Calls for home repairs go up after flooding

On-demand home service providers are seeing a surge in calls for electrical repairs, plumbing, and deep cleaning from areas in Bengaluru that were hit by floods recently.

Online platform Electricians Bangalore is receiving 70 calls daily against the average of 25 to 30 a month ago.

Repairing uprooted or damaged electrical poles form a big share of these complaints.

“Since we have 12-13 contractors all over the city, we are able to take on the extra workload,” informs an employee. However, waterlogging and traffic snarls have affected their timings. “We promise 30-minute on-demand service but it is taking longer,” he adds.

Likewise, No Broker, an online aggregator of electricians, painters, plumbers, deep cleaners, carpenters, and pest control, is attending to 150 calls every day compared to the previous average of 100.

Prem Sagar, a sales executive, says, “We have over 1,000 service providers to handle these complaints but we are unable to reach the location on time.”

Most of these calls concern the cleaning of basements, floors, and washrooms.

“Additionally, people want painting services as many houses have suffered water leakage in the rains,” he says.

A cleaning service provider from HSR Layout has seen a marginal increase in these enquiries, mostly from people who stay abroad but own villas in the city.

“Such is the damage due to the floods that we are taking nine hours to clean walls, bathrooms, sofas, and floors. And we have to clean them twice. Earlier, this would take five hours maximum,” informs an official.

J P Nagar-based Planet Electricals is struggling with the lack of handymen. It is now looking to hire more people to cope with the increased demand — going up from 30 to 70 calls a day since the rains pounded the city.

“After the floods, instances of damage of the UPS and electrical lines have gone up,” staffer Mohammed Salman informs.

But some companies like Z Cleaner are consciously letting go of the extra business. They don’t want their staff to face troubles during commute or fall sick because of the rains.

Owner Rahul Agarwal cites an example: “One day, our handyman took four hours to reach a home in Marathahalli because of the flooded road. The family had ordered bathroom cleaning.”

They are getting calls from Bellandur and Marathahalli and mostly to drain water from garages or deep clean the homes.