How many Home Service Businesses are Companies?
I don’t care if you are a w2 employee, a 1099 contractor, a business owner or a company owner, are you apart of a home service trade business? Additionally, do you belong to a Facebook group within that trade? Well if you answered yes to those two questions then you have some idea of how crazy this story is going to get. Stick around, Im going to show you how we arrived at our answer of how many Home Service Businesses are Companies.
The Post
I posted this statement on June 5th, 2023 in multiple home service trade Facebook pages. What seemed like immediately, I started seeing all sorts of comments rush in. A cross all the different trades groups I saw a lot of the same answers, both serious and silly. I started to realize that many pros had the same perseption of what it ment to be a business verse a company. I also saw a lot of comments explaining what the literal meaning of what the each are.
Why I Posted It
I enjoy having conversations about the business side of our trades. Although the actual trade work between window cleaners and pressure washers are different, the way the businesses (or companies) run are extremely different. It is the same path to setup a pool service business as it is to set up a landscaping business.
- LLC or INC
- Acquire a EIN
- Open a bank account
- Get some insurance
What ends up being different is how we operate our businesses or companies. Some of us will remain a one man show. Taking all the calls, booking all the jobs, performing all the work, invoicing out all the customers, and collecting all the money. Some of us will hire out for some of this and others will hire out for all of this. So, do you run a business or a company?
The literal terms
Lets go over some literal terms and then we can get into what it means to some of our fellow tradesmen.
Company
A quick google search of “what is a company,” will provide the definition, “A commercial business.” Which doesn’t help us out that much. Jeff Hansen on Professional Window Cleaning Facebook group says;
“I find value operating under a corporate entity of a company simply due to the legal and liability protection of being an employee of it.”
A few others actually mentioned this as well. In a company formed business the owner can actually just be an employee. Providing you with the same protection your employees have, which in Arizona IS A LOT. So, does being a company just mean that you are structured as one on paper? Many members of the Facebook group had different perceptions of what it meant to be a company. We get into that below.
Business
For the most part, pros associated a Business with being a Limited Liability Company, or LLC. Having your business in an LLC will allow you to protect your personal assets. If you own a house, cars, or money, they are protected under a properly ran LLC. This LLC is considered to be its own entity. As long as you keep your business entity separated from your personal entity, you should be covered. Its when pros start using their business for personal use and or vise versa. Things can go bad in litigation if this is found. Its a good idea to keep each at an arms length away from one another. So, does this make you a business?
A sole proprietor is one who provides work, just like you do, but uses his personal name and bank account. A sole proprietor has no protection in litigation of for his personal assets. Is this considered a business?
What it means to me
The easiest way to explain what my statement meant to me is, Businesses are the mom and pop shops of the home service trade world and companies are the more corporately ran operations. In the post I said that 99.9% of us operate as the mom and pop shop type business, whereas almost none of us run corporate style companies.
Over my years in the trades I have observed that most of the businesses out there, even if they are lager, operate a business. That almost none of us get to the company level, even though we may be operating under a company formed business. Both take a large amount of work and effort, but for the most of us, even if we want to, we never reach the company level.
What it means to some of you
A popular comment from you pros was much along the lines of a business runs you and a company runs itself. See here how Corey Edmonds from Pressure Washing Friends breaks it down.
Corey couldn’t say it any better when he finishes his comment with, “there are no right or wrong answers. The only right answer is that you are healthy and you enjoy your time here on earth.”
Others simply commented that if you can walk away from your business for a month and come back to it still operating, then you have a company.
Some of the others
I wont name names here but some of you pros did not like this post I made. One individual even asked me to delete the post. I actually got into a good argument with one of the pros. After we went back and forth a fellow pro stepped in to set us both straight. Come to find out we were talking about two different things.
I have found out that there is a large amount of pros out there not liking the idea of other pros giving advise. I understand there are wanna be gurus out there. You should see the ones on twitter! I believe what I have to offer to the entire home service trade industry is honest and fair. I do not feel that I am leading anyone down a misinformed road and that my information comes from years of living in the trades.
But I did some research anyways
The Offical Answer
After my post I decided to run a poll in all the different trade groups and these are the numbers I got;
The results show that 16.42% of home service trade pros own a company and 83.58% of pros believe they are a business.
I would have loved if more pros voted accrossed all trades, but ill take it! These are great results to know.
Who I Am
Ill quickly introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I am a pool service pro at heart. I dedicated 11 years to my trade and while working in it I discovered my passion. The American Home Service Trade Industry. As I promoted myself through my business I learned a lot about each step. I eventually built the business, Pool Rescuers LLC, into a business with about 400 clients, 5 techs, 3 office staff, a few 1099’s, and a fleet of pre owned trucks. I then sold the business in 2021, completing the entire build, scale, exit cycle.
Now I am trying to build a Home Service Referral site called srvcly. This is not to be confused with lead generation. I believe that lead generation is one of the worst things for the home service trade industry as it charges you just to speak with a potential customer. Not only that they encourage us pros to fight over the lead by sending the customers to multiple service professionals. Srvcly will provide home service trade professional with free referrals. In order for referrals to work, they will always need to be free to the service provider.
Contact me
If you would like to contact me please see below.
