TechQuotes: a quote marketplace for IT and web services in Ireland

At a glance

The brief

Finding an IT or web professional in Ireland usually means asking around, or contacting companies one at a time and trying to compare quotes that are all laid out differently. We wanted one place where a business could describe the job once and hear back from professionals who actually offer that service in their area.

The site had to:

• be free for customers, with no obligation to hire;
• send each request only to approved professionals who offer that service, in the customer’s county or remotely;
• make quotes easy to compare, including whether VAT is included;
• build trust, with checked providers and reviews only from customers who actually hired them;
• give public bodies a proper way to get three written quotes and keep a record;
• be fast, secure and easy to find on Google.

What we delivered

For customers: a two-minute request form covering 13 services, quotes from matched professionals, profiles and reviews to compare them, and chat to ask questions before hiring. It’s free, with nothing to sign up for until you post a request.

For IT and web professionals: free sign-up, leads matched to the services and areas they choose, a quick way to send a quote, and a profile that builds up reviews. Every provider is reviewed by a person before they can respond, and a Verified badge shows when their business registration with the CRO and contact details have been checked.

Fair rules for everyone: nobody can pay to rank higher, and only customers who hired a provider through TechQuotes can review them.

Guides for buyers: plain-English guides, such as what a website or SEO costs in Ireland and how to choose an IT support company, which help people decide and help the site get found on Google.

An admin area for approving providers, checking public-sector suppliers, moderating content and editing the guides.

Public-sector quotes

Many public bodies need three written quotes for smaller purchases, and a record of how they chose. TechQuotes has a separate process built for that:

• Buyers set the specification, estimated value, number of quotes and a closing date, and can keep quotes sealed until then.
• Staff on recognised public-sector email domains, such as gov.ie and hse.ie, are confirmed straight away. Others are checked by hand.
• Only suppliers approved for public-sector work can quote, after their tax clearance and insurance details are checked.
• Every quote gives a fixed price before VAT, the VAT rate, how long the price holds and the delivery time, so quotes line up in one table.
• Questions are answered once, for every supplier, without saying who asked.
• If too few quotes have arrived four days before closing, more approved suppliers are invited.
• Buyers award with a reason, unsuccessful suppliers are told, and a PDF record of every quote, question and answer can be downloaded.

How it’s built

• Fast pages: a Next.js application with public pages prepared in advance, so they load quickly on phones.
• Data kept apart: a PostgreSQL database with row-level security, so each customer and provider can only see their own requests, quotes and messages.
• Secure accounts: two-step login, which is required for admin accounts, plus limits on how often requests and messages can be sent, and checks on every uploaded file.
• Locked-down server: HTTPS only (TLS 1.2 and 1.3), HSTS and a full set of security headers.
• Built to be found: a page for every service, structured data, an XML sitemap and IndexNow, so Bing hears about new pages straight away.
• Safe updates: automated checks and database tests run before every change, and updates are applied by a script that stops before touching the live site if anything fails.

Where it stands

TechQuotes is new, so we’re not quoting traffic or sales figures yet. What we can show today: it scores 100 out of 100 in our free SEO checker, with HTTPS, HSTS and all four recommended security headers in place, and its service pages and guides are being indexed by Google.