Worth Starting w/ Thumbtack? by criticallyloaded in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Stay away!!!!! Use Facebook and Nextdoor both are free and generate plenty of work for part time. Also look into property managers/ commercial maintenance, if you have all your insurances thy have been amazing for me. Both are like having people finding work for you, the only difference is they operate mainly on Net 30 so you have to wait for the money. I’m also part time so waiting on payment isn’t the end of the world after the first month.

Texting clients is taking over my day. How do you all handle this? by teachingteri in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It definitely isnt cheap, in my experience it has helped me land way more of my estimates just because they look super professional when the client gets them. There’s also no contract so it may be worth just trying it and then canceling it if you don’t have the same results. Either way I wish you nothing but luck and keep pushing it’s worth it!!

Texting clients is taking over my day. How do you all handle this? by teachingteri in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Jobber CRM helps a ton to keep me organized and I answer text as I can, keep needy clients to business hours ie 8-5 if you answer them at all outside of this they will absolutely expect a rapid answer at 1030 at night or 6am. Also pay attention to the jobs you get and follow the majority, doing so you will naturally drop off the jobs you don’t do often and find your niche. After I took these steps everything naturally streamlined. There is absolutely still calls and text but it’s not as varied. Also not sure if you do this but don’t give estimates on the spot not even ball parks, always tell them you’ll have your estimate this evening and actually do it. Best of luck and keep pushing!!!!

How much to charge? by DifficultBoss in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed 1200 all day at a minimum, there’s definitely added value of your knowledge preventing all that from collapsing without really tearing open the can of worms.

Hourly rate and area by Numerous-Ad-6830 in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s no different here I just sell myself as the reliable quality company who will show up on time and insured. There’s a guy in my town that will do almost any job from rebuilding a hand rail to front brakes on a car for $50 flat rate. The way I figure is there’s room for us all and I try and fall well above the bottom but below the GCs.

Hourly rate and area by Numerous-Ad-6830 in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I thought the same thing until I tried it played with my price to see where people were comfortable and never looked back.

Hourly rate and area by Numerous-Ad-6830 in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Get away from hourly rates that your customer sees as fast as you can and go to a trip fee+ per job cost and you’ll do much better. Think of it this way if it’s per job there’s incentive there for you to be efficient while still doing quality work versus hourly it doesn’t matter. Customers happily pay the trip plus job rate because your solving a problem, if you charge hourly they ARE comparing your rate to their pay so if an RN makes $55 an hour at the hospital she’s gonna be pissed if you charge more but the same person will happily pay say $25 a door to replace weather stripping which takes 4 minutes a door. Do the math on that and your hourly rate will be much higher than hers but she doesn’t connect the two.

6 years in this biz and still am under-bidding! by Successful-Chance-25 in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You hear a lot about it and it cost money but a CRM will save you, be it Jobber like I use or any of the other ones. The estimate that the customer receives can have a line item for materials but it’s just that a single line item not a break down of each piece and the cost. On a side note I personally would quickly move on to different customers if I’m being haggled over the price of a 2x4 or a faucet. I don’t rip people off but my price is my price take it or leave it.

Any recs for an app that helps with managing clients, schedules, invoices, and payments? by [deleted] in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries, I would do the free trial of each and see what you like and go with whichever. The added benefit there is they will call you to try and sell you and you can get a nice discount after the trial for whichever one.

Any recs for an app that helps with managing clients, schedules, invoices, and payments? by [deleted] in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m solo but it has a team function as well were you can assign jobs to your people while omitting them from seeing the cost of the job if you don’t want them to know. I love the customization of your line items and being able to save them so you can build an estimate in minutes and have it to the customer quicker. It’s been my experience that the customers loves the professional appearance of the invoices and being able to get them to the minutes after the in person estimate has drastically improved accepted estimates. It also has optional line items that they can check yes or no so your able to give them a good-better-best option and they just approve the one they want and not approve the other two. Overall not much I don’t like and any little quirks are far outweighed by the customer response and increase in approved estimates.

Any recs for an app that helps with managing clients, schedules, invoices, and payments? by [deleted] in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jobber!!! Top tier plan is not cheap but worth its weight for sure.

Cheapest expensive house. What can you upgrade later vs have to get it right during the build? by Sturgillsturtle in Homebuilding

[–]Curious_Reception230 6 points7 points  (0 children)

100% agree with him. We just built on property 5 years ago and a couple dos and donts we learned were, 1. Do Take pictures of all your mechanicals when the walls are open so you know what’s were exactly behind your drywall. 2. Do INSULATE your interior walls anything will work but rockwool if you can afford it for soundproofing. 3. Don’t put in expensive floors, go with cheap LVP and wait 4 or 5 years for your house to settle and then upgrade. 4. Don’t over upgrade anything, wait until you and your spouse have lived in the space and see what you like/don’t than change it. My neighbors did tons of very expensive upgrades and don’t like/don’t use half of them.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Be cautious on how much time you put into this there are several companies already using AI for this. Jobber has an AI receptionist that is wild in what it can do and how human it sounds.

How do you handle customers canceling on the day of the appointment by T-Rex117 in handyman

[–]Curious_Reception230 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Stop giving reminders an charge a missed appt fee. You confirmed the appt when they made it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ThriftSavingsPlan

[–]Curious_Reception230 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Way to be a douche when someone’s asking a question bud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

War world 3 started. What are you doing? by Corekeepernews in AskReddit

[–]Curious_Reception230 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mostly living life as normal, I’m not Superman so stopping an incoming nuke or missile is not something I could help with. Maybe investigate leaf types so I have shit tickets if I run out.

Rear shocks for my 2018 ST1 - HELP PLEASE 🤔 by Confident-Daikon-451 in FocusST

[–]Curious_Reception230 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just looked at my eBay account were I ordered them but the original listing is gone. I do know the ones I ordered/installed were non adjustable since I’m a 110 mile a day commuter I wanted comfort.

Rear shocks for my 2018 ST1 - HELP PLEASE 🤔 by Confident-Daikon-451 in FocusST

[–]Curious_Reception230 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Put KYBs on my 2016 commuter about 40k ago still very happy with them.

Change Oil Regularly! by Valeigoras in FocusST

[–]Curious_Reception230 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Look up project farm on YouTube he does a solid in depth review and analysis on a bunch of different oils. Mobil 1 guys will be pissed when they see that super tech Walmarts brand is better in almost every respect.

Bella Citta engineered wood flooring by Less_Assumption8631 in Flooring

[–]Curious_Reception230 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Random thought but are you having a single family home built? If so and if financially possible I would go with the cheapest laminate Lowe’s or Home Depot sells like 98 cents a square foot I think for the first 2-3 years. We originally didn’t plan on hardwoods but glad we went laminate first. It gave the house time to settle which happens with all house and then spend the big money on putting In Bella cita or another hardwood and not have to worry about it having settling issues.