Handy Howie's: Role of Information Systems (IS) in Growing Company

"Not again! There has to be a better way!" Howard angrily bellowed as he scanned his phone.

Howard just received a text message from his father that the handyman (or handyperson) that was scheduled to complete some work canceled for the fourth time in two weeks. It was May of 2019 and Howard Clark was growing frustrated with the difficulty of what he thought should be a simple task - find someone to install safety bathroom "grab bars", that was already purchased at Home Depot, in his aging parents' apartment. Howard took a few photos of his father positioning the grab bars in various locations so that he could easily illustrate to prospective handypeople exactly what was needed:

Not only was it so difficult to find a handyperson to call him back, when Howard did receive the rare returned call, but he would also hear the same, old excuses: "Small jobs like that are just not worth our time", "We are licensed professionals, drilling some metal bars into a wall is not something that we really do", or "We are just too busy with major projects right now".

Howard's parents needed these grab bars installed for their own safety and each day that the work was not complete represented a risk that his parents could fall or injure themselves.

"Maybe you should just do it yourself...." Howard's partner joked at dinner that evening. As a newly-minted CPA-designated accountant, Howard had many skills in life, but not any skills that involved the use of a power tool. Howard needed someone to install these grab bars immediately, and, in fact, Howard and his partner could use the services of a handyperson themselves - the list of odd jobs to be completed around their home was lengthy and ever-growing. "Weekends are for fun!" they would tell themselves. "Fixing that shelf, painting the garage door, power washing the deck (or any other job from their extensive list) can wait until later!"

Howard had tried everything in vain to find a trusted handyperson to install those grab bars for his parents: Google, Kijiji, and other online job boards, referrals, even the "Yellow Pages" from the old, dusty phone book that sat in the corner of their kitchen.

Howard was giving up hope and he was growing concerned about his parents' safety without the proper bathroom aids. He was out for an evening jog when he saw one of his neighbors taking a break from cutting his lawn. "Hey Howard!", yelled Francis from across the street, "You may already be aware, but I wanted to let you know that I noticed a few shingles on the road in front of your house this morning and I can see a small bare spot on your roof."

Howard did not know.

"I will add it to the list!" Howard barked back at Francis. "I'm sorry, Francis", Howard quickly continued, "I am drowning in home improvements and it is so hard to find anybody. My parents need these grab bars installed in their bathroom, we have a "to do" list that is a mile long, and I am just so....." Francis, sensing Howard's frustration, cut him off. "Howard, what if I had my nephew fix that patch on the roof for you? He's a professional roofer and he is coming for dinner right after work tonight - he is always looking for odd jobs to earn some extra cash."

That evening, after dinner, Howard invited Francis, their nephew, Gabriel, and Gabriel's partner, Jill, over to his unkempt backyard for a glass of lemonade. "Let me have a look at that roof first!" Gabby offered. Gabby climbed onto the roof with a handful of matching shingles from his truck and within 30 minutes had patched the bare spot.

"Where have you all been my whole life?!" Howard joked.

"Contractors prefer 'big' jobs, like renovating a kitchen or a basement, or, in my case, re-shingling an entire roof. Fixing a doorknob is not going to pay the bills - logistically, it's difficult and expensive for them to schedule such a small job" Gabby explained, "Me, on the other hand, if I can earn some extra money by stopping off at a customer's home for an hour before or after work or on the weekend, really anytime that is my own time, that is very easy for me."

"Don't get me wrong" Jill, an experienced painter, continued, "the extra money is nice, but I like some diversity in my work - typically, I'm at the same job site for a few weeks in a row, so it's welcoming to have a change of scenery, like being outside painting a garage door!"

"For me," Francis added, "I am just bored. I am retired and have fixed everything in my house three times over! I am retired, but not tired! Tell me more about those grab bars at your parents' place. I must have a ceramic drill bit around somewhere."

Coincidentally, Howard's neighbor's daughter, Henrietta, overhearing the conversation, chimed in from over the fence, "My employer focuses on commercial landscaping, but I see such a need for simple lawncare and backyard maintenance....like yours!"

Howard's partner's words echoed in his head "Maybe you should just do it yourself.....".

At that moment, Howard, in fact, decided to take matters into his own hands - no, he did not learn a new trade, but rather, that evening, over lemonade, Handy Howie's was born.

Handy Howie's launched on Canada Day 2019, offering handyperson services in the areas of roofing repairs, painting, residential landscaping, and odd jobs. As Howard was only able to dedicate 10 hours per week to this new venture, he contracted a third-party call answer service to take phone calls and schedule appointments.

A potential customer would see an advertisement for Handy Howie's in the newspaper or lawn sign (or hear about the company by word-of-mouth) and call the 1-800 number. The call would be directed to the third-party call service which would act as the reception for Handy Howie's. The call service would book the customer's quotation request or job order for roofing repair (Gabby), painting (Jill), landscaping (Henrietta), or odd jobs (Francis) and record the appointment in the schedule of either Gabby, Jill, Henrietta, or Francis respectively. Gabby, Jill, Henrietta, and Francis would provide the call center with their available hours (for Gabby, Jill, and Henrietta, it was typically 7 am to 9 am or after 5 pm during the week and also most weekends and for Francis, it was typically anytime between 7 am and 4 pm, three days per week). The third-party call service would email the work schedule to Gabby, Jill, and Francis respectively the week ahead, with some modifications during the week (if there were any cancellations or last-minute jobs filled).

The contractor (Gabby, Jill, Henrietta, or Francis) would arrive at the job site at the agreed-upon date and time to either (1) provide a quotation for the requested work or (2) complete the agreed-upon work that was previously quoted.

If the appointment was for a quotation, the contractor would talk with the customer, review the job site, and learn more about the requested work. The contractor would then call Howard, and typically leave a voicemail message, with the details of the work, including the cost of any necessary supplies (typically purchased from Home Depot), and the estimated number of hours. Howard would listen to the voicemail, prepare the quote, and email the quote to the customer (typically in the evenings, after work) - the labor charge would be quoted at $80 per hour and the cost of the supplies would be marked up by 40%.

If the appointment was to complete the job order, the contractor would arrive, greet the customer, and start the work. Once the work was complete, the contractor would let Howard know the job was complete and Howard would mail out an invoice to the customer (typically the invoice would have the same details as the quote). Payment terms were 10 days and Handy Howie's accepted only cheques. Once payment was received, Howard would determine how much was owed to the contractor - (1) the amount billed to the customer for labor less a 20% commission for Handy Howie and (2) the amount billed to the customer for supplies, but the contractor and Handy Howie's would evenly split the 40% mark-up.

For the six months ending December 31, 2019, Handy Howie's earned $52,800 before tax and had a lengthy waiting list of 9 weeks for future work. Seeing the great potential of his start-up and feeling as though he had proven the concept, Howard wanted to play a more hands-on role and dedicate more time to Handy Howie's. On New Year's Eve, before the clock midnight rings in 2020, Howard decided to quit his job to work at Handy Howie's full-time, likely the most significant decision in his professional life to date.

As it turned out, Howard's timing in this significant career decision was not the best. COVID-19 forced the world into a lockdown by March 2020 and when everything shut down, Handy Howie's as a business shut down as well.

Howard spent some time during the pandemic working on the business and planning, but he felt paralyzed by not knowing what the "new normal" would be after the lockdown. He registered the domain HandyHowies.com, started to build the company website, and designed a company brand and logo. He stayed in touch with Gabby, Jill, Henrietta, and Francis and the five of them waited patiently for the world to re-open.

As the world re-opened and things returned to normal, business EXPLODED for Handy Howie's. Not only were most of the jobs that were canceled in March of 2020 re-booked, but the company had also now accumulated a waitlist of 24 weeks of jobs! It was clear that there was a significant amount of pent-up demand for home maintenance and repair services.

Instead of being thrilled, however, Howard was worried. Gabby, Jill, Henrietta, and Francis were stressed out and Howard knew it. While his four contractors were very reliable, skillful, and hardworking, cracks were starting to show in the business model.

His contractors started working at Handy Howie's to earn some extra money. They were now scheduled to work between 30-40 hours per week, for some of them that were in addition to their full-time jobs. They were all burnt out and looking to cut back their time commitment to Handy Howie's.

Related to the above, not wanting to leave Howard without a source of contracting work, his contractors had recommended many other individuals who were interested in joining the team. Without a proper process and feeling the pressure to fulfill customer demand, Howard would often hire these recommended "contractors" and then quickly find out that they were not qualified, causing many customer service issues and the need to send someone to fix the work.

Customers would make specific requests that Howard could not possibly entertain given that he was relying on the master Excel spreadsheet, which was still saved to the desktop of his laptop. Customers would request the "highest rated" contractor in a certain category, perhaps mention that they had pets or many stairs so that the contractor was aware and could be accommodated, or request that the contractor bring a specific tool (ie. Ceramic drill bit). These requests were often "lost in the shuffle" causing much frustration for customers, contractors, and Howard alike.

Howard could simply not handle the growth from an administrative perspective. He would often spend 12 hours per day writing quotes and playing phone tag with customers for many reasons - with regards to prospective work, work in progress, completed work, and following up on payment. He knew that there were efficiencies to be realized with technology, but Howard did not know where to start.

Many vital tasks such as bookkeeping, invoicing, collecting and depositing cheques, payments to contractors and remittances to the government were being neglected, frustrating all parties involved and necessitating many, many phone calls to sort things out.

Customers were complaining about long wait times when they called to request a quote or book service, and many customers inquired about why, in 2021, they still had to make an old-fashioned phone call. Howard knew they were losing business from those who were frustrated with waiting on hold or who preferred to not call, but rather other forms of contact.

There is much-emerging competition in this space - either new entrants and/or existing entrants who have found ways to integrate IT into their business processes.

Since Howard found himself spending most of his time on operations and administration, he did not have any bandwidth to dedicate himself to strategy and ensuring solid management of the company, including MIS.

Howard knows he needs help - he is invested in this business and knows the potential of Handy Howie's, but he is swamped, does not have the time, and has many questions!

Summarize the company's current competitive situation using Michael Porter's five forces model. Specifically, analyze the industry and competitive marketplace as well as identify the best competitive strategy to pursue given the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Identify two potential competitors for this company, provide their website addresses, and discuss how Handy Howie's is currently differentiated from these companies