They simplify shopping for a home-improvement contractor

MATT FINEBERG, 36, of Upper Darby, is founder and CEO of Bestimators, a Web-based firm that helps homeowners find home-improvement contractors. The startup is working out of a space at Ventureforth, on 8th Street near Willow, in North Philadelphia.

Q: How'd you come up with the idea?

A: I spent 10 years in sales and consulting for the home-improvement industry and saw homeowners and contractors frustrated by the process. The idea was to have a single marketplace where people could shop for home-improvement projects the same way they do airline tickets and hotel reservations.

Q: The startup money?

A: I put $10,000 in savings to make a prototype in early 2014. Then we got into DreamIt Ventures' accelerator and they invested $25,000, and subsequently an angel investor gave us a $30,000 convertible note.

Q: What does the biz do?

A: It's a service that makes it easier for homeowners to shop for big-ticket home-improvement projects. For contractors, it provides an easy, low-cost way to bid and win new customers. The homeowner schedules an appointment and we send a Bestimator to answer questions and take measurements. We put the specs online so contractors we've vetted can see them and bid. We review bids and deliver them to the homeowner, who picks a winner. We capture a deposit until the job is complete, and we stay by the homeowner's side.

Q: The biz model?

We don't charge homeowners for the service. The winning contractor submits an exact price for the job and we collect 10 percent of that.

Q: The value prop?

A: We're able to deliver our services with a one-hour visit, whereas if a homeowner went alone to visit contractors they'd spend 20 to 30 hours researching, scheduling appointments, follow-up phone calls and reviewing bids on a kitchen table.

Q: Your customers?

A: We're still in the trial phase in the Philly area, so our customer base is controlled. Our customer is a homeowner with a project that needs to get done and is comfortable using online services. The homes are 15 to 20 years old, more suburban, but we've also have had activity in Center City. Most customers are working couples 30 to 55.

Q: Biggest challenge?

A: We started with roofing projects, because that's where our technology was built out. We had to tweak it beyond roofing because customers wanted other services. Secondly, contractors generally do siding, roofing and gutters in-house. At this point, the biggest hurdle is having a homeowner sign off on a job.

Q: How big a biz?

A: We're a team of three. We've bid on about $400,000 worth of projects with two dozen homeowners.

Online: ph.ly/YourBusiness