Home Services Company Porch Acquires Rival Serviz

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Seattle-based home services platform Porch has struck a deal to buy rival on-demand home services platform Serviz, growing the former’s network of home professionals to new markets, the company announced on Wednesday morning.

Porch connects consumers in need of home improvement with vetted workers either in its legion of Porch Services professionals or in a connected network of other quality-assured options. Its matching service is powered by a smart Home Assistant that can determine the right worker and price for the job a user needs done.

“We’re growing fast enough that bringing in a company like this is something we can do and do effectively,” said Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichman. “We’re going to be aggressive and be the company that will be able to win in this space.”

This acquisition follows months of recent buys for Porch, including Done.com, another home services website.

Serviz co-founders Zorik Gordon, CEO, and Michael Kline, president, will not stay on through the acquisition, a spokeswoman for Porch confirmed. Before Serviz, co-founders Kline and Gordon founded digital marketing firm ReachLocal, which was acquired by media company Gannett in 2016 for $156 million.

Serviz was in the midst of expanding its own reach ahead of the acquisition. In March, Serviz announced that it had grown its service professional network to 31 cities up from 18, with plans to expand into 17 additional metro areas.

Porch says that the company has over 300,000 active pros registered on its network, listing its services in 25 major metro areas.

With this acquisition, Porch could also build on Serviz’s existing mobile app, which allows homeowners to lock in a price ahead of booking a job and to pay within the app.

Porch once offered a consumer mobile app, which was released in December 2014, but the app has since been abandoned by the company. Users instead use the Porch website to connect with professionals who can help them mount a TV, clean their carpet, fix small appliances, move into a new home, and more.

Ehrlichman declined to say what kind of cut Porch takes from the revenue it brings in, saying it “varies dramatically” based on the market and the model. Professionals can pay Porch marketing fees per lead, per call, per appointment, or on a revenue-sharing basis.

Ehrlichman said Porch will retain all of Serviz’s full-time employees, which number about 50. He declined to disclose how many people Porch currently employs.

The acquisition also brings new data to Porch on the types of services demanded in certain zip codes.

“Data is always a part of everything we do,” Ehrlichman said. “As we continue to get smarter and smarter about what people are doing with their homes, we’ll be able to provide a better and better service to them.”

Porch boasts partnerships with major brick-and-mortar home improvement stores, such as Walmart and Lowe’s, which direct shoppers to Porch’s website to find an experienced home services pro. Lowe’s numbers among some of Porch’s initial investors, which also include Valor Equity Partners, Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” host Ty Pennington. In 2015, the company was valued at around $500 million, according to the New York Times.

Kate Talerico is a staff writer at Street Fight.

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