We Merged Our Home Service Companies—Now We’re Building to $100M

Summary

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Owned and Operated — Episode Summary

Episode Title: We Merged Our Home Service Companies—Now We’re Building to $100M
Hosts: John Wilson & Jack Carr
Release Date: April 16, 2026
Theme: The merging of home service businesses, the journey to $100M, and building a super-regional home services platform through acquisition, centralization, and partnership.

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Episode Overview

In this episode, John Wilson and Jack Carr unveil their recent merger, combining their plumbing, HVAC, and electrical companies into a unified platform. They discuss their ambition to build a super-regional powerhouse, lessons learned from scaling, the trade-offs between centralization and autonomy, and the personal dynamics of partnering with friends in the industry. Aimed at operators seeking real-world strategies, the conversation blends big-picture vision with actionable operational insights.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Announcement of the Merger & Vision

• A New Partnership:
  • John and Jack have officially merged their companies, with Jack now becoming employee #358 at John’s organization.

    “I now have my first W2 in seven years, and it’s for John.” — Jack (02:13)

  • Their primary aim: build a “super regional platform” stretching from Pennsylvania to Chicago, Michigan, and Nashville.
• Goals:
  • To leverage economies of scale, expand through acquisition, and reach $100M+ in revenue within a few years.

    “What we’re looking to do is create a super regional platform. Can we connect the west side of Pennsylvania to Chicago and Michigan to Nashville?” — John (00:11)

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2. The Process of Merging & Building with Friends

• Timeline and Relationships:
  • The merger is the product of years' worth of relationships nurtured through the podcast and industry events.
  • Recent acquisitions have all involved friends and podcast connections.

    “Every single one of them was a friend. Like, they were all like, people that I have just known for years through the show.” — John (03:33)

• Personal Reflections:
  • Both hosts reflect on transitioning from the isolation of early entrepreneurship to building collaboratively with peers.

    “My 20s was like building alone and it worked. And my 30s has been, like, industry friends...” — John (02:25)

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3. Scale, Power, and Economies

Timestamps: 07:16 – 11:00

• Unlocking Advantages Through Scale:
  • Dramatic cost advantages in material and software at scale—50% lower costs in some cases.

    “I remember back in 2024, we were working on this … and I visited with Baker Brothers… it was just like, literally 50% less. Like, 5-0% less than what we were paying.” — John (08:05)

• Capacity Sharing:
  • Ability to move install teams and share workloads across markets reduces inefficiencies and ‘slow days.’

    “There's basically no such thing as a slow day anymore because, if you're slow here, they're busy as hell over here.” — John (11:02)

• Call to Action for Operators:
  • Actively seeking partners in Kentucky and surrounding markets to fill in geographic gaps and enable further integration.

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4. Centralization vs. Decentralization

Timestamps: 13:22 – 21:24

• Centralization Model:
  • Rapid centralization post-acquisition can yield big profit improvement, moving branch EBITDA from 10–15% to 30–40%.

    “Branch level profit percentage went from 10% or 15%… to 30 to 40% for us.” — John (15:42)

  • Centralizes: call center, dispatch, install coordination, accounting, HR, marketing, and purchasing.
• Risks & Overcentralization:
  • The danger of stripping too much autonomy from local branches—risking responsiveness, local expertise, and team culture.

    “If you overdo that… there are things that happen at the local level where it’s much easier… to have someone local doing those said tasks.” — Jack (16:05)

  • Examples: Local marketing, sales nuances, recruitment, and community engagement often don’t scale centrally.
• Practical Nuance:
  • For small businesses: Centralizing can plug capability gaps and create efficiency.
  • For established, large branches: Over-centralization can “break” successful operations.

    “If I centralize too much, I actually might just totally break that company and remove all…” — John (21:46)

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5. Acquisitions as a Growth Engine

Timestamps: 23:06 – 29:07

• Approaches to Acquisitions:
  • Two models discussed:
    • Full-integration (plugging small businesses into centralized systems).
    • Minimal-centralization (letting well-run larger companies maintain autonomy, centralizing just purchasing).
  • The right model depends on target size and existing strengths.
• Effectiveness:
  • Recent acquisition spree (“three in ninety days”) went smoothly due to robust internal systems, an experienced team, and prior groundwork with leadership development.

    “It's kind of wild that…the downside to this, how good it was, it was like super anti-climactic…nobody else is in the room.” — Jack (29:22)

• Big Goals:
  • They are aiming for a $100M revenue business—both for ego and for the growth opportunity.

    "It's a bunch of young guys who have just giant egos… the nine figure is such a driver for me." — Jack (27:58)

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6. Lessons from Experience & The Human Element

• Learning from Mistakes:
  • John recounts over-centralizing in earlier roll-ups, leading to a top-heavy structure, “fighting fires in four branches” (25:40).
  • Mature understanding: Right-sizing central services and fostering autonomous local leadership are key.
• Culture & Friendship:
  • Merging isn’t just spreadsheets—navigating due diligence, contracts, and operational integration can be tense, but their long-standing friendship and industry familiarity make it smooth and enjoyable.

    “I feel like you need one or two gray hairs in your business because all of us are like in our 30s… absolute type A psychopaths.” — Jack (32:02)

  • The “no blazers” vibe, young energetic leadership, and sense of fun set their platform apart.

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7. What’s Next & Advice for Operators

Timestamps: 33:59 – End

• Growth Blueprint:
  • Continuing with both acquisitions and organic growth, aiming for two more deals this year.

    “We have leaders to deploy… I’m hoping for one or two more deals this year…” — John (35:39)

• Leadership Focus:
  • Emphasis on leadership development, preparing team members for key roles as the organization expands.
• Opportunities for Listeners:
  • Operators in target markets (Nashville, Akron, Cincinnati, Clarksville, Kentucky, Indiana) invited to connect.

    “If you are in Nashville, we would love to talk to you.” — John (27:03)

• Reflection on Low-Hanging Fruit:
  • Smaller companies leaving value on the table due to time and resource constraints—joining a platform unlocks new efficiencies.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Personal Growth Through Partnership:

  "My 20s was like building alone and it worked. And my 30s has been, like, industry friends and like, being able to work closer with industry friends." — John (02:25)

• On Scale Benefits:

  "That's what scale brings you… it allows you to compete in a totally different world." — John (08:05)

• On Over-Centralization Dangers:

  "Once you take too much, it’s hard to put it back in because the muscle is gone… they were no longer a self-sufficient team." — John (18:14)

• On the Fun of Building with Friends:

  "Building this podcast has been fun. Building our other projects have been fun. And so, it's already been fun working with you and your team." — Jack (04:11)

• On the Not-So-Glamorous Nature of Big Closings:

  "It was one of your team members like playing it's closing time and I'm sitting there like signing on a docusign by myself like nobody else is in the room." — Jack (29:22)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:11 — Vision for a super-regional platform
• 02:13 — Symbolic moment: Jack as employee #358
• 07:16–08:05 — Discussion of scale and industry pricing advantages
• 11:02–13:22 — Capacity sharing and leveraging markets
• 15:42 — Centralization model and impact on profit
• 18:14 — The risk of over-centralizing
• 21:46 — The importance of acquisition target size and integration strategy
• 27:58 — The motivation and excitement behind hitting $100M
• 29:22–29:48 — Anti-climactic nature of closing a deal
• 33:59–35:39 — The blueprint and next steps to $100M, leadership development

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Conclusion

This episode offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at two operators merging their home service businesses—and how they’re methodically building toward a $100M target. The discussion highlights the power (and pitfalls) of scale, the importance of centralization with care, and the unique energy of partnering with friends. For operators and entrepreneurs in home services, it’s a practical masterclass in rapid growth, integrations, and the very human side of entrepreneurship.

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Interested in learning from John and Jack or joining their super-regional platform?

• Contact via Owned and Operated
• Consider their Breaking5 workshop (mentioned at 21:46 and again at 39:03)

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This summary captures the spirit and substance of the conversation, staying true to the tone and insights of the episode.

Transcript

[A]

John and Jack are now partnered in H Vac, plumbing and electrical.

[B]

So this is awesome.

[A]

I'm now employee number 300 and something of John's. He's enjoying this very much.

[B]

Just to like give everyone what Jack and I are trying to build here. What we're looking to do is create a super regional platform. Can we connect the west side of Pennsylvania to Chicago and Michigan to Nashville?

[A]

We're really excited.

[B]

So what do you want to do now?

[A]

I want to go buy some, some more businesses.

[B]

If you are in Nashville, we'd love to talk to you. Foreign. Welcome back to Owned and operated, a top 200 business and entrepreneurship podcast. I'm your host, John Wilson. During the day, I'm the CEO of Wilson and we are a 40 million dollar plumbing, H vac and electric platform across three states in the Midwest. And for fun, I run this podcast where I talk to my friends about how to build their home service business. Today I am joined by my good friend, partner and co host, Jack Carr, the CEO and leader of Rapid Response in Nashville, Tennessee. Welcome back. Welcome back.

[A]

Whoa, John, that intro changed a little bit. It went to three states.

[B]

It did. It recently changed a little bit. It's so weird. Yeah, we put this out on Twitter or. Well, Jack put this out on Twitter, so maybe you should be the, you should be the one to say it.

[A]

Well, how's business going?

[B]

Business is going great.

[A]

I heard you just added like six or seven million dollars to your top line.

[B]

Business is going great. We recently partnered with this incredible entrepreneur down in Nashville, Tennessee.

[A]

Oh, competitor. Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's kind of rough.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, it's going to be pretty tough.

[A]

No. Everyone who's not catching in between the lines here. John and Jack are partnered in multiple businesses, including H Vac, Plumbing and electrical. So we merged here this week, actually a couple days ago. And we are now. I'm now employee number 300.

[B]

358. Yeah, you're number 358.

[A]

I now have my first W2 in seven years and it's for John. So he, he's enjoying this very much.

[B]

I am enjoying it a little bit. I am enjoying it a little bit. Yeah. No, I, I think it's, I mean this, this is awesome. I, I think I was talking to, I was talking to Bridget about this and my 20s felt very isolated in entrepreneurship and a theme of my 30s and I'm turning 35, so, you know, midlife crisis, the theme of my 30s are, hey, for the past five years I've like really connected with the nation through this show through the newsletter, through X, through whatever, and built this incredible group of friends and peers and people that I admire and, like, want to work with one day. And so my 20s was like building alone and it worked. And my 30s has been like industry friends and like, being able to work closer with industry friends. So that's been a lot. That's been a lot of fun. So we partnered with Jack in Nashville. But. But this year especially is kind of funny because we've done three. We've done three new, like, add ons this year.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And every single one of them was a friend. Like, they were all like, people that I have just known for years through the show. They went through the Breaking five workshops.

[A]

Like Jack Groomer. That's what I'm calling business Groomer.

[B]

Jesus Christ.

[A]

It's like that. That's what this all is. It's just all a big plus deploy to like, I met you years ago

[B]

and I eventually acquired you.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. No, man, I'm super excited. This is. I mean, we've been working on it for months. We've been hinting at. Yeah, if you, if you've been listening,

[B]

we started working on this almost a year ago.

[A]

Yeah. You've probably heard some hints towards it and now it all makes sense. But yeah, we've been working on this for a while.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so, I mean, we're really excited. I think that this is a good partnership that I'm. I'm super excited about because we're. We're able to really put some gasoline onto our already raging fire. And I think for both of us, the next couple years are going to be crazy. Crazy. Really? I was going to say intense. Intense. Crazy. Crazy. But it's going to be fun. Like, building with friends is. Building this podcast has been fun. Building our other projects have been fun. And so it's. It's already been fun working with you and your team.

[B]

You too, man.

[A]

To get through due diligence and to get into, like, the stages we are now. So.

[B]

Yeah, no, this. This has been. This has been awesome. I think. Yeah. I remember, well when I was talking with Bridget, so we talked about, like, hey, 20s were alone in, like, 30s. I just, like, want to do business with, like, people I like and. But I remember that you and I started talking about this. It was almost a year and a half ago was when it first came up as, like, something I feel. I feel like. I remember it was like December of 24 and we had. I don't remember. I remember the podcast and I remember, like, where I was sitting when we did it, but I don't remember what started the conversation. Like maybe somebody got bought or somebody offered to buy me or something. Um, and it was just like starting to think through like, what is the, what's the benefit and what's the point? Which is, which is kind of interesting because I think like as someone that's built like both of us, as someone that's built like privately, like without private equity funding, we've just built our businesses. It's hard to imagine partnership. It's hard to imagine like how it, how it works and like why would I, why would I do it? But I remember like a year and a half ago we were talking about like, oh hey, hold on. Goodman Pricing is like 40, 50% freaking less serve. Like yeah, I always get really annoyed when I hear people service titan pricing. Like I heard someone's yesterday, it was like $160 a user. And I was like, that's cute. That, that's, that's a cute, that's a cute thing that you've got there. And like it's like there's these economies of scale that you get to benefit from by being a part of something bigger. Most marketing agencies will show you clicks, impressions and maybe even traffic, but none of that really matters if the phone's not ringing. And that's why we partner with service scalers. They are built specifically for home service companies and they focus on one thing which is driving real high quality calls and book jobs. This is a no brainer. They're offering a 60 day money back guarantee on LSA management, Google business profile optimization and website builds. If you don't get more visibility, more calls and better leads, then you don't pay. If you want more book jobs without the marketing headache, click the link below and book a free strategy call with service scalers.

[A]

Yeah, I mean across the board. And I think that was probably the conversation that spurred it. As we were talking about Wrench Group or one of these other large groups that have came together and then it. Or it was, we were looking at somebody's crazy pricing and going, how is this group, I think maybe like Cool Ray or something, how are they getting these, this nuts pricing? And it's just this, these economies of scale that you're not able to touch, but you can see other companies utilize and it hurts because you have to sell at the same market rate as them or within a reasonable percentage. But their margin is like a 65%, you know, gross margin on something at the same price that yours is a 45. So they're able to rip 20 more percent out of material than you are on each job. Like, it's just nuts.

[B]

Yeah, it is. I think that's something that is not well disclosed inside the industry. And I think wholesalers kind of get. I don't think they're totally. They're not in control of what I'm about to say. So I'm not, like, digging on any wholesalers here, because factories like wholesalers, like, have a point that they can go to, and then at that point, it's factory. So if your wholesaler is telling you you're getting a good price, like, you very well might be, and it, like, who knows? If it goes beyond that point, they have to go talk to the factory. I think it's really hard for the average contractor to understand the price difference of materials, of software, of services, of anything when. When you haven't seen it with your own eyeballs. I Remember back in 2024, we were working on this, like, H vac negotiation that we've talked a lot about. And one of the most formative moments of that is I was down in DFW and I visited with Baker Brothers, and Jimmy and I were reviewing what they were paying for equipment, and it was just like, literally 50% less. Like, 5, 0% less than what we were paying. And they were doing it through Lennox, and Lennox is headquartered there. And I'm sure there's some stuff going on there, but it really opened my eyes to like, holy shit. This is. This is what scale brings you is exactly that. Like, it allows you to compete in a totally different world.

[A]

And I. But the cool part, and I don't want to jump subjects here, but, like, that's one portion as well. Right. So again, I. The distance between Akron and. Yeah, Nashville doesn't allow for this. But once you start to cl. Yet, once you start to close the gap, hint, hint, anybody in Kentucky, if

[B]

anyone's in Kentucky and they would like Kentucky, I have a problem I need to solve roughly.

[A]

Bowling Green, Kentucky would be Bowling Green, Lexington, Lewisboro. If you would like, like on a map, take Akron or Columbus and just.

[B]

I need a. I need a. I need a path.

[A]

But, like, that's the next huge area of leverage which you get with your current businesses up in. In Ohio, but we don't see just yet is like the people leverage is having the ability to.

[B]

To pull up share capacity.

[A]

Yeah, share capacity. Share installer capacity. When. When one person is oversold. Like. Like, we just had it this month where we sold $180,000 more than we were able to install.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

And we were purely handicapped by the fact that we were doing, you know, 3H vac installs with two teams a day. Like, if we had somebody close that had extra capacity on the install side. Right. We could have knocked out an additional 20, 30,000. Easy, easy, easy. Probably like 50 or 60.

[B]

Yeah, well, that. So that's what we've done so far. So the. Just to like give everyone the what we're trying to build together, like what Jack and I are trying to build here. So in our headquarters is essentially Cleveland, Ohio. We're just south of Cleveland, Ohio, and really big market. Like 3 1/2 total million people in like that MSA. It's Akron, Canton in Cleveland. A lot of people. We, we bought a business about 30 minutes west of us in January 1st. It's been an awesome addition to what we're doing. And we get to do exactly what you're talking about. Where, you know, I've seen it with A one, I've seen it with Peterman, I've seen it with Kaldad. Like, these companies are doing this incredible job of sharing capacity. So there's no, there's basically no such thing as a slow day anymore because if you're slow here, they're busy as hell over here. And it, it's a totally different way of looking at scale. So we, so we brought on that business and then a month later in February, we brought on 1 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And we're actually about to. I'm hoping we're going to bring out a second one in Fort Wayne here in the next, like month or two. We have one that we're about to get under Loi. And so we've got that. And now we've been sharing capacity there too. And that's a two and a half hour drive. But, like, we've still been sharing capacity. So, like, hey, we sold out the week. Let's send an extra crew for a week and just get an Airbnb. It's not ideal. It's not as profitable as it could be. So, like, our plan is to connect them. So we have Toledo and we have kind of Dayton that are like directionally where we want to go. Indianapolis, Ann Arbor, maybe. Like, there's a lot of different ways that we can skin that. But, like, we want to be able to connect it. And then now we have Nashville. And what we're looking to do is create a super regional platform. Hey, can we connect the west side of Pennsylvania To Chicago and Michigan, to Nashville and like, can we connect all of that and build ourselves a path through all of it? So like, that's what we're trying to build. That's what, that's why the next two years are going to be kind of intense and crazy because like that's what we're on the path for.

[A]

Which I mean, I love acquisitions. I started a whole YouTube channel about acquisitions. So that's super fun for me and definitely intense, but a lot of fun. And then the interesting part too. So I mean you have material, you have physical personnel leverage there and then you have centralization, which is an interesting one that you and I have gone six different crazy.

[B]

That's crazy. And I'll say it for the world, you were right on a lot of this stuff.

[A]

Yeah, that. But I think the point is, a very good point to bring up is like, how do you think about centralization without thinking, without hitting an over centralization point? Because you can over centralize and it can cause additional issues on top of it.

[B]

Let's just like explain what the concept is. So the idea and this video might as well be like how to do a roll up, like how to self fund a roll up. So the idea is as you go to bring on businesses, you can run one of two models. You can run centralized or you can run decentralized. Centralized means that you're going to centralize as much disciplines into one office as you can. So call center dispatch, potentially install coordination, accounting, recruitment, hr, marketing, purchasing. Those, those are probably the big ones. And, and then like what you. The whole goal of it is to leave at the branch, the branch tasks, sales, go, sell, go install, do it, do the job. And so that's centralization. Decentralization. Decentralization is the exact opposite. You buy a bunch of businesses and you let them run on their own, run solo. Yeah, no, no resources. And obviously that's a spectrum of like very centralized to not at all. And like, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of different ways it could look. The success that we've had so far this year has been heavy centralization. So we've, we've bought two and we centralized absolutely everything as fast as we possibly could. And what it meant for us is that branch level EBITDA or branch level profit percentage went from 10% or 15%, like for the seller to 30 to 40% for us. Now obviously there's some allocated costs, like if I put a fraction of my accounting cost or call center or whatever back into that branch maybe it's like you know, 25% or something, but it's still extremely helpful.

[A]

Yeah, but the downside, right. Is if you overdo that, which I know, I don't know if you're, you, you're going full centralization or not. But there is a point where if you do too much of that, it can cause issues, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that specifically is hey, there are things that happen at the local level where it's much easier and there's efficiencies to having someone local doing those said tasks. Where those are, is the, the area of hot debate. So one of the initial conversations John and I had was regarding marketing. It's for, it's for example, you know, different markets require different marketing to some extent. But how much of a difference does, does it actually make? And so having marketing move to one central location, pushing out to every individual location.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then filling capacity at every individual location based on capacity planning is the idea. And the original conversation that we had was hey, we should probably centralize marketing because that's generally what smaller companies have the most issues with. They don't have time. The owner is the one who's doing the marketing, turning it on and off. It's an office person who's also in charge of dispatch, who's also in charge of csrs, who is doing that. And so that's one of the ones that makes sense to market or to decentralize.

[B]

At least parts of it.

[A]

Yeah, at least parts of it. But there's, there's other parts. Like if we have a local company called Dairyberry here who does a lot of local like boots on the ground marketing, not necessarily canvassing but like sponsorship of teams and things in that nature where it's a very community oriented thing which would be very, very difficult to centralize especially if you overdid it said all your marketing budget is going centralized. We're going to kill the local budget.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Obviously you've just absolutely destroyed the, a good marketing system.

[B]

Yeah, I, I think that's a good, I think that's a good example. I'm going to take it a little bit outside of marketing of like what I know.

[A]

I think it's a great idea. Yeah.

[B]

Is like sales. So a lot of companies, us included are running a remote sales process, like inside sales. They're doing live close or like over the phone CAS or you know, whatever you want to call that. There's call by call. And to me that's a good example of like, I think there's some like we're doing it with caution because I think there's some real risk. I, the way to like, the way to think about it is what am I, what problems am I taking on and what am I taking accountability for? So if I'm centralizing a branch's sale, like we get something in Kentucky and I centralize their sales process to Akron's inside sales team, what I'm saying is I'm accountable for your sales now and I've centralized it. So if you miss sales, the first response is going to be, well, sales guys are in your office, go talk to them. Like, that's your problem. Like, my problem is Y instead of X. And I think that that's where some of these companies over the past couple years have gotten really tripped up is you can take too much and once you take too much, it's hard to put it back in because the muscle is gone. And then all that turns into like, I have friends that for a few years they had branches all over the US and they were just flying from branch to branch to firefight because they had stripped so much autonomy out of that, out of that team that they, they were no longer a self sufficient team. And I think that's the, that's my big concern. I think you are right on marketing. There's too much like knowledge of what works. There's too much measurement that has to happen. But you know, before we even started recording, you and I were talking about recruitment, which is a perfect example. I think like if we took over your recruitment, what could happen is we, if we're recruiting for three other branches, then like, what if we do a terrible job?

[A]

Like, what if we don't scale this months?

[B]

Well, we've only had, well, we didn't have the three techs we needed. Well, and you're so much closer to the problem. And then I don't want to be choosing your team, like for you. I don't want to be choosing Kevin's team for Kevin. So it turns into like, am I allowing people to lead or am I babysitting?

[A]

Yeah, Yeah.

[B]

I mean, I think it's a hard decision. Yeah, I think there's a lot of, a lot of layers.

[A]

Agreed. Agreed. And so that, that's, I, I, the problem is kind of fun though. I mean it, it is really a big puzzle, Sol. And it's like, how far do you go? And that, and that's where the conversations come in, where you and I have had lots of extensive conversations on like, why and what to centralize and brought in you know, people from private equity companies to talk about why they centralize, what they centralize. And so it's been an absolutely fascinating process to, to understand kind of behind the reasoning of why certain countries companies are centralizing and why some aren't.

[B]

I think target size is a really big part of the equation where like if we go and take over, I mean just in, just in our year, this year, like you know, we took over a plumbing company that had six employees. Well, if you go take over, like we have a potential partner in Dayton that is obviously more complicated because it's an $11 million company.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like if I centralize too much, I actually might just totally break that company and remove all. Like that's a company, that's a real business. And they were doing great without me walking in the door. A million and a half was not doing great without me walking in the door. It's time again for our Breaking5 workshop. This is the fifth time we've done it and we've had over 130 contractors go through this cohort. If you're hovering between 1 and 5 million of revenue and you're feeling stuck, then you're not alone. I know the hesitation. Can I really step away from my business for three days? Is the workshop actually going to be worth it? Is it too h vac specific? Well, here's the truth. Breaking five isn't a big conference. It's 25 to 30 operators in a small room. It's highly tactical. There's no rah rah nonsense. You'll be alongside myself and Jack Carr at my home service business in Akron. Seeing the actual systems behind accounting, call center dispatch, service, installation, the real bottlenecks. You're going to work alongside other operators at your exact stage to build a plan that you implement the second you get home. The networking alone is worth it and the clarity is game changing. 3 days limited to 30 seats. If you're serious about breaking through the 5 million dollar wall, grab your ticket for 500 off at owned and operated.com with code breaking early bird or click the link below.

[A]

Which actually is a great point to show the other like juxtaposition of the other model of thinking here. Right. Is the other framework is I'm gonna go buy a bunch of businesses that are extremely self sufficient.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I will centralize a very teeny bit like that purchasing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Component like hey, how do we get better pricing on things? And then that's it. You run yourselves. You guys have been a good company. You guys have been profitable for the last 10 years. Like, like, go continue. We're not going to try to optimize anything. We're going to let you run the way you run as the other end of the extreme spectrum, which some, some private equity groups have done absolutely fantastic with that. Right. They've been able to just.

[B]

If you can buy big things.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And it generally comes down to that, I think is, is size of.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The acquisition target. Target.

[B]

Like, yeah, yeah. Well, how, how well were they doing before you walked in the door?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And did they have maybe a better version? Is like, if somebody bought me tomorrow, what would, like what would they need to. They wouldn't need to add anything. Right. Like, I have a marketing team, I have an HR team, I have an accounting team, I have a purchasing team, I have an awesome senior leadership team. Like, we're not missing a discipline, whereas a $2 million business is missing all of those disciplines. So I, I don't know. I, what I, what I think is

[A]

going to be, I mean, Peter, just like super hypothetical Peterman was to say, hey, John, to buy you for a ton of money.

[B]

Chad.

[A]

Chad, my number. Yeah, yeah, right.

[B]

Feel free to text.

[A]

He is known to have a great call center. So even though you have a call center, like the idea though still is he would centralize into himself. Even though he's buying a $40 million platform, there is faster.

[B]

This is how it, this dude. This is how this happens. So when we, when we, in 2021, we bought these businesses. We've told the story a lot. Yeah, 2021, we bought three businesses and we had to figure out multi, multi location management. And the way this was John, this was John five years ago, give him some grace. Like he was young, he was 30, and he was an idiot. And the way that we solved problems was we took them over. We took the monkey. Like there's not the who put the monkey on my desk thing. We took the monkey from, from them. So what that turned into was we had this management company and this management company. We started staffing to take over branch level issues. So some of them make sense. Like, hey, we need accounting. Well, yeah, like no shit. But purchasing got really tricky because there's, there's a few layers to purchasing. Is it, is it contracts with vendors? Is it relationships with the vendors? Or is it parts that I need in an hour? We tried to centralize parts we needed in an hour and it was a total like miserable experience. But like, vendor relationships is a very key part of like our ability to drive scale. So we have to Centralize that part. So it. What my point is this small company, we had a hundred team members total. Our. We had like 11 people inside our shared services company, which. Like what then that wasn't even call center. That didn't even include call center or anything. I did a bad job, but it's because I centralized way too much and kept. Instead of like helping to like grow leaders and like helping people solve their own shit, I just took it on personally and like started hiring people and then they stopped. Started dropping the ball because they're fighting fires in four branches.

[A]

Yeah. Which makes sense. I mean, it makes sense. So it's a very. It's a very intricate issue.

[B]

Right. So what do you want to do now?

[A]

So, I mean, I want to go buy some. Some more businesses. Me too. I mean, I'm really pumped.

[B]

If you are in Nashville, we would love to talk to you. We would genuinely love if you would

[A]

be Nashville and Akron.

[B]

Cincinnati.

[A]

Yeah, anywhere. Cincinnati, Clarksville. Bowling Green. Oh, man, that'd be something.

[B]

Bowling Green would be nice. I looked it up. It's an hour and 15 from you. I was checking earlier.

[A]

It's a, it's one of the top growing markets in Kentucky as well, so not a big deal or anything.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I don't think I've even met a. One of our contractors in any of our groups that are from there though. So. We have some in Elizabethtown, which is nice, but outside of that. I know that's. I've already started, John. I've already started.

[B]

Okay. Okayers are out.

[A]

Feelers are out. But that would be fun. I'm excited for that. Has a good next step. And like, what's. I guess a good question is like, what's. What's the goal? What are we trying to. What are we trying to get to? 100.

[B]

A couple hundred million? Yeah, like, couple. Yeah, a couple hundred million.

[A]

Like, let's do. There's some, you know, it's. It's a bunch of young guys who have just giant egos because. And, and they're like so solely on the fact that it's like a nine figure number. I don't know about you. I'm talking for myself here. Is like the nine figure is such a driver for me. Just looks like it's an extra number. It's an extra zero.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Like, totally.

[A]

But also it's. It's from. From like a career standpoint and a growth standpoint, being at the forefront of a company that's growing from, you know, going from 6, 7, 6, 7, 6, 7 million to, you know, 40 million. Part of a 40 million dollar organization and then helping grow that into $100 million organization is really, sounds like really exciting stuff to me. Like that's, that sounds like a fun team to be a part of.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I, I think, I think it'll. I think it'll be fun. I'm. I'm looking. This year has been kind of fun so far because the last time we did M and A, like first off we did. We did three in 90 days, which is a little chaotic.

[A]

It's crazy. And your team's got it down though now.

[B]

Dude, I know. I, that's. To me, that's the other part that's crazy is like it wasn't that big of a deal. Like it's kind of wild that the

[A]

downside to this though, how good it was, it was like super anti climactic. It was one of your team members like playing it's closing time and I'm sitting there like signing on a docusign by myself like nobody else is in the room.

[B]

Besides, I do have a video. This. I need to put this on Twitter.

[A]

This is super. This is exactly not what I expected as a closing on a business. And then everything just went back to normal, minus like, yeah, operating well now

[B]

you're now the service, just a bigger number.

[A]

Which is exactly.

[B]

But, but no, it is. It's really interesting. I think that. So a couple things for me happened this year just as like as the listener as you're thinking about like what, what you want to do with your business. There's a couple things that were interesting. One, I understand why the size that Wilson was at the end of last year is the investable platform size. Like to me it makes total sense because we have every discipline. There's a strong controller, there's a great accounting team, there's a strong HR manager. She's got an awesome team of recruiters. Like, our inside operations is locked and dialed. Our sales team is locked and dialed. Our marketing is top tier performance. Like I get it and it is like we're just a couple of cowboys and we were able to in 90 days bring on three partners. That's kind of crazy. And it really like, I remember 2021, it broke the business. It felt pretty casual. Like, yeah, it's not like it was like hard. It was not like it was easy, but it wasn't like I have not been stressed also. It's honestly just been fun.

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say that's. That's the crazy. The, the Interesting part of this as well, like due diligence process. I mean, you and I still going through any due diligence, going through any contractual agreements, going through anything like that as two people sitting on the opposite sides of the table. Definitely. I don't even want to say gets heated because it's not heat. It's just like there's definite conversations that happens that you have to nail down. And it is a, you know, conversation. But what's hilarious is, you know, we didn't. You're not the. A private equity group either. So, like as.

[B]

We're just an idiot. I'm just like an idiot in Akron, Ohio.

[A]

No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that like it's, it's just like the, the group that, that I'm working. So I know all the people at your business anyway, but like there's, there's. I feel like you need like one or two gray hairs in your business because all of us are like in our 30s.

[B]

Okay. Okay.

[A]

I've got absolute like type A psychopaths. So John. I learned the hard way that John's GM up at or President COO.

[B]

Brandon.

[A]

Brandon. 31, eight shots of espresso a day. I thought I was on a lot of caffeine.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah. No caffeinated here. Yeah.

[A]

He puts them down.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So anyway, point being is that, you know, there's no, there's no, There was not a single blazer. Oh, yeah. There's not a single sports coat in all of this.

[B]

Closing time and Cast being bubbly and Patrick trying to get his eyes around the numbers. Yeah, totally.

[A]

It was fun.

[B]

Yeah, it is. That's hilarious. But I, I think, I think it's, you know, for like three, four years we've had multi location. Like, multi location has been the thing that's been like on the brain of like, how do we do it? Because at businesses are multi location businesses. Like the biggest businesses are multi location businesses. There's two, there's two examples of that not being the case. And that's Four Seasons in Parker. Like, that's it. Everybody else is multi location. So like if you want to scale, you got to go multi location. So this has been this thing we've been studying and learning about because we didn't do it that great the first time and we merged into one. So when we. I, I think my point is I wouldn't have done anything different than what we did. We got almost a 30 million of revenue. Strong EBITDA, strong gross margin, full built out disciplines before we went multi location and then we went from one to four in 90 days and it wasn't that intimidating because the team was built, the team is capable. I don't know, it's kind of wild. Like I, I always wondered why Everybody sold at 30 million. Like why is that such an attractive number to be a platform? And it's like now it's like, oh, holy, we just did this on our own. Like this is crazy. Just a couple cowboys.

[A]

It's a couple cowboys. And so next steps, trying to get to 100 million. Probably the next like big insight goal that we've talked about. A big portion of that obviously is going to be acquisitions and I'm sure a big portion of that is organic growth.

[B]

Yeah, Maybe we buy 20, 25 million of revenue over the next couple years and we.

[A]

That's what I said. So what does that look like?

[B]

30, 40. Yeah. Well, this year, depending on growth, it's kind of hard to get a hold of like total output when you're bringing on new brands. But I think we're going to do two more deals this year. We have one we're looking at that's going to strengthen an existing branch and I really want to get one that would like somewhat connect us to Nashville to make this more of a super regional connected platform and, and also for like vendor, for like vendor conversations. It's, it'll be easier if we're connected. So probably one or two more deals this year and I think we're just going to be in a cadence because it really like the team did good. Like it felt good, it felt normal. Like our systems are good. Like we can, we can do this. Like we can scale on the back of M and A somewhat rapidly. I think the biggest challenge is going to be leadership. But we are on our third cohort of a leadership development. Like we've been preparing for this for 18 months. Like yeah, feels awesome that we fucking knocked it out of the park. But so yeah, I think we, we have leaders to deploy. We have, I mean the biggest downside is going to be like cash, like we have to actually buy, you know, buy these things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But yeah, I'm hope for one or two more deals this year and then I think like M and A just becomes a much more consistent part of the business. We haven't bought anything for two years and so I think it just has to be become a much more consistent part of our business. And what's been really exciting is you go into these smaller companies and there's so much Low hanging fruit because they just haven't been like, maybe they just didn't know how to do this marketing channel or they didn't know how to measure it or they didn't have the right tech stack or, or like, hey, I can save 50% on your H Vac equipment. Like, there's just so much low hanging fruit.

[A]

Yeah. I don't even take it as an insult. There is. And like, I think all of us smaller business owners know that. But it's capacity of an owner, capacity of the leadership team.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's like, hey, it's no punches to throw.

[B]

The guy's probably working 70 hours a week.

[A]

Like, how's he supposed to grinding. How are you supposed to worry about, like this one thing that's going to do 10% when there's like 10,000 fires? So it's, that's, that's what I'm excited about is it's really cool to be able to work with your great team and frees me up to focus on exactly where I want to focus on.

[B]

Yeah. Podcasting.

[A]

No, I mean, it's like we've talked about before on the podcast. Like, my main job is marketing here. Like, that's my one sole responsibility, is really focusing on that. But now that marketing is being to some extent, like, I can take another 10, 15, 20% off my workload to focus on growth initiatives and to focus on like, these really big items that can move our company forward. So, yeah, I'm really excited.

[B]

This is gonna be fucking.

[A]

This is crazy, man. Crazy. For anyone listening. I know, like, we're talking about this nonchalantly, but it's, it's, it's really cool. We're really excited. I'm, I'm pumped. Yeah, I'm smiling a lot. It's, it's been a lot. The only thing I don't like is John going around. You have to, if you sell, ever sell a John, you realize he'll, he'll just go around saying, I bought Jack. I bought Jack. I bought this person I have been

[B]

using, partnered and merged,

[A]

except with me. So this is just, this is just a me thing.

[B]

I think I've only said merch with you.

[A]

I don't know about that. I think I've heard things. Nope, nope, not for me.

[B]

I mean, the definition of what we did is a merger.

[A]

No, I know, but I think you just like to throw shade as much as you can.

[B]

So it's already started. It's already started. Well, if you want to work with us, like, shoot us a message hit up our DMs, Jack. Super relatable.

[A]

See, like that. Like, what was that?

[B]

Just, like, people DM you more than they DM me, and I'm like, why? I think you're friendlier than I am, and my takes are too harsh. Jack's kind. He's kinder than I am.

[A]

I have kind eyes.

[B]

Yeah, if you have kind eyes. But if you do live in Indiana or Kentucky or.

[A]

I mean, if you live outside of Indiana or Kentucky, though, and. Maybe I still say, have the conversation with me or John. Just for funsies. Just for funsies.

[B]

Cool. Thanks, everybody. I'm excited to work with you, Jack.

[A]

If you like what you heard, if

[B]

you like what you heard, go to Owned and Operated dot com, and there's a contact form. You can say, hey, I want to partner with you guys. But if you like what you heard, make sure you like and submit.

[A]

Also, I think we're supposed to say May.

[B]

May 5th to the 7th. There's another breaking 5. This is our 5th or 6th one. Yeah, it's filling up now. Do bear the risk of being acquired if you go so fair.

[A]

You have to understand these are purely grooming events. John's gonna start paying you to go to these things.

[B]

These are real risks, guys. Yeah, yeah. You're gonna come, you're gonna drink the Kool Aid. You're gonna walk away a partner. It's gonna be awesome.

[A]

Yeah. No, but on a serious note, like, in terms of growth and everything, you can see it all over Twitter. You can see it from people who've gone in the past, like, dude, we're

[B]

like 120 people in.

[A]

It's so much fun. Yeah, it's so awesome. You get to meet all of us. And honestly, you walk away with. There was so much great information and a good cohort of other business owners in your field usually. So May 5th through the 7th, it's on the website.

[B]

Dot com, baby. All right, thanks, everyone.