What are dealbreakers for keeping someone around?
We had a situation where we had a manager that was really good with clients, but was always 5-10 minutes late to appointments, and he struggled with using jobber (frustrating because jobber is so easy). So he was good face to face and the actual management of jobs but those two things he just couldn't grasp. Sooo I let him go after trying to work with him on it. Too harsh? I felt like you could be the smoothest person ever but if you can't do the basics, it was going to lead to trouble down the road. I'd love to hear your opinions on different things you won't compromise on outside of the obvious ones (drinking on the job, being unprofessional etc).What’s one red flag you always watch for during an interview?
In the episode of the Masters of Home Service (at the 27-minute mark) Stephen Jobe shared that his number one hiring red flag is when a candidate brings up money too early in the process. He said if someone’s first concern is pay, before showing humility or interest in the role, it’s usually a no-go. Do you agree with Stephen? What’s your biggest red flag when interviewing new hires? Tune into the full episode to learn what mistakes to avoid and tips for building a clear career path for your best people. Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple , Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Building and Keeping a Team Engaged
Hi Everyone, I wanted to see how do you build your business? We are a mostly residential cleaning company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I say mostly residential because we also do some commercial cleaning but our main business is reoccuring cleaning. I have been plugging along for 15 years and it took me many tries to get the right people on the bus in my office. I find these people a blessing as I know with our size I would not be able to run it all on my own. Now we have our office admin (customer service, scheduling, social media, other tasks), supervisor (babysit the team, hiring - firing, performance management, quality assurance and feedback from clients) and part time sales rep (follow up on leads, networking). These people are solid and I wanted to ask how do you keep them engaged, invested and continously learning. What outside trainings worked for you team? What perks? Rewards? Thanks a million!Would you use TikTok to find your next hire? 👀
Social media might not be the first place you look for another crew member, but 60% of Gen Z is considering the trades—and they’re already online. Has social media ever brought you a job candidate? Would you try TikTok or Reels to find your next hire? In this Masters of Home Service episode, Rich Camacho (BlueRecruit), Haley Rogers, and Jacob Palmer get into how TikTok is becoming a recruiting tool for the trades, what kind of content attracts potential Gen Z hires, and how training, feedback, and growth opportunities give younger employees a reason to stay. Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Do employees fail because they’re bad, or because the owner never defined the standard?
This question gets uncomfortable fast. When an employee keeps making mistakes, it’s easy to label them as careless, lazy, or a bad fit. And sometimes they are. I’ve had employees or applicants where the issue was clearly attitude, lack of urgency, poor attention to detail, or an unwillingness to take feedback. You can train skill. It’s a lot harder to train someone to care. But I also think owners need to check themselves before they jump straight to blaming the employee. I’ve had moments in my own business where I was frustrated because someone didn’t do the job the way I expected. Then I had to ask myself a harder question: Did I actually teach that expectation clearly, or did I just assume they would pick it up? A lot of standards live in the owner’s head. The owner knows what a finished job should look like or which gate latch is weird. They know which customer is picky and where waste usually hides in a yard. That knowledge comes from repetition. A new employee doesn’t have that yet. If we throw someone into the field with loose instructions and expect owner-level judgment, we’re probably creating our own callback problem. Callbacks are expensive. They cost route time and frustrate customers. They make the owner lose confidence in the employee and the employee will feel like they’re constantly being corrected after the fact. That’s a bad way to train. For us, the better answer has been getting more specific before the mistake happens. What does the job flow look like? When should customer notes be checked? How should the yard be walked? What photos are required? What happens if the gate is locked? What happens if a dog is outside? What counts as complete? What should the technician do when something looks wrong? Those things can’t stay vague once you start hiring. They need to show up in training, ride-alongs, checklists, job forms, videos, quality checks, and repeated feedback. The bigger the business gets, the more dangerous it is for the standard to live only in the owner’s head. There does come a point where it becomes a people problem. If someone has been trained, shown the standard, corrected, given feedback, and still keeps making the same careless mistakes, then you may have the wrong person. But I think the order matters. Define the standard. Train to the standard. Inspect the standard. Correct against the standard. After that, if the person still refuses to meet it, you can make a cleaner decision. When an employee keeps missing the mark, how do you decide whether it’s a training issue, a standards issue, or the wrong person?Should I hire employees or use 1099 subcontractors for better quality?
We have 6 subs full time and it's burned us a few times. We go behind them on ~25% of jobs. We just got CompanyCam and that'll help operationally. But, I am considering going the employee route and paying hourly. What do you feel works best -- to maximize profitability, ensure quality, and reduce headaches?
