From a 2019 idea to today: the whole TradeYoke journey

Part 37 of 39 of Building TradeYoke, the story of how the platform was built, from January 2024 to today. Previous: What building for tradespeople has taught us: seven lessons from the build. Next: From passwords to passkeys: how sign-in and trust grew with TradeYoke. See every part on the build timeline.

Quick answer: TradeYoke began as an idea around 2019, while we were helping to manage window cleaning rounds. Development started at the beginning of 2024 with customers and jobs for window cleaning, then added invoicing, quoting, surveys and inspections, maps and directions, and live monitoring. Today window cleaning and gardening are in pilot, with a first release very soon, and electricians, plumbers and solar installers are in pilot.

• The idea dates from around 2019; development began at the start of 2024.
• The build went in order: customers and jobs, invoicing, quoting, surveys and inspections, maps, live monitoring.
• Window cleaning and gardening are in pilot, with a first release very soon; electricians, plumbers and solar installers, and the phone and Windows apps, are in pilot.
• The full series, in order, is on the build timeline.

Around 2019 we were helping manage window cleaning rounds, and we kept seeing the same problems: rounds on paper and spreadsheets, cleans missed, money to chase, prices left to go stale. We had an idea for software that looked after all of that. For a long time it stayed an idea. See where TradeYoke began.

At the start of 2024 we decided to begin, with three rules: one trade done properly first, the phone as the main tool, and say only what is true. We described the problem in why rounds drift, then designed the round, the customer record and the repeating job. In June 2024 we first published our terms and privacy notice.

By the summer, customers and jobs worked together, the diary filled itself from the round, and customers could be imported from a spreadsheet.

Then money: invoicing, an append-only ledger, part payments and Who owes me, and pay links, cards and Direct Debit.

Quoting, a page customers accept on, then surveys and inspections, a place to file the paperwork, addresses, directions and maps built on Google Maps.

Live monitoring with consent first and trails, then working with no signal, Plan my day and other trades on the same core.

Window cleaning and gardening are in pilot, with a first release very soon. Electricians, plumbers and solar installers are in pilot. The web app is available now and works on a phone; the Android, iPhone and Windows apps are in pilot and not yet in the app stores. Recent work has been on the phone experience, with a welcome screen, a dashboard that leads with today's jobs, and maps and customer records made for a phone, and on sign-in, with passkeys in the web browser. The build timeline lists every part in order.

We will keep to the rules from day one: finish what is in pilot, and say only what is true. If you run a round, a garden or a trade business and want to try it, the trial is 30 days of Essentials with no card needed.

Related: The platform · All features · Window cleaning software · Pricing · The build timeline

See also: release notes: every stage, version by version