Get Your Estimates Approved Every Time

First Impressions

· The first impression is the lasting impression. From first contact, whether by phone, email, or request form, your new potential client should get the sense that they are speaking to a professional. 

· Does someone answer the phone promptly when the client calls? Yes, we’re often busy with tools in our hands, but we should be answering every call immediately and with a professional tone.

· Is your voicemail set up with a professional sounding message? Don’t be afraid to ask someone who speaks eloquently to record your message for you.

· Are your text and email replies messy? Use correct spelling, grammar, and complete sentences with every written message.

· Is your email address proper? Legit businesses don’t send you emails from Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Icloud, etc… Get yourself a domain, preferably with a website, along with email hosting so that your potential new clients get the sense that they’re communicating with a business and not a random Chuck In A Truck. 

· Do you have a professional looking website? Serious  clients are likely to google your business before setting up an appointment. What will they find? Your site doesn’t have to be the best they’ve ever seen, but it should be current, clean, and easy to navigate. If you don’t already have a website I recommend Wix and GoDaddy for ease of use. The average handyman can easily create an entire website in just a few hours with the latest AI tools that have been integrated on these two providers. Alternatively  one of our YouTube Subscribers, Green Frog Web Design, will custom build your site for $1 for the first month and allow you to pay for the site in monthly installments over the course of one year.

· Are you able to confidently schedule an assessment? If your client can’t get a firm appointment set during the first conversation they are likely to continue looking for another service provider until they can. Keep your calendar with you at all times and be ready to pencil them in on the spot. As an alternative you can send them a link to use online booking with Jobber if you’re on the Jobber platform. The software knows your schedule and will allow potential new clients to book into your schedule automatically and will add the booking to your calendar for you.

· Can you perform an on site assessment quickly? Most clients want things done sooner rather than later. They called you today because they are ready today. I always try to finish up my scheduled work for the day around 4pm so that I have a buffer in my schedule to swing by for an assessment or an urgent job and still be home at a decent hour. Otherwise, I just make it home early and use that time for admin work. 

During The Assessment

· Arrive on time and well groomed. Yes we’re handymen so we might be a little dusty by the end of the day, but the client can likely tell the difference between someone who has been working and someone who hasn’t showered in a week. 

· Shake the clients hand, introduce yourself with a smile, and look them in the eye when you speak to them.

· Before you ever get started, provide the client with a copy of your business license, trade licenses if applicable, bonding if applicable, and a copy of your insurance. (I recommend Next Insurance where I have a BOP that includes  general liability (covering accidents on site), professional liability (covering workmanship), and tools and equipment coverage. Preferably, package these documents in a small paper folder for the client to keep along with a few business cards.

· Ask common sense questions. What is your timeframe for completion? Analyze the scope of work and ask specific questions about what services they do or do now want included in the estimate. 

· Take measurements and pictures. Any serious tradesman is going to want all of the necessary data for the estimate and proper business don’t run on memory. Measure everything and write it down. Take pictures. Crawl into the attic or under the crawlspace to get a good look at plumbing or electrical that might impact the job. Clients notice the thoroughness of your assessment are far more likely to hire you than the handyman who takes a quick look and says I’ll be in touch soon. 

· Set Expectations. Let the client know what the general timeframe and scope of work will be, if the estimate is approved. Make sure you get them in your software as a client immediately so you don’t lose their information. If a follow up appointment is necessary, get that set before you leave the first appointment. Let them know when they should expect to receive their estimate and then follow through on that promise.

The Actual Estimate…

· Should be written on professional software like Jobber or another CRM and should include your company branding.

· Should include the entire scope of work to be performed written out clearly and concisely. Additionally, you can add optional upgrades with Jobber that can be approved or denied one line item at a time.

· Should include any disclaimers for known issues that may or may not arise and that aren’t possible to predict without actually tearing into the project.

· Should answer questions that the client would ask such as how long the work will be expected to take, what steps you’ll be taking to keep the area clean and safe, and of course should include a total price with a guarantee that the price will not go up unless you run into something that COULDN’T have been foreseen. 

· Should certainly include any premium services or products that you provide that the other guys may not. For example, if you’re going to use a higher quality mold resistant drywall then spell that out. If you’ll be taking extra steps to protect the surrounding area, spell that out. If you’ll be using higher end products that last longer, spell that out too.

· Should include a disclaimer that no work not mentioned in the estimate is to be assumed to be part of the estimate.

· If possible, using Jobber or another CRM that provides the same functionality, try to send estimates that can be approved instantly and electronically via mobile, tablet, laptop, or PC.

Follow Up

· Follow ups aren’t just for you, they’re for the client too. Oftentimes people are just busy and need a gentle reminder. Set a reminder on your phone or calendar to call and follow up on estimates after a few days, or use software such as Jobber that will automatically send custom reminders on the schedule that you set them to.

· If the estimate is declined, don’t be afraid to politely ask for feedback as to what motivated them to ultimately choose another vendor and what you can do better in the future to gain their confidence and their business.

The common thread here is to be thorough, attentive, and professional throughout. You want the client to view you as a reliable business that can take care of their problems. Ask yourself what you would like to experience from a business that you were considering paying a premium for work on your home and strive to provide exactly that service to your new potential client.

Template PM Introduction Letter

I’ve made a few promises to include a template introduction letter for when you reach out to inquire about becoming a vendor. First, I’ll list a few bullet points and then I’ll give you the template. I want to stress that you shouldn’t copy this template but instead use it as a guide. You’ll want your letter to include much of the same information but in a way that is personalized to your business. Here are some pointers.

· Check over your grammar and spelling a dozen times. There is no excuse for sending any document to a potential client that is full of errors. It makes you look unprofessional.

· Be sure to drive home the idea that you understand what a property manager needs. What they need is a professional who contacts tenants within 24 hours of receiving a work order, schedules an appointment that the tenant can accommodate, shows up on time, clean, and professional, completes the job in a clean and efficient manner, performs high quality  solid work that is a permanent fix rather than a hack, invoices promptly and fairly, and always leaves the tenant feeling like they were respected and well taken care of by a professional. 

· Reassure the PM  that your business model is purposely set up to address their needs exclusively.

· DON’T sell yourself on affordability, sell yourself on value. If you say that your prices are cheap then they’ll assume that YOU are cheap.

· Use plural pronouns like “we” instead of “I”. The biggest and best clients are looking for a real business that can serve them, not an individual to collaborate with.

· Try to call yourself a  “vendor” somewhere in the letter. Property Managers refer to all service providers as vendors. Each one of us is a vendor that specializes in different services.  We are vendors who provide handyman services.

· Use the word “doors” instead of “houses” to let them know that you’ve serviced 100 doors or 500 doors or 1,000 doors. Also use the word “work order” instead of “job” when referring to them sending you jobs via email, text message, or other software. Their industry has it’s own vernacular and the more you speak it, the more you sound like one of their tribe.

· Don’t talk about pricing specifics in the introduction letter. You should want them to be excited to work with you before discussing pricing.

· Definitely do mention that your goal is to make sure that Tenants never feel the need to contact them about your services unless it’s to call to say how satisfied they are with your service. 

· Lastly, let them know that you understand that they may not be in need of your service at the moment but that they will find your business license, trades licenses, insurance, bonding, workmans comp insurance, list of services, and pricing structure inside the package that you’ll be leaving with them. That way if they should ever need you on an urgent basis in the future they can rest assured that they already have your intake package available and can send the work order over to you immediately. If and when that happens, you’ll gladly jump right on it. 

And here is one of many templates you can use:

Howdy!

My name is Ray Duke, owner of (Insert Business Name Here) We are a family owned professional handyman service provider dedicated to meeting the unique needs of property managers overseeing single-family rental homes. With extensive experience servicing over [1,000] doors in the last 3 years, we understand the critical elements that contribute to efficient property maintenance and tenant satisfaction.

As a specialized property maintenance vendor we serve Property Managers exclusively, so you don’t have to worry about losing a reliable vendor every time a home owner with a little bit of extra cash comes along. We’re only interested in filling your needs. Here is how we stand out:

• Prompt Communication and Scheduling: We contact tenants within 24 hours of receiving a work order, scheduling appointments at their convenience. Our team consistently shows up on time, clean, and professional with the proper tools and materials to complete the job.

• Quality Workmanship: We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality, permanent fixes rather than temporary, hacked solutions. Our work is efficient and thorough, and we make sure tenants feel respected and well taken care of.

• Timely Invoicing: We believe in prompt and fair invoicing, eliminating unnecessary delays in reconciling tenant and owner accounts.

• Tenant Satisfaction: Our goal is to take maintenance off of your plate completely by ensuring that tenants never feel the need to call you unless it’s to brag about the great service they received. 

Enclosed in this package, you will find our business license, trades licenses, insurance, bonding, worker’s compensation insurance, a detailed list of services, and our pricing structure. While you may not need our services immediately, having our intake package on hand ensures that you can swiftly send us a work order whenever the need arises. Rest assured, we will be ready to jump right on it. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out by phone or email any time day or night should you have any questions or require our services. 

Sincerely,

Ray Duke

(###) ###-####

Incentivizing Profitable Move Outs

Move outs are some of the most profitable work out there for a handyman. This is when the tenant vacates the property and we’re tasked with getting it ready to rent again. Lets talk about why they are so profitable, and how to incentivize our Property Managers to send more of them.

1. Static Location – Most move outs consist of a larger quantity of work at a single address. This reduces drive time, inspection time, loading and unloading tools, prep time, and clean up time. Each of these tasks only has to be done once over the course of the day as opposed to small jobs where each of these tasks has to be done once per job at multiple jobs per day.

2. Consolidated Materials Acquisition – Time spent acquiring materials on most jobs, if they require trips to the hardware store, can easily take up half of the total time spent on the job. Each job can easily send you on a 45 minute trip to purchase materials multiple times per day. On a move out you can easily make one list for materials and gather up the whole days supplies in one trip.

3. Scheduling Efficiency – Most smaller jobs require at least 5 minutes of your time to call, text, and schedule. If you’re knocking out 5 of these per day for 5 days out of the week that can easily add up to 2 or 3 hours per week, and that’s being generous. Oftentimes scheduling can take up to an hour per day depending on how easily the tenants are to reach and communicate with. However, with move outs there is no scheduling. You just pick a day and show up unimpeded.

4. Access – Move outs are empty. This means that you don’t need to move the tenants furniture or belongings, wait for them to get out of the bathroom, work around them, or worry about making too much noise. 

5. Safety – Vacant properties do not have children or pets running around posing a risk of someone getting hurt tripping over your tools and materials. There is no danger that a child will pick up your razor knife or that a cat will knock over your can of paint. 

6. On a move out, you can show up with your podcast, YouTube (I recommend the Bulletproof Handyman Business Channel) or music playing over the stereo and just get to work and remain productive and billable all day.

Here is how you incentivize your Property Managers to send you more move outs and hopefully make you the main move out guy…

1. Pricing – Make sure that you make the money that you deserve, but also try to make sure that you don’t put your PM in a position where they are having to justify your high prices to the home owner.

2. Timeliness – This is the important one… Vacant properties cost the home owner money. Every day that the property is waiting for the handyman or the cleaners or the landscapers is one more day that the owner is not receiving a return on his investment. Every home owner wants his property rented out as soon as possible after a tenant moves out. If you can get these done within just 3 or 4 days of the tenant vacating then you put your Property Manager in a position to tell the Home Owner that they have successfully turned the property around in record time. This makes them look good, and they do love to look good. So jump on these ASAP and make sure that every time your PM needs a move out accomplished, you’re the first name that comes to mind.

3. Inspections – Send your property manager an additional estimate for other work to be completed that they may not have noticed. They’re not inspection experts. Anything they miss that should have been billed to the tenant in the future will ultimately have to be billed to the Home Owner. This makes them look bad, and they don’t like looking bad, so give them a hand and help them understand the overall condition of their property.

S-Corp Confusion And Clarification

I’ve had some confusion about a recent video as it pertains to cutting your self employment taxes in half by filing to be taxed as an S-Corp. 

This is not legal advice or tax advice. To clarify this issue, your business MUST be an LLC before you can elect to be taxed as an S-Corp. A regular sole proprietorship that has not formed a business entity as an LLC cannot file taxes as an S-Corp. An S-Corp is not different from an LLC. You are still an LLC when you file taxes as an S-Corp, you are just electing to be taxed differently under a different regulatory structure. For a handyman business paying the owner/operator $100,000 per year, this would save approximately $7,500 per year in FICA taxes, also known as self employment taxes. The cost of forming an LLC, with Northwest Registered Agent, (the company I used to form an LLC for Bulletproof Handyman) is $40 plus whatever filing fees your state imposes. The cost of submitting the form to the IRS requesting to be taxed as an S-Corp is free or almost free. Your accountant can file this for you for a minimal charge as well. Here is a link to the video I made about forming an LLC yourself in just a few minutes online for $40, and here is the video about filing your taxes as an S-Corp I hope this helps. Soon I’ll be trying to get a CPA to interview on the channel to clarify a lot of the issues that we all have to deal with pertaining to taxes. 

Perfect Paint Matching

We’re constantly having to match paint and I get lots of questions about how to do this, so here is my process.

1.  Remove Paint Sample – Assuming the whole house is the same color I like to take my samples from bedrooms due to the likelihood of pet dander, smoke, and grease from the cooking in the kitchen possibly dirtying the results from a sample taken from a common area of the home. I do not recommend closets since many painters will cheat and skip out on the closets when they repaint and you’ll end up with something that is kind of a match, but not really. Within the bedroom, I like to take my sample from behind the door. It’s highly unlikely that anyone has spent enough time behind the door to have soiled the wall. I try to pick a bedroom that appears clean and smells clean to avoid the chances that there was a smoker or pets or incense burning in there to soil the paint. Within the bedroom, behind the door, I try to grab a sample from the wall at about hip height to belly button height. In this area there likely won’t be any pets rubbing up against the wall, or peoples hands touching the wall. This is, in my opinion, the purest paint sample that you’ll find. Cut out a sample at least the size of a quarter for a good match. Bigger is better here.

2. Compare The Paint Sample – For every wall in the house that you want to match, physically compare the paint sample that you removed to the existing paint on the wall. Oftentimes individual rooms are repainted with a similar but not quite matching paint. Take additional samples from these rooms if necessary.

3. Determine Sheen -  Common sheens, in order, are High Gloss, Gloss, Semi-Gloss, Satin, Eggshell, Flat, Ultra Flat. HOWEVER… most specialty paint stores have their own custom sheens in between as well. If possible ask the home owner if they kept any records of the precise paint mixes that were used on the home. Look in the garage for any left behind paint cans that may lead you in the right direction. If you find any, test them on the walls to see if they are a good match in both color and sheen.

4. Acquire A Match - Go to your nearest Ace, Home Depot, or Lowes for a custom match if you don’t have the original brand name. They will need to know what brand of paint you want to use, interior or exterior, what quantity you’ll need, and what sheen you would like the match to be in. Pay close attention at the end and make sure that before you leave, the paint match is tested on your sample. If its not a perfect match, you’ll be making a return trip for another match. 

5. Grade Your Matches – Every time you get a paint match, note where you purchased it and if possible also note who the technician was that did the match. Many stores are always bad because they don’t have good people or a good training setup. Many stores are great for the opposite reason. Over time you’ll know which stores you will never get a paint match at, which stores you’ll always get a paint match at, and which employees are the experts at perfect matches at each of those stores. 

6. Consider Blending Or Dropping Down One Sheen – Oftentimes there will be a custom sheen that doesn’t fit within the available sheens at your local hardware store. In this situation you have two options. First, you can order a match one sheen above and one sheen below your existing sheen and come up with a pretty good match assuming the color is spot on. Second, if you can’t match the sheen at all, drop down to a sheen that is more flat rather than a sheen that is more glossy. Glossy sheens will reflect from across the room from multiple angles. Flat sheens will typically only be visible if the whole wall is exposed to light from a steep angle where they will stand out for their lack of reflections.

7. If you’re using a CRM like Jobber, be sure to document your good matches in the notes that you can attach to each property. Do the same with blinds sizes and colors, air filter sizes, etc…

Video And Interview Requests

I’d love some feedback from y’all on what videos you’d like to see next. They can be “how to” videos pertaining to the actual jobs, or business content, or interviews with your favorite YouTubers. Please feel free to send suggestions to [email protected]