Uber of Home Maintenance
Waving in order to get a taxi has long gone, thanks to Uber. Now people can handle the process of getting from point A to point B entirely through an app on their phones. The ride-sharing giant has not only disrupted the whole taxi industry but has also contributed to the rise of a now booming crowd-sourcing economy and gig-workers.
Much like Uber but for home-maintenance, HeyBryan (HEY: CSE) is a peer-to-peer marketplace app that connects customers to trusted “Experts” who have the skills to complete small, everyday home-maintenance needs in a way that is more efficient than the traditional contracting services. Typical HeyBryan tasks include handyman services, mounting or installation, furniture assembly, electrical, appliance repair, plumbing, flooring and carpet, lawn and yard maintenance, junk removal and more.
“We started off with seven categories, are adding another eight now and planning to add more in the not-too-distant future, including seasonal categories such as snow removal, for example. It's important for us to continue expanding HeyBryan’s services to the point where our customers can get all aspects of their home maintenance seamlessly and efficiently tackled by our Experts. We are just getting started,” said Lance Montgomery, CEO of HeyBryan.
Bryan Baeumler – the Face of HeyBryan
From the left: Lance Montgomery – CEO of HeyBryan; Bryan Baeumler
Founded in 2018, the app is named after the Canadian HGTV personality and one of the country’s most trusted contractors, Bryan Baeumler, bringing it to the attention of millions of homeowners across North America.
Bryan is widely recognized as a home-maintenance expert and has been featured in multiple hit shows for over seven years, such as Island of Bryan, House of Bryan, Disaster DIY, and Leave it to Bryan.
“HeyBryan aims to empower its users to trust that they can get the small tasks done right, while helping home maintenance Experts to grow their income – leaving both parties feeling confident that they are getting fair value,” said Bryan Baeumler.
HeyBryan is rapidly scaling up the business
HeyBryan has rolled-out the app in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and the Greater Toronto Area to date and has plans to quickly expand its presence throughout Canada. Once firmly established in Canada, the company plans to launch the app in the US. As of October 2019, HeyBryan Media has expanded its customer base nine-fold since the beginning of the year. Its Expert base has experienced a growth rate of 518 percent in the same timeframe.
The company went public in early October 2019 through an IPO at a price of $0.30 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $2.5 million. Its shares are now trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol HEY.
Committed to finding trusted Experts, HeyBryan has partnered with Certn Holdings Inc., a people data company specializing in background checks for the gig economy and pre-employment screening. Certn performs background checks in over 200 countries and has built one of the largest risk-relevant databases on the planet. Over the last decade, contract and gig work has shown a steady increase in popularity, and safety of users has been a constant concern. Having a uniform policy on rerunning criminal background checks is one of the ways for HeyBryan to stay ahead of the competition.
Canadian home-maintenance industry outlook
According to Stats Canada, there are about 14 million households in the country, spending almost $78 billion on home renovations, and the number continues to grow.
CIBC Home Renovation Poll 2019 suggested that the majority of Canadians consider home renovations to be an investment. They would prefer to renovate their home than move to a new place. An emerging wave of tech-savvy millennials and Gen X are willing to spend more on home renovations and improvements than boomers, with basic home maintenance and landscaping at the top of their to-do-list.
Online reviews are playing an increasingly important role in every business, including hiring a home expert. 97% of people read reviews for local businesses and 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions. Acknowledging this fact, HeyBryan ranks its Experts based on the customer reviews.
Taking advantages of a favourable market, HeyBryan is set to quickly become the leader in Canadian home-maintenance market, eventually expanding to the $340 billion worth US market.
HeyBryan’s highlights
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HeyBryan app now provides services across 15 categories in total.
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Over three quarters, since January 2019, HeyBryan has increased its customer base nine-fold, and its expert base has grown five times.
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The app is currently available in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and the Greater Toronto Area. Plans are underway to roll out the app in all major Canadian cities and, eventually, in the US.
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Canadian HGTV personality Bryan Baeumler is a significant shareholder and the face of the HeyBryan app.
- The home-maintenance industry has a positive and progressive outlook empowered by millennials who are willing to spend money on hiring trusted experts that can do an efficient and reasonably-priced job.
FULL DISCLOSURE: HeyBryan is a client of Stockhouse Publishing.