Your best client relationships are undermonetized.
That's a hard truth most commercial contractors don't want to face, but the numbers don't lie. You've spent years building trust with facility managers, proving your expertise through quality work, and becoming their go-to contractor for critical projects. Yet you're still getting paid like a stranger they found online.
The Relationship Paradox
Here's what doesn't make sense: The clients who trust you most pay you the least predictably.
Think about your top five clients—the ones who call you first when something breaks, who recommend you to other properties, who've never questioned your invoices. These relationships represent hundreds of hours of relationship building, countless small favors, and proven reliability.
But how do they pay you? Project by project. Emergency by emergency. With gaps between jobs that force you to wonder when the next call will come.
Meanwhile, their landscaping company gets paid monthly. Their cleaning service gets paid monthly. Their security company gets paid monthly. But you—the contractor who keeps their critical systems running—get paid sporadically.
What Your Clients Actually Want
Facility managers live in a world of unpredictable maintenance costs. Their budgets are scrutinized by multiple stakeholders, and unexpected repair expenses constantly threaten those budgets.
When you offer them predictable monthly service agreements, you're solving their biggest problem: budget uncertainty.
You already have something your competitors are desperately trying to build: established trust with facility managers who know your work quality.
This trust is your competitive moat. When facility managers need to justify ongoing service agreements to their management, they can point to your track record. They don't need to research you, check references, or wonder about your reliability.
That trust translates directly into easier sales conversations. Instead of competing on price against unknown contractors, you're consulting on service levels with trusted partners.
The #1 newsletter for the trades.
The Implementation Reality
Lawrence Riley from Riley Plumbing and Heating puts it perfectly: "We can see exactly how long our techs were on the job, working... We know how to price ourselves. We know what stuff really costs."
That visibility enables accurate pricing of service agreements based on real costs and real value delivered.
The transformation starts with your existing relationships. Pick your top five clients and ask yourself: "What predictable value could we deliver monthly that would solve their ongoing challenges?"
The answer to that question is your hidden profit stream.
Your best clients want predictable service. You want predictable income. Stop treating your most valuable relationships like one-time transactions.
