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Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

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Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#31

Post by chris11 »

EMM_386 wrote: post #4

Very interesting, and something I'd be interested in at the moment. But I am hesitant on the price point. At ~$4,800 / year as with the sample proposal, it might be a tough sell (or "rent", in this case). The other options are to hire a designer and buy the furniture. High upfront cost but you still own the furniture and can always re-sell it to recoup some costs. Yes, this is a hassle. But how much is the hassle wor…

I second the price question.

I might not be the target customer in this case. But I'm not sure how a professionally designed interior is a good option for saving money. I'm cheap, so my first choice is looking for quality used furniture off of places like craigslist. I've gotten some pieces I'm happy with.

But the issue with furnishing an empty apartment that way is that it takes longer to find pieces, especially if you want it to match. My assumption is prices would be more than retail at a minimum. I'm also not usually comfortable with in-store financing offers. They usually aren't a good deal. But your terms could be good, debt seems to be cheap right now.

This does definitely sound like something I would be interested in though if my place was empty and I was happy with pricing.

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#32

Post by carlobadini »

fawniture wrote: post #27
anandchowdhary wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At ~$4,800 / year as with the sample proposal, it might be a tough sell (or "rent", in this case). Thanks for the feedback, I agree that it's not extremely affordable yet, and we're trying hard to get the price down. We currently work with a retail partner but plan on going direct-to-consumer soon, which should make our package more affordable. Since we currently only serve the Swiss market, it's common for unfurni…

> it's common for unfurnished apartments in Zurich cost upwards of $2,000, so adding $400 on top of that for a really beautiful interior package is not that big of a jump, especially when compared to fully-furnished apartments which cost significant more. I'd be mindful of that assumption across markets. I'm in London and while furnishing may have an impact on the list price for some properties, list price is almost…

> For example, apartments in my building are roughly the same price whether furnished or unfurnished.

I would question that statement. :) That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense economically. The only two reasons that come to mind why this may be true are a) the furniture in the furnished apartments is super cheap or b) the furnished apartments are located subpar in one way or another. But I may be wrong.

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#34

Post by carlobadini »

DantesKite wrote: post #33

If I had more money, I'd definitely do this. Or at least work with an interior designer to get a sense for what I'd like.

I'd love to hear at what budget/price point you would be comfortable to use Pabio. I ask because our ultimate goal is to make interior design affordable for the masses.

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#35

Post by fawniture »

carlobadini wrote: post #32
fawniture wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's common for unfurnished apartments in Zurich cost upwards of $2,000, so adding $400 on top of that for a really beautiful interior package is not that big of a jump, especially when compared to fully-furnished apartments which cost significant more. I'd be mindful of that assumption across markets. I'm in London and while furnishing may have an impact on the list price for some properties, list price is almost…

> For example, apartments in my building are roughly the same price whether furnished or unfurnished. I would question that statement. :) That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense economically. The only two reasons that come to mind why this may be true are a) the furniture in the furnished apartments is super cheap or b) the furnished apartments are located subpar in one way or another. But I may be wrong.

At the top end of the market the amount of money involved means it's often more economical to focus on maximising occupation, rather than minimising initial costs. My apartment, for example, is worth around £1m and has around £10,000 worth of furniture in it provided by the landlord: if during the lifespan of the furniture the convenience of the apartment being furnished reduces tenancy voids by a total of 3 months then the furniture pays for itself.

I don't want to expose my address but you can browse "London" on the UK property website Rightmove and find comparable apartments (same building, same floorplan) with furnished/unfurnished prices that are no different.

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#36

Post by carlobadini »

fawniture wrote: post #35
carlobadini wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, apartments in my building are roughly the same price whether furnished or unfurnished. I would question that statement. :) That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense economically. The only two reasons that come to mind why this may be true are a) the furniture in the furnished apartments is super cheap or b) the furnished apartments are located subpar in one way or another. But I may be wrong.

At the top end of the market the amount of money involved means it's often more economical to focus on maximising occupation, rather than minimising initial costs. My apartment, for example, is worth around £1m and has around £10,000 worth of furniture in it provided by the landlord: if during the lifespan of the furniture the convenience of the apartment being furnished reduces tenancy voids by a total of 3 months t…

Ah now I get it. Yeah you're absolutely right. I can imagine that we'll be working with landlords in markets like these instead of going directly B2C. While landlords may not care too much about the financial aspect of renting furniture they may care about the service aspect. We take care of the furniture, insure it, replace it ect. :)

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#37

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

CSDude wrote: post #14
vincentmarle wrote: post #6

> Why work at Pabio? > You’ll work mostly with cool people (Not all of us are cool, but the majority are.) Seriously wondering who the uncool people would be and what it would be like to work with them

Why would they even say that: "There are uncool people here, beware." Obviously not everyone in a workplace can be "cool" but I see no point mentioning it.

Because it's funny and implies that they don't take themselves too seriously?

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#38

Post by fawniture »

carlobadini wrote: post #32
fawniture wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's common for unfurnished apartments in Zurich cost upwards of $2,000, so adding $400 on top of that for a really beautiful interior package is not that big of a jump, especially when compared to fully-furnished apartments which cost significant more. I'd be mindful of that assumption across markets. I'm in London and while furnishing may have an impact on the list price for some properties, list price is almost…

> For example, apartments in my building are roughly the same price whether furnished or unfurnished. I would question that statement. :) That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense economically. The only two reasons that come to mind why this may be true are a) the furniture in the furnished apartments is super cheap or b) the furnished apartments are located subpar in one way or another. But I may be wrong.

Just a quick follow-up to provide an example, where furnished is cheaper than unfurnished, despite being identical: same building, same floorplan.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110025968

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110204747

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#39

Post by juultp »

crixlet wrote: post #20
carlobadini wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

livefeather.com is amazing and available in the US. They don't offer the interior design service part, though.

Thanks. Livefeather is interesting

You should also check out oliver.space – more affordable than Feather, and available in Austin too!

Re: Launch HN: Pabio (YC S21) – Interior design and furniture rental as a service

#40

Post by vincentmarle »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #37
CSDude wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they even say that: "There are uncool people here, beware." Obviously not everyone in a workplace can be "cool" but I see no point mentioning it.

Because it's funny and implies that they don't take themselves too seriously?

A lot of workers are suffering from PTSD from abusive managers who were "uncool" and micromanaging the living hell out of them. I wouldn't call that funny. Not saying that's what's happening at Pabio but that was the first thought in my mind.
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