House repair services now has a new name, Travtus Work Force
What do Theek Kar Do, Jack on Block, My Home Maker and EasyFix have in common? It’s their area of business, viz household maintenance and repairs. When we last chatted with Theek Kar Do, Hardik Shah, the co-founder said they have been making steady progress in their plans and he is also aware of Travtus Work Force – a new entrant in household maintenance space.
Travtus WF offers electrical, plumbing, carpentry, patch work, window work and tile work options to its customers. Like My Home Maker, Travtus also works on an annual maintenance contract (AMC) model and has two options to give its customers – quarterly plan for Rs 2,525 and an annual plan for Rs 1,894.
Customers have to call 022 65554747 to book a repair and based on the convenience of the customer the repair is scheduled. Currently Travtus WF is present in Mumbai and has plans to enter Bangalore and Singapore soon.
One thing that separates Travtus WF from the other names in the list is the backing of Travtus – the parent company of the same name which is in the business of construction. Travtus WF is being headed by Tripty Arya who is the founder director at Travtus WF. A qualified architect, Tripty worked in a PE firm for a while, before joining their family business of construction. Talking about her trigger to branch out on her own, Tripty says: When I was in the construction business, I would get a lot of calls from friends and family to send electrician and plumber to their homes. And when I noticed it happens more often than you expect, I realized there is a demand for a service that can accumulate such service,” she says.
Travtus WF currently has 20 technicians working for them part-time and a few of them on a full-time basis. Tripty says through Travtus WF her attempt is to position their services as something which consumers see as an investment for their house and not just a service. “We want customers to look at this as something that they have brought for the house. We go with the hashtag #Houseproud, you are going to put it as an investment in your house and whenever you need it, you know it’s on call,” says Tripty.
While the labour charges are covered in the AMC amount, cost of material is on top of that. Travtus WF does not repair appliances but has tied up with Jeeves, incase any customer of theirs calls up with such a request. And for housekeeping work they have tied up with Hammer & Mop. Since starting in June this year, Travtus WF has 35 customers on board, which includes one spa, two offices and few restaurants. Unlike residences, commercial customers are charged either on per month or per year rate. Progress has been slow but steady: “In the last two months we have hit all the targets we intended to, it’s not as fast as we would like it to be, but we think it’s a model that will slowly catch on,” says Tripty optimistically.
Most business acquisition for Travtus WF so far has been through word of mouth and referrals. The Travtus WF team currently comprises five people who are all on the operational side of things. The team of technicians that Travtus WF works with also works in the construction businesses of Travtus, which Tripty says is an advantage, as all of them are trained in the area of work because of their association with the construction business.
Travtus is on its way to launch their Singapore operations later this year. In that market, Travtus WF is looking to hire technicians from the vocational training institutes in that country. And would mostly interact with facility managers at residential buildings to get access to end customers. Tripty is bullish about the opportunity that exists in the space. “We have a huge competitive advantage, because we have a trained professional workforce, who are are already well-equipped with what has to be done. The only major competition we still have is the unorganized market, where customers would call the electrician around the corner, who charges Rs 200 per trip, but customers are not able to come out of that psyche. You are trying to change the way customers will look at this area, not as services but as something you would buy for the house,” says Tripty.
