Short, specific writing about the business side of a trade — getting leads, answering them fast, pricing without guessing, hiring in March, and staying on the right side of the texting rules. No growth hacks. No listicles.
We are a small agency that builds and runs software for home-service contractors, so most of what is here comes out of a real conversation with a real fence builder or pressure washer who was losing money in a specific, fixable place. Every number we cite is sourced or labelled as our own assumption. Nothing here requires you to buy anything.
How the money reaches you depends on your business structure; how much should depend on your hours, not your bank balance. Price your own labor into jobs as a wage, keep profit as its own line, and see why the Schedule C number is not your profit.
A customer will not pay. The order to work in: find out why, a reminder sequence, a demand letter, the lien deadline that does not wait for any of it, and small claims limits in California, Texas and Florida. Plus why the FDCPA does not cover you, and the state law that may.
Four policies cover most of what can go wrong in a small trade business, and each has gaps the others do not fill. What general liability, commercial auto, a tools floater and an umbrella cover, what they leave out, and what a certificate of insurance proves.
An LLC keeps the company's debts away from your house and savings. It does not cover your own mistakes on a job or loans you guarantee, and by itself it changes nothing about your federal tax. What each structure does, and what it costs by state.
Why mixing business and personal money weakens an LLC's protection and makes an IRS examination harder, the one-afternoon setup that separates them, and a weekly bookkeeping hour that keeps them apart.
An S corporation election can cut the tax on a trade business's profit, but only on the profit above a reasonable salary for your own work. How the saving works, what the IRS means by reasonable, and the costs that eat into it.
When the workers' comp audit cannot find a certificate for a sub you paid, the sub's pay can be counted as your payroll. Here is how that rule works, and the short file to collect before the first check: certificate, W-9, split invoices, then the 1099-NEC.
Schedule C line by line for a trade business: materials, the truck, tools, insurance, meals at 50%, the phone and the home office, with the IRS's own tests and the common costs that are not deductible.
Standard mileage or actual costs, the 6,000-pound line, bonus depreciation and section 179 as the 2025 law left them, the log the IRS expects, and the recapture that comes when you sell. With the 2026 figures.
Nobody withholds tax from a customer's check, so the IRS expects you to pay as you go. The four due dates, the safe harbor that keeps the penalty away, and a set-aside percentage for every deposit.
Every outdoor trade has the same chart: a summer mountain and a winter hole. The mistake is cancelling in November the exact tools that fill March.
Six subjects, because those are the six places we watch contractors lose money.
Why traffic is not leads, and what has to be on the page before a homeowner will hand over a phone number.
The five-minute rule, missed calls, voicemail, and why a text beats a callback almost every time.
Getting the formula out of your head and onto paper so somebody — or something — else can run it.
Finding crew who are already employed, screening without resumes, and cutting interview no-shows.
TCPA and A2P 10DLC without the legalese, so you can text customers back without worrying.
Seasonality, margin by job type, and the winter decisions that decide how March goes.
If something on the business side of your trade is costing you money and nobody has written it down clearly, send it over. We would rather write the post you actually need than guess at a topic. No email capture required — just ask.
Or email support@tailgateoffice.com.
Step two takes about thirty minutes: instant quotes on your site, and every missed call logged and answered from one inbox. Free for 30 days, no card.
