Finding a housekeeper via app

A Brooklyn couple is using their own experience to make life easier for other New Yorkers.

Steve and Sade Metellus got sick of spending so much time cleaning so they created an on-demand housekeeping app called Geniemates. The husband and wife team, high school sweethearts from Canarsie, Brooklyn, only launched Geniemates last month but their concept is catching on fast.

Forgot to call a cleaning service and your girlfriend is moving in today? No problem. Geniemates handles those kinds of last-minute cleaning services all the time.

Steve Metellus says that all you need to do is give them your ZIP code, and the Genies will assess your situation in an hour. They're able to get there so quickly thanks to an algorithm they've developed that matches a client to a cleaning professional within a 5-mile radius.

Just download the Geniemates app, send a text, and they'll send a Genie your way. Don't have an iOS device? You can call them directly, too.

The idea for Geniemates came from the Metelluses' own struggle to work, take care of their three sons, and keep their house in order. Steve says they just wanted to free up their time. Sade says they love to play basketball with their boys and are not the type of family that wants to stay in the house cleaning for three hours.

So they got started and launched the business on a shoestring budget of less than $500. They kept Geniemates hyper-local at first, testing out their cleaning service and algorithm on family and friends in the Brooklyn area, doing a lot of the work themselves.

They now use independent contractors in the five boroughs and Nassau County, scrubbing bathrooms on demand and offering competitive pricing.

Sade says their basic cleaning costs $40 per hour with a minimum of two hours for the service, which includes basic dusting, wiping, cleaning. Need a little extra elbow grease? Not a problem. They can do deep cleans as needed. Just ask.

Steve and Sade Metellus say people want time to live, and to go out, and that's what their service is doing: giving time back to a lot of families and busy professionals.

Geniemates is offering a special promotion through Mother's Day. Order a two-hour basic cleaning for the mom in your life and they'll bring along a bottle of wine or bouquet of flowers.

As for the future of the business, they're currently in the process of bringing in their first round of outside funding, with the dream of someday becoming the Uber of cleaning companies.

www.geniemates.com