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Launched in 1995 as Angie’s List for reviewing and rating local service providers, today Angi has become a renowned home-services marketplace platform with over 200,000 skilled service professionals. Along with independent professionals, Angi also allows home service companies to create a business profile on its marketplace. With consistency in its service and generous value proposition for both service seekers and professionals, Angi’s annual revenue reached 1.36 billion in 2023.
Inspired by Angi’s journey, many founders are entering the home service industry with their own marketplaces. Because of the various advancements in software technology, they also have better resources and favorable conditions to enter the industry and establish a name. To assist such entrepreneurs, we have drafted this quick guide that covers all the steps required to build a home services marketplace like Angi.
Why are Home Service Marketplaces Gaining Popularity?
There are multiple reasons behind the popularity of Angi and similar home service marketplaces. Let’s go through them very briefly.
1. Convenience
The convenience factor is the primary growth factor behind the entire eCommerce industry. Online home service marketplaces provide service seekers with the comfort of quick and easy online booking, which fits into the heavy work schedules of many people.
2. Accessibility
Home service marketplaces usually provide a broad category of services, ranging from electricians, plumbers, and gardeners to car mechanics, roofers, and HVAC experts. This easy accessibility to so many service providers has made home marketplaces quite popular.
3. Trust Factor
Angi has been very successful in building a positive brand positioning. Similar is the case with other home service marketplaces. By seeking and providing services on home service marketplaces, both customers and service providers can assure each other of guaranteed payment and quality work.
4. Rise of the Gig Economy
The gig economy, characterized by contractual work and short-term projects is on the rise. More service professionals now prefer working independently as it offers them more flexibility and freedom in career options. Furthermore, top-rated service providers rarely face any difficulties in finding work on home service platforms.
5. House Repairs and Renovation Projects
A wide majority of houses in the US alone are over 2 decades old and require some sort of repair work and renovation. Apart from them, the millennial and Gen Z population is also inspired by modern house remodeling trends and thus needs the help of home service experts to realize them.
Understanding the Home Services Marketplace Model
On a home service marketplace, the marketplace owner, also referred to as the admin, is solely responsible for managing the platform. Whereas different home service professionals register themselves on the marketplace and deliver the service. The admin primarily earns through commission but can have additional revenue generation sources, such as featured listings and third-party ads as well.
The admin deploys the marketplace and sets up all important pages
Service providers register on the marketplace and create detailed profiles
Customers sign up and create jobs
Service providers browse those jobs and place their bids
Customers review the bids and select a service provider
Alternatively, some home service marketplaces also customers to directly hire service providers
For placing a booking, customers pay the service fee on the marketplace inclusive of the admin commission
Service providers coordinate with the customers and deliver the job
On reaching a minimum threshold limit, service providers can withdraw their earnings from the marketplace to their bank accounts
Steps to Build a Marketplace Like Angi
For developing a home service marketplace like Angi, there are several things that you need to consider, such as market dynamics, software technology, onboarding service providers, promotions, and marketing. You will also need to form a business structure, which can either be an LLC (Limited Liability Company) that creates a separate identity for the business or a sole proprietorship.
Step 1: Do your Market Research
Home services have a global audience. However, it is important to identify the most popular services in your area or the ones that you can easily deliver without any compliance or skill-related troubles. Additionally, you also need to research competitors and figure out a profitable commission rate.
Step 2: Select Business Structure
As discussed above, there are two business structures suitable for your marketplace. The first one is LLC, which creates a different identity for your business and separates all your personal assets. Thus, you primarily earn through a fixed salary but your personal assets remain safe in case of any losses. The other structure is a sole proprietorship, where you get to keep all the profits but are also personally liable for any damages.
Step 3: Select a Software Technology
To build a home services marketplace like Angi, you will need to invest in software technology. This can either be custom-developed or readymade. Considering the heavy costs and development time of custom development, using a readymade service marketplace software seems to be more practical.
Look for the following features when selecting readymade software:
Direct hiring: Allows customers to directly browse service providers and hire them on an hourly basis.
Task posting: Allows customers to upload detailed tasks on the marketplace with images and budget.
Bidding management: Allows service providers to place bids on tasks and send work proposals to customers.
Task management: Customers can view and edit tasks. They can also access their task history and re-book a service.
Custom registration filters: Set custom registration filters for service providers. This way you can ensure all registered professionals have the minimum required skills for a service category.
Commission management: Set your own commission rate and levy them on every transaction.
Hours Logging: Allow service providers to upload their total work hours on the system and generate an adequate invoice on direct hiring.
Conflict resolution: Help customers and service providers in managing various work and payment-related conflicts.
Payment gateways: Set multiple payment gateways on your marketplace.
Analytics and reports: Generate automated reports for revenue generation, top-performing service providers, and more.
Step 4: Configure your Marketplace
Configure the marketplace by setting all important pages, such as the homepage, listings page, about us, contact us, terms & conditions, etc. Add your logos and other brand trademarks to the marketplace. Lastly, set up the payment gateways, including your bank details, and payment methods, and configure commission settings.
Step 5: Onboard Service Providers
In the next step, onboard various service providers on the marketplace. This can be done by introducing various types of incentives for the first few service providers, such as free featured listings, lower commission charges, or even zero commission charges for a specific period. You can also onboard vendors by joining local business communities and running social media campaigns.
Step 6: Promote and Manage
After setting up your Angi-like marketplace and onboarding service providers, you can start your promotional campaigns to acquire the first few customers. In the beginning, you will need to rely more on paid campaigns but also gradually develop your organic traffic and word of mouth. In doing so, local SEO and service providers can help. You can also introduce first-time discounts for new customers.
How Yo!Gigs Can Help?
While the industry is saturated with various field-services-related software, Yo!Gigs is a one-of-a-kind home services marketplace software. It can help you launch a full-fledged marketplace where different service providers can sign up and sell their services. Yo!Gigs also has all the essential features to carry out marketplace operations such as:
Direct hiring
Job posting
Bidding management
Vendor management
Task management
Commission settings
Multi-currency payment gateways
Reports and analytics
Additionally, Yo!Gigs is available at a one-time cost and comes with a lifetime usage license. As it is fully scalable and customizable, you can easily rely on Yo!Gigs to grow and expand your home service marketplace operations.
See How Yo!Gigs can Help your Business in a Free Personalized Demo
Similar Home Service Marketplaces like Angi
Along with Angi, Yo!Gigs can also help you build home service marketplaces like:
TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit is a well-renowned home service marketplace like Angi. It was launched in the year 2008, under the name RunMyErrand and gradually scaled up to thousands of home service providers. Today, TaskRabbit has over 200,000 service providers who have completed over 4 million tasks.
Here is how to create Taskrabbit clone website.
Thumbtack
Similar to TaskRabbit, Thumbtack was launched in 2008. Today, Thumbtack completes up to 30,000 tasks a day. It has over 1,100 service categories and a simple business model to attract customers and generate revenue from service commission. As per records, Thumbtack’s average annual revenue is $2 billion.
Bark
Founded in the year 2014, Bark is a UK-based home services marketplace. It has over 100,000 service providers and completed over 15 million tasks. Soon after its launch, Bark extended its business operations to other parts of Europe, the United States, China, and India. Today, Bark is one of the fastest-growing home service marketplaces.
Conclusion
Platforms like Angi are inspiring numerous entrepreneurs to enter the home service industry. Furthermore, more service providers are joining home service marketplaces because of the added benefit of work autonomy. For carrying out your business plan and building a similar marketplace, we highly recommend using a readymade solution. With timely investment, you can not only launch a captivating home services marketplace but also gain a competitive edge.