Hi {{first_name | there}},
I started Builder Playbook a few years ago because I kept running into the same contractor at trade shows and HBA events. Smart operator. Good business. Completely invisible between jobs. No way to stay in front of past clients. No way to warm up cold leads. No audience that belonged to him.
A newsletter fixed that for me. It can fix it for you.
What I learned working in media and retail
At Hearst Magazines, every editorial team was obsessed with email capture. Not because email was glamorous, but because a reader who left your page without giving you their address was gone forever. A reader who subscribed was a relationship you could continue on your own terms.
At Lowe's, the same logic applied to buyers. A customer who didn't convert wasn't a lost sale if you had their email. They were a future sale. The contractor version of this is obvious: the homeowner who got your quote and went with someone else is still going to need work done. The contractor in their inbox when that moment arrives gets the call.
What 3,500 subscribers actually looks like
Builder Playbook goes to roughly 3,500 builders, remodelers, and HBA members every Thursday, with open rates well above the trade category average. No ads. No hard pitches. Just useful information, consistently delivered.
That list has generated consulting work, agency clients, and speaking opportunities. In a vertical where contract values are high and buyers are specific, a warm list of 3,500 is worth more than a social following ten times that size.
You don't need to go weekly
Start quarterly. Four emails a year. One project you finished. One thing you learned. One thing you're seeing in your market. Three hundred words and four photos. That's it.
The contractors who do this consistently tell me it generates a few direct calls a year they can trace back to a single email. At the job sizes most of you are running, one kitchen remodel pays for years of this.
There are a ton of email newsletter providers and most offer a free tier. Your list already exists, and it's sitting in your estimate folders and your phone contacts. You just haven't emailed it yet.
Let me know if you need help getting started.
Builder Playbook publishes every Thursday. Forward this to someone who should be reading it.
Timothy Dahl
[email protected]
Founder - Builder Playbook
Connect with me on LinkedIn