x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

The Owned and Operated electrical, HVAC, and plumbing business growth podcast is hosted by John Wilson and Jack Carr. These two Home Service Business owners bring you weekly podcasts and daily content with multiple perspectives, actionable advice, and info on an ever-changing industry revolving around advertising, lead generation, and more.Join us every Tuesday for topical conversations that unlock the potential for your business growth. Covering topics from top-tier talent recruitment to mastering

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

48:58

How to Turn Referrals Into a Scalable, Predictable...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2026/01/13

Referrals are still the #1 growth channel in home services — but most contractors treat it like hope marketing. In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Murphy Nadauld (ReferPro) to break down how the best operators turn word-of-mouth into a systematic, trackable, ROI-positive referral engine. They unpack why 83% of customers are willing to refer, yet only 29% actually do — and the three levers that close the gap: awareness, attribution, and automated rewards. You’ll learn how top HVAC, pl...

en-us

34:43

Google LSAs: The Easiest Way to Add Leads Tomorrow

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2026/01/08

This is the literal easiest lever you can pull to add leads tomorrow: turn on (and properly run) Google Local Services Ads (LSAs). In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston (CEO of Service Scalers) to break down why LSAs are still absurdly underutilized in home services—and how a simple setup + consistency flywheel (answer calls → book jobs → earn 5-star reviews) can ramp a business fast. They also zoom out into the operator view: how John evaluates acquisitions through the lens...

en-us

45:01

Stop Losing Money in 2026: The Profit Plan for Higher...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2026/01/06

We’re heading into 2026 with one goal: stop losing money. Not “grow at all costs.” Not “try harder.” Just: build a healthy business that actually cash flows. In this episode, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down what they’re cutting, tightening, and renegotiating in 2026 to go from ~13% EBITDA to 20% EBITDA—and why they’re also targeting 10% net profit after realizing how big the gap can be between EBITDA and real take-home profit. They walk through the exact planning process they used this y...

en-us

30:53

The Sales Process That Took Us From Losing Money to...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2026/01/01

We break down how we tripled our HVAC average ticket—from $5,000 to $12,500+—and finally made sales profitable. In this episode, we walk through the painful mistakes, system overhauls, and process changes that turned HVAC from a money-loser into a real growth engine. If you run a home service business, this episode is a masterclass in why “selling harder” doesn’t work—but selling better systems, earlier financing, and structured options does. We unpack how repair-first thinking killed profita...

en-us

49:27

The REAL Cost of Running a Trades Business in 2025 —...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/30

We reveal the real cost of running a home service business in 2025. In this full debrief, we open our books to show why plumbing business growth exploded while HVAC stalled, and exactly how we navigated the hardest summer in years. If you run a contractor business, you know 2025 was volatile. HVAC shipments cratered 49% YoY, forcing operators to face a brutal reality. In this episode, we break down the massive gap between our plumbing wins and HVAC headwinds, why "Always Be Recruiting" became...

en-us

25:55

Nextdoor Marketing for Contractors: The Local...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/23

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston, CEO of Service Scalers, to break down one of the most overlooked (and misunderstood) marketing channels in home services: Nextdoor. They unpack why Nextdoor feels annoying—but works incredibly well when used the right way. From neighborhood recommendation posts to organic storytelling, this platform behaves less like Google Ads and more like a digital referral engine. John and Sam discuss why salesy ads and coupons...

en-us

38:43

How Smart Home Service Owners Should Invest (P&L,...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/18

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack break down what “smart investing” actually looks like for home service operators—starting with the truth most owners miss: if you run a business, you’re already an investor. You’re investing money, attention, and people every day. They start with a practical framework for P&L investing (software, headcount, SG&A): if your business sells for a multiple, then any new expense should produce a return that justifies that multiple—...

en-us

31:33

Remote Staffing for Contractors: How to Hire Offshore...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/16

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Aizik Zimerman of Jay Blanton Plumbing (Chicago) to break down the remote staffing playbook that most home service operators still aren’t using. John and Aizik start with a real-world story from a contractor event—how one company allegedly went from $0 to $6M using yard signs, and how Aizik tested it immediately (including the “don’t put them on every corner” lesson). Then they go deep on what actually drives scale: building a ...

en-us

38:06

AI Didn’t Kill Google Search — Here’s Why GBP Still Wins

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/11

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston — CEO of Service Scalers — to talk about the marketing asset that still quietly outperforms everything else in home services: your Google Business Profile (GBP). John and Sam break down why AI hasn’t disrupted GBP the way people expected, how Google reviews are now getting pulled directly into AI search results, and why “map pack visibility” remains the cheapest, highest-intent lead source in the game. They g...

en-us

71:36

He Lost Everything at 25: Then Built a $250M Home...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/09

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Ken Goodrich — legendary home services operator, turnaround specialist, and former CEO/Chairman of Goettl Air Conditioning & Plumbing — to unpack what it really takes to build, scale, and successfully exit a home service business. Ken shares the origin story that shaped his entire career: buying his first HVAC business at 25, getting crushed by payroll tax mistakes, and discovering The E-Myth at the exact moment everything ...

en-us

51:48

You’re Growing Fast… So Why Are You Still Broke?

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/04

In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Patrick Dichter, owner of AppleTree Business Services, to break down what “good accounting” actually looks like inside a growing home service business — and why financial clarity becomes a competitive advantage as you scale. John opens up about a hard truth: he didn’t get his first clean month-end close until last year, and it made almost a decade of decision-making harder than it needed to be. Patrick walks through the real stages most home service...

en-us

48:40

Plumbing Owner Grew From $6M to $25M on Sewers...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/12/02

In this episode, John Wilson is on-site in Chicago with Aizik Zimerman, owner of J.Blanton Plumbing, to break down how one of the fastest-growing plumbing companies in the country built a sewer and drain growth engine. Since buying the $6M Jay Blanton business at the end of 2022, Aizik has scaled it to ~$25M this year and a $30M run rate — and nearly half that growth is coming from sewers. They unpack the investments, the operational build-out, and the marketing + sales system that turned tre...

en-us

49:45

What Home Service Businesses NEED To Stop Missing Calls

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/27

In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Daryna Kulya, co-founder of Quo (formerly OpenPhone), to unpack one of the most underappreciated growth levers in home services: how you communicate as you scale. What starts as “one tech, one phone, one truck” quickly becomes a bottleneck once you’re trying to hire CSRs, build a call center, and stop missing leads. Daryna shares the real story behind Quo’s rebrand, why they’re building for the long term, and how modern phone + text workflows are ev...

en-us

51:13

The Ultimate Home Service Trivia Show (What...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/25

In this episode, John Wilson and Brandon Niro are joined by Zac Dearing from Mantel for a fast-paced, trivia-style breakdown of what homeowners actually want when buying HVAC and home services in 2025. Mantel just surveyed 500+ homeowners nationwide, and instead of guessing in the dark like most of the industry, we put real customer data on the board. John and Brandon compete to predict homeowner behavior — how many contractors people call, where they find you, what earns trust, how pricing i...

en-us

46:33

How To Scale a Service Based Business by Implementing...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/20

In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Richard Dunbar of FieldPulse to dig into one of the most important — and often overlooked — levers for scaling a home service company: modernizing your operational platform. Whether you’re running HVAC, plumbing, electrical, restoration, or any specialty trade, the shift from legacy tools to a true field service management system (FSM) is one of the highest-ROI moves you can make. Richard and John break down how contractors are ditching whiteboards,...

en-us

47:17

How to Rebrand Your Company and Add $500K in Revenue

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/18

In this episode, John Wilson and guest Rich Jordan dig into one of the scariest (and most valuable) moves you can make in home service: rebranding multiple companies into a single brand. Rich runs three acquired companies across New Hampshire and New Jersey…and he’s in the middle of rolling them all into one new identity: High Ground Service Pros. They walk through why he’s willingly tearing down a strong local brand (Sanford), what’s driving the decision, and how he’s trying to avoid losing ...

en-us

30:53

How to Scale Beyond Yourself and Build a Real Company

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/13

In this episode, John Wilson and co-host Jack Carr unpack one of the biggest transitions in home service — going from owner to operator. What does it really take to scale beyond yourself? We dive deep into building layers of leadership, knowing when to delegate, hiring vs. promoting internally, and what the first real leadership hire should look like. From service managers and field supers to accountability systems and EOS, this one’s for owners ready to break through bottlenecks and build r...

en-us

37:59

How to Future-Proof Your Home Service Business in 2025

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/11

In this episode, John Wilson and co-host Jack Carr break down how home-service companies can actually future-proof in 2025: flattening org charts, using AI to nuke overhead, building adaptable teams, and keeping a balance sheet that can take a 30% punch. We get into real numbers (gross margin, overhead targets, EBITDA), how to think about “risk on” vs. “risk off,” and why the middle of the market gets squeezed when big operators cut costs with automation. You’ll hear play-by-plays on automat...

en-us

52:43

How This Operator Turned a Viral Laundromat Video...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/06

In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Brandon Schlicter—better known as Investment Joy—to unpack how a viral laundromat video turned into a portfolio of laundromats, car washes, rentals, and now a fast-scaling commercial roofing company. Brandon shares the mindset shift from small plays to bigger bets, why he assumes success (and plans for failure), and how social media distribution can attract capital, deal flow, and talent. You’ll hear the real numbers on union commercial roofing (mar...

en-us

39:25

The Consumer Always Wins: Building the Business They...

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC... ·

2025/11/04

In this episode, John Wilson sits down with Jamie from Modernize to unpack how a consumer-obsessed mindset is reshaping home services—from the first inquiry to the final install. They dig into why “experience always wins,” how answer engine optimization (AE/O) is changing search, and what a true platform approach looks like when lead gen, reputation, financing, and programmatic all work together. You’ll hear how Modernize is building for the full funnel, why smaller, fast-moving operat...

en-us

309 results

Similar Podcasts

TaxTalent.com The Golden Rule Podcast

Adam Golden

TaxTalent.com Podcast

Tony Santiago

Handelsblatt Crime - spannende Streitfälle der deutschen Wirtschaft

Ina Karabasz, Solveig Gode, Sönke Iwersen

Deffner und Zschäpitz – Der Wirtschafts-Talk von WELT

WELT

Black Box - La scatola nera della finanza

Guido Brera e Gian Luca Comandini -...