COLORADO SPRINGS — During the coronavirus pandemic, people are spending more time at home than ever before. Home repairs and home improvement projects have become even more significant activities.
These projects can get expensive, especially if you are hiring people to do the job. As people work to socially distance and save money, do-it-yourself virtual home repairs are becoming more popular.
"The problem was my shower knob was kind of falling off. I didn’t know how to put it back on,” said Lam Doan, who was in need of a home repair.
Getting help from the virtual home repair coaches at Fixer.com, Doan was able to safely make the fix and save himself time and money.
"It could cost $100 to get them out there, just to diagnose it, and another $100 just to fix it," said Doan. "Versus, if you do it virtually, they’ll just tell you, 'OK I’ve analyzed the work. All you have to do is this.' Bam! In five minutes, you pay $15 and you save $185."
Fixer.com started out as a company designed to send a home repair specialist straight to your door, but during the pandemic, the company pivoted to offer services remotely. The first five minutes of the video consultation are free and after that, it's $15 every 15 minutes.
"We can help coach you through fixing anything in your home from a place deep expertise and all you really need is a screwdriver and a coach to get through most things in your house," said Founder of Fixer.com Mike Evans.
Working with clients from coast to coast, Fixer.com leaders expect the virtual home repair trend to continue well beyond the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The company started from a premise of there aren't enough people in the trades and so we launched an internal training center to bring people into the trades and to become handy people," said Evans. "So, we developed all that curriculum in-house and it turns out that educating people is kind of the same no matter who you are educating. So, doing that virtually for homeowners while they're trying to work through a problem turned out to be a pretty close match to what we had already been doing."
Doan says his experience with virtual home repair helped him financially and add to his skill set.
"The guy was really good. He walked me through each step," said Doan. "I'm doing it myself and if I do things myself, I learn a lot more."
So if you have a home repair that you've been putting off, or it's time for some home improvement, there are people who can talk you through a wide range of situations.
"We talked people through how to fix a small hole or a large hole in drywall. We helped people stop leaky faucets. We help people stop running toilets. The running toilets thing happens a lot," said Evans.
Please remember while these virtual home repair sessions can be useful, if you aren't confident you can do the job safely, it's always best to call in the professionals.
