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.
Report
Curious how you are sourcing your contractors and how you will maintain the quality on that front? Also, any insight on your rollout schedule for additional markets?
@mikeorren Regarding quality, please see the response to @corleyh above. Regarding additional markets, we're just launching our first market; we'll be announcing more in 2016! In the meantime, I'd love to hear which markets Product Hunters want. Vote on our next market in the comments! And if you want to be notified when we come to your market, please enter your email on our website (see "Live elsewhere?"). Thanks!
@joreyramer I have to admit, upon first glance I was super skeptical. I've been a homeowner for a long-time now - so I've figured all of these things out. Then I took a step back and thought...wait, I would have loved this when I was a first-time homeowner.
So a few questions for you:
1. How do you plan to reach people and let them know that this service exists?
2. How do you plan to address quality? For example, I might be willing to pay more for higher quality service.
3. Is your approach to be a marketplace (find the buyers and the sellers) or operate more like an insurance product (given the scale of people paying in you would have people choose their provider and you would pay certain rates)?
Hi @corleyh,
Glad you gave us a second thought! Lots of questions. Let me respond:
1) Obviously my #1 answer is via Product Hunt! :) But we have other ways. See @drewmeyers question above.
2) Very important. Three ways: before, during, and after. “Before” means that we investigate the reputation of the service provider before we first engage with them. “During” means that we speak with them to better understand the business practices that they have in place. “After” means we track metrics after they begin work (e.g., customer service feedback, on-time arrival, time to fix). We’re not only on the hook for cost; we’re also on the hook for quality.
3) We are not a marketplace. We are a subscription, and when you subscribe, you become a member. Members benefit from having us on the hook to find the right provider for the right job at the right time. Rating sites and marketplaces depend on crowdsourced high level data to power your decision making. We’re different. We use more detailed operational data to power our decision making. This applies towards covered costs as much as it applies towards any home service we coordinate.
One last note. Even though you’ve figured it out as a long-time homeowner, we have the buying power of many homes. Consumers only have the buying power of one home. This means that we’re in the position to negotiate better pricing and better availability. That’s big.
@s2mmy2 Hi Sammy, Not yet, but please submit your email and zip code on our website, and we'll let you know! (See homepage "Live elsewhere?") Thanks!
Report
I owned a few homes and used normal home warranty insurance before and I have really bad experience with them, the coverage is narrow, the co-payment is high, mostly I pay the co-payment for the service but turn out the claims are denied, using the common reason like "the appliance is not properly installed, the appliance is not properly maintained". Take the whole home plan for example, it is $750 per year + $50 co-pay. The typical service fee for plumbing is about $150, the typical service fee for heater service is about $150. And it is almost impossible for the insurance to replace with new appliance. So basically, with the premium, I can easily cover the expense of 5-6 incident per year, which according to my experience, typically one home will need around 3-4 incident at most for a year. How can I justify the cost of home warranty?
How do you do to make a difference when compare to traditional home warranty insurance? I would like to use this service if it improves the existing home warranty experiences.
Hi @chan0123,
Your service experience is common! That’s what we’re out to change. (See thread with @trevor above.)
We’ve worked to remove common exclusions (thread above with @jkent2910), provide a different service experience (thread above with @corleyh), and cover repair or replace (thread above with @jeremyz123).
Most importantly, home maintenance and repair costs can total 1-4 percent of your home value annually. (See my Medium post above.) We’ve surveyed consumers, and over 60% of people do not budget for these costs. It can add up.
We’re providing a broader solution (e.g., maintenance, concierge) with the buying power of many homes. We’d love earn your business in the future when we enter your market. Thanks!
Report
Hi @joreyramer! How is your coverage (especially the appliance warranty piece) guaranteed/underwritten? Do you work with a third party insurance partner? If not, how do I know my year-long subscription fee is a safe investment?
@jgulden Hi Josiah! We are not affiliated with an third party insurance partner. We’re looking to change the home ownership experience by creating a new way, and we have great investors backing the business. If folks have concerns, we’re happy to start them with a monthly plan. Thanks!
@ashish__walia Hi Ashish, Thanks! I talked more about that question in my Medium post (see above), but for me, it’s all about the consumer experience. You need to address all the pain points for a homeowner to truly make it feel different. It’s about the time, the cost, and the unpredictability of home ownership. A subscription can make costs more predictable and reduce/remove the pain of unbudgeted expenses. Glad you like it!
Coin Daily Update
Super
mailshake
Golden Kitty Awards 2016
TaxBestimates
Imgur
