Chic Spotlight: HOMEstretch
Thinking of putting your home on the market? This locally based business wants to be a one-stop-shop to help prepare your home to sell.
Cincy Chic: What is HOMEstretch?
Derek Shewmon, Co-Founder of HOMEstretch: HOMEstretch is a “one-stop” service that helps families prepare their homes for sale. We specialize in home clearouts, interior and exterior painting, landscape clean-up, and deep cleaning. Our goal is to make the home preparation process as simple and streamlined as possible by providing one point of contact and an exceptional and trusted service offering.
Cincy Chic: What’s the inspiration behind it?
Shewmon: My business partner, Nick, and I worked together at Everything But The House. We were inspired by EBTH’s mission of helping homeowners deal with difficult situations such as the death of a loved one or downsizing of a home. Additionally, we witnessed how stressful the process of moving can be on families. EBTH does a great job helping families monetize valuable items on its marketplace, but Nick and I noticed that homeowners had bigger needs with the necessary “home prep” services such as removing unneeded items, painting, and cleaning. We felt that the home service industry was very fragmented and had a bad reputation in terms of customer service, communication, and punctuality. We created HOMEstretch to fill that need of a “one-stop”, premium service that could help any homeowner going through a life transition.
Cincy Chic: Who’s behind it?
Shewmon: Nick Lobert and Derek Shewmon are the founders. Nick’s family has been in real estate for decades, and he has a true love and knowledge for the space. Nick has a sales background and spent a portion of his career helping real estate and technology companies grow. Derek has an entrepreneurial background, having founded and sold a software company and is an adjunct professor at UC teaching entrepreneurship to undergraduate and graduate students. Derek and Nick went to grade school together at Sycamore and rekindled their friendship when their careers crossed paths at EBTH.
Cincy Chic: What services do you offer clients?
Shewmon: Most essential cosmetic improvements on a home. We specialize in clearing-out unneeded items of a home for individuals who are downsizing or dealing with the loss of a loved one. In addition to home clear-outs, we offer interior and exterior painting, carpet installation, landscape clean-up, pressure washing, window cleaning, and deep cleaning.
Cincy Chic: What makes HOMEstretch unique?
Shewmon: Our value proposition is that we are a “one-stop” service to get a home ready to list. Instead of having to call, schedule, and deal with 4 or 5 vendors, you make one call to HOMEstretch. We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional customer service and communication to all of our clients. We understand that moving is stressful, and it’s our goal to minimize the stress for our clients as much as possible.
Cincy Chic: Is there anything new on the horizon?
Shewmon: HOMEstretch has been in business for 1.5 years. Our focus has been on delivering a quality and consistent service experience to all of our customers. Our next phase in the upcoming year is continuing to get our brand and service out to new homeowners and real estate partners in Cincinnati with the potential to expand into new cities.
Cincy Chic: Where can readers go to learn more and follow along?
Shewmon: Readers are more than welcome to visit our website www.home-stretch.com or see us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and NextDoor. If you’d like to give us a call, you can reach us at 513-518-5919.
