If You Could Clean Your Home at the Tap of a Finger, Why Wouldn’t You?

Cleaning a home always seems like a chore—so much so, in fact, that the majority of the time, homeowners seek out others to do the job for them, whether through a professional service or word-of-mouth referral. However, it’s weeding through the endless list of options for something reliable that makes hunting for someone to do your chores a chore, but never fear—as with much else in our 2019 lives, there’s now an app for that.

Spruce, a tech platform that provides in-home services to residents of partner apartment communities, has developed a system for connecting users in need of in-home services with providers of said services at the tap of a button, establishing itself as a much-needed middle man that, up until now, has been absent from the in-home services transaction. In July 2019, Spruce announced it closed a $3 million funding round that positioned the company to further expand its services to apartment complexes beyond its Dallas base and into Denver. 

Because Spruce is directly involved in the logistics and operations of its local service provider partners, the company has full control over the service providers that represent it. As such, Spruce requires all providers to undergo background checks and meet insurance, training and quality control standards. Partnering with apartment companies to offer its services is a win-win for both those businesses and their tenants, as residents have access to a reliable in-home service provider at the time they are signing their lease, which also functions as an excellent value proposition for those leasing companies to put forward. 

This setup is also beneficial to Spruce, of course, because the company now becomes those tenants’ provider of choice due to convenient and streamlined booking, above all. In a Spruce-powered world, extensive Google searches are no more, and word-of-mouth simply matters less when simplicity is at stake. 

Will having apps to handle even simple household chores become the new normal? And how does this impact small business providers and currently established businesses and franchises in the in-home services segment? Our current world has given way to technology-infused everything; according to America’s Small Business Development Centers, in order for businesses to succeed, some sort of technological aspect in place to streamline communication and customer interaction must be established. It stands to reason that in-home services are no exception, and that which can be simplified and de-personified to the click of a button will compete for market share in 2020 and beyond.