Homejoy Officially Moves Beyond Cleaning With Launch Of Handyman Services In The Bay Area

In its first big move beyond home cleaning, Homejoy is adding carpet cleaning and general handyman services to its offerings in the Bay Area.

Co-founder and CEO Adora Cheung (pictured above with her brother and co-founder Aaron) has been hinting at this for the past year, including last week at Disrupt Europe. Over the summer, Homejoy invited customers to beta test a number of different home services — not just the ones that it’s officially launching today, but also landscaping, electrical work, and pest control.

COO Xiao Wei Chen told me that Homejoy will continue testing and “working out some kinks” with those other services. On the other hand, he said that carpet cleaning and handyman services are “ready for primetime.” (Those handyman services include air conditioner installation and repair, moving and storage, furniture assembly, interior painting, and TV mounting.)

So people who use Homejoy’s website or mobile app to schedule home cleanings can now use the same interface to set up other services too. This initial launch covers San Francisco and San Jose, with carpet cleaning costing $50 an hour, while handyman services cost $60 an hour. And yes, Chen said there are plans to launch in more markets soon.

When I asked how Homejoy’s experience in cleaning has influenced its approach to new services, Chen said the big challenge has always been “improving the customer experience.” That, he added, is why the company has been “so diligent in rolling out these services one-by-one.”

More specifically, Chen noted that while Homejoy had to recruit a new group of handymen (handypeople?), it was able to tap into its existing pool of home cleaners to do carpets, too.

I also pointed out that while Homejoy recently changed its pricing to encourage regular cleanings, the recurring model makes less sense with the new services. Chen replied that the goal is to be seen as “the one-stop shop for all home services.”

“If we mount your TV, it’s not that we’ll come mount it again six months later,” he added. “But if we mount your TV, we want to stay top of mind if you want to mount some shelving or mount some pictures.”

Homejoy’s expansion could also create more competition with Handy, which offers both home cleanings and handyman services.

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