In March this year, Karthik V, a city-based professional, was in a fix after the painters he hired to get his house redone prior to his wedding started charging him a lot more than expected. On seeing an advertisement in the newspaper, he decided to give one of the many home help apps that have been trending in the market a try. He hired a team of professionals who got the job done with much ease. “Their quality of service was way better than local handymen. Many professionals listed on these apps offer a warranty period for their services too,” says Karthik. He will soon be availing their services to get another apartment painted.
Karthik is among the many young urban 30-somethings who are changing the way Indian households have been run traditionally. They don’t need scout around for maids, servicemen, and electricians, and haggle for hourly wages. Help is now available just a swipe away. This is thanks to the many home help apps that provide an array of services at the click of a button.
Debadutta Upadhyaya, a working mother who was keen on solving the household dilemmas women like her face due to the lack of adequate, safe home services, co-founded Timesaverz in April. “The online home service segment has been one of the fastest growing verticals in the past few years. This is a need-based business segment slated to grow exponentially,” she says. Now operational in six other cities, the app offers services across 40 categories.
Services available
Currently, India has a 12 million urban online shopping population, who, on an annual basis, spend close to Rs. 15,000 on home-services management. Apps offer a slew of services that include civil engineering works, security, fire/security audits, advocate and legal services, and home/office automation. These portals also help you connect with qualified electricians, plumbers, cleaners, carpenters, pest control servicemen, home appliance repairmen, packers and movers, beauticians.
Major Prashant Rai, founder and CEO, OTJ247.com (formerly known as onetimejobs.com), says the home services segment holds great potential. The app, founded in September 2015, goes a step further and offers exclusive services such as private detectives, 24x7 professionals, and even late night/emergency repairs.
Market share and scope
Home improvement and construction is a huge market with an annual spending of more than $100 billion. This is one of the largest consumer industries in India and technology is enabling a more efficient marketplace, says Deepak Singhal who co-founded QYK 12 months ago when he realised people across cities struggling to find reliable servicemen. “Supply in this segment is highly fragmented and there is a dearth in quality, dependable service providers,” he says. In the last six months alone, QYK has catered to over 10,000 customers and is currently operating in Bangalore and Hyderabad. “Popular services include bathroom remodelling, villa construction, landscaping, hiring architects and interior designers,” he adds.
“A lot has changed since we started three years ago,” says Prashant Chaudhary, Co-founder Mr. Right, an app operational in 14 cities. “The online marketplace started off with services like cab-hailing, food-ordering, but now, hyper local services are gaining popularity. People are welcoming these services and smart phone penetration and internet connectivity has played a significant role in widening this market,” he says.
Their earlier website and recently launched mobile app is hugely popular among working professionals aged between 24 and 35. Their mobile app has over 10,000 downloads since its launch last year.
Safety
Although these apps provide convenient and quick service, the safety factor plays a huge role especially in today’s scenario. Companies are going a step further in ensuring reliable, safe workmen. Upadhyaya deploys a 3-step verification process for all service partners at Timesaverz. “The steps are a combination of skill set verification to physical address proof identification and court record checks. We also have a soft skill training module we developed in-house that helps create a better service environment,” she says.
Varun Khaitan, co-founder, UrbanClap, says professionals undergo a stringent verification process and have to pass a quality check as well. “A background check, police verification is mandatory and we hire only married professionals,” he says. Available in Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune, the app with over 1 million users, offers guarantee and insurance schemes for several services too. “The idea behind starting UrbanClap was to not only help customers find quality help, but also provide the large base of individuals/small businesses with a platform to operate,” adds Khaitan.
Pricing
Offering such services at competitive prices is a challenge, and experts say it’s heartening that people are now willing to pay a premium for good service. “Being a bootstrapped business, it’s really important that we maintain a sustainable margin on all our services. But customers are not concerned too much about pricing as long as they get timely, efficient service,” says Chaudhary.
