From Mop to Mobile: The Digitization of Home Services in Southeast Asia
Roshan Behera
Across the home services space, digital transformation is underway. From something as basic as weekly cleaning to urgent plumbing repairs, these are services every household needs, yet for decades, they remained fragmented, informal, and inconvenient to access. Now, just as ride-hailing apps changed how people move around cities, home services platforms are doing the same for how people manage their homes. A few taps can book a vetted cleaner, AC repairs, or even a wellness therapist, all at home, all on demand.
The opportunity is immense: home services represent a daily-life necessity with recurring demand, large addressable markets, and high potential for digital penetration. What was once word-of-mouth or phone-directory driven is becoming organized, trusted, and scalable.
Urban Company’s success in India offers a glimpse of what is possible. For Southeast Asia (SEA), as urbanization rises, dual-income families grow, and digital adoption accelerates, this USD 18 Bn+ space could see exciting transformations.
SEA home services market is USD 18 Bn+, led by cleaning and beauty-wellness
While Indonesia is the largest market in the region, Singapore manages to punch above its weight due to much higher penetration levels across home services categories as well as significantly higher AOVs.
Digitization of home services solves friction for customers as well as workers
Various socio-economic drivers are requiring the digitization of home services. The platforms provide convenience and ease to users while at the same time, workers gain income stability, professional dignity, and access to a more formal ecosystem. The platform’s true power is in solving frictions for both sides simultaneously — convenience and trust for consumers, stability and growth for workers.
Startups are present across SEA, showing growth and promising network effects
We solve the strategy behind scale!
The next level of expansion will be achieved by those who are able to play at a regional level. These players are the ones that can navigate country-specific regulatory environments, cultural nuances to emerge as regional champions.
Leverage gateway services to generate engagement, then expand into premium offerings
Not all home services are equal – cleaning anchors the platform with frequency and stickiness, but delivers thin margins, while categories like beauty and deep cleaning are higher-margin but lower-frequency. AC servicing and repairs sit in the middle with decent ticket size and moderate stickiness. Winning players will use “gateway services” to drive repeat traffic, then cross-sell into higher-value services to lift margins and lifetime value.
Wider presence (services & geography), robust B2B, and supply side builds resilient business
Platforms must balance growth with sustainability by pursuing both vertical adjacencies (to capture wallet share) and horizontal expansion (to unlock new markets). Urban Company’s playbook illustrates how operational discipline and ecosystem-building create a path to profitability, not just scale
