A husband-and-wife duo out of Langley has been developing a platform targeting trades contractors.
The field service software startup, dubbed WorkZen, aims to supply “everything you need to run your business efficiently.”
The bootstrapped WorkZen was founded by chief executive officer Ika Balzam alongside his wife Sandy, who functions as chief of operations.
The lean team was recently joined by Montreal’s Chris Jarry, who is opening the Quebec market for WorkZen.
So far, more than 200 businesses utilize WorkZen’s technology, which competes against incumbents like Jobber and Workiz.
Funded by friends, WorkZen has thus far shied away from venture capital funding in order to minimize overhead. Without offices or middle management, Balzam says they “can charge a fraction” of bigger competitors and keep things free for smaller operators.
This includes offering a free toolkit for tradespeople, with features such as a unit converter, landfill finder, business name generator, and range of trade-specific calculators.
WorkZen services a wide range of trades, including electrical, plumbing, landscaping, cleaning, roofing, painting, flooring, and more—allowing tradespeople to manage calls, schedule visits, track parts, coordinate crews, and handle warranties and compliance documentation.
The startup is unapologetically Canadian, billing in local dollars, including Canadian taxes for invoices, supporting Interac e-Transfer, and generally focusing all efforts within the country.
The company also offers the WorkZen Academy, a free online learning platform designed for skilled tradespeople preparing for professional certification exams.
Each certification has a complete course broken into modules with lessons, visuals, and knowledge checks. There are also timed practice exams with questions that mirror the format and difficulty of actual certification tests.
The Academy currently offers nearly 9,000 practice questions for more than 70 certifications across over 30 different trade categories.
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