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.
Federal law lets a worker own his tools, but what they cost him may not cut into minimum wage or overtime, most required safety gear is yours to buy, and states such as California and Illinois go further. The rules, item by item.
H-2B lets a seasonal business bring in temporary workers, but the steps start about five months before the first day of work, the cap fills in days, and the wage, travel and fee rules cost money. The timeline and the bill, step by step.
Every employer completes a Form I-9 for every hire, whatever the crew size; E-Verify is voluntary under federal law but required by some states, in some of them for every employer. The documents, the deadlines, the penalties and the state rules.
You can still drug test, but what a marijuana result means now depends on the job and the state: the federal rules that still bind CDL drivers, California's and New York's off-duty protections and their exceptions, OSHA's line on post-injury tests, and a policy that fits on one page.
The topics federal law protects, which employers each law covers, the interview questions that create risk (age, family, origin, citizenship, injuries and health), and job-related questions that get you better answers about whether someone can do the work.
Five lines answer what a tradesperson needs to know before applying: pay, hours, where, when it starts and how to apply. How to set the pay line from the government's wage data for your own area, the words to leave out, a sample ad, and the places to post it for free.
You may check a new hire's background before sending them into customers' homes, but the order matters: when your state lets you ask, the stand-alone disclosure and consent, the two notices before and after a no, and how to weigh a record fairly.
Before you hand a new hire the keys: two lawful routes to a driving record, what the insurer cares about, the written vehicle policy worth having, and the weight and state-line test that brings federal DOT driver rules into play.
The free public pipelines most small shops never use: registered apprenticeship, the military's SkillBridge, Helmets to Hardhats, American Job Centers and their on-the-job training money, and trade school programs. What each one asks of you.
Your first employee, in the order the paperwork comes: the EIN and state accounts, the W-4 and I-9, the new-hire report, the posters, the time records, the first tax deposit, and the forms due every quarter and every January.
At least ten states require the pay, and often the benefits, in a job posting, some from the very first employee. Who is covered, what counts as a posting (a flyer or a truck sign can), what a lawful range looks like, and a sample ad for a crew position.
Whether a helper is an employee is decided by the law, not by the 1099 you hand him. The IRS, Labor Department and state tests side by side, California's construction exception, and what a reclassification costs.
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.
