So we are all under lockdown due to the corona-virus. Schools are closed, and since my wife teaches 2nd grade the Robertson house is full.
I’ve been wanting to create a floor plan of my house for a while now. I got my hands on the Leica DISTO E7100i laser measuring device to make it easier for me. But with the kids in the house, I had another idea.
Every since FBS announced “FlōPlan” I’ve been intrigued. FBS hasn’t officially launched FlōPlan, but I knew it is licensing the software behind “FlōPlan” from a company based in Finland called CubiCasa. So my actual test was on the free official CubiCasa app in the App Store.
I asked my oldest son, Cole, who is 15 years old, to download the app on his iPhone. I told him the app was a way to create floor plans. I didn’t give him any other directions other than to try and use the app to make a floor plan of the upstairs of our house. He headed upstairs.
Less than a minute later he came down the stairs and said he had a problem. The app asked him to put a name in for his company, and he tried “Test company” but that was already taken. I told him to call it something else, he did, it worked and he went back upstairs.
About 4 minutes later he came downstairs again. I wondered what problem he might have encountered this time. He went to the kitchen and poured himself something to drink. I asked him what the problem was this time? He said, “Nothing, I’m done.” “Done, done?” I asked. That was quick, I thought, maybe a little over 3 minutes? Wow.
So I asked to see the floor plan, the app said it was “in progress”. Their site says the floor plan will be sent to you within 24 hours. It took about 7 hours and we received our floor plan, which you can see above.
All I can say is this shit is super legit! Color me impressed. My whole house would most likely take less than 10 minutes. I checked the dimensions in my son’s room (with my fancy Leica digital laser measuring device) and it was only off by 2 inches.
Side note: FBS doesn’t think the dimensions calculated by FlōPlan should be used as official square-footage, more as a representation of the “flow” of the home.
Adding floor plans to listings is a no-brainer. Consumers would LOOOOOVE them. And I think the MLS is in the perfect position to capture this data. As I said in my first blog post about it.
“On the surface this could seem like just another partnership with a third party software app. But under the surface, the real innovation is about MLS providers capturing a new digital asset. An asset that could be used as leverage against existing portals and make MLS and brokerages more relevant to consumers again.
FBS introduces FlōPlan, a super easy way to make floorpans, but that’s just the beginning.
And what do I mean by “leverage”? Any contract negotiations come up with anyone regarding MLS data, the MLS can negotiate (new and old agreements) new rates and terms based on the inclusion of floorpans.”
The only way MLS providers can get this type of leverage is to have a large inventory of homes where the floor plan is captured. It’s a classic “chicken or egg” scenario. The key to capturing this data would be ease of use and maybe some sort of incentive. After this test, I’m convinced that either the seller themselves, the agent, or even their kids could capture this information without any real effort, and that’s key.
Cock-a-doodle-do
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