Do you charge for estimates, and has it worked for your business?
Does anyone here charge for estimates? I've been thinking about this for a while and curious if anyone has found success with it. I run a handyman business and solely focus on active listings for realtors. I've found that most of the time, when buyer's agents call for me to look at inspection punch list items, they never call back after I send the quote. I can only assume they're using my quote as leverage in the sale to get some sort of credit or concession from the seller. Now I'm thinking of asking which side of the sale they're on and charging if it's the buyer side, or just charging all around. Obviously, our time isn't cheap so I want to honor that. If you're charging for estimates, what kind of rate are you charging?Solved101Views1like7CommentsTexting System is Lacking
It is very hard to know who we are talking to as many of our clients have multiple points of contact (husband/wife), maybe the GC on the project. But our commercial clients can have 2-5 contacts easily, the company plus managers. The text system currently displays the Client or Business Name and the phone number.... but the phone number is often cut-off completely. And there is Zero way for us to see who we are talking too as you can not click into more details per text. What we need at minimum right away - A way to see the full phone number of the texter What we would like to see very soon - The name of the person texting if they are in a client file... if a number can be matched to a file, then you can match it deeper to the actual contact name. What we need ultimately - we need to be able to choose who we text quicker and easier. From the desktop browser we pull up a client file, and under Contacts it lists multiple people, currently you have to copy and paste that phone number into the text box. We need a Text this person option/button by there name/number. That opens a the text chain in the text pane, showing all past conversations with the specific person. The absolutely ideal scenario - all of the above and Contacts Management (and let us link it to our google, apple, whatever contacts) this rolodex of contacts will allow the system to reference it for the name correctly when a random texts us that we know. (ie. If Joe Contractor texts me about a job, but he is not listed anywhere in Jobber, I need to be able to save his number as a general contact, so his name shows up instead of just a number).7Views1like0CommentsReferral Credit System Is Very Lacking
This post is feedback, and a place to allow other users to leave feedback, for the Client Referral marketing tool in Jobber. The current client referral system is very lacking for a premium paid feature. We would like to see some deep functionality changes and additions immediately, since this has been around for a while now with no improvements....here is my current thoughts on what could be added or should be changed - Credits need to show in the Clients file (maybe under account balance) Staff needs to know if a credit is available or could apply for sales purposes. Currently its restricted to owners/admins in the marketing section and you can't do anything with that info anyway from there, its pretty useless. Credits need to be usable across the whole system & in the field (mobile invoices), we better for techs in the field ('hey, i see you have credit, would you like to use it on this invoice?') Credits need to be adjustable, we want to be able to add referral credits manually if we see fit. (this is especially ideal for when staff forgets to fill out the referrer entry on a job) which happens all the time. Apply credits anyway we would like (if a client has a $100 in credit, we want to be able to apply that whole amount if they have a huge invoice(s) being paid at once) the current automatic application is not good enough. Credit Amount settings ($ / % amount) should be able to be set based on Client type/tag (if the client is a Builder Partner we want to give them 10%, instead of just the $50 we give to a regular customer per lead) Option to set the Amount of credit ($/%) given based on a range of invoice value (5% for $100-500 invoice amount / 8% for $500-1000 invoice amount / etc) Option to exclude certain Clients from the referral program (we have builder partners that are on a completely different program internally, we do not want there account to also be getting other discounts). Option in Jobber websites to add a Refer A Friend button, so we do not have to rely on the email campaigns that most people don't open. Allow the client to see credits in their portal, and apply them to invoices when making payments.57Views1like3CommentsHow do home service businesses fill their calendar before busy season?
When work slows down, most service businesses feel it fast: stress, cash flow pressure, and last-minute scrambling. Sound familiar? What’s the one thing you rely on most before busy season to keep your calendar full? New leads Repeat customers Referrals Deposits or upfront payments Booking weeks in advance Something else? (do tell!) Bonus: What used to stress you out about slow periods that doesn’t anymore?34Views0likes7CommentsWhat 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?5Views0likes0CommentsNon billable hour tracking in Jobber (time clock workarounds)
I use Jobber and am finding the Time Clock feature too limited for my needs. While I don’t plan on switching from Jobber any time soon, I wanted to reach out to the community to see what others have done in this situation. I can’t imagine I’m the only one facing this issue. My main concern is that the "General" time clock category hides too much information. Having only the options for clocking "Job Time" or "General" time leaves a lot of room for error, in my opinion. For example, when a team member has a slow day and completes various "overhead" or "non-billable" tasks, it all gets lumped under "General" time. For our company, these tasks include picking up chemicals from a supplier, fixing a headlight on a truck, delivering door hangers, etc. Relying on team members to make their own notes after the fact or expecting an admin to remember these details later feels unsustainable. If we see that a team member has clocked 5 hours on a job and 3 hours under "General" time, it could easily be mistaken for them simply forgetting to clock out for the day. My team is small, but I imagine this issue is even more pronounced in larger teams. Can anyone suggest workarounds or solutions they’ve found? Maybe I need to put more focus on verifying these manual adjustments, but that feels quite labor-intensive. Thanks!Solved805Views5likes28CommentsWill AI replace jobs in home service and skilled trades?
I saw an article yesterday about all the tech jobs that are being replaced by AI and I thought about how hard that would be to know your position can be replaced by someTHING that can do it faster and cheaper than you can. Then I thought how happy I am that I decided a long time ago that I am going to work with my hands. Be handy. Solve real problems. I would be safe in saying that AI is never going to cut your lawn, remove your junk, exterminate your bed bugs, plumb in or wire your home. Am I going to regret saying this? Is AI reading thins and just started plotting to take all our jobs???65Views3likes4CommentsHow Are Home Service Businesses Preparing for AI Search Visibility?
Search is changing fast. We’ve already seen Google test online estimates and AI-assisted pricing in local search. Now, AI tools are helping homeowners decide who to call, sometimes before they ever visit a website. Scorpion Marketing published a report with the following stats: 22% of homeowners are already using AI tools to research services or get recommendations 80% of business owners say they don’t know how to prepare for AI-driven search visibility We’d love to hear what you’re seeing👇 Have you noticed changes in how customers find you or ask questions? Are you doing anything intentionally today to prep for AI-driven search? If AI search on your radar but still confusing, what question do you have? This space will continue to evolve. Sharing what’s working (or not) across different trades helps everyone get ahead of it!98Views1like2CommentsRequest for Quote building using hidden subtotals
As a handyman/general contractor, I only base my quotes per job/task and not time and materials. I do not want the client to see the price of labor, cost of materials, or other line items except the Job task itself and the price. In order to build an accurate quote, I have to build all of this in a spreadsheet (labor, materials, etc) and copy over the grand total. If I need to make a revision, I have to go back to the spreadsheet and redo the calculations. It would be very helpful to have a way to build a quote with hidden sub line items that can be changed. Quickbooks has a estimate feature called bundling. Example: Tile Backsplash Installation $2,575 (hidden below) Labor 12 $165 $1,980 Tile 1 $350 $350 Mastic 1 $30 $30 Grout 1 $30 $30 Misc 1 $20 $20 Does anyone else struggle with this or have an efficient workaround?104Views3likes4Comments