Home Service Category Experiences Growth in 2023 Despite Historically High Inflation

TORONTO, ONT, CANADA — Jobber, a leading provider of operations management software for home service businesses, today released its latest Home Service Economic Report: 2023 Review and 2024 Outlook. The report features expert insights and proprietary data aggregated from more than 200,000 residential cleaners, landscapers, HVAC technicians, electricians, plumbers, and more, who run their businesses using Jobber.

“The Home Service category continues to demonstrate impressive resilience despite economic challenges impacting consumer spending, commodity prices, and labor shortages,” explained Sam Pillar, CEO & co-founder at Jobber. “There will always be a need for home maintenance and improvement and as a result, entrepreneurship in the trades remains an attractive career path with growing interest among the younger generation.”

Revenue Remains Resilient

Despite a decrease in new jobs being scheduled in 2023, the Home Service category demonstrated an ongoing pattern of stability and strength underscored by continued revenue growth. Service providers have maintained their pricing power, primarily driven by increasing service costs or offering add-on services. Businesses have demonstrated flexibility, smartly adjusting their prices to grow earnings.

• Green: The Green segment, which includes lawn care, landscaping, and a range of associated outdoor services, experienced increased revenues relative to the previous year for most of 2023.
• Cleaning: The Cleaning segment, which includes residential and commercial cleaning, carpet cleaning, junk removal, and other similar services, experienced a decline in new work being scheduled, but median revenue growth stayed positive. When looking at 2-year annualized growth, businesses grew revenue by an average of 11% year-over-year from 2021 to 2023. 
• Contracting: The Contracting segment, which includes arborists, electricians, handymen, HVAC, plumbers, and other non-construction contractor services, maintained flat revenue growth year-over-year and generated positive growth on a 2-year annualized basis.
• Construction: The Construction segment, which includes residential and commercial construction, remodeling, and related industries, experienced a 5-10% decrease in new work being scheduled throughout 2023. Despite this, businesses were able to slightly grow revenues for the year.

Highlighting Homeowner Habits

The strength of consumers and their ability to spend on home services remains one of the key determinants for the Home Service category. Homeowner trends are being driven by current market conditions, as well as a growing demand for convenient and seamless customer experiences. 

• Growth in Digital Payments: Digital payments continue to increase as the preferred payment option for homeowners. Credit and debit payments, as well as ACH, really increased in popularity during the pandemic lockdowns, and that popularity has not reversed. These methods consistently make up approximately 40% of all Home Service transactions.

Overcoming Economic Instability

Inflation, a weaker housing market, and strong, but slowing, consumer demand resulted in tremendous economic challenges for home services in 2023. Home service businesses have fared well against these challenges and some relief is expected in 2024.

• Supply Chain Stabilization: With inflation slowing down and reduced supply chain pressures, home service businesses should find it easier to source materials at fair prices. 
• Larger Stock of Materials: More widely available building materials should also create opportunities for businesses to lower their material costs by negotiating with suppliers or shopping around.

“Home service businesses have proven their resilience time and time again,” said Abheek Dhawan, VP, Business Operations at Jobber. “While homeowners requested less home services last year, revenue growth remained positive due to the aging housing stock in addition to record-high home equity values. Based on the trends we’re seeing today, 2024 is poised to be a strong year for entrepreneurs in Home Service.”

To download the Jobber Home Service Economic Report: 2023 Review and 2024 Outlook, visit: https://jobber.com/home-service-reports/feb-2024/