From the Trades to Full-Time Business Owner — The Traveling Fixer

TheTravelingFixer

Hi everyone! I’m Joey, owner of The Traveling Fixer, LLC, a handyman and home repair business serving West Metro Atlanta.

I’ve been around construction, home repair, maintenance, and the trades since I was a teenager, starting out working alongside my father. Over the years, my experience expanded into property management, home inspections, industrial maintenance, and residential repairs.

Eventually, I decided to take that experience and build something of my own. I now operate The Traveling Fixer full-time, focusing primarily on smaller repair and installation projects—doors and hardware, ceiling fans and lighting, TV mounting, shelving, drywall repairs, plumbing fixtures, exterior repairs, and the miscellaneous projects homeowners often struggle to find someone dependable to handle.

I joined the Thumbtack Community because I’m interested in learning from other business owners while also sharing what I’ve learned from my own experiences in the trades.

My question for the Community: For those of you who have built a successful handyman or home-service business on Thumbtack, what was the single biggest change you made that improved your lead quality and helped turn more leads into profitable jobs?

Looking forward to connecting with everyone!

ArvinC

Hi @TheTravelingFixer , welcome to the Community, Joey! 👋 Love that your experience goes all the way back to working alongside your father and has taken you through so many different parts of the trades before becoming a full-time business owner.

That's a great question too. For lead quality, one of the biggest things I'd look at is getting really specific with your job preferences. With the range of services you offer, understanding which project types consistently turn into profitable jobs can help you focus your targeting, lead prices, and budget around the work you actually want more of.

Then once the right lead comes in, we consistently hear from our Top Pros that responding quickly and making that first message specific to the customer's project can make a big difference in converting it.

I'd especially love to hear from our handyman and home-service pros on this one. Joey has plenty of experience in the trades, so I'm sure there will be some great ideas to exchange here! 🔨

MyCleanCharlotteMaid

One thing that helps improve lead quality is being very specific about the jobs you actually want.

For cleaning services, not every lead has the same value. A small one-time job, a deep cleaning, a move-out cleaning, and a recurring customer can all have very different long-term value. Tracking which types of leads turn into booked jobs helps a lot.

I think pros should look at which services convert best, which areas bring better-fit customers, and which jobs are profitable after labor, supplies, travel, and time.

It is tempting to chase every lead, but that can create stress and low-profit work. Better targeting and clearer service descriptions can help attract customers who are a stronger fit.