For most home service businesses, the hardest part of growing isn’t getting customers: it’s finding and keeping good people. You can run ads and fill up the schedule, but if you don’t have reliable staff to do the work, jobs get canceled, customers get frustrated, and growth stalls out.
Why Hiring Is the Bottleneck
Most small service businesses follow the same path:
- Owner does everything – selling, scheduling, delivering the work.
- Focus shifts to marketing & sales – generating a steady flow of leads.
- Reality check: staffing becomes the bottleneck.
Patrick explains it this way:
- One recurring job might bring in $200.
- One reliable full-time employee can add $130,000+ in yearly capacity if you can keep them busy.
The takeaway: Hiring is just as important as selling, maybe more.
Patrick’s Hiring Process (Step by Step)
1. Write Job Ads That Stand Out
- Lead with what matters: competitive pay, weekly deposits, growth opportunities.
- Be upfront about the tough parts: schedule changes, high standards, background checks.
- Treat your ad like a marketing copy, make people want to apply.
2. Always Be Recruiting
- Don’t turn hiring “on and off.” Keep your funnel open year-round.
- Build a bench of candidates so you’re never hiring out of desperation.
3. Use a Funnel, Not a Free-for-All
Patrick treats hiring like sales:
- Top of funnel: Job boards (Indeed, Craigslist, Facebook Jobs).
- Middle of funnel: Short application on his website (filters out tire-kickers).
- Screening: Quick phone screen → deeper video call with a manager.
- Bottom of funnel: Background check + test job.
Each stage filters out unqualified people, so by the end, he’s only investing time in serious candidates.
4. Automate the Admin, Keep the Human Touch
- Automations (like Zapier) handle reminders, status updates, and form collection.
- Humans handle conversations. Patrick avoids sounding like a robot, people want to feel cared for.
Managing the “7 AM Scaries”
Every home service owner knows the feeling of waking up wondering, “Who’s going to call out today?”
Patrick’s solutions:
- Staff jobs with 2–3 people so there’s backup if someone cancels.
- Hire a utility worker on guaranteed hours to float wherever needed.
- Keep your managers out of the field whenever possible so they can focus on training, quality, and support.
Pay Like a Pro
- Call competitors twice a year—not just for customer pricing, but also wage intel.
- If you charge top of the market, pay top of the market.
- Underpaying is the fastest way to constant turnover.
What This Means for You
For any home service business, hiring comes down to a few core principles:
- Always be recruiting—don’t wait until you’re desperate.
- Pay well and be honest—good people want both money and respect.
- Use a funnel—filter step by step instead of wasting time on every applicant.
- Build slack into staffing—plan for call-outs and no-shows.
Sales gets you started. Staffing keeps you growing.
If you run a home services business and find yourself stuck in the hiring cycle, start by upgrading your job ad and putting a simple funnel in place. From there, build systems that let you step back and still keep the work flowing.
👉 Catch the full episode with Patrick on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & YouTube.
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