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In its first major step beyond household cleaning, Homejoy is expanding its Bay Area offering to include carpet cleaning and general handyman services.
Co-founder and CEO Adora Cheung (pictured above with her brother and co-founder Aaron) has hinted at this over the past year, including at Disrupt Europe last week. Over the summer, Homejoy invited customers to try out a range of different home services – not just the ones officially launching today, but also landscaping, electrical work and pest control.
COO Xiao Wei Chen told me that Homejoy will continue to test these other services and “fix some issues.” On the other hand, he said carpet cleaning and handyman services are “ripe for prime time.” (These handyman services include air conditioning installation and repair, moving and storage, furniture assembly, interior painting, and TV assembly.)
People who use Homejoy’s website or mobile app to schedule house cleanings can now use the same interface to set up other services as well. This initial launch includes San Francisco and San Jose, with carpet cleaning costing $50 per hour while handyman services are $60 per hour. And yes, Chen said there are plans to launch in more markets soon.
When I asked how Homejoy’s experience in cleaning influenced his approach to new services, Chen said the big challenge has always been “improving the customer experience.” That’s why, he added, the company “has been so diligent in gradually rolling out these services.”
More specifically, Chen noted that while Homejoy had to recruit a new crew of handymen (DIYers?), it was also able to draw on its existing pool of household cleaners to clean carpets.
I also pointed out that while Homejoy recently changed its pricing to encourage regular cleanings, the recurring model with the new services makes less sense. Chen replied that the goal is to be seen as “the one-stop shop for all household services.”
“If we assemble your TV, that doesn’t mean we assemble it again six months later,” he added. “But when we mount your TV, we want to keep in mind if you want to mount some shelves or pictures.”
Homejoy’s expansion could also create more competition from Handy, which offers both home cleaning and handyman services.
