Home service industry among last pots of gold on Internet

New York

THE installation of Deborah David's new kitchen faucet was a US$180 job. But it lies at the heart of an expanding US$400 billion commercial war.

Some of the biggest names in e-commerce along with a growing pool of startups are vying for a chunk of the fragmented, quotidian, heretofore entirely local market of electricians, plumbers, dog walkers and other manual labour, known broadly as home services.