Cascade Fence & Deck’s strategy for $12M-$13M Annual Revenue | F&D Mastery Podcast #25

Cascade grew from a $2-3M plateau to about $12M by cutting builder/new-construction work entirely in 2015 and doubling down exclusively on homeowners doing tear-out-and-replace fences and deck remodels.

The company's real 'why' is building a business everyone wants to work for, so it triples down on hiring good people, sharing the vision transparently, and caring for them personally, which drives both growth and healthy turnover.

They turned COVID-era necessity into a competitive edge with virtual Zoom appointments: they screen the lead, have the customer walk their own backyard on video while the estimator gives a near-final ballpark price, filtering out tire-kickers and running far more appointments a week.

Repairs are used strategically as a low-cost, high-turnover foot in the door: two full-time repair techs generate 8-10 new customers a week who can become raving fans and future replacement jobs.

Reviews skyrocket by incentivizing crews with free lunch when a customer leaves four reviews, planting the 'five-star experience' bug on site up front, and running review-count competitions with surprise gifts.

Local Services Ads crush it for fences thanks to a fence-specific category with the ability to dispute repair leads, but underperform for decks, which get lumped under General Contractor and patio with no way to dispute bad leads.

Content follows the 'They Ask, You Answer' model, starting with a video that answers a real customer question and then converting it into a blog, and total marketing spend stays under 1% of revenue because growth is largely organic through reputation and referrals.