Address Review Platform for Traders

[TJMcGoat]

Hi all – I’m working on a platform idea and if you have a moment, I would love your input before building anything.

Problem:

When you quote on a job, you don't know what the customer might be like, if they're difficult to deal with or not. This is where we bring together your experiences with other tradesmen and help each other stay away from troublesome customers.

The idea is simple:

A website where tradespeople can see reviews about a property/address based on past jobs.
You’d be able to post honest reviews about places you’ve worked – e.g. whether the customer paid late, was difficult to deal with, or was respectful and easy to work with.

How it works:

You search an address before quoting to check if other trades have had issues.

You can post reviews, e.g.
“Did a boiler install at 12 Maple Way – customer was polite, paid in full same day.” No personal details, insults, bad language etc. will be allowed to be included.

You can also see a history of which trades have worked at that address (helpful for future buyers or follow-up work).

Only verified trades can post (you’d need to upload an invoice for each review – private, just for verification).

Personal info about the customer is never made public.

Thanks for your time!

 

[littlespark]

I'm pretty sure people have tried this before, and it didn't take off..... because of certain privacy rules, possibly

 

[sunray]

The selection of one man band PA companies local to me created an ad-hoc black list, primarily for bad payers.
However it was 'word of mouth' rather than a forum or bulitin board.

 

[Avo Mk8]

Personal info about the customer is never made public.

This is the problem you have - from your database of addresses, the property owner (via Land Registry) and the occupier (via register of voters, or other directories) are usually identifiable from sources in the public domain. The individual customers would have a right to know your information is being collected, and be able to respond to/correct it.
You have the GDPR requirements to meet. You really need legal advice before you build anything!
Have a look at this:

https://www.justanswer.co.uk/law/ksj6r-i-m-setting-website-business-leave-review.html

And here's the Privacy Policy of the American company "ContractorsCustomers.com".
I don't think their privacy requirements are as strict as GDPR !

Privacy Policy - ContractorsCustomers.com

ContractorsCustomers.com privacy policy

contractorscustomers.com

I see the copyright date is still 2015!

P.S. i gather the online platform ETSI used to have a trader based customer feedback system (which recorded traders experiences of their customers), but it was taken down as it proved uneconomic to moderate and manage.

 

[DPG]

Its only relevant until the person moves house. Bit unfair on the new owner/tennant if nobody will end up doing work for them because 6 months ago the previous one didn't pay a bill on time.