People are realizing their garage can serve as more than a place to store their vehicle, and this motivates them to give it the attention it deserves. Your garage door install business is growing with the demand from customers. It’s time to hire!
That’s great news. But finding great employees is a whole other story. The questions below will get you one step closer to taking your business to the next level.
Take a look at this extensive list of interview questions and choose the ones applicable to what you’re seeking in a garage install employee. Stop wasting precious time thinking about which questions you’re going to ask once you have a candidate lined up. That time should be focused on your business instead.
Examples of general interview questions to ask a garage door installer
1. How long have you been servicing garage doors?
2. What made you decide to get into the trades as a garage door installer?
3. Why are you looking for new opportunities?
4. Can you share what you know about our garage door company?
5. How many garage doors would you estimate you’ve installed or repaired?
6. How does your previous experience or training make you feel you are a good fit for this work?
7. Here's a scenario: Your supervisor asks you to complete a task which you don't understand or have personal knowledge of. How would you approach this in order to achieve success?
8. How do you see yourself as an advocate for the customer?
9. How do you feel about working with technology? How would your personal use of technology transfer to getting your work done more effectively?
10. Describe how you may be able to work differently than other candidates.
11. What motivates you to come to work every day?
12. How would you describe your dream job?
13. Describe yourself in 3 words.
14. Do you prefer to work by yourself or with others?
15. How would your friends, family, or former boss describe you?
16. If you’ve ever had colleagues not pulling their weight, how did you motivate them or get them involved? If you haven’t experienced that, how do you think you would handle such a situation?
17. How did you handle conflict or a disagreement at your previous employment?
18. How important is showing up on time to a job?
19. What is most important to you in your next job or position?
20. What is your most memorable mistake? What was the main takeaway from it?
21. Can you think of a time when you weren’t given sufficient instruction to complete a task? What did you do in that instance?
22. Was there a time you performed or delivered above expectations at work? What made you do so?
23. Do you have any training, certifications or licenses in the trades aside from garage door installation?
24. How many people were on your team at your last job?
25. What kind of service software are you familiar with? Have you ever used Housecall Pro?
26. Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment.
27. How would you describe meeting a customer’s expectations?
28. What types of garage door systems are you familiar with?
29. What would you say are the most difficult aspects of garage installation?
30. How do you manage more than one customer if you’re scheduled multiple installs in a day?
31. What qualifications or experience do you have that may be beneficial to working with garage doors?
32. What safety steps or procedures do you follow when installing or repairing a garage door?
33. If you had to install a new garage door opener for a two car garage, how would you begin?
34. How long do you see yourself working in the garage door installation industry?
35. Does managing a team or owning your own business sound appealing to you? Is that something you could see yourself doing in the future?
Examples of technical interview questions to ask a garage door installer
36. Do you have any experience working with Chamberlain, LiftMaster, or Sears garage door openers?
37. Do you have experience repairing or replacing garage door cables, springs, or other parts?
38. Have you ever had to replace a motor on a garage door opener? If so, can you tell me how you did it and what tools were necessary?
39. Are you familiar with connecting and installing wireless garage door keypads? How about setting it up for the customer to use a personal pin or key-code?
40. What tools are essential for garage door installation?
41. Can you walk me through a typical garage door installation?
42. What are some preventative maintenance customers can perform to keep their garage doors in working condition?
43. Have you ever worked on a large overhead commercial garage door?
44. What about a glass garage door? Have you ever installed one of those?
45. Besides residential garage doors, have you ever worked with security shutters, roll up sheet doors, grilles, service doors, fire doors, insulated and non-insulated steel doors, or aluminum doors?
46. When replacing a garage door, what do you do with the side springs?
47. What tool would you use to install roller tracks?
48. Can you list a few of the materials you would want to have with you during a garage door install?
You would listen for the interviewee to list items such as cord or rope, garage door kit, garage door lubricant, garage door stop with rubber gasket, masking tape, operator bracket, shims, or easy tensioning system.
49. Can you list some tools you would use during a garage door install?
Hopefully they list one of these tools: Impact driver, locking pliers, ratchet wrench, or ladder.
50. What do you connect vertical track sections to?
51. In order to secure the weather-stripping, where do you secure the screw cable brackets?
52. Where do you hook the garage door spring?
53. What have you done over the last few months to improve your garage install skills?
Top trades industry interview questions submitted by business owners
After surveying the top business owners that use Housecall Pro, we compiled a list of some of the most common questions they found to be helpful in their search for potential employees.
54. Please give an example of where you were successful at closing an upsell opportunity.
55. What would you say is your superpower?
56. How is your day going today?
This may seem like a strange question to include, but the openness of the question allows the candidate to reveal their mindset. Is this someone who focuses on the positive or negative? It’s a good gauge to see how they interact with someone new and the direction they choose to move the conversation in.
57. What can our company do to help you succeed in the company?
58. What makes or breaks great morale between owner and employee?
59. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
60. What traits or characteristics do you most admire in co-workers?
61. On your very best day at work, you come home from work that day and think you have the best job in the world. What did you do that day?
62. Are you easily offended?
63. Tell me about a difficult situation you had to deal with and how you handled the situation.
64. Do you prefer working on projects in a team or alone, and why?
65. Tell me your experience with both, the best boss you’ve had and the worst boss you’ve had to this point.
66. What criteria do you use to evaluate the organization for which you hope to work?
67. What is the longest you have held a job?
68. Tell me about a time when you think you showed great leadership. What did you do? What was the outcome? How did you coordinate with others?
69. Think of three people you know well. How would you rate them in terms of cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork?
70. What is the biggest misconception others have of you?
71. What motivates you?
72. Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond for a customer. What was your role in the situation and what was the outcome?
73. What's the toughest project that you've worked on, and what was your role within it?
74. Name a time you wish you had done things differently.
Shows the person's humility and ability to reflect and grow.
75. Toward the end of the interview, "Is there any question you've already answered today, that you'd like to answer again and replace what you said earlier with no judgment?"
Those who tend to choose to re-answer a question show a real skill-trait for attention to detail and a confidence in themselves.
76. If you can make your greatest weakness into a strength how would you do it?
77. Why did you choose this Career path and what can you do to make this organization successful?
78. What are you looking for in means of company culture at your company?
Examples of situational, soft skill, and wrap-up interview questions to ask a garage door installer
79. What are your wage expectations for this job?
80. Do you have an interest in learning other trades or skills?
81. Tell me about a time you had to think strategically.
82. Tell me about the most fun you’ve ever had on the job. Why do you think it was so fun?
83. What shifts are you available to work and what is your preferred shift?
84. If selected, when are you available to start?
85. Why did you choose to leave your previous employer?
86. Have you ever been terminated from a position before? If so, can you explain the situation?
87. Are you able to supply us with references?
88. Do you have a valid driver’s license?
89. Do you possess a clean driving record?
90. Is there anything that was not covered on your resume or in this interview that you feel we need to know?
91. How would you handle a coworker you were unable to form a positive work-relationship with?
92. How would you approach a situation if your coworker disagreed with your solution to complete a project?
93. What makes you the right garage installer for this position?
94. In your opinion, what are the 3 most important aspects of a job dealing with garage door installation?
95. Was there ever a time you were asked to do something you had never done before? How did you respond and did you learn anything from that experience?
96. Did you ever experience an issue out in the field when you didn’t have a supervisor present? How did you handle that?
97. How do you like to interact with customers?
98. If you have to explain a complex topic or technical method to a customer, how do you communicate that information?
99. Was there ever a time at work when being honest got you in trouble? What did you learn from that?
100. Do you have any questions for me?
You’re in the hot seat next
After the candidate has answered all the questions you have for them, it’s your turn to answer questions they may have. Don’t rush the applicant at this time. Give them a moment to collect their thoughts and ask you questions. Many employers find this time to be just as revealing. You’ll learn more about their soft skills, what type of questions they ask, and whether they are an active listener.
Best of luck on your search to find the right candidate to help your business grow!