Myreno411

MyReno411 was established in 2013 to create an online community in North America of homeowners, and home design and renovation contractors and stores. Homeowners are to get inspiration from photographs, information from articles and eBooks, and connection to reliable contractors. Contractors and stores advertise their services and products on line, in real time. Crowdsourcing would be the principle strategy for determining who is reliable and who is not.

MyReno411
HeadquartersOttawa, Ontario, Canada
Area servedCanada
Founder(s)Alex Beraskow
PresidentAlex Beraskow
CEOAlex Beraskow
IndustryRemodeling and Decorating
EmployeesUndisclosed
URLwww.myreno411.com
LaunchedNovember 2012 (2012-11)

The home renovation market in North America is huge, and ever increasing. It is currently underserved and does not harness the web to its potential. Contractors need to advertise their capabilities as homeowners need to find reliable contractors to in turn make better decisions.

The Home Renovation Industry in Canada

In Canadam the home renovation industry is at least $70 billion in size (in the United States, over $300 billion).[1] Exact numbers for Canada are not certain as some figures suggest that more than 50% of the business is cash based, and hence possibly unreported. As such the industry in Canada is almost as big as the finance and insurance one.

The home renovation industry consists of contractors – firms as well as individuals – along with stores - some big box, others that are speciality. Canada has over 130,000 firms that provide home renovation services. As such it is a cottage industry that also has several large sized firms. About 40% of homeowners do a home renovation every year. According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation 1 in 5 Canadian households - about 2½ million homeowners – hires a contractor for their home renovation. The other 20% do a home renovation on a DIY basis (Do It Yourself).[2] The average cost of a home renovation is about $20,000.[3] In Ontario, home renovation and repair was the 3rd largest cause of complaints to the Ministry of Consumer Services (Ontario) (after collection agencies and water heater rentals).[4]

The Business Viewpoint on the Home Renovation Industry

Marketing[5] is the number 1 problem for contractors, more so than estimating, administration, accounting, or managing sub trades. Conventional wisdom is that every business – large or small – relies on a web site as it prime marketing strategy.[6]

However while many firms are deploying web sites, their utility is declining as more and more people are using crowdsourcing as the preferred method for finding reliable services.[7]

The Homeowner Viewpoint of the Home Renovation Industry

A home renovation is both an emotional as well as a financial investment.

It is also very stressful: 75% of home renovations caused stress in home life.[8] Mike Holmes states that “20% of contractors are good, 70% are bad and the remaining 10% are ugly”.[9]

A survey showed that:[10]

  • 29% don't have pictures for renovation projects
  • 35% don't know how to manage the project
  • 39% don't know how to manage the contract
  • 36% don't know how to manage issues
  • 39% don't have list of reliable contractors
  • 52% don't know who is good

Corporate History

Alex Beraskow, established MyReno411.com after he built his own home as a General Contractors and found how difficult it was to find reliable tradespeople. As a seasoned executive he had run 5 different professional services companies, established 3 and sold each to a multinational firm over 2 decades. He was recognised as Business Person of the Year in Ottawa,[11] in 2010 by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.

Alex Beraskow decided to use his IT expertise along with that of managing professional services businesses to help homeowners. The overall goal is to inspire homeowners with pictures, inform them with articles and eBooks and connect them to reliable contractors. Crowdsourcing – having homeowners review contractors – is the prime strategy for ranking the quality of services. MyReno411 was launched in September 2013 at the Ottawa Home and Design show. It lists over 130,000 contractors and stores in Canada, doing home design and renovation. MyReno411 uses inbound marketing techniques: rich content along with social media to spread the message.

Reception

MyReno411.com was rated the number 1 site – of 8 – in Canada (September 2014)[12] and has been featured in the Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette.[13] Representatives of the company have also made appearance of Rogers Daytime TV[14] and CTV Morning Live.[15]

References
  1. "Home Improvement in Canada". Marketline: 10. March 2013.
  2. Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (2012). "Renovation and Home Purchase Report". Housing Market Information: 2.
  3. CIBC (27 March 2014). "CIBC Poll: Renovation Nation? Canadians say they'll spend almost 30 per cent more on home renos in 2014". Canadian News Wire.
  4. "Top Complaints and Inquiries". Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Government of Ontario. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  5. "OutRank by Rogers Survey of the home renovation industry". Canadian Contractor. 15 (3). March–April 2014.
  6. Payne, Steve (March–April 2014). "Salary Survey result: 51% of contractors under $250,000 billings now have websites". Canadian Contractor. 15 (3).
  7. "Infographic of Industry Facts Shows Why Online Reviews Are a Big Deal". ReviewTrackers. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  8. MyReno411. "Survey by MyReno411". MyReno411. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  9. Holmes, Mike (21 February 2012). "Six signs your contractor is probably a chump". National Post. National Post. Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  10. MyReno411 (January 2014). "MyReno411 Survey".
  11. Valiquette, Leo (9 June 2011). "Beraskow feted as Chamber's Business Person of the Year". Ottawa Business Journal. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  12. "What your favourite online listing service?". Canadian Contractor. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  13. "Although Alex Beraskow is happy with his finished home, a few hiccups in his renovation experience led him to launch MyReno411.ca in September". Montreal Gazette. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  14. "MyReno411 on Rogers Daytime Ottawa". Youtube. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  15. "MyReno411 on CTV Morning Live". Youtube. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.