SpectBetter

I learned a lot about how the project likely wouldn't work in todays climate.

• Finding potential customers during this very small window during which they had an offer on a home and received their inspection report was very tricky.

• This was probably the worst time to launch this idea because the home market has been insane the last 12 months, people are waiving inspections!!! They don't even care what is on the report because there are so many offers on each house (this won't last forever).

• I analyzed about 10 different inspection reports from friends and family, there were no similarities in structure, language, coding, etc. between them. This means every report would have to be manually analyzed or you could only work with one or two main reporting systems. I also figured out the biggest competitor in the market was doing this very thing, manual input into a construction estimate software.

• These elements didn't fit the type of long-term business I wanted to create, which was an automated way to analyze these reports and return back to the customer a clear understanding of which items in their report are red flags, which they should tackle first, which add value to the home, etc.

• I think there is still value here, buying a home without any construction knowledge or contractors in your network sets you up for potential big losses. You can read the stories on reddit everyday.

• So for now, the project is paused, I may open it back up one day when the market changes, but I have other ideas I am more excited about at the moment.

I spent about a month testing various google ads to validate the idea more. I got some website visits, but no purchases.

The purchasing window for this customer is extremely short, they need to be in escrow on a home purchase.

I learned this is likely not an idea you can validate with ads, and there needs to be some functionality for the customer to derive value from.

Focusing on building an expanded MVP using nocode, specifically Bubble.io.

Have basic search functionality in place to estimate inspection item costs.

I took a few weeks because I was moving and working full time. Built a website using Brizy and connected a paypal purchase button. Worked on the copy of the website/landing page. Also reached out to all my friends who recently bought homes and talked to them about the idea.
One friend purchased something similar, but much more basic. It only provided repair costs, and was clearly done by a human manually.
That validated the market somewhat, also reached out to our real estate agent and told her about the project. She said her previous firm was working on a project similar to this to help provide cost estimates to home inspection report repairs.
Launched a google ad, currently no clicks :)

Two major life events occurred this year. I lost my father suddenly and closed on my first home purchase a few months after.

My dad was a lifelong contractor by trade. He could fix and build almost anything. I had an unfair advantage of having his guidance through home repairs, etc. that was suddenly gone.

When we closed on our first home and got our inspection, I frantically googled each item in the report to see what it would cost to fix, if I could do it myself, the safety issues with it, etc. all over the weekend because our contingencies were due.

I realized there should be a way for all home buyers to have the same unbiased guidance from a contractor like I used to have. SpectBetter was born, a service that analyzes home inspection reports, provides repair cost estimates, DIY potential for each repair, tutorials for all repairs, safety considerations, and help negotiating repair credits/contingencies.

We tried to leverage our real estate agent for this process, but it was definitely not her expertise.