I’m glad it’s working out for you. A couple of my friends used AL and HA to launch their business and they’ve grown enough to do what you do. For me, I personally resent their business model, so I just decided not to use them based on principle. I don’t think companies like them are good for the industry and I don’t think homeowners should be looking at them as an authoritative source of vetted contractors. There is no perfect platform and they are all in it to make profits. But, some business models are better than others and I feel better using them. Pick your poison, I suppose.
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What about ThumbTack? Has anyone tried them?
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I’ve used them. The key is having automatch turned off and picking who you pay to send quotes to.
Is it similar to HA where you get a lead with a phone number and have to call them right away?
It’s been a while. I don’t believe you get a phone number to start. I sent a written quote/proposal and then customer can choose to call you.
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I kinda like that in some ways. Did it work well for you?
Yes. I was closing about 50% of the leads I replied to. I believe I was paying $15-$40 per lead.
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I pay typically 5-20$ per lead on thumbtack. Thumbtack is what I first used to get my buisness going. It got me my first set of customers. Usually my closing rate is around 60% on there but recently it’s been a lot less, like 30%. Just so many low ballers in my area now and people just shop for cheap on there. I’ll have to turn off the auto feature and start sending quotes manually when I see people picked others for the job… give that a try. Though I hate just barging in like that
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I go to nearly every job for a free survey and talk to the potential client. I get a good amount of the jobs I do that process but noticed that on the very few I can’t do that I get almost none of the jobs. People like to feel good about who is at their house (usually) and personal touch makes a huge difference
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I agree. Plus you get a good look. I quoted a job yesterday that had I not looked at, may have gotten due to underpricing. I’d rather be told I was too much than charge too little and hate the job, yourself, and if the customer is being special them too!
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In any competitive market to be priced fairly for your area and market rate you’ll be at a closing rate of 40-60% by going over there physically your essentially wasting half of your time. I don’t buy the whole going over there to dance and audition to the customer to get the job, we’re washing a house not baby sitting there children, the customers know that. On average i get the same closing rates via email or over the phone and I’m no salesman, I ask them what type of house I’m working with and there points of concern, I tell them the price, the dates available and tell them to give me a call back when there ready or have any questions. Free estimates in person are free to a customer but not to you. On some jobs you need to physically see the work but not on the bread and butter everyday house washes.
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^^^^ this guy gets it ^^^^
What’s your approach with decks/fences?
Your process is obviously good for a company who is established, reputable, busy, and profitable. However, for one who isn’t all of those things, they may have the time to go meet and greet. Yes, I get it shaking babies and kissing hands is, or may seem to be, a waste of time if you don’t have much of it to spare. But it’s almost essential, at least in my area, to grow a service based business.
I don’t have time to canvas areas anymore but I try to make time during the week purely for estimating. Most of my clients are older so they’re always home. It makes them feel good about hiring me when I pull up with a nice truck pulling a nice rig.
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The meeting part is half of it, the other half is for the survey so that I charge appropriately, I don’t have a flat rate to clean a house. Lots of things to consider like access, proximity to neighbors, parking, water pressure, number of window panes to detail, foliage, broken gutters (for roof cleaning) stains, oxidation, failing paint and all the other factors we normally consider. I would of lost over $200 on the job I did yesterday if I bid it the same as the house before that.
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Even if you don’t go for an in person estimate you don’t have to go in blind. You can find most of the info you need via Google maps or even realtor websites. I measure concrete, decks, and look at houses all online. For decks I can sometimes see going in person if realtor websites don’t have pictures of it or they’re old. Seems the younger crowd would rather do everything over phone or email but older folks like meeting in person. They can call and I can have them an estimate in a few minutes. Most tell me they like how simple the process is and that they get an estimate so fast. I’d have to charge twice as much if I did all estimates in person. I definitely don’t mind going in person if they ask or seems like they’d rather I do but I just don’t see it making that big a difference for most people.
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I agree with you that in person estimates are a must for newbies, for a number of reasons.
Unfortunately, I’ve read a lot of posts from guys several years into their business, who are clinging to the same reasons they had when first starting out on why they still do all their estimates in person. I don’t see that sentiment as frequently as I did 5 or 10 years ago, but it’s still surprisingly common.
FWIW, I’m not putting you into that category. I don’t really know where you’re at in relation to the growth of your business.
I don’t do any staining or deck stripping and all that stuff only cleaning, with decks i keep it as simple as politely requesting a quick couple of photos to be able to give them a quick and accurate estimate, I don’t get too caught up in the measuring exact square footage etc, your data base of previous jobs, estimates, time taken, travel time, consumables, lessons etc is the best estimating and most valuable tool a business could ever have, the jobs have been done already and analysed and it’s up to date realistic data you work off to tweak the profit end. Especially on commercial jobs, very important to log everything.
For fences I just want to know the length and use uncle google, if I assume it’s 6 feet tall and it happens to be 6.5 feet tall i just extend my stroke half a foot lol. It’s as easy as that.
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I’m in my 27th year, I still go meet and greet majority of my customers. Now there are some that don’t care to, mostly younger crowd. My customer base is older usually, with some younger. But either way I try to meet them and talk about their needs, answer any questions or concerns they have. It is an investment of time, but around here people really appreciate that. We have received so much work based off this method, in fact we were never really online till @seanktm helped me see to get online. Just really the past two years have I jumped online with website and GMB. Word of mouth was my only form of marketing and letter truck. So meeting with potential customers will help you close at a higher rate. Think about it, do you like a doctor that spends 5 minutes with you or one that takes His time with you? Gives you personal attention to your needs, not tele-health. Taking personal interest to me is a must and showing up at their residence is the first step of the process. People know time is money and appreciate you coming out and looking at their property. I get it all the time, “you all were the only company that came out”, who do you think received the work? So I started meet and greets from day one and continue to, don’t fix what’s not broken, right. If that helps me retain a customer, it’s less work for me to try to find another one. Most our customers are loyal repeats for years. They start to get on our schedule in February and stay booked for months, new customers are hard to get on schedule first part of the year. Just a preference and what your used to, I don’t think there’s a wrong way, whatever works for you and your area. But I wouldn’t underestimate the personal interaction with customers, it goes a long way. Anyways…thought I’d pass along my experiences over the past 27 years, maybe it can help newbies and others.
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i used thumbtack to start my business and from my experience, i couldn’t recommend anything better. if you set your price estimates to $1 your lead cost will only be $7-10 maybe $20 max. i quickly became ranked 1 on the app which allowed me to keep going part time comfortably. was making $4k a month off thumbtack alone with 2 ■■■■■■ ryobi washers. can’t believe anyone took me seriously. best tip is to respond quick. someone else already said it but when i see a thumbtack notification i immediately go to respond and try to schedule asap. i still don’t plan on stopping the service any time soon, at $10 a lead for 2-3 good jobs a week there’s no reason for me to stop yet. although i’m struggling when it comes to all my actual marketing. spend $1,000 in ads last month for like 2 leads.
