What’s holding most service businesses back
I’ve been thinking about this lately, what’s actually holding most service businesses back? Is it: • Lack of leads • Poor systems • Weak pricing • Or the owner not stepping into the business role Because I’ve seen companies busy all day… but still stuck. Curious what do you think is the real bottleneck?New Generation Problems: How do you train and manage younger employees in the trades?
How are you guys dealing with the newest generation coming into the trades. I feel like these guys have intelligence, they ask very good questions but my answers leave them looking like a deer in the headlights. No information seems the be retained, and it seems like they are unable to work independently without continuous instructions. have not found a good way to get through to them, seems they are only here for the paycheck and no one considers acquiring knowledge and skill as an asset anymore. What have you been experiencing?Do You Train Your Team to Think or Just Work?
Every Monday, we hold a short training session with our team. We train on communication. leadership. & mindset. The reason being most tradespeople aren’t struggling because they can’t do the work. They’re struggling because they were never taught how to: Speak with clarity Handle conflict Lead a crew Represent the business professionally These tend to be the issues I see bottling up, either from our exit interviews or customer feed back or when things are misunderstood. Thats why I'm curious: Do you train soft skills with your crew?Roll 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. 🚀
Hello Fellow Jobbers
Hey everyone, my name is Hunter Girard and I am the owner/operator of HG Construction right here in Calgary Alberta. I have recently started this business with one clear mission: to help local families afford high-quality renovations without the massive price tag! By focusing on honest, efficient, and reliable work, I’m able to deliver the results your family deserves while making sure I’m also home in time to be with mine. For me, it’s not just about the build, it’s about doing right by your family so I can provide for mine. If you’ve been looking for a contractor who values your budget as much as your home, I’d love to connect with you and see what and how HG Construction can make it all happen for you! All the best! HunterG
NEW MEMBER INTRODUCTION
Hey everyone — I run Dream West Projects out of the Sea-to-Sky in BC. I focus on renovations and I’m currently scaling into multi-unit and larger contracting work. Looking forward to connecting with others in the industry and learning from the community. www.dreamwestprojects.com
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.Milwaukee vs DeWalt Tools, which one?
We’re Lock Nerds Locksmith, a Buffalo, NY-based company that’s always relied on Milwaukee tools. But we’re curious—what tools do other pros trust? We're looking for honest pros and cons between Milwaukee and DeWalt to see if it's time for us to reconsider our setup.Industry virtual networking starting March 17
Update: Our 4-week networking pilot has wrapped. Thank you to everyone who joined! We brought pros together across industries for weekly 30-minute sessions focused on real business challenges, and the conversations delivered. There was strong participation, valuable idea-sharing, and great feedback from those who joined. 👉 The goal was simple: bring a challenge and get ideas from other pros, and that’s exactly what happened. We’re now taking what we learned and determining next steps, with plans to likely bring these back in the future. If you found these valuable, or are interested in joining future sessions, let us know in the comments and we’ll keep you posted on what’s next. Really appreciate everyone who took the time to be part of this!
