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In 2019, we did $3 million in total revenue. That was great, but far from where I wanted to be. So I got to work on finding a way to scale efficiently.
The result? A defined growth strategy for contractors like us—one that will allow us to hit that number—$3 million—in July 2025 alone.
We didn’t get there by winging it or chasing shiny tools. We built a system that works. A smart way of scaling a service business without drowning in chaos or overhead.
Speaking of growth, listen to our “From Plumbing to Profits” podcast for a wild ride of how we made the leap.
Ok, let’s get to it. Here’s how you can set your company up for smart, sustainable growth.
Hiring late is why most businesses stall out
I used to scramble every summer. Crews overbooked, phones ringing nonstop, and I’d be throwing bodies at the problem—usually too late. That changed when we got serious about forecasting staffing needs in trades.
We built a simple staff planning worksheet that shows how many techs we’ll need months in advance.
If a team is booked out more than 4 days, that’s our signal to start hiring—immediately.
Our average time-to-fill is 35 days. So if we need someone in May, we’re recruiting in March. Not thinking about it. Recruiting.
This kind of staff planning for seasonal businesses gives us breathing room and keeps quality high. No more last-minute hires who don’t fit the culture. No more clients waiting 10 days for a water heater.
It also helps our ops team better manage training and onboarding. Instead of crashing people into the deep end, we actually give them time to ramp.
Growth doesn’t come from working harder in the summer. It comes from building the bench in the winter.
Scale the business, not the overhead
Every time we grew, we used to hire more overhead just to “keep up.” But by fall, I’d realize half of those roles weren’t actually needed—and the profit was gone.
We made a hard rule: growth doesn’t mean bloating.
Instead, we sat down and asked: how do we reduce overhead in a service company without slowing down?
The answer: we default to offshore or AI support for admin roles. Anything repetitive gets automated or outsourced.
This year, we only approved two in-office hires: a dedicated trainer and a sales coordinator.
That’s it.
Our entire ops team is trained to ask one simple question: “What breaks if we double volume?” Then we fix that before it breaks.
This mindset helped us stay lean. It also freed up cash to invest in the right things—sales enablement, training, and better tech.
We’re not adding overhead just to feel busy. We’re adding leverage. That’s how we’re aiming for a 30% net month this summer, with the same back office we had in March.
And if you're serious about scaling a service business, you can’t skip this step. Your overhead either supports growth or strangles it.
Your vendors should (must) scale with you
When you go from $500K months to $1.3M months in 30 days, inventory becomes your biggest risk. I’ve lived it.
Jobs delayed. Crews idle. Revenue lost.
Now we treat our suppliers like partners, and we prep them like one of our teams. Vendor management for growing companies is a skill—and most contractors don’t invest in it until it’s too late.
We start meeting with our HVAC, plumbing, and electrical vendors in March, not June. These weekly check-ins are our way of getting them ready for what’s coming.
I show them the data: exactly how many units, water heaters, or generators we’re planning to move. SKU by SKU.
Then I ask them one thing:
“Can you support us at 50% more volume, or not?”
If they can’t, we find someone who can.
We also ask what support they need from us. Payment terms? Forecasts? Dedicated delivery windows? The better we support them, the smoother our growth goes.
Growth is hard enough without your supplier slowing you down.
This is one of the most overlooked pieces of a growth strategy for contractors—vendor prep. Don’t skip it.
A quick word on marketing
Most people want a silver bullet for growth. Spoiler: it’s not Facebook ads.
Marketing matters, but if your ops, staffing, and vendor game isn’t dialed, no amount of leads will save you. We learned that the hard way.
Before we ever doubled down on marketing, we made sure:
- Our phones could handle the volume
- Our dispatch board didn’t collapse under pressure
- Our crews had capacity
- Our suppliers could deliver in bulk
- And our team wasn’t relying on duct tape and spreadsheets
Now? When we turn the marketing faucet on, the business doesn’t crack. It absorbs the volume and spits out profit.
If you’re going to grow, grow on purpose.
Final thoughts
Scaling a service business isn’t about throwing money at ads or hiring a bunch of people in June. It’s about solving the invisible bottlenecks before they choke you.
- Get ahead of hiring.
- Automate the admin.
- Don’t let your vendors lag behind.
- Make ops your growth engine.
- And grow lean, not bloated.
Growth done right? Feels boring. Predictable. Profitable.
That’s the point.
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