The 5 Biggest Stressors for Home Improvement Business Owners and How to Tackle Them

By Faye Saad, Co-Owner of Athena Business Group

Are you feeling so overworked that you’re missing out on important moments with your family, moments you’ll never get back?

If the stress of running your home improvement business is piling up, it’s not just impacting your bottom line. It’s hitting your stress levels, your mental health, and even your relationships. The constant pressure can lead to sleepless nights, back and body pain, and snapping at the people you care about. And let’s be real: this stress isn’t sustainable. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

Let’s talk about the biggest challenges that business owners have shared with me and how you can tackle them head-on. Running a home improvement business is no small feat, and I’ve heard from countless owners who feel overwhelmed by the stress. Whether it’s losing sleep over sales numbers, feeling the pressure of constantly competing, or balancing customer expectations, it can start to take a toll not only on your business but on your health and relationships too.

But here’s the good news: these challenges don’t have to run your life. Let’s break down the most common struggles, how they can impact your business, and what you can do to manage them effectively.

1. Struggling with Inconsistent Sales?

What’s Happening: Some reps are crushing it, while others can’t seem to close a deal if their lives depended on it. You never know if you’re going to have a great month or one that makes you question why you started this business in the first place.

How It Impacts Your Business: Inconsistent sales can cause unpredictable cash flow, making it difficult to plan for expenses, growth, or even paying your team. Without steady revenue, your business risks stalling or even shrinking when you should be scaling.

What to Do About It: Start by identifying your top producers’ secret sauce. What are they doing differently? It’s time to bottle that up and create a repeatable process. Train the rest of the team on those winning strategies with tracking tools to make sure they’re following through. Keep the energy up with a mix of incentives and regular check-ins, and don’t forget empathy. A personal touch and understanding of your team’s challenges can go a long way toward building consistency.

2. Overpromising and Underdelivering with Clients?

What’s Happening: You know how it goes. Clients want a champagne kitchen on a beer budget. Your sales team promises the moon, and you’re left with a project that’s either over budget or doesn’t meet expectations. Cue the bad reviews and headaches.

How It Impacts Your Business: Disappointed clients lead to negative reviews, which can damage your reputation. Word-of-mouth and online reviews are critical in home improvement, so if you're not meeting expectations, it can tank your business’s credibility and future sales.

What to Do About It: The golden rule is under-promise and over-deliver. Teach your team to manage expectations upfront. When they explain realistic timelines and budgets, it creates trust. Clients will appreciate the honesty, even if it’s not what they want to hear. Use empathy to connect with clients, put yourselves in their shoes, and focus on what really matters to them. That personal touch can set you apart. From there, execute the plan carefully, exceeding their expectations while staying true to what was promised.

3. Chasing Leads That Go Nowhere?

What’s Happening: Your team is working hard but spinning their wheels chasing leads that go nowhere. Or worse, they’re landing clients who aren’t even a good fit, eating up time and resources.

How It Impacts Your Business: Wasting time on unqualified leads means you’re missing out on higher-quality opportunities. Not only that, but it drains your team’s energy and efficiency, reducing overall productivity and, ultimately, sales.

What to Do About It: Not all leads are created equal. Focus on quality over quantity. Put tracking systems in place to score and prioritize leads so your team isn’t wasting their energy on dead-end ones. You need tools that identify which prospects are ready to move and which are just kicking the tires. Execution is key here. Train your team with scripts and strategies for qualifying leads early in the conversation. That way, your team is spending energy where it matters most: on leads that are worth it.

4. Struggling with Commission Structures That Actually Motivate?

What’s Happening: Pay your team too little, and they’re disengaged. Pay too much, and you’re wondering why you’re working harder than they are. Trying to find the right balance can feel like walking a tightrope.

How It Impacts Your Business: Without a well-designed commission structure, your team will lack motivation, and this can directly affect performance. Over time, you’ll see declining sales and possibly higher turnover if your team isn’t properly incentivized. Worse, high-performing reps may jump ship and go work for the competition where they feel more valued.

What to Do About It: Simple. Tie commission to the metrics that matter. Base their incentives not just on closed deals but also on things like lead generation, customer satisfaction, and process efficiency. Align your team’s energy with the right goals to keep them motivated. Execution and recognition go hand in hand here. Financial incentives are great, but don’t underestimate the value of genuine recognition and empathy to keep your team performing at their best.

5. Feeling the Pressure to Undercut Competitors?

What’s Happening: There’s always someone out there offering a cheaper bid, and your sales team feels the pressure to lower prices just to stay in the game. But cutting prices to compete isn’t just unsustainable; it cheapens the value of what you offer. When you start to drop prices, it signals to potential clients that your services aren’t worth what you originally claimed.

How It Impacts Your Business: Constantly lowering prices just to win projects can lead to razor-thin margins, making it difficult to reinvest in your business. Over time, it also creates a perception that your services are of lower quality, which harms your brand in the long run.

What to Do About It: Teach your sales team to sell on value, not price. Your business offers something unique, whether it’s better materials, exceptional service, or warranties that set you apart. Train your team to highlight what really matters to homeowners and position your services as the best solution, regardless of price. Focus on the value and the bigger picture. A well-trained team that understands how to execute a value-driven sales pitch will show clients why investing a little more now will save them time, money, and headaches later.

Running a home improvement company is tough, but it doesn’t have to keep you from living your life. With the right systems, tools, and mindset, energy, empathy, and execution, you can guide your sales team to success, bring consistency to your business, and still make it to the moments that matter most at home. You’ve got this!