Handy
Product Design · App
Client:
Bootcamp Final Project
Role:
UX-UI Product Designer
Year:
2026
A mobile app for home services, built on verified trust — for both sides of the hire.
App concept - Product Design Bootcamp — WBS Coding School (Berlin)
The Problem
In Colombia, hiring home services outside your network is harder as it should be
Hiring a plumber, electrician, or cleaner still depends on personal referrals and word of mouth, relying mostly on family or friends. Without a recommendation, there's no obvious place to start
But why hasn't this been solved yet?
I came in with a hypothesis shaped by growing up in Colombia:
People don't use platforms for home services — not because they don't exist, but because they don't trust them
Research
From UX to cultural problem
Surveys / Interviews / Affinity diagram / Competitive analysis / 25 Participants
When the project started, the problem looked like a UX problem
Existing platforms address the booking, trust between users was missing, identity verification was lacking. That's a product problem.
What research revealed was something deeper
Trust is not extended to strangers by default — it's earned through personal networks. That cultural reality becomes a concrete barrier the moment no referral is available.
"I don't trust virtual platforms — you never know who's behind them, and I've heard stories of scams."
— Service Seeker
"I'm scared of letting a stranger into my home."
— Service Seeker
"Sometimes I take the risk, but I would like to know more about the client first."
— Service Provider
Both types of users are running the same risk assessment but in opposite directions.
Designing trust comes with responsibility — It isn't just a feature, it's the result of every decision made along the way.
What information is shown
What is hidden
How people are evaluated
How users are verified
Getting those decisions wrong doesn't just create friction, it might put people at risk.
Key Decisions
Every decision started with the same question: does this build trust?
No trust layer works without knowing who's behind it.
Verification is required before platform access — for both sides. Without a verified identity, every other trust signal is hollow. The entire trust layer depends on it.
A single score tells you nothing about who you're hiring.
Standard rating systems compress everything into one ambiguous number — a 4.5 doesn't tell you what to actually expect.
Privacy isn't a limitation. It's part of the trust model.
Users are unwilling to share their exact location before trust is established. Area over address — discoverability without exposure.
Open comments don't build trust. They introduce noise.
Structured rating replaced open comments entirely. All communication stays within a single, controlled space.
Language that builds credibility, not judgment.
Attributes like Friendliness, Reliability, Work Quality, and Fair Pricing evaluate the experience.
Solution
Outcome
Recognition
Selected by WBS Coding School tutors to present at the CDD Community Demo Day.
What's still unsolved
Identity verification is the hardest piece to get right. Mandatory verification is correct for the system — making it short and friction-free is the next problem to solve.
What I'd validate first
Will users complete the mutual rating without external pressure? The first metric: completion rate per closed service, segmented by who initiates contact. If it's low, the trust mechanic breaks down entirely.
What I'd do differently
Research leaned more heavily on seekers than providers. A second round would go deeper with providers — especially around how much identity information they're willing to share before trust is established.
Next
Handy is the foundation for a startup built around trust as infrastructure — not just for home services, but for any transaction where both sides carry risk. The model proves itself in one category first.