Hiring Subcontractors: How Do You Screen and Vet to Avoid Costly Mistakes and Rework?
At our company located in Mansfield, Ohio, we provide the majority of interior and exterior services. We use all subcontractors, most who typically strictly work for our company. We have had many issues hiring subcontractors who have done bad work, which has caused us to spend more money/time sending other subcontractors back out to fix the mistakes. It is also pushing our schedule back completely. This issue has set back our company in the last year because of multiple different crews. We have a few good, reliable crews, but the workload is too much for them. What can we do/use to help us with the process of elimination when it comes to hiring? Are there any types of quizzes/tests that we should provide? Any specific questions that we should be asking? Are there any places we may not be thinking of to find reliable subcontractors?How Would You Handle a Customer Trying To Blame You For Another Person's Work?
So here's the situation - we had a customer we did a handyman punch list for. She previously had some really bad work done at her house and we were fixing their mistakes. Almost 10 month later - She claims that we installed a cooktop using silicone however my guys take very diligent notes and pictures and I have no record of that installation happening. I double checked with the guys and they didn't do it. Something like that would have taken some time and they would have remembered. Honestly I don't mind losing her as a client because she's wasted a lot of my time having my quote jobs she didn't end up doing but how do you tell someone she's mistaken when she is very sure we did it. I thought about sending her screen shots of our time stamped notes but I can't tell if she lying or not. What would you do?Effective Tagging - Who Is Doing It And What is Your Strategy?
I feel like tagging within customers might be the most forgotten about thing on our team but probably the lowest hanging fruit to keeping our information organized. Right now we are just tagging people we don't want to work with anymore and people that need to leave us a review. I''m struggling to do it in a way that's super effective. So for you tagging buffs out there, what are you doing to tag clients ad what strategy do you have? jobber - If you guys ever integrated JOB tags that would be amazing. I'm thinking we could tag jobs by category then reference them quicker. Instead of thinking of which clients we did which types of jobs for. Just putting "trim carpentry" or "doors" then seeing all the jobs we tagged with that would be clutch!How much Quote Follow Up is Too Much?
"Can you turn off my automations, your system is blowing me up?" I've gotten that a lot the last few months since I've set my system up. We basically text and email at day 1,2,3, 6,8,12,16,20,25,29 after the quote is sent unless they give us a "no". I feel like it can go two ways. The people that are going to accept but haven't gotten around to it are annoyed by it. The people that aren't going to accept usually don't say anything. I do get a "no" about day 12 though. The others, no response either way. What kind of nurture sequence are you guys setting up and how successful is it?
How Fast Do You Pick Up a Phone Call or Call Someone Back After a Missed Call?
Curious how everyone here handles this, because a new Jobber survey of recent homebuyers turned up a stat that stuck with me: 15% had to follow up repeatedly just to get a response from a contractor 9% never heard back at all Losing potential business due to something that is not a pricing problem or a skill problem should be a wake up call. In a world where 75% of new homeowners hire a pro within their first two years of buying, being the one who calls back first might be the easiest job you win all week! So, what's your business standard? Do you answer within a certain time frame or let it go to voicemail and call back same day? Are there systems set up so nothing slips through the cracks? 👉 Recent Homebuyer Report: It's got homeowner quotes on what made them trust (or ditch) a contractor, plus a breakdown of how each generation actually finds a pro.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. 🚀
Handyman - how are you guys figuring out what a job actually needs to pay?
Hey guys, I'm a Handyman myself and got tired of pricing jobs by gut feeling, so I built something that calculates pricing using my actual income goal, overhead, billable time, travel, materials and markup. After the job, I entered what actually happened and it starts building my own personal price history and price booklet. I'm curious about what else eveybody else uses. If somebody has something that works better i'd love hear about it or switch to that system. I ran into some guys and they were still using spreadsheet, jobber/joist, a set price book, or mostly experience/gut feeling?
How to Convert More Estimates into Signed Contracts?
Hello Community, I am new to the Home Service Industry and would appreciate some guidance on how to generate and convert more qualified leads into successful clients, customer, contract. While I am actively meeting with clients and gathering project information, I would like to improve my approach to identifying opportunities, building client confidence and increasing the percentage of leads that move forward. I am interested in learning, what the best practices for qualifying leads. What are some effective communication techniques with homeowners. What are some common factors that influence clients to approve projects. Strategies for following up with prospects, also ways to better present repair recommendations and project value. Lastly methods a company has found successful in converting estimates into signed contracts. I am committed to improving my performance and contribution to my company's growth. Any feedback, training advice, or mentorship opportunities would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and support. Sincerely, ArmandoHow Do You Roll Back a Major Change?
Have you guys ever made a major organizational change then needed to go back? This last year I tried to help buy back some of my time and created a Project/ Operations manager position so I could focus on sales and marketing. It's been a bumpy road to say the least. I first tried to hire two guys from outside the organization, I really thought I did my due diligence but it didn't work out with either of those guys. One guy I learned after a week (lol) the other took me a month and a half. On our third guy, I promoted from within and it seemed like it was working but here we are almost two full quarters in and we have less capacity because I haven't been successful in finding a replacement for him in the field, and we are making less money on jobs because ... well it's a combination of things but he might not be a fit for the position. I'm thinking I need a more decentralized approach since essentially we are at the same revenue number as last year when we didn't have his big overhead position. So the question is - how do you roll that back? Is it possible to make a change like that without alienating the person I'm demoting? Would it be easier to demote if I'm citing financial and structural changes for the company? What's ya'll take on that.
