I’m newly back in the construction business after a hiatus of a few years. I’m gradually re-tooling, trying to get organized, working hourly (since my state license is “incactive”). One-man operation, small remodels and repairs, at present. I have been staying pretty busy by word-of-mouth, but recently a couple of odd situations stopped a couple of jobs in mid-track (a couple of cabinets on back-order, and the other client got alzheimers and I’m paid up to the present, but leery of continuing).
So I see that word-of-mouth is not always adequate, as I need income NOW! So there’s advertising. I’ve had mixed results in the past. Just curious what venues have others found effective (most bang-for-your-buck), what wording you use, how do you screen-out the time-wasters that want to pick your brain then have their “buddy” do the job, and so forth. I read the threads on Charging for Bids, got a lot of thought-provoking information there. Now I just want to hear any and all suggestions for advertising to pick up small, quick-turnover jobs. Any thoughts of suggestions appreciated (this forum has been a godsend to me!)
NEVER MIND – advanced search just turned up several threads on this subject, filled with great suggestions! THANKS ALL
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yes it has been brought up before, and I am just going to ad a bit of something new to it.
I just got burned by a new sub ( new for me). messed up our schedule so bad we had to bring someone else in to take over
when calling around to ask for help, the ohter subs were all saying, no duh
that guys a joke, its amazing he is in business
so hwo does this relate to your question
he has the biggest ad int he phone book and in the dex internet phone book , the only one i his catagory with a "ad". All the rest were just phone numbers and maybe links to webs
so
having the biggest ads can get peoples attention, however having a big ad means nothing to the quality and type of person you are
Huck, I, too, am easing back into business after having been out for a few years. When I was in business back in Georgia, I found that, in my town at least, the best place to advertize was a 2" X 2" ad in the little free, weekly newspaper that came out every Wednesday. They had a place in the back for "home and garden," and that's where everyone looked to find contractors.
The first year I was in business I had a preety good sized ad in the yellow pages, and didn't get a single call from that ad. Everyone I asked (which was everyone) said they saw my little ad in the weekly paper. So that's the only place I advertized for the next 5 years, and stayed plenty busy, since eventually it was just filling in the slow spots, with most of my work coming from word-of-mouth. So I think, in any area, it's important to find out where the folks look when they need a contractor, and that's where you advertize. And I think that will vary from location to location.
BTW, Huck, I'm in Santa Cruz. Just passed my test a couple of weeks ago, and I'm easing back into the game. Good luck down South.
Congratulations on passing your test! I've kept my lic. "inactive" because I didn't want to have to take the test again, should I ever get back into cons't (and here I am!). Basically, they hold it by a tiny corner and dangle it over a shredder, and say "You may not want to pay all the renewal fees right now, but if you pay us a couple hundred bucks we'll put this back in the file, and no one gets hurt. If not, we'll shred it now and forget you ever had it, so you can just start over at square one if you decide to get back into contracting." What are the requirements for getting your Calif. lic. these days?I really need to go back and print some of those threads up, on the subject of advertising. Just too much to absorb at one sitting! I know I'm missing a lot of good opportunities, 'though, which I want to rectify. I looked into yellow pages years ago, and found them just too high for my budget, but if you got one really good job out of it I suppose it would be worth it. Right now I'm sticking with smaller jobs, quick turnover, less liability, etc., and advertising in a couple of local papers.So how's Santa Cruz? I used to live in Ventura, and really miss the coast. But we do what we have to do to get by. Real estate was just too expensive over there when I was looking to buy, so I ended up here. Now its getting just as bad here, so I'm glad I bought when I did.-Huck (sick with a cold and housebound and waiting for that phone to ring!)
Thanks, Huck. I basically had to show 4 years experience in the past 10 years to get a test date. I served a union apprenticeship and "turned out" in 1977, and have worked in the trades every day since, so that part was no problem. But they did kick it back to me the first time, like everyone said they would, but all it took was a phone call, and I had a test date. Here's the website: http://www.cslb.ca.gov/I love Santa Cruz, Huck. I've lived and worked all over the country, and this is the coolest place I've ever been. But the cost of living is atrocious. Median home price just hit $660,000. I don't think you can buy anything in Santa Cruz, except maybe a condo, for less than half a million. I'm serious. The most run-down, ugliest house in town can be bulldozed in half a day, and you're still in Santa Cruz. So I rent, and I'm a 5 minute walk from the beach, and I love it. I have fires down on the beach, no problem, having one this Friday night. But it will take some creative financing, or some high-dollar projects coming my way, to even think about owning a house here. I've only lived here for two and a half years. New guy in town, part of the problem, I know. If you own a home anywhere in California, I think you're doing pretty good. Back to the advertizing, for a couple of guys just starting up a contracting business, we wouldn't be able to count on internet sales, even if we did pay for a fancy website. I've built a few myself, and I'm building one now for my company, but I don't expect that to be my primary focus. Here in Santa Cruz, we have all kinds of free weekly papers, but there are two in particular that everybody reads. I haven't checked their rates yet, but I fully expect to put an ad in those two to start, and go from there. I plan to be a one-man operation, and I won't need to pull in as many jobs as someone who is trying to keep a bunch of employees busy. So I'm going to start very small with the advertizing.I used yard signs in Georgia, and they are great advertizing. I put one in every yard I was working in, and it definitely pulled in work. So I'll probably have at least one of those made. In the yellow pages, I'll just have the free listing. No ad for me. Keep us posted on how things are going for you.
allen... the only places i advertise are the free weekly paper every week in the "Home Services " section.. a 3" ad..
that costs $900 a year..
when i went into business in '75 , i advertised in the Yellow Pages.. spent a lot of money.. got lost in the background.. never got a call
i also take a full page ad in the local Women's Club telephone book.. $200/ year
BTW: i was born in Santa Cruz.... left when i was Two, Navy brat
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 2/2/2005 12:58 pm ET by Mike Smith
WEB WEB WEB...
It's tricky but when it starts working properly... it supplies you with more than you can deal with and it is cheap. I have friends with big yellow page ads for upwards of $1000 per month... all they get is tire kickers.
Local paper works well in small towns... real estate agents... associations...flyers work well if targeted and a good ad. Bad advertising never works... so it all has to be professional.
BTW, all our work for nearly 7 years has been from the internet...
By keeping the work upscale looking-it politely indicates that the lowballers and price maids are not going to find their bargain here.
Charging for estimates/consultations also blows out the dead wood.
Good Luck Huck... too bad you aren't in LA. We have a contractor there who wants to team up with someone more experienced. He's pretty good at doing the work, but he really should be doing the marketing and selling, and let someone else run the crews.
L
So how do I find your website, I'd love to check it out. I found a website awhile back for a gate buiider, very upscale, nice website, http://www.pacificgateworks.com We have a website for my wife's business http://www.TheCastleBookroom.com (used to be "our" business, but now she runs it basically alone), which I've been thinking of adding some of my advertising to. I haven't really kept it up, since I've been concentrating on startup of my cons't. business. Time to give it a second look.
It's in the profile... Nice stuff on mr Pacific.
L
Thanks - never even realized that feature was there! Nice work, and nice job on the layout of the website. Did you pay to have it set up, or are you computer-savvy enough to do it yourself?
It's been said here many times, Huck, and being you said you've been in business before you probably already know this, but I'll say it again anyway -
It continues to amaze me how many people walk up to me in a parking lot asking me "what type of work do you do?" Or, how many people the first time they call, or wave me down at the post office say "got your number off your truck".
The other thing I recently tried was a yard sign. I'm telling you, man, had it up on a job for about a week last spring and a guy stopped me coming out of a local convenience store last week saying "I saw your yard sign in Olympia last year..."
There is serious power in visual memory. I've heard that most people's earliest recollections, from when they were very young, are almost always seen in their mind as a still photograph.
I spent a few hundred bucks on my truck lettering when it was new, and added a couple lines for a couple hundred two or three years ago. I spent about 150 and 1/2 a day building my yard sign(s). Hard to imagine a better investment in advertising.
Hey Huck, I had someone do it initially, but it is a database site so I can change things on my own-and I do nowadays. It's due for a rebuild, but some of the programming I had them build in has added nearly 3 extra years of durability. That is an expensive and time consuming kind of site to get set up... but as a layman (not a techie), I can change everything I have to... to make it work with the search engines.
To build a site like that will run about $30-50,000 to produce intitially-due mostly to the programming involved. Mine didn't cost that much, but I had a friend in the business that used different technology than the big guys do.
It's sort of like the difference from starting from a mercedes, or a mid seventies muscle car when you wanna go fast. One will get you there faster, but in the end, you will have enough speed to scare you. (in other words, my site loads slower than the expensive version-but it does things theirs likely don't).
Thanks for the kind words btw.
If you want to see a less expensive and likely just as effective site that will get someone work for years to come without much work... check out Jim Blodgett's site...It's gorgeous, thoughtful and will work very well for him. It's really my new favorite site. The guy has style.
Cheers Jim!
Thank you, Boe, but Luka built that site. He's the one who should get credit. I'm really happy with what he did. I tried to demand he put "web design by Luka" on every page, but he wouldn't.