I Gave Advice to 5 Home Service Millionaires

When scaling a multi-location business, consider office-led scheduling during growth phases (adding jobs, new team members) and GM-led scheduling in profit mode (high recurring revenue, stable teams) for better accountability and efficiency.

For new general managers, consolidate operations to a single location initially to ease management, then strategically decentralize as management skills develop to reduce overhead like rent and improve operational efficiency.

Implement clear KPIs for sales (customer acquisition cost, close rate), operations (efficiency score, quality), and admin (estimate lead time, call response) to avoid micromanagement and perverse incentives between team members.

The biggest bottleneck for scaling from $1 million to $2-3 million is often the owner's ability to manage managers, requiring a shift in leadership style from directly managing technicians to empowering mid-level leaders with clear metrics and systems.

For businesses offering complex or custom services, standardize offerings (e.g., limited material choices) before delegating to reduce chaos and burnout, making it easier to train and empower team members.

Prioritize delegating admin, then operations, and finally sales, as operations managers are generally easier and less expensive to find than sales managers for complex project-based services.