Few weeks back, we had come up with an article on How zeroing on a good-home loan is a daunting task. Once you have shortlisted the Apartment, Loan Service provider; the next big task would be find an “Ideal interior decorator” 🙂 When we shifted to our new flat in Whitefield, we had recommended our interior decorator to couple of friends since he was reliable, easily accessible and most of all his work was more louder than his words !!! In fact, we always try to find people (who matter in our day to day needs) in the vicinity since ‘accessibility’ plays a very important role.
With the rise of the ‘marketplace model’, lot of startups have evolved that want to simplify your search for the right architects, interior decorators etc. Just like the marketplace model for e-commerce companies, these sites act as a bridge to make sure that your requirements are met. One of the latest entrants in this category is Berlin based Homify that was recommended by one of my colleague’s who was able to find good interior decorator for this house from Homify.
Homify : ‘Home Modify‘ simplified
Homify is a Berlin headquartered bootstrapped company [founded in 2013] that is present in 15 countries namely Germany, Italy, UK, France, Spain, Portugal and it is recently launched in Brasil, India, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore and Turkey. It is a collaborative platform that has been created by professionals from various fields like architecture, engineering, interior decoration etc and aims to simplify the search for interior design & engineering related needs. Homify (portmanteau of the words Home & Modify ) true to it’s name wants to simplify the ‘herculean task’ of interior decoration easier with the help of professionals signed up on their platform.
Homify : For customers
From idea to final product, they connect creative professionals in the field of interior decoration with apartment owners so that they can hire the right people for cultivating their ‘Dream Home’ into ‘Reality’ 🙂 Being a Collaborative Platform, artists present on their platform can also learn from each other, thus Homify also acts as a Catalyst in their careers 🙂
Homify : For Users &Â Professionals
Homify is a free platform for creative professionals who can register free of charge and present their work by uploading their portfolio on Homify. Similar to ‘Seller’s on e-commerce sites who are new to the online-medium but still want to taste the waters, ‘Experienced Architects’ who are new to online medium can expand their customer base via Homify which would have otherwise been difficult in the offline-format !!
Every personal user who is present on Homify can review the work of professionals (based on their uploaded work) who are present on the platform before they are even hired. This transparent review format ensures that professionals on Homify are able to serve their existing customers in the best-possible way since that increases their chances of attracting potential customers.
Users can collect the work of different professionals in the form of an ‘Ideabooks’ and can ask direct questions to professionals about their work. The overall concept of an ‘Ideabook’ is intriguing since smaller (but lesser known) architects can showcase their impressive work on Homify and set-up their website for free !!! It would have even better if it could have been presented in a 3D styled format (just like a ‘Portfolio Book’ which we are addicted to see when we visit any new architect).
Homify : What we liked & Improvement Areas
As mentioned in the beginning of the review, when we had to search for an architect for my flat; we looked for someone in the vicinity.
One stop-shop for your architecture related needs : Homify solves this pain-point in a very effective manner since it brings ‘architects, interior decorators, home buyers etc. and customers under one umbrella. However, it would have been much better if the ‘Exact location and Approximate distance‘ (between the concerned parties) could have been listed in the form of Map i.e. adding a Hyper-local angle to fix apartment owner’s architecture woes.
The Commercial market segment : With the rise of B2B startups (in Real Estate sector), it becomes critical to serve that market segment. Along with retail customers (normal home buyers), Homify serves the ‘Commercial Customer’ segment; a segment that can no longer be ignored !!!
Pleasant UX : Being a blogger & avid-reader, I am very comfortable with websites that follow magazine-styled formats 🙂 Homify also has a blog style format of it’s home-page which makes navigating & fetching required
Discussions : As getting the right architect/interior decorator is a common problem, it becomes critical that users on the platform get engaged in a discussion. The ‘Discussions’ section ensures that customers get right tips/feedback from other users/professionals present on Homify and the best part of the discussion is that the comments are not moderated & you are even free to share your email-id with the initiator of the discussion !!!
So, what are you waiting for ? If you have found your dream home than leave the rest to Homify which can connect you with Design experts who can turn your ‘Dream Home’ into ‘Real Home’ 🙂
If you have given Homify a spin, please leave your feedback/experience in the comments section…