Builders on-line assistant

• US 7,076,455 B1
• Filed: 01/14/2000
• Issued: 07/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ePt Records, LLC (IPValuation Partners, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Bruce A.. Fogelson
• Inventors: Fogelson, Bruce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): McAllister, Steven B.
• Application Number:
  US09/483,579
• Time in Patent Office: 2,370 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/14.73
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/08 Construction

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for servicing a customer of a contractor by a third-party website provider. The method includes the steps of providing a first website by the third-party website provider for use by the customer in selecting product options for product offerings provided by the contractor, receiving from the customer through the first website a selection of an option of the options provided by the contractor and collecting a commission based upon the received selection made by the customer.

Claims

1. A method of servicing a customer of a building contractor by a third-party website provider, such method comprising the steps of:

the customer and building contractor entering into a contract to build or rehabilitate real estate for the customer at a building site of the real estate, said entered contract forming a pre-existing contract;

providing a first website by the third-party website provider, said first website being password protected by a password of the customer, said website providing product, service or installation service options of product, service or installation service offerings available from or through the building contractor for installation at the building site under the pre-existing contract to build or rehabilitate the real estate for the customer;

providing a second website associated with the first website by the third-party website provider for entry of information related to the customer by the contractor, said second website being password protected by a password of the contractor;

receiving from the customer through the first website a selection of an option of the options provided by the building contractor associated with the pre-existing contract; and

collecting a fee or commission based upon the received selection made by the customer.

2. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 wherein the step of collecting the fee or commission based upon the selection made by the customer further comprises collecting the fee or commission from the contractor.

3. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 wherein the step of providing the first website further comprises providing a webpage associated with a feature offered by the contractor.

4. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 3 wherein the step of providing the webpage further comprises providing a plurality of options on the webpage relating to the feature for selection of the option by the customer.

5. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 4 further comprising providing a plurality of webpages each related to a feature provided by the contractor to the customer.

6. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 3 further comprising providing a hyperlink to a manufacturer on the webpage for selection by the customer.

7. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 6 wherein the step of providing the hyperlink further comprises collecting a commission from the manufacturer for any sale based upon activation of the hyperlink.

8. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 wherein the entered information further comprises features.

9. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 wherein the step of providing the second website further comprises allowing access to the second website by a party designated by the customer.

10. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 wherein the entered information further comprises an identifier of the customer.

11. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 further comprising password protecting the second website.

12. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 further comprising displaying an advertisement of a vendor on the first website.

13. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 12 further comprising collecting a commission from the vendor for displaying the advertisement.

14. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 12 further comprising allowing the contractor to customize the first website for the contractor'"'"'s product offerings.

15. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 12 further comprising providing upselling options to the customer based upon the option selected by the customer.

16. The method of servicing the customer of the building contractor as in claim 1 further comprising providing a third website for access by a general public for general information on features, where such features further comprise products or fixtures to be installed on-site, building contractor services, labor or installation provided by the building contractor through the third party website.

17. The method of servicing the customer of the building contractor as in claim 1 further comprising exchanging product, service, labor, installation or design files between the builder and a third party contracting designer to create the provided product options that are offered to the customer through the first website.

18. The method of servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 1 further comprising exchanging product files among the builder, suppliers and manufactures using a common file format.

34. The method of servicing the customer as in claim 1 wherein the product, service or installation service offerings further comprise fixtures to be delivered for installation or installed within the building or renovation of the real estate by the building contractor for the customer.

19. An apparatus for servicing a customer of a building contractor by a third-party website provider, such apparatus comprising:

“

contract”

a contract between the customer and the building contractor to build or rehabilitate real estate for the customer at a building site of the real estate, said contract forming a pre-existing agreement;

means for providing a first website by the third-party website provider, said first website being password protected by a password of the customer, said website providing product, service or installation service options of product, service or installation service offerings available from the building contractor for installation into a product space at the building site under the pre-existing contract to build or rehabilitate the real estate between the building contractor and the customer;

means for providing a second website associated with the first website by the third-party website provider for entry of information related to the customer by the contractor, said second website being password protected by a password of the contractor;

means for receiving from the customer through the first website a selection of an option of the options provided by the building contractor associated with the pre-existing contract;

means for collecting a commission based upon the received selection made by the customers; and

20. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 19 wherein the means for collecting the commission based upon the selection made by the customer further comprises means for collecting the commission from the contractor.

21. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 19 wherein the means for providing the first website further comprises means for providing a webpage associated with a feature offered by the contractor.

22. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 21 wherein the means for providing the webpage further comprises means for providing a plurality of options on the webpage relating to the feature for selection of the option by the customer.

23. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 22 further comprising means for providing a plurality of webpages each related to a feature provided by the contractor to the customer.

24. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 21 further comprising means for providing a hyperlink to a manufacturer on the webpage for selection by the customer.

25. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 24 wherein the means for providing the hyperlink further comprises means for collecting a commission from the manufacturer for any sale based upon activation of the hyperlink.

26. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 19 wherein the entered information further comprises features.

27. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 19 wherein the entered information further comprises an identifier of the customer.

28. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 19 further comprising means for password protecting the second website.

29. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 19 further comprising means for providing a third website for access by a general public for general information on features provided by the contractor.

35. The apparatus for servicing the customer as in claim 19 wherein the product, service or installation service offerings further comprise fixtures to be installed within the building or renovation of the real estate by the building contractor for the customer.

30. An apparatus for servicing a customer of a building contractor by a third-party website provider, such apparatus comprising:

of a contract between the customer and the building contractor to build or rehabilitate real estate for the customer at a building site of the real estate, said contract forming a pre-existing contract;

a first website provided by the third-party website provider, said first website being password protected by a password of the customer, said website providing product, service or installation service options of product, service or installation service offerings available from the building contractor for installation at the building site into the building or rehabilitation of the real estate by the building contractor for the customer under the pre-existing contract;

a second website associated with the first website provided by the third-party website provider for entry of information related to the customer by the contractor, said second website being password protected by a password of the contractor;

a selection processor receiving from the customer through the first website a selection of an option of the options provided by the building contractor associated with the pre-existing contract;

a commission processor adapted to collect a commission based upon the received selection made by the customer; and

a contract term change processor for altering the terms of the preexisting contract based on said product, sevice, or installation options selected by the customer.

31. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 30 wherein the first website further comprises a webpage adapted to provide a feature offered by the contractor.

32. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 31 further comprising a plurality of webpages adapted to provide a plurality of features provided by the contractor to the customer.

33. The apparatus for servicing the customer of the contractor as in claim 30 further comprising a hyperlink to a manufacturer on the webpage for selection by the customer.

36. The apparatus for servicing the customer as in claim 30 wherein the product, service or installation service offerings further comprise fixtures to be installed within the building or renovation of the real estate by the building contractor for the customer.

37. The apparatus for servicing the customer as in claim 30 further comprising providing a virtual showroom that displays product offerings to the customer by the third-party website provider.