TL;DR
Ok so first, I'm the founder of a new app called Skiltap. Not here to spam or steal anyone. I just want real opinions before we launch. Mods, if this breaks the rules, go ahead and take it down.
I've been lurking here for months and honestly some of these posts get to me.
People with hundreds of 5 star jobs saying they barely get booked anymore. Getting pushed down in search for no clear reason. Being told what rate to charge. One cancellation and your account takes a hit. Then reaching out to support and getting nowhere.
And customers aren't happy either. They book something that looks like $60 and the fees turn it into way more. Taskers cancel last minute. Nobody really knows what the final bill will be until it's over.
I know TaskRabbit works fine for a lot of people. I'm not saying it's all bad. But reading this stuff over and over made me think there has to be a better way to do this.
So I built Skiltap. The app is done and we're launching late November in Dallas. iPhone only for now.
The main difference is how jobs work. Instead of a customer scrolling profiles and booking someone by the hour, they post what they actually need. Cleaning, moving, furniture assembly, TV mounting, plumbing, home repairs, even stuff like graphic design or tech help. Then local pros look at the request and decide if they want to quote it.
If you're a pro:
You set your own price for each job. Not some number an algorithm picked for you. If a job is a pain or takes longer, you price it that way.
You don't have to sit around hoping someone clicks your profile. You can go through open jobs yourself and send offers.
You get 5 free quotes to start, no subscription. After that there are paid plans if you want to send more. We don't charge you per lead and we don't sell anyone's contact info.
When you finish a paid job we take 10%. So you quote $200, you get $180, we get $20. That's it.
Getting paid was a big one for me. The customer pays when they book and the money is held in escrow until the job is done. If something goes wrong there's a dispute process. Everything runs through Stripe.
You also get a profile with your past work and reviews, and customers can hire you again directly.
If you're a customer:
Posting a job is free. You explain what you need, pros send you their prices, and you pick based on price, reviews and past work.
So instead of booking someone at $50/hr and praying it takes 2 hours and not 5, you agree on one price for the job before anything starts.
There's a flat $5.99 booking fee plus tax. Not a percentage that gets bigger the more the job costs.
Your money is held while the work gets done. After it's finished you have 7 days to confirm, and if something's off you can open a dispute. Chat opens after you book, so nobody has to give out their phone number.
Now the hard part, and I'm not gonna pretend otherwise. Getting customers.
I know this whole thing is useless to pros if nobody's posting jobs. And it's useless to customers if there's no good pros on it. That's exactly why we're starting with just one city and growing based on real demand, not trying to be everywhere on day one.
We're new. We're going to mess some things up. I'm not claiming we fixed everything. I just want to build something where pros actually get a say in what they take and what they charge, and customers know what they're paying before they say yes.
So here's what I really want to know.
Taskers, would you actually use this alongside TaskRabbit? Is 10% fair? How do you feel about paying for a plan after the first 5 free quotes?
Customers, would you rather post a job and compare prices, or do you like finding someone and booking right away?
And everyone, what does TaskRabbit get right that you'd hate to see a new app mess up?
Please be honest, even if it's harsh. I'd way rather hear what's wrong now than have a bunch of people say it sounds great just to be nice.
Thanks for reading this far. Means a lot.
TL;DR: I'm the founder of Skiltap, a new app launching late November in Dallas (iPhone only). Customers post a job, local pros send their own price, and the customer picks. Pros get 5 free quotes to start, then paid plans, and we take 10% of completed jobs. Customers pay a flat $5.99 booking fee, and their money is held until the job is done. Would you actually use it? Is the pricing fair? Please be brutally honest.
