I was on a marketing Zoom call yesterday hosted by CompanyCam, and one of the main topics was AI search and how customer behavior is changing. It got me thinking about where the handyman and home service industry is headed. A few years ago, customers were mostly typing things like “handyman near me” or “contractor near me” into Google. Now, more and more people are typing full problems into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or other AI tools. Instead of searching: “handyman near me” They may be asking: “I have wood rot around my exterior door. Can I fix this myself, or do I need a handyman?” Or: “My bathroom ceiling has water stains and peeling paint. What causes this, and who should I hire to fix it?” Then, once they decide they need help, they ask the AI where to find a qualified handyman or contractor near them. That raises a pretty big question for all of us: How do handyman companies show up in those AI-driven searches? The other thing that stood out to me is how far behind the home service industry seems to be in allowing customers to buy services online. People can buy cars, houses, furniture, vacations, exotic animals, and almost anything else online, but in the home services industry, we still send someone out for an estimate, write it up later, sometimes send it days or weeks afterward, and then wait for approval of course there are exceptions and those who do only on-site estimates and try and close it and sell it on-site, which definitely has a higher closing rate. I know there is a theory that pricing repair work online is challenging. Every house is different, hidden conditions exist, photos do not always tell the full story, and some jobs absolutely need to be inspected in person. Handyman work can be priced, approved, and scheduled online using photos, videos, intake forms, standardized service packages, and possibly a quick quote But I also think this is where things are heading. My long-term goal is to move toward a handyman system that goes beyond onsite estimating. Not necessarily for every job, but definitely for more common, repeatable services.

I should not be thinking about this cause trying to have a weekend away as a family but we lost 2 flat pack sales this week due to our minimum call out fee. I asked if there were any other items on the todo list we could take care of or anything they are thinking about in the future. Anyone treating these as a loss leader to get in the home? Would love some collective thoughts. Losing these quick easy ones always gets me but not too sure what to do about it

I’d love to get some feedback from the group on material markups, because this is an area I still wrestle with. For 30+ years in commercial roofing, we job-costed everything—labor, materials, equipment, rentals, overhead. If we wanted a 40% gross margin, we divided by 0.6. When we shifted into commercial repair work, that same system produced 60–70% margins, and it worked great. Eventually, that job costing evolved into flat-rate service pricing. Now that I’m on the handyman side, everything feels… different. Everyone talks in terms of markups, and I constantly hear that to hit a 60-70% gross margin you need to mark materials up 150%-250%. Conceptually, I understand the math—but practically, it feels strange compared to how I’ve always priced work in the past for commercial roofing. On top of that, in today’s world, customers are far more price-aware. With a quick Google search, most people already have a rough idea of what materials cost. That makes large material markups—200%, 300%, or more—feel especially challenging from a customer perception standpoint, even if the math technically works. I realize that most HVAC and plumbing companies have been bought out by private equity firms, and those PE companies are all marking up by 300% to 400% or more. That's why a lot of people tell me that the plumbing companies are charging $1,000 to $1,500 just to replace a toilet. It just seems odd to me to buy a $150 toilet at Home Depot and then turn around and charge $525 (a 350% markup) for the same thing the customer can buy at Home Depot for $150. Historically, I did the job costing, applied the margin we needed to the total cost, and moved on. With handyman work, material markup seems to carry much more emotional and psychological weight—for both contractors and customers. I’ve been kicking around a few ideas, like: · Pricing most work as labor-driven task items · Including a materials acquisition fee (pickup, sourcing, coordination) built into the price · Passing materials through at cost but charging an acquisition fee that scales with project size

I was on a consulting call with a client yesterday and walked through exactly how to build his pricing and before the call ended he had everything dialed in. Here is the breakdown OPEX - $8,203 Labor - $48/hr fully loaded, 70% utilized ($25/hr plus 30% labor burden assuming 112 billed hrs per week) $121/hr @ 112 billed hrs per month allows for OPEX and Labor to be covered. This doesn't account for any profit. 20% net margin on top Total Hourly Rate $147/hr

The module on minimum call-out charges. Am I seeing that we are charging hourly? Everything in our business is built on how long it takes and what it costs us to produce it, but is this what the classes are built on is charging hourly? I want to be on the same page.