Hiring a plumber may no longer be a draining experience thanks to household service booking startup Handybook.
Greater Boston residents who need their faucets replaced or their dishwashers installed can now make plumber appointments via the company’s website in a matter of seconds, said Handybook CEO Oisin Hanrahan.
“We’re taking away a lot of steps in the booking process and saying, ‘Let’s just skip to the bit where you actually want to book,” Hanrahan, 29, told the Herald.
Though Hanrahan, a former Harvard Business School student, wouldn’t flush out the number of Handybook plumbers available for hire, the company is “confident we’ll be able to serve plumbing demand” in the Hub.
To date, Handybook has approved less than 5 percent of the more than 8,000 service providers that applied to be listed in the company’s online platform. All providers must complete background and reference checks, as well as in-person interviews with the company.
“We look to expand the numbers all the time, but we want to do it in a very scalable, focused way that means we maintain service quality,” Hanrahan said.
Handybook, a 2012 MassChallenge finalist that’s raised nearly $2.3 million in funding, deploys a fixed-price plumber booking system for Bostonians this week, and one for metropolitan New York residents in the coming weeks, Hanrahan said.
The New York-based, seven-member company keeps its community support operations in Boston. Customers can already book service providers for jobs such as assembling Ikea furniture and repairing air conditioners.
A clogged drain repair will cost $190, while plumbers can be hired for other tasks at $125 an hour. All service providers must arrive within 15 minutes of their allotted appointment time or their work is free, Hanrahan said.
“We recognize customers’ time is so valuable to them,” he said. “We’re focused on saving as much time as we can.”