How often have you wished for a reliable handyman or designer who would answer every question about your home? How many trips to the hardware store or showroom could that save?
Fountain aims to be the practical solution to that need.
Using Fountain is simple: open the app, enter your question, and within five minutes or less an expert will be available to connect by video chat. If you prefer, you can also communicate by text or voice call. The app makes it easy to capture photos during the conversation, annotate them, and send them to the expert for clearer guidance.
Picture these scenarios:
“My faucet is leaking.” Instantly you’re connected with a plumber.
“What color scheme would work in this room?” In minutes you can be live on video with an interior designer who can view the space.
“Is $3,000 a fair price to tile my bathroom?” A flooring specialist will provide an objective assessment of costs without trying to sell you a particular contractor.
I tested Fountain with founder Aaron Patzer (also the founder of Mint), who demonstrated the video chat and image messaging features. Even on an older iPhone 4s the experience was smooth: video was clear, and audio, images, and short video clips streamed without hiccups.
Fountain opened its beta on Saturday at 9 a.m. EST. During the initial rollout it was available free of charge to the first 300 visitors from Charles & Hudson.
After the beta, Fountain planned a pay-per-question model at $5 per question. For that fee you buy a block of expert time: roughly 15 minutes for gardening and plumbing consultations, 12 minutes for appliance repair, and 10 minutes for interior design. These durations may be updated in the app. If you need additional time, it can be purchased in $5 increments for simplicity.
Fountain is part of a growing wave of apps leveraging natural language processing and real-time communication, but with experienced founders and solid funding behind it, it’s a service worth watching.
Launching in the home improvement category makes strategic sense for Fountain, but the team envisions expanding into a broader Q&A marketplace. If the initial launch succeeds, future categories could include professional fields such as legal and medical advice—delivered with appropriate safeguards and credential checks.
At the time of writing, Fountain is available only on iOS.