Step-by-step guide to starting a successful Home Services business.
It depends on the trade and the state — electrical, plumbing, and HVAC are licensed almost everywhere, while handyman work is often allowed below a job-value threshold that varies widely. Check your state contractor board before advertising services, and carry liability insurance regardless because customers and platforms increasingly require proof.
They generate real jobs for new companies but sell the same lead to several competitors, so you pay to race on response time and price. Use them to fill early capacity while tracking cost per booked job, and build the review base and repeat customers that let you turn them off later.
Charge a diagnostic or trip fee that's credited toward the work if hired — free estimates on small repairs attract tire-kickers and pay you nothing for windshield time. Flat-rate pricing by job type is easier for homeowners to accept than open-ended hourly billing, and it rewards you for efficiency.
Generalists find work faster early because they can say yes to everything, but specialists command better rates, rank easier on Google for specific searches, and build referral reputations. A common path is starting general, noticing which jobs are most profitable and pleasant, and steering the marketing toward those.