Role

Planning · Design · Development (solo)

Web App · Contractor Tool

Team

Solo development

Platforms

Web

Date

Jun 2026 - Present

Overview

It all lives in one Messenger thread — until it doesn’t

I can’t speak for the big companies in the Philippines, but watching solo repair and construction workers — and people offering services on their own — I kept seeing the same thing: the whole job runs through a single Messenger thread. Quotes, approvals, payments, all tangled together. And sooner or later that leads to misunderstandings down the line — “How much was it again?” or “Wait, that part’s extra.”

So I built Trabuild. The worker just sends the customer one link, and they can see everything: quotation → approval → progress photos → payment record. It doesn’t handle the money for you — it’s there to help you keep a clear record and proof. Right now it’s a free beta.

It starts with repair and construction, but really, anyone who quotes per job — freelancers included — should be able to use it. (The name comes from “trabaho,” Tagalog for work, plus “build.”)

What it does

• One customer share link — A single read-only link with the quote, progress photos, and remaining balance that opens anywhere, including Messenger, where most customers already are.
• Quotations — Build a quote with line items and live totals; the customer approves it online (a typed name works as a lightweight confirmation), and you can download it as a PDF.
• Progress updates — Post dated updates with photos, and choose what each customer can and can’t see.
• Payment ledger — Record downpayments, partial payments, and balances (GCash, Maya, Cash, Bank) and see at a glance what’s still owed. (It records payments for your own tracking — it doesn’t process or hold any money.)
• Extra-work requests — Customers can request add-ons from the share page, and you accept or decline — so changes are agreed in writing instead of lost in a chat.
• Material costs & maintenance reminders — Track spending per job, and set recurring follow-ups (like a quarterly aircon cleaning) to bring repeat customers back.

What I cared about most while building it

• Fewer misunderstandings — Keeping the approval, the photos, and the payment record together in one place means there’s always something clear to point back to.
• Built for how they already work — Filipino pros practically live on Messenger, so everything centers on one share link the customer can open without installing anything. English by default, with a Tagalog toggle.
• Lean on purpose — I left out the heavy stuff and kept it to the essentials a one-person business actually needs day to day.

Stack

• Front: Next.js (App Router), React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Supabase (Auth · Postgres · Storage)
• Documents: PDF generation (@react-pdf/renderer) for quotations
• i18n: English by default · Tagalog toggle
• Key screens: owner dashboard, project hub (quote · progress photos · payment ledger · material costs · reminders), read-only customer share page

Now, and next

It’s still early, so it needs real-world testing. I’ll be gathering feedback from people actually using it and updating as I go.

You can try it here: built-ph.vercel.app