That home renovation project just got a little bit easier thanks to Matt Ehrlichman, ceo, of Porch, the online network that matches homeowners with professionals to plan and execute home improvements without the pitfalls that so often sabotage a project. “Porch is really all about the data. We have built this massive home network,” explains Ehrlichman which includes 2.8 million professionals and 120 million finished projects. “We exposed that to homeowners so they can actually see the professionals their neighbors have used.”
While Porch is free for homeowners, the service is hoping to profit from its growing network of contractors which jumped over 86% in 2014. “We give professionals an option to have a free profile or they can upgrade to a premium placement where they not only get more exposure but they get really deep insights to all the data Porch has organized.” Porch recently made getting that data even easier with a new app.
Part of Porch’s success has come from strategic partners including Lowe’s (LOW). “We have rolled out access across all of their 1,700 stores, 250,000 associates in the stores really want to help the customers be able to make sure they get their projects done.”
Ehrlichman’s idea struck a chord with the team at USA Today who recently named him their inaugural Entrepreneur of the Year beating out 10 other finalists.
Correction: An early version of this story mis-stated the number of Lowe's stores in the U.S. as 17,000 when in fact the real number is about 1,700.
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