Bazinga! – an exclamation commonly used by The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper – is also the name of the app that is changing condo life with the push of a button.
Whether it’s a low-rise or high-rise condominium or apartment, bazinga! creates small communities within large structures. Founder and CEO Joseph Nakhla said the app allows residents to meet people.
“We set out to build a company that really allows buildings, and communities within buildings, to thrive,” said Nakhla. “One of the biggest challenges when living in a community, whether it’s a rental building or a condo building, is it’s a concrete jungle and there are few opportunities for people to connect there.”
Among other features, users can pay their rent, report maintenance issues, find neighbors to carpool with and reserve building amenities.
Nakhla said the idea behind bazinga! started when a friend of his was frustrated with his condo living situation. Nakhla had issues with his own landlord and knew there had to be a way to improve condo life. It was then that the seed for bazinga! was planted.
According to Nakhla, one of the challenges when creating the app was designing it to be user-friendly for people of all ages.
“We’ve been in the design process for a couple of years now,” said Nakhla. “We pushed the envelope technology-wise, but we also recognized our customers will vary. You do have some people that are older aged moving in and some people that are younger.”
The company currently works with a number of developers in Ontario and British Columbia including Onni Group, Matas Homes, Aquilini Development and Construction, Bosa Properties, BlueSky Properties and Edenshaw Homes.
At an exclusive event for Edenshaw’s Chaz Yorkville development held in mid-May, President and CEO of Edenshaw, David McComb, talked about bazinga! and how he is looking forward to residents using the app.
“In addition to being a fun word to say, bazinga! will change how residents live in a condominium community,” said McComb.
“We’re the very first condominium in Toronto confirmed to take on bazinga! and it’s going to be a tremendous value adding feature for everyone.”
Vice President at Baker Real Estate, Harley Nakelsky, said he is impressed with what bazinga! is capable of, especially for investors.
“Some of the things I find are amazing for an investor are if they are renting out their suite, they can use their bazinga! to charge their renters rent,” said Nakelsky. “So they can actually collect money using bazinga!, they can pay their condo fees using bazinga!, and not have to worry about their cheques back and forth to the property managers.”
Nakhla said the entire team is very humbled by the amount of positive feedback the app has been getting from industry professionals.
“The development community has been incredibly supportive of this application,” said Nakhla. “In many ways it really genuinely allows them to make strong statements, show strong intent, build smart buildings and build a neighborhood.”
Members of the development team spent hours shadowing different people who work in condominiums to find out what parts of their day-to-day life could be improved by using an app.
“I say the number one mistake technology companies make is they believe that if they build great technology, everybody should use it,” said Nakhla.
“The truth of the matter is unless it can really make an effect on people’s lives and the way they actually do things everyday, it will really not get used no matter how beautiful it is.”
