Hi Everyone,
Jorey from Super here. Very excited to be out of stealth and share what we’re doing!
Super comes from my personal experience as a first-time homeowner. I love my home. I love my home equity. But I hate the home ownership. It takes too much time and money, and it's too unpredictable. Twenty years of online and mobile companies have failed to deliver the experience I'm looking for.
I want to help people enjoy the dream of home ownership without the drawbacks. I want to make expenses more predictable, prevent problems before they occur, and provide one place for any service you need. I want to give people a subscription that covers costs, helps you understand the maintenance needs of your home, and gives you one source to get things done right the first time.
Read more about why I started Super on Medium: https://medium.com/@joreyramer/w...
Product Hunt members who subscribe this week get $100 in service rewards, which can be applied towards any home maintenance or service request!
I’ll be on Product Hunt all day to answer any questions.
Thank you Product Hunters!!!
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I'd love to hear how Super compares to Home Warranty Services like AHS (https://www.ahs.com/) . My gut says its convenience (self-serve, app based) and quality of service (traditional home warranty companies are not looked at in high regard), which would make this a true contender in the space. Would love to hear your thoughts @joreyramer!
@trever: I love this question, so please excuse me if I answer it passionately. :)
The home warranty industry has been around for 40 years and for the past ten years have had the highest percentage of poor grades among Angie’s List categories. (http://www.angieslist.com/news-r...)
Home warranties have a good value proposition, but I’ve spoken with many consumers who are incredibly frustrated with the quality of the service delivery. Fundamentally, if you sell a one year warranty, quality service is less important. We are a subscription business designed for you to take throughout the lifespan of your home; quality is absolutely critical.
Further, their value proposition is incomplete (lacking maintenance and other home service categories), and it does not deliver the experience that I’m looking for (see Medium post above).
I look at the home warranty industry and say that it’s time to use what many technology-focused companies have already done: use mobile to gain more visibility into service processes, track more comprehensive metrics to determine who can best serve a customer, and personalize a service offering for the specifics of the customer, in this case a homeowner, their home, and their needs.
Thanks!
@joreyramer@trever sorry, but I don't buy it.
We are a subscription business designed for you to take throughout the lifespan of your home; quality is absolutely critical. -> Actually in order for your business to succeed in the long term, quality is not critical....margins are. You are not commercially incentivized to supply the highest quality (highest cost) in your cost model when you decide you want to turn a profit. During a growth phase, I can see how quality is key, but given what appears to be an easy cancellation from a customer, how do you expect to maintain your customers (i.e. eliminate churn), provide 5-star service providers and still create healthy enough margins? I'm curious to understand how software here is aligning every involved party to that aim.
use mobile to gain more visibility into service processes -> how is a mobile app going to determine whether an air duct repairman knows what he is talking about when fixing my air duct? This seems to be the biggest issue as a homeowner - I have no idea whether the person on the other side is telling the truth or is knowledgable. Their processes, as it relates to the overall cost of delivery are usually not the issue.
track more comprehensive metrics to determine who can best serve a customer -> which metrics precisely?
personalize a service offering for the specifics of the customer, in this case a homeowner, their home, and their needs -> given the complexities of customer needs and varieties of households, this sounds incredibly manual (and don't foresee it being automated away with software)
Your home page looks wonderful, easy to use, and the service *appears* to be a joy to consume, but with things like this, the devil is in the details.
@mbesto@trever Hi Mike! Let me summarize and answer your questions one by one:
Q: How do you balance margins and customer quality, and how does software help?
A: This is a complex topic, but things work differently for us as a commercial entity than they do for a consumer. A service provider is not simply a single entity. We work with one of the highest rated service providers in one particular region. Within their organization, they have many technicians with different skills and quality work. A consumer will pay the highest retail rate regardless of the technician onsite. We are a commercial entity and may pay different amounts based on the type of engagement. With greater visibility into these aspects, technology helps match the need with the required work and cost.
Q: How is a mobile app going to determine whether an air duct repairman knows what he is talking about when fixing my air duct?
A: The mobile app doesn’t, but we do. Going back to the previous example, only one technician within that service provider is trained to repair a sealed system. We know who. If you call and get a different technician for a broken refrigerator, he may need to send his co-worker back for a second visit if you need that type of repair.
Q: Which metrics precisely?
A: Well we can’t give away all our secrets on Product Hunt! :) But some things are obvious. Was a servicer on-time? How long did a repair take? Which technician performed the service? What were the symptoms, solution, and costs? And more.
Q: How can we personalize a service offering with technology?
A: Some things are simple. Do you have gutter guards? That makes a big difference on gutter cleaning frequency. Some things are difficult. The point is that there has never been a technology company in market aggregating this data for the purposes of building a subscription model for consumers. Now there is.
I totally agree the devil is in the details. We love those details! Thanks!
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I can see home sellers including a year's subscription to Super with their homes as a buyer incentive.
@kkdub Totally agree. It's great for new homeowners, and it’s great for experienced homeowners, in particular those moving to a new neighborhood. Thanks for the comment!
I've lived these challenges myself - in fact right now I need help fixing wallpaper coming unglued, a leak in a bath that's literally gone on for months, among other annoyances. As we move towards reduced ownership of things like cars (uber) and vacation homes (Airbnb), I still believe people will own homes but want the convenience of these services for their primary residence. Great idea Jorey!
Do americans not have home insurance? I'm British, just bought my first house and to get a mortgage its a requirement to have home insurance. It seems to me that this product, if I understand it correctly, is something that we have as a bit of a standard here.
If that is true it's pretty surprising this hasn't happened sooner. Looks like the makers have executed this really well.
Hi @samcambridge,
I’m glad you asked! Home insurance covers things that happen to the home like fire, wind, hail, lightning, and theft. These things may never happen to your home. Mortgage companies require home insurance to protect the value of your home in case of default.
We cover things not protected by home insurance, like breakdowns in systems and appliances. These things will absolutely happen to your home.
Many thanks for your comment!
@joreyramer ah I see! I have accidental cover which helps incase of accidental damage but If my cooker dies I'm screwed :)! Perhaps you should make the differences between your service + insurance a little more obvious?
Looks great! an aspect you might thought about but could be helpful - I think the majority of pains of owning a home occur in the first few months after moving in. A service specialised in helping set up everything and making a house a home is something potential users might be interested in.
Hi @ohadisohad, I like your idea! While we haven’t included anything like that explicitly in the first version of the product, we do include a concierge to coordinate any of your home service needs, which would include your example. Thanks!
@ohadisohad including hanging art and organizing closets and the kitchens.
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what's the limit on claims per year? looks interesting for anybody buying an older home - they could get you to replace everything in years one and two
Hi @passingnotes,
You can find the limits by clicking on “Learn More” on the homepage pricing section, which will take you here: https://hellosuper.com/plan-deta....
For the first release of the product, we wanted to be simple, transparent, and consistent with the pricing, which means we did need to add limits. That said, we have set these limits to be comprehensive based on our research and our goal for long-term customer retention. In the future, we will increase and eliminate the limits by personalizing the pricing.
Thanks!
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@joreyramer awesome - because, for example, we have tons of new appliances from a remodel, so it would be nice to recognize the decreased likelihood of failure - looking forward to your move into New England! ;)
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@joreyramer@passingnotes Are the coverage limits yearly or forever? I think your website is great. To me, it feels like you're a technology-enabled Home Warranty company. I understand the concept of subscription and wanting to keep customers for the long term, but most Home Warranties still want you to renew every year. I have been frustrated with the home warranty experience in the past -- mainly due to the fact that you call with a problem and they'll find a loophole to get them out of paying for anything. So I like and value the transparency piece. The price to me still seems a little high per month for the whole home -- $900/year is pretty high considering that most years, none of the appliances/issues will occur. When you couple that with the fact that your service covers up to $1,500 on most things..... I'm not sure the nice website/easy of use/transparency are worth the premium.
@jkent2910@passingnotes
Hi Julie, You’ve done your homework!
Average price nationwide of a home warranty runs $500-600. Our whole home plan purchased on an annual basis is $750. (If you buy annually, you get 12 months for the price of 10.) We charge more, but you get more and we’re committed to better service.
The number one complaint with home warranty companies is service quality, but some customers state “insufficient coverage” (e.g., loopholes) as an issue.
We’ve actually removed many of the restrictions that are common in home warranties, like exclusions related to pre-existing conditions, code violations, and insufficient size or efficiency. With us or anyone else, make sure you read the details.
In order to remove some of these restrictions, we did need to make the limits annual. But as I mentioned earlier, we set the limits to be comprehensive based on our research and our goal of long-term customer retention, and the product will include more over time.
Thanks!
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