How To Get More Jobs as a Contractor: 7 Proven Strategies to Win More Work

1. Embrace the mindset shift

The first and most crucial step in getting more jobs as a contractor is embracing a new mindset. 

Your primary role as a business owner is no longer just doing the craft— it’s about running and scaling a profitable business. 

Craftsmanship is essential, but without a solid business foundation, your skills alone won’t take you far. Understanding your numbers, knowing how to break even, and determining how many leads you need are critical to your success. The moment you decide to run a business, you must fully commit to mastering these aspects. 

LISTEN AND LEARN: 12 Daily Habits of a Multi-Million Dollar Business Owner

2. Ignore the “going rate”

Pulling in my #1 piece of advice here is to decide what to sell your services at. Often, this is where most new contractors make the biggest mistake. 

Instead of following the “going rate,” do your own math. Determine your costs, calculate your break-even point, and set your prices based on what you need to be profitable. My rule of thumb is if it costs you a buck, charge at least two. This is the fastest way you will go from doing, say, $300K a year to $2.7 million.

3. Aim for a 50% gross profit margin

I’m a strong advocate of targeting a 50% gross profit margin. If a job costs you $1,500 in labor and materials, you should charge at least $3,000. 

Many contractors underprice their services, leading to slim margins that barely keep their businesses afloat. By aiming for a higher profit margin, you’ll make more and have the resources to grow and sustain your business. 

Ignore the noise about not being able to charge a certain rate in your service area. Reverse engineer the numbers until you can make it work for your business.

People often ask me: Why do I never talk about net profit? Because net profit is the result of things that happened before that. The fastest way I’ve found to help somebody make money is to keep more from the current jobs they’re doing. So if I sell a $10,000 job and keep three grand after labor, materials, cost of goods, and so on, I’ve got three grand left. That’s a 30% gross profit. A 50% gross profit would mean I’ve got five grand left. 

So again, how you bid your projects, the work hours, the management time—all these things go into the pie. You figure out what it will cost at the starting point, multiply that by at least two, and you’ll be ahead of where you were yesterday. I promise you that.

FREE TOOL: Jobber’s Proft margin calculator

4. Position your brand while educating your audience

Brand positioning is key for contractors who want to command higher prices and get more jobs. 

Most contractors are not creating content to educate potential clients about their services. Instead, they’re letting third-party, lead-generation sites dictate the narrative.

Nothing in your business works independently of other components, so if you want to sell at higher rates, your brand positioning has to be on point. Take control of your brand by writing articles, making videos, and sharing your expertise. 

I started writing articles about the real costs of doing business back in the late 2000s because that’s the main thing people want to know for every industry: How much does thing X or service Z cost?

I started writing articles about the real costs of doing business back in the late 2000s because that’s the main thing people want to know for every industry: How much does thing X or service Z cost? I wrote an article for every room in the home. How much does it cost to paint a bathroom? How much does it cost to paint a bedroom? How much does it cost to paint a living room? How much does painting this, that, or the other thing cost? And within three months, I held eight out of the 10 top organic spots on Google—without paying for ads. 

By educating your audience, you position yourself as an authority in your trade, which can help you charge what you’re worth and attract clients who value quality (and are willing to pay for it).

5. Consistently market your services

I always get comments on our content or questions like, “How do I get leads?” I’ve got no leads coming in, and the answer is always the same: It’s because you weren’t doing what you should’ve been doing six to nine months ago. Market like your next meal depends on it.

Commit to building your brand every single day.

Marketing is the lifeblood of a contracting business. A successful contractor needs to be fanatical about marketing. Too many contractors fall into the trap of only marketing when business is slow, but it’s often too late by then. 

You need to consistently build your brand and generate leads, even when you’re busy. Utilize social media, update your website, and engage with your community on a regular basis. And these are just the tip of the iceberg. Pick up the phone, log into your socials and chat with people, add your company to your personal profile, offer company swag, wrap your vehicles with your logo, invest time into SEO, and become an educator for your audience. 

Remember, marketing is a long game—plant the seeds now to reap the rewards later. And take it from my experience: Spend your marketing budget when demand is the highest.

6. Leverage your existing customer base

Your existing customers are a gold mine of future work and why it’s so important to stay in touch with past clients. 

Whether it’s a follow-up call to see how a project is holding up or a personalized thank-you message, these gestures can lead to repeat business and referrals. 

If you’ve done good work for someone, they’re 85% more likely to hire you again. So don’t ignore your database—nurture those relationships and watch your business grow. 

And there are a ton of genuinely easy and effective ways to engage and re-engage. 

Here are a few of my top engagement strategies for contractors:

• Send a personalized video to past clients
• Thank your clients for choosing you and run email marketing and re-engagement campaigns
• Create a customer referral program to accelerate word-of-mouth marketing
• Call clients a year later to see how they’re doing and make sure they’re still happy with the job you did

If you consistently do the work with these “touches,” about 5% of your database will convert to another project annually. Let’s say it’s 800 touches in a year—that turns into 40 more $10,000+ projects. 

By selling smart and engaging directly with clients, you can expect anywhere between a 5%-20% chance of leads turning into new customers and about 80%-90% chance of landing jobs by reengaging with past clients. 

I can guarantee there are people in your database right now, and all they need is a little nudge. 

That little nudge means you’re booking more jobs. I have a general contractor in Milwaukee, and he built a ton of business from those little nudges—just a text or a phone call like, “Hey, we built the garage for you. How’s it holding up?” Last year,  he was pulling in about $1.5 million. He sold more than a million dollars in jobs on top of that just by doing that kind of outreach a couple of times a day.

7. Sell like you don’t need the money

My final tip is to sell as if you’re independently wealthy. When you approach sales with confidence, knowing your numbers, and without desperation, you’ll close more deals at higher margins. 

It’s essential to remember that people buy for their own reasons, not yours. What’s a lot of money to you might not be much to someone else. By shifting your mindset and approaching sales with a clear understanding of your value, you’ll be more successful in landing the jobs you want. 

Here are just some tips to remember when you’re trying to land new jobs without losing your nerve:

• Come confident in your numbers—job costing is the number one way that you’re going to impress leads
• Don’t bring your baggage to the sales call (remember, what’s expensive to you might not be to them)
• Sales training, sales coaching, or even roleplay exercises can all help improve your confidence

In my experience, contractors are waiters. They’re waiting for the phone to ring or the leads to roll in, and it’s time to get proactive if you want to get more jobs. So, I’ll close with a challenge for you. Pull out your phone, text an old client just to check in, and say thank you—see where it takes you.