Why Residential Contractors Should Consider Expanding Into Light Commercial

In this episode of the Prime Resources Podcast, BDR Head Coach and Trainer Chris Koch discusses the opportunities and challenges of expanding into the light commercial market for residential contractors.

In the discussion, Chris highlights the vast size of the market, with nearly 6 million commercial buildings in the US, and emphasizes the potential in smaller owner-occupied buildings like medical offices, professional office buildings, veterinary clinics, and office conversions. He also stresses the importance of knowing your numbers, managing budgets, and not overselling your capabilities.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:54 — 30.1MB)

Key Takeaways

• The light commercial market offers a huge opportunity for residential contractors to expand their business.
• Smaller owner-occupied buildings, such as medical offices and professional office buildings, are ideal targets in the light commercial market.
• Starting with maintenance contracts is a great entry point into the market, leveraging existing customer relationships.
• It’s important to know your numbers, manage budgets, and not oversell your capabilities.
• Building strong customer relationships and asking for referrals are key to success in the light commercial market.

Why Residential Contractors Should Consider Expanding Into Light Commercial Time Stamps

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 02:18 – The Opportunity in Smaller Owner-Occupied Buildings
• 08:24 – The Benefits of Commercial Maintenance Contracts
• 12:51 – Utilizing Existing Team Members for Sales
• 23:15 – Avoiding Pitfalls and Knowing Your Market
• 29:58 – Taking Action: Getting Started in the Light Commercial Market
• 33:13 – Conclusion

About Chris Koch

Chris Koch brings 25 years of HVAC industry experience to BDR’s business coaching clientele. While Chris has focused primarily on the commercial service arena, he has a significant amount of residential HVAC and plumbing experience, including “mixed-use buildings” that blend commercial and residential markets. He has gained experience across a spectrum of operational-level service, installation, and sales roles which were the springboard for his success across a spectrum of management roles. He has executed a start-up as a business owner and gained invaluable work experience at five different companies, completed two acquisitions, assimilated cultures, executed financial turnarounds, and developed divisions into significant profit centers.

About the Prime Resources Podcast

BDR’s Prime Resources Podcast host, Matt MacArthur, is senior vice president of training & marketing. Having worked in the industry for over two decades, he continually works with BDR’s trainers to improve training materials and class delivery. He leads the marketing department in developing marketing tools for BDR’s 50+ business training classes and coaching services, including the Profit Coach program.

Each episode of Prime Resources Podcast is dedicated to providing you with the knowledge you need to help your business achieve Prime results, with ‘Prime’ being the most flourishing stage or state.