A lawn mowing marketplace built in Mill Park, for Melbourne's north.

Why we built it

Getting a lawn mowed in Melbourne is harder than it should be. Homeowners ring three numbers, wait for callbacks, get a price that changes on the day, and hope someone turns up. Mowers - mostly solo operators with a ute and an ABN - spend their evenings driving to quote jobs they don't win, or pay lead-generation sites for leads that go nowhere.

Both sides deserve better. Mowie measures the lawn from the aerial before anyone bids, so a mower in the next suburb can quote from the truck with confidence. Bids are binding. The customer's card goes in only when they hire, and it's charged only after they've seen the photo. If something goes wrong, we step in.

How Mowie makes money

Customers pay nothing to use Mowie - ever. Mowers pay a flat 10% commission on jobs they win through us, taken automatically when the customer pays. On an $85 mow that's $8; the mower keeps $73.91 after card fees. There is no fee to join, no fee to bid, and no fee on customers a mower already had. Founding partners pay 0% for 3 months.

What we stand for

• Photo before payment. Every job ends with a photo sent to the customer. Approve it, or raise an issue - you're never charged for work you haven't seen.
• Honest prices. Our price guide is built from measured lawn area and what mowers are actually winning nearby - not a number designed to get you on the phone.
• Mowers own the customer. Regular customers belong to the mower. We never get between them, and we don't charge on work that didn't come through Mowie.
• Reviews you can trust. Only customers who paid for a job through Mowie can review it.
• Local first. We're opening suburb by suburb - 11 across Mill Park and the Plenty Valley to start - so every listing gets real bids from mowers who actually work there.

Trust and safety

Every mower's ABN is verified against the Australian Business Register, identity and bank details are checked by Stripe (the payments provider behind Uber and Airbnb in Australia), and mowers who upload a certificate of currency get an Insured badge. Gate codes and exact addresses are only shared with the mower you hire. Disputes are reviewed within 24 hours.

A note from the founder

I started Mowie after watching a mate with a mowing round lose half a Saturday quoting jobs that went to someone cheaper on the phone, while my neighbour couldn't get anyone to call her back about a lawn that was knee-high. The fix seemed obvious: measure the lawn first, let the local mowers bid, and don't ask anyone for money until the job's done. That's the whole company.

If you mow lawns in the north and want to help shape how this works, I'd love to hear from you - hello@mowie.com.au or 0468 689 791.

Jordan Clyde, founder · Mill Park, Victoria