"Something scary just appeared in my house — who do I call, right now?"

Pain point

Homeowner finds a potentially structural/urgent problem (5ft void under garage slab) and has no path to fast expert triage. Town public works and the water authority both deflected; everyone was closed by the time it was discovered.

Signal

Strongest in the set. 1.6K upvotes; top comment 804 ("You seem way less concerned about this than I would be"), OP's reply about authorities not caring at 347. Direct unmet-need quote: *"Gonna try to get them tomorrow. Everyone closed by the time I saw the hole"* — flagged as explicit gap. Recurs thematically in the flood post (#2) and "who's responsible — me or the city?" posts (#4, #6), i.e. 4 of 8 threads are "I don't know who to call."

Opportunity

- *"Is This Bad?" triage app*: photo + address → AI first-pass severity rating (cosmetic / monitor / call someone this week / call tonight), plus the correct call list (soils engineer, structural PE, municipal water, insurer) with after-hours numbers. Monetize via paid escalation to a live engineer video call ($49–99) and contractor referral fees. **Quick to build** as an MVP (vision model + rules + local trade directory); hard part is liability language and building the after-hours expert bench. - *Marketplace layer*: on-demand 20-minute video consult with licensed structural/soils engineers, 7am–11pm. **Medium difficulty** — supply-side recruiting is the bottleneck, but high willingness to pay at a moment of panic.

Evidence

• Is it normal to have a 5ft+ deep hole under your garage
• What is this, and who should fix it?
• near-duplicate