Reader question: an uninsured guy keeps underbidding me by half. How do I market against that?
A tree service owner keeps losing removals to cash crews with no insurance. How to make your coverage visible in ads, on Google and at the estimate, plainly.
The question: "I keep losing removals to a guy with a pickup, a chainsaw and no insurance. He comes in at half my price. Homeowners do not seem to care until something goes wrong. How do I market against that without sounding like I am whining about the competition?"
You cannot out-cheap someone who is not paying for insurance, workers' comp or proper equipment. So do not try. What you can do is make the risk visible to the homeowner before they choose, in a way that sounds like help and not like a complaint.
Most homeowners do not know that if an uninsured crew drops a limb on the roof, or a worker gets hurt on their property, the bill can land on them. They are not ignoring the risk. Nobody told them about it.
Say it before the estimate, not after
By the time you are standing in the yard and the homeowner says "the other guy said half," you are on defense. Anything you say about insurance then sounds like an excuse for your price.
Move the message earlier, so they hear it before they get either quote.
On your Google profile. Put it in the business description and in a pinned post: "Fully insured, with workers' comp for every crew member. Certificate of insurance sent before we start, on request." Add a photo of your crew in gear and your bucket truck or crane on a job. Our Google profile guide covers where each piece goes.
On your website. A short section on the home page and on every removal page titled something like "Before you hire anyone to take down a tree." Three or four plain lines:
- Ask for a certificate of insurance, sent directly from the insurance agent.
- Ask if workers on your property are covered by workers' comp.
- Ask who pays if a limb hits the house, the fence or the neighbor's car.
- Check whether your state or city requires a license for tree work, and ask for the number.
That reads as advice. It helps the homeowner whether they hire you or not, and it does the comparison for you. Our website essentials guide shows where it fits.
In your ads. One line is enough: "Insured, with workers' comp. Certificate sent before we start." You do not need to mention anyone else.
Make the price less of a shock
A lot of the half-price problem is that the homeowner has no idea what tree work costs. A big removal near a house can run from several hundred dollars to several thousand depending on size, access and how much rigging it takes. When the first number they hear is low, yours looks high.
Publish ranges for the common jobs on your site. Explain what moves the price: height, how close it is to the house or lines, whether a crane is needed, whether stump grinding and haul-away are included. Our pricing and estimates guide has examples. When a homeowner has seen that, a quote at half the range looks like a warning sign instead of a deal.
At the estimate
When the cheaper bid comes up, do not argue. Hand them a printed sheet, or text it, with the same four questions from your website. Then say something like:
"That is a fair question to ask about any price, including mine. Here is the list I would use if this were my house. If the other company can answer all four, they might be a good fit. If they cannot, that is usually where the price difference comes from."
Then send your certificate of insurance with the written quote, every time. Most homeowners have never been offered one, and it sticks.
Let reviews carry the rest
The homeowner who picked you over the cheaper bid is your best salesperson. When you ask for a review, ask them to mention what made them comfortable: "If you would not mind mentioning how the crew protected the yard or the house, that helps other people deciding." Those words show up in your reviews where the next homeowner reads them.
In our benchmark data, the median tree service has 17 Google reviews, and 39.1% have fewer than ten. Cash crews often sit in that second group. Getting past the median puts real distance between you and them. Our review guide has the timing and the text.
Accept that you will lose some
Some homeowners will always pick the lowest number. That is fine. You are not trying to win every bid. You are trying to win the ones who care about their house, and to make sure no one picks the cheap crew simply because they did not know to ask.
Track it for a month: every lost bid, and whether the homeowner mentioned price. If your close rate on removals goes up once the insurance message is everywhere, keep it. If it does not, look at how fast you are getting estimates out, because speed loses more jobs than price.
If you want help putting the insurance message on your profile, site and ads, the free 14-day trial covers any one service, no card. Text or call (385) 526-4799.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, tree service companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor