Jobber, the provider of home service management software, releases its Home Service Economic Report: 2021 Mid-Year Review, which features expert insights and proprietary data aggregated from over 100,000 residential cleaners, landscapers, HVAC technicians, window washers, plumbers, and more, who use the Jobber platform.
“The Home Service category has demonstrated resilience throughout the pandemic and continues to experience positive growth,” said Sam Pillar, CEO & Co-Founder at Jobber. “While factors such as growing inflation and supply chain disruptions are presenting challenges for companies everywhere, key indicators point to consistent growth for Home Service as we enter the second half of 2021.”
Long-Term sustainable growth
Consumer spending on home service recovered faster than all other categories, such as clothing and footwear, food services and accommodations, and health care, and has exceeded pre-pandemic levels since June 2020. Trends indicating long-term sustainable growth for the category include:
- Desire For Home Improvement Projects Is Strong: Annual growth in home renovation and repair expenditure reached 6.1% year-over-year in Q2 2021 and is expected to grow by 7.6% by the end of 2021.
- Real Estate Boom Enduring: The sale of new and existing homes reached record levels in the second half of 2020 and into Q1 of 2021.
- New Builds Gaining Momentum: There is significant growth in new building permits issued, which in the last quarter have surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
Meeting customer demands
Our data also reinforces that businesses are struggling to hire workers in many home service industries"
“We know from conversations with our customers that hiring workers is incredibly challenging, particularly now,” says Pillar. “Our data also reinforces that businesses are struggling to hire workers in many home service industries to meet customer demand. If you've ever considered pursuing a career in home services, now is the time.”
While the pandemic threatened to close the doors of many companies, it also served as a springboard for entrepreneurs who turned to home service to start their own businesses due to several key factors:
- Contracting Invoice Size Sees Double Digit Growth: The median contracting invoice size grew by 14% in Q2 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic levels of Q1 2020. In addition, contractors are receiving more job requests than they can fulfill.
- Cleaning and Contracting Growing Rapidly: The Cleaning and Contracting segments are seeing positive year-over-year growth in both new work scheduled and median revenue throughout 2021.
- Green Segment Shows Consistent Revenue Growth: New work scheduled in the Green segment slowed in Q2, but is heading back in the right direction, while median revenue growth remained remarkably consistent and positive throughout the first half of the year.
Better manage jobs
While the initial impact of the ongoing pandemic is not directly hampering the home service category’s growth, new challenges have surfaced, specifically for contractors:
- A Broken Supply Chain: A spike in home improvement projects alongside unprecedented disruption of the global supply chain due to the pandemic has severely impacted the construction industry.
- Long Waits for Construction Projects: Average wait time for the overall construction industry to start a project was up by almost four weeks in Q2 2021 compared with the same period last year.
- Demand for Contractors Exceeds Availability: Contractors are getting more job requests than they’re able to fulfill, leading to mixed results for the construction industry.
“A skilled workers shortage is an industry challenge that will continue to impact the Home Service category,” said Abheek Dhawan, VP, Business Operations at Jobber. “It’s more important than ever for businesses to embrace technology like Jobber to better manage jobs, improve communication with customers, and make their existing teams more efficient.”