Half Moon Bay’s Plunjr has an innovative way of addressing plumbing issues amid the coronavirus pandemic and could potentially change the industry’s business model.

The recently launched mobile app uses live video calls to assist customers as they fix their own plumbing problems, rather than sending a plumber to homes. The app gives people immediate access to union technicians and minimizes the chance of coronavirus exposure, with a lower cost.

“This is going to do good things in communities and change how people do plumbing forever,” said co-founder Aaron Gianni.

Plunjr’s prices are low compared to traditional plumbers, which average around $500 for an in-person visit to the Bay Area, said Plunjr co-founder Andrew Turner.

Plunjr’s video calls average about $45, based on $3 per minute for a 15-minute calls. Until shelter-in-place orders are lifted, the app is dropping its price to a penny per minute. However, customers must also pay for parts, which can be shipped or picked up at any of the country’s 1,500 Ferguson Plumbing Supply stores.

After 18 months of coding and building the app, Plunjr launched a beta test in December. The company has more than 200 customers and the founders believe usage will rise as people try more do-it-yourself projects during the pandemic.

The company isn’t profitable, but Gianni hopes to be profitable by next year and would need to average about 100 calls per day to reach the goal. He wants to average 500 calls per day by 2022 and 1,000 per day by 2023.

Plunjr hopes to build out a network of partners across the country and is in talks with Ben Franklin Plumbing in Novato.

“I know that sounds like a lot, but Larratt Bros., does 50 calls a week with two plumbers,” Gianni said. “If we can build a network of plumbing companies using this, adding a tool to their bucket, we can expand across the nation.”

Gianni, 38, has been a plumber since 2001 and bought Bayview’s Larratt Bros. Plumbing in 2014. Gianni and Turner haven’t taken any outside funding and invested about $500,000 of their own money in the past three years.

“That’s a lot of money for two guys kind of scraping around,” Gianni said. “I don’t have 500 grand sitting around. I’ve given up a second home and other investments. That 500 grand probably could have done me a whole lot better in the stock market.”

Gianni’s parents owned and operated a restaurant supply shop and a debris-removing company during his childhood.

Gianni drives to work at 4 am every day with the radio silenced and a cup of coffee in his hand. The idea for Plunjr came to him during one of those silent drives when he was working as a plumber in 2017.

He called Turner, who had a background in technology sales, including working about 11 years for AT&T and working for Cloud-based videoconferencing service BlueJeans Network. The two got together at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, and in front of the fire pit, Gianni presented the idea on a cocktail napkin.

“There’s really something here,” Turner thought to himself.

Even with a mortgage to pay and three young daughters on his mind, Turner decided to go to work for Gianni.

About a year-and-a-half ago, Gianni got a phone call at about 4 pm on a Friday. A woman had a problem with her faucet and needed immediate help at her Palo Alto home in advance of a party scheduled for the next day.

Knowing he couldn’t get from San Francisco to Palo Alto to diagnose the problem, buy the parts and complete the repair before the close of business, Gianni asked the woman to do a FaceTime call. He talked her through the repair.

“After I finished that call, I was like: ‘I’ve got to get on this,'” he said.

A customer downloads the app, creates a profile, and chooses either to talk to a technician immediately or to schedule a video call. The plumber tells the customer where to aim the camera phone, so the problem can be diagnosed, and coaching can begin.

Just by having the customer hold a pencil as reference, Gianni said he can tell the difference between one-quarter, three-eighths and five-eighths supply lines.

The technician talks the customer through the repair or explains the needed parts. Then, a follow-up video call may be scheduled to complete the project.

If the customer still can’t fix the problem, Plunjr dispatches a plumber. But most calls don’t get that far, according to the company.

Kathy Winslow, a retired hospital administrator from Boston, moved to the Bay Area about 10 years ago. In January, her dishwasher was gushing water, so she used the app.

Gianni talked to Winslow’s husband through pulling the dishwasher away from the wall and reconnecting a hose as she directed the camera phone. Within 30 minutes, the problem was solved.

“That’s one of the beauties of it,” Winslow said. “You call, you get an answer, and you’re helped immediately.”

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron

The post Plunjr brings plumbing fixes to video chat throughout coronavirus appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

It’s been some time since AN last checked in on the status of the sinking Millennium Tower in San Francisco, and unfortunately, it’s still plagued with issues. In 2016 it was discovered that the Handel Architects-designed luxury condo tower is sinking and tilting west and that a $100 million foundation stabilization scheme proposed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger would be needed to prop the building up.

The 645-foot-tall, 58-story tower was completed in 2009 and has been tilting and sinking ever since it opened. The issue stems from the building’s foundations—it sits on a 10-foot-thick concrete pad that it itself is supported by nearly 1,000 reinforced concrete piles driven 90 feet into soft clay. This isn’t an uncommon construction method in the Bay Area (and sections of downtown San Francisco are sinking at about three-quarters of an inch every year) and the Millennium Tower design team still maintains that the building’s issues stem from soil compaction caused by the construction of the adjacent Salesforce Tower.

The Perimeter Pile Upgrade includes the drilling of 52 new steel-and-concrete piles along two elevations. (Courtesy Millennium Towers Homeowners Association)

Whatever the cause, the stabilization plan was intended to course correct the tower, which has tilted 26 inches west at the top since its opening. Simpson Gumpertz & Heger called for 52 new concrete-and-steel piles to be drilled 250 feet into the bedrock below, which would alleviate compressive force on the northern corner of the site and stop both the tilt and sinking.

Unfortunately, while the plan was approved and enacted, work had to be halted last August as it was discovered that the sinking had intensified even with stabilization underway. Although construction started up again and is still ongoing, monitoring data accrued from last year has revealed that the building sank an additional 2 inches and tilted another 10 inches during that period.

In a public hearing on January 6, City Supervisor Aaron Peskin gave an update to the public about the project’s status. At that same meeting, project engineer Ron Hamburger admitted that the team didn’t provide any guidance to its contractor, Shimmick Construction, on how to install the piles or mitigate the impacts of drilling.

With or without work underway at the site, Hamburger said, the tower continues to sink half-an-inch every year and tilt 3 inches. If the tower reaches a tilt of 40 inches from its base position, as it would in only about 5 years at the current rate, the building’s elevators and plumbing could cease operation. (Residents have already complained about odors from the voids formed between the building’s structure and curtain wall, cracks in the basement, and possible seismic stability given the shift.)

Hamburger maintained that finishing the stabilization was the best way to prevent the tower from reaching that terminus, and work is ongoing at the time of writing.

The post San Francisco’s Millennium Tower remains to be sinking regardless of fixes appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Half Moon Bay’s Plunjr provides an innovative way to solve installation problems amid the coronavirus pandemic and could potentially change the industry’s business model.

The recently launched mobile app uses live video calling to help customers troubleshoot their own installation problems instead of sending a plumber home. The app gives people instant access to union technicians and minimizes the chance of coronavirus exposure at a lower cost.

This will make good things in the communities and forever change the way people do plumbing,” said co-founder Aaron Gianni.

Plunjr’s prices are low compared to traditional plumbers, who cost an average of $ 500 for a personal visit to the Bay Area, said Andrew Turner, co-founder of Plunjr.

Plunjr’s video calls cost an average of $ 45 based on $ 3 per minute for 15 minute calls. Until the orders from Shelter-in-Place are canceled, the app lowers its price to one cent per minute. However, customers will also have to pay for parts that can be shipped or picked up at any of the 1,500 Ferguson Plumbing Supply Stores in the country.

After 18 months of coding and building the app, Plunjr started a beta test in December. The company has more than 200 customers and the founders believe that usage will increase as people try more home improvement projects during the pandemic.

The company is not profitable, but Gianni hopes to be profitable by next year and would have to make an average of 100 calls a day to meet the goal. He wants to make an average of 500 calls per day by 2022 and 1,000 calls per day by 2023.

Plunjr hopes to build a network of partners across the country and is in talks with Ben Franklin Plumbing in Novato.

“I know that sounds like a lot, but Larratt Bros. makes 50 calls a week with two plumbers,” said Gianni. “If we can use it to build a network of plumbing companies and put a tool in their bucket, we can expand nationwide.”

Gianni, 38, has been a plumber since 2001 and bought Larratt Bros. Plumbing from Bayview in 2014. Gianni and Turner have not drawn on borrowed funds in the past three years and have invested approximately $ 500,000 of their own money.

“That’s a lot of money for two guys scratching around,” said Gianni. “I haven’t sat around 500 grand. I’ve given up a second home and other investments. Those 500 giants could probably have made me a lot better on the stock market. “

Gianni’s parents owned and operated a restaurant supply store and a rubble removal company when he was a child.

Gianni drives to work every day at 4 a.m. with the radio muted and a cup of coffee in hand. The idea for Plunjr came to him during one of those silent journeys when he was working as a plumber in 2017.

He called Turner, who had a background in technology sales including approximately 11 years for AT&T and for the cloud-based video conferencing service BlueJeans Network. The two met at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and in front of the fireplace Gianni presented the idea on a cocktail napkin.

“There really is something here,” Turner thought to himself.

Despite a mortgage and three young daughters, Turner decided to work for Gianni.

About a year and a half ago, Gianni received a call around 4 p.m. on a Friday. One woman had a problem with her tap and needed immediate help at her Palo Alto home before a party was scheduled for the next day.

Gianni knew he couldn’t get to Palo Alto from San Francisco to diagnose the problem, buy the parts, and complete the repair before business hours. He asked the woman to make a FaceTime call. He talked her through the repair.

“After I finished that call, I said, ‘I have to take care of this,'” he said.

A customer downloads the app, creates a profile, and can either speak to a technician right away or schedule a video call. The plumber tells the client where to point the camera phone so the problem can be diagnosed and coaching can begin.

Only by holding a pencil as a reference can Gianni tell the difference between the supply lines of a quarter, three eighths and five eighths.

The technician guides the customer through the repair or explains the parts required. A follow-up video call can then be scheduled to complete the project.

If the customer still can’t fix the problem, Plunjr sends a plumber. But most calls don’t get that far, according to the company.

Kathy Winslow, a retired hospital administrator from Boston, moved to the Bay Area about 10 years ago. In January her dishwasher was bubbling water so she used the app.

Gianni approached Winslow’s husband by pulling the dishwasher away from the wall and reconnecting a hose while she operated the camera phone. The problem was solved within 30 minutes.

“That’s one of the beauties,” said Winslow. “You call, you get an answer and you will be helped immediately.”

Rusty Simmons is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron

The post Plunjr brings plumbing fixes to video chat throughout coronavirus appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.