Create an account
Create your own Motiv account, verify your email address and sign in for the first time.
For homeowners signing themselves up
Before you start
- A South African mobile number that is not already on a Motiv account
- An email address you can open right now
Self-service sign-up creates an Individual account — a private person logging jobs at their own home. Contractors have a separate registration, and company staff are invited by their administrator.
- 1
Open the sign-up page and choose Individual
When the page opens you will not see any boxes yet. You see a card headed “Create your account” with the line “Choose the type of account to get started.”, and two cards: “Individual — Log and manage maintenance jobs” and “Supplier — Receive and complete maintenance work”.
Individual is already chosen for you, so just press “Continue as Individual”. The form then opens under the line “Individual — log and manage maintenance jobs.” A “Back” link at the top returns you to the two cards.
Screenshot
The account-type chooser on /auth/signup Show both cards with Individual outlined green, and the Continue as Individual button.
- 2
Fill in your name, phone number and email address
On a computer, Full name and Phone number sit side by side and Email address is on the row below. On a phone they stack in that order.
- Full name
- Example shown: Jane Smith
- Phone number
- Example shown: +27 71 234 5678
- Email address
- Example shown: jane@email.com
All three are required. Leave one empty and a red line appears under it as you type — “Full name is required”, “Phone number is required” or “Email is required”.
The phone number must be South African. You can type it as 076 193 6165, 0761936165, 27761936165 or +27 76 193 6165 — all four are accepted and all are stored as +27761936165. Anything that does not resolve to +27 followed by nine digits shows “Enter a valid phone number”.
Your number is how Motiv recognises you
It is also the number WhatsApp messages are matched against, and each number can belong to only one account. A number already registered is refused.The email address is checked for common misspellings as well as shape, so an address ending “.come”, or a Gmail address on a domain other than gmail.com, is refused with “Enter a valid email address” even though it looks like an email.
- 3
Enter your home address
Start in “Street address”. The box says “Start typing, then pick from the list”, and underneath: “Pick from the list so we can place you on the map — then check the details below.” After three characters, matching addresses appear; click one, or use the arrow keys and press Enter.
Picking a suggestion fills in “Suburb” (marked Optional), “City / Town”, “Province” and “Postal code”, and a green tick appears in the street box. You can correct any of those afterwards.
Street address and City are both required
The “Create account” button does not grey out when the address is empty — the address is checked only when you press it. If either the street or the city is blank you get “Please give at least a street address and a city.” and nothing is created.If you type an address without picking a suggestion, an amber warning appears: “You have not picked an address from the list. You can still continue, but we may not be able to place you on the map — which means nearby contractors will not see you in their area.” Suggestions also depend on a map provider being configured; if none is, the box still works as plain text.
- 4
Choose a password
Fill in “Password” and “Confirm password”. Each box has an eye button to reveal what you typed, and warns you if Caps Lock is on.
Under the boxes is a live checklist that turns green as you meet each requirement: “8+ characters”, “Uppercase letter”, “Number”, “Special character”. All four must be green — the checklist is the feedback, there is no separate error message on the password box. If the two do not match you get “Passwords do not match”.
- 5
Agree to the terms and press Create account
Tick the box reading “I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and consent to Motiv processing my personal information to provide the service.” Both documents open in a new tab. The date you agreed and the version you agreed to are recorded with your account.
An “I'm human” check may appear above the button. Usually it passes by itself. If it cannot load you will see “Verification couldn't load — you can continue without it.” and may carry on. If it is switched on and you skip it, pressing the button shows “Please complete the “I'm human” check.”
Press “Create account”. If the email address is already registered, the reason appears in a red strip above the button.
- 6
Verify your email address
The form is replaced by a screen headed “Check your email”: “We've sent a verification link to [your address]. Click the link in that email to activate your account, then log in. Check your spam folder if it doesn't arrive within a minute.”
Open the email and press “Confirm my email”. You are not signed in yet — go back to the sign-in page and log in with the address and password you just chose.
Link expiry
The email says the link lasts 24 hours, but the real window is a server setting and may be shorter. If it has expired, sign up again or use “Forgot password?” to get a fresh link. - 7
Land on your home screen
Signing in takes you to your Jobs area. It greets you by first name and shows a banner headed “Report a problem in under 60 seconds” with the three steps “Describe the issue”, “Add photos”, “Review & send”. Under it is your list of jobs, empty on a new account.