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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

#51

Post by ryandrake »

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…

Exactly. It's sometimes hard to just get someone on the phone willing to take your money. You leave a message and they won't even bother to return your call. When you finally talk to someone they're either booked for the next four months, or they are just not really all that interested in doing your small job.

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

#52

Post by jwithington »

city41 wrote: post #44
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…

I couldn't agree more. As far as I am concerned this problem remains completely unsolved. I've had very bad experiences with Angi, HomeAdvisor (which now looks to be owned by Angi), Yelp and NextDoor recommendations. Finding good contractors is so hard I've changed to doing as much work myself as I possibly can.

I've had great experiences with contractors recommended to me by other people on NextDoor.

Thumbtack is a dumpster fire.

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

#53

Post by brudgers »

What is in it for contractors?

Or to put it another way, what evidence do you have that the market is inefficient?

Or to put it another another way, how will you overcome the fundamental economic rational actor motivation? Qualified tradespeople will prioritize: repeat customers such as real estate companies and landlords; large jobs over small; and high paying work over guaranteed affordable prices.

The best tradespeople are busy serving good clients. The best clients are busy keeping good tradespeople busy. There are business relationships.

The home repair market is a market for lemons on both sides. Inexperienced amateur clients and contractors who can’t stay busy.

Ok. I am sure there might be a longer play. I am curious about that. The “don’t you wish home repair was free” pitch not so much.

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

#55

Post by fd542 »

Wow guys well done! It's a ripe area for disruption and I hope you can find the right formula for growth. I'm a homeowner for 5 years now and finding good contractors for small projects has been miserable, every single time. I actually took on a similar model to yours but for custom metalwork, with Fit to Forge (https://fittoforge.com). There's a huge quality problem and crazy pricing ranges. A lot of the good craftsmen would prefer being able to stay in their shop and build.

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

#56

Post by hwoolery »

codegeek wrote: post #46
hwoolery wrote: post #29

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.

You can't learn it all. Some things are better left to professionals. I once had a leaking bathtub. I watched some youtube videos and was able to fix the problem (replacing a gasket). However, one time my HVAC stopped working in the middle of winter and I wouldn't know what to do there. Had to call in pros. few days ago, I had a yellow jacket nest in one of the ceilings (yep!!). I wouldn't want to fix that myself.

For sure, agree!

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

#57

Post by brudgers »

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…

The market is efficient. Good contractors have good clients and work on good jobs. They have B2B business relationships.

It is a two sided market for lemons. The contractors are mostly contacted by lemon customers. Mostly lemon contractors are likely to respond.

What makes homeowners lemon customers besides price sensitivity and non-repeating projects is inexperience.

Construction scheduling is in NP. Professionals subjectively incorporate that into their expectations with experience and the experience is often at the institutional level. Weather delays, materials shortages, slow owner decision making, things hidden behind drywall, bad soil underground, etc etc. The second ’etc’ because any of these things on someone else’s job affects your job.

Nobody who has been around the rodeo actually believes it will be done in time for Christmas. Maybe Memorial Day if you are lucky. But Labor Day just to be safer.

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

#58

Post by sokoloff »

jwithington wrote: post #54

Why start with water heaters?

No connection, but a theoretical customer. Water heaters are a periodic replacement item where the scope of the job is (relatively) fixed. Periodic means enough search volume/demand. Fixed scope means it’s possible to estimate without a site visit.

I can do a water heater in copper in a little over an hour and a half on-site. I might spend more time figuring out which water heater will fit and be best for me and going to pick it up than I will soldering or moving the heaters around.

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

#59

Post by rascul »

h2odragon wrote: post #9

Imagining myself approaching the contractor end: why do I need this? There's more work than I can hire people to do, right now; and this looks a lot like "commit to an open ended job, unseen, for a fixed price." NFI what happened to it, but I recall hearing of a Lowe's "official" effort to try to assemble something like this; they theoretically have the resources to find and keep good relationships with local stables…

> NFI what happened to it, but I recall hearing of a Lowe's "official" effort to try to assemble something like this; they theoretically have the resources to find and keep good relationships with local stables of contractors; but in practice.. no, that's not gonna happen, its gonna be a boondoggle.

Lowe's does this. It's not a boondoggle. Works out well in many cases because they can sell for example windows and the install at once.

https://www.lowes.com/l/lowes-home-services.html

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

#60

Post by neil_s »

I just recently expressed this pain for the first time, so excited to see your service. Some pain points:

1) Scheduling required filling in the same qualification form multiple times, and texting/calling with a rather disorganized office. The better reputed the service company, the bigger mess their schedule is. You're solving this.

2) I didn't have a quote until the people came out to visit. You're solving this.

3) Once the service pros gave quotes, I had to share them with my landlord, have them approve the work, have the service pro complete it, confirm that the issue was fixed, and have the landlord complete payment. Coordinating parties was a major PITA, I hope you solve this in the future.

4) When the service pro diagnosed the issue and gave me a quote, I didn't know whether the diagnosis was truthful, and the quote was reasonable. After the fix, the symptom went away for a bit, and then came back, and the service person tried other fixes. This back and forth was a major pain. I don't know how you'll fix this, maybe a warranty on your service, or an annual insurance plan/maintenance subscription instead? Similar to Forward's model for healthcare - don't make money when you have to fix problems, make money when I don't have problems.

5) Thumbtack had a fixed price service, but it was too large a premium over the more ad hoc services. I hope you keep prices reasonable when you start swallowing more unexpectedly large scoped problems.

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