New tool makes it easier to balance pricing, labor costs, and expenses to fully understand every job’s profit margin Jobber, the leading provider of operations management software for home service businesses, today announced the launch of a new job costing feature that enables home service businesses in any industry, including contracting and construction, landscaping, tree Read more
Jobber
New tool makes it easier to balance pricing, labor costs, and expenses to fully understand every job’s profit margin
Jobber, the leading provider of operations management software for home service businesses, today announced the launch of a new job costing feature that enables home service businesses in any industry, including contracting and construction, landscaping, tree care, painting, HVAC, and roofing, to more accurately track and understand job costs and profit margins. The feature delivers increased insight into the labor, material, and miscellaneous expenses associated with a job to better understand its profitability, and to ensure service pros are earning the highest profit margins possible—without the complexity of switching between spreadsheets and multiple software.
“With material and labor costs rising, and pricing pressure increasing from homeowners, it’s easy for small businesses to get into situations where jobs become unprofitable,” said Sam Pillar, CEO & co-founder of Jobber. “One of the key measures of success for our customers is profitability. Unknowingly taking a loss on a job due to incorrect costing can have a negative impact on a business. Jobber’s new job costing feature simplifies the tracking of input costs and profitability so service pros can make important operational decisions, stay competitive, and take on the work that’s ultimately going to grow their businesses.”
The feature helps ensure that one-off jobs, such as plumbing repairs, handiwork, and landscaping projects, are profitable by tracking costs and calculating profit margins in real-time directly on the job page. Service pros can also view these trends in a report to compare profitability for different jobs and get insights to improve future pricing, estimation, and resource allocation. The profitability of each job is calculated using:
- Timesheets: Based on the hourly cost of each employee and their time worked on a job.
- Line items: The materials used on the job, including both the unit cost and price.
- Expenses: These are the expenses spent on a job
“Jobber has done a great job streamlining and organizing my business, and now with the new job costing feature, it has taken our efficiency to the next level,” said Scott Geddis, owner of M&M Skylights based in Newton, New Hampshire. “We’ve increased our revenue by 15 to 20% because I’m able to look at the data and determine in real-time what jobs were most profitable, allowing me to price future jobs with more accuracy. The tool is simple to use and helps to ensure we’re running a profitable business so we can continue growing and rewarding our staff for their hard work.”
Job costing joins a suite of other Jobber tools and integrations that help service pros win more work and generate more revenue. The company’s integration with Thumbtack, for example, helps service pros instantly connect with new customers and book more profitable jobs faster, while the advanced quoting feature gives service pros the ability to sell more with optional line items.
Job costing is available to Jobber customers on the Grow membership plan. To learn more, visit: https://getjobber.com/features/job-costing-software/.
First-of-its-kind grant program has helped launch, grow, and strengthen 55 home service businesses to date Jobber, the leading provider of operations management software for home service businesses, today announced that Jobber Grants, designed to recognize home service excellence and spotlight the work of small home service businesses across the U.S. and Canada, is now accepting Read more
First-of-its-kind grant program has helped launch, grow, and strengthen 55 home service businesses to date
Jobber, the leading provider of operations management software for home service businesses, today announced that Jobber Grants, designed to recognize home service excellence and spotlight the work of small home service businesses across the U.S. and Canada, is now accepting applications through June 8, 2023. Twenty-five businesses will be awarded grants totaling $150,000 USD. Finalists will be announced in August 2023. Apply at jobber.com/grants.
Home service professionals, ranging from aspiring to experienced business owners, are invited to apply for grants ranging from $2,500 to $15,000 USD. The five-minute application is designed for busy home service pros in any industry, including lawn care, plumbing, residential cleaning, and painting.
“Investing in home service businesses means giving back to our communities, facilitating job creation, and boosting local economies,” said Sam Pillar, CEO & co-founder of Jobber. “We’re proud to continue Jobber’s tradition of investing in local entrepreneurs at all stages of growth to help them achieve their goals and ambitions.”
Alex Neville-Verdugo, owner of Lefty’s Handy Services and former Jobber Grants recipient, is using the funds to grow her business. With the grant, she invested in training for her team that allowed her to expand her services to include home renovation projects. In addition to the capital, the exposure from being named a recipient resulted in new customers, which has accelerated the growth of her business during her slow season.
“Even before the money kicked in, Jobber Grants was a game changer for me,” said Neville-Verdugo. “My local newspaper wrote a piece about us, the entire community read it, and now I get stopped on the streets. I have gotten a huge amount of business from that article and have been sprinting ever since it came out—that alone was a game changer.”
Jobber Grants are organized into several categories that reflect the diverse representation of excellence across home service, which looks different from business to business. Categories include:
- Home Service Heroes: Business owners who keep our home and offices safe and running smoothly.
- Career Builders: Business owners who help hardworking people build meaningful careers.
- Smooth Operators: Business owners running a smooth business for themselves and their customers.
- Community Caretakers: Business owners who give back to the communities where they live and work.
Recipients have the freedom to choose how to use the grant to support their ambitious business goals and innovative ideas. Whether a company is looking to purchase new equipment, increase its marketing investment, launch a new service, or train their teams, funds from the Jobber Grants program are designed to help small business owners be more successful.
Ethan Rossler, owner of Wash Wizard and a Jobber Grant recipient, dreamed of starting a business shortly after graduating college. The grant provided the initial investment needed to launch his pressure washing business.
“Being a Jobber Grants recipient has allowed me to take advantage of my goals of starting a business,” said Rossler. “The funds have given me the opportunity to buy the startup materials necessary to actually start the business that I’ve always wanted to start.”
Jobber Grants is one of the many initiatives launched by Jobber dedicated to supporting and elevating home service entrepreneurs, including the company’s award-winning business operations software, events such as Jobber Summit, free resources to help launch, grow, and scale a business via Jobber Academy, Salary Guides, Jobber Entrepreneurship Group, trends and insights in the Jobber Home Service Economic Report, and more.
To learn more about Jobber Grants or to apply, visit jobber.com/grants.
Jobber, the leading provider of home service management software, today announced the general availability of new features that make it easier for homeowners to reward their service pros directly with tips and support their businesses through referrals to friends and family. These features are designed to help service pros better meet increasing consumer expectations for Read more
Jobber, the leading provider of home service management software, today announced the general availability of new features that make it easier for homeowners to reward their service pros directly with tips and support their businesses through referrals to friends and family. These features are designed to help service pros better meet increasing consumer expectations for seamless, technology-enabled service experiences.
“Building a reputation for excellent customer service doesn’t happen overnight,” said Sam Pillar, CEO & co-founder of Jobber. “Businesses that use Jobber understand the importance of prioritizing the customer experience, and we want to make sure that their efforts don’t go unrewarded. Jobber now helps keep your team motivated to prioritize customer service by being able to earn tips and helps you grow your business through customer referrals when you’ve delivered an excellent customer experience.”
Tip collection on online payments
Jobber’s tipping feature makes it easier for home service businesses to motivate high-performing team members in industries where it is customary to tip, such as residential cleaning, window cleaning, lawn care, and pool and spa servicing. Each business owner controls when to offer their customers the ability to add a tip. When enabled, the option to tip appears during the payment process when a homeowner pays their invoice online with Jobber Payments. Homeowners can choose a percent-based tip (10%, 15%, or 20%) or fill in a custom amount.
This feature also allows managers to identify strong performers by tracking which team members are receiving tips and for how much. When tipping has been presented as an option, nearly one in four (24%) of homeowners opt to provide a tip. In the past five months, Jobber has facilitated the collection of nearly $3M in tips for service pros.
“Taking payments with Jobber makes it very convenient for my customers because I can just send the invoice and the customer can pay it online,” said Irene Zibin, owner of eSunshine Cleaning in Abbotsford, B.C. “My team loves the addition of the tip function, which has led to some pretty good tips—big tips.”
Homeowner Referrals to Grow Your Business
The referrals feature allows homeowners to promote the good work of a home service business to friends and family. The ‘refer a friend’ prompt is displayed to homeowners in Jobber’s online customer portal, encouraging them to share booking links via email, text, or social media. New leads show up in Jobber tagged with information on the client who referred them, so businesses can reward customers for their advocacy.
“People want to do business with those they trust,” said Nick Tandeski, owner of Driveway Envy, serving the Twin Cities Metro area in M.N. “When clients refer us to other homeowners it dramatically increases our chance of winning that business and retaining them as a client. So far, everyone referred through Jobber has ended up doing business with us.”
To learn more about Jobber and how these new features improve the customer experience, visit: https://getjobber.com/why-jobber/
Salary guides provide detailed breakdown of earnings across the HVAC, plumbing, roofing, cleaning, electrician, handiwork, landscaping, and painting industries Jobber, the leading provider of home service management software, today announced the launch of comprehensive salary guides to help home service entrepreneurs hire and retain the right people to grow their home service business and scale operations Read more
Salary guides provide detailed breakdown of earnings across the HVAC, plumbing, roofing, cleaning, electrician, handiwork, landscaping, and painting industries
Jobber, the leading provider of home service management software, today announced the launch of comprehensive salary guides to help home service entrepreneurs hire and retain the right people to grow their home service business and scale operations. Jobber’s salary guides outline salary information for the HVAC, plumbing, roofing, cleaning, electrician, handiwork, landscaping, and painting industries. Guides feature easy-to-read graphics that display average salaries organized by state, years of experience, and title.
With job openings outpacing qualified candidates in many home service industries, hiring and retaining employees have become major challenges. The fierce competition has left many home service entrepreneurs with questions about what qualifies as a fair salary for employees in today’s market. Jobber’s salary guides are designed to address these questions and provide home service leaders with the information they need to grow their teams.
“When home service companies expand their teams, they strengthen their communities by providing meaningful local job opportunities and the training and skill development needed to build lifelong careers,” said Sam Pillar, CEO & co-founder of Jobber. “Our salary guides are just one of the ways Jobber is helping to equip home service businesses with the resources and tools they need to compete with large organizations and achieve success.”
A few highlights from the salary guides include:
Average Annual Salary for Experienced Roles by Industry:
- HVAC Service Manager: $72,899
- Journeyman Plumber: $56,054
- Experienced Roofer: $50,558
- Experienced Cleaner: $35,299
- Journeyman Electrician: $58,180
- Experienced Handyman: $66,086
- Experienced Landscaper: $41,553
- Industrial Painter: $40,598
Average Hourly Rates by Industry:
- HVAC Technician: $20.29
- Plumber: $22.64
- Roofer: $17.95
- Cleaner: $12.58
- Electrician: $23.00
- Handyman: $24.30
- Landscaper: $14.62
- Painter: $17.00
Data for Jobber’s salary guides was sourced from Payscale, the world’s largest salary database made up of more than 65 million salary profiles and 15,000 job titles.
To learn more about Jobber’s salary guides, visit https://getjobber.com/resources/salary-guides/. For additional resources around hiring best practices and other management best practices, visit https://academy.getjobber.com/.
Home Service category shows strong resilience to economic uncertainty, reaching 20 months of positive revenue growth Jobber, the leading provider of home service management software, today released its latest Home Service Economic Report: 2021 Review. The report features expert insights and proprietary data aggregated from more than 160,000 residential cleaners, landscapers, HVAC technicians, window washers, plumbers Read more
Home Service category shows strong resilience to economic uncertainty, reaching 20 months of positive revenue growth
Jobber, the leading provider of home service management software, today released its latest Home Service Economic Report: 2021 Review. The report features expert insights and proprietary data aggregated from more than 160,000 residential cleaners, landscapers, HVAC technicians, window washers, plumbers, and more, who use Jobber.
“The performance of the Home Service category has made the trades an attractive option for entrepreneurs, those seeking a career change, and young adults entering the workforce,” said Sam Pillar, CEO & co-founder of Jobber. “2021 was a notable year as it demonstrated just how essential the Home Service category is with its high growth and unprecedented consumer demand.”
Raking in the Green: Home Service Outperforms Most Other Categories
Spending on Home Service outperformed most major categories, such as Food and Beverage Stores, Clothing Stores, and Restaurants, throughout 2021, with growth exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Home Service revenue growth has been steadily growing since June 2020. Year-over-year median revenue grew at a faster rate in Q4 2021, even while new work scheduled during Q4 2021 slowed, showing companies were able to make more per job.
- Contracting Segment Prices Climb: Contracting businesses benefited from increasing prices with 12% revenue growth in Q4 2021.
- Contract Jobs Grow Cleaning Segment: Recent growth in the Cleaning segment’s new work scheduled was driven by a 16% year-over-year increase in contract jobs.
- New Work for Green Segment Stands Out: The Green segment, which includes outdoor services such as pressure washing, lawn care, and landscaping, experienced high growth in new work scheduled during 2021, while other segments slowed down.
Housing Dynamics
The active real estate market, further heightened by the desire to purchase homes before mortgage rates increase, continued to create momentum and demand for home services.
- New Homes Can’t Bridge the Gap: The U.S. housing market is nearly four million homes short of buyer demand; the supply of newly built units has been unable to satisfy this ever-increasing demand.
- Shoppers Turning to Older Homes: With limited supply, homebuyers are turning to older homes or choosing to invest in their current home; as such, home improvement and maintenance expenditures are tracking toward double-digit growth in 2022.
Payments Tech: Pay Now or Later?
Home Service businesses have their own unique dynamics related to payment collection. Some businesses like the immediate liquidity of cash, while others prefer to take checks for a large job so they don’t have to pay credit card transaction fees. That said, Jobber’s data does indicate that adoption of payment technology is on the rise.
- Growth of Online Payments: Online payments grew to 39% of all payments processed across all Home Service segments.
- Green Segment Catching Up: Green businesses, which showed the lowest percentage of online payments prior to the pandemic, has seen rapid adoption, climbing over 35%.
Skilled Worker Trends: Retirements Open More Opportunities For Those Starting Their Careers
The challenge to hire skilled trade workers remains widespread, despite a significant opportunity in earning potential for those who choose to enter Home Service.
- Retirement’s Impact: Half of the people who exited the labor market in 2021 were 55+, accelerating the rate of retirement—a macro trend that also impacted Home Service.
- Job Openings Remain Unfilled: The ratio of hires to job openings continued to grow, such that job openings widely outnumbered positions being filled.
“It’s a testament to the resilience of the Home Service category that revenue growth can be sustained even when there’s a drastic shortage of talent,” said Abheek Dhawan, VP, Business Operations at Jobber. “With Home Service demand at a record high, the category remains ripe with opportunity for those willing to enter it.”
To download the Jobber Home Service Economic Report: 2021 Review, visit: https://getjobber.com/home-service-reports/february-2022/