When is the busiest time for home services?

When to book home services: what a year of searches shows

Singaporeans looked for aircon help most often in September, June and April, for cleaning help in February, September and January, and for plumbing help in September, November and July. Plumbing changed the least through the year, so the data shows no strong plumbing season.

The table lists each trade's three busiest months for searches (busiest first), its lowest month and its peak-to-low ratio. The ratio is the busiest month's searches divided by the quietest month's. A ratio of 1.31 means the busiest month had 1.31 times the searches of the quietest, and a higher ratio means a sharper swing.

February was the lowest month for four of the six trades: aircon, electrician, handyman and plumbing. Cleaning and water heater searches went the other way, with February among their three busiest months. If a job can be planned, use your trade's busy months as a rough guide and book ahead of them.

Aircon: before the hot months and the monsoon

If you are wondering about the busiest months for aircon servicing, this data can only show when people searched. Aircon searches were highest in September, June and April, and lowest in February, with a peak-to-low ratio of 1.83.

The weather offers some context. Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) says hot afternoons are common in the first inter-monsoon period, from late March to May, and that the Southwest Monsoon runs from June to September. April falls in that first inter-monsoon period, and June and September open and close the Southwest Monsoon. This is context, not a cause the data proves: searches show when people looked, not why.

If you would rather book early in the year, February was the quietest month for aircon searches, and our guide to aircon servicing before Chinese New Year covers that timing.

Cleaning: Chinese New Year

Cleaning searches peaked in February, with September second and January third. The quietest month was April, and the peak-to-low ratio was 1.67. In the year covered, Chinese New Year (CNY) fell in February, so the cleaning peak around CNY sat in the same month as the festival.

This is a pattern in searches, and the data alone does not prove the reason. Many households book cleaning before CNY, so booking earlier gives you more choice of dates. CNY moves between January and February from year to year, so check the festival date before you plan.

September, the second-busiest month for cleaning, is far from the festival, and the data does not show why. For planning the run-up to the festival, see the CNY cleaning timeline.

Plumbing, electrical and handyman

Plumbing was the flattest trade, with a peak-to-low ratio of 1.31. Searches were highest in September, November and July and lowest in February. That fits the work itself: leaks and chokes do not wait for a season.

Electrician and handyman searches both peaked in June, the school holidays, and were lowest in February. After June, electrician searches were highest in September and November, and handyman searches in July and January. Electrician searches had the widest swing of any trade, at 1.98.

Water heater searches followed their own path: highest in April, January and February, and lowest in October.

These are patterns, not causes. The data cannot say why June was busy for electrical and handyman searches. For routine jobs you can spread across the year, see the home maintenance calendar.

Method and limits

HomezyPro summed Google Keyword Planner monthly search estimates for Singapore over 12 months, from September to August, for each trade. Each trade's total covers the keywords we judged relevant: 476 for aircon, 177 for cleaning, 396 for electrician, 613 for handyman, 456 for plumbing and 54 for water heater. Pest terms were not in the keyword set, so pest control is not covered. The peak-to-low ratio compares each trade's busiest and quietest months, so it shows the size of the swing, not how many people searched.

The data has clear limits:

• Keyword Planner figures are rounded estimates, not exact counts or official statistics.
• The data covers one year only, so it cannot show whether the pattern repeats.
• February is a short month, so its totals cover fewer days than other months.
• Searches are not bookings or prices.

For published prices rather than searches, see the price transparency study and the aircon price data study. To see where the directory's price figures come from, read how HomezyPro sources prices.

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