It’s a problem that anyone who has ever renovated a house has likely faced – a final bill that’s drastically different from what was originally quoted, and no clue as where the extra charges come from.
Now, a Kitchener-based company is working to fix that problem with a new software program called Renomii (said Reno-me).
Scott Barker, the company’s CEO and co-founder, along with CFO Kara Smith, spent six years in the construction industry, most of that time as a project manager for a contractor. After a particuarly bad job experience, he thought up Renomii as a way to bridge the communications gap between clients and contractors, and pitched it to the Hyperdrive incubator at Communitech.
“It keeps both parties up to date, it keeps them both accountable for pricing and an approved changes that happen within the project itself. Our software basically allows them to have binding contracts every time a change has been made,” said Barker.
The original contract between the client and contractor is uploaded to Renomii and then the homeowner must confirm it. After that, every time a contractor makes a change, like different cabinet doors or a new countertop, they document the change in Renomii. The client and the contractor must sign off on it. At the end of a job, all of the requested changes are detailed, a move that helps protect both parties.
To read the full interview and learn more about the company click here.