01
Post a job
A customer selects a service category, describes the work and sets a location, so the request that reaches professionals is already scoped and quotable.
Post→
Case study · Tu Camaround
Post a job,get it done
A mobile marketplace for local services in Spanish: a customer describes what they need by category, professionals send priced quotes, and the customer awards the job and pays - by card held in escrow until the work is finished, or cash on the day - with messaging, a wallet and ratings all inside the app.
What we shipped
Post a jobQuotes & projectsPayments & escrowWalletMessagingAccount & support
01 — The product
A job board and an escrow desk in one app
A customer picks a category, describes the work and receives quotes. When they award the job, the app takes payment - a card held until the professional finishes, or cash paid directly with the trade-off spelt out - then tracks the work through to completion and a rating. Messaging, a wallet and the project history all live in the same place.
Describe once, get many quotes
A customer posts a job by category and shares the details in one flow; professionals respond with priced proposals, so the customer compares offers instead of chasing quotes.
Payment is held until it is done
Awarding a job by card holds the money until the professional finishes, and the cash option states plainly that it carries no client protection - so the trade-off is a choice, not a surprise.
The whole job stays in the app
Messaging, a wallet, project tracking and a closing rating keep the work and the reputation inside Tu Camaround rather than trailing off into calls and cash.
02 — The problem
Why is a services marketplace hard to fit on a phone?
A service is not a product on a shelf - it is a described need, a set of competing quotes, an award, a held payment and a job that runs over days. Compressing that whole lifecycle into a phone, for both sides, without losing the escrow logic, was the core design problem.
A job runs over days, not one tap: posting, quoting, awarding, working and completing are distinct stages a mobile flow has to move a customer and a professional through, each with its own screen and state. Money has to wait for the work, so the app must make the card-versus-cash protection difference clear at the moment of hiring. And because customer and professional negotiate inside the app, messaging and notifications have to keep a multi-day job legible on a small screen.
5
stage job lifecycle - post, quote, award, complete, rate - modelled for two sides, not one.
As listed on the live product page.
03 — Goals & challenges
What Tu Camaround had to get right
A services marketplace is two products in one screen size - what a customer needs and what a professional can deliver on - held together by escrow, messaging and a rating that both sides trust.
Goals
What the app had to deliver
- Card escrow or cash, clearly. The customer chooses the protection they want, with the trade-off shown at the moment of hiring.
- A wallet inside the app. Balance, add-funds and saved payment methods keep money for jobs in one place.
- Messaging tied to the job. A message list and per-job thread keep every conversation attached to the work it belongs to.
- Account and support. Profile, notifications and a help centre round out the account side for both sides of the marketplace.
Challenges
Why it was hard
- A job runs over days, not one tap. Posting, quoting, awarding, working and completing are distinct stages a mobile flow has to move a customer and a professional through, each with its own screen and state.
- Money has to wait for the work. Card payment is held until the job is finished while cash is paid directly, so the app must make the protection difference clear at the moment of hiring.
- Two sides, one conversation. Customer and professional negotiate, clarify and confirm inside the app, so messaging and notifications have to keep a multi-day job legible on a small screen.
04 — The job lifecycle
How does a job move between two sides?
02
Send a priced quote
Professionals respond to the request with priced proposals, so the customer compares offers instead of chasing quotes one at a time.
Quote→
03
Award and pay
The customer picks a quote and pays - by card held in escrow until the job is finished, or cash paid directly with the trade-off stated plainly.
Award→
04
Work, message, complete
The professional does the work while in-job messaging keeps both sides in sync; the customer reviews it and marks it complete, which releases the held payment.
Complete→
05
Rate each other
A two-way rating closes the job, turning the completed work into reputation that protects the next customer and the next professional.
Rate✓
keep scrolling — the deal glides left →
05 — On the phone
What does Tu Camaround feel like in the hand?
Tu Camaround is a phone-first product, so the case for it is the screens themselves - posting a job, awarding a professional, paying, messaging and closing out, exactly as they are drawn.
App preview
01 • Pick a category
The home screen greets the customer and opens onto service categories - home, office, cars, maintenance - to start a job.
App preview
02 • Choose the service
A category drills into the specific kind of work, so a professional receives a job that is already scoped.
App preview
03 • Describe the job
The customer shares the details of what they need in one form before the request goes out for quotes.
App preview
04 • Award a professional
A quote screen shows the professional, their price and timeframe, and lets the customer choose how to pay.
App preview
05 • Card or cash
Card payment is held until the work is finished; cash is paid directly, with the protection trade-off stated.
App preview
06 • Review & complete
As the job wraps up, the customer reviews the work and marks it complete before payment is released.
App preview
07 • Messages
A message list keeps every job's conversation in one place across the customer's active work.
App preview
08 • In-job chat
A thread ties the conversation to the specific job, so nothing is negotiated off to one side.
App preview
09 • Wallet
A wallet holds a balance and shows movement, so payments and top-ups live inside the app.
App preview
10 • Add funds
Topping up the wallet keeps a customer ready to award and pay without leaving the flow.
App preview
11 • Notifications
Quote, award, message and completion alerts keep a multi-day job moving on both sides.
App preview
12 • Profile
A profile ties the account, history and settings together for the person using the app.
06 — Visual design
The look, and why
A high-visibility orange carries the calls to action a two-sided marketplace depends on - award, pay, message - against a cool slate ink built for dense, multi-day job screens.
Colour
Signal orange
#F0480D
Deep
#B8360A
Bright
#F26331
Ink
#1E2A38
Mist
#FFF3EF
Line
#FADDD2
Typography
Post a job, get it done
A job board and an escrow desk in one app
Card payment is held until the professional finishes, and the cash option states its trade-off plainly.
POST · QUOTE · AWARD · COMPLETE · RATE
07 — Transferable
What does a services marketplace app have to get right?
These held well beyond Tu Camaround - they separate a marketplace people hire and pay through from a directory they scroll once and forget.
01
Turn a need into competing quotes.
Describing a job once and getting several priced offers beats chasing quotes one professional at a time.
02
Hold the money until the work is done.
Card payment released on completion is what makes hiring a stranger feel safe; the cash trade-off must be stated, not hidden.
03
Design for a multi-day job.
Post, quote, award, work and complete are distinct stages, so the app has to carry state across days rather than a single transaction.
04
Keep the conversation on the job.
Messaging tied to the specific request stops negotiations scattering across calls and texts the platform never sees.
05
Make the protection choice explicit.
A customer should choose escrow or direct pay with the consequences in front of them, at the moment they hire.
06
Close every job with a rating.
Two-way ratings turn each completed job into reputation that protects the next customer and the next professional.
FAQ
Building a local-services marketplace app
How long does it take to build a services marketplace app like Tu Camaround?
A first release at roughly this shape - job posting by category, quotes from professionals, awarding, escrow and cash payment, messaging, a wallet and ratings - is a multi-month programme rather than a few weeks. The heaviest work is payments and the job lifecycle, because holding money in escrow until completion brings release rules, refunds and disputes that a simple listings app never touches. We usually ship posting, quoting and messaging first, then layer payments and the wallet.
How much does it cost to build an on-demand services app?
It depends on scope, and no honest figure comes from a feature list alone. The biggest cost drivers are the payment model, whether funds are held in escrow, and how much dispute and support tooling the marketplace needs. Shanti Infosoft scopes it on a short call and returns a fixed quote, so you compare a real number rather than a guess.
Do you build for both iOS and Android?
Yes. Tu Camaround is designed as a single phone-first product across iOS and Android, so posting a job, awarding a professional, paying and messaging behave the same on both. We design once against a shared component system and build to both platforms rather than treating one as an afterthought.
How does the escrow payment work?
When a customer awards a job and pays by card, the money is held and only released to the professional once the work is marked complete - that is what makes hiring a stranger feel safe. The app also offers a cash option, paid directly to the professional, and states clearly that it carries no client protection, so the customer chooses the trade-off knowingly. In a production build the holding, release, refund and dispute rules are scoped explicitly around a payment gateway.
How do you keep a services marketplace trustworthy?
Trust is designed into the flow. Priced quotes are compared in the open, payment can be held until the work is done, and every completed job ends in a two-way rating that follows both the customer and the professional. For a live marketplace we extend that with professional verification, reporting and dispute handling scoped to the platform's risk.
Let's build
Building an on-demand or services marketplace?
Tell us how your business actually works and we'll tell you honestly what it takes to build - the quoting, the escrow, the two-sided job lifecycle. No deck, no pitch.