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 build software for home-service contractors. Each article here answers one practical question about the business side of a trade. Every article published since 20 October 2026 is written from named public sources (government agencies, the laws and codes themselves, published studies, cost guides and companies’ own price pages), listed at its foot, and its facts are checked against those sources. Every number we cite either names where it comes from (the publisher, the year and a link) or says plainly that it is our own example or assumption. Competitor prices also say the month we checked them (“checked October 2026”), link to the competitor’s own price page, and are re-checked every three months; a price we cannot re-check comes off. Nothing here requires you to buy anything.
The drive from home to the first job is usually not work time. The drive from the shop, after loading the truck, usually is. The federal travel-time rules case by case, what they do to overtime, and why California counts more.
Four ways to buy customers, four different things you pay for: a lead, a contact, a response, a click. What each one charges for, who else gets the same customer, the bad-lead rules, and how to work out your cost per won job.
A 30% markup is not a 30% margin. The formula both ways, a conversion table, and a worked job that shows how mixing the two quietly under-prices everything you bid.
A day rate or a piece rate does not cover overtime. Under the FLSA you add up the week's pay, divide by every hour worked, and owe half that rate again for each hour past 40. Worked examples, and the states that count by the day.
A roof price is a short chain of multiplications: squares measured on the slope, a pitch factor, tear-off by the layer, waste on the order, and flashing as its own line. Here is the chain, with a worked example and the code rules that move it.
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.
Offering to cover a homeowner's deductible is a crime in Texas and grounds for a lawsuit or discipline in Colorado, Minnesota and Florida. What four states' laws say about deductibles, adjusting and storm ads, and what a roofer can offer instead.
A page for every town you serve can help or get your site treated as spam. What Google calls a doorway page, the test that tells them apart, and what a town page must say to be worth having.
Federal law lets a 16-year-old work unlimited hours, but not on a roof, behind a circular saw or at the wheel of the truck. The federal hazardous-job rules that hit the trades, the hour limits under 16, and state work permits.
Sign a job at the customer's kitchen table and the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule may give them three business days to cancel. When it applies, the paperwork you owe, the emergency exception, and the states that go further.
Several states spell out what a home improvement contract must contain, down to the headings and the type size. What California, Florida, New Jersey and Massachusetts require, the clauses they share, and why an accepted estimate is not the contract.
The FTC charged HomeAdvisor with misleading contractors about the leads it sold, and a 2023 order settled it. What the agency alleged, what the order bars, and the questions and log that let you judge any lead seller yourself.
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 when a text beats a callback.
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.
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