- More and more technology providers, across all industries, are focusing on a concierge services model
- Traditional home warranties can be beneficial, but also tedious to facilitate and confusing for both vendor and home owner
- Paying for a year subscription to Super for clients can make for a nice closing gift or marketing giveaway
Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology expert? Email Craig Rowe.
Super is an appliance repair and home maintenance subscription service for home owners.
Platform(s): Browser-based, agnostic; mobile-optimized
Ideal for: agents who want to provide clients with a unique closing or gift or incentive
Top selling points
- Monthly subscription fees allows for budget planning
- Concierge service can arrange for general “weekend” home maintenance tasks
- More streamlined process than most home warranties
Things to consider
The service is currently limited to Maryland in the Washington D.C. region. There is a $50 copay per repair instance. Coverage amounts are limited, but well within range of the cost of most appliance and home repair concerns.
Full review
Home maintenance software is clearly a hot subject in the software start-up world. I’ve covered HomeKeepr, Dizzle, HomeZada and CentriQ, all of which have some role in helping people stay up-to-date on gutter maintenance.
Dizzle uses a branded agent app to maintain relationships through vendor recommendation while CentriQ curates DIY and appliance information from around the Internet to assist us in fixing things.
With Super, agents can give their buyers or favorite clients an app-based home warranty.
This is American Home Shield in app form. However, I’m not blowing it off. Not at all.
Super’s mobile interface.
I had an American Home Shield warranty on one of my houses. They were nice people, but frankly, trying to figure out what specifically was covered, when the plumber would arrive, and whether or not he knew he should be paid by us or not remained a mystery until we sold the home.
Every time, the process to facilitate a repair was different.
This is where I think Super can excel. You see, programmers excel at process engineering, so the order placement and repair facilitation runs much smoother when not vaguely referred to in a 300-page hardback binder.
Every time, the process to facilitate a repair was different.
Subscription plans make it easy to understand what’s covered each time out and the fee, a deductible, is the same every time: $50.
Categories of service include Appliances, Whole Home and Premium Home.
The latter excludes the $50 co-pay and covers up to $2,000 of service for HVAC and $1,500 for all appliances, internal electrical and plumbing repairs.
This is an app that I believe has staying power on a phone screen, especially the $175/month premium service.
Its audience is clear: higher income, dual-professional households with little time for replacing air filters. To each their own.
Like the other software options in this space, Super comes with alerts for ongoing repair and upkeep items, like dryer duct cleaning and fire extinguisher check-ups.
This is an app that I believe has staying power on a phone screen.
It also maintains an archive of what’s been done on your home, who’s done it and when.
Super is conceptually simple to grasp and designed on the premise that, like so many other consumer-pointing apps today, we Americans don’t have time to do anything for ourselves today.
Even though there is no direct tie-in to lead generation here, agents can impress clients by sharing this app or gifting a subscription after closing.
Happy home maintenance.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
