The past few years have placed tremendous pressure on Australia’s tradies. Plagued by labour shortages, mass increases in the cost of materials and a shrinking work pipeline, our home improvement industry is in need of support.
Thankfully, tradie shortages are slowly easing and the trajectory for the industry is promising. However, with consumer budgets still incredibly tight due to the ongoing cost of living crisis, the number of larger jobs available such as new builds and renovations is still yet to rise.
Supporting tradies and small businesses in the home improvement sector has always been a core value at hipages Group. With hipages being Australia’s largest online tradie marketplace, we help our network of over 35,700 verified tradies find work to keep their job pipelines flowing.
In fact, in our recent FY23 results we recorded a record 41% YoY increase in tradie sign-ups to our platform. Although the number of bigger jobs has decreased, tradies on our platform have been able to tap into the steady demand for home maintenance and repair jobs that are posted every day.
Giving tradies a platform to be heard
Tradies are at the core of hipages, so we know that the challenges tradies face are dynamic and can change rapidly. We’ve given them a greater voice within our business through the introduction of our first Customer Advisory Board.
A diverse mix of business owners and operators across the most popular trade categories around Australia, the hipages Customer Advisory Board provides feedback on our product features, brings new insights to shape our services, and identifies areas for improvement to directly tackle the issues impacting tradies and businesses.
In less than three months of operation, the board is already making waves by assisting with the implementation of a new profile page on the hipages platform that helps tradies better promote their business. The feedback provided by the Board has been instrumental and our customers are already seeing results.
Through monthly regroups, the Board provides updates on business trends from architecture to plumbing, providing us with a greater understanding of the wider industry.
Having this direct voice for the trade community helps us stay close to the current problems, so we can provide relevant solutions. While we’ve always engaged in two-way dialogue with the tradie community, the Board takes this even further.
Looking to the future
Ultimately, our goal at hipages Group is to take our support of tradies even further in the creation of an end-to-end platform that cements our place in the tradie ecosystem. From quote to invoice, we want to empower our customers with the tools they need on every step of the business journey,
Our Customer Advisory Board will be key to achieving this vision by helping to uncover the many challenges tradies can face, including building a business profile, administrative tasks, job scheduling and more.
As Australia’s home improvement industry continues to evolve, hipages will continue to do the same, fostering a great connection between tradies and homeowners, and providing businesses with a secret weapon for their toolkit.