Proptech Talk Thursday | Homebound

I'm delighted to introduce a new series called Proptech Talk Thursday. Every Thursday, I will interview executives at a Proptech company or provide my candid reviews/thoughts. The Real Estate industry is one of the slowest to adopt technology as one of the reasons is it’s extremely fragmented. However, it doesn’t stop companies to try to figure out solutions for these really big problems. This week, let’s take a look at Homebound. Think of them as a tech-enabled general contractor.

As of January 2020, Homebound has raised a $35M Series B round totaling $53M. They claim to have developed tools to track and manage 370 unique tasks when building a home. Anyone that has done renovations, knows there are all of the components involved. This is magnified when dealing with ground up construction where there are even more complexities. They currently cover Sonoma, Napa, and Contra Costa county, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

So what are my thoughts on this company? I think they are certainly onto several fronts. The industry is extremely fragmented as it’s hard enough to find good people that can be trusted time and time again. So the level of standard is very hard to come by and is even harder to scale. As they focus in certain areas, they can dominate those counties so as they go get permits/approvals, they may be able to bypass and streamline things with the city officials given the officials see them time and time again with the same processes. They may also leverage on supply discounts. Since they are basically a mini builder, they don’t have the downsides of the land costs, but have the potential volume of material whether it could be lumber, concrete, and standard appliances. The thing that makes this the most interesting is that if they can truly make it seem like the process of building is easy, it would democratize the construction industry itself allowing a lot more people to feel they have the confidence to build a home. This opens up a lot of interesting and creative in-fill opportunities all around.

What are the challenges? Their current model is that they play as a General Contractor and they sub out the work. A big challenge of this industry is finding reliable sub contractors in the different cities they operate. There is a big shortage of these talented individuals so hopefully they can come out with some sort of training program especially given unemployment is so high these days to train these subcontractors. Another challenge is that they are not widely known yet. The industry itself is really about referrals and those referrals are very tight knit. Top contractors and subcontractors are extremely busy so many people that they try to recruit, may not be very good subcontractors as they have plenty of work already. Technology is also not the easiest for construction workers to use. Construction workers have operated in a certain way for a very long time so for them to be trained on new tools and systems, is just not that simple.

I hope you enjoyed this new series.

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My Background: Born and raised in the Bay Area, I spent 11 years as Technology Sales Manager before becoming a Realtor. Having personally invested and done renovations through house flips in the Bay Area, I wanted to help busy professionals in the Bay Area tech industry find their dream home by leveraging tech, data and local insights. Our team specializes in creating trusted frameworks of buying, selling, and investing in the Bay Area. In 2022, we are thrilled to share that we have helped 80 clients in the Bay Area with their moves, which positions our team as the Top 1% groups in the country. Looking forward to helping you into your next home and save/earn you more money!

Spencer Hsu, MBA, Realtor

Spencer@SpencerHsu.com

408-547-4590

EXP Realty DRE #02077253

https://www.homesbyspencerhsu.com/

#BayAreaRealEstate