So today is “Black Friday” and I had to work my nursing job so no work really got done on Fix it Today, BUT I have this idea. Last night I couldn’t sleep as I had a new business idea that revolves around our core business as is. Could it be a spin off? Should it be a separate business? You let me know. Either way, its not happening for quite a while.
So the idea is building a home maintenance service. There are so many things out there that you probably should do for your house but most people don’t do it. When was the last time you changed your air filter or drained your water heater? Vacuum your refrigerator/freezer coils? Inspect your roof? Well, we have had a few hundred people take our quiz and we know most people suck at this. So as my son’s favorite show (Stinky and Dirty) says…. What If??? There was a monthly service that just came out and did it for you? The convenience of apartment living but in your own home. All the crap is taken care of for you so you don’t have to worry about it. You have to pay for it, but you dont have to remember to do anything or physically do the work.
So there are lots of things we would offer in the package. Some would need to be subbed out (or 100% if we could) but it would include:
1. Yearly HVAC maintenance
2. Monthly or Quarterly air filter changes (1″ vs 4″ filters)
3. Twice a year refrigerator/freeze coil cleaning
4. Once a year dryer vent cleaning
5. Quarterly pest control
6. Yearly roof inspection
7. Yearly termite check
8. Water heater service (drain or flush)
9. More stuff
So for a monthly fee, we take care of it all. You use the app for reminders (we could remotely set up the reminders for you) and when it comes time, you just book a provider from our pre-selected list of providers that joins us for this and schedule something convenient to you. We would have negotiated rates for each service we outsource (licensed ones) and we would hire staff for the air filter changes.
What does that look like financially? I’m not 100% sure but we can turn a twice a year customer into a recurring monthly. I would think a 2500sqft house or smaller could probably be done for $100/month. I do a ton of work myself but I’ll tell you I don’t do the maintenance. I wait till stuff breaks then fix it. Would I (a major DIYer) pay someone $100 a month to not have to worry about all of these things? I think its worth it. I’d assume it would definitely be worth it for all of the busy people out there, people with wealth or anyone that makes close to $50/hr or more, its more than worth it. For this to really work financially, we would need to employ people to do everything outside of the licensed work. The idea of just being able to sub it all out would be great but I don’t think financially it would be affordable when we have to pay a handyman $50 to change air filters and $75 to drain a water heater. An employee can do both on a single visit for $25 (probably including the air filter cost).
This idea has a lot of moving parts but it solidified by our entire platform of Fix it Today. We will have lots of vendors (that will need to join this as a vendor at a negotiated rate) and then have the flexibility on cost to make it affordable. I have never seen this type of service offered (its not a home warranty) but preventative maintenance. Having so many disciplines involved would make it a nightmare for most companies. But we can use our reminder app and our vendor list to our advantage and be the only company out there offering this service. Now the question is, would people be willing to pay for it?
