Ideas are cheap and execution is everything. Here is a list of my business ideas.
Contractor Consultants
Connect knowledgable skilled workers as consultants. Navigating a home project is very challenging, especially when you don't have any expertise in the area. What happens is a hit and miss approach to hiring a contractor and results that can miss the mark.
This service would allow skilled people to get paid as consultants on a project. They would be a completely independent voice that would help provide high level guidance about what to do and how to approach a problem. You could probably charge $50/hour for this service, since the cost of home projects is high, so getting expert advice would be worthwhile and could potentially help save thousands.
We could find individuals retiring from skilled trades or individuals that are temporarily unable to do the typical work because of injury or sickness.
How would a typical interaction go?
A user would have a project that they want to know more about. They would take pictures of the project and provide as much of a description as possible. An expert would review possible questions and choose ones that interest them. They would schedule a time for the consultation that fits both schedules. Once in a session, you would have a set amount of time to discuss based on how much the customers want to pay or expect to pay.
One benefit is that most contractors don't feel like they're getting paid to chat with their customer and they might be concerned that it will create more work for them and make their job harder. So most contractors try to have the minimum amount of conversations, because they're ultimately not being paid to chat. People hiring contractors sense the same reluctance to chat and inform, and are maybe unwilling to push the conversation. With this service people would be paid just to chat, so everyone's incentives are aligned.
What makes this better?
One of the key things will be ratings that help great consultants get the recognition for their work and charge even more for it. It builds credibility and would help people find experts in particular areas. It would be possible to match individuals seeking expertise with their region, project type and possibly price points i.e. the quality level of the project.
Challenges
Individuals that are skilled with construction might not be as comfortable on a video chat as they are on a job site. Recruiting talented experts and getting them set up with quality audio and video might be challenging. One key piece to this is that most people have mobile phones that are able to make video calls.