Corey Chase turns contractor risk lessons into new book and Resident Review platform

Resident Review founder Corey Chase has published a new book aimed at home service owners who want to spot customer and project risk before sending crews into a job. The release pairs the book with Resident Review, a verified contractor-only review platform Chase says helps businesses evaluate customers and reduce costly surprises.

Why it matters: - Home service companies face margin hits from scope creep, payment disputes, property damage, crew safety issues and reputation damage. - Chase’s book is aimed at helping contractors reduce avoidable losses before a job starts. - Resident Review extends that approach by giving contractors a way to evaluate customers before committing a crew.

What happened: - Corey Chase, founder and CEO of Resident Review, published Why Risk It at All? How to Protect and Grow Your Home Service Business Through Conscious, Continuous Risk Management in January 2026. - The book targets owners and operators in plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, landscaping, cleaning and other home service businesses. - Chase wrote the book after years running home service businesses and dealing with difficult jobs, including expanding remodels, nonpaying customers and hazardous job sites.

The details: - The book focuses on practical risk management, including vetting customers before committing a crew and writing contracts that can withstand job disputes. - Chase says risk management works best as a habit used on every lead and every job. - The book walks readers through early warning signs that can show up on the first phone call, during a walkthrough or in deposit discussions. - Chase says owners and teams should learn to spot those red flags before they become lost time and lost money. - Chase said, "I came from owning home service businesses, and a lot of what's in this book I learned the hard way. Nobody hands you a playbook for the customer who won't pay or the job that keeps growing. I wanted to give other owners what I wish I'd had: a clear way to see the risk in a job before you're standing in someone's kitchen, and the confidence to walk away when it doesn't add up." - The book is available in paperback and ebook through major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple Books. - Readers in Germany are among the growing audience for the book.

Between the lines: - Chase is making a broader case that trades businesses should treat customer screening as seriously as homeowners treat contractor vetting. - The launch lands as construction and extraction jobs continue to expand, which means more new business owners and more chances to take on risky work. - The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment in construction and extraction occupations to grow faster than average for all occupations, with about 587,000 openings a year on average through 2035. - Chase frames strong risk management as a long-term advantage for businesses that want to last. - Resident Review is built around the same logic: a completed job generates useful feedback for the next contractor who deals with that customer.

What's next: - Resident Review says the platform lets verified home service businesses leave 1 to 5 star reviews on customers they have actually worked with. - Those reviews are visible only to other registered businesses and are not public. - Every business on the platform is verified through a third-party process. - Before accepting a job, contractors can review customer history and property details such as year built, square footage, heating and cooling information. - Resident Review also includes a built-in CRM for tracking leads and keeping customer notes for future visits. - Chase said the platform gives contractors a daily way to apply the thinking from the book. - Resident Review is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, serves home service and construction businesses in all 50 states and offers a free trial that can be set up in minutes.

The bottom line: - Chase is pairing a book and a software platform to push contractors toward one message: know the customer before the crew ever shows up.