NoCowboys: Marketplace for Tradesmen in New Zealand

About the Client

NoCowboys is a New Zealand-based home services marketplace founded in 2004. The platform connects customers with service providers across a wide range of categories: from plumbing and electrical work to construction and renovations.

Customers can search for providers, book services, and leave reviews, helping others choose reliable and trusted businesses.

CHALLENGE

After more than a decade on the market, NoCowboys faced the typical challenges of a long-running digital platform. Multiple development teams had worked on the system over the years, resulting in fragmented architecture and growing technical debt.

Part of the platform was built on the Zend 1 PHP framework, while other parts relied on different technologies. This made the system difficult to maintain, slow to extend, and costly to evolve. The client needed to refactor the codebase, modernize the CRM system used by administrators, and significantly improve the overall user experience.

SOLUTION

Greenice joined the project in 2016, when the platform was already live and actively used. Our task was not to build from scratch, but to carefully modernize and optimize an existing, business-critical system while keeping it stable and scalable.

The scope of tasks that we carried out:

PROBLEM

Originally, NoCowboys relied on two separate admin systems built with outdated technologies. This caused duplicated functionality, inconsistent workflows, and unnecessary manual work for managers.

SOLUTION

We unified the two admin systems into a single CRM by refactoring and rewriting the codebase using Zend 1, ensuring compatibility with the existing architecture while significantly improving maintainability.

As a result, the new CRM:

• Improved system performance and security
• Simplified daily admin workflows
• Enabled faster development and rollout of new features

We also delivered a new admin panel for business accounts, providing clearer data access and easier subscription management.

PROBLEM

Managers had to manually track subscription expiration dates and notify businesses when renewals were due. This process was time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult to scale.

SOLUTION

We implemented automated reporting and notification logic that tracks subscription lifecycles and alerts customers in advance. This eliminated manual checks, reduced human error, and freed up managers’ time for higher-value tasks.

PROBLEM

The existing on-site search relied on outdated logic and often returned irrelevant results, making it harder for users to find suitable service providers.

SOLUTION

We replaced the legacy search engine with Elasticsearch and redesigned the search logic. Results are now ranked using multiple factors, including:

• Proximity to the customer
• Business rating
• Recency of reviews

This significantly improved result relevance, user satisfaction, and overall platform usability.

PROBLEM

The platform needed to support multiple user types and subscription models within a single system, while clearly separating access rights and functionality.

SOLUTION

We implemented a structured user management system with dedicated panels for:

• Customers who search, book services, and leave reviews
• Businesses that promote and manage their services

Business accounts are divided into three types:

• Unregistered businesses: Free accounts that can be created by businesses or customers. They can be listed and reviewed but cannot apply for jobs.
• Registered businesses: Paid subscription accounts with advanced functionality, enhanced profiles, analytics, and the ability to link to external websites.
• Customer Preferred businesses: Premium accounts that meet strict quality criteria: at least 10 reviews, recent customer feedback, and an overall rating above 85%. These businesses receive a special badge, higher visibility in search results, and the ability to apply for customer jobs.

PROBLEM

For a review-driven marketplace, trust is critical. Fake or low-quality reviews could undermine the platform’s credibility and user confidence.

SOLUTION

We implemented a multi-layered review validation system to ensure authenticity and reliability:

• Only one review per business is allowed per email and IP address
• Ratings from registered users are marked as authenticated
• Feedback from unregistered users remains visible but clearly labeled
• Businesses or admins can request proof of service delivery 
• Spam detection is handled via Akismet and internal blacklists
• Platform-level security is supported by certified services protecting against DDoS attacks and suspicious activity

This approach significantly increased trust in the review system while maintaining transparency.

BENEFITS FOR THE CLIENT

TECHNOLOGIES

As usual, we made the pre-development analysis to identify the main hurdles, elaborate the solution and choose the appropriate technology stack.

TESTIMONIALS