Home Maintenance Business

[celiboy]

OK, everyone takes their car in for maintenance whenever it needs an oil change, radiator flush, etc, but for the most part people ignore their houses until something goes wrong.

I've always thought that a good business would be a home maintenance service, where someone comes out to your house and inspects it to see if there are any problems with your house. This would be very similar to a home inspection except that the person who came to your house would fix small things right on the spot. It would be a thorough inspection of everthing from checking appliances, furnace to climbing on the roof to inspect the shingles. I see this being popular in that the population is getting older and many people simply do not have the time, inclination or knowledge to know what to look for. I would envision that this would be a 4 to 5 hour inspection and would price something like this at $249 or $299 for the inspection. Of course if anything major was discovered there would be an opportunity to outsource the work to a contractor where we would get a 10 - 20% commission on the work and presumably the job would be reasonably priced for the homeowner.

Thoughts?

[TwoOuter]

These companies already exist in many cities. I think what hasn't been created yet though is an industry leader with name recognition-- in other words, the first company that comes to mind (i.e. Roto-Rooter) when you think home maintenance.

People are always looking for quality contractors. Sites like Angieslist and servicemagic are helpful, but I think there's a niche for a reliable, reasonably-priced maintenance company.

The field is such that if you do quality work, you'll get more referrals than you can handle. Expansion is difficult though because it's hard to find good tradespeople.

[spex x]

[ QUOTE ]
These companies already exist in many cities. I think what hasn't been created yet though is an industry leader with name recognition-- in other words, the first company that comes to mind (i.e. Roto-Rooter) when you think home maintenance.

People are always looking for quality contractors. Sites like Angieslist and servicemagic are helpful, but I think there's a niche for a reliable, reasonably-priced maintenance company.

The field is such that if you do quality work, you'll get more referrals than you can handle. Expansion is difficult though because it's hard to find good tradespeople.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with all these statements. I'll add that any type of contracting is very capital intensive as well. It gets to where you've got a big chunk of change wrapped up in jobs A, B, C, and D, and essentially you're out of cash to get the supplies you need for job E.

[Mr. Now]

Here is the same idea done better:

Market the same exact services to condo complexes. Now you are dealing with hundreds of thousands of square feet and just one buyer.

Go look for competitors, and you may find the market is big and the competitive field is relatively small.

You do it all for one flat hourly rate plus a quarterly fee.

The people living in the condo pay a hefty monthly condo charge, and they demand quick service. From their point of view, speed of service (think leaks, roof repairs, etc) not cost. They are ready to pay thru the nose. They may actually get angry if the committee haggles with repairmen... while leaks continue.

You have to offer everything from roofs, painting, plumbing, electrical etc. One stop.

You might poke around your local market and see who is doing this condo repair service in your region.