Building Connection Spring 2018

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5 2 ACROSS THE TRADES Spring 2019
Another problem relates to ‘wink-wink, nod-nod’ lead
selection, whereby a tradie might accept a ridiculously low-
cost lead based on an assumption that a fairer cash-in-hand
price will be negotiated privately with the client later, thus
minimising the commission paid to Airtasker (seemingly a
win-win result for both the customer and the tradie, but hardly
the basis for a reliable business dealing).
Overall, one might describe Airtasker as suitable for exotic,
low-budget, easy-to-price, small jobs of the ‘cash in hand’
variety.
Most recently though, a $100,000 fine was issued by the
Brisbane Magistrates Court to a Queenslander who posed as
an electrician on Airtasker.
From November 2015 to June 2017, Amilcar Appel advertised
his electrical services on Airtasker to residents of the greater
Brisbane area.
After a licensed electrician made a complaint regarding
Amilcar’s defective work to the Electrical Safety Office (ESO),
an investigation was conducted and the results established
that Amilcar had conducted similar non-compliant electrical
work in eight other properties of which he was not qualified to
perform in any way.
Amilcar, who failed to make an appearance in court, was
convicted and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for 13 offences
under the Electrical Safety Act 2002.
ServiceSeeking
Established: 2007 | Staff: 27
Brody says: “Came across the site by chance. After getting a
great result … I would recommend to anyone.” ÌÌÌÌÌ
John says: “Good for customers. Bad for tradies. In the
process of launching legal action against ServiceSeeking for
theft and misrepresentation. These people owe me a lot of
money.” ÌÌÌÌÌ
Established over a decade ago, ServiceSeeking is the only
membership fee-based portal in this sector. The portal
services a wide variety of industry sectors, including trades:
“We think a membership fee model is the fairest way of
charging tradies; they like certainty, they like to quote on
everything (they don’t like to pick and choose), and it’s a fact
of life they like cash payment,” says ServiceSeeking chief
executive Jeremy Levitt.
“In total we’ve got just under 200,000 businesses
registered, and on a monthly basis we get around 3,500 new
business registrants.”
The portal has handled over 4 million online job listings
since inception, Jeremy says, and over the past year the
number of registered trade businesses has tripled.
Most registered businesses, Jeremy says, have fewer than
five staff, and there is a monthly churn of 5%–10%, which
Jeremy attributes to the natural volatility of small (often
unskilled) businesses.
The ServiceSeeking methodology is clearcut: customers
lodge an online job description on the ServiceSeeking
platform. Leads are then sent to all relevant tradies in that
geographical area, and it’s up to each trade businesses to
lodge indicative quotes and hopefully win the job. It’s up to the
trade business to perform the job satisfactorily without any
further intervention from ServiceSeeking, and to handle their
own invoicing. There are no caps on the number of tradies
who might respond to a lead, and no caps on the number of
quotes or expressions of interest received by the customer.
Approximately one in three jobs listed on the portal results in
a business being hired.
“We’ve got the highest liquidity in this space – our average
number of quotes per job is 12,” Jeremy explains.
Different styles of membership are available to tradies, with
monthly fees averaging $50.
“We’ve got different [membership] levels, like entry and then
premium and master, depending on what features you want
and how you want your leads developed. Memberships also
vary in price according to likely demand, and might be as low
as $10 per month for low-volume specialist trades like bamboo
flooring, etc.”
In addition to monthly fees (no exit fees), trade
businesses are welcome to take out annual memberships
in return for a 20% discount – no refunds. Jeremy says
approximately 40% of trade businesses opt for annual
memberships.
The ServiceSeeking model, we might conclude, suits high-
volume trade businesses that depend on steady streams
of small jobs. The ongoing membership model might appeal
to tradies who want to use online lead generation as a
primary – or at least substantial – part of their business
in a busy catchment. The uncapped, competitive nature of
ServiceSeeking’s lead distribution and response model means
this service might suit fast-acting, online-savvy professionals
with good communication skills.
However, the company did land in Federal Court for allegedly
engaging in misleading conduct relating to customer reviews.
From July 2016, the platform’s ‘Fast Feedback’ feature
allowed trade businesses to use a template form to write their
own reviews and choose a star rating after completing a job,
which was then emailed to the customer.
If the customer did not respond to a business’ self-written
review within three days, the review was automatically published
under the business’ profile on .
The Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC) alleges Service Seeking’s ‘Fast Feedback’
feature breached the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by
misleading consumers, as at least 80% of ‘Fast Feedback’
reviews were not written or approved by customers.