Two Sturgeon Composite alumni hope St. Albert residents will pick up a free new app this December to hire people to do chores.
Sturgeon Composite alumni J.P. and Matt LeBlanc spoke to the Gazette last month about their new handyman-for-hire app. Dubbed PickUp, the free app is making its initial rollout in St. Albert this December.
J.P. said he got the initial idea for the app about three years ago while shovelling snow off his mother’s driveway. Wishing he could get a student to do it instead, he imagined an Uber-like service where he could hire people to do chores at a moment’s notice. When he pitched the idea to Matt as a joke, Matt said it was actually a good idea, and they decided to investigate the concept.
The duo partnered with the American company IdeaPros to build the app and teamed up with about 17 St. Albert-area investors to fund it. They now hope to get St. Albert-area clients and job-seekers to start using the app, which will be free at launch.
Jobs on call
Many students today want to make money but don’t have the time for a regular job due to school or after-school activities, J.P. said.
“There’s a need for young people in our economy to be able to work and not have to sacrifice the things they love in order to work.”
Instead of putting out a call on Facebook and hoping for the best, J.P. said this app will let employees and employers come together in a single searchable place. Users will be able to post, search for, and accept requests for help, each of which will have a set pay rate based on the size of the task.
Once the task is done, both parties will have to leave a review of the other before any money changes hands. J.P. said this dual-review system should encourage workers and employers to treat each other well, as bad reviews would discourage others from hiring or working for them. Payment can happen through the app, e-transfers or in-person with cash.
The LeBlanc brothers said tasks available through the app will initially be limited to snow, leaf, and grass removal, with other tasks added based on client demand. Probable future jobs include housecleaning, plumbing, dog-walking, car repair, and putting up and taking down Christmas lights.
“The goal is to have jobs that people don’t want to do themselves,” J.P. said.
Matt emphasized that 100 per cent of the payment for any task done through PickUp goes to the worker — unlike many odd-job services, PickUp will not take a cut.
“Part of our goal was to create an avenue for workers to make all the money they earn and not have to take a haircut just to be able to do the work,” he said.
Matt said he and J.P. hope to recruit about 1,000 users in St. Albert during this initial rollout, most of whom they hope to get through ads and presentations at schools. One of their backers already has a group of university athletes eager to find odd jobs through the app.
“I think the No. 1 demographic of workers we’re going to reach out to is students,” Matt said.
J.P. said he and Matt will figure out how to monetize the app once the initial trial run is complete. This will likely involve some sort of monthly subscription or a per-task fee.
The LeBlanc brothers said they are confident their app will take off, as similar services such as Taskrabbit and Uber Tasks have proven successful. They hope their personal dedication, St. Albert roots, and keep-all-you-make pay structure will give their app an edge over those competitors.
J.P. and Matt said they aren’t sure how far they will take this app, as they both have full-time jobs. They hope to roll it out to Edmonton, Red Deer, and possibly a city in the U.S. in the near future.
The PickUp app will be available through Google Play and the App Store in mid-December. Email [email protected] for details.
