Every week, home inspectors write "damaged siding, recommend repair by a qualified contractor" into reports. Every week, realtors get a repair request from the buyer's side with a closing date two weeks out. Both need someone who can show up fast, fix it right and send a clean invoice. That's you.
Why this works
- Steady flow: homes sell all year, and siding issues show up on a lot of inspections.
- Small, fast jobs: exactly the kind big siding companies won't touch.
- Deadlines: the closing date means they need you now, and they remember who came through.
- Repeat business: a realtor who trusts you will send you job after job.
How to get in
- Introduce yourself to local real estate offices. Drop off a simple one-page sheet: what you fix, how fast you respond, proof of insurance, photos of real repairs.
- Meet home inspectors. Many are one-person businesses too. Tell them you handle the siding items in their reports, quickly.
- Be fast on the first one. Your first job is the audition.
- Send a clean invoice with photos. Before and after, what you did, the address. That's what closes the repair item.
Keep it professional
- Inspectors must stay independent. Many states and professional standards don't allow home inspectors to steer clients to contractors for money or to do repairs on homes they inspect. Never offer kickbacks. Just do great work and let them recommend you on their own if they choose.
- Realtors may have rules too about referrals and disclosures. Keep it simple: good work, fair prices, fast service.
- Write it down. Repair items in a sale often get negotiated. Give a written quote so everyone knows the scope.
What you'll see from these jobs
Typical items: loose or missing panels, cracked panels, damaged J-channel and trim, soffit and fascia problems, caulking and flashing around windows. Bring photos from the report and you can often fix it in one trip. See the 10 most common siding repair jobs.
Turn one into many
After the job, send a short thank-you to the realtor with the photos. When the next listing has a siding item, you want your name to be the first one they think of.
We cover the referral partners that keep a one-man repair business busy all year inside Siding Pro Academy.
Photo: from a real Siding Pro Academy repair job.
