Most construction and home service companies want the same thing:

• Crews that move faster.
• Quality that stays high.
• Fewer callbacks.
• Techs who act like owners.

But if your technicians are paid hourly, your incentives are not aligned. Hourly pay rewards time, not outcomes.

In this episode of Titans of the Trades, Ryan Englin sits down with Ryan Shank, CEO of ShareWillow, to break down how incentive plans can drive the behavior construction leaders want without giving away equity.

Ryan explains what ShareWillow calls the “compensation layer of record.” It sits between your operational data (like ServiceTitan) and your payroll. It turns metrics like labor efficiency, callbacks, reviews, and average ticket into a simple scoreboard your team can actually understand.

You will also hear why most incentive plans fail. They get too complex. No one trusts the numbers. No one knows what they are earning. Motivation dies.

This conversation walks through a practical approach to incentive design that pays for itself. When technicians win, the business wins, and customers win.

If you lead a construction, HVAC, plumbing, restoration, or service business and you want higher output from the same headcount, this episode is for you.  

Key Takeaways 

• 00:00 – How to motivate technicians to think like owners without equity.
• 00:57 – Why hourly pay misaligns tech behavior with company goals.
• 01:40 – The win-win incentive model: faster jobs, better quality, better customer experience.
• 03:25 – Why leaderboards and scoreboards change behavior fast.
• 04:54 – “Effective hourly rate” and how it stops technicians from leaving for small raises.
• 06:23 – The origin story: why labor performance is the real growth constraint.
• 11:15 – Incentives should pay for themselves through improvements, not extra budget.
• 14:17 – What “acting like an owner” looks like inside a customer’s home.
• 20:11 – The massive gap between top performers and the bottom group, and why it matters.
• 25:43 – How ShareWillow builds plans from your data, benchmarks, and a metrics hub.

Connect With Ryan:

Website: https://www.sharewillow.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-shank-94508328/

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