Free playbooks for finding work and quoting better

Start with these six checks. They help a homeowner find accurate information, see proof of your work, and take a clear next step. Work through one at a time and keep a note of what you change.

1. Set up your location correctly

   Open your Google Business Profile and check Edit profile → Location. If you only travel to customers and do not receive them at your business address, hide the address and set an accurate service area. Choose the towns or postal codes you actually serve.

   Only show an address for an eligible customer-facing location with permanent business signage, staffed by your team and able to receive customers during the published hours. A mailing address or unstaffed virtual office is not a substitute.

   Google’s address and eligibility guidance

2. Choose the right category and list real services

   Under Edit profile → Business category, choose the most specific available primary category that describes your main business. Use a few additional categories only for work you genuinely provide; you do not need a category for every task.

   Then open Edit services. Add jobs you want to book, such as drywall repair, door adjustments, and furniture assembly, if you offer them. Give each a short description of the work included. Put these services on your website too, using words a homeowner would use.

   Google’s category guidance

3. Make the next phone call easy

   Open your website on your phone. Within the first screen, a visitor should know what you do, where you work, and how to contact you. Try a specific line such as “Home repairs and small installations in Santa Rosa” only if that is your actual service area.

   Tap your call button and send a test estimate request. Check that both reach you and that the form asks for a phone number, town, and short job description. Remove broken links, outdated hours, and services you no longer take on.

4. Turn one finished job into a useful project page

   Choose a recent job you want more of. With the customer’s permission, use a clear before photo, an after photo, and a title such as “Drywall patch and texture repair in Santa Rosa.” Adapt the title to the real job and town; do not publish the customer’s home address.

   Write four useful sentences: what was damaged, what you repaired, how you matched the finish, and what the homeowner should do to request similar work. Link to your related service page and add an estimate button. Repeat with another real project rather than duplicating the same page for every nearby town.

5. Send a review request customers can act on

   On your Google Business Profile, open Read reviews → Get more reviews and copy your review link. After a completed job, send a short thank-you with that link. Ask customers consistently for honest feedback, without a discount, gift, or requirement to leave a positive review.

   Try this message: “Thanks again for having me take care of the repair. If you have a minute, would you share an honest review of your experience? It helps local homeowners get to know my work.” Add your own Google review link immediately after the message.

   Google’s review-link instructions

6. Track which inquiries become work

   Create a simple sheet with these columns: date, source, town, service requested, estimate amount, booked or not booked, and reason if known. Ask each new caller, “How did you hear about us?” Include unanswered calls you return, so missed calls do not disappear from the picture.

   At the end of the month, count inquiries and booked jobs by source. If Google brought 12 inquiries and 4 jobs, that is a 33% booking rate for that month—not 12 new customers. Check the job value and time involved before deciding where to put more money.

A useful first week: fix your profile details, test your contact buttons, publish one real project, and start the inquiry log. You can build on that instead of trying every marketing tactic at once.

Google’s service-area instructions

Google’s service-list instructions

Use this example to check your next estimate. All dollar amounts are illustrative; use your own costs and one currency throughout. The aim is to see what the job must cover before you commit to a price.

1. Write the scope before you price it

   Confirm measurements, access, materials, finish, and anything hidden that you cannot inspect yet. Turn “fix the wall” into a specific scope. For example: “Patch two holes up to 6 × 6 inches, match the existing texture, and prime the repaired areas; full-wall painting is excluded.”

   State who supplies materials, whether disposal is included, and what requires a separate estimate. When the customer asks for extra work, agree on the changed scope and price before starting it.

2. Count the hours that happen off-site

   Example: 5 hours doing the repair + 1 hour driving + 1 hour buying materials + 1 hour setting up and cleaning = 8 labor hours. At an example labor cost of $30 per hour, labor is $240. Include the value of your own time even when you work alone.

   Use your own hourly labor cost, including relevant employment costs. Track quoting, scheduling, and bookkeeping separately so those hours are accounted for in your business costs without counting the same time twice.

3. Price the whole materials list

   List the main materials plus fasteners, consumables, delivery, disposal, and realistic waste. Check current supplier prices and availability. In our worked example, those job costs total $100; your figure should come from the actual shopping list, not a round number you hope will be enough.

   Keep the receipts with the job record. If the customer supplies a product, confirm it is the right model and that the necessary fittings are available before the workday.

4. Give the job its share of overhead

   Add up recurring business costs such as vehicle expenses, insurance, software, and tool replacement that are not already included in your labor or materials. Divide by realistic monthly hours you can charge to jobs—not every hour you are awake or at work.

   Example: $1,500 monthly overhead ÷ 100 chargeable job hours = $15 overhead per hour. For our 8-hour job, allocate $120. The entered cost is now $240 labor + $100 materials and extras + $120 overhead = $460.

5. Know the difference between margin and markup

   For an example 20% margin after those entered costs, divide $460 by 0.80: the price is $575. The $115 above those costs is 20% of the $575 selling price. This is a worked example, not a recommended margin or rate.

   Adding 20% to $460 gives $552 instead. That leaves $92, which is only about 16.7% of the selling price. Use price = entered costs ÷ (1 − margin as a decimal). Neither figure includes taxes or expenses you left out.

6. Compare the estimate with the finished job

   Record actual labor hours, materials, travel, and extras beside your estimate. If the same example takes 10 hours instead of 8, the same labor and overhead allocations add $90 to costs. At a $575 price, only $25 remains above the revised $550 cost. That shows exactly why the missing hours matter.

   Note the cause: an extra supply run, slow access, more preparation, or added scope. Update your checklist for the next similar job. For an unanswered estimate, follow up with one practical question: “Is there anything about the scope or schedule you would like me to clarify?”

Try the job pricing calculator with your numbers