ABOUT PROJECT
There’s nothing more frustrating in the industrial world than watching a high-powered, expensive commercial vehicle collect dust in a parking lot while the bills keep rolling in. Giancarlo Ballabeni saw this inefficiency not just as a waste of space, but as a missed opportunity for a smarter, more connected economy. Ballabeni recognized that while thousands of commercial vehicles sit idle in parking lots across Switzerland, countless businesses struggle to find reliable, short-term equipment without the suffocating bureaucracy of traditional rental giants. THIRE was created to bridge this gap.
The beauty of the THIRE B2B rental marketplace is how it caters to everyone from the “one-man-band” contractor to massive logistics firms. By creating a secure, transparent ecosystem, this construction and trades equipment rental platform allows commercial vehicle owners to unlock a whole new revenue stream with minimal effort, while giving renters the agility to scale up their fleet at a moment’s notice without the heavy overhead of ownership.
Key Challenges
Building the THIRE, Swiss logistics platform, was an incredible opportunity for us to dive deep into a platform that truly matters, and like any great project, it started with a learning curve that only made our partnership stronger. In the beginning, we found ourselves eager for more frequent touchpoints and feedback to ensure we were hitting every note of the client’s vision.
Rather than seeing this as a hurdle, we viewed it as a chance to refine our synergy. It was the perfect “growing pain” that allowed us to establish a communication rhythm that eventually became the heartbeat of the entire development process.
TECHNOLOGY STACK
Solution Highlights
To bring THIRE’s vision of a seamless commercial vehicle rental marketplace to life, Roobykon Software built the platform on the Sharetribe Web Template, strategically extending its capabilities to meet the unique demands of the Swiss logistics market. The front-end was meticulously crafted using React.js and Redux to deliver a fluid, real-time booking experience. By integrating React Router, the team ensured smooth navigation between vehicle listings, operator profiles, and booking confirmations, while Final Form was implemented to handle complex rental forms.
On the server side, Roobykon utilized Node.js with Express to create custom middleware that extended Sharetribe’s native functionality, enabling features like dynamic pricing rules for commercial fleets and real-time availability checks across multiple vehicle owners.
THE PROCESS
01
Requirement Gathering and Analysis: Our team started by conducting deep-dive sessions with Giancarlo Ballabeni to understand the unique intricacies of the Swiss commercial vehicle market. We analyzed user journeys for both renters and suppliers, mapped out the complex categorization of specialized vehicles like tipper trucks and refrigerated vans, and defined core trust requirements.
02
Mockup Preparation: Since we retained Sharetribe’s default design architecture to save time and maintain reliability, our project manager stepped in to prepare targeted mockups for specific custom tasks. These mockups were reviewed line-by-line with the client, then handed directly to the development team as blueprints for truck and van rental platform implementation.
03
Multi-Language Implementation: Given Switzerland’s linguistic diversity, we integrated support for Italian, German, French, and English directly into the platform. This meant every label, form field, and notification adapted seamlessly to the user’s preferred language without breaking the underlying booking logic.
04
Communication & Project Management: We scheduled weekly video meetings to review progress, demo new features, and align on upcoming priorities. Most day-to-day communication happened on Slack, but whenever the client urgently needed to discuss a development issue, we could set up a quick call within hours.
05
Testing and Launch: Before going live, we ran thorough testing on all transaction flows, from listing creation to payment confirmation to post-booking communication between renters and vehicle owners. After client sign-off, we deployed the vehicle sharing Switzerland platform to production, ensuring THIRE was ready to connect commercial vehicle owners with those who need them across Switzerland and beyond.
Main Features
Multi-Language Localization
The construction equipment rental platform is fully localized into Italian, German, French, and English to serve Switzerland’s diverse linguistic regions. Every interface element, from search filters to booking confirmations, adapts seamlessly to the user’s chosen language, ensuring a native experience for renters and vehicle owners alike.
KYC Stripe Identity for Renters
To process a booking, customers must first verify their identity through Stripe’s secure KYC flow. This builds trust on the platform by ensuring that every renter is a real, verified person before they can reserve a commercial vehicle.
Profile Name Anonymization
Until a provider approves a booking request, neither party can see the other’s full name. Instead, a nickname is generated using the first three letters of the first name and the first three letters of the last name, for example, Mark Smith becomes “Marsmi”, protecting privacy during initial negotiations.
Admin Editing of Listing Images
We built a custom admin panel where the marketplace administrator can view all listings, download individual or bulk images, modify them externally (e.g., blurring advertisements), and re-upload them. Admin image editing and moderation allows THIRE to remove unauthorized promotional content from listing photos without excluding the provider or losing the deal.
Cancellation Policy
The cancellation logic provides three outcomes depending on how far in advance a booking is canceled: a full refund, a 50% partial refund, or no refund at all. This gives flexibility to renters while protecting vehicle owners from last-minute revenue loss.
Dispute Logic
If either party is dissatisfied at any stage – from booking creation through to payment release – they can open a dispute. The administrator then reviews the case and may refund a percentage or the full booking cost based on the nature of the complaint, ensuring fair resolution for both sides.
RESULTS
On October 24, 2025, Roobykon began developing the agreed-upon tasks for THIRE, and on February 17, 2026, this Sharetribe based platform was published, just under four months from kickoff to launch. The client walked away with a scalable, multi-language marketplace built on React.js, Node.js, and Sharetribe Core API, featuring Stripe Identity KYC, smart anonymization, and admin-controlled image editing.
THIRE launched as a production-ready asset, allowing founder Giancarlo Ballabeni to focus on acquiring vehicle owners and renters instead of wrestling with technical debt.
Lessons from THIRE
Building THIRE showed us that privacy and trust features can’t be an afterthought – they need to be baked into the transaction flow from day one. When we implemented profile name anonymization, we initially struggled with timing: at what exact moment should real names be revealed? We learned to carefully map every status change in the booking lifecycle and trigger name disclosure only after provider approval, preventing premature exposure while keeping the flow smooth.
This challenge forced us to deeply understand Sharetribe’s transaction state machine, and now we can implement similar privacy logic twice as fast on future projects.
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
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