AI for Contractors: How Home Service Pros Are Using AI in 2026
We just surveyed over 1,000 home service business owners across the U.S. and gathered real-time stats about how they're using AI in their day-to-day operations. The gap between businesses using AI and those that aren’t is starting to show: 88% of businesses who are fully-booked use AI vs 27% of businesses who are still filling their calendars Here's what 52% of the 1,050 home service business owners surveyed say they use AI for: 54% for quoting 52% for invoicing 51% for writing emails and proposals Younger owners are adopting it fastest --> 64% of business owners under 30 already use AI. Curious how this compares to what you're seeing in your own business. Are you currently using AI for quoting, scheduling, or customer communication? Or is it something you're still exploring?
Linking invoices to jobs
i think there needs to be a way to link invoices to jobs manually and vise versa. Say you send over an invoice before you start the job and then you create a job so the employees have tickets, and all your expenses and labor go on the job but the invoice is already paid. When you close out the job it says invoicing required but the invoice has already been paid and closed out and there is no way to link that invoice to that job.Upsides and downsides of hiring a summer helper?
I am thinking about hiring someone to help me in the busy season and the idea of a high school kid as a summer job sounds like a promising idea. I wouldn't have to pay them a crazy salary, they are like sponges with information and they are typically more physically full of energy. I wouldn't be able to send them on their own, but they could help me get a few more jobs done in a day. I am wondering if anyone has tried this and what would be the pros and cons of doing it?Salary for In Field Staff? Good Idea or Bad Idea
Curious how others handle salary for field staff, especially hybrid roles. I’m in a bit of a management dilemma and wanted to see how other service businesses approach this. Ideally I’d like to hire a strong operations manager to help manage projects, but as many of you probably know, finding someone who truly thrives in that role can be tough. My alternative idea is to split some of that responsibility between my two most experienced technicians. Both of them have a wide range of knowledge and strong leadership potential. The idea would be a hybrid role where they still spend most of their time in the field but also manage a portion of the jobs. The management side wouldn’t be overly complex – mainly making sure the right technicians are scheduled, materials are ordered, and acting as the point of contact if the crew runs into issues on a job. In return they would earn additional compensation for taking on those responsibilities. My two questions are: has anyone here put in-field technicians on salary, and if so how did that work out? And has anyone successfully split operations responsibilities among senior field staff instead of hiring a dedicated operations manager? I don’t have concerns about their work ethic. They’re both very reliable and I think they’d take the responsibility seriously. In fact giving them more ownership might make them even more invested, and I could also tie in performance incentives if needed. At the same time I don’t want to create a structure that causes problems down the road. I also recognize that being a field tech isn’t necessarily a forever role, so part of me sees this as a potential growth path for them. Curious to hear what has worked or not worked for others.
Starting a New Hardscape Division While Busy with Landscape Maintenance Team
How do you actually start a new division of your business while still managing day-to-day operations? Between quoting, scheduling, and running jobs, it’s hard to carve out time to build something new. Curious how others have handled this without things falling through the cracks. What worked for you? Context: our "bread and butter" as a landscaping company has been in residential maintenance (lawn cutting, care, property clean-ups, trimming, garden care, softscape / small hardscape installs, etc.). My business partner and I are near max capacity with taking on more residential maintenance clients and would like to get into higher earning, longer term, larger projects on the install / design side of landscaping.Delegation & Hiring for a Maintenance-Heavy Landscaping Company Trying to Scale
I’ve been looking into accountability charts and delegation after listening to the Jobber podcast where they talked about this, but I’m not sure where to begin. Right now I’m still heavily involved in day-to-day residential maintenance landscaping operations—quoting, scheduling, managing crews, and even some marketing—which makes it hard to step back and focus on growing into larger/higher earning project work beyond maintenance. For those who’ve gone through this at a similar stage, what responsibilities did you delegate first—and to whom? Also, what was your first key hire that really helped free up your time to focus on growth? Any practical guidance would be great.Transitioning from Landscape Maintenance to Higher Earning / Project Work
For those who started in maintenance, how did you transition into larger projects like hardscaping and design? Did you train your existing crew or build a separate team? I’m trying to figure out the best path forward without disrupting our current operations. Any advice from those who’ve made that shift would be really helpful.How can I re-build my business from ground zero?
Hi my name is Jeremy Lesser, I am the Business Owner/CEO of a small residential painting and home improvements business. I have been in business since 2022. After about a year or so of being in business, I about called it quits and started doing Maintenance Engineering. Well having my own business doing what I love to do the most which is drywall and painting, has been a dream of mine since I first started doing drywall and painting 15+ years ago. I want my business to succeed. I have a perpetual LLC. for my business, so I would like to build my business back and Lord willing watch it grow this time. I have more patience and knowledge in it. How can I build my business with zero income and zero revenue? I have been applying for grants. Please help! Thank you and God Bless. ~Jeremy Lesser~
