Why We're Building Traeos: The Future of Skilled Trades

A System That Fails Both Sides

Finding a good plumber shouldn't be harder than ordering a car to your door. But for decades, hiring a skilled tradesperson has meant:

• Googling "plumber near me" and hoping for the best
• Calling 5-10 companies and leaving voicemails that may never be returned
• Waiting days — sometimes weeks — for a quote
• Getting a vague verbal estimate with no way to compare it against others
• Having no reliable way to verify credentials, insurance, or work quality

The data backs this up. A 2024 Leaf Home survey found that 65% of homeowners say it's difficult to find a trustworthy home repair professional. Nearly 70% worry about unreliable contractors. And only 14% of homeowners trust third-party platforms — the very tools that are supposed to help.

Meanwhile, skilled tradespeople face their own set of problems. Independent pros — many running small businesses out of their truck — struggle with inconsistent lead flow, unpaid invoices, and hours lost to admin work. The best plumber in your city might have zero online presence because she's always relied on word of mouth and hasn't had time to build a website between jobs.

The Existing Platforms Aren't Working

The home services platforms that exist today were built on a lead-generation model that doesn't serve either side well. Contractors pay $10 to $100+ per lead, and the same lead gets sent to multiple pros — ensuring that most of the contractors who paid will never get the job. The leads are often low-quality: people price-shopping with no intent to hire, or fake inquiries that waste everyone's time.

For homeowners, the experience isn't much better. Reviews can be gamed. There's no way to verify if a contractor is actually licensed or insured. And the platform's incentive is to generate leads, not to ensure you get a good outcome.

We think there's a better way.

What We're Building

Traeos is a marketplace designed to solve both sides of the equation — not by generating leads, but by creating genuine connections between homeowners and verified professionals.

For homeowners: Enter your zip code, browse verified pros by trade, read reviews from real completed jobs, and get detailed quotes with line-item pricing. Every pro on Traeos passes a Checkr background check, displays their license information, and has a transparent track record. For larger jobs, our milestone system lets you approve and pay as each phase is completed — so you're never exposed.

For pros: No lead fees. No bidding wars. No paying $50 to chase a customer who was never going to hire you. Traeos brings qualified customers directly to you based on your skills, service area, and availability. You set your own prices, manage your schedule, build your reputation through verified reviews, and get paid promptly. One app handles your jobs, quotes, payments, and customer communication.

Why Skilled Trades Matter

The skilled trades are the infrastructure of daily life. Clean water, safe electricity, comfortable indoor temperatures, solid roofs and walls — none of it exists without licensed professionals who've spent years mastering their craft.

But the industry is facing a generational crisis. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects roughly 649,300 annual openings in construction and extraction occupations through 2034. An estimated 41% of the current construction workforce will retire by 2031. For every one person entering the trades, approximately five are leaving. The Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the industry needs 439,000 additional workers in 2025 alone.

We believe part of the solution is making the business side of being a tradesperson simpler and more rewarding. When a plumber can focus on plumbing instead of chasing invoices and managing a patchwork of scheduling tools, the profession becomes more sustainable and more attractive to the next generation.

Our Principles

• Trust first. Background checks, verified licenses, and reviews from real completed jobs aren't optional features — they're the foundation of everything we build. You can't have a healthy marketplace without trust on both sides.
• Transparency always. No hidden fees, no bait-and-switch pricing, no gaming the review system. Homeowners see the full quote before committing. Pros know exactly what they're signing up for.
• Pros are partners, not commodities. We don't race to the bottom on pricing. Skilled work deserves fair pay, and platforms that squeeze contractors on price ultimately hurt homeowners too — because the best pros leave.
• Local matters. Every market is different. We grow thoughtfully, using our waitlist system to ensure that when we launch in a new area, there are enough quality pros to give homeowners a real choice — and enough customers to make it worthwhile for pros.

What's Next

We're building this in public, with input from both homeowners and tradespeople. Our roadmap includes expanded service categories, deeper tools for team management and business analytics, and features that make the skilled trades more visible and accessible to the next generation of workers.

The trades industry has been underserved by technology for too long. We're here to change that — not by disrupting the people who do the work, but by building the tools they deserve.

If you're a homeowner who's tired of the guessing game, or a pro who's ready for a platform that actually works for you — we built this for you.