You are nine hundred miles away.

Someone has to actually stand in front of the house.

OnTheDub connects remote investors with local contractors for one thing done properly: a standardized exterior property check, backed by location, photographs and a fixed checklist. You approve the report before anyone gets paid.

The problem with hiring someone to look

“I drove by, everything looks fine.”

That sentence is worth nothing. You cannot tell whether they went, when they went, or what they actually looked at. And when you sell the house two years later and the insurer asks what condition it was in, you have a text message.

A platform that only introduces you to a contractor has not solved this. The workflow has to be the product.

What a check has to produce

Five gates
01

GPS check-in

Recorded when the contractor arrives, with the time and the coordinates. If the phone cannot get a fix, the entry is marked manual — never quietly passed off as verified.

02

Photo of the exterior

At least one, taken on the spot. The app will not accept a submission without it.

03

An eight-point checklist

The same questions every visit, so two checks on the same house six months apart are actually comparable.

04

A one-line verdict

Good, needs attention, or significant concern. The first thing you read, and the thing you act on.

05

GPS check-out, then locked

Checking out seals the report. The contractor cannot edit it afterwards, and you decide whether to approve it.

None of these are suggestions. The submit button stays disabled until all five exist, and the server refuses the submission independently of what the browser claims.

The exterior checklist

8 points
01Is the property still standing and accessible?
02Is there visible exterior damage?
03Are windows and doors visibly intact?
04Does the lawn / landscaping appear maintained?
05Is there excessive trash or debris?
06Are there signs the property may be vacant?
07Are there any obvious safety concerns?
08Are there visible unauthorized vehicles or structures?

Answer anything the wrong way and the contractor is required to write down what they saw. A flagged box with no explanation is not a finished check.

Investors

Order a check, read the report, approve the work.

Add your properties once. Post a check whenever you want eyes on one, compare the contractors who ask for it, and pay only after you have read what came back.

How it works

Contractors

Clear scope, fixed price, no arguing about what “done” means.

Every job is the same five steps on your phone. Follow them and the work is documented well enough that there is nothing to dispute.

For contractors

Stop taking someone’s word for it.