Welcome, and thank you.
If you're reading this, you want to sign up to be part of a small number of people I'm trusting to break Stead in interesting ways. Here's how to be useful, what to ignore, and how to send feedback that actually moves things forward.
Request beta access
What you're looking at.
Stead is a UK home admin app. Pick a mode (homeowner, renter, or landlord) when you sign in, give it your postcode, and it builds a profile of your property using real EPC data from the gov.uk register.
From there, the app helps you keep track of maintenance, store certificates and warranties, track energy bills, build smart home automations, find your way through emergency situations, and (if you're moving) work through a relocation checklist. There's also a smart diagnostics chat that knows your property's specifics so the answers are tailored, not generic.
It's built for the UK, not retrofitted from a US app. Real EPC data, real emergency numbers, real legal context for England and Wales. It's also the work of one person in evenings and weekends, so please don't mistake "small" for "cheap effort". Things will be rough in places.
How to access the beta.
1. Fill the request form
Open the Request beta access panel at the top of this page. Name, email, which mode fits you best, a few words about your home. Less than a minute end to end.
You'll get a confirmation email immediately so you know it landed (subject line "Thanks for asking to join Stead"). When a slot opens up I'll send a follow up with your private app link. Closed beta means access is invite only for now while the group stays small enough to act on feedback.
2. Sign in or create an account
Once you have the private link, open it in any modern browser. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge all work. Mobile browsers work too, though native apps are coming soon.
Two options on the auth screen: sign in with email and password, or sign in with Google. The Google option is faster for testing because it skips the email confirmation step. Either is fine.
3. Run through onboarding
You'll be asked to pick a mode (homeowner, renter, or landlord), give the property a name, and enter a postcode. Use a real postcode for the property you currently live in or one you know well, the EPC lookup needs it to find the certificate.
Try addresses that have real EPCs. Most UK homes built or sold in the last 15 years will have one. If your address can't be found, that's useful feedback.
4. Land on the dashboard
The dashboard is the home screen. You'll see a health strip up top (overdue tasks, unread tips, unprotected documents), a row of stats, and a grid of feature cards. Tap any card to dive into that area.
The app is designed to feel calm. If anywhere feels frantic or overwhelming, that's a flag worth raising.
Suggested test scenarios.
Don't feel obliged to do all of these. Even one or two would be enormously useful. Pick what matches your interest.
Onboarding
Did the postcode work? Did your address come up? Did the EPC lookup pull real data? Was it obvious what to do at each step? Did anything confuse you?
Maintenance
Add a custom task. Mark a preset as done. Try the filter views. Untick a task to see if it goes back to active. Anything feel slow or unclear?
Documents
Upload a real PDF or image. Try setting an expiry date. Preview the file. Download it. Delete it. Look for any cases where the file doesn't open or download correctly.
Energy
Add a couple of months of bill data (gas, electric, water, broadband). Look at the overview tab and the trend. Try the tailored insights. Does the advice feel relevant to your house?
Diagnostics
Ask it about a real problem in your home. Test follow up questions in the same chat. Does the answer feel like it knows your property, or generic? Anything obviously wrong or unsafe?
Property report
Open the EPC report screen. Does the data match what you know about your home? Is anything missing? Try the "view official certificate" link.
Smart home
Tap your provider tile. Try the suggested automation prompts. Try a free text custom one. Does the response feel useful, or fluffy?
Emergency & contacts
Add a contact (your gas engineer, your plumber). Try one of the emergency scenarios. The numbers shown should be the right UK ones for your scenario.
Moving home
Open the checklist, tick a few items. Run an area search on a real postcode you know. Try the viewing questions and the tailored ones. Does the area research feel accurate?
Known limitations.
Don't bother flagging these. They're known and on the list. But if any of them are critical for you, say so on the feedback form so they get prioritised.
No native iOS or Android apps yet
Stead is currently web only. The codebase is built with Expo, so native builds are a deployment step rather than a rebuild, but they're not live yet. iOS via TestFlight and Android via Play Store internal testing are next on the list.
No push notifications yet
The app stores due dates and surfaces overdue items on the dashboard, but it can't push notify you yet. Coming with native apps.
No camera document scanning
You can upload PDFs and images from your existing files, but there's no "take a photo of this paper certificate" flow yet. Coming soon.
EPC lookup may fail for newer or unusual properties
The gov.uk EPC register has gaps. Brand new builds, properties that haven't been sold or rented in the last 10 years, and some flats with shared addresses can return no results. Manual entry is available as a fallback but isn't perfect yet.
Smart diagnostics is rate limited
20 requests per user per 24 hours. This is a cost cap, not a feature gate. If you hit it, the app will tell you and ask you to try again tomorrow.
Theme toggle may flash on slow connections
If the app loads slowly enough, you might see a brief flash of the wrong theme before it switches. Annoying but cosmetic.
Some legal content is England and Wales only
Tenant rights, landlord obligations, and notice frameworks are written for English and Welsh law. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different regimes. Those will get their own content streams later, but for now those bits are rough or missing.
No payment yet
Stripe isn't live, so during closed beta everything is unlocked for free. When public beta opens and Pro launches, beta testers will get an early bird offer as a thank you.
Ready to apply? Scroll back up to the form, or pick another page from the nav.