The 6 Best Staffing Agencies for Home Services Providers

The goal of any home services business is to grow into a profitable operation. To do that, you need to book a lot of jobs.

But when you own a small business, you have to handle all the administrative responsibilities of your company, too. So, who does that leave to complete all these lucrative jobs?

Your staff!

Many home services businesses eventually need to expand their team. A staffing agency can streamline that expansion by helping you source and onboard new employees.

But if you’re going to trust a third party to build your team, then you want to be sure it’s a reputable and capable staffing agency.

In this article, we’ll tell you what to expect when working with one of these agencies. Then, we’ll give you some tips for choosing the right one. Finally, we’ll list our top 6 picks of the best staffing agencies for home services businesses.

What Are Staffing Agencies & What Do They Do?

A staffing agency provides HR personnel and HR-related services to other organizations. Think of staffing agencies as middlemen between job seekers and employers.

But the best staffing agencies do more than just source job candidates.

Top-tier agencies effectively take over HR management for new and existing hires.

Here’s a list of common HR services offered by staffing agencies:

• Sourcing and vetting job candidates
• Training and onboarding new hires
• Ensuring legal compliance with labor regulations
• Handling employment contracts and any employment-related paperwork
• Conducting HR performance reviews
• HR consultancy
• Internship, mentorship, and apprentice programs
• Payroll services (employee compensation, benefits, and upkeep)
• Terminating employment contracts

The service scope depends on the agency in question and the agreement you make with them. Most staffing agencies let you choose a service package suited to your HR needs.

How a Staffing Agency Works

Not all staffing agencies are created equal.

There are several different types of staffing agencies. Each type is suited to specific HR scenarios, employers, and industries.

As a home services business, you’ll likely be working with at least one of these 5 types of recruitment firms:

1. Temp Agencies

Temp agencies connect workers with employers offering short-term jobs. This is ideal if you like to hire a new crew for every job. You may also choose this type of agency if you need extra hands to finish a particular project.

Most temp agencies also offer temp-to-hire services. They let you try out a candidate on a temporary basis to determine their long-term fit with the company.

2. Contingent Search Agencies

This is probably the most basic staffing agency model. A contingent search is when a recruitment agency finds you a match for an open position.

You only pay the agency once you hire any of the candidates they find. It’s a great way to shop around for workers with highly specialized home services skills.

3. Retained Search Agencies

Retained search is similar to contingent search. The difference is that you pay the agency extra money to fully commit to filling your job opening.

It’s an effective headhunting strategy for executives and in-demand workers.

4. Contract Recruiting Agencies

A contract recruiter works under your direction to fill multiple labor positions. They use their recruiting skills and labor networks to find, screen, hire, and onboard qualified candidates on your behalf.

Contract recruiting is a quick and cost-effective way to build a large home services crew. You can even use one of these agencies to staff your entire company from the bottom up.

5. Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs)

PEOs basically lease their employees instead of putting them on the client’s payroll. You’ll pay a flat fee. The PEO will handle the workers’ payroll, upkeep, and other HR responsibilities.

This staffing approach only works if you don’t want to manage administrative HR functions in-house.

Despite their unique employment models, working with any staffing agency is straightforward.

First, you contact the agency and explain to them what you need. It could be a direct hire, temp worker, or employee lease.

The agency will then round up suitable candidates based on your requirements. But these are just suggestions—it’s always up to you to make the final hire call. Some agencies even arrange interview sessions so you can vet the candidates yourself.

Once satisfied with your choice(s), you can go ahead and make the hire.

Depending on the staffing agreement, the agency may assist with paperwork processing and onboarding after the hire. You’ll then pay a one-off or recurring fee for the service, again depending on the agreement and staffing style.

Benefits of Working with a Staffing Agency

You might be wondering why you’d pay a company to do your hiring when you can do it yourself for free.

Good question.

There are actually quite a few ways you can benefit from working with a staffing agency to hire home services workers. Here are the top advantages to consider:

Cut Hiring Costs

The hiring process isn’t cheap.

From advertising job vacancies and vetting applicants to recruiting new candidates, the costs can really add up. Glassdoor estimates that the average U.S. employer spends about $4,000 on each new hire.

Working with a staffing agency eliminates several hiring expenses, such as job advertising and talent vetting. Additionally, employing home services workers under an agency can minimize your long-term labor overheads.

For example, if you hire from a temp agency or PEO, you’ll only pay the worker for their labor without incurring employee benefits and retention costs.

Save Time

According to Glassdoor’s calculations, it takes an average of 24 days to hire one employee. Much of this time is wasted on lengthy talent searches and vetting processes.

Rather than spend weeks reviewing applicants, why not hire from a small pool of handpicked candidates?

Most staffing agencies have a 24-hour turnaround time. Many even guarantee satisfactory hires in 1-3 days.

Simplify the Talent Search

Finding workers is becoming increasingly harder for employers across all commercial industries.

According to the Future of Work 2022 Global Report, 90% of employers are struggling to fill job positions with qualified talent. This worldwide labor crisis is linked to

• An ever-widening skill gap
• Fierce employer competition
• Drastic priority changes among employees

With the talent shortage and the alarmingly high quit rate in the U.S., even small home services businesses are starting to feel the labor pressure.

Staffing agencies have a much better chance of finding workers for your business thanks to their deep connections in labor markets. They are also vastly experienced talent hunters and persuasive negotiators.

Minimize Hiring Risks

Hiring new employees comes with its fair share of risks.

First, it’s your responsibility as an employer to ensure that every hire complies with labor and tax laws. That’s assuming you’re lucky enough to get a worker that perfectly fits the open position in the first place.

And even then, there’s no guarantee that the new employee will deliver or stick around as needed.

A staffing agency assumes most of these liabilities. When working with a good staffing agency, you never have to worry about labor compliance, getting qualified workers, or employee turnover.

Provide Flexible Hiring Options

Entrepreneurs lose a lot of time, money, and energy to inefficient HR models.

A home services business must be particularly efficient with its labor infrastructure to maximize productivity. This is because home services companies spend a lot of their revenue on labor.

Luckily, you can optimize your HR by hiring workers only as needed. But you can’t do this with traditional hires.

A staffing firm affords you great flexibility in hiring and managing workers. You can basically hire any number of workers instantly when a job comes along and dissolve the crew once the job is done. Such a fluid workforce can also be scaled on the go depending on dynamic labor needs.

How to Choose the Best Staffing Agency for a Home Services Company

According to the American Staffing Association, there were about 25,000 recruiting agencies in the U.S. in 2019. Each of these companies has its own way of doing things, its own labor pools and networks, and its own target clients.

These differences can make it challenging to choose the best staffing agencies for your home services business. And choosing the right staffing partner is the first and most crucial step in outsourcing HR.

Begin by evaluating your labor/hiring needs to determine exactly what you’re looking for. Then, you can research potential agencies serving the home services niche.

Learn about and compare your potential agencies’ staffing models, pricing, service scopes, and reputations. Finally, narrow your options down to one renowned agency that perfectly matches your needs, location, and budget.

Here are some of the questions you should ask potential agencies when evaluating them for your home services business:

• Which industries, niches, or businesses do you specialize in?
• Do you work with home services businesses?
• What range of services do you provide?
• Where do you source your talent?
• How do you screen and vet your candidates?
• How will you match candidates with my business?
• What’s your turnaround time?
• How much do you charge per hire?
• How do you handle poor placement and unexpected turnover?
• Do you have a common point of contact between employers and employees?
• What level of support do you offer during and after the hire period?
• What are my responsibilities as your client?

Top 6 Staffing Agencies for Home Services Providers

The best staffing agencies for home services providers largely depends on the position you’re trying to fill. Your location and the type of services you’re looking for may also factor in.

In no particular order, here are our top 6 staffing agency picks for home services providers:

1. PeopleReady

PeopleReady is an award-winning company and a global leader in HR outsourcing and talent recruitment. They’ve been connecting employers and job seekers for over 30 years.

This staffing agency dispatches about 300,000 temps annually. Through their services, you can find temporary and direct hires for various home services positions, including builders, electricians, cleaners, janitors, and housekeepers.

As an added perk, PeopleReady grants you access to JobStack. JobStack is a digital workforce management platform that instantly connects you with thousands of job seekers.

2. Elwood Staffing

Over the last 40 years, Elwood Staffing has grown into a national staffing brand. They’re widely recognized as one of the largest employment companies in the U.S. today.

You’ll be interested to know that Elwood Staffing is also one of the best agencies for home services providers. Although the company serves a wide range of industries, they have a special category for skilled trades.

This agency can help you source and onboard electricians, carpenters, masons, plumbers, HVAC technicians, painters, welders, and many other professionals.

3. Minutemen Staffing

Minutemen Staffing has been a staffing agency for over 50 years and has built quite a reputation in that time. Harvard University and Inc. magazine listed the Minutemen Resource System among the top 100 American companies based in an inner-city neighborhood.

This agency specializes in blue-collar jobs, which is ideal for home services providers. You can find temporary or permanent construction workers, housekeepers, cleaners, janitors, and general laborers for your business.

It’s important to note that Minutemen Staffing only serves the Great Lakes Region. They’re a great staffing agency for home services providers based in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, or Ohio.

4. Tradesmen International

Tradesmen International is a massive hub for skilled trades staffing. The agency is headquartered in Macedonia, Ohio, with several branches across the country.

They specialize in construction-related recruiting, but also dabble in recruiting tradespeople, industry workers, and shipyard workers.

From its 175 recruiters and nearly 200 local market service teams, Tradesmen International can reliably provide builders, plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians. It also offers HR consultancy, OSHA training, and productivity analytics.

5. Insight Global

Insight Global works with several industries, including construction, engineering, healthcare, and hospitality. In their 21 years in business, they’ve rapidly grown from an Atlanta-based startup to one of the largest staffing agencies in North America.

This agency currently provides HR solutions to over 800 Fortune 1000 companies. And they place 40,000+ hires annually.

Insight Global is an excellent source of residential construction workers for home services operators. They support temp employment, temp-to-hire, and permanent hire contracts.

6. Trillium

Trillium is another U.S. staffing giant. The agency has partnered with over 2 million job seekers and more than 22,000 companies. They distribute their services via 100+ outlets scattered across the country.

Like many large staffing companies, Trillium serves a broad range of clients. Their key areas of specialization include engineering, construction, driving, industrial, and professional occupations.

Nevertheless, Trillium makes a great staffing partner for home services providers. They can come in handy when looking for skilled home construction workers and tradespeople.

Getting Started with a Staffing Agency: What to Do Next

Any business, big or small, can benefit from working with a staffing agency.

With a reliable, quick, and convenient source of skilled workers on demand, your home services company will have no problem getting the job done for your clients.

If you think working with a staffing agency is the right move for your company, here are a few things you can do right now to start the process:

• Write down your hiring needs. Sit down and make a list of your hiring needs. This can include things like which positions you need to fill, your budget, and your ideal hiring timeline. Having a list of your needs on-hand will help you choose the best agency to meet them.
• Research 3-4 agency options. Choose 3-4 agencies to learn more about. You can choose from our list or do your own Google search. Read through their websites and reference your list of hiring needs to keep track of how well-suited each agency is to your company.
• Contact your top 2-3 choices. Once you’ve narrowed down the staffing agencies that seem like a good fit for your needs, reach out to them. Many agencies offer consultations. During these meetings, you can learn more about how they’ll help your company and make a well-informed decision about who to partner with.