01
Post the job
Title, category, a written description, a voice note, a deadline, a location and reference photos - enough for a provider to price it.
Posted→
Case study · WorkTok
Post a job,get proposals.
A two-sided marketplace app where customers post a job - with photos and a voice note - and local service providers bid on it with a proposal. On the provider side sit the tools to run the work: available-job search, an opportunity-based bidding model, analytics, a wallet and subscriptions.
Built around
Voice-note job postsProposal biddingOpportunity creditsProvider analyticsIn-app wallet3 subscription tiers
01 — The product
One job, two very different apps around it
A customer wants the job done; a provider is running a business off it. The job post sits in the middle - the customer posts and picks, the provider searches, bids and delivers - so the same piece of work drives two experiences that never feel like the same screens.
A job you can describe out loud
A post carries a title, category, written description, a spoken voice note, a deadline, a location and reference photos - so a provider understands the work before they price it, not after they arrive.
Providers bid, they don't wait
Instead of a customer chasing quotes, providers browse available jobs and submit a proposal with a service date, an arrival window, a cost estimate and photos of similar work.
A business, not just a profile
The provider side is a small operations app: an analytics dashboard, a wallet, service management, profile boosting and subscriptions - so a provider can actually run their week inside it.
02 — The problem
Why is a two-sided services marketplace hard to get right?
Both sides have to win on the same job or the market collapses. Three things break a naive build: a job description too thin to price, a provider side with no reason to stay, and a bidding model that has to be fair without being free.
"Fix the door" is not enough to quote. Answer → a post that carries category, a written description, a voice note, a deadline, a location and photos.
Providers leave a marketplace that only sends them leads. Answer → analytics, a wallet, service management and boosting, so there's a reason to keep the app open between jobs.
Unlimited free bids drown customers in noise. Answer → an opportunity spent per proposal, topped up by a subscription tier.
3
subscription tiers - Free, Golden, Diamond - each buying a bigger monthly allowance of the opportunities providers spend bidding.
03 — Goals & challenges
What did WorkTok have to get right?
Both sides have to win on the same job or the market collapses. Four goals and three hard problems shaped the build.
Goals
A job both sides can trust
- Make the job post rich enough to price. Category, description, voice note, deadline, location and photos, not a single text box.
- Let providers bid, not wait. Browse, filter and submit a dated, costed proposal instead of chasing quotes.
- Give providers a business tool. Analytics, a wallet, service management and boosting, not just a profile.
- Make bidding cost something. An opportunity per proposal, topped up by a subscription tier.
Challenges
Why it was hard
- A thin job post cannot be priced. "Fix the door" is not enough to quote, so the post captures category, description, voice note, deadline, location and photos.
- The provider side has to be a real tool. Providers leave a marketplace that only sends them leads.
- Bidding has to be fair, not free. Unlimited free bids drown customers in noise.
04 — Built for
Who is WorkTok built for?
A two-sided marketplace with 2 sides that never see the same screen - a customer posting a job, and a provider bidding to win it.
Posts the job
The customer
Describes the job once - title, category, a voice note, photos and a deadline - then compares proposals and picks one.
Bids to win it
The provider
Runs a small business off the app: browses jobs, bids with a dated, costed proposal, and tracks earnings through analytics and a wallet.
05 — Post to paid
How does a job move from posted to paid?
02
Browse & bid
Providers filter available jobs by category, distance and urgency, then submit a proposal with a service date, an arrival window and a cost estimate.
Proposed→
03
Spend an opportunity
Each proposal spends one opportunity from the provider's subscription balance, so bids stay deliberate rather than blanket.
Bid placed→
04
Pick a proposal
The customer compares proposals on date, price and past work, and accepts one to confirm the job.
Accepted→
05
Job runs, wallet settles
Payment moves through the in-app wallet - saved cards, a running balance and a transaction history - so nothing is chased down after the fact.
Paid✓
keep scrolling — the deal glides left →
06 — Post, propose, book
What does posting a job and bidding on it actually look like?
There's no inbox to check - a job post and a proposal are already a structured back-and-forth. Here's that exchange, laid out end to end.
CustomerFix the door - sticking on the frame, won't latch properly. Photo attached, plus a quick voice note on what's wrong.
ProviderProposal: Thursday, 2-4pm arrival window, $85 estimate. Two photos of similar fixes attached.
CustomerThat works - booked for Thursday.
WorkTokProposal accepted. One opportunity spent from your balance - the job is confirmed on both sides.
What stops a provider from bidding on everything?Tap to reveal
Each proposal spends one opportunity from a monthly allowance set by their subscription tier - Free, Golden or Diamond - so bids stay deliberate instead of blanket.
07 — Visual design
The look, and why
A confident green carries the app against a soft mist background - the palette of a job getting done, not a generic marketplace blue.
Colour
Accent green
#2F9E44
Deep green
#237A34
Ink
#20302A
Body
#51615A
Mist
#EEF7EF
Line
#D7E8DA
08 — Transferable
What does any two-sided services marketplace need?
Six things separate a services marketplace both sides stay on from one that empties out. They came out of building WorkTok, and they hold well beyond this one app.
01
A job post rich enough to price.
If a provider cannot quote from the post, they pad the bid or skip it - so text, photos and a voice note beat a single caption box.
02
A provider side that is a business tool.
Analytics, a wallet and service management give providers a reason to open the app between jobs, not just when pinged.
03
Bids that cost something.
An opportunity or credit per proposal keeps bidding deliberate, protects customers from noise, and funds the platform in one move.
04
Filters that respect distance and urgency.
A provider only wants nearby, timely work, so category, radius and an urgent flag are core, not advanced settings.
05
Money that lives in the app.
A wallet, saved cards and a transaction history keep opportunities, top-ups and payments in one place a provider can reconcile.
06
A subscription tied to real value.
When each tier buys more of the thing providers actually use - opportunities to bid - the paywall feels like fuel, not a toll.
FAQ
Building a two-sided marketplace app
How long does it take to build a marketplace app like this?
A first release at roughly this scope - a two-sided app with rich job posting, a bidding model, provider analytics, a wallet and subscriptions - is a several-month programme rather than a few weeks. What moves the date most is how much of payments and the bidding economy is in the first release, and whether the customer and provider experiences ship together or in sequence.
How does a bidding marketplace stay fair to both sides?
By making a bid cost something. In WorkTok each proposal spends an opportunity from the provider's balance, topped up by a subscription tier. That keeps providers from spraying bids at every job, protects customers from a flood of low-effort quotes, and funds the platform - all from one mechanic rather than three separate rules.
How does a services marketplace make money?
WorkTok's core line is the opportunity model: providers pay, through subscription tiers and top-ups, for the opportunities they spend bidding. Profile boosting and featured placement add a second line, and a commission on completed jobs is a third lever that can be layered on without changing the core post-and-bid flow.
How much does it cost to build a marketplace app?
It depends on scope, and a feature list alone is not enough to quote from honestly. The main cost drivers are whether you build one app or two, how much of payments and the bidding economy is in the first release, and how deep the provider business tools go. Shanti Infosoft scopes it on a short call and returns a fixed quote within 48 hours.
Can the same pattern work for other gig or services markets?
Yes. The structure - a rich job post, a search-and-bid provider side, an opportunity-based bidding economy, a wallet and subscription tiers - carries across most local-services and gig markets, from home trades to events, tutoring and beauty. What changes is the job categories and the verification each needs; the marketplace underneath stays the same.
Let's build
Building a marketplace app of your own?
Tell us how your business actually runs and we'll tell you honestly what it takes to build - the job model, the bidding economy, the provider tools. No deck, no pitch.