BUILD IT UP
By: Suyash Matanhelia
Tags: Startup, Ideas, Projects, Construction

About:

Build It Up is a mobile application / website that allows the owners of a new apartment, house, land and commercial area to build their dream project by finding the right contractor, interior designer, architects, civil engineers and carpenters without having to undergo the grueling process of finding the right people for the job, rather it gives them the feedback of all the customers who have worked with the required personnel before.

Build it up is an application that will help the new clueless property owners build their projects without having to go through the whole process of physically trying to find the perfect team for their project .Our platform helps people build the project of their dreams up from scratch. Be it an empty plot or an undecorated apartment, our platform will help you find the right architect and civil engineers to plan the construction and right contractors to carry that plan and finally interior designers and carpenters to turn their dreams into palpable reality.

carpenters to turn their dreams into palpable reality.

Target Customers:

This platform will help both the customers as well as the professionals.

BUILD IT UP will help the customers by turning their dreams into reality, forming their connection with the contractors / architects / designers / carpenters / masons who meet all their needs and understand their dreams.

This platform also helps the contractors and other professional personnel who as of now get their work only via sources which are not so reliable and definitely never guaranteed i.e. mouth publicity and from recommendations.

Market Demand:

Being someone who recently went through the hassle of buying and getting the interiors done for a flat, I understand the needs and the woes of a recruiter. It is really hard and tiring for a new property owner to find the right team for the project of their dreams. The only way to connect them with the necessary people is on a basis of recommendations. Similarly it gets tiresome even for the professional personnel to find customer base for their services especially when they are just starting out.

Our Solution:

1. Build it up will sort the listed professional personnel according to their jobs and this will allow the property owner to look for the suitable professional they require at that point of time.

2. Build it up will allow the professionals to extend their services to any city as per their convenience by providing them with a feature that allows them to add the cities that they can extend their services to.

3. Our application will also have a feature that would allow the property owners to filter their searches according to the area and the city where they require the services.

4. Another extremely useful feature that our application will provide to its consumer is allowing them to be able to sort the professionals available on our application according to the ratings and the proximity to the site of construction.

5. The consumers of our application, i.e., both the property owners and the professionals can have discussion over a chat that would also allow them to share pictures and their requirements in complete anonymity till things get further finalized and they are satisfied with each other’s pitch.

6. Build it up also plans to include estimated budget filter according to the amount of works needed to be done which can be the base for the negotiation between the property owners on the professional personnel.

Relevant Products in the Market:

At this particular point of time, there is no company that targets this niche; our only big competitor in the Indian market will be Just Dial. Our product stands out from our competitors through the following:

1. We will only have the selected professional people who are experts in the aforementioned fields on our platform.

2. It solves the problems of a new property owner who wants to get his dream project ready and is not able to find the right team and people who work in accordance with his requirements.

3. Our platform will let the contractors/craftsmen to showcase their previous works to provide a better pitch to their targeted customers.

Required Knowledge or Expertise:

The knowledge/expertise we require to build the platform are:

1. Knowledge of programming languages like Python, C++, Java, and HTML.

2. Knowledge of app development through android App Studio and Flutter.

3. Knowledge of Database.

4. Good understanding of the construction market.

Estimated Budget:

The breakup for estimated budget for the first year of our start-up “BUILD IT UP “is:

1. Domain name : ₹10000/year

2. Publishing App on App Store and Google Play Store : ₹10,000

3. Marketing Strategies : ₹2,00,000

4. As of now we have every other thing we need with us.

Marketing Plan:

We will start our platform in phases and first target certain cities and then we will plan to take a more pan-India approach.

We start by publishing our ads in the newspapers and airing them on local radios channels. We will also approach newly built projects and big real estate firms and start tie-ups with them so they recommend our services to the people who purchase new property.

We will also sponsor the sign board for newly built buildings/apartments for advertisements. The contractors on our platforms would ask their previous employers to join the app to rate them and upload a picture or two showcasing their work so that their ratings would go up on the platform.

We can also reach market giants like 99-acers.com or magicbricks.com and collaborate with them on

1. Adding our ads on their website

2. Recommending us to their customers

3. Sharing their database with us

Product Pricing:

We plan on keeping the product free for everyone for the initial few months of our start up so that people can try it before we ask them for any amount. After that we will start charging fee from the professional personnel who want to be listed on the platform on a subscription basis. We still have to analyse the pricing after the market research but we estimate it to be around a ₹ 500 / month subscription and ₹ 5000 / year. Part of our revenue will also be generated from advertising, although we will try to keep our application to a minimal number of advertisements for a hassle-free user experience.

Another option that will be made available to our consumers is a PREMIUM BOOST FACILITY where they can increase their app engagement by approximately 40 % for 7 days for a minimal charge of ₹200 / -

Risk Analysis:

A few obstacles that we could face during the implementation and launching of our platform could be:

1. The contractors may be skeptical about the platform and its benefits.

2. Small scale contractors/craftsmen may be unwilling to pay for the subscription.

3. Customer Accusation maybe be tough since we are targeting a niche in the market that is ignored.

Then again, there is not obstacle that can stop us because we believe in our product and have a will to overcome all the obstacles that come our way by finding a solution to every problem.

Milestone and Timeline:

Our goal is to be a platform that helps the new property owners all over the world. For now we will target a few cities which we think are developing and are in need of this service the most, e.g., Lucknow, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.

It should take the application and website around 6 months to launch and another 6 months for us to acquire the contractors and craftsmen to be listed on the application.

After our success in these cities, we plan on targeting all the metro cities in India and then move to a more pan-India approach. Once the model is successful in India, we will also start the market research to take this on global scale.