Insights + interviews
In Conversation with Mr. Hoe Yeen Teck, Helpling Singapore
The Active Age had a chat with Mr. Hoe Yeen Teck, CEO of Helpling Singapore about the inspiration behind the home cleaning service and how active agers and caregivers can optimise usage of his company’s services.
Helpling is an online marketplace that matches customers with qualified independent cleaning providers.
Bookings and payments are done online or through their mobile application (“app”). Fees are charged at a flat rate of SGD 20 per hour. Payments are only deducted after the cleaning job is completed.
The service launched in February this year and provides access to over 150 independent cleaners. To give customers peace of mind, Every cleaning is backed by a $1 million comprehensive public liability policy.
The Active Age (TAA): Can you share some background about the company as well as the inspiration behind Helpling.
Mr. Hoe Yeen Teck (HYT): I used to be the founder of Spickify that began as a community project in March 2014 in the Kembangan area.
The service launched publicly in July 2014. The idea was to match low income residents in the vicinity with condominium customers who needed home cleaning services. The pilot with the local community organisers was quite successful so we decided to scale it across the country. The results were really encouraging and we did not expect the rate of pick-up to be so strong.
Everyone needs a clean home but not everyone wants to clean it themselves or engage a full-time helper.
Just as importantly, we felt that this was a good way to create jobs for locals who are looking for roles that can provide a high level of flexibility.
In March 2015, Spickify was acquired by Helpling. I had met with the founders of Helpling, Benedikt Franke and Philip Huffmann, prior and realised that both our companies shared the same vision, which was expand and meet the increase in cleaning demands by our customers.
Helpling is backed by Rocket Internet and launched in Germany in April 2014. We are currently available in 12 countries and 200 cities.
In February 2015, Helpling expanded to Singapore to match the rise in demand for home cleaning services in Singapore. This launch also kicks off Helpling’s first entry into the Asian market, with Singapore as their launch pad.
TAA: How does Helpling help customers?
HYT: Our mission is to allow customers to have more free time to focus on the important things in life. With Helpling, customers are able to book a trusted and independent cleaner in 60 seconds.
Furthermore, with the launch of the app, Helpling is taking convenience to the next level by allowing customers to book a cleaning service from anywhere and at any time.
TAA: Who are some of your more common customers?
HYT: Most of our clients are made up of busy professionals or young families. Most of them spend about 12 hours a day at work and the last thing on their mind is to come home to clean.
TAA: What are some of the more common/popular home cleaning services requested for?
HYT: Many of our customers for ironing services.
TAA: You recently launched a mobile app. What do you hope to achieve with the new app?
HYT: We hope to increase our customer base by providing convenient functions through the mobile app including forwarding booking details directly via email or SMS, setting alerts to notify customers and storing and syncing booked cleaning jobs with calendar apps
TAA: What are some ways that caregivers and active agers can do to use Helpling’s service optimally?
HYT: Both groups can definitely benefit from the on-demand service.
Active agers can consider using our services for manual and labour-intensive tasks such as cleaning the windows. Ths can be dangerous to active agers who might not be as nimble as before.
Our services are also complementary to the work of caregivers. Engaging Helpling’s service allows caregivers to focus their full attention on their charges. Of course, caregivers can also use these on-demand service for their own homes, helping them juggle their busy schedules.
TAA: Do you think Singapore is ready for such a service compared to word-of-mouth recommendations of home cleaners, especially when it comes down to issues such as trustworthiness, professionalism, and other perceived qualities?
HYT: Singapore is definitely ready for such services. We are seeing customers slowly shifting to on-demand services for booking a taxi or food delivery by adjacent industry companies such as Foodpanda and Grabtaxi.
Furthermore, there is a growing number of small family units that are looking at hiring a part-time cleaner due to lower costs as well as maintaining privacy within the household.
That is where Helpling comes in with the screening process of cleaners, giving customers a compelling reason to engage us with confidence. We ensure that every cleaner is thoroughly vetted across criteria such as cleaning quality, reliability and representativeness. Furthermore, every single cleaning is backed by our $SGD 1 million liability insurance.
TAA: What’s next for Helpling in Singapore?
HYT: At the moment, we are focusing on household cleaning and delivering excellent services to our customers and cleaning partners. This is our core competency.
However, we are definitely keeping all our options open for the near-future as we see a lot of added value in services such as babysitting, handyman jobs and more.
