How to Start a Garage Door Business: 9 Actionable Steps

1. Identify Your Niche

While it might seem tempting to serve all customer segments, doing so only makes it impossible to stand out from established competitors, which is key for a new garage company.

Also, specializing in a specific niche lets you acquire deep knowledge, experience, and expertise to deliver high-quality work. This attracts potential customers who are willing to pay a premium for your specialized services.

Even better, niching down helps you create specific marketing messaging that resonates with members of your target audience.

Generally, you can serve two market segments: commercial or residential customers. You should weigh the pros and cons of each one before making a choice.

Commercial garage door projects are more complex and require extensive knowledge of building codes, collaboration with experts in other trades, and more specialized equipment, which may cost a lot.

In contrast, residential garage door projects are less complex and require little specialized knowledge. They also involve essential garage door tools and equipment, which often do not cost much.

After picking a market segment, the next step is picking a niche.

Before selecting a niche, perform market research to validate demand for that particular type of garage door service. You can interview homeowners in your local service area, talk to contractors, or look at established garage door companies' services.

Here are some examples of garage door business niches:

• Steel garage door replacement

• Installation of custom garage doors

• Smart garage door installation

• Energy-efficient garage door installation and repair

2. Create Your Garage Door Business Plan

A business plan is a document explaining your goals, strategy, and time frame for achieving them. It helps you validate your business idea and showcase its profitability to financiers, such as investors, banks, business incubators, etc.

Writing a business plan also goes beyond goal-setting. It helps you assess your competitors and identify weaknesses to gain a competitive advantage.

Here are some sections to include in your garage door business plan:

• Cover page: Give a brief overview of what the document is about. Write a title and a subtitle narrating your business.

• Executive summary: Write this section last so it’s a true summary of the other sections. Briefly explain your goals, mission, vision statement, value proposition, and reason for writing the document. Make it interesting so the reader goes through the other sections.

• Team and company description: You’ll introduce your business and competence here. This includes your business name, years of experience, certifications, and target market. Use this section to convince investors that you and your team have the expertise and capability to run a profitable garage door company.

• Competitive and market analysis: List local garage door companies operating in the niche you chose earlier. Specifically, perform a SWOT analysis—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—on each competitor to spot how you can stand out and upstage them.

• Target market: Who are your target customers? If you’re a residential  company, list their demographics, location, and spending power. But if you decide to be a commercial-market company, outline your client businesses' size, vertical, budget, and location.

• Sales and marketing strategy: This is where you explain how you plan to reach your target market. Ensure it’s brief and includes a tactical plan for implementing each strategy. 

• Financials: This section describes your company’s current and future financial projections. You can also use this section to make a case for your funding request. Include your company’s cash flow predictions, total overhead, pricing strategy, startup costs, and operational expenses.

3. Form Your Legal Entity

Picking a legal entity or business structure is crucial. It affects critical aspects of your business operation and determines your personal assets’ exposure to liability stemming from your business operations.

Beyond liability exposure, your legal entity also determines your tax rates and financing options.

Here’s a breakdown of the top three legal entities for small businesses, with their pros and cons:

1. Sole proprietorship

Every business is a sole proprietorship by default unless otherwise stated. A sole proprietorship puts your assets at risk of getting seized if your company gets sued or goes bankrupt. Also, some banks need more time to lend to sole proprietorships.

2. Partnership: 

Here, ownership, risk, and profits are split between you and your business partners according to a formal written agreement.

There are two main types of partnership: 

• General limited partnership: One general partner has unlimited liability (no protection for their personal assets), while others have limited liability (total protection of their personal assets). The general partner has complete control of the business. 

• Limited liability partnership: Every partner’s personal assets are shielded from business liabilities. This means creditors can’t go after those assets in the event of bankruptcy or lawsuits.

3. Limited liability company (LLC)

This business structure combines the characteristics of a sole proprietorship or partnership and a corporation. Here, the personal assets of the sole proprietor or partners are protected from business liabilities. 

You can form an LLC yourself for a minimal state fee or hire LLC formation–service experts to do so for a fee.

After picking a legal entity, get an employer identification number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website. You’ll need this number to file taxes and register your company with the state’s business registration department.

4. Open Your Business’s Bank Account

A dedicated business bank account keeps your finances organized and simplifies tax filing. More importantly, it creates a clear barrier between your personal assets and your company's legal troubles, making it easier to get business loans.

Look for a bank with a robust ATM and branch network coverage within your service area so you have easy access to cash and physical support. Ensure they also offer high savings interest rates, low minimum deposit requirements, and an intuitive online platform.

Next, get a business credit card to cover all company expenses and build up your business credit to make it easy to secure funding and finance large purchases.

5. Set Up Business Accounting

A robust accounting system is the foundation of a solid business. It lets you track expenses, monitor revenue growth, and determine taxes. Plus, a well-organized accounting system makes it easy to get funding approvals.

Setting up a business accounting system starts with creating a bookkeeping process. 

You can hire an in-house bookkeeper, outsource one, or do it yourself using accounting software and Excel sheets.

After picking a bookkeeping process, determine whether you’ll use the cash or accrual accounting method. Here’s a breakdown of the difference between the two:

• Cash-based accounting records income and expenses at the exact moment when you receive cash from customers or pay it to suppliers or employees. This method tracks the flow of money in and out of the business. However, it can be misleading as it doesn't account for outstanding invoices and unpaid bills.

• Accrual-basis accounting records revenues and expenses when they're earned or incurred. This method doesn't track the actual flow of cash, focusing more on when the transaction occurs.

The method you should use depends on the size of your company's operations and your jurisdiction's legal requirements.

For example, Canada mandates that small businesses use the accrual method, while the United States requires companies with revenue below $5 million to use the cash-based method. Consult a certified public accountant (CPA) to know which accounting system is right for your business.

After selecting an accounting system, choose a schedule for paying suppliers, making bank deposits, and preparing financial reports. This will streamline your accounting system and give you better control over your finances.

To have even greater control of your finances, consider using software like ServiceTitan.

ServiceTitan's Accounting Platform lets you track cash flow seamlessly and access insightful financial reports, all from a centralized hub.

With the platform, employees can create invoices on mobile devices, post customer payments directly to your accounting system, and settle bills in bulk.

You can also view all outstanding payments using ServiceTitan’s Account Receivables Report, which displays all outstanding invoices, the debtors' names, and the amounts they owe.

6. Apply for The Necessary Permits and Licenses

Operating with the necessary business licenses and permits protects your company from legal issues and closure by legal authorities.

You must collect a business operating license from three major jurisdictions: state, county, and city. Each jurisdiction has its own licensing process, fees, paperwork, and requirements. However, they generally require:

• Your name and contact information

• Your company’s name (after you’ve run a trademark search to ensure there’s no garage door company using the same name)

• Licensing fees

• EIN

• Required permits and paperwork

You might need to renew the license after a few years.

Beyond collecting a business operating and contractor’s license, study and obey OSHA’s labor safety requirements since you’ll be working with heavy machinery. This will protect your company from potential lawsuits and fines.

Note: Licensing requirements constantly change. The information provided here is for guidance only. Consult your Secretary of State's website or contact a certified legal professional for up-to-date procedures. 

7. Get Garage Door Business Insurance

Garage door business insurance protects your company from potential claims from covered events such as lawsuits, accidents, property damage, and theft. It also ensures you operate lawfully.

Different types of insurance policies offer liability coverage against specific risks. Here are the basic types your business needs:

• General liability insurance covers personal injury, bodily harm, and property damage claims filed by non-employees. If your budget is limited, consider starting with this type of insurance. You can add additional liability insurance as your business grows.

• Worker’s compensation insurance financially supports employees with work-related injuries or illnesses. It covers their medical bills, disability benefits, and compensation for lost wages.

• Commercial auto insurance protects your business in the event of an accident involving the company's vehicles.

• Commercial property insurance (or hazard insurance) pays to replace or repair lost or damaged company property. Commercial insurance policy providers sometimes reimburse for lost income, too.

When picking an insurance provider, carefully read the terms and conditions to ensure comprehensive liability coverage. Also, review quotes from multiple insurance providers to get the best deal.

8. Invest in the Necessary Garage Door Equipment & Tools

The basic requirement for operating a garage door company is having the right equipment and tools.

Instead of using substandard garage door tools and equipment to save costs, focus on acquiring high-quality ones, such as the following.

• Hand tools: Screwdrivers, wrenches, socket sets, tape measures, and levels.

• Power tools: Hand drills, saws, and sanders.

• Safety tools: Safety glasses, work gloves, respirator, and ear plugs.

• Common garage door parts: Springs, garage door opener components, and safety sensors.

• Transportation: You can start with one service van or truck with sufficient storage space for housing your tools and equipment.

• Garage door company software: Invest in garage door management software like ServiceTitan to streamline operations, manage customer data, create invoices, and accept on-site payments.

Maintaining and monitoring your tools and equipment is key. You need to assess their quality and quantity regularly so you're always prepared to handle any job.

ServiceTitan's Inventory Management Software lets you easily view and monitor inventory levels, purchase orders, replenishments, item quantity, etc. The software offers benefits such as:

• Automates replenishments based on stock levels

Once field techs add an item to an invoice, the software automatically updates your replenishment schedule to include the item. This ensures techs always have the right tools and materials to complete their jobs.

• Displays details of every tool or material

The software's ‘item overview’ section gives you comprehensive data about each inventory item—equipment or tool—available. It displays the name, type, real-time stock quantity, and cost per unit.

• Automates purchase order creation

Once a replenishment order is initiated, the software notifies you that it's time to start a purchase order. You can export and send purchase orders to the vendor in PDF or CSV format.

To further streamline the inventory monitoring process, ServiceTitan created the Field Service App that empowers technicians to do the following:

• Add items to invoices: Field technicians can add items to invoices and build attractive tiered estimates using manufacturer photos, product information, and videos.

Trigger inventory replenishment: Once a field technician adds an item to an invoice, ServiceTitan’s Replenishment Schedule automatically updates the inventory levels in the truck or warehouse to reflect the items required.

• Access required forms: You can upload and trigger them to appear at specific stages of the job cycle. This ensures technicians fill out all the necessary paperwork, preventing job delays.

• Review customer and property data: From the Field Service App, technicians can access customer data before reaching the job site, so they use the right tools and equipment. The platform also allows field technicians to review the customer’s property data to spot potential upsells.

9. Market Your Business

After creating your company, the next step is to advertise your garage door repair and installation services to potential customers.

First, use low-cost marketing strategies to save money for purchasing tools and equipment, hiring employees, and covering overhead.

Some low-cost marketing strategies you can use include: 

• Search engine optimization (SEO): To use SEO, create a website. You can take the DIY route using web builders such as GoDaddy, WordPress, WIX, and Webflow, or hire a web developer. 

After creating the website, optimize it with relevant keywords that potential customers use to search for garage door companies in your area. This increases your chances of appearing in search results for services you offer.

• Social media marketing: Maintain an online presence on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. You can share behind-the-scenes footage, before-and-after images, and industry trends. You can also reply to brand mentions and customer comments.

• Word-of-mouth or referral marketing: Set up a referral program that rewards customers with perks, such as discounts, for recommending your services. More importantly, always deliver exceptional service to get free referrals and online reviews.

• Email marketing: Given that garage door maintenance calls can be months or years apart, use email marketing to stay connected with garage door leads and customers. You can share garage door tips, industry news, service reminders, and exclusive offers.

• Traditional marketing strategies: Reach non-internet users with conventional marketing strategies such as direct mail, business cards, radio jingles, and flyers.

To create, track, and manage your marketing campaigns from a centralized hub, consider using ServiceTitan’s Home Services Marketing platform.

The platform allows you to create and assign unique trackable phone numbers to each campaign so the system can attribute each call or message to the source.

You can also track your campaign’s performance using the platform's performance dashboard, which displays crucial marketing KPIs and a heat map diagram showing the areas generating the most calls.

ServiceTitan's Home Services Marketing platform also has several other tools for managing and tracking marketing campaigns:

Marketing Pro – Email has several templates for creating professional-looking emails and a dashboard for tracking email performance using different metrics. It also lets you segment your customers and send them hyper-relevant emails that resonate with their current needs.

Local Services Ad integration pulls every job booking from your Google Local Services Ads into your ServiceTitan dashboard. This eliminates data redundancy and errors caused by manually copying customer details.

Direct mail platform lets you create targeted direct mail campaigns using fully customizable templates. ServiceTitan handles the printing and delivery of the mail, freeing you to focus on running the business.

Reputation Management platform consolidates reviews from directories, social media platforms, and review listings into one central dashboard, helping you keep track of negative and positive reviews. You can also create customer review requests, which are delivered to customers once a technician completes the job.

Over to You

Starting a garage door business is a big decision that should pay off in the long run, but proper preparation and research are essential.

Also, consider using garage door software like ServiceTitan to manage your business operations. 

The software has tools for tracking inventory, streamlining customer interactions, empowering field technicians, and managing finances. This allows you to focus more on growing your business

ServiceTitan is a comprehensive software solution garage door companies use to automate and streamline business processes. Top contractors trust the software and use it to boost employee productivity and revenue.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Still have some questions? Great, you’ve come to the right place.

Are garage door companies profitable?

Yes, garage door companies are profitable. Successful commercial garage door companies generate between $125,000 and $250,000 annually. However, while a garage door company has great profit potential, your first year may involve significant expenditure on equipment, payroll, and overhead costs.

How much does starting a garage door business cost?

Starting a garage door business can cost between $4,000 and $20,000.

How much is the garage door industry worth?

The global garage door and overhead door industry was predicted to be worth $6.99 billion in 2022. It’s expected to grow to $9.94 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 5.2 percent.

Also, data from Kings Research shows the garage and overhead door market reached $6.24 billion in 2022 and could increase to USD 9.74 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 5.84 percent.