Seattle startup Pro.com announced today that it has has teamed with online home improvement retailer Build.com to make it easy for people to find and price materials they need to make their home improvement projects a reality.
Pro.com offers a “Pre-estimate” that gives users a rough idea of how much it costs to hire someone for a home repair job. That estimate only covers the cost of labor, which meant homeowners who wanted to know how much they needed to spend on materials had to look elsewhere.
With the integration, it’s easier for people who get a pre-estimate from Pro.com to figure out how much they would have to spend on materials to get their project done, as well as order the materials they need right away.
Matt Williams, the CEO of Pro.com and the former CEO of Digg, said that the idea for the integration came from customer feedback about the website’s service.
“It really started coming from what customers were asking from us, and then going and finding the best of breed partner to work with,” he said.
Both companies have integrated the others’ services, so users shopping on Build.com will be able to use a widget from Pro.com for labor pricing estimates and a referral to a local professional. People who start on Pro.com will get referred to Build.com in order to find the materials they’ll need to finish a project.
In addition, Williams said that the deal would provide an advantage for pros who chose to work with both sites.
“When a pro works with both companies in this case, we have the ability to funnel them jobs, as well as a way to get products (from Build.com) delivered to them or to the job at a discount,” he said.
The move seems similar to the deal made earlier this year between Porch, another Seattle startup that’s focused on helping consumers price out their home improvement projects, and Lowe’s. As a part of that integration, Porch’s home renovation price estimate service is available to Lowe’s employees on mobile phones and kiosks inside stores nationwide.
Pro.com’s integration with Build comes two months after the service launched to customers. Williams declined to say whether Build.com was the only retailer that Pro.com plans to integrate with in the future, though he said that the two companies were “deeply committed to working with each other for the benefit of each other’s customers.”
Pro.com raised $3.5 million in venture funding earlier this year from Jeff Bezos, Madrona, Andreessen Horowitz and others.
