How do construction companies get more work?

Construction companies get more work by doing four things in order: answering fast, quoting fast, following up, and being findable. Most firms skip straight to the last one and pay for ads. That's the wrong end.

I started on the tools. Then I built a property maintenance company in London, working for housing associations and letting agents through a network of subbies. Everything below I learned by losing work first.

Where does the work actually go?

It goes to whoever replies first. Not the cheapest. Not the best. The first one who sounds like he knows what he's doing.

A client with a leak or a refurb has sent the same message to three firms. One calls back in ten minutes. One calls the next day. One never calls. You already know who gets it.

So before you spend a pound on marketing, time yourself. How long from enquiry to reply? If it is hours, more leads will just give you more people to ignore.

Why do quotes go quiet?

Because you sent a number and waited.

The client did not go cold. He got busy, or he got another price, or he had a question he didn't ask. One call two days later wins a surprising amount of work. Almost nobody makes it.

Price loses you some jobs. Silence loses you far more. I have lost work on price. I have won a lot more by being the one who rang back.

What about repeat work?

This is the money. A letting agent with two hundred properties needs someone every week. A housing association needs someone every day.

You don't win those with an advert. You win them by turning up, sending photos when the job is done, invoicing properly and never making the client chase you. Do that for three months and you stop looking for work. It looks for you.

The firms that stay small treat every job as a one-off. The ones that grow treat every job as an audition for the next fifty.

Do I need a website and Google?

Yes, but fourth, not first. When a property manager is told your name, she searches it. If she finds a proper site, a few real jobs with photos, and reviews, you're in. If she finds nothing, you are a man with a van.

A Google Business Profile with real photos and reviews does more for a local trade firm than most paid adverts. It's free. Fill it in.

When should I pay for ads?

When the first three are fixed. Ads pour water in the top. If the bucket leaks, you are paying to watch it run out.

With a fast reply, a follow-up and a site that looks like the size you want to be, ads work. Without them you are funding Google.

What order should I fix it in?

1. 01Reply to every enquiry inside the hour. Use a missed-call text if you're on site.
2. 02Send the quote the same day, and put a follow-up call in the diary when you send it.
3. 03After every job, send photos and ask for the review.
4. 04Then sort the website and the Google profile.
5. 05Then, and only then, pay for traffic.

A system does most of this for you. That's why I ended up building one. Plan@Job runs the jobs, the quotes and the chasing so nothing depends on you remembering.

If you want someone to look at where your work is leaking, that's what we do. Start a conversation and I'll tell you what I'd fix first.