Are you using AI in your business yet or still “just curious”?
Where are you at with AI right now? A) Not using it at all B) Using it for basic stuff (e.g., emails, replies) C) Using it for ops (e.g., estimating, training, reporting) D) “We run everything through AI” level—share below how you’re using it! In this episode of Masters of Home Service, PhilRisher and ryaantuttle share real-world ways home service pros are using AI to: Speed up estimating and hiring processes Create ready-to-use marketing content Prep for the shift from traditional SEO to AEO and GEO Want to put these tips into action? Download our free AI starter toolkit (includes scripts and pro tips). Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
What has improved customer retention the most in your business?
One thing I underestimated early on was how much customers pay attention to consistency. I’ve had customers mention things I never thought they were noticing: whether the gate was fully latched whether we showed up around the same time how quickly we responded to a text whether communication felt organized That we would clean up some trash debris in the yard or bring their garbage cans from the curb A lot of customer trust gets built in the small operational details. For us, a few things helped reduce complaints and cancellations: sending “on the way” texts before arrival taking gate photos after service documenting issues immediately instead of waiting in our Job Forms having clear onboarding expectations from the start We also stopped assuming customers understood our process automatically. Most don’t. Any time confusion showed up repeatedly, we tightened the process around it. I’m curious what other owners have noticed. What specific change improved retention or customer trust the most in your business?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 finish strong on a long project?
Something I've been noticing lately — and I'd love to know if anyone else deals with this — is how hard it is to finish strong on longer projects. The beginning? Easy. Everyone's fired up, the client is excited, the crew is locked in. But somewhere around the 80% mark, that energy starts to bleed out. People are mentally on to the next job, and those last little details — the ones that actually define the finished product — start slipping through the cracks. We've been doing more projects in the three-week to several-month range, and this has become something I've had to get intentional about. We've started building out procedures in ClickUp to keep the final phase from falling apart — checklists, task ownership, that kind of thing. It's not perfect, we're still figuring it out honestly, but it's better than just hoping everyone stays focused when the finish line is in sight. The harder part for us is that a lot of our crew are our own employees, not subs. Subs come and go. Your own guys are with you every day, and keeping them accountable at the tail end of a long project — when everyone's a little worn out — is a different challenge altogether. So I'm genuinely asking: what are you doing to solve this? Do you have a formal process? Does someone own the punch list? How do you keep your people's heads in the game when the job is almost done but not quite? Would love to hear what's working out there.What mistake forced you to completely change how you ran your business?
One of the biggest mistakes I made happened during my second year in business. I landed a commercial account that included 5 different properties. At the time, it felt huge. The contract was worth around $5,000/month, which was a massive opportunity for where my business was at back then. I wanted badly to prove we could handle it. The problem was: I agreed to expectations and operational demands that I was not fully prepared to deliver consistently. A lot of it was my fault. I was so focused on landing the account that I did not slow down enough to think through: route logistics communication expectations quality control reporting updates to the property manager scheduling conflicts with my current clients what happens when issues come up across multiple locations at once Eventually, things started slipping. And once trust starts slipping on commercial accounts, it usually compounds fast. We ended up losing the account. At the time, it felt devastating. But honestly, losing that contract forced me to fix a lot of weaknesses in the business that I probably would have ignored much longer otherwise. That experience changed how we handle commercial work completely. We started implementing: clearer onboarding expectations documented scopes of work completion verification per visit better communication with stakeholders clearer escalation procedures when problems happen It also changed how I look at growth. More revenue only helps if the operation underneath it can actually support it consistently. I still think about that account sometimes because I know we could handle it much differently today than we did back then. I'm interested to hear what mistakes ended up forcing positive operational changes for other owners. What failure exposed a weakness in your business that you eventually fixed?What Do You Do When You're Working With a Struggling Contractor?
Hey everyone — curious if anyone's run into this situation and how you've handled it. We work with a lot of subs across different trades, and every once in a while you end up working alongside someone where you can just tell they're going through a rough patch. Maybe their organization is off, communication is slipping, little mistakes are starting to add up — nothing catastrophic, but enough that you're watching it more closely than you'd like. The tricky part is when you're already halfway through a job together. It's not like you can just swap them out easily at that point, and honestly, you don't necessarily want to — everyone hits hard stretches in their business, and a little grace goes a long way in this industry. But you also have a client to protect and a job to deliver. So how do you walk that line? Do you have a conversation with them directly? Tighten up the oversight? Just manage around it and chalk it up to a lesson learned for next time? Would love to hear how others have handled this — no judgment either way, just genuinely curious what's worked (or hasn't).What's the best thing you've automated in your business?
Think scheduling, lead follow-ups, and customer reminders. What’s the best automation(s) you’ve set up that's made running your business easier? In this episode of Masters of Home Service, PhilRisher and WiringByron get into: The two automations every business should have How to automate estimates, follow-ups and billing to save 20+ hours/week Why "build the system once, benefit forever" is the real win Want to put these tips into action? Download the 10 automation moves checklist for this episode. Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
