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Connecting contractors and customers. That was the simple idea behind TaskEasy, an online solution and time saver for buying services. As their site says, property owners easily book and manage services online, and on the other hand contractors are provided with those customers, which helps eliminate expenses associated with advertising, bidding and billing.
Ken Davis is CEO and co-founder of TaskEasy, which launched in April 2013. He has been a successful entrepreneur for other companies and has a strong background in software design and development.
TURF: Tell us about TaskEasy.
DAVIS: We’re proud to say TaskEasy is the first company to apply the services-on-demand model to home exterior services nationwide. With a focus on lawn care and snow removal, our mission is to make buying home exterior services as easy for customers as buying products online and helping reliable contractors generate more business at the same time.
With TaskEasy, customers can instantly buy lawn care and snow removal services online and have quality, insurance and full auditability of the service guaranteed. Contractors spend more of their time performing billable work and less of their time doing marketing, bidding, billing, collecting, scheduling and other back office functions.
TURF: What gave you the idea to launch TaskEasy?
DAVIS: The idea to launch TaskEasy emerged from the frustrations I experienced while managing yard maintenance services like lawn care and snow removal for my rental properties. After spending countless hours searching for and vetting contractors and auditing work to verify their performance, I realized the entire services industry is troubled with inefficiencies and unnecessary tension between customers and contractors. I wanted to solve this problem and find a way to make buying home exterior maintenance services (and having contractors perform those services) as easy as possible.
I worked closely with Joe Turner, TaskEasy’s co-founder and CTO, to create a patent-pending solution that produces instant, fair market pricing online so customers and contractors don’t have to waste time with site visits and bidding and can instead focus getting the job done.
TURF: What impact has TaskEasy had on the landscaping industry?
DAVIS: We just hit a big milestone of our ten millionth dollar of landscaping services delivered to TaskEasy customers. Put another way, we’ve created over $10 million worth of jobs for landscaping professionals in over 4,400 cities across all 50 states, which is a pretty big impact.
We’ve been able to do that by bringing online convenience and efficiency to property and yard maintenance. We have simplified the process for homeowners and property managers to order services, and we provide contractors across the U.S. with consistent work, not just one-off jobs when they have some free time.
TURF: How does TaskEasy technology help contractors?
DAVIS: Most importantly, we deliver real, paying jobs to contractors, not “marketing leads” that they have to spend time chasing. Contractors don’t have to worry about wasting time on site visits and bidding—they get offered real, paying jobs at a fair market price.
Second, we automate the invoicing and collections process for contractors. We process customer payments for jobs performed, and contractors get an automatic bank transfer right into their account, typically in just a few days after each job is performed and approved by the customer. No more waiting 30 days or more for payment and having to call customers to chase down checks.
Finally, through the TaskEasy contractor app, we offer tools to help manage scheduling and route-planning, customer communications, and auditing.
TURF: What else does TaskEasy provide for their contractors?
DAVIS: For contractors that don’t already have insurance in place, we offer affordable “per task” rates for general liability and accidental occupational insurance. This ensures that contractors are protected for every TaskEasy job they perform, with a pricing model that easily works into their cash flow.
TURF: How do you differ from a lead service?
DAVIS: TaskEasy is very different than lead services like HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack or Angie’s List that simply connect consumers with up to half a dozen contractors at once, leaving consumers and contractors to try to connect and reach an agreement. With TaskEasy, contractors get real paying jobs without the hassle of chasing down marketing leads and bidding on projects that may or may not result in work. And consumers can get a competitive price online immediately, place their order and get guaranteed results without having to chase down contractors (or deal with half a dozen people calling and selling them) to get bids.
TURF: What can we expect to see from TaskEasy in the future?
DAVIS: TaskEasy is on its way to become the on-demand resource for exterior home maintenance for both consumers and single-family home property managers. We’ve delivered over $10 million in services through the platform to date, and we are already well on track to deliver $40-50 million in landscaping service by the end of 2016.
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