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randyh

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Hi everyone. *I absolutely love the DIY Home Repair Forum.

I just finished making an app that I'm hoping to get some people to try and give me feedback on. I figure Home DIY'ers would be great for feedback.

My app lets you speak a problem into your phone, like, "there's a leak in my kitchen"– it understands and matches your problem with the expertise of local professionals, and connects you directly to a local handyman, plumber, etc. for advice or even an estimate on your project over live text messaging. If you want, you can turn on video (kind of like Skype or Facetime) to talk to the pro and show them the problem to get step-by-step guidance or a more accurate estimate. I even had a little video made to demonstrate the concept [ame="https://vimeo.com/160373231/8e016a36ba"]https://vimeo.com/160373231/8e016a36ba[/ame]

I could use as much feedback as possible. It's iPhone-only right now, but Android will be done next week. You can download it from the iTunes App Store here: https://bnc.lt/MK4k/pfxUyfywms.

Anyone can be an expert in this app which is great for DIY'ers. Experts and pros are welcome to join and connect with people who need help... handymen, plumbers, electricians, landscapers and more.

I'm excited to hear people's thoughts on this.

Thanks!
 
Anybody? Anything? This won't ever replace forums like this one (not the intent). We just want to know if this is something that would help people in those instances when they need advice/help 'now' and a local person would be ideal as if they need to hire them to help get the job done-- they would have that option.

Does this look like a good way to get help on home improvement and repair projects?

Do you like being able to see the person and show the project or problem to the local expert?

Do you like the idea of getting 'live' help from local experts instantly when you need it most?
 
This will not give you a good service provider. It will only get you one that pays you big bucks. I wouldn't touch that crap if my life depended on it.
 
The only live help from local experts you will get to agree to help this service are new fresh contractors with little experience. It wouldn't be worth my time to help people all the time for little to no money.
 
This is just another Angies list or Home Advisor. Pay per call.
 
Never used either or had the inclination. Guess I don't need this one either
 
randyh said:
Anybody? Anything? This won't ever replace forums like this one (not the intent). We just want to know if this is something that would help people in those instances when they need advice/help 'now' and a local person would be ideal as if they need to hire them to help get the job done-- they would have that option.

Does this look like a good way to get help on home improvement and repair projects?

Do you like being able to see the person and show the project or problem to the local expert?

Do you like the idea of getting 'live' help from local experts instantly when you need it most?
Click to expand...

So come back and defend your self or buy a supporting membership.:welcome:
 
I can do the same thing using my telephone book
 
Similar to the paperwork we received as a new homeowner on who to call for good, discount services offered in our area. One guy wanted $55,000 to stucco the front half of my house. No thanks!
 
It's amazing how many people get ripped off by contractors. I see it daily with the ones I work with. I on the other hand am that sucker that will go out his way for free just to be able to sleep at night.
 
Not quite. I'm seriously trying to get feedback. I built this with 3 other fellows. We have some pros on it right now in the Denver area, but we're just bringing the service up. I understand the concern however... because the jackass spammers have ruined it for anyone who's legit. You can look up my credentials here--- http://linkedin.com/in/randyhamilton. I was on the founding team of Match.com. I've been inventing things my whole life.
 
You can also just get advice from pros. We are vetting pros so they are legit. We have a feature coming where you can use it to just get advice (great for DIY'ers) and then if you like the advice, you have the option to tip the pro.
 
No, it's nothing like that. We're not charging anyone for it at this time. We're just trying to get feedback so we can figure this out. So far the people using it love it. Single moms especially love it because they want to see and talk to the person before they invite a stranger into their house. Pros love it because a face-to-face call gives you an 80% greater chance of closing a deal. And the pros also like the fact that they can get a live view of the magnitude of the job/problem. As for pay-per-call... far from it. Consumers don't pay a dime... and right now nobody is paying anything.
 
So are you vetting the contractors, we don't want bad people visiting women alone, if you know what I mean.
What about qualification and license.
Some times a handy man will do, are they welcome.
Do you pick the contractor, or does the message go out to every contractor near by and what is near by.
Will the contractor be able to step aside if he will be busy for a while so no one is wasting time calling him?
 
THANKS NEILTW! Great questions!

"So are you vetting the contractors, we don't want bad people visiting women alone, if you know what I mean."

>> Yes, we are vetting contractors. In the next rev we have built in the workflow for background checks and everything. Currently we check licenses & insurance and look for reviews online.

"What about qualification and license."

>> Yes... definitely

"Sometimes a handy man will do, are they welcome."

>> We love handymen! They are critical to Flyreel. We have some great handymen using this in the Denver area-- some of the very best.

"Do you pick the contractor, or does the message go out to every contractor near by and what is near by."

>> The message goes out to 5-10 of the closest service pros who have the necessary experience to help the person. We built an artificial intelligence engine that today has a few million keywords & phrases built into it. We are continuously training our AI engine to learn new categories. The great thing about this is that the alert (a text version of the spoken problem) goes out to the pros simultaneously. If a pro is busy and can't get to it, no problem... another pro will pick it up. As a fail-safe, we have a 1099 concierge who will pickup the call in the event someone isn't available to help. We've noticed that typically a pro will pick up the alert in a matter of seconds.

"Will the contractor be able to step aside if he will be busy for a while so no one is wasting time calling him?"

>> Absolutely. We understand that pros are very busy people (the good ones are typically floored with work). This is designed such that the pro can ignore the request when they're busy. They can also set the app to idle if they just want to shut down while on a job-- and not receive any requests.

One thing we've seen is that the hardware stores and parts suppliers have a real interest in this. Imagine being able to, as a pro, speak the part you're looking for into the app... and on the other end, all of the supply houses get the parts request (alert) and immediately start responding back to you with price and availability. Finding things like parts, locally, especially when you need them immediately is still a very manual process (requires a lot of calls and driving around).
 
The internet social interaction is great and always amazes me. This site is a great example of what you are suggesting in many ways and it is not like 10 million a day come here with questions but I’m pretty sure 10 million people a day have some sort of DIY home question. last night some guy came here out of the blue worrying his ceiling fane was going to fall down. Within 10 minutes he had a couple suggestions.

You will get a certain number of people embracing your concept. If it does really take off I see it driving a contractor nuts answering a call every 2 minutes and having to run all over a town servicing small jobs. Most people should know how to shut the water off without needing an app. But then again I could be wrong about most people. If you can find a wife on line why can’t you find a plumber.

Good luck.
 
Randy,

Yes, I received your private message about how you were not a spammer, but just an inventor trying to make a buck in Silicon Valley. I wish you the best of luck, but just to help you a bit, let me post the actual definition of what a spammer is, so we are all clear as to the true meaning...

spam definition. Unsolicited, undesired e-mail. Also used as a verb. Spam is the e-mail version of junk mail. Note: The name comes from a Monty Python comedy skit about a restaurant that served only Spam.
 
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