Born out of Covid-19, home cleaning service NexDo is taking the gig economy to a new place in New Zealand.
The gig economy, a free market for independent workers to take up short-term commitments, is often represented by popular companies such as ride-hailing apps Uber and Ola and food delivery service Menulog, here in New Zealand.
But Sakshin Niranjan, CEO of NexDo, has added home cleaning to the list of gig economy services available in New Zealand.
Initially operating only in Auckland, NexDo has now opened in multiple cities across the country, including Christchurch and Wellington.
Bringing his knowledge of the gig economy from India to New Zealand when he launched Ola, Niranjan saw a space in the market after seeing how the pandemic affected the home services.
“The entire home industry space is untouched,” he says.
He says out of the 100 businesses in the industry that he saw, 50 shut down and the other 50 slowed down, prompting him to look at combining the gig economy and the home services industry to create NexDo.
Since launching NexDo in 2020, Niranjan says the company has continued to show growth in success. However, during lockdowns, the business was forced to shut down.
But, coming out of the lockdown, “the recovery is two times higher than what we previously got,” says Niranjan. “We got confidence of where we can go after Covid.”
Niranjan says that the company’s success is also due to how different NexDo is compared to the rest of the gig economy and the home services industry.
Read more: Why the gig economy just makes good sense.
NexDo runs according to a managed marketplace, a model that many companies in the gig economy do not follow. The model allows NexDo to be responsible for the workers who come to the platform, making it a “peer to peer marketplace”.
NexDo carefully monitors the workers who use the platform, only having workers who rate higher than 4.6 stars by their customers.
“It is completely managed from our end,” he adds.
Compared to the traditional home services industry, NexDo is progressive, following a scheme of a fixed model price, allowing transparency so the customer understands exactly what they are paying for.
“Transparency is very important, by showing what the price is and what sort of work is going to be done, we’re telling customers this is what they are paying for. We are transparent about what can be done and the scope of work for that price.”
Gig workers for NexDo are also estimated to be earning a higher average wage than the home services industry average. Niranjan says that through NexDo gig workers are making $40 to $45 per hour, double the average $20 to $25 they would earn working for a regular company.
He also adds that gig workers quality of work remains high, maybe even better than at a regular company that provides home services.
After the first few years of success, Niranjan wants to expand NexDo to cover all corners of the country while being the main go-to for home services.
“We have a vision in mind, quite similar to TradeMe. If a user has access to TradeMe, we want to be there,” he says.
“Our plan is to go to every single city, every single town in New Zealand.”
Before heading offshore, another goal for the company, Niranjan says NexDo aims to take the “entire home services industry as a whole”, adding to its pre-existing skillset of home cleaning, lawn mowing, carpet cleaning and more.
“We want to be that player for New Zealand before we head offshore.”
He reveals that NexDo is looking into heading into a realm of at-home services for beauticians, hairstylists, home sitting and pet sitting over the next five years. At the moment, NexDo is tapping into the pest control market after hearing numerous customer requests over the summer.
“We want to do what the customers wants. Speaking to customers and understanding what they want is what will make us successful,” he says.
Despite starting up during the pandemic, NexDo has seen immense success from the get-go, diving into a gap in the market and rethinking the home services industry with a modern approach. Expect to see more from Niranjan as the company continues to grow.
