YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR KICKS OUT COWBOYS

Whoocan.com, a free-to-use website, has been launched nationwide by a 19 year-old entrepreneur to reduce the risk, time and hassle involved with finding good, reliable tradesmen to do work in people’s homes and in businesses.

Searching for tradesmen to do work around your home can be extremely time consuming. There is also the risk of employing a cowboy tradesman, which could result in long delays getting jobs finished and expensive remedial work.

Whoocan (www.whoocan.com), the brainchild of Sophie Hurford, overcomes these problems by linking people with relevant tradesmen who want to do their job. To use the system, people simply register on the website and post details of the work they need doing. This information is then automatically sent to relevant service providers for them to quote against.

Once all the quotes have been received people are then able to select someone based on the price quoted for work and the ratings of tradesmen. Ratings are built up from feedback given by people tradesmen have done work for through Whoocan, in a similar way to eBay.

If there has been negative feedback about a tradesman they might not be chosen to do a job even though they may have provided the lowest quote.

The service proved highly successful when trialled across Cambridgeshire earlier this year.
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“Whoocan was a huge success during the trial,” said Sophie Hurford, managing director of Whoocan. “People found the site extremely valuable and everyone wondered why it hasn’t been done before. Service providers rushed to register, which meant that people were able to easily choose the right person for the job.

Following the trial the website’s capabilities were broadened and it was made even easier to use.”

Whoocan has also been opened up to all service providers, including children’s entertainers, curtain makers, dog walkers or personal trainers, as well as traditional tradesmen such as plumbers, builders and electricians. Any service provider can register and receive enquiries from the site for free and there are no charges for people to place jobs.

Many people do not have the time to shop around for quotes from tradesmen or service providers. By using Whoocan they can quickly find someone to do a job and will only get quotations from people who have the capacity to take on work. They are therefore more likely to get the job done quicker and for a better price.

Sophie continued: “From market research we carried out when developing the service it was clear that the public were crying out for something more advanced and useful than just a directory. They wanted help with sourcing reliable people and they wanted to reduce the time spent finding them.

“I have spent over a year developing Whoocan. We are now starting to achieve great results and have also received interest from a number of investors keen to see the service grow even faster,” continued Sophie.

“I have great ambition for Whoocan. I want it to be the way that people get jobs done – not just in the UK, across the world.”

END

Notes to Editors:


1. Whoocan is based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Sophie Hurford can be contacted for interviews via Smye Holland Associates.

2. Whoocan is free of charge for service providers and people placing jobs on the site and will be funded through advertising.

3. Market research found that sixty per cent of people surveyed said that they would use Whoocan, the remaining forty per cent either did not have access to the internet or had friends or family who can provide services.