The software was inspired by its founder’s own struggle to oversee the building of an accessory dwelling unit. It secured $6 million in seed funding in early 2021.
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Eano is an app for easily managing affordable home remodeling projects and accessory dwelling units on existing homes.
Platforms: iOS app, browser
Ideal for: Homeowners, listing agents
Top selling points:
- Intricate breakdown of all project needs
- “Off-the-shelf” room bundles
- Fully vetted local professionals
- Clear cost breakdowns
- DIY checklists for each project
Top concern
The software and user experience seem on point here, but I worry about the “human” component. Contractors are intrinsically busy, over-scheduled and often at the whim of available sub-contractors and their own market’s demand for their services. Eano’s internal team will need to remain focused on this aspect of the service.
What you should know
Eano is an app to help homeowners better hire and oversee home renovation projects. Its tech-forward approach to material buying and contractor management can add value to agents who assist potential sellers with market-readiness projects. Eano is designed to shrink the traditional home remodel processes and thus, cut costs and construction timelines.
I’ve always been a fan of human-supported technology offerings, such as Boomtown’s Success Assurance program.
This is the approach Eano (easy, affordable renovations) is taking to the home remodeling industry.
Eano built a smart, granular mobile-first web app to help people plan and execute home remodeling projects. A customer can use Eano to manage the work for themselves or use its carefully vetted local professionals to carry out the work.
The software was inspired by its founder’s own struggle to oversee the building of an ADU, or accessory dwelling unit (a municipal term for an apartment attached to a home). Thus, Eano actually has a unique focus on ADU projects.
The company launched with $1.2 million in 2019 and in early 2021, it secured a formal seed round of $6 million.
Eano ultimately best serves its users as tech-enabled intermediary. It’s also not an open platform, which I like. This isn’t one of those “choose from hundreds of recommended professionals” lists. Eano uses its system to seek professionals in each market, trains them on their software and facilitates their interaction with clients.
Project quotes can be generated by room, and every related task and all materials are carefully broken down in each project card. If you choose to go it alone, Eano tells you everything you need to know.
Once a project design is selected by the user, it can be converted quickly to an executable contract with every penny listed.
One major advantage for Eano’s contractors is the elimination of having to create and negotiate bids, a major pain point for the industry. Only after all the items are selected and contract is in place do they become part of the project.
Communications are handled all within the app through a simple chat interface, and there are ongoing alerts and notifications for milestones and general updates.
Eano’s design bundles are ready-to-go renovation projects with everything selected for you, like walking into a furniture store and buying a living room. Users can choose from bathrooms and kitchens or flooring and cabinets.
Listing agents with sellers in need of some work should give Eano a strong look. This is the type of quick, efficient quality that a soon-to-be-listed home needs. Why delay putting a home on the market any longer than need be?
And lest we forget, presale projects rarely form any sort of emotional connection with the seller.
Eano has more than 100 projects completed in its primary markets of San Francisco and the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle and Houston.
I also see Eano becoming a partner with iBuyers or companies like Knock and HomeLight, tech-forward organizations that offer construction but don’t live in that space. This would be a smart move for the likes of Compass, too. It could integrate with Plunk, too.
After all, the home is becoming more than a physical asset, it’s a trove of valuable data and intelligent ecosystems, from a refrigerator’s internet connection and saved video doorbell footage to the flooring system Eano helped you install.
It’s all ones and zeros, from studs to soffits. There’s no reason construction management can’t have its part in the matrix.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
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