Essential Home Improvement Companies Adapt to COVID-19

At a time when customers may object to bringing service pros into their homes, essential home improvement companies are finding ways to adapt while remaining profitable. In most states and municipalities, plumbers, HVAC technicians, electricians and roofers are considered integral to keeping commercial spaces and residences safe and viable.

Nevertheless, home improvement company owners have to protect themselves, their employees and their customers. Here are three ways essential workers can protect themselves and their workspace when servicing their customers, and stay profitable, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Mitigate risk to your employees so they can continue to work safely

Husband-and-wife team Keresa and J.R. Richardson, who own Benjamin Franklin Plumbing in Dallas, perform due diligence before sending their workers out on a job. They ask their customers if anyone in the house is feeling ill or is quarantined due to COVID-19. If so, they reschedule. Keresa says she refuses to put any of her 150 employees at risk.

Other companies, such as Baker Brothers, also in Dallas, give their employees permission not to enter the premises if they think the customer has not been upfront about someone being sick in the household or if the technician feels uncomfortable for any reason. It’s not worth the risk of jeopardizing the health of either the employees or the customer, CEO Jimmy Dale says. If necessary, they will reschedule the appointment.

2. Staying open for business – safely

Springtime is a busy time of year for tradespeople. Essential pros are simply shifting the way they do business. Instead of conducting presentations and quotes at customers’ homes, many remodeling professionals are going digital.

Facetime and Skype are two popular choices. With a Zoom account, you can conduct endless online meetings with up to three people for free.

An East Coast HVAC company is posting Facebook videos for their customers to assure them they are conducting business as usual while taking all necessary precautions. They abide by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

3. Equip staff with the right paperwork to keep customers at ease

Each state and some municipalities have adopted their own standards and/or orders for working in public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, most home improvement businesses fall under “essential workers.”

There are things you can do to keep your on-site staff from being pulled off a job by law enforcement officers.

• If your business area is under a “stay at home” order, make sure your on-site employees have a copy of the order for your state or city, highlighting the provision that covers the trades or addresses issues such as public safety, sanitation or public health.
• Ask your local or state trade association to provide a letter like the one drafted by the Greater San Antonio Builders Association outlining the exempt workers from Homeland Security.
• Keep a separate letter, on company letterhead, in your company vehicles certifying that any employees in the vehicle is either in transit to or from work or on company business.

Keep your sales funnel running & prepare for business as usual

Although COVID-19 has turned the world upside down, remember this: Many of your prospects have been working at home, home-schooling their children, staring at the walls of their home all day and they want change.

Now is a great time to prime your sales funnel. Think Unlimited has a solution that will help turn soft inquiries into hard bookings. Our drip campaigns take the legwork out of converting unbranded leads. We customize campaigns to be a perfect fit for your business.