A Kentucky startup has built a smartphone application that walks families through a systematic home safety audit, aiming to bring professional-grade aging-in-place assessment to households that might not otherwise consult a specialist until after a fall or a medical discharge forces the conversation.
The tool, called Cocoon System, was developed by Logan Davis and his father Steve Davis after years of firsthand experience retrofitting homes for seniors who had left assisted living facilities and needed to return to residences that were not safely configured to receive them.
“People call us all the time from an assisted living facility and they’re going through traction, they’re going through the physical therapy and everything, and they can’t move home until they get that bathtub replaced with a shower,” Logan Davis told NewsChannel 5 Nashville.
A Room-by-Room Approach
The app guides users through a series of questions covering each area of the home. Among the factors assessed are doorway widths, door handle types, and the height of light switches from the floor — details that may appear cosmetic but can determine whether a person using a walker or wheelchair can move through a residence independently.
After completing the assessment, the tool generates a prioritized list of recommended modifications. It distinguishes between projects suitable for do-it-yourself completion and those that require a licensed contractor, and includes direct links to products that address each flagged issue.
Logan Davis described the intended use case in plain terms: “The idea is that somebody’s grandchild could go in for their grandparents, pull up an app and do an assessment on the home and help grandma and grandpa stay at home longer.”
A Housing Gap With Broad Stakes
The demand for such a tool reflects a widening mismatch between where older Americans want to live and what their homes are built to accommodate. Approximately 75 percent of adults aged 50 and older say they want to remain in their current homes as they age, according to AARP’s home and community preferences survey, published in December 2024. Yet Cocoon System estimates that only 6 percent of American homes are currently designed to meet the functional needs of older adults.
AARP’s research found that 43 percent of adults over 50 believe their current home would require modifications to be safe and accessible — a majority of the aging population that has identified the gap but has not yet acted on it.
The financial case for acting early is substantial. Senior living facilities now cost an average of approximately $4,500 per month, or roughly $54,000 annually, according to Cocoon System — expenses not typically covered by insurance. Targeted home modifications, phased over months or years, generally represent a fraction of that figure.
Team and Background
Cocoon System was founded in 2024 by Steve Davis, who serves as chairman and chief executive officer. The company’s leadership team deliberately bridges construction expertise with clinical knowledge.
Dr. Stephen Stockhausen, a doctor of physical therapy who holds an Executive Certificate in Home Modification from the University of Southern California, serves as chief operating officer. Logan Davis, who holds a Certification in Lean Ergonomics from the University of Kentucky College of Engineering, serves as chief strategy officer. Chief Revenue Officer Raymond Onan brings more than 40 years of construction leadership experience to the organization.
The company applies Lean manufacturing principles — a framework developed to eliminate process inefficiency — to its assessment methodology, with an emphasis on producing results the founders describe as fast, reliable, and actionable.
“We just wanted to knock those barriers down that kept people from living in their home for the rest of their life,” Davis said. “That’s our goal is to keep you at home for the rest of your life.”
The tool is available at cocoonsystem.com.
What Sets It Apart
Professional home assessments conducted by occupational therapists or certified aging-in-place specialists can cost several hundred dollars per visit and may require weeks of scheduling lead time. Cocoon System is designed to be used proactively, by any family member, before urgency drives the decision.
That timing distinction carries practical weight. Modifications completed proactively allow families to spread costs over time and make considered decisions about contractors and materials. Those undertaken in crisis mode — in the days following a fall or ahead of a hospital discharge — are typically more rushed, more expensive, and less likely to address the full scope of what a home needs.
Traditional assessment services also remain out of reach for a significant share of older households. Cocoon System’s app-based model lowers the barrier to entry for families who would benefit from a structured evaluation but who face cost, geography, or scheduling constraints that make an in-person professional assessment impractical.
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Why This Matters for Home Care
Tools like Cocoon System address what a home is missing — but for many aging adults, a point comes when modifications to the physical environment are not enough on their own. When mobility changes, repositioning needs, or fall risk reach a threshold that bathroom grab bars and wider doorways cannot safely manage, the sleeping environment often becomes the next critical variable. Purpose-built home hospital beds are designed to provide the adjustability, ultra-low height, and repositioning support that standard beds cannot offer — closing the gap between what home modification can achieve and what advancing care needs require. SonderCare’s lineup of home hospital beds is available at sondercare.com/beds/.
