How to start and grow a successful home service business

In this guide, we’ll delve into some of the challenges of the home service industry, as well as strategies, tools, and best practices that can help service providers offer high-quality service, establish a loyal customer base, and grow their businesses.

What is a home service business?

Among the many different types of service businesses, a home service business is one that provides skilled labor at customers’ homes. These services include a range of indoor and outdoor work, like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, and housekeeping, for example. Within this wide range of services, you might consider any number of specializations if you’re planning on opening your own business. For instance, in the cleaning industry you might choose to specialize in carpet cleaning, window washing, or sidewalk pressure washing. Thanks to social media, cleaning services have seen a major surge in popularity. 

There are also many other services you may not immediately think of, including home IT support, pest control, and junk removal. In-home care are options, too–think childcare, elder care, and animal care. Houses and home life require a lot of upkeep, and customers are looking for all kinds of support. And, 2024 is shaping up to be an interesting year with lots of opportunities for home service business owners. When it comes to choosing a best-fit service business with potential, you have a broad range of options.

READ: 15 of the most profitable small businesses to start in 2024

How to start a service business

Starting a home service business follows similar steps to those for starting any business: 

1. Create a plan 

Your business plan is your blueprint. It should contain an executive summary, an overview and detailed description of your proposed business, a pricing model, market analysis, marketing strategy, a business operations plan, and a financial plan.

READ: Why forecasting is crucial to your business plan

2. Secure funding 

Whether your business ends up being self-funded, you take out a loan, or you seek federal or minority funding, you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to back your home service business financially.

3. Register your business

Check out your state requirements for how to register your business. Those are usually found on the Secretary of State’s website. You’ll also likely need to determine your legal structure (for instance, LLC vs S-Corp) and have a unique business name ready to go before file your document. 

4. Hire and train employees 

Whether you’ll be hiring employees or contractors, start out on the right foot with strong communication, a supportive approach, and a strong management ethic.

5. Market your business 

Get the word out! While setting aside a budget for marketing is an important investment in the growth of your business, marketing doesn’t have to cost you an arm and leg. Check out these low cost marketing ideas. From posting on social media to selling merchandise, here are some great marketing examples to inspire you.

Growing a service business: Importance of flexibility and mobility

Managing a home service business presents a unique set of challenges. For instance, while you may have an office location, the majority of your work happens in the field, so you’ll need flexible and dependable payment options. Supply chain issues tend to crop up without warning so you’ll want to figure out how to maintain a store of materials. And, if you’re dispatching workers to different locations, you’ll need to be able to track workflows and manage projects accordingly. 

With all these moving parts, home service business owners should focus on streamlining operations through modern solutions. The Clover Point of Sale System (POS), for example, is designed to address the unique needs of home service businesses:

• Flexibility to accept all payment types at any time and any place 
• Fast and simple email invoicing that allows customers to pay securely at any time of day or night
• Integrated tools for managing accounting, personnel, and payroll 
• Ability to manage your business anywhere, any time

Mobile devices like the Clover Go and Clover Flex can go anywhere you do. A portable card reader, the Go can take payments wherever you have a wifi or cell connection, and the Flex puts the power and speed of a full POS in the palm of your hand. 

Simplifying processes can help you enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction–and that can drive growth. Take Fox Design and Staging, for example. Owner Andron Fox focuses his design company on two key services: reveal-style home makeovers and staging homes for sale to boost their market appeal. 

For Fox, ease of payment and customer satisfaction go hand in hand. He syncs his Clover Virtual Terminal with the invoicing platform he uses and sends invoices after a job is complete or to collect a deposit before a job starts. 

“It’s fantastic!” he says. “Especially with the reveals–customers are so excited about their new space! To follow those reactions with ‘OK, now I need a payment of thousands of dollars, please,’ would take away from the fun of the reveal.”

For more helpful insights on starting a business, be sure to check our blog, The Green. And, to learn how we can help you open and run your home service business more efficiently, contact a Clover Business Consultant today. 

Editorial Team

Guides, Home & field services, Run your business, SMB, Start a small business

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