Fellow former tradesman and perennial DIY-er here, I think this is dead on.
There is a fundamental mismatch between the economics of startups and the economics of trades. Startups and technology work best when you can achieve scale quickly and without friction by using the same solution repeatably. Software is ideal for this, it scales (nearly) infinitely and can continuously deliver the same result. Work in the physical world frequently requires site-specific solutions. It's more akin to consulting than engineering.
It's not surprising that startups in the space came in overly optimistic and imploded quickly. I think most tech people have a bias against the trades and think it's easily understood grunt work. The reality is that it requires deep subject matter expertise, familiarity with local markets, sites, and housing stock, and a healthy amount of on-the-fly creativity.
There is a fundamental mismatch between the economics of startups and the economics of trades. Startups and technology work best when you can achieve scale quickly and without friction by using the same solution repeatably. Software is ideal for this, it scales (nearly) infinitely and can continuously deliver the same result. Work in the physical world frequently requires site-specific solutions. It's more akin to consulting than engineering.
It's not surprising that startups in the space came in overly optimistic and imploded quickly. I think most tech people have a bias against the trades and think it's easily understood grunt work. The reality is that it requires deep subject matter expertise, familiarity with local markets, sites, and housing stock, and a healthy amount of on-the-fly creativity.