Why your 'Best' work still gets you 3-star reviews
After 30+ years in the industry—from project managing hotel builds and overseeing regional engineering to running my own construction and painting companies—I’ve realized a hard truth: A project can be technically perfect, but if the communication was poor, the client won't remember the quality—they'll remember the frustration. In my experience, managing expectations is at least 50% of the job. Whether it’s arrival times, scope creep, or project delays, the 'technical fix' is rarely the hardest part of the business. The hard part is the human element. You can deliver a flawless renovation, but if you didn't manage the expectations surrounding that job, you’ve left a door open for a headache. I’m curious—what’s the one 'service expectation' you’ve struggled with the most while trying to grow your business? Let's break down how to standardize that process so it doesn't break your workflow.🎉 Phase 2 Is Complete! How’s Everyone Feeling?
🎉 Phase 2 is officially complete! Congrats to everyone who made it this far. Looking back, what was the biggest challenge you faced—and what part of your application are you most proud of? Wishing everyone the very best as we wait for the next step! 🚀38Views3likes4CommentsJob Forms (Checklists) Not Good Enough For Tracking Job Status
Jobber advertises being able to track the progress/completion of Jobs using the Forms (checklist) function. Where it is attached to the Job when creating it. But it seems very deficient and does not really work as advertised or implied. If you have multiple visits or follow-ups to a Job, especially if its because something wasn't complete on an initial visit, that the checklist form wouldn't have been completed... but when you schedule a new visit for crew to go back to that Job to complete the prior visit, you are presented with a whole new Form attached to that visit... the form is blank. Filling out a whole new version of the same form already partially filled out makes no sense to me, we would want the Form/Checklist to show the items that were already completed. Then we easily know what we have left to do on this follow-up visit. And, the only place to view the Job Form status info is either directly in the form, or in Reports. Reports is a great view, and feels like actual Project Management, you can view the status of the Job essentially based on Form data... but again, you end up with multiples of the same form showing up on that screen, one for every time there is a new visit. This makes that view messy, hard to track the true status, making the Report faulty data, and again makes no sense. This in no way is a Job form to me, its a Visit form. And that is NOT the same thing. All of this data input across all Forms should be collective, and ideally we should see the Completion Status of that form on the JOB level view and pop-ups, this would give all users the ability to see the status of the Job and whats left to do at a glance. In short, you should only ever have 1 instance of the specific Form, or Forms, associated with the Job (or atleast the option to make it so) and it follows every subsequent visit showing the prior checked off items. We often have multiple checklists associated with a single Job, as each form is needed for 1 of multiple phases of that Job, which is completed over months. We are already lacking 'Project' level management for handling large multi-phase Jobs, if the Forms function was linked properly it would make it feel less lacking overall, as these Forms could act more like project management and status tracking. Or, am I missing something? Or could we get tight integration with an App/3rd Party service that could fill that Project Management gap?Solved234Views2likes3CommentsGrants
Statement of Appreciation: Grant Phase 2 Completion "As we officially wrap up Phase 2 of this process, I want to express my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to apply for these grant funds. Running a heavy fabrication business requires balancing intense daily physical production with the constant need for strategic, high-tech upgrades. Opportunities like this grant are game-changers for independent shops like ours—allowing us to fast-track our capacity, invest in our crew's safety, and scale our operations to the next level. Thank you for your time, consideration, and dedication to supporting local trades and businesses. We are excited about the potential to put these funds to work and build a stronger future for our team and our community." Diego Iron CompanyChallenges Getting Accurate & Competitive Quotes — Anyone Else?
Hey everyone. Wanted to start a conversation around something I think a lot of us deal with daily. Getting quotes right is hard. Too high and you lose the job. Too low and you regret winning it. A few challenges I keep running into: Translating plans and site conditions into accurate material and labor costs Material prices changing between quote and job start Knowing what the market will bear in your area Finding customers who care about quality, not just the cheapest bid I've been using Jobber to streamline the quoting side. Building out templates, tracking job history to compare estimated vs. actual costs, and following up on open quotes automatically. It's helped, but the estimating accuracy piece still takes real discipline. Would love to hear from the community: What's your quoting process start to finish? How do you handle rising material costs in your pricing? Where are you finding your best customers? Any Jobber features that have helped you quote faster or more accurately? Drop your experience below — whether you've got it figured out or you're still grinding through it like the rest of us. 👇21Views3likes2CommentsWhat Do You Do To Minimize Workers Comp Claim Exposure?
I had an employee that was with me for maybe 5 weeks that I was going to let go (wasn't meshing well with the team, not very coachable) and then he "pulled his back" on a job site picking something up incorrectly. He even said he went to pick up a heavy object sideways and with one arm. He's been on workers comp 10 months and between treatment and his compensation, the claim is over $100k! My company is in California so we probably have the least favorable laws for companies. My insurance guy said we did everything right. Sent him to a facility right away to be evaluated, called workers comp. Since then we have implemented a "buddy lifting" training. My insurance guy also told me that even if we documented that he has a history of doing things incorrectly, that he would still be in the workers comp system. So my question to you guys - what measures do you take to prevent something like this from happening? Do you have regular safety meetings? Trainings? What do those look like?33Views2likes7CommentsRoll Call! Meet & introduce yourself to other Construction and Home Improvement pros
If you’ve ever thought, “How are other businesses like mine handling this?” you’re in the right place! This space is for Construction and Home Improvement pros to connect, compare notes, and talk shop with others who understand the day-to-day realities of running your type of business. 👋 Introduce Yourself Drop a comment and tell us: Your name Business name Industry Years in business Location (City/State/Province) Let us know if you’re joining us for LIVE networking on March 17 (more details below) The more context you share, the better connections you’ll make. 🙌 Pro tip: Search your city or state in the forum to easily find other pros in your area. 📅 Want to connect LIVE? We’re running a pilot to host virtual weekly LIVE Industry Networking starting on March 17, running until April 7. If you’d be interested in joining for the first or following sessions (don’t need to commit to all but you're welcome to join!), make sure to let us know in the comments. 🤝 Culture of this space Think of this forum board like a room full of peers who understand your world. Share what’s working. Ask real questions. Talk through challenges. The goal is to power your success and raise the standard of home service industries together. 💬 Looking for conversation starters? This space works best when conversations are industry-specific and experience-based. You might jump in with something like: “How are other [industry] pros pricing this service right now?” “Is anyone else seeing this shift in their market?” “What’s been working for you when it comes to ____?" 🤔 Why are industries grouped together? We’ve intentionally clustered similar industries to keep conversations active and relevant. These groupings reflect shared business models, operational challenges, and pricing conversations so you can learn from peers who “get it,” even if they’re not in your exact trade. If your question applies to all home service businesses, feel free to post in our broader forum boards. Pro tip: Check out the industry tags to get even more specific Looking forward to seeing this space come to life. 🚀1.2KViews5likes63Comments