By the time this issue hits your desk you will undoubtedly have received dozens of calls for sealcoating. Property managers have had a chance to look at their snow-free parking lots and realize that at the very least the pavement needs to be sealed and striped. Homeowners have done the same, and they want their driveways looking good and they want to invest in helping their driveways last longer.
These homeowner customers often get short shrift in the sealcoating world and they can use your help. Relative to commercial work, residential sealcoating jobs are smaller, the revenues are smaller, and price is often a determining factor. But the cash flow can be pretty good and contractors who work on driveways can make that a profitable part of the business provided they do good work, understand how to market to those potential clients, can handle the logistics and organization of driveway work, and are willing to work for often persnickety people who can be demanding -- it is their home, after all.
So, if you work on residential driveways, do yourself and the industry a favor and help out these homeowners:
- Brand your trucks, business cards, estimates, invoices -- and crew
- Have a website; update it once in a while
- Include your physical address on the website and anything paper
- Have a "live" person answer your phone
- Provide literature about the sealer you're using
- Provide a written, formal bid
- Provide proof of insurance
- Provide your business license number
- Warranty your work
- Educate homeowners about sealcoating -- what it does and doesn't do
- Explain other defects and how they should be treated
- Don't sealcoat pavement that is too damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced
Homeowners should receive the same professionalism given larger customers. Following these (and other) steps -- essentially treating homeowners with driveways the way you would work with a property manager on a large parking lot -- is reassuring to the homeowner, raises the level of professionalism in the industry, and helps protect these customers (and the industry) from the fly-by-night scammers who prey almost exclusively in the residential market.
Everyone wins.