and your team handles every inquiry by phone or email?
Provider no-shows and quality complaints you can't catch in advance because vetting and job history live in a spreadsheet?
Payments collected outside the platform, creating reconciliation headaches and disputes with no audit trail?

Short answer

RaftLabs handles home services marketplace development for on-demand booking and handyman marketplaces. We ship provider vetting, booking and dispatch, GPS tracking, Stripe Connect payments, and review management. A first module launches as a validated v1 in 12 to 16 weeks, then grows into a full two-sided platform for the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. We scope every project before pricing. Fixed cost, agreed before work starts.

Trusted by

01 Diagnosis

Where home services operations actually leak

01
Problem
The owner is still the system
Solution
When customers can't self-book online or in an app, the owner juggles calls, scheduling, dispatch, customer notes, and follow-up. This caps your booking volume at the number of people answering calls and emails. According to Invoca, 27% of inbound calls go unanswered in service businesses, with each missed call costing an average of $1,200 in lost revenue. A self-serve booking flow with real-time availability, service category selection, address capture, and instant confirmation removes the manual step and lets volume grow without adding headcount.The same problem surfaces in rescheduling and cancellations. When a customer needs to change a booking and the only path is a phone call, they often don't bother, creating a no-show and a wasted slot for the provider. A self-serve change and cancellation flow with automatic provider notification and calendar update converts what would be a no-show into a recovered slot. The outcome is a business that runs without the owner in the middle.
02
Problem
Per-user pricing is a tax on growth
Solution
Contractors report Established or Pro tier pricing landing at $400 to $600 per tech per month all-in. ServiceTitan implementations are commonly reported from $5k to past $50k depending on the shop. The software gets more expensive exactly when the business is scaling, and Housecall Pro gets expensive fast with per-user pricing. For a 5-man shop the off-the-shelf tool may still win. Past that, the math inverts.Custom software costs once to build and nothing per additional hire. That is the whole pitch. We run the breakeven numbers with you during discovery and will say plainly when the platform is still cheaper.
03
Problem
Dispatch is four tools pretending to be one job
Solution
When job assignment depends on an operations manager checking a spreadsheet of provider availability, cross-referencing a map, and sending a message to each provider individually, dispatch is slow, error-prone, and impossible to scale past a certain booking volume. Every time a dispatcher needed customer history, appointments, technician locations, invoices, or inventory, they had to jump somewhere else. Urgent bookings sit unassigned. Job confirmations arrive late, and customers don't know when their provider will arrive.An intelligent dispatch engine matches jobs to qualified, available, nearby providers automatically, sends instant job notifications through the provider app, and tracks GPS location so customers get a live ETA. When a provider declines or goes unavailable, the system re-assigns without requiring a human to intervene. Your ops team shifts from manual coordination to exception handling. The outcome is dispatch that runs itself.
04
Problem
Payments collected outside the platform create disputes and reconciliation gaps
Solution
When providers collect payment directly from customers in cash or via bank transfer outside the platform, you lose visibility into job completion. You lose your commission on transactions you can't track. And you create the conditions for payment disputes you can't mediate. Refund requests arrive with no audit trail. Provider payouts are calculated manually at the end of the month.An in-platform payment flow with Stripe Connect collects payment from the customer at booking or on completion, holds it in escrow until the job is marked complete, then releases the provider payout on the schedule you set. Every transaction has a record. Your commission is captured on every job, not just the ones that happen to go through your system. The outcome is money you can trace, not money you chase.

02 What we ship

Home services marketplace software we build

Provider onboarding and vetting system
Provider onboarding starts with a structured self-serve registration flow: personal details, service categories, geographic coverage zone, hourly rate or fixed-price service definitions, and availability calendar. Background check integration via Checkr or Sterling runs automatically at submission, returning pass or fail without requiring a manual review step. Document upload handles trade licenses, public liability insurance certificates, and identity verification, with expiry date tracking so the system alerts providers and your ops team before a certificate lapses.
Approval workflows let your team review edge cases while standard applications move through automatically. Approved providers appear in the dispatch pool immediately, with their service categories, location, and ratings visible to your matching algorithm.
Built for marketplace operators whose current vetting process relies on email threads and spreadsheets, platforms entering a regulated trade category where insurance and license verification are mandatory, and multi-city expansion where a consistent onboarding bar across every new market matters.
Job booking and intelligent dispatch
The customer booking flow covers service category selection, address capture and service zone validation, date and time selection against real provider availability, job detail capture for the specific service, and instant confirmation with provider assignment. Booking requests trigger the dispatch engine, which ranks qualified providers by proximity, availability, rating, and relevant job history, then auto-assigns or presents the top options to the customer depending on the matching model you choose.
Provider job notifications go through the provider app with accept or decline options. Declines trigger automatic re-assignment so the customer booking doesn't stall waiting for a human to step in. Job status updates are sent to the customer in real time via push notification and SMS using Twilio. Your ops dashboard shows every active job, every unassigned booking, and any exception that needs attention.
Built for platforms moving from phone-based dispatch to automated assignment, operators managing more than 20 concurrent jobs where manual dispatch becomes a bottleneck, and marketplaces expanding into new service categories where provider-to-job matching rules need to flex.
Real-time GPS technician tracking
Real-time technician tracking gives customers a live map view showing their provider's location and an updated ETA from the moment the provider starts traveling. The provider app sends GPS coordinates on a configurable interval, balancing location accuracy against battery impact. Customers receive an in-app notification when the provider is within a defined radius, replacing the "where are they?" call to your support team.
Your ops dashboard shows all active providers on a live map. Geofence triggers record the timestamp when a provider arrives at the job address and when they leave, creating an objective record of time on site for billing accuracy and dispute resolution. Travel history is retained per job for audit purposes.
Built for platforms where customer anxiety about "when will they arrive" drives inbound support volume, operators dealing with disputes about time on site and billing accuracy, and marketplaces where trust and transparency are a differentiator against cash-in-hand competitors.
Payments, escrow, and provider payouts
Stripe Connect handles the full payment lifecycle on a two-sided marketplace. Customers pay at booking or on job completion via card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Funds are held in escrow until the job is marked complete, then your platform commission is deducted and the provider payout is released automatically. Providers onboard to Stripe through a short KYC flow within your platform, so you're not managing provider bank details directly.
Card data never touches your servers: Stripe is the PCI-DSS Level 1 record-keeper, which keeps your own compliance scope small, and customer records are handled to meet GDPR and CCPA obligations. Invoices generate automatically on job completion. Refund and dispute workflows give your ops team a structured process with a full transaction audit trail. End-of-period provider statements are generated automatically.
Built for marketplace operators collecting cash or off-platform payments, platforms with a manual payout process that consumes finance team time each month, and operators whose current dispute process involves no transaction record to refer back to.
Review and rating management
Post-job review prompts go out automatically via push notification and email within a configurable window after job completion, while the experience is still fresh. The review flow captures an overall star rating, optional written feedback, and specific attribute scores such as punctuality, quality of work, and professionalism.
Provider quality scores aggregate rating average, cancellation rate, on-time arrival rate, and repeat booking rate into a composite score your dispatch engine can use to preference high-quality providers. Moderation tools let your team flag or remove reviews that violate your guidelines. Providers with a score below a defined threshold are automatically paused and flagged for review rather than continuing to take jobs.
Built for platforms where provider quality varies and there is no early warning before a customer complaint, operators who currently moderate reviews manually from emails, and marketplaces where quality is a core brand promise that needs to be enforced systematically.
Operations dashboard and analytics
Your ops team needs a single view of the business: active jobs, unassigned bookings, provider availability, payment status, and any exception that needs attention. The dashboard surfaces open bookings that haven't been assigned, jobs where the provider hasn't confirmed arrival, payments that are held pending dispute resolution, and providers whose certification is approaching expiry. Alerts are configurable so the team sees what matters and isn't drowned in noise.
Analytics cover the metrics that drive the business: bookings by service category, provider utilization rate, average job value, customer repeat rate, geographic demand heatmaps, and provider quality distribution. Revenue reporting shows gross bookings, platform commission, and payout totals by period, filterable by service type and market. Customer lifetime value reporting identifies the acquisition channels and service categories that produce your most valuable customers.
Built for operators running the business from a mix of spreadsheets, email, and disconnected tools, platforms planning multi-city expansion who need visibility across markets, and marketplace founders who want data behind their product and growth decisions rather than intuition.

03 Buy, build, or wait

The home services software question is really about whether the platform costs you more as you grow.

Buy or rent

Jobber or Housecall Pro, for the 5-man shop
Too bloated for a 5-man shop is the complaint, but the price is right before you scale.
ServiceTitan, for the big shop
Great but expensive at scale. Contractors report $400 to $600 per tech per month all-in, plus $5k to $50k implementation.

Build custom

When per-user pricing is a tax on growth
The software costs more exactly when the business is scaling. Custom costs once; the next hire adds zero.
When the owner is the system
Juggling calls, scheduling, dispatch, customer notes, follow-up. The platform should carry its own weight without you thinking.
When nobody answers 'did we make money?'
A dead-simple way to see if you actually made money on that install. Job costing built in, not bolted on.

Bottom line

Stay on the platform while the headcount is low and the per-user math works. Build when the pricing becomes the growth constraint, or when the owner is the only integration the system has.

04 How we work

How we build home services marketplace software

01
Discovery
We map your service categories, geographic coverage model, provider onboarding requirements, and the job lifecycle from booking to payment. We identify where your current process breaks, whether that is manual dispatch, off-platform payments, or a vetting process that varies by who ran it. We also map the integrations required: background check APIs, SMS and push notification providers, payment infrastructure, and any tools your team already uses. The risk this retires: the workflow the template assumed.
02
Design
We design the three surfaces your marketplace needs: the customer booking flow, the provider job management app, and your ops dashboard. Every flow is prototyped and clickable before any code is written, so you see exactly how a customer books, how a provider receives and manages a job, and how your ops team handles exceptions. The risk this retires: the scope that surprises mid-build.
03
Build
We build in two-week cycles with working software at each checkpoint. The core booking and dispatch engine ships first, so you can see the central loop working early. Provider onboarding, vetting integrations, GPS tracking, and Stripe Connect payments follow in subsequent cycles. Your ops dashboard and analytics build alongside the customer and provider surfaces so nothing waits until the end. The risk this retires: the integration bolted on at the end.
04
Launch
We support a phased go-live starting with a controlled set of providers and a defined service area before opening to full demand. Monitoring covers booking conversion, dispatch assignment rate, payment success, and any integration errors. The risk this retires: the go-live that misses the first busy week.

05 Track record

What home services marketplace businesses get when they work with us

Weeks to launch a validated v1, then iterate: 12-16

Shipping production software across marketplace and on-demand businesses: Since 2015

Customer, provider, and ops surfaces built in one engagement: 3 apps

Cost with scope agreed before development starts: Fixed

Neighbouring platforms we have shipped

The pattern behind a home services marketplace is one we have shipped in neighbouring categories. Snelweg Deals is a two-sided vehicle marketplace we built in the Netherlands with automated invoicing and auction controls. UrShipper is a multi-carrier logistics platform where we migrated more than 200 existing customers with zero service disruption. City Break Apartments is a booking and keyless check-in system where self check-ins grew sevenfold after launch. Booking, dispatch, payments, and provider management carry straight across to home services.

08 Why us

Why choose us?

01
We've seen your problem before
Across dozens of industries, we recognise your situation fast, then frame the fix around your margin and your operations, not a generic template.
02
We own the number, not the ticket
We measure success the way you do: hours saved, revenue earned, margin recovered. We stay through launch and growth, so the result is ours to own.
03
Serious businesses trust us
Vodafone, T-Mobile, Cisco, Energia, Aldi, Nike. Building since 2015. Serious businesses keep coming back because we stay accountable long after launch.

09 Questions

Common questions

: Yes. Most home services marketplaces need three surfaces: a customer-facing booking app, a provider-facing job management app, and an ops dashboard for your team. We build all three in a single engagement, sharing the same backend so job state, payments, and messaging stay consistent across every surface. No separate project is needed to connect them after the fact.
: Provider vetting is built into the onboarding flow. We integrate background check APIs such as Checkr or Sterling, document verification services, and license validation steps before any provider is approved to take jobs. Providers who fail verification are flagged and held with a clear reason code, not silently dropped. Certification expiry tracking sends alerts before a document lapses so your compliance record stays current.
: We launch a validated v1 in 12 to 16 weeks, then grow it. A first module is usually customer booking plus dispatch. Cost depends on the number of service categories, geographic complexity, and the integrations required. We scope every project before pricing. Fixed cost is agreed before development starts.
: Yes. Stripe Connect is the standard for two-sided marketplace payments. Customers pay through Stripe, funds are held in escrow until job completion, and providers receive their payout automatically on the schedule you configure. Stripe handles the KYC for provider accounts, reducing your compliance burden. We also wire up invoicing, refund workflows, and dispute handling so every transaction has a complete audit trail.
: It depends on the architecture. If your existing system exposes a clean API and the data model supports your growth requirements, we can extend it. More often, booking systems built quickly to test an idea carry technical decisions that constrain growth. A rebuild on a solid foundation is faster and cheaper over a two-year horizon than layering new features onto a fragile core. We assess the existing system during discovery and give you a direct recommendation, not a default answer.
: Per-user pricing is a growth penalty: the software costs more exactly when the business is scaling. Custom software flips the math. You pay once to build it, then the marginal cost of the next hire is zero. For a 5-person shop the off-the-shelf tool may still win; for a growing operation the breakeven point arrives fast. We run the numbers with you during discovery and will say plainly if the platform is still cheaper.
: Yes, and this is the question off-the-shelf tools answer worst. We build job costing into the platform: labor time logged against the job, materials used, travel time, and the invoice amount. Each job shows its margin when it closes, and the dashboard aggregates margin by service category, provider, and week. A dead-simple way to see if you actually made money on that install, not just whether the booking happened.

Home services software by product

Get a build-vs-ServiceTitan plan for your operation

Tell us your service categories, your team size, and where the operational friction costs you the most. We'll tell you what we'd build, what it costs, and what we'd leave alone.

Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
All conversations are NDA-protected.

Your name

Your work email

Please enter a valid email address.

Your phone number