Live. The assistant runs the roster on WhatsApp today.
Chores, tasks and house events, handled
Homerun runs the chore roster for a sharehouse. It rotates the jobs so the same person is not always on bins, reminds whoever is up that week, and keeps the house dates in one place: bin night, inspections and bill due dates.
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At a glance
- What it is
- A chore roster and reminder system for Australian sharehouses, run by a chat assistant.
- Status
- Live. The assistant answers on WhatsApp.
- What it covers
- Chores, one off house tasks, bin night, rental inspections and bill due dates.
- Who it is for
- Sharehouses, share flats and group houses, usually two to six housemates.
- What it costs
- Free during private beta. AU$0.
- Where it works
- Australia.
- What you need to start
- WhatsApp and a phone number. There is no app to download and no account to create before your first message.
Rosters do not fail because people are lazy
They fail because somebody has to police them. The roster itself is fine. It is accurate for about a fortnight, then someone misses a week, and from there the whole thing depends on one housemate being willing to bring it up.
That housemate gets resented for it, which is a strange outcome for the person doing the most. The job worth removing is not the cleaning. It is the asking.
How it works
Tell Homerun the jobs and who lives there
Bins, bathroom, kitchen, whatever your house actually does. You type it in plain words on WhatsApp.
It rotates and reminds
Homerun assigns each job and reminds whoever is up that week, so the roster keeps itself current instead of going stale on a whiteboard.
Nobody has to be the one who asks
The reminder comes from the assistant rather than from a housemate, which is the whole point of it.
What Homerun keeps track of
The chore roster
Jobs rotate between housemates so the same person is not permanently on bins.
Weekly reminders
Homerun reminds whoever is up that week, in the chat, without any housemate having to raise it.
Bin night
Homerun posts which bin goes out and when, every week.
Rental inspections
Inspection dates sit with the rest of the house calendar, with a reminder before one lands.
One off house tasks
The jobs that are not on a roster at all, so the thing nobody wants to book still gets booked.
Bill due dates
When bills fall due, alongside the chores, so the house has one set of dates rather than four.
A whiteboard roster, and a roster that runs itself
| The job | A whiteboard or a shared note | With Homerun |
|---|---|---|
| Setting the roster up | One housemate writes it out | Tell the assistant the jobs and who lives there |
| Keeping it current | It stops being accurate in week two | Jobs rotate automatically |
| Reminding whoever is up | A housemate has to raise it | The assistant posts the reminder |
| Bin night | Whoever remembers, remembers | Posted to the house every week |
| Inspections and one off jobs | An email nobody opened | Kept with the rest of the house dates |
The house dates, in one place
Bills, dates and the house summary
Screens from the Homerun app. Names and figures are examples.
From houses whose roster kept dying
The whiteboard roster lasted about a fortnight, same as every share house I have lived in. This one rotates itself.
Bec T.Sharehouse of 4, Annandale I had become the bin police and I hated it. The reminder comes from the app now, so I am just a housemate again.
Ollie G.Sharehouse of 5, Paddington Turns out nobody was being lazy. We all just thought it was someone else's week.
Zara I.Sharehouse of 3, Clifton Hill
Common questions
How do you divide chores in a sharehouse?
Agree the list of jobs, rotate them so nobody is stuck with the same one, and put the reminding on something other than a housemate. Homerun does the rotating and the reminding, which is the part that usually breaks.
Does Homerun remind us, or only hold the list?
It reminds. Homerun posts a reminder to whoever is up that week, so nobody in the house has to be the one who raises it.
Does it handle bin night?
Yes. Homerun posts which bin goes out and when, every week.
What else does it track?
One off house tasks, rental inspection dates and bill due dates, alongside the chore roster.
How much does it cost?
Homerun is free during private beta, at AU$0. There is no charge for the roster or the reminders.
Do I need to download an app?
No. You set the roster up by messaging the assistant. There is a Homerun app as well, where the house calendar and documents live.
What happens if someone misses their turn?
The job stays on the roster and Homerun reminds again, so it does not quietly fall to whichever housemate notices first.
Nobody has to be the house parent.
Message the assistant on WhatsApp, tell it the jobs and who lives there, and let it run the roster from there.
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