What I’m Watching in Home Services Right Now

Hello home service operators,

Just finished up the Breaking $5 Million workshop at Wilson HQ…and it was the biggest one yet.

Don’t miss out on the next one (September will be here before you know it).

Today’s resources:

Your Next Customer is Already on Yelp

Most contractors think Yelp is for restaurant reviews. Your competitors do too, and that's exactly why you should be there.

Every month, 48.6 million users visit Yelp to find a pro. Here's what you need to know:

• The audience is premium. 52% of Yelp's users earn over $100K annually.

• You show up in AI search. Yelp is cited more than Angi, Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, and Nextdoor combined on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity,and Google AI.

• The results are real. 5 Star HVAC saw a 444% increase in monthly leads. Rescue Air hit a 72% close rate in Dallas.

Over 125 million home service leads were generated on Yelp last year. Your slice is waiting.

What’s Happening in the Market?

If you’ve been heads-down running your business, you may have missed a few things.
Here’s what actually mattered in the last ~30 days

1. Home Depot is moving deeper into HVAC

The Home Depot is acquiring Mingledorff's through SRS Distribution.

This is a billion-dollar distributor with more than 40 locations. That is a meaningful move.

Home Depot is pushing beyond retail and deeper into distribution, getting closer to the contractor relationship. When businesses this large move upstream, supply chain power consolidates, pricing leverage shifts, and the battle for the pro customer gets more competitive.

2. Capital is still flowing into the trades

Higher interest rates were supposed to slow deal activity.

That has not really happened.

Strategic buyers are still active. Private equity is still building platforms. Quality operators are still commanding attention. A strong signal is Comfort Systems USA (FIX), which continues to perform well as demand stays strong across large commercial and mechanical projects.

The takeaway is simple: capital still likes this space.

3. Refrigerant changes will create opportunity

The shift away from R-410A toward A2L refrigerants is underway.

That brings new equipment requirements, more technician training, and less retrofit flexibility. For contractors, that likely means more replacements, larger ticket sizes, and greater technical complexity.

Change creates friction, but it also creates opportunity.

4. Demand is still strong

The long-term drivers remain intact.

Aging housing stock, electrification, and extreme weather continue to push demand higher across home services. There is still plenty of work in the market.

The challenge is not demand.

5. Labor remains the bottleneck

The biggest constraint is still people.

Skilled labor remains hard to find. Wages continue to rise. Hiring takes longer than most operators want. Many businesses are not limited by lead flow. They are limited by capacity.

That should change how you think about growth.

Run Your Business on One System

FieldPulse helps home service teams schedule faster, close more jobs, and get paid quicker with software built to scale.

From dispatch and invoicing to customer communication and reporting, it keeps your entire operation running on one platform.

If you are building right now, you are in the right place. Keep moving.

👊 John

Disclosure: Some of the content and links in this newsletter are sponsored or affiliate links, which means we may receive payment or earn a commission if you click through or purchase. However, all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

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