These are the questions home-based service owners ask most before working with us. The answers above are short on purpose. Below is more context on the four topics that come up most: money, trust, ownership and limits.
Frequently asked questions
What does BusinessHome.ca actually do?
We are a Canadian business consulting service for home-based service businesses. We help with pricing, getting found without a storefront, scheduling, planning a first hire and deciding when to move out of the house. We are part of the Sedighi.ca and SAZ.ca group, led by Ali Sedighi, MBA.
How much does it cost?
Consulting runs $175 to $350 an hour, projects $3,500 to $25,000 and retainers $2,500 to $12,000 a month, in Canadian dollars plus GST/HST for your province. The first 30-minute consultation is free.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No. There is no lock-in. Projects run on agreed milestones, and retainers can end when they stop being useful. The exact terms are in your written proposal.
How long before I see a difference?
A pricing change shows up in your next month's numbers. Scheduling changes usually show within a few weeks. Being found more often online tends to build over several months. We set expectations for your situation at the start.
We hired a marketing agency before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
We start with your prices, time and capacity, not with ads or posts. Many home-based owners who were disappointed by marketing actually had a pricing or scheduling problem that more leads made worse. You also deal with Ali directly and get the arithmetic behind every recommendation.
Who owns the website, listings and accounts you set up?
Your business does. Listings, profiles, accounts, templates and documents set up for you are in your name, and you keep them if we stop working together.
Can you promise more customers or more income?
No. Nobody honest can. We can show you the reasoning behind each recommendation, the results from our HVAC work, and how we will measure progress each month.
How will I know it's working?
We agree on a few measures at the start, usually your real hourly rate, new enquiries by source, billable share of your week and evening hours worked, and compare them monthly or at each milestone.
Can you tell me if my city allows my home business?
No. Home-business licensing and zoning are set by municipalities and differ widely. Ask your own city or town. We can help you list the questions to ask, such as client visits, signs, staff and parking.
Can you help with home-office deductions or GST registration?
Not as advice. We are not accountants. The CRA publishes guidance on both, and an accountant can apply it to your situation.
My business is very small. Is this too much for me?
Not necessarily. Many owners start with one or two hourly sessions, using numbers they already have. If paid help is unlikely to pay for itself, we'll tell you in the free consultation.
Do you work outside British Columbia?
Yes. Home-based owners in all 10 provinces and 3 territories consult with us in person or by video call, and by phone, text and email.
Do you meet in person?
Yes. Consultations can be in person or by video call, and phone, text and email suit owners who are out on jobs most of the day.
Money: what you pay and what you get
You pay for advice and, where agreed, hands-on setup, at published rates confirmed in writing before work starts. The free first consultation is a real conversation, not a sales call: we look at your situation and suggest the smallest piece of work that would help, or tell you to do it yourself if that is the sensible answer.
If you want to understand the fee formats, the pricing page shows which format each service usually uses and a way to check whether a fix is worth its cost.
Trust: if an agency has let you down before
Disappointment with agencies usually comes from paying for activity without agreeing what success looks like. We avoid that in three ways.
- We fix the business before the marketing. If prices are too low or your week is already full, more leads are the wrong answer, and we say so.
- Every recommendation shows its arithmetic. You can check our reasoning with your own calculator.
- We agree on measures up front. If the numbers don't move, we change course rather than explaining it away.
Our published proof comes from HVAC work, and we label it that way. See the results page.
Ownership: your business, your accounts
Everything set up for your business belongs to your business. That includes map and search listings, social profiles, website content, booking tools, templates and documents. We work inside accounts in your name, and you keep full access. If we part ways, nothing has to be handed back because nothing was ever ours.
Limits: what we won't advise on, and why
We stay within business and marketing consulting. That means we will not advise on:
- municipal licensing, zoning or home-occupation rules, which your city or town sets
- tax questions, including home-office deductions and GST registration, which belong with the CRA and an accountant
- employment law, which belongs with your provincial employment standards office or a lawyer
- leases and property, which belong with a lawyer or licensed agent
We will help you prepare clear questions for each of them. Our guides explain the business side of each decision, and the areas pages link the provincial offices most home-based owners need to know.
Timelines: what moves first
Pricing moves fastest, visibility moves slowest, and hiring and space decisions sit in between. A new price sheet can be in front of new customers within a month, so the effect shows on your next statement. A tidier week usually shows within one or two billing cycles, because you can count the recovered hours. Being found more often online builds over months, which is why we never sell it as a quick fix.
First-hire planning and the leave-home decision are different again. The planning itself takes a few weeks, but the payoff depends on when you act. We often recommend waiting until a trigger point is reached, and some owners find the plan's main value is the confidence to hold off.
Reporting: what you'll see from us
You get short written updates tied to the measures agreed at the start, not a stack of charts. On projects, each milestone comes with a one-page note: what was done, what changed in the numbers, and what comes next. On retainers, the update is monthly. If a measure isn't moving, the note says so and proposes a change.
Still have a question?
Ask it directly. Call or text (604) 632-4959, or email Ali@Sedighi.ca. The contact page explains what to include so the first reply is useful, and the services overview explains each service in more detail.