Covid Diwali: More people want houses professionally cleaned

Covid Diwali: More people want houses professionally cleaned

Mamtha.A@timesgroup.com

Chennai:12.11.2020

In the run up to Diwali, bookings from users for house cleaning services are up by 30%. Though, house cleaning is a regular practice before Diwali among Indians, service providers say hygiene conscious first-time users who want to safeguard their kids and elderly family members are driving the demand much higher this year. Besides, being holed up inside homes during the pandemic has added to the fatigue, making them seek outsourced services.

Thirty-eight-year-old Himanshu Sharma, a resident of Sowcarpet, has availed a full-house deep cleaning a week before Diwali. “It is an annual practice for us to clean and redecorate our home before Diwali. Unlike earlier times, we have opted for professional help for a fullhouse fumigation and deep clean after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic,” said Sharma.

Home Service startup Urban Company has seen overall bookings up by 30% at an all-time high of 1,15,000 bookings in October, as compared to 80,000 in September, 2020. The company has doubled its cleaning team staff to meet the demand.

Its director of marketing Pratik Mukherjee said, “Bookings have jumped 20% in Chennai for November, as compared to October. Bookings from new users have tripled in the past three months.” It expects bookings to touch 1,50,000 mark before mid-November.

Another home service provider Housejoy, which has operations in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, saw demand for home cleaning service go up by 30-35% in the past two months. Housejoy CEO and founder Sanchit Gaurav said, “We only see this demand going upward in the coming months. There is around 40% overall increase in demand due to Diwali.” The company has plans to enter tier 2 cities such as Mysore, Pune and Vijayawada.

For 52-year-old Parimala Murugan, of Besant Nagar, deep cleaning was agonising that she signed up with a service provider. “We were worried about taking care of my father-in-law, who is in his mid-eighties, amid this pandemic. Festive offers have brought down the service charges by a lot.”

Service providers added that since the pandemic scare, there are more inquiries for full house cleaning, compared to kitchen/ living space cleaning earlier.

SAFE & SOUND FESTIVAL