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Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

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Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#21

Post by cmager »

wizwit999 wrote: post #20

How do you plan on getting professionals on your platform, I feel you'll have issues there

Great question! We're early, but so far, we're adding pros mostly through referrals and cold calls.

Our pitch is rather than charge for leads, we directly give our pros jobs, and deal with all customer acquisition, customer service and payment. That means they can spend 0% of their time on sales & job scoping, and only need to accept the jobs when they can fit them into their schedule. So far it seems to be resonating, but it's early.

Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#22

Post by sithlord »

vm wrote: post #19
codegeek wrote: post #16

As a homeowner for 8+ years, this is a HUGE problem. Like really huge. Companies like thumbtack, home advisor, angie's list, craigslist etc are mostly not useful (I have tried them all). I hope you guys succeed. The issue is however not just about price or cost. It is mostly about finding reliable, knowledge and honest contractors which for some reason is not that easy. The great contractors are usually very busy alr…

Spot on. It’s all about trust, which in this context means getting the offering honest scoping & pricing, completing work as promised, and doing quality work. Contractors who deliver that trusted experience already are usually booked up and hard to get hold of when you need them. We’re betting that more contractors can achieve those same standards in our structure, and we can deliver better availability and consisten…

You think that the type of contractor who is already unreliable will be do better having to log into an app to do things, than literally answer a call or text from their phone!?

Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#23

Post by hardtke »

codegeek wrote: post #16

As a homeowner for 8+ years, this is a HUGE problem. Like really huge. Companies like thumbtack, home advisor, angie's list, craigslist etc are mostly not useful (I have tried them all). I hope you guys succeed. The issue is however not just about price or cost. It is mostly about finding reliable, knowledge and honest contractors which for some reason is not that easy. The great contractors are usually very busy alr…

My brother is an honest contractor in the Bay Area and he gets called several times per day by potential clients. The problem is that he can't scale to meet demand because of a dire shortage of labor and subcontractors (painters in particular at the moment). The contractors that will answer your call and give you an estimate tend to be what he calls "paper contractors" that don't have their own crew and subcontract out everything. These are the jobs that end up taking two years where there never seems to be anyone actually working. I don't think matching technology can fix the market -- what's needed is efficiency gains on the contractor side as well as some way to increase the labor pool.

Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#24

Post by kornish »

hardtke wrote: post #23
codegeek wrote: post #16

As a homeowner for 8+ years, this is a HUGE problem. Like really huge. Companies like thumbtack, home advisor, angie's list, craigslist etc are mostly not useful (I have tried them all). I hope you guys succeed. The issue is however not just about price or cost. It is mostly about finding reliable, knowledge and honest contractors which for some reason is not that easy. The great contractors are usually very busy alr…

My brother is an honest contractor in the Bay Area and he gets called several times per day by potential clients. The problem is that he can't scale to meet demand because of a dire shortage of labor and subcontractors (painters in particular at the moment). The contractors that will answer your call and give you an estimate tend to be what he calls "paper contractors" that don't have their own crew and subcontract o…

Is he...reasonably honest?

(asking because as a bit of trivia, there's an SF handyman named Reasonably Honest Mike who's both hilarious and effective. http://reasonablemike.com/about.html)

Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#25

Post by vm »

hardtke wrote: post #23
codegeek wrote: post #16

As a homeowner for 8+ years, this is a HUGE problem. Like really huge. Companies like thumbtack, home advisor, angie's list, craigslist etc are mostly not useful (I have tried them all). I hope you guys succeed. The issue is however not just about price or cost. It is mostly about finding reliable, knowledge and honest contractors which for some reason is not that easy. The great contractors are usually very busy alr…

My brother is an honest contractor in the Bay Area and he gets called several times per day by potential clients. The problem is that he can't scale to meet demand because of a dire shortage of labor and subcontractors (painters in particular at the moment). The contractors that will answer your call and give you an estimate tend to be what he calls "paper contractors" that don't have their own crew and subcontract o…

What type of contracting does your brother do? We see what you’re describing with general contractors but rarely with plumbers who are our initial focus

Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#26

Post by vm »

sithlord wrote: post #22
vm wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spot on. It’s all about trust, which in this context means getting the offering honest scoping & pricing, completing work as promised, and doing quality work. Contractors who deliver that trusted experience already are usually booked up and hard to get hold of when you need them. We’re betting that more contractors can achieve those same standards in our structure, and we can deliver better availability and consisten…

You think that the type of contractor who is already unreliable will be do better having to log into an app to do things, than literally answer a call or text from their phone!?

We need to unpack what makes someone “unreliable” because we’ve found every single contractor runs late, ghosts some leads, misses some scopes, etc. The root cause is that it’s a complex job to manage and they may not excel at those small business tasks, despite having excellent craftsmanship.

We simplify their job. Normally they would have to field leads, visit homes to scope jobs, find suppliers who can deliver the right parts, figure out a price, convince customers to choose them, and then balance that with their other projects. Instead, we send them fully scoped jobs, parts pre-ordered and ready for pick up, customers already scheduled, and more. We do a lot behind the scenes to take that burden off their shoulders, and let them focus on doing great work.

Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#27

Post by sunshinekitty »

I’m a home owner and this was by far the largest shock to owning a home. Good contractors are not busy looking for work, they are busy with a backlog. It was only after building personal relationships with the contractors that I could get reliable service.

Wishing you all the best for this to succeed, but from my perspective you should be trying to free up contractors to focus on work as much as you are trying to connect home owners with them. Contractors are certainly limited supply and high demand.

Re: Launch HN: HomeBreeze (YC W21) – Easy booking of home repairs

#29

Post by hwoolery »

Let me add a bit of advice to any homeowners out there: learn to do the job yourself! I bought my house 5 years ago and I went from zero knowledge to remodeling the entire thing mostly on my own. Not only does it save you the hassle of having to deal with contractors, but in the cases when you need one, you'll be a lot more prepared to gauge the quote and timing.
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