Cleaning services see brisk business as rains abate

“We have started getting more requests from Thursday, mainly for cleaning houses and sumps from areas such as Tambaram, Adyar, Velachery, Ambattur and Annanagar,” said Babu Vincent, managing director, Servicesquare, a city-based online firm that connects consumers with cleaning and house-keeping service providers.

“The company has seen over 50 per cent increase in services requests after the recent heavy downpour. “We have a good number of workers with us as of now. However, the demand is so high that it is not possible to increase the number of workers immediately to cater to the increased flow of service requests since we can’t send people to do these services without training,” said Vincent.

“We availed sump cleaning service through online yesterday. Even if the cost is a bit higher than local service providers, I didn’t have to keep chasing them or seek a bargain and they worked professionally,” said Lavanya S, a Velachery resident.

According to Mr Suhail Vadgaokar, vice president, Brand and Customer Experience of UrbanClap.com, the company is witnessing a hike in service requests for home cleaning as well as pest control services for the past two days. “As a part of our CSR initiative, we are also providing free pest control services in areas which are worst affected by flood for a couple of days,” he said adding that priorities will be given to houses and areas where people cannot afford these services and the places that are very much prone to mosquito breeding, which will increase dengue outbreak.

Housejoy a Bangalore-based online platform that started services in Chennai a few months ago, is also witnessing a huge demand for cleaning and pest control services in the city. “We are witnessing about 40 per cent increase in house and sump cleaning requests in just two days as water has started receding in several areas. We are expecting more in next week as many areas are under water till now,” said Prem Anand, city manager, Housejoy.

The company has hired 10 new home cleaning workers last week to cater to the increasing demand. Housejoy is also providing free cleaning up services for apartment communities in flood affected areas for a week starting from today. “Our field team will visit areas like Pallavaram, Velachery, Pallikarani, Besant Nagar and Tambaram which was worst affected by heavy down pour and will identify places for free services,” said Anand.