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Do you charge for estimates, and has it worked for your business?
Does anyone here charge for estimates? I've been thinking about this for a while and curious if anyone has found success with it. I run a handyman business and solely focus on active listings for realtors. I've found that most of the time, when buyer's agents call for me to look at inspection punch list items, they never call back after I send the quote. I can only assume they're using my quote as leverage in the sale to get some sort of credit or concession from the seller. Now I'm thinking of asking which side of the sale they're on and charging if it's the buyer side, or just charging all around. Obviously, our time isn't cheap so I want to honor that. If you're charging for estimates, what kind of rate are you charging?
What are you doing right now to make the phone ring for your business?
what is your go to advertisements or sales tactics to get lead generation? We have been in business for over 17 years now servicing the Tampa bay area and this year has hit us the hardest. I am an isa certified arborist and I do engage in networking and community events but despite our best efforts we are still experiencing a lack of leads. I don't want to just throw money at the wall but we are running out of options. what are some things that are working for you?
How can a dirt or excavation business add recurring services instead of one-off jobs?
My business is 1 year old, first year i did everything to test the market and see what services are in demand. I found property debris clearing is the most prevalent but i did hardscaping, lawn installs, grading and such. For the first year i am surprised how busy i was bringing in about $100k in revenue. Key Point: i find what i am doing are one off jobs and inconsistent, i would like to pursue services that estabishes recurring business. i do not want to mow lawns. What would you suggest a good complimentary business, landscaping such as installing grass, bushes, plants etc or something else?
Referral Credit System Is Very Lacking
This post is feedback, and a place to allow other users to leave feedback, for the Client Referral marketing tool in Jobber. The current client referral system is very lacking for a premium paid feature. We would like to see some deep functionality changes and additions immediately, since this has been around for a while now with no improvements....here is my current thoughts on what could be added or should be changed - Credits need to show in the Clients file (maybe under account balance) Staff needs to know if a credit is available or could apply for sales purposes. Currently its restricted to owners/admins in the marketing section and you can't do anything with that info anyway from there, its pretty useless. Credits need to be usable across the whole system & in the field (mobile invoices), we better for techs in the field ('hey, i see you have credit, would you like to use it on this invoice?') Credits need to be adjustable, we want to be able to add referral credits manually if we see fit. (this is especially ideal for when staff forgets to fill out the referrer entry on a job) which happens all the time. Apply credits anyway we would like (if a client has a $100 in credit, we want to be able to apply that whole amount if they have a huge invoice(s) being paid at once) the current automatic application is not good enough. Credit Amount settings ($ / % amount) should be able to be set based on Client type/tag (if the client is a Builder Partner we want to give them 10%, instead of just the $50 we give to a regular customer per lead) Option to set the Amount of credit ($/%) given based on a range of invoice value (5% for $100-500 invoice amount / 8% for $500-1000 invoice amount / etc) Option to exclude certain Clients from the referral program (we have builder partners that are on a completely different program internally, we do not want there account to also be getting other discounts). Option in Jobber websites to add a Refer A Friend button, so we do not have to rely on the email campaigns that most people don't open. Allow the client to see credits in their portal, and apply them to invoices when making payments.Virtually Estimating with Video and A.I
Check out this recent presentation I gave at the Breakthrough Academy Winter Summit on Virtual Estimating using LiveSwitch and Jobber. I've done over 600 now and saved over 200 man days / year. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions. Cheers. Is it possible to eliminate hundreds of in-person site visits and still grow your electrical business? Cory from Vancity Electric breaks it all down in this powerhouse talk, sharing how his small Vancouver-based company leverages AI and virtual estimating tools like LiveSwitch and Jobber to increase efficiency, boost conversions, and modernize customer experience. This is more than tech talk—it's a blueprint for electricians and tradespeople ready to scale smartly, not stressfully. What you'll learn: How to close 48% of quotes using virtual calls The real cost of in-person estimates (time, fuel, stress) Tools & automations that build trust and win jobs Behind the scenes of AI-driven estimating (yes, it can measure footage!) How to onboard customers like Amazon does—with automations Why speed = professionalism in the customer’s eyes 🎯 Whether you're just starting to explore virtual quoting or you're scaling a service business, this session will leave you with tactical steps and tech you can implement today. Check out the youtube here: https://youtu.be/el6qMhu5vuw?si=iXe_ZYp5fohIG0Ev
How do lawn care businesses manage and reuse email templates for quotes, renewals, and follow-ups?
Would love the option to select email templates. HAd that on a previous crm. for what im doing right now. i do lawn care. i have renewals i am sending out, previous customers im sending them quotes, and reaching out for other customers who used me for other services. they ea need their own opening email. on top of i offer prepay to current customers. it would be nice to be able to select the template for it to drop in where appropriate. sure have the super generic one, but sometimes they need a bit of love. as of now my work flow looks like this. create the email templates in a word document. go to create quote. then email customer. go to word document and copy and paste. yes it works. would be nice to be in house. also for the searching of templates, i will say it can get cluttered. it would nice if you open email, there is the super generic email. a button to the side, replace with a template, you click it creates a drop down menu. it would be great to have folders, that templates can be in, and then you click that folder to get where you want. they can all be there as one list, but the folders, should in theory make it easier to find what your looking for especially, if one is bad a naming them. for me it would look like (big folders) all my main services, mowing aeration seeding, christmas lights. under that i would have current customser former customers prepay email (as thats a seperat thing) etc. not sure if that makes sense.You Get One Billboard.....
If you had one billboard for your business, just a few words seen by thousands of people every day, what would it say? The one message that really explains what you do best and why a customer should choose you over anyone else. Think about what makes your business different, what your best customers appreciate most, or what you wish people understood right away when they hear your name. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s answer!
