Permit data, contractors, and a 35% lift

Between stepping back from Holstee at the start of 2025 and finding my way back in early 2026, I spent five months as a business development consultant for a Los Angeles garage door installation company. This is a short recap of what I did and what I learned.

The setup. Strong installer crew, decent online presence, and the same growth ceiling every home services company hits: paying for leads on Google and Yelp, competing for shoppers already comparing three quotes. They wanted a second growth engine that didn’t depend on outbidding competitors at the top of the funnel.

The angle. Los Angeles County publishes building permit data. Every garage built or replaced shows up in public records, including the contractor on the job. The competitive market online was crowded. The market sitting in the permit data hadn’t been touched.

What I built.

• A repeatable outreach process that pulled the permit data weekly, identified high-value builder and contractor relationships, and put a structured first touch in front of them.
• A CRM and lead-tracking system so none of it fell on the floor.
• Templates and a playbook the existing team could run after I rolled off.

The numbers.

• Weekly premium-installation bids up 35%
• Win rate up 20%
• Initial response time down 30 minutes

What I took away. Five months in an industry running on phones, trucks, and contractor relationships forced me to separate what’s universal about operating from what was specific to Holstee.