It takes time, and a certain amount of trial and error, to find a good home cleaner – someone who shows up on time, brings proper cleaning products and reliably deals with that grimy, hard-to-reach crevice by the stove. You know, the spot even you’ve never been able to clean properly?

Meet Urban Company. The six-year-old platform lets users book home services on demand, including cleaning, ironing, gardening, TV mounting, lawn mowing, furniture assembly and other domestic chores. The app and associated website are available in 22 cities across India, the UAE and Singapore. Sydney is the first Australian city to be added to the platform, and comedian Celeste Barber is a fan.

As Uber vets its drivers and ensures their cars are up to a certain standard, Urban Company contractors are screened prior to joining the app and supply everything they need to do the job properly. The company claims just 10 per cent of cleaners make it through after being assessed on experience, attitude and presentation. And to stay on Urban Company, they must maintain a rating of at least 4.7 out of five within the app.

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Each service is highly customisable and paid by task, not by hour. With cleaning, for instance, you can choose (or not choose) to include your kitchen ($19), bedroom ($15) or small balcony ($29), plus smaller tasks such as dishes and changing bedsheets. Likewise, small yard (“about half the size of a tennis court”) services include mowing and edging ($50), weeding ($20) and hedging ($20). You only add what you can afford and/or think needs to be done, though there are minimum spends.

Urban Company also integrates directly with calendars. You can book a particular cleaner or gardener for a trial visit. If you don’t like their work, you can book someone else. If you do like their work, you can automatically set up a permanent arrangement: weekly, fortnightly, every three weeks or monthly. Each visit will appear in your calendar and be billed automatically. The app is completely cashless.

urbancompany.com

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