Growing On-demand Home Services Market: Extensive Guide to Startup an On-demand Business

On-Demand Home-Services? Why Not! 

When Uber brought in the novel method of taxi booking in 2009, it was not just confined to one vertical. But now, it opened the floodgates for on-demand services across different verticals. We have seen a lot of industries embrace this on-demand trend. The long list includes transportation, food delivery, beauty services, specialized transportation services for kids and corporates, fuel delivery, courier pickup, and even dating services.

However, in all of this, it is often forgotten that the essential services for keeping a home in its proper condition could also be offered on demand. There are a lot of services that our home requires, and the market stays quite open and lucrative for players to capitalize on on-demand home services.

The Possibilities Of Services For Your Home

Look around your own home, and you will see that there are different services that your home can use. The services include electrical work, plumbing, painting, pest control, aesthetic modifications, furniture installation, and a lot more. One of the latest trends in these home services is transforming your home into a smart home.

With so many possibilities, it would be quite profitable business idea for you to create an app that provides home-based services on demand.

The Current Players 

The realm of home-based services on demand is not completely untapped. There are a lot of players in the market functioning across different geographies. There are players like TaskRabbit, HandyMan, and ThumbTack in the US. Singapore has been quite used to HandyKhai’s handyman services. In India, home-services are quite synonymous with UrbanClap.

What Would Make Your On-Demand Home Service App Special?

On the surface, Developing an app for home services seems quite simple and easy. It is, in fact, quite easy if you can capitalize on the clones of these services. However, it is not just the service that distinguishes the mediocre from the great. A few added aspects good spell the difference between success and failure of your on-demand home services application.

• Address Customers’ Pain Points Precisely

It cannot be denied that the services can only be hyperlocal. Different people in different areas have different needs. For example, a residential area near a swamp might have pest infestations and the mosquitoes. Their needs would be to have effective pest control and to have their Windows netted against mosquitoes. It might not be a great idea to sell something other than a service that might be on-demand in a particular location.

• Keep An Eye On Your Competition

Your life is too short to make all the mistakes by yourself, and it is equally short to perfect all the processes by yourself. That is why you should keep a vigilant eye on your competition. Your competitors will throw occasional hints on where to invest and where not to tread.

• Honor The Commitment Of Time… In Time 

Quality is one area where people have high expectations when it comes to home services. However, it might not always be possible to meet quality expectations –  there might be inherent challenges in the basic construction and setup of the house itself. However, it is quite possible that you can commit to a time and strictly adhere to the commitment that you have given.

• Smoothen The Onboarding Process

There are a lot of technicians who are on the constant lookout for jobs. On-demand services could be the break that they were looking for. For business, it is only the availability of the service providers that can ensure your success. For the benefit of the technicians and your business, it will be a good idea to make the entire process of onboarding smooth and hassle-free.

• Master The Use Of Push Notifications 

Push notifications represent the Pythagorean cup when it comes to the world of mobile applications. If you can use it efficiently, it will give you the best results. However, if you overuse the push notifications feature, customers might even develop an inherent hatred for your business and your App. Analyzing the market goes a long way in effecting the art of pushing notifications.

• Create A Great Product That Markets Itself!

It is true that marketing plays a very important role in spreading the word about your product and in increasing the downloads. Before you embark on a complex marketing procedure, it is important to ensure that you have a great product to market. If the product is great, the uses of the product become the marketers and brand ambassadors themselves!
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What Does A User Need? 

The profitability and the acceptability of an app completely depend on the user. For your home services app to be successful, it is important to address the needs of a user in the most intuitive, innovative, and interesting fashion.

• Quick Filters & Search Option

There are a plethora of services that you can avail of for your home. The customer should be able to quickly locate the service that they want and request for a technician. Using large icons that represent the service could be a good idea to communicate about the services to the customers clearly. 

• Scheduling & Pre-Booking Of… And Even Subscription To Services

Given the busy work schedule of people, the service needs to be provided at a time when they will be at home. Therefore, the application should have a facility to book home services at a time of their choice. If your service is extraordinary, there is a considerable chance that people will even subscribe to your services for maintenance purposes.

• Review & Rating Options

It is to be understood that the app will only function as an aggregator. To keep the platform democratic and fair, review and rating system should be introduced where users can rate the service providers, and the service providers can rate the users.

• Versatile Payment Methods

The users should be able to make their payments using multiple payment methods like digital payments, card payments, wallets, and cash. The greater the options for making a payment, the greater the customer will process the payment quickly and even consider using your app again!

• Support 

There are chances that a fixed issue might seem to have no flaws but might develop something over time. This could possibly make your customers lose trust in the services provided by your App. A simple after service survey will go a long way in not only reading the pulse of your customers but also in rating the performance of your service providing partners.
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What Does a Service Provider Need? 

As much as the users service providers also needs to have certain features that will make it easy for them to execute the service and collect their revenue.

• A Simplified Registration & Approval Process

Service providers might look at the home-based service application as a big bliss. If there is  a simple process for onboarding the technician into the team of service providers.

• Accept Or Reject Requests Real-Time

Some of these technicians might be looking at the app-based requests as a secondary earning opportunity. They should have the liberty to reject a request, or reschedule an appointment based on their convenience, subject to the approval of the user.

• Transparent Payment Details 

There are considerable chances that the user might make a payment online directly through the app. The technician should have a proper idea on the total amount that was paid by the customer, the commission that the app will be taking for themselves, and the profit that they will make.

• Chat Option With Customers

There might not be an option in the application to give all the details about the issues and resolving it. If the technicians can chat with customers to understand the basic requirements, they can come prepared with the right tools and the right spares if need be.

What Do Administrators Need?

The administrator functions like a big brother, watching all the activities that happen within the application. They need to have quick access to vital information and should be able to take quick actions against anything that might be a threat to the sanctity of the ecosystem. 

• A Bird’s-Eye-View Dashboard

The dashboard should give all the essential information about the app, the users, the technicians, the revenue, and the rating system.

• User Management & Verification

The administrator should be able to quickly verify the identity and credibility of the technicians.

• Managing Promotional Content & Reviews

Any app is found to have promotional content as push notifications or as interstitial banners. The administrator should be given the power to manage these promotional materials.

• Managing Payments

The administrator should be given access to the payments made by the customers and the payments made to the technicians. They can schedule payments or stop payments if need be.

• Analytics & Intelligence

With the humongous amount of data that is available, the administrator also has access to analytics and intelligence. This would help them plan the next move when it comes to advertising and introducing new services.

What Does The Future Hold For Home Services On Demand?

If food delivery applications can find success, it is quite evident that people do not have the time to get things organized at their homes. Gone are the days when people used to have a plumber, an electrician and a carpenter in the vicinity of their home who they could call and ask them to come to their home and perform the tasks. With the volume of moving population increasing and the absence of time to build trust, home services on-demand are bound to succeed.

Developing such an app from scratch would require indefinite hours of research and development. A ready-made app solution like Gojek clone app can help in developing an efficient on-demand home service app.
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Conclusion

If you would like to build a business out of home services, you will need to find the right partner to develop your application. Alternatively, you can also consider using clones of existing home service applications. They are bound to increase your efficiency by reducing the time taken and money spent on launching your business.

Jennifer Atkinson

Jennifer Atkinson is a Growth Hacker at AppDupe, a pioneer in app development is a one-stop solution for all your ride-hailing business needs. Also a blogger and a growth hacker who loves to find new business ideas and help startup entrepreneurs with business consultation.