|
Home care made simple MAINTENANCE I Richmond builder creates software to help keep everything shipshape Vancouver Sun March 5, 2005
A Richmond entrepreneur who bills himself as the "home doctor" has come up with a product to take the guesswork out of home maintenance. Timo Kellokoski of Premso Systems says his unique software-based home-maintenance organizing system is the answer. "Homeowners can save money in home repair because they have a better knowledge of their homes and can catch problems in the early stages before they need big repairs," says Kellokoski, a builder and renovator. He's devoted the past two years developing the system. The tracking/educational system consists of a binder and software program that helps teach homeowners what they need to know to do proper, preventative home maintenance. "Think of a car with good maintenance records compared to one that doesn't have them. Which car would you want to buy? This can provide the same benefit to homeowners who want to sell their homes," says Kellokoski. The easy-to-follow software program requires users to input information about their home and keep their records updated. This can be challenging for many busy people, but Kellokoski noted the software's extensive file for personal addresses would be a motivation for homeowners to refer regularly to the program to keep it current. Topics to be entered include basic information about the home such as square feet, financial information such as yearly mortgage rates, insurance information and a personal property inventory. This particular feature allows a homeowner to enter items of value room by room and the software automatically calculates their total worth. He said this feature, which allows images of the items, is of particular value for insurance purposes if the items were ever lost in a fire or stolen. Another topic in the software is a "material list" that reminds homeowners of home details, such as what paint colour they used in a room, or whether their fridge has an extended warranty. Other categories include maintenance tracking that is divided into fall and spring with information on what to check, common problems if it is not done and a place for the homeowner to note when they completed the work. He says the product makes an ideal gift as a house-warming present and noted many of his clients have been realtors. Realtor Kenny Au is one customer. "I want to help people get organized about maintenance and they really feel good about that," Au says in a press release. "Women especially like the product because they know how difficult it is to keep track of maintenance over the long term. But the Premso Maintenizer is like having a live-in expert, who not only keeps track of all details but teaches homeowners what they need to know to do proper, preventative maintenance." Kellokoski says while maintenance software has been around for some time for businesses, this is the first easy-to-use software for consumers. ''They can't believe nobody thought of this before," he says. The product is currently only available through the company's website at www.premso.com. It costs $60 for the binder, $100 for the software or $120 for both. © The Vancouver Sun 2005 |
