Short video works for trades because the work itself is the hook. A clogged drain line coming clear, a roofing crew stripping shingles in sync, a perfectly cut tile dropping into place: people watch these to the end without any music, script or presenter. Our job is to make filming them a habit your crew can keep during the busiest week of the year.
What the service is
It is a planned, repeatable way to turn real jobs into short vertical clips for Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Facebook. Your crew films on their phones; we plan, edit, caption and publish.
We start with your three most profitable job types and write a shot list for each. Then we set up a shared folder where crews drop raw clips, and we turn those into finished posts on a weekly schedule. The crew never touches editing software.
Who it's for
It fits trades whose work changes visibly within a single visit. Good candidates include:
- roofers, eavestrough and siding crews
- painters, stainers and deck refinishers
- landscapers, hardscapers and sod installers
- plumbers and drain specialists (camera inspection footage is gold, with permission)
- electricians doing panel upgrades or lighting reveals
- flooring, tile and countertop installers
- pressure washing, window cleaning and junk removal companies
It's a weaker fit when the work is hidden inside walls for the entire job, or when nearly every site is a commercial client that forbids filming. In those cases a before-and-after system with still photos is usually the better place to start.
What's included
- A shot list for each of your main job types, written in plain language for the crew
- A five-minute filming routine: arrival, problem reveal, key step, finished result, quick pan
- A homeowner consent text template, so every clip is cleared before it's used
- Editing into vertical clips with captions burned in, because most people watch with the sound off
- Captions that name the job type and the general area (neighbourhood or town), never the street address
- Weekly publishing to the two platforms in your platform playbook
- A monthly review of watch time, saves, shares and enquiries
A worked example of the routine
Say a three-person roofing crew does four re-roofs a month. If each job produces five usable clips, that's 20 clips a month. Edited down, that becomes roughly three posts a week with spares left over for slow weeks.
The routine on a single re-roof looks like this:
- Arrival (30 seconds): a wide shot of the old roof from the ground, house number out of frame.
- The problem (1 minute): close-ups of curled shingles, moss or soft decking, with one sentence of explanation if anyone's willing.
- Key step (2 minutes): the tear-off, underlayment going down, or flashing around a chimney.
- Result (1 minute): the finished roof from the same ground angle as the arrival shot.
- Bonus (30 seconds): clean-up, the magnet sweep for nails, the tidy driveway.
That last clip often performs surprisingly well, because cleanliness is exactly what homeowners worry about.
Timeline
- Week 1: shot lists and consent template written; crew walkthrough by video call.
- Weeks 2–3: first raw clips arrive; we give feedback on angles and lighting.
- Week 4: regular publishing begins.
- Month 3: first proper review of what's working, and a decision on whether any clips deserve paid reach.
How we measure results
Views are the least useful number. We pay more attention to:
- Average watch time: whether people stayed to see the result.
- Saves and shares: whether a homeowner kept it for later or sent it to a partner.
- Profile visits and messages: whether the clip started a conversation.
- "How did you hear about us?": what your office records when new enquiries come in.
We report those monthly in plain language. We don't promise view counts or leads, because no honest marketer can.
Mistakes to avoid
- Filming the customer instead of the work. Unless they've happily agreed to appear, keep people out of the frame.
- Showing unsafe practice. A clip without fall protection on a roof is public evidence anyone can screenshot. Film only work that reflects your own safety rules.
- Horizontal footage. Shorts, Reels and TikTok are vertical. Turn the phone upright before you press record.
- Trending audio from the wrong world. A dance track behind a sewer camera inspection rarely helps credibility.
- Posting in bursts. Ten clips one week and nothing for a month teaches the algorithm and your audience that you're inconsistent.
The 30-minute weekly video routine guide goes deeper into each step if you'd rather run it fully in-house. For bigger productions, our sister site Video.Agency covers full video shoots. Either way, call, text or email and we'll look at your current clips together.
Frequently asked questions
Does my crew have to talk on camera?
No. Many of the strongest trades clips have no face and no voice at all, just the work and on-screen captions. If someone on the crew enjoys explaining things, that's a bonus, not a requirement.
What phone do we need?
Any recent smartphone is enough. Clean the lens, film in good light, hold the phone steady with two hands or brace it on something. Those three habits matter more than the model.
How long should a clip be?
Most of ours land between 12 and 40 seconds. Short enough to watch twice, long enough to show a beginning, a middle and a finished result.
Will filming slow the job down?
It shouldn't. The routine is built around natural pauses: arrival, the first reveal of the problem, a key step, and the finished result. That adds up to roughly five minutes across a job.