I am not a handy guy.

At all. Not in any way, shape, or form.

A few months ago, my wife was out of town for work. So, I decided to surprise her by building her a small 4x4 garden in our backyard.

I started by spending about three hours of researching online, watching youtube videos, figuring out the most economic and practical way to go about this project.

I then spent about two hours wandering through home depot trying to find the materials I needed. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I kept thinking of things I realized I didn’t have. I needed a shovel, a water hose, a drill. The list continued to get bigger and bigger. The bill, naturally, also went up and up and up.

This would have been a relatively inexpensive project had I not needed to buy so many basic materials.

With that said, as a not handy guy, I probably could do without owning a drill. It’s useful to me maybe two or three times a year. Otherwise it just collects dust.

I wish I had met Kristian Pflieger sooner.

One day, Kristian had a large branch sitting on his roof. No big deal, but he wanted to get it down. In order to get it off he needed a ladder. The issue was that he didn’t have one. Sixteen foot extension ladders are relatively expensive pieces of equipment. Especially for a project, such as Kristian’s, that would take about five minutes.

“The problem was in this day and age is that no one really knows their neighbors,” Kristian told me. “And I wasn’t about to go knock on everyone’s door ask for one.” So he was able to find a friend who lived forty minutes away to bring him a ladder. Not the most ideal solution.

This got Kristian thinking- “There’s got to be a better way.”

There's an app for that, right?

He looked for an app. Nope.

So the idea of One Garage Over was born. One Garage Over acts as a platform to allow neighbors to rent larger project items that people use on a not-so-regular basis. With this platform, owners of such equipment can make a some extra cash. Conversely, the users can save money and space by not having random tools collecting dust in their garage.

Kristian elaborated further.

“There’s always that one guy that has everything. He’s the guy that has the shop in the garage. The biggest issue for him is that people while borrow items and then he won’t see it again for six months, or ever. One Garage Over allows this kind of person to build profiles of what tools they have, and keep track of who rents them. If the renter doesn’t bring it back, they get charged for it. This helps creates accountability and helps him track where his tools went.”

Owner’s can set their own rates. DIY-ers can rejoice because they don’t have to spend a thousand dollars on equipment. Additionally, If you aren’t able to locate the tool you need in your neighborhood, you can go out further to search for it, via geofencing technology.

Sure, you can go to Home Depot. However, it is expensive and they have an extremely limited number of tools to rent.

“I want One Garage Over to bridge the gap between neighbors, and ultimately bring people together in their neighborhoods. On top of that, It has the potential to reduce consumption and have a positive impact on environment.”

Kristian was able to find a niche platform that was not yet being serviced and act on it. His business is backed with a philanthropic mentality while servicing unmet needs.

If you have a DIY project on your horizon but don’t have a shop in your garage, you’ll want to keep an eye on One Garage Over. If you’re anything like me, you’re going to need them.

Head over to One Garage Over’s website and support this great local tech startup.

One Garage Over | Local Tech Startup