Home Improvement Referral Business

Tips on Starting a Home Improvement Referral Business from Those Who Have Been There :

• I started a home improvement referral business during my years as a real estate agent. Most of the home I was selling were older, so many of my clients asked me for referrals for home improvement contractors, such as electricians and carpenters. It was as if the more buyers I had, the more home improvement referrals I was making. I started keeping a Rolodex and handing out cards and numbers. Now, I have a nice color-copy sheet printed of some of the best home improvement specialists on the market. I have everything from tile-layers to landscapers and designers. For all of my buyers, I include the list in a welcome package with a fruit basket for when they move into their homes. It's gotten so popular in my town that home improvement specialists are actually advertising with me to be on my sheet! It's not a real moneymaker for me, but it's a way to help other home improvement businesses get going with my referrals. I love it!
• My wife and I have been doing Web sites for a number of years now. When we were remodeling our home, we discovered that it was nearly impossible to find good labor in our town. Everyone was either busy or sloppy or what. So we started a home improvement referral Web site. Contractors can sign up to have a profile on the Website and then people who need work done can request a bid for the project - kind of like eBay, but locally. The referral business really took off. We enjoy being able to connect home improvement contractors with those who need their help. The cool part is that clients of the contractor can leave feedback and either refer them to others or let them know if there was a problem with the work. It's great!
• I'm an interior designer with a small 5-man shop. One of my employees has always done a great job of keeping names of contractors that she's worked with so that she can refer them to our clients. It was her idea to make a portfolio book of different kinds of contractors in town so that people can flip through and see what's available. Now, people who aren't even our clients come into our office to see the book because they know that we have items for just about everyone in town who does just about everything. We've essentially opened up a new branch of the design business to make it a home improvement referral business, which is really actually quite cool.