Building Trust in Renovation: How Block is Transforming the Contractor-Homeowner Relationship

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

16 Mar 2025

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In an industry where miscommunication and mistrust often define the relationship between homeowners and contractors, Block Renovation is creating a paradigm shift. Led by CEO Julie Kheyfets, the company has developed a platform that brings order to what she describes as the “out in the wild” renovation experience, providing clarity, alignment, and most importantly—trust.

The renovation market represents a massive opportunity. As Kheyfets points out, “Americans spend half a trillion dollars a year doing major renovations on their homes.” Yet despite this scale, the experience remains fundamentally broken for both sides of the marketplace.

From Fragmentation to Trust

What inspired Kheyfets to join Block, and eventually become its CEO, was recognizing the fundamental disconnect in the renovation ecosystem.

“What brought me in really was the scale of the problem,” Kheyfets explains. “I was just so taken aback to see such a massive industry where people still had such a challenging experience, and that is both homeowners and general contractors.”

For homeowners, the journey often begins with years of uncertainty—determining which spaces to prioritize, navigating design decisions, establishing reasonable budgets, and the daunting task of finding reliable professionals. Without the financial means to hire an architect (which Kheyfets notes can cost upwards of $20,000), most homeowners find themselves adrift in what she calls “a sea of generic information.”

The result is a fraught experience where homeowners feel perpetually disadvantaged. “The homeowner feels like, well, I don’t really know what the right thing to do is. I don’t know if the contractor is doing the right thing. I don’t know if they’re charging me the right amount or not,” she explains.

Meanwhile, contractors face their own set of challenges. As small business owners, they’re constantly pulled in different directions—from closing new business and managing existing projects to handling the inevitable emergencies that arise on job sites and making payroll.

The lead generation problem is particularly acute. “You’re paying for leads, you’re doing the work to vet that lead… You’re putting in all that legwork for a fraction of those leads to actually pan out,” Kheyfets says. “There’s got to be a better way, both for homeowners and for contractors.”

A Technological Bridge

Block’s solution lies in creating a marketplace that addresses both sides of this equation—helping homeowners become educated clients while connecting contractors with qualified leads who have clear expectations.

At the core of Block’s platform is what Kheyfets calls their “planning capabilities,” which essentially democratize services traditionally provided by architects and designers. The company leverages AI to compress what would normally be a weeks or months-long process into mere seconds.

“What architects do is show you stimuli, and they say, this one or this one, and you’re like, ‘Oh, not that one, that one’s interesting. Show me more like that,'” Kheyfets explains. “And they say, ‘Okay, let me show you more like this.’ So that’s what our AI tools do.”

The process begins when homeowners upload photos of their space or describe it in detail. The platform then generates renders that take into account both existing conditions and the homeowner’s goals. Through an iterative process, homeowners refine their vision until they have a clear design concept, scope of work, and realistic budget.

This technological approach required considerable innovation. As Kheyfets notes, “It was something that we had to invent, because there wasn’t a super natural analog that you could just automate.”

The team had to balance numerous considerations: the various psychological journeys homeowners embark on, technological limitations of AI generation, and the need to provide sufficient personalization while maintaining momentum.

“Through a lot of user research, what we uncovered was there is this constant feeling in renovating, a feeling of being stuck, you don’t know which direction is forward,” Kheyfets says. Block’s solution creates “forward momentum in a way that’s accessible but not scary.”

The Contractor Perspective

For contractors, the value proposition is equally compelling. Block delivers what every contractor dreams of: educated clients with realistic expectations.

“What they appreciate about working with us is the homeowners who come to them via Block actually have their design, their scope, their budget at hand,” Kheyfets explains. This stands in stark contrast to dealing with “tire kickers” who are just gathering estimates or homeowners who expect contractors to make design decisions they’re not equipped for.

Perhaps most significantly, Block addresses one of contractors’ biggest pain points: getting paid. “What keeps me awake at night is that final payment,” contractors tell Kheyfets, worried that clients might withhold payment. “We take care of that. That’s on us. We take that risk.”

The result is a dramatic improvement in the renovation experience. “What we see on the other side is homeowners and contractors have a great time building together when that trust is created for them,” Kheyfets says. “I’m really excited that consistently, we can deliver an experience where people actually enjoy the build—that almost never happens.”

Expanding the Vision

Looking ahead, Kheyfets has ambitious plans for Block. The company will continue investing in their planning tools while methodically entering new markets.

“Renovation is a hyper-local business,” she notes, “so it’s not like we flip a switch and light up the whole country. We really get to know a market deeply before we go and onboard contractors there and bring out homeowners.” After launching in Chicago, Philadelphia, and southern Connecticut in the fall, Block plans to enter additional markets later this year.

As the company grows, its mission remains focused on creating what Kheyfets describes as “the single most trusted place to plan and hire for your renovation.” By solving the fundamental issue of trust in an industry where it has historically been lacking, Block is bringing much-needed structure and transparency to a process that has remained stubbornly resistant to innovation.

In a fragmented industry plagued by miscommunication and misaligned expectations, Block’s platform offers something genuinely revolutionary: a renovation experience that both homeowners and contractors can actually enjoy.