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How I Finally Delegated Estimating (Without Hiring Another Person)
For years, estimating was the one thing I couldn’t take off my plate. We changed the org chart. We hired roles. Delegated everything we could. But estimating? That was always me. Even if I wasn’t doing anything else in the business... I was still stuck quoting jobs. It was the bottleneck I couldn’t fix—until now. I built a ChatGPT-powered estimator trained with my systems, my pricing, and my language. It asks the right questions, runs the math, and delivers estimates like I would—without me being involved. Now I’m no longer the bottleneck. Customers get quick answers. I get my evenings and weekends back. Want to build your own? Map out your estimating logic. Plug it into ChatGPT. Test and refine. If you're stuck working all day and doing estimates at night and on Saturdays anddddd, sometimes even Sunday mornings when everyone's sleeping—this might be your way out. Heres my direct Zoom link if you'd like to learn more: https://calendly.com/ryaan-besthandymancompany/bh-plan-phone-consultationHow do you keep it fun AND professional?
I am curious how other owners handle the line between being friendly with their crew and staying professional as the boss. In this kind of work we spend a lot of time with technicians driving to jobs working side by side and solving problems together so naturally there is a lot of joking around and a relaxed environment. At the same time there are moments where you need to switch gears stay focused and have direct conversations about expectations. One situation that came up recently made me think about this more. We have someone on our team in more of a management role. He is a good guy and very capable but sometimes he jokes around in situations where we are trying to stay focused and move the job forward. We also had a situation where instead of having the technician communicate with the client he jumped into a group text and started messaging the client directly which broke the chain of communication we try to maintain. It got me thinking about what kind of guardrails other companies put in place both for themselves and for people in leadership roles. Do you hang out with your crew outside of work or do you keep a clear boundary between work and personal life. And if you have lead techs or managers do you have specific expectations for how they communicate with clients and interact with the rest of the crew. I am curious what has worked well for others.Do you have a Instagram Business account? How are you utilizing tools built within it?
I started my Instagram business account and finally have started posting. I set it up as a business account so I am wondering a few things from this community... Is there features in the business account that you are using that some people could miss? Something to really get your name out there? What types of posts are you creating? What do you find really makes an impact? I want to post some interesting pest related content, crazy situations, heavy infestations, tips and tricks for homeowners...but I am wondering if any has any tips for me, that have worked for them? Feel free to follow along at pestfreecanadaHow can I automatically send an SMS to customers when their ordered part arrives?
I have been trying to use some automation to help with a workflow related to parts. We are an appliance company, and often need to order parts. What I am looking to do is when parts arrive, we generally put a note in the job saying parts in. I would like to try automation that when we say part is in, we send an SMS to the customer saying the part is in and to go to our booking link to setup a return visit. I have tried using integrations like Zapier to Twilio, but cant seem to get it to work based on notes in the job being updated. Anyone else get a workflow like this working?What Should Home Service Businesses Automate First to Save Time?
Small manual tasks start stacking up, catching up on follow-ups, re-adjusting scheduling, invoicing, review requests, the list goes on and on. Sound familiar? What’s one task you’re still doing manually that you know could be automated? What’s stopping you from setting it up?What Supplementary PM Software Are you using with Jobber?
Jobber has that sales pipeline which is still in beta but is limited to the info on jobs. Especially for you GCs out there, what other PM software are you using and HOW are you using it? I've been using a trello board but I feel like most my time is just "cleaning up" the trello board instead of it actually benefitting the business. I'm looking in to a solution that can be more automated with zaps, can help disseminate information from sales to production, and that can help make us more efficient.
Technician Performance Report
I am just coming over from service titan.. One report that is really important to me is technician performance report we had. We could see their avg ticket, their daily avg, month to date sales ect... a report that I can see how much a tech has invoiced for is imperative. Any chance this is coming? How are you other business owners tracking how your tech's are doing? I don't want to pay the guy who is doing bare min. the same as the guys who are taking their job seriously well organised and hustling.
