After selling his car classifieds website in 2016, Mick Dillon founded TrustedPeople.ie shortly afterwards when he was in the process of renovating his home. That was when he had a light-bulb moment.
TrustedPeople.ie is a website for homeowners to view the previous work of builders, interior designers, landscapers, roofers and 20+ other categories of home professionals. “I had difficulties myself in finding competent and capable people to work on my home, and I felt a website showcasing the previous work of builders, carpenters, landscapers and other trades people would be a useful resource,” says Dillon.
“We help homeowners find and assess the most suitable tradespeople for a home related project. The fact that we’re now showcasing over 50,000 photos of completed projects from tradespeople based in Ireland is our main unique selling point (USP). We also detail how many years a tradesperson is in business, their legal status, qualifications and professional memberships.”
“We started the company out of blood, sweat and tears and the business is self-funded. We hope to launch in the UK within the next 12 months.”
“We help homeowners find and assess the most suitable tradespeople for a home related project”
“The biggest challenge is having the discipline to prioritise the user experience of homeowners, over short-term commercial opportunities. This requires saying ‘no thanks, we don’t want your money’ to tradespeople we feel don’t fit the ethos of the TrustedPeople.ie website. Also staying focused on developing features that are the most important to the user, and not getting side-tracked by sexy, glamorous tech and features that ultimately do little to improve the user experience.
“I wouldn’t do too many things differently if I was to do it all over again. I made enough mistakes in my first business to last a lifetime. Away from work, my two kids have helped me the most.
