Why Home Depot Won't Build Fixable
Q&A with Dan Spinosa and Drew Stanley from Fixable on building a managed marketplace for DIYers
The real reason Home Depot is not building this is that its core machine is designed to move huge volumes of products and contractor jobs, not to run thousands of small expert conversations that require matching, vetting, and ongoing handholding. Its current play is stores, fulfillment, trade credit, and licensed installation through third parties, while Fixable is built around virtual guidance first and can plug retail into that workflow later.
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Home Depot already serves do it for me demand through installation services, where it acts as the general contractor and manages licensed third party installers. That model works for big ticket categories like flooring, cabinets, HVAC, and windows, but it brings compliance, permitting, inspection, and liability overhead that makes lightweight virtual help a poor organizational fit.
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The company is spending its energy on the pro supply chain instead. In fiscal 2024 it acquired SRS to deepen service to professional contractors, adding branch locations, truck delivery, sales reps, trade credit, and order management for complex jobsite purchases. That is a much larger and more legible expansion path for a retailer of Home Depot's scale.
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Fixable sits in the gap between content and labor marketplaces. YouTube gives generic advice, while Angi, Handy, and Thumbtack mainly help hire someone to show up. Fixable is trying to be the live expert layer that helps a homeowner send photos, jump on video, get a parts list, and finish the job without booking a truck roll.
The next step in this market is likely partnership, not head on competition. Big retailers and commerce sites can keep owning product selection, fulfillment, and contractor relationships, while virtual expert networks own diagnosis, guidance, and confidence at the moment a project gets stuck. If that layer proves it can drive more completed projects and product baskets, incumbents will distribute it instead of inventing it from scratch.