The Contractor's Edge

The homeowner has an urgent foundation problem. Your team knows they can provide the solution. Why are you waiting two weeks for an engineering plan?  Time kills urgency, and time is money for foundation repair businesses. Every additional day a homeowner waits is more time to reconsider the project, delay the repair, or find another contractor who can move faster. In Episode 31 of The Contractors...

Marketing becomes confusing when you don't know your numbers or which platform is best to grow your home service business. Should you invest more in Google Ads? Increase your LSA Budget? Expand your service area? Try Meta Ads? Send emails? Change your offer? The answer depends not only on your company's current position in the eyes of the homeowner, but also on your strategy, budget, and internal...

More leads won't grow your company when you're losing revenue in your everyday process. Missed calls, low appointment set rates, estimates not being delivered, and slow follow-up means more leads will only be sent through a broken funnel. In Episode 29 of The Contractors' Edge, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown follow the marketing investment from the first click to the closed job. They break down who...

A stronger brand can not only help you dominate your service area, it can also reduce your cost per lead, cancellation rates, and increase homeowner trust - before they are ever ready to hire you.  Every contractor says they want a stronger brand, but have you ever stopped to audit what yours could be missing?  In this short, straightforward epsiode, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown walk through 6 es...

Your brand sets the tone for everything. It's what the homeowner believes about your company before the sales process, and remembers about you once the job is done. In Episode 28 of The Contractors' Edge, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown share how contractors can build trust before the first call, create a more consistent homeowner experience, and make every marketing dollar convert easier. They also...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown hear from Myriam Breedlove of Atmox on crawl space science, air exchange, moisture control, and why contractors need to think beyond simply closing up the crawl space. Dehumidifiers are important, but they're not the whole story. Air distribution, air exchange, dew point comparisons, circulation fans, ventilation, and deh...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Will Fultz of Crack Stitch on how contractors can structurally repair concrete cracks instead of just filling them and hoping they don't reopen. CrackStitch uses a carbon fiber and Kevlar open grid system installed perpendicular to the crack, with epoxy flowing through the grid to create a stronger structura...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Ed Meyer and Julio Reyes of Fortress Stabilization Systems to talk about carbon fiber wall reinforcement, homeowner trust, and why proper anchoring matters when contractors are stabilizing basement walls. Ed and Julio break down what makes Fortress different: engineered systems, contractor training, product...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Mike Wegman of Foundation Rescue Supply to talk about how FRS supports contractors beyond simply selling materials. Their team helps foundation repair, waterproofing, crawl space, and air control contractors with product access, installation training, sales training, business education, financial workshops,...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Tim and Ryan from ArcSite to talk about how they help foundation repair contractors simplify homeowner problems, and create a confident buying process. ArcSite is already being used across the foundation repair industry to help contractors create cleaner drawings, add elevation data, build visual heat maps,...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown interviews Mike East of Smart Level to talk about how contractors can measure, map, and document elevation readings faster without fighting lasers, handwritten notes, or inconsistent field processes. Smart Level uses pressure-based leveling, Bluetooth, and app connectivity to help contractors record readings directly into...

In this segment from The NFRA Conference in Oklahoma City, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Jen Zamzow of Contractor Accelerator to talk about what a CRM should actually do for contractors: take work off the office team, keep homeowners informed, and make the day-to-day easier to manage. Jen shares how Contractor Accelerator started in foundation repair and now supports a wide range of...

In this segment from The NFRA Conference in Oklahoma City, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Daniel Stark of Stark Foundations to talk about how faster, cleaner engineering can help foundation repair contractors speed up jobs without cutting corners. Daniel explains how Stark Foundations focuses solely on foundation repair engineering, using their SPEKTR platform to help contractors subm...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Rob Stam of Nash Distribution to talk about a bigger issue in foundation repair: how the industry can raise the bar for contractors, homeowners, and everyone involved. His message is clear: when the industry lacks standards, homeowners suffer, bad actors gain ground, and good contractors have to work harder...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference in Oklahoma City, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with HB Marshall of Your Crawlspace to talk about what crawl space contractors actually need to grow, including better products, training, and more repeatable systems. HB is helping contractors move beyond "winging it" with stronger installation processes, video assets, marketing resources, on-si...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference in Oklahoma City, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Tom Gibbs of NCFI Polyurethanes. Tom shares his experience from nearly 25 years in foundation repair and 18 years in polyurethane, including how NCFI can help foundation repair contractors add a profitable service line, solve access challenges, and stop turning away work that may already be...

In this segment live from The NFRA Conference in Oklahoma City, Mike Stiers and Anthony Brown sit down with Jason Adams of SPS Engineering to talk about how better engineering, inspection systems, and reporting workflows can help foundation repair contractors create a better experience for homeowners. Jason shares how SPS Engineering is helping bridge the gap between foundation repair inspections...

Most contractors ask the same question: "Where should I spend my marketing dollars?" When the better question is: H ow much should you spend, and in what order should you invest? In this episode of The Contractors' Edge , Mike and Anthony kick off a new Marketing 101 segment built for contractors across foundation repair, basement waterproofing, crawl space encapsulation, pest control, HVAC, plumb...

In this week's episode of The Contractors Edge, Anthony Brown shares how contractor leads and lead opportunities are changing heading into Summer 2026. It may come as a surprise but, cheap leads may be costing your business more time and money than you realize... From Google and Facebook ad updates, to shifting buyer behavior, lead quality trends, seasonal marketing adjustments, and the increasing...

Are you losing your leads during the proposal process to "a better company?" Or are you losing jobs because you're leaving the homeowner confused on the what, why and how you're going to fix the problem? If the proposal process loses urgency, or creates confusion on why your estimate is a different price, you can guarantee they'll go with the contractor who gives a clearer explanation and an onsit...

If you want more profit in 2026, stop treating "more leads" like the only answer. In Episode 24, Mike and Anthony recap the best contractor advice so far this year, pulled from our Q1 conversations and the patterns we keep seeing across home services. Costs are still weird, competition is real, and trust is harder to earn. But the market is expanding in a lot of regions, which means the opportunit...

Working in foundation repair can make you feel like you're building a company on an island. There's limited mentorship, standards are lacking, and for a long time, there hasn't been clear training on how to approach jobs or build relationships with homeowners inside the home.  But in this episode, Mike and Anthony sit down with  Jae Wells , owner of American Standard Foundation Repair and current...

If you do crawl space encapsulation, moisture control, or basement waterproofing, you already know the industry has strong opinions on the best way to approach homeowner problems.  In this episode, Mike and Anthony sit down with Myriam Breedlove , President and Owner of Atmox , to break down what actually matters in crawl spaces: how different air conditions affect crawl space moisture , why dew p...

Demand is different in 2026 , but contractors who stay intentional (and disciplined), will take market share.  In this episode Mike and Anthony recap what their seeing in the home service industry, how it's affecting clients, and how you can get ahead in your business if you play your cards right.  Service demand is still there, but the buyer is more cautious, and the contractors who tighten lead...

If you're a home service company doing good volume, you already have something most contractors ignore: past customers who should already trust you. If you're not consistently turning those customers into reviews and referrals, you're missing revenue that lowers how dependent you have to be on your paid leads budget.  In Episode 20, we sit down with  Landon Taylor , founder of  Snoball , to break...