The Hindu Business Line : Home improvement

After the last two columns on gloomy stuff like complaint letters and falling service standards, I had planned on a more cheerful topic for this time. However, a month spent in trying to get various house repairs done has, if anything, worsened my mood.

Why is it that getting things done around the house is a task that assumes such nightmarish proportions in India? This is not to say that things are necessarily perfect in the rest of the world - a few months ago, at the other end of the globe, I battled to get the garage opener fixed: the only repair man in the suburb was booked solid for weeks in advance; he only worked from 6 a.m. till noon; and he had a lousy answering service. It took weeks to get the job done, by which time the whole family had become expert in a James Bond kind of manoeuvre, where the garage closer switch would be flicked on, and we'd dash towards the tilting door and slide under it in a burst of adrenaline-induced acrobatics. However, when the person finally did turn up, he was the picture of professionalism and wrapped up the job swiftly and efficiently.

Contrast this to my current - and seemingly never-ending - travails. A tiling project that was to be completed in a week ended in a fiasco when the sheepish contractor confessed (midway through the project, naturally) that he had estimated incorrectly, so we ended with an interesting, if unintended, split level house. Never mind, we told ourselves and toddled back to procure more tiles. Out of stock, they told us, but expected any day. We plonked down an advance order and waited. That was over a month ago. We are still waiting. Oh, the shipment came, but the tiles were the wrong colour. Or, they were in a godown awaiting despatch. Or, they were floating around the country in the custody of a transport agency that cannot be located. Beneath the many perfectly plausible stories that were thrown at us, there is just one deniable truth - we are still tile-less and the house continues to stay in a state of repair.

In the meanwhile, we've had carpenters who cut doors too short and wonder why we are making a big fuss - it's just a small gap, they say comfortingly. Or the plumber who shakes his head in disapproval when we demand a drip-free bathroom. One thing that seems to bind all our `helpers' is the fraternity of the badly-equipped and badly-organised. Carpenters arrive without a hammer, plumbers without a wrench; all of them dip into our store of tools which has been assembled not to fulfill any DIY pretensions, but purely to expedite work and to prevent the shrugged "I don't have the tool so this job will get done some other day" kind of alibi.

After a month of ranting and raving and swapping notes with other fellow sufferers, it is clear that anyone attempting household repairs should not expect any level of perfection. The Indian DNA, it appears, has successfully mutated the gene for process-driven approach, or definition of standards, out of the system ... if this existed at all.

The only bright spark so far, has been our painting experience with Asian Paints' Home Solutions. We handed over the house to them and zipped off for a much needed holiday. They moved the furniture, protected everything with clean plastic sheets and masking tape wherever needed, and cleaned up behind them. They gave a proper estimate, landed up on time, were accessible on phone, and best of all, finished on time as well. Compared to my last encounter with them, it looks like they've become more efficient and yet, personal and flexible enough to accommodate individual requirements. A hassle-free experience: much like the elves in the fairy tale story, they presented me with gleaming walls and a cleaned up floor.

Wouldn't it be nice, we mused, if an organisation like this could handle all house-repair jobs? It isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. True, Asian Paints' Home Solutions was a strategic diversification aimed at ensuring downstream demand by tying up with that crucial influencer - the painter. Yet, does it have to stay limited to that? Consider the new competencies the division has had to acquire: a service mentality, ability to train and handle an essentially unorganised work force of contract-labourers, management of projects that throw up idiosyncratic problems. Consider also what it offers to clients: superb processes that ensure a project stays within time and cost estimates, and a trustworthy crew so you don't have to worry about handing over your house keys. These are perfectly synergistic to a host of other house-related areas, whether it is flooring and bathrooms, or indeed, carpentry and plumbing. All it needs is for Home Solutions to tie up with suppliers (of ceramics, sanitaryware, electricals, and so on) and contractors and to bring to the table its ability to manage logistics and supply-chain tangles.

It looks to me to be the logical extension of this young division, that has, over the last few years, offered proof of concept that a product-centric organisation can move seamlessly into offering services in such a complex environment. I see benefits all around: for the busy family, increasingly nuclear, increasingly workaholic, the benefit of handing all home-repairs and construction worries to a safe service provider; for Asian Paints (or a similarly inclined organisation), the ability to establish itself firmly in Indian homes, and through that trust, grab the massive business can be created if the entire gamut of a nation's domestic plumbing, carpentry, electrical and similar jobs is totted up. It is time for traditional product companies to see services as a huge new opportunity, not just a supplement to their traditional business.

As for me, after my current nightmare I have sworn off home-related projects for the next decade. At the end of which I hope to find that some organisation has seen the light and that all my home improvements find a happy solution.

(Radhika Chadha is a consultant in strategy and innovation. Karate-gy is the proprietary name of the strategic exercises conducted by Paradigm Management Knowhow Ltd.)

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