Plain notes on getting found and winning more work
Written from inside real contracting companies. No theory we have not run on our own crews. Pick a problem, or start with the four most people read first.
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Get found
Search, maps, reviews, ads, and what a contractor website has to do before any of that pays.
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Oregon CCB advertising rules: where the CCB number has to appear
Oregon requires the CCB number in website, bid, business card, site sign, truck, radio and TV ads. What OAR 812-003-0120 covers, and the two exemptions.
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How to get roofing leads without buying them from a marketplace
How to get roofing leads without buying them: own local search, work the trades and property managers who already see the roofs, and answer the phone fast.
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Contractor referral programs: making word of mouth show up on a schedule
How to build a contractor referral program: ask at one set moment, ask for something specific, decide whether to pay, and track where the work came from.
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Local Services Ads for contractors: what happened to the Google Guaranteed badge
Google Guaranteed is now Google Verified, and the money back promise is gone. How contractors get verified, what a lead costs, and what decides ranking.
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How much should a contracting company spend on marketing
Where the five to ten percent of revenue rule comes from, what belongs in the marketing number, and how to set a ceiling per booked job instead of guessing.
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Why a Google Business Profile stops showing up
Why a contractor's Google Business Profile disappears: suspension, an edit that sent it back into review, a duplicate listing, or a ranking problem instead.
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Are AI search leads real, and how would a contractor know?
AI assistants hand out contractor names. What one of those leads looks like when it lands, four ways to check whether you get any, and why they close differently.
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Google Business Profile photos for contractors: what to post and how often
What contractors should post on a Google Business Profile: real photos of your own finished work, added on a steady weekly rhythm, never stock photography.
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Do door hangers still work for contractors? Yard signs, print, and the jobsite radius
Door hangers and yard signs still pay for contractors, but only in a tight radius around a job you are already on. What to print and how to track it.
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Contractor advertising rules in Washington: what your website has to say
Your registration number belongs in your advertising, not just your contracts. What counts as advertising, which claims get contractors in trouble, and how to audit your own site.
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Why contractor Google Ads spend disappears
Contractor ad budgets leak into searches that were never jobs and leads nobody answered. The search terms report, location settings, and what to check this week.
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Google reviews for contractors: how to ask so people actually leave one
Happy customers still forget. The in person ask at the walkthrough, the same day text link, and the rules on gating and paying that keep your listing safe.
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Contractor website checklist: what it needs and what is decoration
Trade and city up front, proof you are real, a fast way to reach you, and a page per service. Why most of what fills contractor websites is decoration.
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How contractors get into the Google map pack
The three listings under the map run on relevance, distance, and prominence. The profile, review, and consistency work that actually competes for a spot.
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How do contractors show up in ChatGPT and AI search?
Homeowners now ask AI assistants who to hire. What those tools actually read, and the concrete steps that make your company show up in the answer.
Respond and follow up
The hours between the first call and the signed estimate, where most work is won or lost. Installed versions: missed call text back service and estimate and proposal system.
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What to say when sending an estimate: text and email
The message that carries an estimate needs the scope in one line, the price, how to accept, and the date it holds through. Wording to copy for both.
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How long is a contractor estimate good for?
An estimate should be good for 30 days on most residential work, and 7 to 14 when a supplier or a sub drives the price. Where the date goes and how to word it.
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Is missed call text back legal? Texting rules for contractors
Texting back a missed call is legal when the reply answers that caller. What changes when the text sells, plus carrier registration and opt-out rules.
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Estimating software for small contractors: what actually saves time
Estimating software saves a small contractor time in three places. The four things worth paying for, what to ignore, and when a spreadsheet is still the right call.
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Does a contractor need a CRM, or will a spreadsheet do?
A spreadsheet works until leads outrun it. What a CRM has to do that a spreadsheet cannot, the four signs you have outgrown one, and how to judge the cost.
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Why your quote lost, and how to follow up without begging
How to follow up on a lost bid: ask one specific question a few days later, log the answer, and stay in the file. Most losses are not really about price.
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How to answer "how much does it cost" on the phone without giving a number you regret
How contractors should answer the phone price question: give an honest range, name what moves it, and hold the firm number until you have seen the job.
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Dead leads are not dead: recovering quotes that went quiet
A quote that went quiet is usually a stall, not a no. How to pull the old list, what the reopen message says, and when to close the file.
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Missed call text back for contractors: what it is and what it costs
The automation that texts a caller seconds after nobody answers. How it works, what the software really costs, and the questions that separate the vendors.
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Why nobody follows up on quotes (and what a five-touch sequence looks like)
Most contractors send a quote once and wait. A five-touch sequence over two weeks recovers jobs that silence loses, and it only works if it runs automatically.
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After-hours calls for contractors: answering service or text
An evening caller who reaches voicemail usually calls the next name. When an answering service is worth paying for, and why a missed-call text comes first.
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How fast should a contractor send an estimate?
Same day acknowledgment, a number or a firm date within two days. Why speed beats price more often than contractors think, and how to get faster without cutting corners.
Price and run the work
Margin, change orders, crews, dashboards, and the slow months.
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Getting paid on time: deposits, progress billing, and the collections call nobody makes
How contractors get paid on time: put the payment schedule in the proposal, size the deposit, bill by milestone, and make the follow up call.
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Hiring an office manager for a contracting company: what to hand off first
When to make a contractor's first office hire, which lanes to hand off first, what the owner keeps, and why the job has to be written down before day one.
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Contractor maintenance contracts: revenue that survives winter
How trades maintenance contracts work: what counts, who actually buys them, how to price a recurring visit, and how to get the first ones signed.
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How to write a change order that does not start a fight
A contractor change order needs five things: what changed, why, the price, the schedule effect, and a signature before the work starts.
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Subcontractor crews versus employees: the tradeoff nobody explains
Subs give a contractor capacity you can switch off. Employees give control you can build on. The real cost comparison, and the part that is not your choice.
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What to do in the contractor slow season
A slow season checklist for contractors: fix intake and follow-up, clean up your Google profile, rework pricing, and line up spring work before the phone goes quiet.
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The contractor daily report: six lines to read before the trucks roll
A contractor daily report is six lines you read before the trucks roll: new leads, unanswered calls, quotes out, jobs today, money in, money owed.
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Multi-location and multi-trade: growing without the wheels coming off
Add a second trade or a second town, not both at once. What breaks first when a contracting company scales, and what to write down before you copy it.
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One dashboard for a contracting company: what to actually track
Eight numbers belong on one screen: leads, response time, quotes sent, close rate in dollars, backlog, margin by job, cash, and past due receivables. Everything else is a report you pull.
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Markup vs margin for contractors, and how to price for margin instead of guessing
Markup is added onto your cost and margin is measured against your price, so a 20 percent markup leaves about 16.7 percent margin. The arithmetic that fixes it, and the overhead each job has to carry.
Commercial growth
Property managers, vendor lists, public works, and other work that does not come from a homeowner.
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Bonding and insurance for contractors: what a bid actually requires
Why the bond and policy that register you are not the ones a project asks for, what additional insured really costs, and how bonding capacity gets approved.
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How to get work from general contractors: what a GC checks first
What a GC checks before handing a sub work: a compliance packet already on file, an answer the day the invitation lands, a readable scope, and crews that show up.
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How to get commercial painting leads without a sales rep
Where commercial painting leads come from, why cold calling is the slowest way in, and how a small crew wins repeat commercial work without hiring a salesperson.
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How contractors get on a commercial vendor list
How to get on a property manager or facilities vendor list: be reachable, have your insurance and licensing packet ready, and follow up on a schedule.
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ADU demand for contractors: what the rule changes actually mean
ADU rules loosened in Washington and elsewhere. What that changes for a small general contractor, why the leads move slowly, and how to price and chase them.
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How to bid public works as a small contractor: an honest first look
Public works pays well and pays slowly. Prevailing wage, certified payroll, bonding, and how to start on a small works roster instead of betting the company.
All posts, newest first
- Oregon CCB advertising rules: where the number goes
- What to say when sending an estimate: text and email
- How long is a contractor estimate good for?
- Is missed call text back legal? Texting rules for contractors
- How to get roofing leads without buying them from a marketplace
- Contractor referral programs: making word of mouth show up on a schedule
- Local Services Ads for contractors: what happened to the Google Guaranteed badge
- Getting paid on time: deposits, progress billing, and the collections call nobody makes
- How much should a contracting company spend on marketing
- Why a Google Business Profile stops showing up
- Hiring an office manager for a contracting company: what to hand off first
- Bonding and insurance for contractors: what a bid actually requires
- How to get work from general contractors: what a GC checks first
- Estimating software for small contractors: what actually saves time
- Are AI search leads real, and how would a contractor know?
- Does a contractor need a CRM, or will a spreadsheet do?
- How to get commercial painting leads without a sales rep
- Contractor maintenance contracts: revenue that survives winter
- Why your quote lost, and how to follow up without begging
- How to write a change order that does not start a fight
- How contractors get on a commercial vendor list
- Subcontractor crews versus employees: the tradeoff nobody explains
- Google Business Profile photos for contractors: what to post and how often
- How to answer "how much does it cost" on the phone without giving a number you regret
- What to do in the contractor slow season
- ADU demand for contractors: what the rule changes actually mean
- Do door hangers still work for contractors? Yard signs, print, and the jobsite radius
- The contractor daily report: six lines to read before the trucks roll
- Multi-location and multi-trade: growing without the wheels coming off
- One dashboard for a contracting company: what to actually track
- Contractor advertising rules in Washington: what your website has to say
- How to bid public works as a small contractor: an honest first look
- Markup vs margin for contractors, and how to price for margin instead of guessing
- Dead leads are not dead: recovering quotes that went quiet
- Why contractor Google Ads spend disappears
- Missed call text back for contractors: what it is and what it costs
- Google reviews for contractors: how to ask so people actually leave one
- Contractor website checklist: what it needs and what is decoration
- How contractors get into the Google map pack
- Why nobody follows up on quotes (and what a five-touch sequence looks like)
- After-hours calls for contractors: answering service or text
- How fast should a contractor send an estimate?
- How do contractors show up in ChatGPT and AI search?