About this app
iBUILD is a citizen-to-citizen (C2C) mobile application devoted to disrupting the housing market in the developing world with a specific focus on the African continent by breaking down barriers in the construction process. Lack of transparency, high levels of risk, and limited trusted platforms make small-scale construction and incremental building difficult. iBUILD is meant to bridge the gap between stakeholders in the housing value chain, add transparency to the building process, and empower people to build with approaches suited to their needs. The platform offers users the ability to secure financing, find quality contractors, manage the construction process, and pay for supplies and services.
We anticipate expanding the iBUILD platform to solve many problems across the African housing market. The initial iBUILD modules provide the following features for households looking to incrementally build or improve their homes.
Link Directly to Lenders: We are working with several microfinance banks and micro-mortgage lenders to design housing-specific loan products tailored to use with the iBUILD platform. Users can apply for loan products, advertise through the platform, and have their loan funds disbursed directly into their iBUILD wallets.
Receive Quotes: Customers are able to create projects for home repairs, renovation projects, incremental building, building an entire home, or to scope out materials to purchase for projects. Projects are used to generate a request for quote through which contractors and material suppliers can bid.
Verify quality of contractor work: All contractors registered on the platform need to be registered with local authorities. Every time a contractor or supplier receives payment through the iBUILD platform, they are rated on professionalism, timeliness, quality, and responsiveness. Potential customers can review a full record of all past work managed through iBUILD when they receive a contractor’s quote alongside these ratings to make more informed decisions.
Track Progress: Once a customer accepts a contractor’s or material supplier’s bid, iBUILD’s project management feature provides an opportunity to manage payments and track progress. Contractors establish a schedule of payments that ties payments to specific milestones approved by the customer. At the completion of each milestone, the contractor or supplier is required to submit an update that may include photos, notes, or other project-related documents, which the customer can review from a web browser or the iBUILD mobile application. Once a customer rates the contractor or material supplier and validates completion of a milestone, iBUILD releases the payment associated with it.
Pay Digitally: All registered users of iBUILD are equipped with an “iBUILD digital savings wallet,” which they can use to receive payments or send money out to pay for projects. The digital savings wallet allows users to track all movements of funds whether receiving funding from their lender, paying for a worker for a completed project, or paying for supplies. Because the iBUILD wallet is tied to the project management feature, users can allot funds based on a schedule of work and release payments as their workers complete project milestones. Once the funds are committed, workers can see the funds assigned to each milestone, assuring them the funds are ready and waiting for project completion. Once the customer validates completion of a given milestone, the funds are released for payment to the worker.
App Permissions
Allows applications to open network sockets.
Allows access to the vibrator.
Allows applications to access information about networks.
Allows read only access to phone state, including the phone number of the device, current cellular network information, the status of any ongoing calls, and a list of any PhoneAccounts registered on the device.
Allows applications to access information about Wi-Fi networks.
Allows an app to access precise location.
Allows an app to access approximate location.
Allows applications to change Wi-Fi connectivity state.
Allows an application to access extra location provider commands.
Allows an application to write to external storage.
Allows an application to read from external storage.
Allows an application to request installing packages.
Allows an application to record audio.
Allows an application to modify global audio settings.
Allows applications to connect to paired bluetooth devices.
Allows applications to discover and pair bluetooth devices.
Required to be able to access the camera device.
Allows using PowerManager WakeLocks to keep processor from sleeping or screen from dimming.
Allows applications to enter Wi-Fi Multicast mode.
Allows an application to receive the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED that is broadcast after the system finishes booting.
Allows applications to change network connectivity state.
Allows an application to change the Z-order of tasks.
This constant was deprecated in API level 8. The restartPackage(String] API is no longer supported.
This constant was deprecated in API level 21. No longer enforced.
