'Uber of house cleaning' app launches in Edmonton

A new Edmonton-based appaims to become the "Uberof house cleaning."

"Everyone has watched the growth ofUberand Skip the Dishes and all these other on-demand services and, for whatever reason, ... no one has really touched cleaning," said AngusGastle, CEO ofCleanNowon CBC's Radio Active.

"Maybe it's not sexy or maybe they don't understand it."

CleanNowlaunched in Edmonton inNovemberwith plans to expand to Calgary and then across Canada, he said.

Gastle saidhe has already connected with 5,000cleaners throughout the country.

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The idea came out of conversations with people who have used regular cleaning services, but found it difficult to find someone that would stick around, Gastle said.

Clients enter information about the size or their home, the number of bathrooms and bedrooms in the app and it responds with a price quote.

All cleaners that work with CleanNow have a commercial licence andare insured andbonded, he said. Theywork in teams of two for security reasons and split the fee 70-30 with the company.

On-demand workers

Dawit Adem and his wife Rita Negasi started working for CleanNow when it launched.

Adem said the pay is much better than his night job at the University Alberta and withsome positive reviews through the app, they are receiving a request to clean nearly every day.

At this point, the couplecleans two homes in a day.

But if CleanNow becomes too much like Uber employing casual cleaners and not people like him who want to workfull-time hewould find it much less attractive.

Right now it's a reliable source of good work, "but if it's only a house a month then it's not interesting," he said.

"I want to quit my job, I want to clean with CleanNow more," he said, "but I'm not sure with this company what the future will be."

He said he'll be watching to see if it's still a good source of income as the company expands.

"This is not like Uber anddriving," he said, "This is a job. It's cleaningand we need time to clean and we have to be professional."