Scaling up a heating repair business

[Alrey87]

I've been self employed in heating / boiler service and repair for a couple of years now. I'm good at what i do and not the general plumber who tries and fails to fix things before ghosting the customer. Currently doing a lot of contract work which is good, along with slowly building my own customers mostly via word of mouth. I'm earning a bit more than i was as an employee and working fewer hours - not always by choice as sometimes the work flow isn't there.
I'm starting to think about the next steps with this, how to really build my own customer base and potentially take on employees - as well as considering if this is worth it from a work / life perspective.
Advertising via local free magazines has been a total wash - zero calls. Leafletting has produced the same. I know there are people in my position that have developed larger scale local businesses but i'm struggling to see the path to this at the moment. Any advice or anyone been there and done it?

[r1mike1983]

Do you have a website?

[mikef]

Whereabouts are you?

All the people I have trusted for years for boilers, pool heating and associated electrics are retiring. Can you team up with someone to take over their customer base?

[Alrey87]

No. At the moment i'm working on getting my google business page to appear in a search (which i think is a case of getting high ratings and a lot of them) as from personal experience - whatever i want, i google it, click on the reviews section and pick one thats highly rated. I notice that a mid-size local company comes up as first result on google for 'boiler repair - (area)' i'm not sure how much outlay it is to get to the top like that.

[Alrey87]

mikef said:

Whereabouts are you?

All the people I have trusted for years for boilers, pool heating and associated electrics are retiring. Can you team up with someone to take over their customer base?

East Anglia. I don't know anyone that age still in the industry really. Sounds like an ideal scenario though.

[mikef]

Cover the Hastings area and I can hook you up

[m3jappa]

Are you using local facebook pages?

A mate of mine does and he is now the go to response when theres a recommendation being asked.

I think for trades like plumbing and electrics facebook is excellent.

[Redarress]

Hi,
we work out of Peterborough and create and host websites for small and large companies.

We also support our customers with economically priced marketing of their businesses including the steps below :

First step Create website
Second step Social media setup
Third step Targeted Local leaflet drops
Fourth step Adverts in local magazines
Fifth Step Making contact with local trades to offer complimentary services to theirs

It will take a while to build up a constant customer base

Feel free to reach out for a chat

[Douglas Quaid]

You can build your own website and seo it for free to get results. It’s not that hard it just takes some effort. It’s worth doing though, will keep you busy.

[DodgyGeezer]

Facebook *name of your local towns*, for those that allow adverts...

[clockworks]

Different line of business, but the only place I "advertise" is Google Business. Free listing, and a pin on the map.

I've never bothered with local Facebook groups for advertising, but I did post an ad on Nextdoor a couple of years ago. It is still getting me a job every now and again.

I've also had a chat with other businesses in the area, and some have been passing my details on to customers who contact them - jewellery shops and antique dealers, even a fellow clock repairer who specialises in English antique clocks sends customers my way.

I'm getting more work than I need, so I'm trying to regulate the flow by putting my prices up.

[Vincecj]

It might be worth visiting your local BNI group.

[Mr Pointy]

m3jappa said:

Are you using local facebook pages?

A mate of mine does and he is now the go to response when theres a recommendation being asked.

I think for trades like plumbing and electrics facebook is excellent.

+1 for this. Our local FB page is a good resource as people are always asking for personal recommendations & if the same name crops up a few times it's a guide that they may be ok to use. Way more reliable than Checkatrade.

That doesn't solve the issue of scaling up though - for that you need to be able to find staff who are as good as you so they don't rubbish your reputation & that's not easy as the god ones are probably much better off working for themselves.

[Louis Balfour]

Alrey87 said:

I've been self employed in heating / boiler service and repair for a couple of years now. I'm good at what i do and not the general plumber who tries and fails to fix things before ghosting the customer. Currently doing a lot of contract work which is good, along with slowly building my own customers mostly via word of mouth. I'm earning a bit more than i was as an employee and working fewer hours - not always by choice as sometimes the work flow isn't there.
I'm starting to think about the next steps with this, how to really build my own customer base and potentially take on employees - as well as considering if this is worth it from a work / life perspective.
Advertising via local free magazines has been a total wash - zero calls. Leafletting has produced the same. I know there are people in my position that have developed larger scale local businesses but i'm struggling to see the path to this at the moment. Any advice or anyone been there and done it?

Charlie says:

Be reliable.

Price according to what the market will bear.

Learn to manage and motivate people who will work for you.

Engage in ill-advised cosmetic surgery and hair dressing.

[singlecoil]

I suggest you consider very carefully whether you really need to take on employees. For your sort of business it should be considered as a last resort. You'll need to supply them with a van, presumably a large quantity of spare parts, pay all the costs, insurances, holidays, pension stuff, and consider yourself lucky if you can find one that does 70% of what he is actually being paid for.

[LFB531]

Have you tried approaching letting agents? Just as an example, we buy 300 odd gas certs a year, all the related servicing, breakdowns and new installs/boiler replacements. Try and work with an independent rather than a corporate, they have much more freedom as to who they work with.

We're not like the 'public' and just calling around for quotes. A basic price structure is agreed in advance, our guys get a dairy of gas certs to do and get on with it. You'd need to be super responsive to breakdowns and a real problem solver. If you make life easy for the office, the work will flow in!

Agents will always pay within a month (rent cycle) and it's a constant flow of work. Just be careful if you go that route that you don't promise what you can't deliver, we get in serious bother if safety checks are missed and tenants aren't the most tolerant of delays, far worse than homeowners!

Some agents will expect a kickback, we don't but that's our choice. A nice hamper at Christmas is always appreciated though!

[Alrey87]

LFB531 said:

Have you tried approaching letting agents? Just as an example, we buy 300 odd gas certs a year, all the related servicing, breakdowns and new installs/boiler replacements. Try and work with an independent rather than a corporate, they have much more freedom as to who they work with.

We're not like the 'public' and just calling around for quotes. A basic price structure is agreed in advance, our guys get a dairy of gas certs to do and get on with it. You'd need to be super responsive to breakdowns and a real problem solver. If you make life easy for the office, the work will flow in!

Agents will always pay within a month (rent cycle) and it's a constant flow of work. Just be careful if you go that route that you don't promise what you can't deliver, we get in serious bother if safety checks are missed and tenants aren't the most tolerant of delays, far worse than homeowners!

Some agents will expect a kickback, we don't but that's our choice. A nice hamper at Christmas is always appreciated though!

Not yet as i'm relocating a small distance soon, but have thought about this as an option. Clearly all agents are going to have someone they use already for this work - any advice for getting them to swap to someone new, other than a race to the bottom price wise? Email local businesses to arrange a conversation or go in and see them?

[singlecoil]

Alrey87 said:

Not yet as i'm relocating a small distance soon, but have thought about this as an option. Clearly all agents are going to have someone they use already for this work - any advice for getting them to swap to someone new, other than a race to the bottom price wise? Email local businesses to arrange a conversation or go in and see them?

That's an easy one- you pop into the office and say that you realise that they already have somebody, but if he's ill or unable to work for some reason then they should call you. Hopefully then at some point you get the chance to show what you can do and how quickly, and they will put more and more work your way.

[Hoofy]

Dunno about others but if I want a trade, I'll hit Trust A Trader or Checkatrade. Make sure you're on that and your profile is useful to customers.

As others have mentioned, Facebook and a website will help. Might also consider setting up a YouTube channel and uploading videos to that with tips (especially about saving money right now!). Digital marketing can become a job all of its own, though.

[LFB531]

singlecoil said:

Alrey87 said:

Not yet as i'm relocating a small distance soon, but have thought about this as an option. Clearly all agents are going to have someone they use already for this work - any advice for getting them to swap to someone new, other than a race to the bottom price wise? Email local businesses to arrange a conversation or go in and see them?

That's an easy one- you pop into the office and say that you realise that they already have somebody, but if he's ill or unable to work for some reason then they should call you. Hopefully then at some point you get the chance to show what you can do and how quickly, and they will put more and more work your way.

100% this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^