Business Challenge
The client wanted to bring the convenience of real-time matching to the fragmented home and lifestyle services industry. Key requirements included:
- Letting users browse verified professionals in their area with filters for category, distance, and availability
- Map-based browsing and booking via both desktop and mobile
- Real-time updates of service provider status and proximity
- Built-in calendar management and direct booking confirmation
- Profile and rating system for both customers and service providers
- Automated job routing, notifications, and status tracking
They also needed a scalable backend that could support rapid onboarding of new providers across multiple cities.
Solution
The project centered around building a location-based platform where users could find nearby service providers, view their availability, and book appointments. Most of the work focused on how to handle geographic filtering, schedule coordination, and real-time updates between customers and professionals.
We started by working through the provider onboarding process — what data each professional needed to submit, how verification would work, and how they would manage their availability. This required setting up a clear flow for registration, moderation, and calendar setup.
On the customer side, the challenge was simplifying the search and booking experience. We created a map-based view that showed providers within a selected radius and allowed users to filter by category, availability, and rating. The booking process itself was designed to minimize back-and-forth: customers could see open time slots, confirm appointments instantly, and receive status updates if the provider needed to reschedule.
Internally, we built tools to manage active bookings, automate notifications, and track basic metrics around service usage by region. All platform interactions — from availability updates to job confirmations — are synced in real time using API calls, which keeps both sides informed and reduces the need for manual coordination.
Most of the effort went into aligning these flows to match how small service businesses already operate, so they wouldn’t need to change their routines significantly to use the platform.
Project Stages
- Discovery & Market Fit: Defined user roles, geographic logic, and booking flows based on early pilot region
- UX Design: Created responsive map-based views and mobile-friendly booking paths
- Platform Development: Built matching logic, provider dashboards, and customer flows
- Launch & Scaling: Rolled out to selected metro areas with infrastructure hosted on AWS
Business Outcomes
- Service providers onboarded in 4 pilot cities within 3 months
- Over 1,000 successful bookings completed in the first 60 days
- Map view + proximity filters became the most-used feature by end users
- Provider response time reduced by 50% through real-time availability sync
- Admin team able to monitor job flows and resolve issues with minimal overhead
Why It Worked
To support the high variability of on-demand service logistics, we used the following technologies:
- Vue.js: For building responsive customer interfaces and provider dashboards
- Django: Backend structure with clear separation between roles and job states
- PostgreSQL: Geolocation-based filtering and structured booking logic
- REST & GraphQL APIs: Seamless communication across frontend modules and mobile extensions
- AWS: Infrastructure and scalability to support regional rollout and data security
Need a Similar Solution?
Building a local services marketplace or on-demand booking platform? We design custom systems with real-time matching, map-based interfaces, and scalable operations logic — tailored to your industry and audience. Let’s talk!
