Home enchancment is means, means up. Amid pandemic-prompted stay-at-home orders, individuals are getting sick of wanting on the standard backsplash and dream of remodeling their basements into second dwelling rooms.
The pattern has been a boon for PowerPay: The King of Prussia fintech firm, which manages a digital lending platform for house enchancment financing, has seen super development up to now few months.
PowerPay helps shoppers entry lending by means of a nationwide community of 5,000 contractors. COO and cofounder David Haas mentioned a 600% development in enterprise has led the corporate to speedy growth. Earlier than the pandemic, PowerPay had 10 workers; it now has 110.
The corporate was based in 2017 and formally launched in December 2019 after designing its software program and structuring its group. At launch, Haas mentioned, PowerPay solely projected to do roughly $200 million in loans. However as 2020 nears its finish, the corporate has secured $1 billion in loans. Loans vary from $15,000 to $100,000 per buyer with no penalties for prepayment.
Haas and his firm discovered a distinct segment earlier this yr as soon as the credit score and banking markets shifted to mirror the recession and pandemic. An inflow of individuals sought methods to finance house enchancment tasks and wanted one other option to do it.
David Haas. (Courtesy picture)
“The credit markets and banking markets tightened up,” he mentioned. “Since our model was designed in a unique way where partners and bankers weren’t affected by pandemic, we were one of the few companies left for funding.”
With a purpose to meet a rising demand, PowerPay invested in know-how to raised facilitate loan quantity and pace to shopper. Underwriting and data verification was additionally prioritized to make sure safety in opposition to fraud. Hiring native expertise from the Philadelphia space mattered, too.
Haas mentioned that having a service that may assist shoppers vet potential contractors is a bonus throughout a pandemic and its compression of time and resolution making. With extra individuals relegated to their properties, he’s seen that many individuals are noticing beauty adjustments they might make like kitchen reworking or leisure additions.
For one, Haas has seen a big enhance in shopper requests for swimming pools, as public swimming pools throughout America confronted restricted entry on account of COVID-19 throughout the summer season. PowerPay is presently one of many largest pool finance corporations within the nation, he mentioned.
As discussions proceed a couple of COVID-19 vaccine and folks proceed to navigate the pandemic, Haas believes that serving to individuals finance enhancements to their house as simply as potential has an added significance.
“We think that at the end of the day, we feel like we’re doing something good for people,” he mentioned. “It’s all about giving the consumer the fair deal. We feel like we’re helping people during the pandemic to get things they need and want.”
PowerPay is hiring for a handful of roles proper now, together with a Ruby on Rails developer and regional account supervisor.
Michael Butler is a 2020-2021 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Mission that pairs younger journalists with native newsrooms. This place is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. -30-
