Get some sort of online presence. And return phone calls.
I’ll be first to admit, I have no idea what the life of a contractor is like.
By contractor, I mean people who build and repair stuff. Like fences, landscapes, and windows.
I’m in the final stages of building my new house, and there are a number of things I need to take care of. Like getting a fence installed.
Yet it’s harder than it needs to be. So I’m writing this letter to give you, dear contractor, some advice. Advice that will make you a lot more money.
1. Get a web site.
It doesn’t have to be pretty. It can be a free web site from your domain name registrar, for that matter.
All you need to do is put up some pictures of your work, a few testimonials, perhaps a picture of your family. Something simple.
Perhaps it’s a false sense of security since anyone can put up a web site, but in a way it makes me feel that you’re not some fly-by-night operator.
It also makes you a lot easier to find on Google, which is really important.
(Bonus points: Invest a thousand dollars in a good web site. Although any web site is a good start, a good web site makes a better impression on customers. And don’t tell me you don’t have $1,000 to invest — see point #3.)
2. Use an email address connected to your domain name.
I don’t have a lot of confidence when I email you at somecontractor@yahoo.com or jimsfencingco@sbcglobal.net.
Look, you can get free email with most domain name registrations. Take 15 minutes to set it up.
3. Return phone calls.
Now, I know there’s a building boom in Austin right now. Yet I seem to have had this problem for the past decade. I’ll leave a message with a contractor asking them to come out and make a proposal. Then I never hear back.
If you are so busy right now that you simply can’t handle all of the work being thrown your way, do one of two things:
a) call me back and explain that you’re just too busy. At some point in the future you might not be busy, and taking a couple minutes to call me means I’ll consider you again in the future.
b) sell/make referrals to other businesses. Those companies selling leads to contractors are making a lot more money than you are. Take a page out of their playbook.
todd says
did a quick search and Houzz.com has a huge selection of people to choose from, visit the site and click professionals at the top, choose what you want and the city and over 8,000 choices come up for austin.
owen frager says
and get the payment anywhere.com or Quicken or American Express iPhone swipe card plug in so you can take payment on credit cards without going to the truck and putting a pencil on the card with paper over to scratch off numbers!
Dear Contractor says
Dear Andrew,
I can’t talk for everyone in the trades, not sure how things are in Austin, since I’m located in New England, so will speak only for myself.
I’m in the flooring business. We install/refinish hardwood flooring.
I agree with “return a phone call point”. It is essential in my business. And I understand your frustration. There is a bright side, however, when the contractor doesn’t return a phone call. You already know that this person doesn’t care, so you won’t deal with him in the future and he won’t be able to screw up the job and you.
The first 2 points are not essential tho (to me at least), as weird as it sounds.
Our business is 95% referrals. These people know my company for the job that we do, not for the pretty website with an email attached to it. Not sure about you, but 99% of the people feel pretty confident emailing me at hotmail.com after their family/friends recommend us and they see the type of work that was done.
I completely understand your point that online presence will boost my business, but at some point of time I have to choose between more business and screwed up jobs/frustrated customers due to us not being able to do the job right/on time because we are short handed or my reputation.
And I choose the second.
I’m sure you will argue that it is easy to just hire someone and expand. I can assure you it’s not. All the guys who know what they are doing and have the right attitude are busy working and guys who don’t know much and/or don’t care are not needed. Of course there are guys who really willing to work and learn, but the teaching process takes time and I don’t have any(at least right now).
We are a service, not a product seller, so I, as a business owner, have to be 100% sure that everyone who works with me understands what is he doing and how to do it right. This, again, makes it harder to expand.
I know many contractors don’t care about this stuff: just hire a guy, pay him $10/hour get stuff done somehow and get out. As long as the customer pays it’s all that matters. Who cares that 6 months later somebody will have to do the job all over again. That’s why I don’t speak for everyone.
Your advice is great for a startup and when I just started, this is what I actually did. Got online. Got business, new customers. Now I just can’t take on a lot of new business: have a lot of customers already to take care of. So I don’t advertise (with very few exceptions).
Here is my success formula: be professional, on time, do the best you can on every single job every single day and you will have as much business as you can handle.
This is what I would recommend: ask your family/ friends who can they recommend and deal with those guys. I would appreciate your project much more if I knew that I was recommended by a person who I did a work for in past. Recommendation (not lead) means a lot to me.
@Owen. No one I know will put $5-10K project on the credit card (checks for the most part), but I do agree for something real small, like a $75 leak repair something like that would be a nice little touch. You have a great blog, btw. I visit it daily.
Sorry for the long comment. Good luck with your house!
Andrew Allemann says
@ Dear Contractor –
Thanks for your comment. It sounds like you’re a very conscientious contractor — wish we had more of those.
Dear Contractor says
Thanks, Andrew. Can’t afford not to be 🙂
Steve Harvey says
Contractor sounds like a genetic twin separated by necessity and demand. I have sub-contracted for 11 yrs. in northern Ontario and I can easily relate to contractors predicament. The first year ambition dictated that quality workmanship along with successful advertising were key to a solid operation. Year 2, remove all trace of my existence and considering a mini clandestine approach and small payouts in form of a discount to please share with only a few friends receive my contact info. I love what I do and hate to refuse any work, realistically word of mouth is still an awesome form of distribution.A lot of what I’m saying Is honest humor and I really don’t have an ego that needs a Crain to move but after a few happy endings it really does get busy.
Steve Harvey says
But the core of this topic is contractors and Internet and while there is a huge amount of craftsmanship there really is no relationship in my opinion more toxic. The need to promote on the scale that the web invariably introduces is reserved for a more large scale revenue based enterprise.
Jonathan says
LocalTradesmen.com will soon be here to help.
Mike says
Having dabbled in contracting myself in a former life, having worked in the trades for some 15 years before getting into computers and the internet, I would agree with most if not all of what Dear Contractor had to say.
What I would caution Andrew, is that there may not be a great connection between those with a website and those who are the most reliable, conscientious and do the top quality work. I worked for and with many of those over the years, including my brother who is a master carpenter, and several other great mentors I was fortunate enough to work for over the years. To my knowledge none ever had a website and all used generic email providers.
Now to contrast, I have also done some work for a contractor who was one of those guys who buys distressed properties, turns them around (flips) them, and I remember walking into one of these jobs, going into the basement and looking at the foundation of the new front porch that they had built, and just immediately thinking that there is no way in hell an inspector would not condemn this job. That isn’t even the worst part, because my other thought was, god forbid 10 years from now the family that is living there has some party or something w/ 20 people on that porch and the thing collapses. But this guy was all about cheap labor, cutting corners and making a profit. Now the reason I tell this story is that, for all I know that guy may have had himself a snazzy little website for his operation. I don’t know.
But I would fully concur, that all the great people I worked for, and most of the business I got myself as a contractor, aside from some guerrilla advertising I did when first starting out, came from word of mouth referrals. So I’m in no way trying to diminish your points or your frustration Andrew, which I understand and you make some great and valid points (there’s no reason not to at least return your calls, that is business 101). I just don’t think for a good contractor, … for most of them having an online presence is something very low on the totem pole, they would think, “yeah that would be nice to have, maybe I’ll get around to it one day when I have time” but because they are so good at what they do they just stay busy from the word of mouth and making that time never gets to be a real concern.
just my two cents.