Australia’s first COVID-19 vaccination badge for tradies
Homeowners can now check if their tradie is fully vaccinated
8 September 2021 (Sydney, Australia) – Australia’s largest online tradie marketplace, hipages, has once again set the industry bar for connecting tradies with homeowners by announcing the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccination badge.
Fully vaccinated tradies in New South Wales will be able to provide a copy of their COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate to hipages via the hipages app from today. Once the certificate is checked as satisfactory by hipages, the tradie’s online profile will receive a badge visible to consumers.
The rollout will then move into other states in the coming weeks.
In a step forward for an industry that is currently operating under varied restrictions locally and nationally, the hipages COVID-19 vaccination badge is aimed at helping tradies boost consumer confidence when improving their home.
Having had more than 1.5m jobs posted on hipages in FY21 – an increase of 12% on FY20 – hipages has benefited from the accelerated adoption of digital tools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform has created the option of this badge to make booking a tradie even more effortless for Australian homeowners.
NSW Government Health Restrictions, as of 26 August 21, state that construction workers in the Greater Sydney area must have had the following prior to work: Two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine; one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at least 21 days prior; one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine within the preceding 21 days, and have been tested for COVID-19 within the preceding 72 hours (3 days); or a certified medical contraindication and have been tested for COVID-19 within the preceding 72 hours (3 days).
The introduction of the hipages COVID-19 vaccination badge is the next step in technology helping out the tradie industry and making it more transparent, efficient, and seamless for everyone. hipages CEO, Roby Sharon-Zipser explains why the badge is an important move.
“This badge lets customers clearly see that tradies are ok to work. Higher vaccination rates in the trade industry will help protect the community and show customers that tradies are doing the best they can to operate safely. While the appetite for home improvement jobs remains strong, our tradies are facing what is likely to be their most testing time as a result of restrictions designed to keep everyone safe. We aim to make things easier for them and their customers,” he said.
Roby continues that there is good news anticipated for the industry.
“Restrictions, coupled with the hipages seasonal forecast, tell us that the home improvement catch-up is coming. As we start to ease out of restrictions, we anticipate a mini-boom, with tradie demand likely to soar. We saw a similar trend during lockdowns in Victoria throughout 2020. Our advice to tradies and Australians planning home improvements is to start communicating now in preparation for the post-lockdown surge,” he said.
The agility to move quickly and provide an opportunity for transparency between tradies and their customers in the form of this badge is another reason why hipages is the trusted brand authority among tradies and homeowners alike.
hipages strongly encourages all consumers to check for themselves the vaccination status of any tradie who they book for a job before they enter their property.
About hipages
With one job posted every 20 seconds on average, hipages is Australia’s largest online tradie marketplace that connects Australians with trusted tradies to simplify home improvement. As the leader in the On-Demand Tradie Economy, based on jobs posted, our aim is to create a seamless experience for both tradies and homeowners. For homeowners, hipages provides a better, smarter way to connect with local tradies to get the job done well. For tradies, the platform helps them grow their business by providing quality leads from their customers looking for a specific trade. To date, over three million Australians have changed the way they find, hire and manage trusted tradies with hipages, ultimately providing more work to the 31,200 tradies subscribed to the platform. The hipages app is available for download on the App Store and Google Play. www.hipages.com.au