Proof of service without paperwork: check-in and sign-off codes

In a home service, the hardest facts to prove are the simple ones: did the provider arrive, and did the customer accept the work? Photos and phone calls are easy to dispute. A code that only the customer can give is much harder to fake.

The idea is simple. When the provider arrives, the customer opens their app and shares a short one-time code, which the provider enters to check in. When the work is finished, the customer shares a second code to sign off the job. Each step is timestamped, and neither can happen without the customer present.

Good design makes the codes safe and easy to use. They should be single-use, short-lived and tied to one appointment, generated in the customer's own app or account rather than sent to the provider. A clear fallback, such as support-assisted check-in, handles customers who can't open the app.

The codes also drive the rest of the platform. Check-in can start the job clock, trigger notifications and unlock the next step; sign-off can release payment and open the review. That makes the codes a control point, not just a log entry.

Customers keep control, because they decide when a job counts as done. Providers gain protection too, since a signed-off job is evidence that they completed the work as agreed.