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Comment by gadders | Hacker News Reader

We've hired cleaners through agencies in the UK before.

The issue these and similar businesses will face, I expect, is that once the cleaners become established with a household, there is always a large temptation to "go direct" and cut the agency out of the loop. THis is a win/win for the cleaner and the household. Typically the agency markup is split 50/50, and the cleaner makes slightly more and the family pays sligtly less.

There also isn't an easy way for the agencies to enforce non-competes or anything either, I'd expect.

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This may be another factor Exec discovered before rolling out an "official" cleaning service. The focus then is less on one off requests and more on getting return business and managing the customer. It would be easy enough for a contractor who got random work from Exec to pull a few regulars if there was no follow up after the web scheduled job. As a side note, I disagree with the win/win idea. Ethics and trust are put into question for me. If the service provider is willing to screw over their employer, what are they going to do in your home.

I don't know how Exec will run their business, but typically in the UK an agency will supply a cleaner for you, who is typically a housewife or similar with time on their hands and wants to earn some extra money. If you're happy with the cleaner they supply, they end up working regularly at your house, for months or years.

All this time, the agency is taking a % cut for providing the original cleaner. After that, the additional value they add is zero.

So yes, it may be unethical to disintermediate the agency, but by this time you have been working with the cleaner for weeks/months, so you get a fairly good idea as to what sort of person they are.

If you think of it as a placement agency, i.e. contractor, who works for you, then yes that extra % may seem like a problem. But then do you manage sick/vacation time? A company who manages the schedule would usually try to have a backup cleaner during those times or provide a new cleaner in the event the current one leaves. They might also follow up to maintain work standards. They might(should) provide insurance coverage on your belongings in case of an accident. On the cleaner side, finding "part-time" work is often a challenge and they enjoy the benefit of having the job handed to them and don't have to worry about where the next job is coming from.

It's interesting, there seems to be a few here on HN that have a problem with people building businesses and making money. Is it implausible that the cleaner you have had for months/years could end up with more work than they can handle and begin to bring in help to do the jobs they won? That's often how small businesses are created.

I have absolutely no problem at all with people starting a business and making money. Good for them.

I am just saying the flaws in the business model as I've experienced it. Agencies could add value via insurance, holiday cover etc, but the ones I've experienced never do.

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