Idea 456 of 500. Cluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
Independent building inspection, so that a buyer abroad knows what was actually built
The mechanism, from the book
The one thing. A country where people do not expect the rules to hold cannot build anything else, and proof can be manufactured by private people, one published record at a time.
Every idea in cluster 24 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Partner with a qualified civil engineer or surveyor you trust to inspect one house under construction for a family abroad, photographing the foundations, the roof and the wiring against the plan. Offer the first report free to a Sri Lankan family through a community group abroad, and ask what they would pay for one at every stage. The proof is a family that orders the next inspection.
- Who pays first
- A Sri Lankan family abroad paying for a house at home that they cannot visit, who pays for inspections so the money they send is built as promised.
- What leaves today
- Money sent home to build is spent on work nobody checks; independent inspection is the proof that lets Sri Lankans abroad invest more at home.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. SixThe Fridge by the Road
The fridge by the road: proof that the rules hold - Ch. FifteenThe Odds
13 of 101 countries made it, and what Singapore's prosecution cost
More from cluster 24
- 451A verified-review platform for Sri Lankan businesses where the reviewer is real and the review cannot be bought
- 452Escrow services for transactions between strangers, so that the money moves when the goods do
- 453Published price lists at the tourist sites and in the taxis, with a complaints line that answers
- 454A landlord and tenant rating service, since neither can currently check the other
- 455Contractor registries with completed jobs photographed and clients named
- 457Court-record and land-registry search services for the buyer abroad
Idea 456 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.