Affiliate Program for Home Pro Partners!

by hppadmin | Jan 4, 2021 | Affiliate Program, Announcements, Marketing

Affiliate Program for Home Pro Partners

We are excited to announce that you can now earn money through Home Pro Partners by joining our affiliate program.

As an affiliate member, you will earn 20% commission per month for every new user who joins Home Pro Partners with your affiliate URL.

To get started, simply visit our affiliate sign up page and fill out the appropriate information.

After joining, you will receive a custom affiliate link specific to you that you can share with anyone who may be a good fit to join Home Pro Partners.

Start earning today!

Home Pro Partners

Skilled laborers... publish a Home Pro Partner profile and invite trusted referral partners to your company profile.

Reach new customers with Home Pro Partners, no lead fees, no gimmicks, no hassle.

Join the Pro Network

Direct Marketing, Lead Gen Marketing or Referral Marketing?

by hppadmin | Dec 4, 2020 | Marketing, Trusted Partners

Direct Marketing, Lead Gen Marketing or Referral Marketing?

Struggling to generate leads for your business, maybe you are focused on the wrong type of marketing.

There are three primary types of marketing:

Direct Marketing
Lead Generation Marketing
Referral Marketing

Here at Home Pro Partners we go against the grain of our competitors and focus on referral based marketing to help you win more projects and earn higher rates per job. Learn more about each marketing type below…

1. Direct Marketing

The business of selling products or services directly to the public, e.g. by mail order or telephone selling, rather than through retailers.

If you take a look at the illustration above, you can see how this works. In the middle is you, the service provider. Surrounding you are clients and potential clients who need your services, as you can see the connection between each potential client is 1-2-1 and quite limited in reach. This is a very common marketing approach and certainly works, but there are several problems with using it.

Time Consuming: First of all, this process is extremely time consuming to try and connect with each potential client individually. This includes making phone calls, sending emails, knocking on doors and similar techniques. If you are a small to medium sized service company, you may simply not have the manpower to take the time for these methods of connecting with a potential client.

It is Expensive: Think about every time you go to your mailbox, it seems like every day you receive yet another postcard for some roofing company, or painting company or flooring company. Imagine how many houses receive these postcards (or door-hangers), potentially thousands per month. The cost to print and mail these types of marketing materials directly to each potential customer is expensive and are not overly successful.

Low Success Rate: No one likes being “sold to”, no matter how genuine a company or person is when they talk with you, it can still come off as just trying to make a quick buck and can feel like you are going to get scammed.

There is nothing against doing direct marketing and it does work and people have great success with it, but for small companies with limited budgets, it may not be the best solution to win new clients efficiently.

Another common marketing technique is by using a Lead Generation service like Home Advisor, Angie’s List, Houzz and similar companies…

2. Lead Generation Marketing

Lead generation is the process by which a company finds prospective customers for its product offerings. Prospects can come in the form of names and addresses, names and phone numbers, email addresses and fax numbers. Lead generation services are businesses that specialize in providing leads to other companies.

Take a look at the illustration above, at the top of the illustration we see a few common lead gen services within the home services industry. Potential customers visit these sites and typically submit a project request through web forms on the sites. These services then do thousands of calculations and determine which 5-10 contractors would be the best fit to fulfil the project request that came in.

As a contractor, if your profile is setup properly for that type of job you, then will be notified about the potential “lead” that you can choose to follow up with and pay to get. This sounds like a great solution, but the biggest issue is that 5-10 of your competitors also received the same lead as you. Let’s expand on this issue and more…

Competitors: As mentioned above, a lead is sent to you and many of your competitors, keep in mind, your competitors also see YOU as a competitor. These lead gen services set you up to be bitter about your competition, it becomes a cut-throat situation and the lead gen service simply sits back and takes in all the money while you fight it out.

It is Expensive: Think about it, a typical lead is anywhere from $75 to $150, if you accept just one lead a month at $150 each, you just spent $1,800 on winning a “potential” client. Now expand on that and think about it from the lead gen companies’ perspective…

Profitable (but not for you!): If ten contractors accept the lead at $150, that means the lead gen service just made $1,500 from one lead, in one location, in one industry. Imagine this across hundreds of industries, thousands of locations and millions of customers. These lead gen companies are making billions off of your hard work and forcing you to compete with your competitors which forces you to drive your prices down to scraps.

Race to-the-bottom Pricing: If you are directly competing with 10 competitors for a job, what is the most obvious option to try and win that job so you do not waste your lead fee? You lower your prices to try and look the most reasonable to the potential clients. When you lower your rates, now you have to do more jobs to simply make a profit. This is a losing situation for you as a home pro provider.

Home Pro Partners thinks lead based fees and pitting competitors against each other and forces prices down is not a good solution, instead we focus on referral based leads…

3. Referral Marketing

Simply put, referral marketing is spreading the word about a product or service through a business’ existing customers or professional network, rather than through traditional advertising.

Home Pro Partners believes in the power of Referral Marketing, the power of using the trust of your past clients with the trust of your referral partners creates a powerful ecosystem of success.

What is a referral partner? A referral partner is a person or company that is in the same industry as you but has a different focus or category than you. For instance, we consider “Home Services” as an industry, within that industry you have hundreds of categories. Painting, Roofing, Electrical, Plumbing, etc. If you are a painter, a good referral partner for you might be someone that does sheetrock, or a window installer, or a flooring person. These are not competitors of yours but they work with similar clients.

It is very likely that you have become friends with many of these other contractors over the years and feel confident enough in their work that you would refer your own clients to them and they’d do the same for you. These are your trusted referral partners.

Taking a look at the above illustration, in the middle is you, the medium sized people are your referral partners (other home providers) and the small people are all of your combined clients. As you can see, the network effect of all these people and companies builds a staggering level of connections to generate leads from and more importantly connections you can provide leads to.

Warm Referral / Lead: From our experience, getting a warm lead or referral from a past client or contractor that we know and trust leads to a far higher win rate than getting a lead from a lead gen service. When a client asks for a referral for a good house painter and you can provide them with a painter that you trust completely, this gives the client confidence that hiring the painter you recommended is a good decision, because your client trusts YOU.

Fewer Competitors: If a trusted partner refers you to a client, it’s likely you will have fewer competitors to compete with to win the job. It’s likely the client will only seek out 1 or 2 additional estimates, rather than 5-10 they might get from a lead gen service. This simple math leads to better odds of winning a job.

Better Rates: When you have fewer competitors bidding against you, it’s easier to keep your rates higher because now you are competing more on quality and service than simply quantity of competitors. Higher rates leads to more profits, more profits means you can spend more on other types of marketing, hire more people and help support your community.

Trusted Partners

When you create a profile on Home Pro Partners you have the ability to invite all of your Trusted Partners to join the site as well and if/when they do, they will automatically be added as a Trusted Partner on your own profile.

If you view another company profile, you can always add or remove them as a trusted partner from the sidebar if you want to do it manually. They can do the same with you and your profile.

As you build up your trusted partners list, it starts to build a mini-network between you and your partners, this increases the visibility of your profile on our site and gains trust with potential clients if they see that you have a bunch of partners connected to your profile.

As you meet with your own clients and they ask you for a referral to other home pros, if you have a trusted partner on your profile that your client asks for, you can easily share your profile with the client to see everyone you know and trust. You can also share your profile within Facebook Groups, on Nextdoor and countless other social networks to promote you and your partners.

This is just the start of our trusted partner system, there will be more to come that improves the experience and success of having a network of trusted partners.

Home Pro Partners

Skilled laborers... publish a Home Pro Partner profile and invite trusted referral partners to your company profile.

Reach new customers with Home Pro Partners, no lead fees, no gimmicks, no hassle.

Join the Pro Network

15 Questions to ask a Roofing Contractor Before Signing

by hppadmin | Nov 28, 2020 | Roofing, Tips

15 Questions to ask a Roofing Contractor Before Signing

Replacing or repairing your roof can be expensive and lead to bigger issues if not done by a professional roofer, here are 15 tips to find a quality roofer.

How long have they been in business?
Can they provide a list of references?
Is the company a member of any local roofing associations?
Are they licensed and bonded?
Will they provide a written estimate?
Do they have a warranty and what does it it include?
Do they offer financing?
Are your employees covered by workers compensation insurance?
What will happen to the old roof?
Do they use subcontractors?
How do you protect the lawn and landscaping?
How long will the job take?
What happens with any unseen problems while working on my roof?
How do they deal with inclement weather?
Who should I contact with questions?

1. How long have they been in business?

You can learn a lot about a company by how long they have been in business. If they have been in business for 20-30 years as a successful family business, it is a good sign that they are an experienced & trustworthy roofing company. If they have only been in business a year or two, then you will want to spend extra time evaluating their experience and quality. Beware, if the company has changed their name a few times over the years, it is a good sign that they are trying to hide a bad reputation.

2. Can they provide a list of references?

Any reputable company should be able to provide you with a minimum of 3 references, however it is simply logical for contractors to provide references from customers who they know are satisfied with their work. We think it is better to ask for references from the past three most recent projects. Speaking with recent clients will give you a great indication of what to expect from your potential roofing contractor.

3. Is the company a member of any local roofing associations?

While certainly not a requirement, it is always nice to see when a contractor is a member of one or more local associations. Many cities have roofing associations that companies can join plus other trade organizations. In addition to industry specific associations, a reputable company will often be members of their local Chamber of Commerce, networking groups such as Business Networking International (BNI) and also volunteer for good causes in the community.

4. Are they licensed and bonded?

All most all states require all contractors to be licensed, but the requirements are different depending on the state. Being licensed provides you with a bit more comfort and a course of action in the event things go wrong with your roofing project. Check with your local licensing agent and make sure everything is up to date prior to starting your project or signing any papers.

What does being “bonded” mean? This means he has purchased a surety bond, which will protect you as the homeowner. A bond will provide a certain amount of liability insurance as well as possible. It may also provide compensation to the homeowner should the contractor fail to complete the project as required or contracted.

5. Will they provide a written estimate?

Prior to signing any contracts with any contractor, no matter how well written, be sure to get a written estimate first. An estimate should be broken down detail with an itemized layout. The removal of your existing roof, labor and material costs, and anything that may add to the costs of the original estimate should be outlined in the estimate.

6. Do they have a warranty and what does it it include?

Warranties for a roofing company are often for 25 years or more regardless of the type of shingles you decide to use. Make sure your contractor is clear about coverages, and ask for a copy of the warranty in writing as part of their estimate including the original manufacturer’s warranty on all the materials used.

The more details about the warranty you can get the better, this should include the materials and the work performed, duration, and what needs to happen if it is ever initiated.

7. Do they offer financing?

Larger roofing contractors may offer financing for homeowners who are unable to afford a new roof. If you are in need financing, shopping around is a good way to get a good rate and a better deal. You should check with your bank, but your contractor may offer better rates. Your contractor should provide you with the financing requirements and interest rates in your area.

8. Are your employees covered by workers compensation insurance?

As you likely know, working on a roof is a dangerous activity. In the unfortunate case that someone should fall off your roof while it is being worked on, your contractor’s workers’ compensation insurance should provide the needed protection. If your contractor does not have workers’ compensation insurance, you may be held liable!

It is important that you make sure that your contractor has the appropriate insurance in place. Check the policy with the workers’ compensation company to ensure that it is valid and active.

9. What will happen to the old roof materials?

It may be an easy thing to forget about while replacing your roof, but you need to consider what happens with the materials from the old roof and determine who is responsible for removing the waste. It is important to discuss with your roofing contractor to ensure that you know who will be getting rid of the materials once the project is over. Having this conversation early on will help ensure that everyone is on the same page. Always, get the cleanup plan in writing.

10. Do they use subcontractors?

Some home professional companies like roofers and painters will hire subcontractors to actually perform the work. This can be a warning sign, as there is no guarantee how good they are if they are not related to the roofing company you are negotiating with.

In many cases companies will work with multiple subcontractors and some times they may not have even worked with them prior to starting your job. Why risk thousands of dollars and potentially unexpected damages by working with a company who works with uncontrolled subcontractors?

11. How do you protect the lawn and landscaping?

Even through your roofing contractor is on the top of your house, it is important to think about everything below the roof. This includes vehicles, windows, siding, sidewalks, plants and your landscaping in general. Ask for specific details regarding what they will do to ensure your property is not damaged and how cleanup will work during and after the project is completed.

12. How long will the job take?

During warm weather months, roofing contractors become exteremly busy and may take longer to get to your project than you had hoped. The best roofers may have a wait list that is weeks or even months long, if your roof is not causing significant issues it may be worth the wait to get that great contractor. Find out when your roofer is available to start work. If possible, get the date in writing. Your roofer should also have an estimated finish time.

Roofing projects sometimes take longer than expected due to unexpected damage that was not discoverable until after the old shingles had been removed, this damage must be repaired before work can continue. Your roofer may not be able to give you a definite completion date, but you should be able to get an estimate. Give your contractor a margin of error of a few days, just in case your roofing project goes over time.

13. What happens with any unseen problems while working on my roof?

Have an honest and realistic conversation with your roofer and ask for any potential problems that may arise during the installation. Obviously every roof unique and poses different challenges. This open discussion is just a way to have a good peace of mind to keep any surprises from happening at the end of the day.

14. How do they deal with inclement weather?

No matter where you live in the United States, the weather can be unexpected at times and cause headaches for you and your contractor. These things happen, it only makes sense to have a plan in place to accommodate any of these unexpected weather related surprises. Including rain, snow, wind or anything that could possibly damage your home or landscape.

These issues can lead to more cost, delayed completion and in the worst case cause additional damage to the exterior and even interior of your home. Plan for the worst but hope for the best.

15. Who should I contact with questions?

Quality contractors are methodical about maintaining an open and consitent line of communication with their clients. A contractor would prefer to answer client questions directly rather than the client talking to employees or subcontractors. Find out who the primary contact person is for you to reach out to with questions and issues.

Your roofing contractor may hire subcontractors to complete projects. If this is the case, your contractor might not be on-site while the bulk of the work is being done. In these cases it is even more imporatnt to know who to contact with questions and concerns.

Stay connected with who your contractor hired for communication with the client to make sure the work is being completed as expected, whether they’re permanent employees, leased employees, temporary employees, or subcontractors.

Home Pro Partners

Skilled laborers... publish a Home Pro Partner profile and invite trusted referral partners to your company profile.

Reach new customers with Home Pro Partners, no lead fees, no gimmicks, no hassle.

Join the Pro Network

How to Prepare for the Home Inspector

by hppadmin | Nov 22, 2020 | Home Inspector, Tips

How to Prepare for the Home Inspector

5 tips to prepare your home before the inspector arrives.

Provide Access to the Entire Home (Interior and Exterior)
Clean up Personal Items
Leave the Utilities On
Take Fido to the Park
Take Yourself to the Park

1. Provide Access to the Entire Home (Interior and Exterior)

The front door of your home will need to be unlocked for complete access to your home. Also think about other potential locks, door codes and access points that are not immediately obvious to other people like your Home Inspector.

When the Inspector cannot enter a crawl-space because there is a refrigerator in the way or if there is a security fence in the backyard without a key, the inspection will not be able to be completed on time.

It is very important to let the home inspector know of any active home security codes as well. Your realtor agent can help you pass this information along. Read about what areas are going to be inspected here.

2. Clean up Personal Items

Are you currently living in the home that needs to be inspected? If so it’s important to pick up your personal belongings so that the inspector can do their job.

Home inspectors will not move personal items in order to inspect areas of the home. Leaving personal items in the way can impede an inspector’s view, and they will have to make note of that.

To avoid unnecessary delays due to personal items, clean and organize a your home for full access to required areas. Make sure there is a pathway to all major systems (Furnace, Air Conditioner, Electrical Panels, Under-sink Cabinets). Move any clothing in the way within a closet that has access to the attic. Even simple things like taking out children’s toys from the bath tub is important. Allow entry into the crawl-space and attic. You get the general idea.

3: Leave the Utilities On

Unless there are preexisting safety concerns or a licensed professional has turned them off, the utilities should be left on as usual. Leaving the utilities on allows the home inspector to test each major component within the home. If the home has been vacant for an extended period of time and the utilities cannot be turned on, make sure all parties are aware of it prior to the inspection.

4: Take Fido to the Park

We know, we know…Fido is the sweetest Great Dane that has ever lived and he would never attack a guest. That’s great and all, but Fido may feel threatened by an unfamiliar inspector who looks different, is poking around the food dish and is stepping on his favorite squeaky toy is actually NOT welcome today. It’s an awkward situation for the inspector, and for Fido. Make plans to keep the pooch outside when the inspector is inside, or vise versa.

Although we are “Pet Friendly” home inspectors, and your pet snake is very cool, please keep him in the cage today….locked!

5: Take Yourself to the Park

(or the mall, coffee shop or some other location). Obviously it is your home and your choice, but there isn’t much point in staying around the house while the inspection is taking place.

At Green Door Home Inspections our goal is to meet the owner at the scheduled time for a handshake and to discuss anything that has not already been discussed and then send you on your way. If you would like, just let us know and we can give you a quick call or text when we are finishing up.

Should you decide to stay throughout the inspection, please, give us a little breathing space to do our job. This is not the time to discuss concerns with your home, brag about paint colors, or to showoff your doll collection. These inspections can take a lot of time and we have other clients to serve, let us get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Green Door Home Inspections Ltd

Guest Writer

Home Inspections services across Colorado's Front Range. Local to Castle Rock. Certified. Veteran owned.s

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10 Tips for Maintaining a Wood-Burning Fireplace

by hppadmin | Nov 20, 2020 | Tips

10 Tips for Maintaining a Wood-Burning Fireplace

Sitting in-front of a wood-burning fireplace is one of the many joys of winter. Stay safe by making sure your fireplace is properly maintained prior to use.

Safety First
Test the Fireplace
Clean the Interior of the Fire Place
Remove Soot and Creosote Buildup
Hire a Professional Chimney Sweep
Buy the Right Firewood
Replace the Fireplace Screen
Install Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Check the Chimney for Problems
Hire a Professional to Fix your Fireplace

1. Safety First

Wood-burning fireplaces can be a great heating source and form of entertainment in your home, but if you do not maintain it properly it can lead to devastating consequences. Whether you use your fireplace on a regular basis or only during the colder months, you should still check regularly that it is installed and operating properly to prevent a house fire.

The easiest way to prevent an unexpected fire is to make sure you prevent embers from jumping out of the firebox, you should always have a screened in fireplace with either a wire mesh or glass doors.

The smell of smoke can be comforting, but according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, smoke is not good for you. If smoke is exiting the firebox into your living space, then there is an issue and you need to get it checked out before using it again.

Kids love to sit and watch the wood burn down and may be tempted to touch the fireplace or try to put more wood in the firebox on their own. This can lead to serious injury, young kids especially should be watched closely to make sure they are being safe around fire.

2. Test the Fireplace

Prior to using your fireplace a lot, do a quick test or two to make sure everything is functioning properly. Make sure smoke is released from the firebox up through the chimney rather than into the home. A few quick tests will guide you on what actions to take next in cleaning your fireplace and doing proper maintenance.

3. Clean the Interior of the Fire Place

A wood-burning fireplace creates quite a bit of waste in the form of ash. Ash is a dirty substance and will quickly build up in your firebox. Cleaning the interior will also improve the aesthetics of your fireplace but it will also make it more efficient in providing you with heat. Did you know that ash is actually an excellent source of nutrients for plants? Simply spread the ash throughout your garden!

Ash is very dusty and contains small particles that can enter your lungs and cause health issues. It is extremely important to always where appropriate face masks and gloves when cleaning out your fireplace.

Guess what, fire burns! This should be obvious, but make sure you only do a deep clean when the fire has been put out and cooled off. Sometimes you may need to use a fireplace shovel to scoop out excess ash while the fire is burning, work carefully and dispose of it in a container that won’t catch fire.

4. Remove Soot and Creosote Buildup

This closely relates to the previous section about cleaning your fireplace, but we wanted to specifically talk about the buildup of Creosote.

Creosote is carbonaceous chemicals created by various materials, such as wood. Wood that was not thoroughly dried or stored properly can cause even more Creosote than normal. Creosote is often brown or black residues or tar on the walls or face of the chimney, this residue is flammable and can also become an obstruction in your chimney. Soot can also cause chimney fires, it’s important to get these substances removed by a professional.

5. Hire a Professional Chimney Sweep

Cleaning and maintaining your wood-burning fireplace can be a messy, hazardous job that you may not want to take on yourself. It may be faster and easier to simply hire a professional chimney sweep or service technician to clean and maintain your chimney. A professional will have the required tools and can dispose of any waste in an environmentally safe manner.

It is important to remember that a fireplace is more than just one box in your house, there is an entire chimney shoot to maintain (both inside and out) that needs to be regularly inspected for cracks, soot and Creosote buildup, leaky areas that could cause wet ceilings, damp attic insulation and even mushy drywall. Don’t let a small issue, become a big issue by not having proper fireplace maintenance.

6. Buy the Right Firewood

Choosing the right firewood for your fireplace is an important factor on how quickly your fireplace gets dirty. Softwoods are often more expensive than hardwoods, but they burn faster and leave behind a fine ash that can be difficult to clean up. In additional to more ash, softwoods also leads to more build up of creosote.

Spruce, cedar, poplar and balsam are examples of softwood and maple, oak, ash and birch are harder woods that create a hotter more consistent burn.

As far as wood storage goes, you should keep it on a rack outside the house but in a clean dry area. You will also want to make sure to keep vermin and insects away as they could then end up in your house.

7. Replace the Fireplace Screen

Having issues keeping embers and ashes from entering your home? It may be time to replace your fireplaces screen. It’s an affordable solution to keep your home safe, plus they can be highly decorative as well.

8. Install Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Fireplaces can be a great source of warmth but it can also create health hazards from burning all of that wood. Typically, if your fireplace is installed and working correctly, you shouldn’t have any problems. If your fireplace is not in proper working order then you are subject to carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas that can be difficult to detect. Installing a carbon monoxide detector can help detect issues before they become lethal.

Smoke may also enter your home through an improperly working fireplace. It is important to make sure there is no dirt or other objects blocking your chimney and be sure to have a working smoke detector installed nearby.

9. Check the Chimney for Problems

You should regularly check your chimney for cracks, dents or rust which could all be signs of bigger issues. If you find issues, you should talk to a professional to determine the best course of action to remedy the issues.

At the top of a chimney there is usually some sort of cap, typically it is made out of stone or metal. This cap is intended to keep water, birds and other foreign objects out of the fireplace. The cap also has a screen to reduce sparks, make sure this screen is in proper working order and replace if needed.

10. Hire a Professional to Fix your Fireplace

It is ok to bring in a certified chimney sweep to clean and inspect your fireplace, don’t feel like you always have to do everything yourself. You should have a professional inspect your chimney at least once a year, more if you have a lot of creosote buildups or other noticeable issues.