Fixzy Assist: The Edinburgh firm that could change the way the nation carries out home repairs

An Edinburgh-based company has developed a unique remote assistance service that could change the way the nation carries out home repairs.

The latest creation from the crafty Capital company aims to revolutionise home repairs and play a key role in the fight to reduce the spread of Covid.

Fixzy Assist allows repair squads and engineers to view problems and carry out the required fixes direct from a householder’s phone or tablet screen – without having to visit the property using a combination of in-built tools through Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality technology.

Through the service, a home emergency can be instantly identified eliminating an initial assessment call-out, visiting the trades store and returning later to carry out the repair.

Fixzy Assist CEO Paul Greaves invested in excess of £1 million over three-years to develop the service,

Fixzy Assist CEO Paul Greaves invested over £1 million over three-years to develop the service and tested the technology with his sister business. Throughout the trials the company’s first time fix rate rose from 36% to 84%, while vehicle journeys were cut by more than 40%.

The service works by a tradesperson sending a connection request via text or email to a customers to start a live video session.

The customer can use their phone to show the fault to the technician, who in turn can guide customers using a pen or hand overlay on how to resolve the issue. The technician can then visually check the problem has been resolved or provide further assistance.

Speaking on the future of the service Paul said: “The Fixzy Assist remote assistance service will forever alter the way we carry out home repairs and emergencies, connecting customers to experts on any device, anytime and anywhere.

“In an instant we will be able to remove the biggest bug-bear that people experience in a home emergency – having to wait for a tradesman to arrive to fix the problem.

“We’ve created a platform that saves time and ultimately money for companies within the maintenance and repair sector.

“We are currently undergoing a trial period with a number of housing associations where the initial response has been overwhelmingly successful.”

As well as reduce the risk of spreading Covid, if the repair can’t be fixed immediately, the required work and necessary parts can be assessed and ordered at this stage – meaning the tradesman need only make one visit to complete the repair.