Is it more or less focus to build two products instead of one?

"As a blue collar tradesperson, I literally only trust word of mouth."

In just 24 hours, this became the top reddit vote on a thread I posted asking why there's no product that reduces the mental load of looking after your home.

It's not a new idea to me – it's actually the exact reason I started working on this problem. There are people who have lived in my village for decades, who already have a list of all the best tradespeople, what if I could get their list?

When someone asks for recommendations on a local WhatsApp or Facebook group, why are we retyping people's details over and over again instead of just sharing a link? Why can't I see and save all their recommendations at once?

But the idea quickly swelled, into managing jobs, into a library that explains what is important and why, into functions that automate rebooking annual jobs like the boiler service.

And so: when I saw this on reddit, it struck me that this has to be the way in.

It's the differentiator vs platforms like Checkatrade. It aligns the incentives better than any marketplace, which tradespeople hate to use and the best and busiest don't bother with because they're already fully booked.

I think it's truly what most people would want to use if they could.

That led to me redrafting the landing page to focus on this.

And that let to me reconsidering my whole premise for HouseHeld.

What if... there was one service that was simple and pure and just let people do this thing they want to do, in a way markedly better than they can so far.

Tradeslist and Tradesbook were taken. So puns it is!

Tradespeople?

TradesPurple: the trusted list of local tradespeople, shared by your neighbours.

It's free, community-driven, deliberately simple. No apps to download, no commissions, no need to chase, just sensible built in features to quickly get a quote. Not re-inventing word of mouth, reinforcing it.

So what about HouseHeld?

Well that becomes the power tool for organised homes. It brings light project management and automation, a home history of work you've done, a full jobs library with tips and experience – all built on top of your TradesPurple list.

If that sounds good to you, it's an upgrade!

Is this a bad bad move? Maybe, we'll see.

But one way or another it feels like a step toward what people want, mixed with what I've learned could be possible in my research so far.

Time to find out if focus must be solitary, or can be complementary instead.