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America's new millionaire class: Plumbers and HVAC entrepreneurs

(www.wsj.com)
185 points hhs | 2 comments | 13 Oct 24 15:35 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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hooverd ◴[13 Oct 24 16:18 UTC] No.41829232[source]▶
Can this be the next thing tech democratizes?
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1. toast0 ◴[13 Oct 24 17:04 UTC] No.41829606[source]▶
The trades are pretty democratized as it is. Every service company I use with is hiring at all levels. Training is available. If you have to get a certificate before you start, that's a barrier to entry, but a nearby community college is likely to have classes.

The real barrier is it's a hard job, and other work is more tempting for a lot of folks.

Tech for trades either looks like a centralized dispatch service that takes 10-30% of the fees and results in a new person showing up for every job (no thanks! Once I find a plumber I like, for non emergency use, I prefer to work with the same one) or maybe something per company that helps organize appointments, scheduling, billing, and notifications about arrival times. This may reduce / eliminate office managers / answering services for busy firms, and could help improve communications for owners that have no employees; but I think it already exists.

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2. HPsquared ◴[13 Oct 24 21:15 UTC] No.41831670[source]▶
There's also potential for planning / drawing / information tools. Augmented reality and stuff. Knowing and recording where the pipes and things are. Sourcing materials. Things like that.