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Why Contractors Struggle to Find Work
91 Plays24 days ago
In this Q&A episode of The Better Contractor Podcast, we answer real questions from contractors in our Facebook community about pricing, competition, and finding consistent work. They explain why contractors need to stop letting customers dictate prices and stressing the importance of knowing your overhead and sticking to profitable rates. We also dive into competing in saturated markets through professional marketing, SEO, and innovation that helps businesses stand out. We discuss the value of niching down, investing in lead platforms, and combining paid marketing with strong local word-of-mouth. We close by emphasizing personal branding and collaboration among contractors to raise the standard of the entire industry instead of racing to the bottom on price.
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Transcript
Contractor Pricing and Integrity
00:00:00
Speaker
All of us contractors have to get more and more familiar with just telling people no. I think for whatever reason, and we'll deal with this, i know there's another question coming up that's a little bit similar, but contracting as a whole is is terrible about we let the customer dictate the price, the process.
00:00:18
Speaker
For some reason, we're overly fixated on that as contractors.
Introduction and Q&A Session
00:00:36
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of The Better Contractor. Today I am joined again by Mr. Alex. So I think now it's official. He's made it to three. Probably going to keep him on for a while. So Alex, welcome back. It's good to hear. Yeah. I'm ready to stay. Awesome.
00:00:50
Speaker
So today we're going to look at and do a Q&A type episode again. We've got some Facebook questions in our Facebook group. So we're going to address some of those on here instead of just replying to them online. Okay.
00:01:04
Speaker
Alex? We want to hear from you guys. So before we start, send more questions in our Facebook group. We're ready.
Pricing Integrity and Professionalism
00:01:09
Speaker
So our first question is from Mike. um Mike said, I've been a tile contractor for almost 40 years. What do i what do i do when people say I am too expensive when they want me to replace showers that were installed wrong five months ago?
00:01:21
Speaker
Everyone wants quality, but nobody wants to pay what it takes to do quality work. Welcome to contracting. So i think for those, all of us contractors have to get more and more familiar was just telling people no.
00:01:34
Speaker
I think for whatever reason, and we'll deal with this, i know there's another question coming up that's a little bit similar, But contracting as a whole is is terrible about we let the customer dictate the price, the process.
00:01:48
Speaker
For some reason, we're overly fixated on that as contractors. And that has to be broken a little bit. I think contractors have to realize my price is my price. yep If indeed your price is actually based upon, you went through your numbers, you went through your overhead, and you factored this price and it needs to be 84.17 cents an hour.
00:02:07
Speaker
If that's the case and that's how you price your work, then I think you need to go back and say, that's that's my price. As far as
Maintaining Quality and Standards
00:02:13
Speaker
fixing other people's stuff, I would say no for two reasons. One, it's going to elevate you above that type of work.
00:02:20
Speaker
So I don't think that's probably what you want to do is sit there and be that contractor that goes and fixes other contractors' issues and messes. And two, hopefully that elevates you and I think people need to tell the customer no more. So I think if the customers get told no more by contractors and we're less available to go do stuff like this, more than likely this person hired a cheap contractor, cheap bid.
00:02:42
Speaker
And to be honest, everything in life you get what you pay for. Contracting is no different for some reason. People think why you would want someone to remodel your house. Cheaply, I have no idea. This is something you're gonna live in you're going sell, you're going to flip, whatever.
00:02:58
Speaker
Why you would want that cheaply done, I do not understand it. If you're going to buy something off Tmue that's super cheap and you're going to throw it away in a month, feel free. Contracting, I truly don't get why it is such a price gouging thing because it's a lose-lose for those people. But I would say on that one, i would tell the customer no.
00:03:17
Speaker
i would educate them on why they have that issue. I think all contractors need to do more of that. That's how the customer's going realize I got what I paid for. This is the result. um And I think the industry as a whole has got to step up. But for you personally, I would say tell them no. But then I would say you need to start marketing and putting yourself above that. If indeed your quality of work is above that. If
Marketing Strategies for Contractors
00:03:39
Speaker
it's not, then this may be stuck with the type of work you may be stuck with this type of work. But hopefully, if you're in this group and you're trying to get better, hopefully that is something you're like, know what, this isn't really what I want to be doing and I am better than this. And if that's the case, then you got to say no. You got market a difference yourself.
00:03:56
Speaker
For sure. And it always seems like it's almost like an iceberg. yeah Whenever you go in trying to fix another contractor's stuff, It's the tip of the iceberg. You don't see the whole issue. Yeah. And you start tearing stuff apart and it just gets worse and worse and worse. And then that cuts into profits. And that's good point. I think with that, when you need to be doing it as time of material, not a hard bid, because you don't know necessarily what's behind that wall and what the issue actually is for sure.
00:04:19
Speaker
So the last thing you want to do is be the contractor that bid it right, you think. then you get in there, you start tearing it out on a hard bid and you're not right. so And then you're and you're the one losing money, fixing someone else's screw up. Exactly.
00:04:31
Speaker
Never a good case. No. right, so next question we have from Ross. Ross said, as a heavy equipment ah as a heavy equipment and semi-truck diesel technician shop, how do I get more business?
00:04:44
Speaker
I'm in an area that's flooded with truck repair shops. I do quality work. How do I beat the competition? That's a good question. so not knowing a lot of details, I would first probably ask, are you doing paid ads? Are you running any kind of marketing at all?
00:05:01
Speaker
Do you have SEO properties set up on your website? A lot of contractors and repair shops don't do that. They're very, very good at what they do. They're very, very good at repairing trucks, doing the diesel engine work, ah building houses, remodeling, whatever it is.
00:05:18
Speaker
But they're not necessarily good at marketing. And there for some reason, they think paying that, I'm to roughly name $2,000 to $5,000 a month, they think that's ridiculously expensive. And what I would challenge you there, not to sound like a salesman for marketing,
00:05:32
Speaker
But if you did that, how many jobs would it take to pay for it? Most likely, for what you're doing, we have a lot of diesel engines at work, so I know some of the repair bills are are high. But more than likely, if you could do some SEO and pay the ads for $2,500 a month, I will to bet you're probably paying that off more.
00:05:54
Speaker
and probably two to
Innovation and Customer Perspective
00:05:55
Speaker
three decent sized jobs in one month. And then anything past that is extra for you. I'm willing to bet that a lot of your competition is probably not doing SEO and paid ads, at least not well.
00:06:05
Speaker
So if you are doing that, that's going to give you a leg up and put you in the front, at least on your Google searches and stuff like that. It'll put you at the top. The other thing I would do too, and a lot of contractors and especially people doing this type of work, I don't
Differentiation in Saturated Markets
00:06:18
Speaker
feel like try to think outside the box and innovate. So,
00:06:22
Speaker
What does your customer want? Do they want online booking? Is that even possible? Put yourself in the customer's shoes and think through what could I do different? What is a problem I could solve for that customer that no one else in the industry is doing? And then you'd be the one to solve it.
00:06:38
Speaker
But also your marketing has to be something that differentiates you. So for the most part, I'm thinking locally repair shops that we would use. I don't know what the differentiators are. We have some that are more readily available, some that just have better better customer service, and that's why we go to them. We have some that probably, I feel like when the equipment or truck comes back to us, it's usually actually all the way fixed, and we don't go back on the road and have to take it back to another shop because it wasn't fixed right.
00:07:05
Speaker
So I would think through what is or what makes you different then i would think through some of your kpis hopefully you have some kpis at your company where you know hey we're 10 better than the competition on this if you don't know that stuff i would run those numbers but hopefully there's some numbers there that you know my company does this better it does this better this better that's what you're going to market and i'm assuming that's what your customer wants but i would start there if you're in a flooded industry You've got to stand out plain simple. So that means you've got to be out there, which means you're probably going to have to pay for some marketing. of people don't want to, but you've got to tell your story, and lot people don't do that.
00:07:45
Speaker
So I would start there. Exactly, and hire out your marketing too. you Yes. You want to do what you're good at, and Ross, it sounds like you are good at running your diesel technician shop. You are the diesel technician.
00:07:57
Speaker
You may not be a marketer. Yeah. So you're getting into paying $2,000 to $5,000 month in marketing, they don't They can't be terrible ads yeah because then you're just throwing that money away. Well, you see a lot of people do that where they they think, well, I can do my Facebook. you know I can do my personal Facebook. I can surely run some you know take some photos and stuff like that.
00:08:16
Speaker
That's not enough in 2026. That may have been enough a decade ago. It's not enough in 2026. It's too much competition now. Yeah. Facebook is flooded as well. so You're not going to get through doing stuff like that. No.
00:08:29
Speaker
So question three we have from from Robert. Robert says he's giving up on my lawn care business and wanting to sell everything and get into lot cleanup and land management. I work 50 to 75 hours a week in my full-time job, but I know there's a higher calling for me and I'm trying to find something other than a dead end job.
00:08:47
Speaker
Any advice and tips and ideas would be greatly appreciated. Robert, I'm real with you. If you think lawn care is saturated, I'm in the land mulching, clearing business, a little bit of a niche, but it is saturated as well.
00:09:01
Speaker
So, and and the issue is, as with a lot of contracting, everyone that has done this type of work decides, you know what, I can go to Cat or Bobcat or whoever, and I can lease a machine for whatever, $3,000 a month.
00:09:16
Speaker
And they can do the basic math. They already have a pickup truck. They just got to buy a trailer, buy the machine, buy the head, and
Unique Selling Points and Social Media
00:09:22
Speaker
they're in the business. with no overhead, so they can be relatively cheap. So with that said, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Competition is not bad, but lawn care is very lean because there's so much competition.
00:09:34
Speaker
This business is getting there and is almost there as well, especially in different markets. We're in some Facebook groups where we, like, I forget the one, it's like land mulching or something on Facebook.
00:09:45
Speaker
But you can look almost daily and you can see constant, I'm charging this, is this too much or is this not enough? And all the banter back and forth is just people tearing people apart. Like, I can't believe you do it for that price. Or I've got 10 people in our area that are doing this and that drove the rates down to barely making money.
00:10:03
Speaker
Not saying to scare you away, just saying it to be real with you. But just like the last question, this one's no different. You've got to find what makes you different. Or you've got to find a niche.
00:10:14
Speaker
So and in this business of land mulching, there's so many different areas you can do. You can do you can do it for farmers, field edges, reclaim that area. You can do it behind maybe a developer that they've removed all the trees and stumps, but they need edges cleaned up and some stuff like that.
00:10:33
Speaker
So you can work with developers or let them know you exist. um There's a lot of electrical companies out there that hire this work done. The issue with that one is it's also incredibly lean. and you've got to have a lot of a lot more overhead when you start working for commercial clients because they're going to want a safety department. They're going to want all this other stuff that a homeowner does not necessarily care about.
00:10:55
Speaker
And that that's not necessarily hard to do, but it does add to your overhead. So just need to be aware of it. So your prices are going to go up. We don't compete in the personal space because of that very reason. We are higher because we have all the overhead involved that it takes to do oil, gas, and electric customers.
00:11:12
Speaker
So our overhead is high, which makes it where I can't even begin to compete necessarily when when it comes to the farm market and stuff like that. So just be aware. Doing one may undo the other. But it depends what part of the country you're in. If
Community Engagement and Networking
00:11:25
Speaker
you're in the southeast, seems to be a lot head more heavily involved with this in the south in general.
00:11:30
Speaker
um But it's because there's a little bit more rural area that has some light tree brush growth. But if you're going to stay in that market, I would say you have to get out there and find what makes you different. And the other thing I would do, too, is I would be on some of these Facebook group pages, like local pages. So most towns of any size will have ah blah, blah, blah Facebook group.
00:11:51
Speaker
And I've seen a lot of people here have a lot of success with putting their name out there. So when people are looking for it, you can do share promotions is was what I call them, where you're basically throwing something out there and offering some kind of deal or cash or whatever fun to just get out there and have people share your post. And there was one in our local group not too long ago, landscape company or like install,
00:12:15
Speaker
i Last I looked, it was dozens and dozens of shares from that group. So you think about that one post, and I forget what he tied to. I think it was money. But what do he tied to that and then how many shares he got, what he paid for that ad was honestly very, very minimal for the amount of shares that he got. And I know watching his business locally, it has blown up way faster than anyone else's in that category and landscape.
00:12:41
Speaker
um I think he's doing pool installs now and a bunch of stuff. but he's boomed locally, but it's because of how much he has engaged on Facebook for free in his community and getting the shares and the likes.
00:12:54
Speaker
And he's doing, I think, probably not all in-house. He's got a videographer and stuff. yeah But anyway, he's found his niche and he's promoted himself inside that niche very, very well. so I like that point on local marketing. i mean, you see, especially in smaller towns, companies will do stuff as silly as sponsoring their son's t-ball team. And people in that local community see that company that's putting money into the community, yeah and they like that. oh yeah They want to help you out because they know you're supporting the community as well. If it's a small Facebook group, a sign on a random baseball fence or sponsoring a team. yeah The local marketing helps. Oh
Utilizing Paid Platforms for Growth
00:13:33
Speaker
yeah, it does.
00:13:34
Speaker
And being involved in your local community. I know we got involved with the CEO programs we've talked about in a couple of different podcasts and I did not do it for any other reason than we just like to help people become entrepreneurs. um But what I've noticed through that and actually just something i I never planned on was being involved in the local community in that aspect and just getting more well known has actually helped. Now we don't do business locally, so it's not been a huge return on investment, that's not why we did it.
00:14:02
Speaker
But I can already tell we were so much more well known in the community than we were five years ago before we started doing that, just because our name is out there all the time and when we're doing free stuff to help kids out.
00:14:13
Speaker
So don't underestimate that type of stuff as well. If you're in a small town, it's got a Chamber of Commerce, you know, I would get on that. any of the local boards doing things for the community. And that's also a great networking opportunity as well. a lot of people don't realize that. So lot of opportunity there in your local community, especially if you're in a town 50,000 and under.
00:14:31
Speaker
For sure. For sure. So our last question comes from Russ. We do construction remodels and literally anything else we can get our hands on. We're really struggling to find work. Is there a platform we can join like Angie's List that doesn't cost us to be on it? Maybe something geared towards commercial customers.
00:14:50
Speaker
Russ, you may have to pay to play, unfortunately. um Angie's List is cheap. A few that I know that a lot of people like, BuildZoom is one.
00:15:01
Speaker
You didn't really say what a construction remodel. So I would do BuildZoom and Houzz, H-O-U-Z-Z, Pro, are two that I've seen a lot of forums that a lot of people had a lot of success with.
00:15:13
Speaker
So I would consider those two, but I don't believe any of them are free. So I would be very cautious to try to save a few hundred bucks a month. to not be booked.
00:15:23
Speaker
So if you can pay and be on all three of those Angie's List, House Pro, and BuildZoom, and that equates to several thousand a month and an increased revenue, and you're booked out for two or three months that you're not worried about anymore, personally, I would gladly take that peace of mind and I would gladly spend that money. So I would challenge you to think past that little bit of expense A lot of things in business you do pay to play and you do have to invest in order to receive. So I would challenge you on that and think a little bit past that and not be afraid to spend the money in order to make money. And same as the last question, free.
00:15:57
Speaker
Get your local Facebook group. Assuming you do good work. And people love you. Have them also share it. All of that is free. And if you're in a small town, small community, think that's a huge opportunity for you to get more booked without paying a bunch of money.
00:16:11
Speaker
But I would do that in combination with the paid stuff, personally. Got spend money to make money. You do. As long as you're spending it effectively. Yes. And a lot of this, too, you know any good marketing firm is going to tell you to look at the analytics and see, hey, you spent X and you you got this many jobs out of it.
00:16:27
Speaker
Do the same thing. I don't think these charge, I think they're monthly, and I don't think they charge yearly contracts. Double check me on that. Do it for a while and see if it works. If it does not pan out and it does not work, then ditch it. But I get a feeling it'll probably work for you over time.
00:16:41
Speaker
It's all in the numbers. Yes. you
Collaborative Community and Fair Pricing
00:16:43
Speaker
got to look at. Well, Mike, Ross, Robert, and Russ kind of sound the same. um There's your questions. We answered them. So if you guys are watching this or listening and want your questions answered, it's all in the Better Contractor Facebook group. Yeah. So go ask your questions. We want to we want to answer your questions live on the podcast. Yeah. Yeah. No. And that's what this group is for. you know a lot of people start these groups to monetize them in some way. I'm not saying we never will. But this group exists to help contractors because the thing is, and what I've learned, if I can help you because I've walked where you're walking and I've already walked there and I can help you through whatever you're going through or another contractor can, that builds the entire community up.
00:17:25
Speaker
The whole community is better. And hopefully someday we get to a point where there's not so many people. Price-guizing each other. It's not a race to the bottom, guys. And
Impact of Personal Branding
00:17:35
Speaker
unfortunately, at times in contracting world, not just this world, but a lot of them, it feels like it's a race to the bottom because we're sitting here price-guizing each other. And we really should be working a little bit as a team and saying, hey, my price is my price.
00:17:47
Speaker
If you want to go talk to Alex, talk to him. But he's probably not gonna be a whole lot cheaper. So pick who you you know resonate with the most and do business with that person. And that's the thing, too, guys. A lot of people nowadays...
00:17:59
Speaker
if they If they got a little bit of money, they're probably trying to do business with who they like. Now, something we didn't really talk about is having a little bit of a personal brand or a personal element to your company page. I think a lot of people want to see that. I know for me personally, if if I have if i have ah something I need done and I have two different bids I send out there and two companies come back and company A is very just corporate-y, not that that's a bad thing. There's systems and processes there that are great.
00:18:27
Speaker
But if someone if company B has that element, but then also has like, man, I really mesh with the owner or the team that came out, that's a whole different ballgame at that point. I'm going to choose company B, unless they're like 300% higher.
00:18:39
Speaker
So keep that in mind, too. Assuming you have a good personality to share, should probably share it. Exactly. I love it. Yeah. If you like this podcast, we do ask you to please share it.
00:18:51
Speaker
Hopefully there are some good questions here that resonate with several of you. If you've not joined our Facebook group, as Alex said, please join so. Otherwise, we'll catch you next time. Have a good one.