Home Spritz is a house cleaning marketplace platform that connects homeowners with professional cleaners.
There is a growing need for a streamlined, efficient, and reliable solution for booking and managing house cleaning services. Homeowners often struggle to find the right cleaner or cleaning service that fits their needs and budget. Many individuals try out multiple cleaning providers before finding one that meets their expectations.
Additionally, cleaners face challenges finding steady clients and managing their business needs efficiently. As a result, there is a need for a platform like Home Spritz that can streamline the process for both homeowners and cleaners by providing a convenient and trustworthy solution for booking and managing house cleaning services.
Tell us about yourself?
Our founding team at Home Spritz brings together expertise in business management, sales, human relations, and technology—a combination that made realizing our vision possible. Each of our founders brings over a decade of professional experience in their respective fields. We are a hardworking trio that loves to see things through.
We created this business because we knew firsthand that the house cleaning industry was fundamentally broken at every level. Cleaners are exceedingly underpaid and undervalued, leading to high turnover and inconsistent service quality. During our conversations with the cleaners in our homes, we found that their low wages led them to constantly seek better opportunities, while customers simply desired consistency by having the same cleaner each week.
With that in mind, we built our company to pay cleaners a living wage in the markets we service (currently BC and Alberta) and ensure our cleaners always feel valued and respected.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
We would have tried to grow the business without striving for additional Venture Capital (VC) funding. VC funding is great, as it gives businesses an opportunity to grow rapidly, but it requires a lot of work. In our experience, it’s better to learn to live without it. Also, I would tell myself not to take loans and focus on growing the business naturally, even if that means it will grow slower. It’s important to keep your flexibility for challenging markets. Lastly, cash flow is king.
On the technology side, we would have started with programming the platform from scratch rather than trying to use a premade solution that did not fit our business needs. Our initial approach hindered our ability to adapt the platform easily, and we spent too much time and effort trying to modify an off-the-shelf solution to fit our needs instead of building what we wanted from the get-go.
What problem does your business solve?
Homeowners face challenges sourcing an affordable cleaner, conducting background checks, and assessing quality in advance. It is a time-consuming and risky process to let a stranger into your home. Large, established companies are often expensive and provide inconsistent service due to constant turnover. We also found there was no platform for cleaners to manage their business, seek clients, process payments securely, market themselves, and manage schedules effectively. In addition, cleaners are often paid poorly.
Home Spritz solves both of these problems. On the customer side, the platform offers consistent and secure service, affordability, and reduced turnover, allowing both cleaners and clients to feel safe and connected. Not only do we pay our cleaners a living wage, but we connect them with clients on a one-to-one basis, allowing them to build long-term relationships.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
At present, house cleaning is neither well-paid nor recognized as a certifiable trade, which presents significant challenges for cleaners. We are inspired by the opportunity to make our communities better by elevating the profession of house cleaning and providing better wages, stable work, and the respect that cleaners deserve.
House cleaning is hard work, but building long-lasting client relationships is even harder. To us, the relationship with our cleaners is the most important part of our business. After all, cleaners are the unsung heroes behind the amazing work that makes our clients so happy. Providing our cleaners with outstanding wages and support, in and outside of work, is what allows us to keep our customers long-term.
We maintain our relationships with Alberta Living Wage Network and Living Wage for Families BC, which help support the mission of more companies paying a living wage. We work with them to share the mission on social media, with other organizations, and with other companies. This relationship has helped us find clients who love supporting their communities and improve our overall retention.
What is your magic sauce?
There is no marketplace platform for house cleaning where families can browse and find cleaners from a vetted list. Companies dictate cleaner assignments, and communication is strictly through the company. If families try to find private cleaners through referrals, job boards, or marketplaces, they take the risk of hiring someone with an unknown background or quality. Through our platform, families can choose their preferred cleaner from a trusted list, have direct communication, and build ongoing relationships.
Our platform adds unique value for cleaners by providing tools to manage their business easily and effectively. We help cleaners get bookings, manage their work schedule, process payments, and build relationships. Many cleaners work privately to earn more because current companies underpay and, frankly, disrespect them. Often, cleaners return to working for a company after a few years of operating independently because they are stressed by managing the administration of a business.
As a result, there are many exciting and much-needed features on our platform roadmap that are coming soon.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We plan to expand into five additional Canadian cities before looking south. In five years, we hope to be in 10 to 20 US cities and continue to grow beyond that.
We see Home Spritz emerging as the premier house cleaning marketplace for service, training, and cleaning products in North America.
Fundamentally, we want to see house cleaning as a profession that can financially support cleaners and provide training and certification to ensure a stable level of service.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Hiring is incredibly challenging. We hire the top 2 per cent of cleaners who apply. A significant problem with hiring is the lack of recognizable training programs and certifications for house cleaners, unlike trades such as electricians. There is a world of difference between an experienced cleaner and a novice. We seek cleaners with the best communication skills to build that personal connection with their clients.
So far, we haven’t deviated from our original vision. While we face some challenges in our daily operations and growth, none of them have been significant enough to make us change course. That, to me, implies that we are onto something positive.
How can people get involved?
Support living wage organizations! Living wage is truly a great cause for communities to learn about and engage with. Also, encourage your local cleaners to apply. We are growing, and there’s more demand every month. We need more cleaners to come on board to satisfy all of our clients and help turn our future into a reality.
If you’re looking for reliable and professional house cleaning services, or you’re a cleaner who is looking for stable work and better wages, visit our website at www.homespritz.ca to learn more.