App lets you video chat with home repair experts
Need helping solving home repair and installation issues? There's an app for that. It's called Ask Ken, founded by Jeff Saliture and Brian Bonell after they asked their friend Ken their fair share of home improvement questions over the years.
"We decided to build an application that would enable homeowners to instantly connect with top rated pros," Saliture said.
"People don't want us in their home anymore. This is a perfect way to connect to people and still get repairs done that need to be done," Benell said.
The Ask Ken app, which is available in Apple's App Store for iPhone for free, gives people an option to get help without having any physical contact with a licensed expert. They launched the app three weeks ago during a time when COVID-19 made social distancing the new normal.
"Plumbing, electricity, smart home devices, anything smart home related is very popular, if you're having an issue with your dishwasher, your washing machine," said Saliture.
Users pick a home repair category and then a more specific subcategory. Once the customer narrows down the issue, they're connected with a professional real time to walk them through repairs or installations via video chat. Most issues can be resolved in under 12 minutes for $40 or less, Saliture and Bonell say.
"The expert always has the discretion to give a refund at the end of the call if it's really easy," Saliture said. "We're finding they are doing that and we do provide a satisfaction guarantee."
Since they started, they've signed over 100 experts and facilitated more than 150 calls.
"Within a click of my finger, I had someone basically right there with me because of the video chat feature, it wasn't like I had to explain to him, I was just able to show him," said Angela Walters, who used the app to fix her boiler.
They're also looking into visits with the option to follow up for the same price if a person needs a part from the store.