Domestic helpers
1/5 of households in Singapore hires a maid. The cost of hiring a maid is on average $900 per month with a $3,000 one-off lump sum cost. However, there are also other intangible costs such as having to spare a bedspace for the maid.
Part-time helpers
In 2021, 10,000 households of 1.39 million (0.72%) in Singapore make use of part-time helpers. The cost of hiring a part time maid is around $20/hr. This is significantly more expensive than hiring a live-in domestic helper for the same amount of time working.
In the same year, the government released the Household Services Scheme (HSS) which allowed households to engage part-time household services from 76 companies
Cleaning by hand
Slightly less than 4/5 of families would be cleaning by hand. Depending on each family, the time spent on household chores is around 20hrs / week based on forum results, of which we can assume around half is spent on cleaning i.e., 10 hrs / week. The equivalent cost of a part-time helper would be $200 / week. Hence, it might make more sense to hire a domestic helper instead ($225 / week for longer working hours and completing other household chores ignoring all other costs).
There are a few ways to disrupt the market. The first is to drive down the costs of hiring a domestic helper through disintermediation. The second is to drive down the costs of hiring a part-time helper through disintermediation or optimizing their schedule. The third is to improve the efficiency of cleaning by hand, such as by introducing classes and cleaning supplies.
Since the domestic helper market is saturated, and competition is stiff, it is not ideal for a startup to compete there. On the other hand, since HSS was recently introduced, there is more potential here. The few cases where a part-time helper might be useful includes:
1. when cost is brought done enough for part-time helpers to be feasible
2. when time is limited for those who clean by hand
3. when housewives need additional help with chores
4. when domestic helpers are on leave and households need help (most will wait till domestic helper returns or ask them to finish the chores before they go on leave)
User personas
Based on the use cases, we could narrow down our user personas to two archetypes the modern career women and the housewife. Next, I proceeded to interview my mom, and my girlfriend who fit into the personas.
User interviews
My mom was quick to complain about her situation, but the conversation eventually turned constructive when I brought up the concept of the idea. She mentioned about being able to find home services on Carousell as well, though she never employed any of their service. She preferred to clean the home on her own as she was strict about the standards of cleanliness. Although, she would consider using home cleaning services if it was cheap enough, say only paying for cleaning done on an area of the house rather than paying by the hour.
My girlfriend on the other hand was more receptive of this idea. She mentioned that if such a platform was available, she would no longer have to do any housework. She explained that the younger generation would adopt such an idea more easily because of how we are digital natives. Forming new families would also mean that they were more open to trying out part-time cleaners than families which were already used to having a full-time domestic helper or their mothers helping at home.
Competitor Analysis
From my research, direct competitors included Helpling. Clean on Demand, getbutler and indirect competitors included Carousell. There were also similar companies such as Handy who were very successful in other markets.
Under HSS, direct competitors had to hire their own workers and provide accommodation for migrant workers.
