‘Tinder for tradies’ ready to help workers connect
A brand new business helping tradies find each other has sprung up in Porirua.
Fiona Buchet said tradespeople often found it difficult to network with each other when they worked in small, ever changing teams.
‘‘Our new website is just a way for them to meet up and get together, we describe it as Tinder for tradies.’’
Buchet and her husband Louis, along with friends Gordon and Kirsten Marshall, have started SkillShare, a networking website to help tradespeople help each other.
‘‘It’s a market place for people to connect. Many tradespeople work on their own, their workplace is the job site and their office is their notebook in their van.’’
She said the website was a modern and simple way for tradespeople to communicate and help each other out.
‘‘It’s for the times like, when a tradie has work cancelled at the last minute and he has a team of people ready to work.
‘‘You feel this responsibility to keep your team working and that can be shared on the website.’’
Buchet said her husband, a master painter, had the idea.
‘‘So often, it’s all about who you know but it can be hard to get to know other people, which is where the website comes in.’’
Still in the early stages, membership to the listing-based website was free although that would change as it grew in popularity.
‘‘We want every single tradesperson in New Zealand, we’re passionate about changing the way people do business.’’
She said it wasn’t just tradies who would benefit from the website and customers would get a better job done as tradespeople worked together.
Master Builders chief executive David Kelly said anything that helped tradespeople net- work was positive, but consumers should always do their homework when it came to hiring.
‘‘Most often your home is your greatest asset so it’s important to choose the right people to work on it,’’ he said.
‘‘Check references, qualifications and make sure they belong to an industry group so if things go wrong you have recourse.
‘‘It’s a hot market with a lot of new people coming in and homeowners need to make sure they’re employing the right tradespeople.’’