Job quoting website has community in mind

May 25th, 2012
[by David Armstrong]

A new website initiative aimed at keeping contracting jobs within local communities is opening up for people in the Motueka and the Nelson-Tasman district.

"Jobit" allows users advertise odd jobs they need doing, and then other members who offer these services to quote to do those jobs. Jobs advertised and quoted for include pretty much anything from gardening and lawn mowing to dog walking, and even more skilled jobs involving tradesman.

Jobit says it gives freelancers workers and independent businesses a competitive edge by putting them directly in contact with prospective customers, and offers home owners and other locals easy access to multiple competitive quotes for their jobs without thumbing through the phonebook and making lots of phone calls.

Users of the service simply become members by registering for free, and the use of Jobit is entirely without fees for both advertisers and quoters. You can see how it works by going to www.jobit.co.nz.

The site was developed and launched in March in Invercargill by three young men studying Information Technology, one of them being Josh Dean who lives in Ruby Bay. Josh told Motueka Online their goal is to "make neighbours' skills accessible, promote community helping each other, and of course getting your jobs done".

"Jobit is running on a shoe string budget," he explained. "We keep expenses very low, and pay out of pocket for what is needed. We have no grant or sponsorship, but certainly do not reject the idea of grant or sponsorship for future expenses if the right opportunity presents itself."

Having kicked off in Invercargill and now having about 200 members and growing, Christchurch and the Nelson/Tasman region are next in line for gradual expansion country-wide. The listings are already divided into a few regions, and there are plans to specify the regions further in the future.

The home page shows the latest listings from all regions, but a user can specify the category and region they would like to view.

"Our focus is on community - connecting locals with each other and making their neighbour's skills accessible," Josh said. "We have had great community support and received organic growth through word of mouth and local media and this will likely continue to be our primary source of new users. It has worked very well in Invercargill and we hope to model our growth there in other regions.

We are quite young and are very excited to be growing a successful website that can also benefit our community and New Zealand. For the time being that is reward enough."

Comment by Ron Sharp:
[Posted 26 May 2012]

Well done Chris and your mates in Invercargill. This could also be a great resource for promoting trading in our local currency TALENTS.

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