Pro Services 2.0

TLDR: By expanding our network of Pros, we've reduce prices and resolution times for Pro Service requests. And in-app improvements have improved transparency of progress and the approval process.

When I joined Belong and took over the Pro Services team in April 2024, the feedback we were receiving from our Homeowners and Residents was clear: our Members needed us to resolve issues faster, be more communicative throughout the process, and the prices we were charging were too high. So that's exactly what we set out to do. And while we still have more to come, I'm proud to say we've made a lot of progress towards improving the experience, and pricing, for everyone.

Expanding Our Network Of Pros

For the first few years of Belong's existence, we exclusively serviced our Belong homes using in-house employees. This was great for controlling the experience, and for learning quickly, but had some significant drawbacks. Notably, we simply never had enough Pros on staff to deal with fluctuating maintenance demands. We knew we needed to expand.

So we began building out our network of partners we work with. With more Pros in our rolodex, are now able to find qualified people for each job faster. The time it takes to get a Pro onsite reduced significantly, and we're better able to predict resolution times (which in turn helps with communications to those waiting on repairs).

With more variety, we are able to shop around for better prices as well. This competition directly translated into reduced prices for our Members.

Quality is, of course, still top-of-mind for us. To make sure we're only working with the best, we introduced ratings surveys, sent to anyone interacting with a Pro after each appointment. Over time, we'll offer more and more Pro Service Requests to highly rated Pros, and weed out those that aren't professional or do poor quality work.

Redesigning The Experience

Apart from growing our network of Pros, it was also clear that we needed to improve the experience for those waiting for requests to be completed.

To start, multiple related requests were being created to solve singular issues (perhaps a painter would need to come out after a plumber to patch the walls), creating confusion in the app. To complicate matters further, multiple potential solutions often exist to solve the same issue, each with a breakdown of costs and trade-offs. All of that was being communicated manually, in lengthy back-and-forth email or text threads, making approvals take way longer than they needed to.

Our Homeowners were also left in the dark on progress, as well as the final product, relying on our team to manually send updates and the occasional photo. Belong Homeowners in particular care a lot about their homes, and want to make sure things are done correctly; they want to know their homes are still as beautiful as the day they left.

To improve this experience, we introduced subtasks for complicated Pro Service requests, grouping all the different types of work (from plumbers to painters), under one single request that needs to be solved. We introduced Options, including detailed recommendations as to which solution is the best for the long-term value of your home. With all the right information at your fingertips, approvals can now be done right in the Belong App with a few clicks. Last but not least, we added progress and completion photos, so everyone can see the work our Pros do in our homes to make them sparkle again.

What's next?

Artificial intelligence is a game-changer for our business. Our engineering team is hard at work on the next wave of AI features that will improve the experience for everyone. One area we're excited about is triaging; using built-in AI in our mobile app, Residents requesting Pro Services work will have a simple conversation that will not only help us identify the root cause faster, but also suggest ways that they can troubleshoot and even solve issues. In turn, we'll resolve a subset of issues instantly and reduce costly call-out fees that may arise from sending mismatched Pros or for requests that were easily solvable.