What's a job you'd hand off if you knew it'd be done right every time?
Whether it's estimates, scheduling, field work, or customer calls, there's usually one task that's really hard to let go of. What’s yours? And if you've successfully handed something off, what finally gave you enough confidence to do it? In this Masters of Home Service episode, Austin Rogers (arogersavai) and Sadi Ingallina (Grow Your Tree Co.) break down one of the toughest transitions for home service owners: stepping out of the field. They share lessons on hiring, training, creating SOPs, and building a business that doesn't depend on the owner being there every day. Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Looking for genuine feedback
I've been building a hiring tool for home service businesses, and I'd love some honest feedback. The idea is simple. Instead of paying job boards every time you need to hire, what if you owned your own hiring pipeline? You enter your job title, pay, schedule, location, and a few screening questions. In seconds, the software creates a branded social media hiring post with a QR code. You can share that QR code anywhere—Facebook groups, Instagram, your storefront, a vehicle magnet, posters, hiring cards, or anywhere potential employees might see it. When someone scans the QR code, they answer your custom screening questions, enter their availability, and apply directly to your job. As soon as they apply, you receive a text notification. The hiring post is completely free to create and download. You only pay if you find an applicant you actually want to contact. After that, it's $99/month to keep your hiring page active and unlock interview scheduling, digital onboarding, document collection, applicant management, employee tracking, and the ability to save great candidates for future openings instead of starting from scratch every time you're hiring. My goal is to help small businesses rely less on job boards and build a hiring system they actually own. Would you pay $99 per month if this consistently helped you find quality employees? What am I missing? I'd really appreciate honest feedback, even if you think it's a terrible idea.
Claim your Territory!
Hello Jobber Community, My name is Mario Visin, Founder of Group7 Home Services LLC. We joined the Jobber community with a spirit of collaboration, learning, and service to the home services professionals who keep our homes, neighborhoods, and communities running. I believe the home services industry is entering one of the most important seasons in its history. Blue-collar workers are becoming entrepreneurs by the thousands. Handymen, roofers, painters, landscapers, installers, restoration experts, and specialty trade professionals are no longer just working jobs — they are building businesses, serving families, and creating the foundation for generational opportunity. The home services industry represents hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity each year. Large suppliers, big-box retailers, and national construction brands have created tremendous wealth from this industry. Yet the heart of the industry has always been the person swinging the hammer, climbing the ladder, knocking the door, answering the emergency call, and doing the work that homeowners depend on. That person is you. That person is me. That person is the blue-collar professional who deserves better systems, better connection, better opportunity, and a clearer path toward building a meaningful life through the trades. One thing I have noticed across many industries is that people often struggle to connect with one another in ways that truly make a difference. We are entering a time where connection and community will matter more than ever. The future will not only belong to the biggest brands or the largest companies. It will belong to those who learn how to connect, serve, collaborate, and build trust with one another. At Group7 Home Services, we are designing a Live-Work-Play vision for the trades — a curriculum and platform strategy focused on helping home services professionals serve one another, grow together, and build wealth through shared relationships, better systems, referral opportunities, and a service-first mindset. This is not just about jobs. It is about lifestyle. It is about family. It is about creating a future so compelling that the next generation sees the trades as a path of pride, ownership, entrepreneurship, and purpose. Strategy matters. Systems matter. Technology matters. But the real transformation begins when good people come together with humility, discipline, and a desire to serve the need before serving the self. I believe larger technology companies serving the trades, including platforms like Jobber, play an important role in this new era. The right technology can help blue-collar entrepreneurs run smoother businesses, communicate better with customers, organize their teams, and create more professional experiences for the homeowners they serve. But technology alone is not the full answer. The real power comes when technology, community, service, craftsmanship, and vision meet at the same table. Group7’s broader mission is Building Thriving Cities by helping people connect around housing, entrepreneurship, education, and local economic opportunity. We believe the home services professional has a major role to play in that transformation because every strong city begins with strong homes, strong workers, strong families, and strong relationships. I am a visionary, and I understand that vision must be protected, refined, and shared with care. But I also believe the home services industry is ready for a new conversation — one centered on dignity, ownership, connection, and a higher conscious level of capitalism where the smaller parts come together to create something greater than any one person could build alone. The big brands we know today started with a dream, a strategy, and a willingness to work for decades. The next great wave of wealth creation may come from like-minded people linking their common threads together, weaving a much larger blanket of opportunity for families, workers, entrepreneurs, and communities. Being part of a community is just the beginning. How we connect matters. Relationships are everything. Work like your life depends on it. Best, Mario Visin Founder, Group7 Home Services LLC
How do owners reduce employee turnover by making their crew feel valued?
People Don't Quit Jobs That See Them. Most cleaning companies treat their crew like they're replaceable. I don't. My crew shows up at 7AM to the jobs nobody wants. The ceiling vents nobody else thinks to clean. The bathrooms, the back rooms, the corners everyone else skips. They stay late on a final walkthrough, not because I made them, but because they wanted it right. I didn't build that. They did. My job is just to notice it. So I say their names. Out loud. In front of the team. Every time someone goes above what the job asked for. What I've learned is simple. People don't quit jobs that see them. They quit jobs that use them. Pay on time. Say the names. Watch what happens to the work.Tell your team the client's name before every job. Not just the address.. the name.
When my crew knows they're cleaning a yoga studio where people show up barefoot at 6AM, or a luxury flagship that opens in 48 hours, they stop thinking about the mop. They think about the standard. That one shift changed everything at for us. The other thing I do, after every job I call out one person by name in our group chat. Not "great job team." Specific. Public. Real. Most of my crew has never had a manager notice their work. When I do, they show up differently every single time. Recognition costs nothing. It builds everything. Cat C- Founder & CEO, Civic Spark Cleaning Co|
How to compensate employees for mileage and drive time between jobs?
Howdy y'all, we're looking for new and/or experienced cleaners in Austin, TX and given the expanse of our service area (drives could be up to 50 miles) I'm trying to source cleaners who live in all four quadrants of the Greater Austin area. [Any recommendations of folks who would make great employees in my area, please shoot me a message!] Understanding that there are a multitude of ways to compensate for mileage or drive time, I'm curious who has found a balance between efficiency and cost. Say a cleaner does 3 cleans in a day and goes directly from home to their first job, and from the last job back to home. Those first and last are 'commute' drives, so we could calculate either a) the distance between jobs 1, 2, and 3, and pay per mile , or b) record the time of arrival at job 1 and the time of completion at job 3, and instead of paying per mile offer an extra $1 or $2 per hour rate so that it is all encompassing. Love to hear your thoughts - thank you!Pros and Cons: Hiring an Employee or Contractor in a Cleaning Business
Our Business has been around for 10 years, and the most painful area has been when we hire contractors and begging poaching customers. We always have to have a plan in place, but when they start acting and we have to run and put fires down some areas in the operation are affected greatly. ]Any Input? Advise or similar experiences?
