While some high-end retail furniture stores insisted we were in a recession, most of the showrooms I spoke with swore the opposite — still busy and still a backlog of orders to push out.

Most home service companies will encounter a business crisis. If you don’t have a strategy to deal with the fallout, you could jeopardize your company’s reputation.

Good publicity is good for your business, so don’t hesitate to let your local area know about sponsoring events; donating time, money or materials to a charitable cause; or providing expert, topical advice for potential customers.

A lot of heart and technical skills can start a contracting business. But business expertise will make it a success.

Spending time at construction sites is essential to delivering a quality project to your clients. This attention to detail often strengthens your relationship with them, makes you a better engineer and helps win repeat work from them.

A few years ago, a client shared a book recommendation with me: “Ego is the Enemy,” by Ryan Holiday. Now, this is one of those grandiose titles that immediately makes my eyes roll. Here we have some know-it-all stating the obvious in a 250-page “business” self-help book. 

Many small home service businesses don’t believe they need to worry about public relations. However, PR professionals do more than put out reputation fires — they help cement your good reputation as an expert within your community before a perceived misstep harms your company.

When homeowners have a plumbing issue, they don’t want plumbers to waste time looking for things in their trucks. Make sure they have 80 percent of what they need for 80 percent of their customers. Al Levi has some tips for doing that.

Business owners need to keep track of many things to keep their entrepreneurial dreams alive. Knowing how tangible and intangible costs affect your pricing and your profit margin is critical for any home services contractor.