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

Jaksot

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  What Is EBITDA? How to Value, Grow & Sell Your Home Service Business 15.09.2026 25min

  What is EBITDA, and why does it matter so much when building, financing, or selling a home service business? John Wilson and Jack Carr break down EBITDA in simple terms, including how it differs from net income and SDE, what a healthy EBITDA margin looks like, and why buyers, banks, and lenders pay so much attention to it. They also explain how EBITDA impacts business valuation, why maximizing profit doesn't always maximize company value, and the other financial metrics buyers look at during ...
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  Why Roofing Is a Beautiful Business: Marketing, Sales & $20K Jobs 10.09.2026 50min

  What does it actually take to buy and grow a roofing company? Nicholas Riley left Deloitte to buy Driftwood Builders Roofing, a 20-year-old roofing company in Austin, Texas. After reviewing roughly 2,000 businesses, he finally made his first home service acquisition. In this episode, John Wilson and Nicholas break down the economics of the roofing business, including $20,000 average roof replacements, cash vs. insurance margins, roofing marketing, direct mail, referral partnerships, and com...
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  Ismael Valdez: How I Built a $108M Home Service Company & What I’m Building Next 08.09.2026 57min

  Ismael Valdez built NexGen Air Conditioning & Plumbing from $0 to $108 million in just 6.5 years. Now he’s back on Owned and Operated to share the blueprint for his next $100M home service company. John Wilson and Ismael break down what worked at NexGen, the mistakes he would never repeat, why most HVAC and plumbing contractors stall below $2M, and why sales and marketing are the real engines behind rapid growth. Ismael also shares what he’s building next. After investing more than $22 mi...
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  How We’d Turn $5M Into $10M in 12 Months 03.09.2026 41min

  How would we turn a $5 million home service business into a $10 million company? In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down how they’d invest $1 million to double a profitable home service business. They cover where they’d invest first, finding the next high-ROI marketing channel, hiring salespeople ahead of demand, expanding the balance sheet, and building the capacity to scale. Could they reach a $10M run rate in just 12 months? This is the playbook they’d u...
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  How We’d Start a Plumbing Company From $0 in 2026 01.09.2026 47min

  If John Wilson and Jack Carr lost everything and had to start a plumbing company from scratch, what would they actually do? In this episode of Owned and Operated, John and Jack break down exactly how they’d build a plumbing business from $10,000 to $1 million in revenue using everything they’ve learned as home service operators. They compare two different paths: staying extremely lean by subcontracting work and proving demand before spending money, or hiring early and building the operation o...
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  There Are Millions Hiding in Your Customer Database 27.08.2026 59min

  Your customer database might be worth more than you think. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Faraday founder Alex Coleman to break down how home service companies can turn the data they already collect into better marketing, smarter dispatching, and more replacement opportunities. They cover how Wilson uncovered millions of dollars in opportunities hidden inside old customer records, why equipment data becomes increasingly valuable as a contractor scales, and h...
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  How to Survive Slow Season in Your Home Service Business 25.08.2026 25min

  Slow season doesn’t have to wreck your home service business. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down how they prepare for shoulder season when inbound demand slows, the call board gets lighter, and every lead becomes more valuable. They cover how to fill the board with outbound calling, when to use specials and discounts, why sales KPIs can actually improve during slower months, and how tightening labor, marketing, and spending can turn shoulder season int...
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  Why Everyone Is Buying Home Service Businesses (And You Should Too) 20.08.2026 30min

  Home service businesses are getting more attention than ever. But are they really as good as they look? In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr talk about why HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other home service businesses have become so popular; and why they’re still incredibly hard to operate. They break down what makes home services attractive, the mistakes people make when buying into the trades, and where there’s still opportunity as more buyers enter the space. ━━...
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  How to Build a $40M+ Home Service Business: Cash Flow, Sales & KPIs 18.08.2026 28min

  You can be profitable and still run out of cash. In this supercut episode of Owned and Operated, featuring insights from several episodes, John Wilson breaks down the cash flow, sales, and KPI systems that helped him scale a home service business from $1M to roughly $40M in revenue. Learn why profit doesn’t equal cash, how to improve average ticket by solving higher-value problems, and the five numbers every home service owner should track to find problems faster and scale with more control. ...
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  The $1M Decisions Contractors Don’t Realize They’re Making 13.08.2026 36min

  The biggest decisions in your home service business usually don’t feel big when you make them. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down the $1 million decisions contractors make without realizing how much they can impact the business over time. They discuss hiring the right people, choosing technology that can scale, building a membership program, reinvesting profits, making smarter marketing bets, and why seemingly small decisions can shape the next decade ...
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  Why Home Service Businesses Get Stuck at $3M and How to Scale to $30M 11.08.2026 40min

  The strategies that get your home service business to $3 million will not get you to $30 million. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down why contractors stall at different stages of growth and how the owner’s role has to evolve as the business gets bigger. They discuss escaping “hero mode,” building the right teams and systems, reinvesting in growth, and why the owner can ultimately become the biggest bottleneck in the business. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In This Epis...
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  From a $2M Family Plumbing Shop to a Multi-Trade Powerhouse 06.08.2026 1t 10min

  Every growing home service company eventually hits the same wall. The systems that got you to $2 million will not get you to $20 million. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Brady Jolly and Scott Sharrock of Jolly Heating, Air, Plumbing & Electric to break down what it actually takes to scale a second-generation home service business. They discuss moving from commercial to residential, building a leadership team, using acquisitions to accelerate growth, creat...
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  The Complete Home Service Marketing Playbook 04.08.2026 44min

  Home service marketing strategy isn't one-size-fits-all. In this Owned and Operated compilation, John Wilson sits down with Lisa Appleby and Ethan Wright of Service Scalers to break down the marketing systems, lead generation strategies, SEO, Google Ads, Local Services Ads, reviews, AI, and growth playbooks that help contractors scale from $1M to $10M+. Whether you own an HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, or other home service business, this episode explains where your next marketing dolla...
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  Google Just Changed Local Services Ads (Here's What Contractors Need to Know) 30.07.2026 26min

  Google is changing Local Services Ads again, and this one actually matters. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston of Service Scalers to break down Google's biggest LSA update yet. With Local Services Ads moving into Google Ads and Performance Max, contractors could see major changes to how budgets are spent, campaigns are managed, and leads are generated. John and Sam walk through what's changing, what could go wrong, and the simple checklist every cont...
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  Why We Stopped Buying $60,000 Service Vans 28.07.2026 39min

  The fastest-growing home service companies don't scale by spending more. They scale by making smarter operational decisions. In this special compilation episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down one of the biggest hidden expenses in home services: your fleet. They explain why they're moving away from expensive service vans, why the Ford Maverick has become their vehicle of choice, and how rethinking truck stock, inventory, and install trailers can save hundreds of th...
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  Why Growing Home Service Companies Can't Find Great Leaders 23.07.2026 1t 9min

  The fastest-growing home service companies don't fail because they run out of demand. They fail because they run out of leaders. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Jim Lose of The Military Veteran to discuss what separates great operators from average managers. They cover how to hire executive talent, build a structured interview process, identify red flags before making an offer, and create leadership systems that scale with your business. From scorecards and r...
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  Why Septic Might Be the BEST Home Service Business to Own 21.07.2026 46min

  Septic may be one of the most overlooked businesses in home services, but it might also be one of the best. In this special compilation episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson brings together two of the biggest conversations we've had on the septic industry, featuring Chad and Kyle from Epic Septic alongside Micah of Homefield. Together, they break down why septic has become one of the most compelling opportunities in home services and what it really takes to build a scalable business in t...
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  The Biggest Acquisition I Walked Away From 17.07.2026 8min

  Not every acquisition is worth making. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson shares the story of one of the biggest acquisitions he chose to walk away from, even though it had the potential to double the size of his business. What looked like an incredible opportunity on paper quickly unraveled as the due diligence process exposed problems with customer concentration, company culture, cash flow, and the financials. John explains the acquisition framework he uses to evaluate plumb...
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  Stop Tracking Cost Per Lead (Track This Instead) 16.07.2026 39min

  Most home service companies think they're tracking marketing. They're actually tracking the wrong metrics. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down how to measure marketing ROI the right way. They explain why cost per lead is often a misleading metric, how to build a marketing scorecard that actually helps you make better decisions, and the attribution systems they use to understand what's driving revenue across a growing home service business. They also dis...
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  How We're Using AI to Scale towards a $70M Home Service Business 14.07.2026 35min

  Most home service businesses are using AI the wrong way. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down how AI is actually changing the trades and why the biggest opportunity isn't replacing technicians, but removing the operational friction that slows growing companies down. They share how they're using AI across acquisitions, accounting, purchasing, reporting, dispatch, and marketing while keeping the human experience at the center of the business. They also dis...