Presented For

totalcleanz

CLEAN SPACES INVISIBLE WORK

Cleaning is one of those invisible responsibilities that keeps coming back. It is easy to ignore until it starts taking up our time and peace of mind.

Scroll to explore

Cleaning Is Never Done

Cleaning is often perceived as a simple, everyday task. But in reality, it requires consistent time, effort, and attention.

In Singapore, individuals spend an estimated 3 to 5 hours each week on household cleaning, amounting to over 150 hours a year.

This highlights an important reality: cleaning is not a one-time activity, but a repeated commitment that accumulates over time.

0

Hours Per Year

≈

0

Days Per Year

Spent on household cleaning in Singapore

Watch our group attempt to clean our rooms

How much of a burden is cleaning in your life?

Rarely Sometimes Frequently

Cleaning may not feel like a regular disruption.

Survey distribution: 74.7% experience cleaning impact at least sometimes

Rarely

16%

Sometimes

75%

Frequently

9%

Cleaning rarely feels urgent, but it does not go away. For most people, it stays in the background and returns often enough to take up time and energy. What seems like a small task on its own becomes more demanding when it keeps repeating.

Our survey found that 74.7% of respondents experience household responsibilities affecting their daily schedule at least occasionally, with most indicating that this happens sometimes. This shows that cleaning is not seen as an immediate problem, but as an ongoing and low-level demand.

As a result, people tend to manage it rather than fully deal with it. Cleaning is fitted into existing routines instead of being addressed directly. Over time, this leads to a gradual build-up of effort that shapes daily habits and decisions.

It is this gradual accumulation, rather than urgency, that leads people to consider external support.

The Reality of the Cleaning Industry

How people try to keep up

As the demands of cleaning grow over time, people begin to look outward for support.

When services are used, they are typically reserved for more demanding tasks rather than everyday upkeep. This points to a clear pattern. Cleaning services are not part of routine living, but something people turn to once a certain threshold has been crossed.

In our survey, 41% of respondents reported having used a paid cleaning service, particularly those managing heavier household responsibilities. Even so, outsourcing is rarely immediate. Most continue to handle cleaning on their own until it starts to take up too much time or becomes physically taxing.

Among those who have used cleaning services:

48% use them more than once a month
52% use them less than once a month
53.3% of respondents with dependents have used cleaning services
60% of respondents whose household responsibilities affect their schedule most of the time

This behaviour is shaped by both motivation and constraint. Convenience is the dominant driver, with 56% of respondents ranking it as their top reason. This points to a clear preference for saving time and reducing effort.

However, this motivation does not directly translate into regular adoption. Usage is limited by key barriers, especially cost at 82%, along with a lack of perceived need at 49.2% and privacy or safety concerns at 37.7%.

Motivations

1Convenience92%
2Quality82.7%
3Physical difficulty42.7%

Barriers

1Cost82%
2Lack of need49.2%
3Privacy / safety concerns37.7%

For those who do engage cleaning services, decision-making is guided by practical considerations. Price (77%), reliability (62%), and quality (59%) are the most important factors when choosing a provider, indicating a focus on affordability and risk reduction rather than brand or experience.

What's in a service?

Functional Factors

Price77.3%
Reliability62.7%

Risk Factors

Quality of service60.0%
Reviews42.7%
Professionalism34.7%

Human Factors

Friendly staff13.3%
Worker treatment8.0%

Together, these factors create a clear tension. People are motivated to use cleaning services by convenience, but actual usage is limited by cost and trust concerns. When they do choose a service, they place more emphasis on price and reliability than on brand or experience.

Choosing between what feels the same

The cleaning services industry in Singapore is large, regulated, and essential. There are more than 1,400 licensed cleaning companies and over 50,000 cleaners working across the sector.

However, this growth has not led to stronger differentiation. Instead, the industry remains highly functional and commoditised. When choosing a cleaning service, respondents tend to focus on a very narrow set of factors — price, reliability, and quality — while other considerations fall far behind.

Commoditised

Functional & standardised

Price-Driven

Competition on cost

Low Differentiation

Easy switching

This is clearly seen in our survey results. Many respondents were unable to name any cleaning service brand, with common responses such as "none" or "no idea." Among those who could recall a brand, most mentioned only a few names like Urban Company and Helpling, while others appeared only occasionally.

This suggests that the industry is not driven by brands, but by search behaviour. Services are not remembered, but accessed when needed. Visibility becomes more important than identity.

Brand Recall Landscape

22%Helpling

14%Urban Company

11%Totalcleanz

6%Luce

5%Kungfu Helper

3%Snappy Home

2%BeMitey Clean

Size indicates relative awareness · percentages reflect survey recall

This functional perspective also extends to how cleaners are perceived. While 91.8% of respondents say they personally respect cleaners, only 16.4% believe that the industry is respected in society. This highlights a clear gap between individual attitudes and broader social perception.

Do you personally respect cleaning workers?

Be honest — your answer is anonymous

This creates a deeper contradiction. Cleaning services are entirely delivered by people, yet the people themselves are largely excluded from how value is defined.

Where Totalcleanz Stands

A brand within the blur

Low Awareness and Weak Differentiation

0% Not aware

Brand Recognition

of respondents had never heard of Totalcleanz before this survey.

Not aware — 85.2%
Aware — 14.8%

n = 61 respondents

A Functional but Generic Identity

Professional70.5% Reliable45.9% Trustworthy37.7% Personal23.0% Caring21.3%

Brand Identity

When people do have a perception of Totalcleanz, it's generally positive but quite functional. These are expected qualities, not things that make a brand stand out.

Among aware respondents

Distinctiveness Drives Consideration

0.00

Correlation (r)

Distinctiveness ↔ Consideration

Why It Matters

People who see Totalcleanz as different from other cleaning companies are much more likely to consider using it in the future.

Being competent builds trust, but it is distinctiveness that drives real consideration.

1 / 3

Opportunity to Build Distinctiveness

Another gap is the people behind the service. While respondents recognize that cleaning work is tough, physically demanding, underpaid, and often exhausting, they don't connect this reality to the Totalcleanz brand.

Right now, Totalcleanz sits in a space of functional parity. It is present and it delivers what is expected, but it lacks the clarity and uniqueness needed to become a preferred choice.

The Limits of Functional Value

The Pattern Emerges

The findings so far point to a consistent pattern. Cleaning services are evaluated through a narrow set of functional criteria, shaped by cost, reliability, and expected outcomes. These factors dominate decision-making across both users and non-users, reinforcing a common basis for comparison across providers.

However, this also reveals the limits of how value is currently defined. When performance is assessed primarily through function, improvements tend to be incremental rather than transformative.

The Gap Between Awareness and Action

Respondents demonstrate strong recognition of the challenges faced by cleaners, including demanding working conditions and low pay. Yet these considerations are not reflected in how services are chosen.

As long as cleaning continues to be understood primarily as a task to be completed, the industry will remain anchored in functional value, with limited room for differentiation.

Understanding the Empathy Gap

Across all three levels, a consistent pattern emerges. At the employee level, the people delivering the service remain largely invisible. At the company level, differentiation is constrained by a focus on functional performance. At the industry level, the work is recognised as vital, but not fully valued.

Employee — The Invisible Workforce

Tension

Cleaning services are entirely dependent on human labour, yet the individuals delivering the service are not central to how value is perceived.

Survey findings indicate that while respondents recognise the effort and challenges faced by cleaners, these considerations are not reflected in decision-making. Factors related to friendliness or treatment of workers remain secondary, suggesting that the role of the cleaner is acknowledged, but not actively considered.

This pattern is also reflected in the perception of Totalcleanz, where the brand is not strongly associated with the individuals delivering the service. As a result, cleaners remain operationally essential, but perceptually peripheral.

Key Issue

However, internal insights suggest a different reality. Interviews and site observations indicate that cleaners within Totalcleanz are supported through closer management involvement and a stronger emphasis on employee well-being, particularly at the leadership level.

This reveals a misalignment between internal practice and external perception. While the organisation appears to place value on its workforce, this is not clearly communicated or experienced by customers. As a result, an existing strength does not translate into perceived value.

Implications

The issue, therefore, is not the absence of a human dimension, but its lack of visibility.

This suggests that Totalcleanz does not need to create new sources of value at the employee level, but rather to surface and integrate what already exists. By making the people behind the service more visible and relevant to the customer experience, the brand can begin to expand how its service is understood and valued.

Company — Present, but not memorable

Tension

At the company level, Totalcleanz is perceived as a competent and reliable service provider, yet lacks a clearly differentiated position within the category.

Survey findings show that the brand is most strongly associated with attributes such as professionalism, reliability, and trustworthiness, indicating that it meets core expectations of service delivery. However, these attributes are widely shared across competitors and therefore reinforce parity rather than distinction.

This is further reflected in the lack of clarity around the brand's offering, with a portion of respondents unsure of what Totalcleanz provides. Taken together, these patterns suggest that while the brand is seen as capable, it is not clearly defined in the minds of consumers.

Key Issue

The central issue lies in the absence of a distinct and coherent positioning. Totalcleanz operates within the same evaluative framework that governs the industry, where services are assessed primarily through cost, consistency, and expected outcomes.

Within this framework, functional strength becomes a baseline requirement rather than a source of advantage. Without clear signals of differentiation, the brand remains one of many comparable options, rather than a distinct choice within the consideration set.

This is reinforced by the relationship between perception and intent. Respondents who perceive that Totalcleanz stands out are significantly more likely to consider using the brand, highlighting the role of differentiation in shaping preference.

Implications

Improving performance alone is unlikely to shift perception in a meaningful way. While functional competence is necessary, it is not sufficient to influence choice in a crowded and standardised market.

For Totalcleanz to move beyond this position, it must establish a clearer basis for distinction that extends beyond operational delivery and reshapes how the brand is understood within the category.

Industry — Vital work, Unseen Value

Tension

At the level of the industry, a broader contradiction emerges. Cleaning is widely recognised as essential work, yet the profession itself is not accorded equivalent recognition or status.

Survey findings show that while respondents express personal respect for cleaners, far fewer believe that the industry is respected in society. This highlights a gap between individual attitudes and collective perception, where the importance of the work is acknowledged, but its value remains limited.

At the same time, there is strong awareness of the challenges faced within the industry, including low wages, heavy workloads, and physically demanding conditions. However, these considerations are not reflected in how services are chosen.

Key Issue

The key issue lies in the disconnect between awareness and behaviour. Although the human effort behind cleaning is recognised, it is not integrated into how value is defined or evaluated.

Instead, cleaning services continue to be understood primarily as functional tasks, assessed through cost and outcome rather than the conditions or effort involved. This limits the visibility of labour and reinforces a narrow definition of value across the category.

Implications

The implication is that the industry is constrained not by a lack of demand, but by a limited understanding of value. As long as cleaning is framed primarily as a task to be completed, both the service and the people delivering it will remain undervalued.

Meaningful differentiation will therefore require a shift in how the service is understood, one that brings greater visibility to the human dimension and expands the criteria through which value is assessed.

Let us hear from some of Totalcleanz's employees on their thoughts

The opportunity therefore lies not in improving service delivery alone, but in expanding how the service and the people behind it are understood.

Redefining What Matters

Four actionable strategies to transform Totalcleanz from trusted to memorable, from generic to distinctive.

What — Reframe the service

Reframe cleaning from a task-based outcome to a human-centred service
Shift focus from what is cleaned, to how it is cleaned and by whom
Position cleaning as a service shaped by effort, skill, care, and professionalism

Why — Evidence and rationale

Decision-making is currently driven by functional criteria: price (77%), reliability (62%), quality (59%)
Strong awareness of cleaners' realities: low pay (93%), heavy workload (64%), poor conditions (49%)
Totalcleanz is seen as professional (70.5%), reliable (45.9%), trustworthy (37.7%) — but weakly associated with personal (23.0%) or caring (21.3%)

How — Implementation

Reframe all brand communication to emphasise the effort and expertise behind cleaning
Highlight the professionalism of cleaners as service providers
Shift messaging from "clean results" to "careful, skilled service delivery"
Ensure consistency across brand language, visuals, and tone

Impact — Expected outcomes

Broadens how consumers define value, from outcome-focused to process- and effort-aware
Creates a new evaluation dimension beyond price and reliability
Enables differentiation without changing core service delivery
Increases the likelihood of preference by making the service feel more meaningful

What — Make hidden strengths visible

Make the existing strengths of Totalcleanz visible to customers, rather than introducing entirely new value
Reveal the people behind the service, the effort and process involved, and the care and standards within the organisation
Shift from value experienced internally → to value clearly perceived externally

Why — Evidence and rationale

Strong functional performance: professional (70.5%), reliable (45.9%), trustworthy (37.7%)
Evidence of employee care from interviews and site observations
Low awareness of the offering (19.7% unsure) and weak emotional association

How — Strategic direction

Increase transparency around how services are delivered and how employees are trained and supported
Surface internal practices such as employee care, service protocols, and quality control measures
Align internal reality with external messaging

Impact — Expected outcomes

Reduces the gap between internal value and external perception
Strengthens credibility by showing real, verifiable practices
Improves clarity of what Totalcleanz represents beyond basic service delivery
Creates a more tangible basis for differentiation

What — Expand discovery

Move from passive, need-based discovery → to proactive, targeted engagement through digital and physical touchpoints
Target high-propensity segments such as elderly households and families
Create trust-building, memorable first interactions

Why — Evidence and rationale

85.2% of respondents have not heard of Totalcleanz
Discovery is largely passive, relying on word-of-mouth
Respondents with dependents: 53.3% usage; with time constraints: 60% usage
Trust remains a barrier at first interaction (privacy/safety concerns 37.7%)

How — Strategic direction

Adopt a dual-channel discovery approach combining digital experience with targeted physical activation
Deploy location-based activations (e.g. supermarkets such as NTUC)
Use tangible entry points: free household items, trial-based offers
Reinforce with digital follow-through: human stories and process transparency

Impact — Expected outcomes

Increases brand awareness through proactive exposure
Improves conversion by targeting high-need segments
Reduces trust barriers through face-to-face interaction
Reduces reliance on passive word-of-mouth for growth

What — Define the standards

Move from competing as a functional cleaning service → to setting the benchmark for how cleaning services should be delivered
Focus on defining clear standards for quality, process, and worker treatment
Position Totalcleanz as the reference point for the category

Why — Evidence and rationale

The industry is characterised by commoditisation: price (77%), reliability (62%), quality (59%)
Mismatch between personal respect (91.8%) and perceived societal respect (16.4%)
Totalcleanz already demonstrates strong internal practices: structured processes, employee care, training and safety, long employee tenure

How — Strategic direction

Translate internal strengths into category-defining standards — establish a clear "Totalcleanz Standard"
Educate customers and shift evaluation criteria from price and outcomes to standards and professionalism
Use transparency and storytelling to demonstrate operational discipline and employee care
Lead industry narratives — position Totalcleanz as both operator and advocate

Impact — Expected outcomes

Shifts customer evaluation from price-based comparison → to standards-based assessment
Positions Totalcleanz as the benchmark for the category
Builds authority and credibility beyond functional service delivery
Strengthens long-term brand equity while reinforcing social impact

Final Reflections

Spending time with Cheryl and learning about the cleaning industry helped us see that empathy is not something we can decide once and forget. It is built through small, repeated acts of noticing and understanding the people around us, especially those we tend to overlook.

Empathy can begin at home. When children see their parents doing daily cleaning work, and that effort is talked about and acknowledged, it becomes easier to notice similar effort in cleaners and in others. Over time, this turns appreciation from a one-off "thank you" into a way of seeing the world.

In the context of cleaning, this means going beyond simple respect. It means seeing the labour, care, and responsibility behind the work, and helping the next generation value all forms of work that are often taken for granted.

At the same time, this awareness supports self-empathy. In a world where people are constantly pushed to perform, learning to recognise effort in both others and in ourselves makes it easier to value our own contributions.

A small thank you to the cleaners who keep our spaces going.

The Path Forward

Real differentiation will come not from cleaning better, but from helping people finally see the value of those who do the cleaning.

CLEAN SPACES INVISIBLE WORK

Cleaning Is Never Done

Survey distribution: 74.7% experience cleaning impact at least sometimes

The Reality of the Cleaning Industry

Among those who have used cleaning services:

Motivations

Barriers

What's in a service?

Functional Factors

Risk Factors

Human Factors

Choosing between what feels the same

Commoditised

Price-Driven

Low Differentiation

Brand Recall Landscape

Where Totalcleanz Stands

Low Awareness and Weak Differentiation

A Functional but Generic Identity

Distinctiveness Drives Consideration

Opportunity to Build Distinctiveness

The Limits of Functional Value

The Pattern Emerges

The Gap Between Awareness and Action

Understanding the Empathy Gap

The Invisible Workforce

Present, but not memorable

Vital work, Unseen Value

Tension

Key Issue

Implications

Tension

Key Issue

Implications

Tension

Key Issue

Implications

Let us hear from some of Totalcleanz's employees on their thoughts

Redefining What Matters

Humanising Cleaning as a Service

What — Reframe the service

Why — Evidence and rationale

How — Implementation

Impact — Expected outcomes

Making Invisible Value Visible

What — Make hidden strengths visible

Why — Evidence and rationale

How — Strategic direction

Impact — Expected outcomes

Moving from Passive Discovery to Active Presence

What — Expand discovery

Why — Evidence and rationale

How — Strategic direction

Impact — Expected outcomes

From Service Provider to Category Leader

What — Define the standards

Why — Evidence and rationale

How — Strategic direction

Impact — Expected outcomes

Final Reflections

A small thank you to the cleaners who keep our spaces going.

Community Reflections