When Brad Fekula was travelling abroad in 2015, he stumbled upon an online platform in Amsterdam that helped people find quotes for local autobody shops. By sending in a picture of their vehicle damage, individuals could quickly shop around for the best prices and choose an option nearby. Inspired to bring the idea home and turn it into something bigger, Fekula used his marketing and sales background and teamed up with tech expert Dwayne Melcher to create FIX IT UP.
“I thought that something like that would be great in Canada,” Fekula shares. “So we applied it to cars, plumbing, insurance, contracting, accounting, lawyers, pet services—everything under the sun! It’s an easier way to get multiple quotes from multiple companies.”
FIX IT UP is an online one-stop-shop for people looking for service quotes. The platform is convenient and easy for users, and they can post projects without the need to sign up. “Users can jump in, post their project with images, and search for what they’re looking for,” Fekula explains. “We’re eliminating the need to blindly ask, ‘does anyone know a good plumber?’ on your Facebook profile.” Instead, users save the time it would take to call different shops by sharing their FIX IT UP link with their favourite plumber, sharing it on social media, or letting local businesses bid on it directly on the site.
On the service side, there are currently around 800 Saskatchewan local businesses on the FIX IT UP platform, and it’s free to be on. Customers can post an unlimited number of projects and receive estimates. Once a bid had been successful, there is the opportunity for the business to contact the customer. That is when the business will pay a FIX IT UP fee and the customers contact information will be provided to the business. “We have over 220 categories with big and small businesses, but we always need more,” Fekula says. “Having multiple businesses in each category helps in quoting properly.” Professionals build out the questions in each category, making it a streamlined process for both users and businesses.
When a project gets posted, shops are notified by email or SMS text, and they can bid on it instantly or save it. There is no cost to bid, and it’s a fair system for businesses selected for a project. Businesses can turn on whenever they want to be available, making emergency services a built-in option on the platform.
Fekula put the software to test when he bought a new home and needed new blinds. “I posted my project looking for different types of blinds for seventeen windows,” he shares. In the first five hours, Fekula got eight bids. He chose one at a fair price point that included installation, where the business measured each window and finished at the exact estimate. “I can only imagine calling different businesses and describing every window that needed treatments,” Fekula adds.
Along with future plans to build an Apple and Android app, the FIX IT UP team wants to grow across the prairies and Western Canada and eventually serve all of Canada. They are aiming to build project links that work across the country, where projects are sent to businesses bidding on jobs.
Fekula and Melcher started the platform in Regina and have been thrilled by all of the support they’ve received to build FIX IT UP. “Local businesses, big organizations, and crown corporations are always looking to add their local touch, so we’ve received lots of help,” Fekula shares. They are currently a Cultivator GROW company and also a MIST eligible company with Innovation Saskatchewan. “People and business owners have been great and patient, and I’m excited for more partnerships and how we can grow!”
Founders: Brad Fekula, Dwayne Melcher
Incorporation Date: 2016
Employees: 6
