MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — There's a new app in the community offering affordable and convenient help to Central Texans around their homes, but it’s also a job opportunity for college students in the area.
21-year-old Texas A&M student Zachary Miller created the app and launched it in College Station at A&M.
He then launched it in Lubbock with Texas Tech students, and now the app is available in Waco for local Baylor and TSTC students.
- Zachary Miller wants to make life easier for homeowners and better for college students by putting some cash in their pockets
- The Spare Hand app has two different apps, one for the homeowner and one for students
- Homeowners are able to fill out a form with a description of the desired job, and there they can view students available and their hourly rate
- The app aims to help college students earn money for college while providing affordable and convenient help for homeowners
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Whether it’s yard work, moving furniture or making home repairs —
“You name it — we have a student that’s ready to help out,” Zachary Miller said.
Miller wants to make life easier for homeowners, and better for college students, by putting some cash in their pockets.
“It’s a lot of expenses that we have to go through whether it’s gas, textbooks, some are paying their pay through school," he said.
"We’re trying our best to kind of bridge the gap between homeowners and students."
Miller is the founder of “Spare Hand”, an app that utilizes the skills of college students.
It offers 52 different services, or as Miller likes to call them — those odd jobs around the home that you don’t want to hire a professional for.
“Hiring a tree service to come in costs you hundreds of dollars — hire four or five students, have one of them bring a trailer have somewhere they can haul it off to, and you’re saving $200 to $300 right there," said TSTC student, Dani King.
"These students need the experience a lot of times."
More than 3,500 jobs have been completed on the app, and King has already used it three times.
“We’re a single income household — I’m a full-time student," he said.
"Finding regular work, especially right now, that is enough to pay the bills is insanely difficult, but with things like spare hands substituting that income and giving me the ability to work with a flexible schedule."
But it’s more than just putting a spare hand to work, it’s about the community lending a helping hand to neighbors.
“My spouse herself is disabled, so there’s a lot of things that she can’t do, that we end up having to hire out for just because I don’t have the time or whatever," King said.
"So having somebody to help someone else with that same struggle is a blessing to me."
Dominique Leh asked Miller about adding more jobs like vehicle maintenance and repairs.
He says that’s an idea they’d love to add in the future — he also said he has thoughts on Expanding to Amarillo, Austin, and even Corpus Christi.
To learn more about the app, you can click here.
