Plumbing
Burst pipes, leaking taps, water heaters, soakaway and borehole work.
Most people post this one at the worst possible hour — a pipe that went overnight, or a tap that has been dripping since the last rainy season.
Escrow-protected hiring
Hire an artisan. Hold the money until the work is done.
Post a job, compare itemised quotes from verified plumbers, electricians and carpenters near you, and keep every naira locked in escrow until you have seen the finished work.
- Free to join
- Money held until you approve
- Paid in naira
12 service categoriesMaterials released up frontWorkmanship on approvalFlutterwave · ₦
01 The escrow engine
Nobody pays first. Nobody works for free.
Every quote is itemised into materials and labour — and escrow is split along the same seam. Step through a real job below.
Your wallet
₦60,000
Topped up via Flutterwave
Held in escrow
₦0
Neither side can touch it
Artisan wallet
₦0
Withdrawn with a transfer PIN
MATERIALS ₦18,500WORKMANSHIP ₦30,000
Customer action
You approve a quote
Three artisans quoted. You pick one; the rest are auto-rejected and the job moves to hiring. No money has moved yet.
[09:14:02] quote.approved ₦48,500 3 quotes, 1 hired
▋
Itemised quotes
Every line is labelled material or labour. You see what you are paying for before you fund anything.
Before & after proof
Artisans photograph the site on arrival and on completion, so both sides have a timestamped record.
Reviews that cost something
Only a customer who funded and completed a job can leave a rating. Reviews cannot be bought.
02 What you can hire for
Twelve trades, one job post
From a burst pipe at midnight to a full kitchen refit. Post once and let verified artisans near you compete with itemised quotes.
Electrical
Wiring, sockets, DB boards, inverter and solar installation.
It usually starts with one socket that stopped working, and ends with somebody finally sizing the inverter properly.
Carpentry
Wardrobes, kitchen cabinets, doors, ceilings and custom furniture.
New flat, empty rooms and a kitchen to fit out — or a wardrobe door that has been off its hinge long enough to count as furniture.
Painting
Interior and exterior painting, screeding, POP finishing and texture.
Landlords ask before a tenant moves in. Everyone else asks after the rains have finished with the outside wall.
Cleaning
Deep cleans, post-construction, fumigation and move-in cleaning.
Builders leave dust in places you did not know existed, keys change hands tomorrow, and the fumigation has been put off twice already.
Appliance Repair
Fridges, washing machines, microwaves, generators and gas cookers.
A fridge that hums but never gets cold, a generator that will not start on the second pull, a washing machine stuck halfway through a cycle.
Masonry
Block work, plastering, tiling, interlocking and concrete repairs.
Tiling a bathroom properly, laying interlocking across the compound, or patching the plaster where damp has been getting in.
AC & Cooling
Air conditioner installation, gassing, servicing and chiller repair.
It is always the first genuinely hot week of the year, and always the unit nobody serviced at the end of the last one.
Auto Repair
Mobile mechanics, diagnostics, panel beating and AC servicing.
A warning light nobody can explain, a car that will not start where it is parked, or a wing to beat out after somebody reversed into it.
Gardening
Landscaping, lawn care, tree cutting and garden maintenance.
Lawns that got away during the rains, a tree leaning nearer the roof than it used to, or a bare compound being laid out from scratch.
Moving & Haulage
House moves, office relocation, pickup trucks and dispatch.
A flat to empty before the weekend, an office to shift over a public holiday, or one heavy thing that was never going to fit in a car.
More Trades
Welders, tailors, barbers, chefs, drivers and general handymen.
Gates and burglary bars, a suit that needs taking in, a driver for the week, and the small repairs nobody has a proper name for.
Launching first
Uyo, Akwa Ibom State
Next, as we open them
Lagos · Abuja · Port Harcourt · Ibadan · Kano · Benin City · Enugu · Kaduna · Abeokuta · Jos · Warri
We open city by city rather than claiming the whole country on day one. Providers set their own service radius, so you only ever see artisans who actually cover your street.
The artisans here are welders, tailors, chefs and mechanics building a verified reputation one job at a time.
PlumberPipework & fittings 
ElectricianWiring & inverters 
CarpenterFurniture & fittings 
BricklayerBlock & plaster 
PainterInterior & exterior 
WelderGates & railings 
MechanicMobile diagnostics 
CleanerDeep & post-build 
GardenerLawns & landscaping 
TailorBespoke & repairs 
BarberHome service cuts 
HairdresserBraids & styling 
ChefPrivate & events 
DriverErrands & logistics 
Farm HandSeasonal labour 
HandymanOdd jobs & repairs
03 How it works
One app, two doors
- 01
Post the job, or pick your artisan
Describe what needs doing, add a budget and location, and post it publicly for quotes. Or browse the directory and send a direct hire request to one specific provider — only they can quote.
- 02
Compare itemised quotes
Quotes arrive sorted cheapest first, each broken into material and labour line items. Message any artisan in-app before you decide.
- 03
Approve, and fund escrow
Approving a quote hires that artisan and rejects the rest. Your payment moves into escrow, where neither side can touch it.
- 04
Release, rate, done
Release materials so work can start, check the after-photos, then rate the job. Your rating and the final payout are written together.
04 Trust & safety
Everyone has heard both horror stories
The artisan who collects a deposit and stops answering. The customer who goes quiet the day the work finishes.
HandLancer is built so neither one is possible. Not discouraged — not possible.
- The PIN is not a formality
- A withdrawal verifies the transfer PIN inside the same database transaction that debits the wallet. There is no code path that moves money without it, and bank details live in a separate locked-down table — never on the profile every signed-in user can read.
- Photos are attached to the job, not to a chat
- Before-and-after media is filed against the job record itself, timestamped, visible to both parties. Nothing gets lost in a WhatsApp thread that one side can delete.
- A dispute freezes the money where it is
- Opening a dispute holds escrow in place while the case is reviewed. Nothing is released because someone got tired of arguing.
- A review cannot be bought
- Rating and payout are written in one atomic transaction. If the review fails, the payout fails with it — so every star on a profile belongs to a real, funded, completed job.
- Naira, on rails you already use
- Wallet top-ups and payouts run on Flutterwave. No crypto, no foreign cards, no asking your cousin abroad to pay for it.
05 For artisans
The work was never the hard part. Getting paid was.
On HandLancer the money is funded and sitting in escrow before you pick up a tool, and materials land in your wallet before you buy a single bag of cement.
- Free to joinNo subscription, no bidding credits, no commission on quoting.
- See the budget firstJob budget and location are on the card before you write a quote.
- Filter to your tradeSwitch on “matches my skills” and the feed only shows work you can do.
- Withdraw to your bankPayouts to a Nigerian account, confirmed with a transfer PIN.
Earnings worksheet
A steady artisan on the platform books one to two a week.
Your quote's workmanship lines, excluding materials.
6 × ₦25,000PER MONTH
₦150,000
Every naira of it funded before the work starts. This counts workmanship only — materials money is reimbursement, not profit.
Join as an artisan
Illustrative only — actual earnings depend on the jobs you win.
06 Questions
Asked before every first job
Not yet — HandLancer is in build and we are opening city by city. Join the waitlist and we will email you the moment it goes live where you are. Customers and artisans have separate lists, so tell us which one you are; artisans on the list get their profiles reviewed and verified before customers start posting.
When you approve a quote, the full amount moves from your HandLancer wallet into escrow — it leaves your balance but the artisan cannot touch it yet. Escrow is split in two: the materials portion and the workmanship portion. You release materials so the artisan can buy supplies, and the workmanship portion is only released after you have seen the finished work and rated it. Until you release it, the money stays with HandLancer.
Every quote is itemised into material line items and labour line items. Those totals become the two halves of escrow. The artisan can request the materials portion early so they are not funding your cement and cable out of pocket, while the workmanship portion — their profit — stays locked until the job is signed off. It removes the classic standoff where neither side wants to pay or start first.
Posting a job, browsing artisans and receiving quotes is free. You fund your wallet for the value of the job you approve, and artisans withdraw their earnings to a Nigerian bank account secured by a transfer PIN.
Every provider has a public profile with a star rating, written reviews from previous customers, years of experience, listed skills and a verification badge. Ratings can only be left by a customer who actually hired and paid through the platform, so they cannot be gamed by strangers.
Do not release the workmanship portion. Open a dispute from the job screen and the money stays frozen in escrow while the case is reviewed. Artisans upload before and after photos and videos of every job, so there is a timestamped record of the site condition on both sides.
Released escrow lands in the provider’s in-app wallet immediately. From there they request a withdrawal to their bank account, confirmed with a transfer PIN. Wallet top-ups and payouts run on Flutterwave.
Yes. Browse the directory and send a direct hire request to one provider, and only they can quote. Or post the job publicly and let multiple artisans compete — quotes arrive sorted by total price so you can compare like for like.
We open city by city rather than claiming the whole country on day one. Uyo, Akwa Ibom State is our first launch city, and it is the only one with local pages today — real price ranges, the job types that town actually posts, and questions people there ask. Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano and other major cities follow as we open them. Providers set their own service radius, so you only see people who actually cover your area.
Yes. Create a provider profile, list your trades and service radius, and start quoting on open jobs straight away. You only need a bank account and a transfer PIN to withdraw what you earn.
07 Waitlist
We are not live yet. Get in first.
HandLancer is in build. Join the waitlist and we will let you in as soon as we open your city — customers and artisans both.
- First access when we launch in your city
- Your first job posted free, always
- No card, no commitment — just an email
We will only email you about the launch. No newsletter, no sharing your details with anyone.
Your next repair deserves a receipt, not a leap of faith
We are still building. Put your name down and you will be among the first in when HandLancer opens in your city.
Hire verified plumbing, electrical, carpentry, painting, cleaning, appliance repair, masonry, ac & cooling professionals and more. We open city by city, starting with Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Every job escrow-protected, every amount in naira.