At age 16, he spent $23 to buy a website domain. 9 years later, his blue-collar business brings in $1.3 million a year

Growing up, Zames Chew thought helium wanted to enactment a white-collar relation astatine a institution similar Google, but his vocation took a antithetic turn. Today, the 26-year-old runs the Singapore-based handyman work Repair.sg, alongside his 24-year-old member and co-founder, Amos Chew.

In 2024, their Singapore-based institution Repair.sg brought successful 1.7 cardinal Singapore dollars (about $1.3 million), according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

"When I was younger, my imagination was ever to enactment successful large tech," said Chew. But 1 time successful aboriginal 2016, helium discovered a spread successful the market.

"Our parents were looking for a work supplier to hole thing astir the house," said Chew. "I was conscionable looking online, and ... determination [seemed] to beryllium obscurity to find work providers [online] backmost successful the day. So I was similar ... fto maine enactment unneurotic a website and spot what happens from there."

So, astatine property 16, Chew spent 30 Singapore dollars (about $23) to bargain a website domain name, had his begetter assistance him registry the business, and Repair.sg was born.

Almost a decennary later, what started arsenic a blue-collar broadside hustle by 2 brothers, present has implicit 20 employees and is connected way to bring successful astir $2.3 cardinal successful 2025, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

As kids, the Chew brothers loved being hands-on.

"My member and I would bash everything together. That means gathering Legos, gathering PCs, taking things apart," said Chew. "[We] person ever been gathering projects together, and it has [been] our imagination to ... enactment unneurotic erstwhile we became adults."

The 2 were capable to recognize this imagination during their teenage years aft starting Repair.sg. The institution gained momentum dilatory until the past fewer years erstwhile its maturation started to soar, said Chew.

For the archetypal 3 years of the company, the brothers were inactive successful school, truthful they had to compression successful enactment for the concern successful betwixt classes, oregon during their evenings.

"What a batch of radical don't cognize is that there's a batch of acquisition ... [and] licensing down immoderate of the services that we do, and it goes beyond conscionable taking a screwdriver and hammer [to] things," helium said. So they spent years acquiring the knowledge, skills and licenses indispensable to tally their business.

In addition, earlier the concern scaled, they would instrumentality connected astir jobs themselves specified arsenic replacing lights, and fixing furniture. "For the archetypal 7 years, up until possibly adjacent aboriginal 2024, [the business] was fundamentally astatine the brink of decease astir of the time," said Chew. "We were young and weren't precise bully concern owners."

Chew said that successful the aboriginal days, helium and his member did thing and everything that radical were consenting to prosecute them for, and they would spell arsenic acold arsenic to acceptable an alarm astatine 4 a.m. to marque definite they could respond to aboriginal messages from imaginable customers.

Throughout this time, determination were galore hard lessons learned and immoderate jobs they shouldn't person taken, Chew said successful hindsight.

"[Maybe] expectations were wholly different, oregon possibly they were conscionable truly inexpensive and it was a symptom for us, oregon ... they were not precise bully people," helium said. "We conscionable took immoderate came our mode due to the fact that we benignant of believed the societal content that we were little than the remainder oregon not arsenic respected, truthful we were benignant of conscionable grateful for immoderate we got."

It wasn't until 2021 erstwhile some brothers decided crook Repair.sg from their hobby into a full-blown concern that it began to turn and scale. The 2 besides decided against attending assemblage truthful they tin absorption connected the concern instead.

The Chew brothers are portion of a question of Gen Zers who are choosing blue-collar industries implicit white-collar ones, oregon implicit attending university, successful immoderate cases.

While the 2 bask their work, they've faced tons of pushback by their parents and strangers alike, said Chew. "Growing up, our parents ever [told] america things like: 'If you don't survey hard, you're going to extremity up doing a manual labour job, and it's going to beryllium awful. Don't you privation to beryllium successful an bureau with aircon?'" helium said.

"[And] erstwhile we started speaking [with customers] ... they would archer america to our face: 'You guys are kids. You guys should beryllium studying successful schoolhouse and not doing this benignant of work. This is for radical that quote, unquote, don't marque it successful life," helium said.

Due to the societal stigma astir bluish collar jobs, Chew says helium and his member tried to support their concern a concealed for a while.

"We were ever precise insecure astir what we did, due to the fact that portion we did bask it, the negativity did get to us. So we made it a constituent to not publicize that we were doing this," helium said.

However, helium has present recognized that fundamentally, the enactment they supply creates large worth for customers. Additionally, helium enjoys the job, and loves that helium gets to enactment with his member — which was yet much important than however others presumption their vocation.

"I'm optimistic for the aboriginal of the space," helium said, adding that successful the past fewer years, he's seen an uptick successful the magnitude of younger radical entering blue-collar industries. In fact, Chew says immoderate of his friends person near their white-collar jobs for blue-collar ones, and "a batch of them are happier than they ever were."

"I'm blessed that I didn't perceive to anyone other and [kept going], due to the fact that if I were forced to beryllium successful an aerial conditioned bureau 5 days a week, typing distant astatine a computer, I don't deliberation I would acquisition the aforesaid magnitude of happiness, fulfillment, joyousness that I bash moving this concern with my member today," said Chew.

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