Jacob Mutisi We are all familiar with that sinking feeling you get when you have a burst pipe, jammed door lock, blocked toilet, collapsed roof or simply something goes wrong in your house and needs fixing. There is always this uneasy feeling that comes with the safety, warmth and security of your house being compromised, which is bad enough.
On top of all this, there is also the worry that you will have to find an honest tradesperson to deal with it. Getting jobs done well is often very expensive, and many household repair jobs need to be done quickly, leaving you with few options but to find the money to pay, and quickly too.
This is why choosing the right tradesperson is so important.
The last thing you need is to find yourself paying twice for the same job! You call a plumber to do a plumbing job.
He or she requests a deposit before they start a job, usually 30% of the total job. Once you pay the tradesman you will never see him or her again.
Majority of Zimbabwe’s property owners struggle to find a reliable plumber, with trusted builders and electricians also in short supply.
Some homeowners are resorting to wrestling with do-it-yourself (DIY); consumers want reliable traders to take the strain.
Finding a reliable builder, plumber, electrician or carpenter can be difficult. It’s thought that unscrupulous tradespeople cost the Zimbabwe economy millions of dollars each year.
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Not only this, but they cause much inconvenience and heartache to thousands of homeowners who are left high and dry with shoddy workmanship or unreasonably hefty bills.
However, Zimbabweans should all take comfort in the fact that it is actually much easier to find a good tradesperson now than it has ever been before, thanks to the internet. It has become their chosen mode of advertising.
Tradespeople working in the local area are highly aware of the power of social media. If they do a bad job even once, they can have their reputation sullied for years to come!
There is a new site called clickaservice.co.zw being developed to specifically help house owners find a reputable tradesman. This site will invite customers to leave reviews and even verify these reviews to check they are genuine.
Clickaservice.co.zw will help homeowners find a recommended tradesperson. Tradesmen can sign up for a $1 and a customer can leave a review following a completed job.
Your review is then followed up by a representative from Clickaservice to ensure that you are a genuine customer, which adds validity to the site.
Clickaservice is regarded as a highly effective way to avoid cowboy tradespeople as members.
Tradesmen are vetted by Clickaservice and must sign up to a set of commitments and workmanship to quality. Members give their permission for all reviews to be published, good or bad, but they are offered the right to reply when a bad review comes through.
If you want to make sure you are not wasting your money when appointing a tradesman, Clickaservice is a great way to find a tradesperson you can trust.
It is vital that if you are looking for a tradesmen, ask at least two or three different tradesmen for a quotation before deciding who to do the job. It is important to meet the tradesmen in person.
It can help when judging characters and getting a feel for their levels of expertise too.
It is a headache to have time to get quotes, but it saves you hundreds of dollars; it is time worth spending.
In these times of digital transformation, finding a tradesmen does not need to be difficult. Clickaservice will have accredited tradespersons on its database, all of whom have been assessed and vetted by their office, so you can feel confident about the level of service they will provide.
This is a service that will take away the burden of losing money and having a job being done twice.
- Mutisi is the CEO of Hansole Investments (Pvt) Ltd and the current chairperson of Zimbabwe Information & Communication Technology, a division of Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers.
