Run a better trade business
Practical guides for trade and home service businesses: pricing, scheduling, maintenance plans, getting paid, and running a crew.
The upsell you already found: turning on-site recommendations into booked work
Every tech spots work a property will need: a worn belt, a failing pump, a cracked step. Most of it is mentioned once and forgotten. How to record it, follow it up and turn it into quotes, without being pushy.
Referral programs that actually work for trade businesses
Your happiest clients know people who need exactly what you do. How to set up a simple referral program, what reward to offer, when to ask, and how to make it run on its own.
Closing out the season: a checklist for seasonal trade businesses
The last cut, the last closing, the last push. Before you park the trucks, a checklist for closing the season properly: final invoices collected, client notes saved, next year's renewals set up, and your software paused instead of paid for.
Garage door companies: winning the same-day repair when springs snap in the cold
The first deep cold snaps springs all over town, and the client with a car stuck in the garage calls whoever answers first. How garage door companies win the same-day repair, have the right parts on the van, and get paid on the driveway.
Running a cleaning business on recurring cleans: schedules, checklists and autopay
A cleaning business lives on the weekly and bi-weekly clean. How to keep a repeating schedule straight, make sure every room gets done, handle keys and access, and get paid automatically.
Why you should take a deposit on every install, and how much to ask for
A deposit pays for the materials, filters out the clients who were never going to go ahead, and protects your cash flow. How much to ask for, when, and how to ask without losing the job.
Does a trade business still need a website?
Google profile, Facebook page, word of mouth: do you still need a website? Yes, but not the kind most trades think. What a trade website actually needs to do, what it does not, and how to have one without paying a web designer.
Quoting EV chargers and panel upgrades: a guide for electrical contractors
Tens of thousands of new electric vehicles are registered in Canada every quarter, and many need a Level 2 charger and sometimes a panel upgrade. How to quote these jobs with options, take a deposit, handle permits and inspections, and know if you made money.
When to hire your first office person, and what to automate first
You are quoting at midnight and answering the phone on ladders. Is it time to hire someone for the office? The signs, the real cost, what to automate before you hire, and how to set the new person up to succeed.
Flooring installers: measure, quote, collect the deposit, and stop fighting over change orders
Flooring jobs are won or lost on the measure, the quote and what happens when the old floor comes up and the subfloor is bad. A practical guide to quoting with options, taking a deposit for materials, and handling extra work in writing.
Charging a call-out fee without scaring clients off
Every visit costs you time, fuel and a slot on the schedule, even when the client says no. How to set a service call or diagnostic fee, explain it so clients accept it, and when to waive it.
No-heat season: how HVAC contractors handle the emergency rush without wrecking the schedule
HVAC has the lowest phone answer rate of any home service trade Invoca measured. A playbook for the first cold snap: answering every no-heat call, fitting emergencies into a full day, and turning the rush into maintenance plans.
How to get more Google reviews without being awkward about it
Almost half of consumers will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and most only trust recent ones. When to ask, how to ask, and how to reply, for trade businesses that would rather be on the tools than chasing stars.
The hidden cost of running a growing trade business on texts and spreadsheets
One truck runs fine on a phone and a notebook. Two crews do not. Where a growing trade business leaks money through missed messages, slow quotes and late payments, what it adds up to, and what fixes it.
Your money, your Stripe account: why owning your payment processing matters
When your field service software processes your payments, it sets the rate and holds the relationship. When you own your Stripe account, you see every fee, control your payouts, and can negotiate your rate as you grow. Here is why that matters over the long run.
Burst pipe season: a plumber's playbook for the January rush
Frozen and burst pipes turn January into the busiest month for many Canadian plumbers. How to triage emergencies, keep the booked work moving, prove what you found with photos, and turn one emergency into a client for years.
How to price HVAC maintenance plans in Canada
A step-by-step way to price a furnace and AC maintenance plan: cost out each visit, choose the perks that make clients sign, pick monthly or yearly billing, and run the plan without losing visits in a spreadsheet.
Recurring contracts: turn one-off clients into income you can count on
A client who calls when something breaks is a job. A client on a service contract is a year of work. How to build maintenance plans and seasonal programs clients sign up for, how to price them, and how to run them without a spreadsheet.
Route planning: what drive time really costs a two-crew business
Every minute in the truck is paid for and billed to nobody. How to work out what drive time costs your business, five ways to cut it, and why the order of the day matters as much as the jobs in it.
GST, HST, PST and QST: invoicing correctly in every province
A plain guide for trade businesses to Canada's sales taxes in 2026: the rate in every province, which one applies when you work across a border, what an invoice must show, and the mistakes that cause trouble at filing time.
The snow season checklist: get your business ready before the first storm
Contracts signed, stakes in, routes planned, crews trained and the money set up to come in. A practical October-to-November checklist for snow removal contractors, so the first storm is just a busy night, not a scramble.
Solar installers: from site assessment to years of maintenance
A solar job is not one visit. It is an assessment, a five-figure quote, a multi-day install, commissioning, and years of inspections. How solar installers keep each stage on record, get paid in stages, and turn installs into maintenance contracts.
Switching from Jobber or Housecall Pro: what moves over and how long it takes
Thinking of changing field service software but dreading the move? What to compare first, what comes across from your old system, a two-week plan to switch without dropping a job, and the mistakes to avoid.
Timesheets and payroll without the Friday-night spreadsheet
Paper timesheets, texts with hours, and a spreadsheet every other Friday. How growing trade businesses track hours, overtime, drive time and commission accurately, and hand payroll a clean file.
How to price snow removal contracts: per push vs seasonal
Per push, per season or a seasonal contract with a cap? How to work out your real cost per driveway, turn it into a price that survives a heavy winter, and write a contract clients understand.
Proof of service: how snow contractors protect themselves from slip-and-fall claims
A slip-and-fall claim can arrive weeks after the storm. What a good snow and ice service log records, why Ontario's 60-day notice rule makes records matter, and how to keep them on the phone without slowing down the route.
Stop paying for your off-season: what a seasonal hold saves you
Snow, lawns, pools, irrigation - your business works half the year, so why pay software for all twelve months? See what a $15 seasonal hold saves on each crewduo plan, with the numbers worked out.
Interac e-Transfer vs card: what each really costs a trade business
e-Transfers look free and cards cost about 3%. But the real cost of getting paid includes the hours spent matching payments and chasing the slow ones. A plain comparison, with the numbers.
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