Podcast Summary

Podcast: Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Episode Title: How Home Service Founders Build $50M Companies Without PE Using Smart Hiring with Sammy Ayoub
Host(s): Tersh Blissett, Josh Crouch
Guest: Sammy Ayoub (Apex)
Date: October 29, 2025

Overview

This episode features Sammy Ayoub, founder of Apex, an explosive $50M growth home services business in Columbus, Ohio. Hosts Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch dive into Sammy's unconventional journey into HVAC, plumbing, and electrical trades, focusing on organic growth without private equity, smart hiring, scaling operations, and leadership culture. Packed with candid insights, the episode is a treasure trove for those aiming for rapid, sustainable growth in the skilled trades.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sammy’s Backstory & Path to Home Services ([04:03]–[08:08])

• Entrepreneurial Roots:
  • Never worked for anyone else; built a legacy in wireless retail, scaling from scratch to 250+ stores and 750 employees before shifting focus post-COVID.
• Entering Home Services:
  • Considered various industries, selected plumbing/home services for perceived “pandemic/recession/tech-proof” nature and scalability.
  • Chose to build from the ground up to set the culture and systems right from day one.

Quote:

"I proudly say I've never been employed in my life. ...I wanted to try something different; started to slow... I really wanted to do something from the ground up so you could do it the right way and implement your policies, procedures, your brand, your culture and all of that stuff."
— Sammy, [04:03]

2. Growth Trajectory & Trade Expansion ([08:12]–[10:28])

• Timeline:
  • 2021: Started plumbing with three trucks; soon added excavation.
  • 2023: Introduced HVAC.
  • 2024: Added electrical.
  • 2025: Opened first expansion branch in Dayton, OH.
• Growth Reflections:
  • Admits luck and timing played a role; couldn't easily replicate the exact journey.
  • Variety and change keep momentum; admits to some ADHD in always looking for the next move.

3. Multi-Trade Integration: Challenges & Solutions ([10:28]–[13:17])

• Initial Advantages:
  • Leveraged tech background for early wins (inventory, warehouse systems).
• Unexpected Complexity:
  • Underestimated the realities: called it not just opening a service business, but “a call center, logistics company, warehouse, fleet manager, and uniform company—all at once.”
• Advice:
  • Emphasizes “just figure it out as a team”—no magic formulas.
  • Early partnerships and mentors helped, especially for HVAC.

Quote:

"I thought I was opening an appointment company. I didn't realize I was opening a call center. I didn't understand I was opening a logistics, a warehouse... There were 10 other businesses that I didn't realize I was opening."
— Sammy, [10:54]

4. Trade-by-Trade: What’s the Hardest? ([13:20]–[16:20])

• Plumbing:
  • Staff are a “special breed” but business tends to “hum along.”
• Electrical:
  • Similar to plumbing in terms of business rhythm.
• HVAC:
  • The most challenging: highly seasonal, complex processes, heavy reliance on weather, and major call center dependencies.

Quote:

"When we're talking about people, HVAC guys are probably the easiest from the human perspective. The business side of HVAC, it's a different business to manage... If you're not prepared for HVAC, you're like..."
— Sammy, [13:55]

• Initial HVAC efforts benefited from a competitor's collapse (PE-backed implosion), absorbing experienced staff, but real challenges appeared during market “shoulder seasons.”

5. Call Center and Proactiveness ([16:20]–[21:44])

• Critical Points:
  • HVAC success hinges on aggressive, proactive call centers and club/membership models.
  • Outbound calling is essential during slow seasons.
• Club/Membership Programs:
  • Fast-track for customer retention and steady work; a must for HVAC, but less so for plumbing/electrical.
• Call Center as 'Make or Break':
  • Underestimated in the beginning, later identified as pivotal to the business.
  • Owner took personal responsibility for call and dispatch.

Quote:

"The call center, in plumbing, you're booking calls, right? You don't have that seasonality. With HVAC you have to be proactive... If you don't have tune-ups, you got technicians sitting around... The call center will either make you or break you."
— Sammy, [19:41]

6. Smart Hiring & Culture Setting ([21:44]–[34:49])

• Hands-On Recruiting:
  • Sammy personally hired the first 110 employees, viewing recruiting as a sales role, not HR.
  • Prioritized culture and vision alignment over pure skills.
• Learning Through Interviewing:
  • Used hiring interviews to learn the market, competition, and employee pain points.
• Keeping It Real:
  • Maintains authenticity—cautions not to “oversell” the company or create false expectations.
  • Regular onboarding and all-hands meetings reinforce culture, with policies like “no stick up your ass” and open door for all.

Quote:

"Recruiting is a sales position. It's not an HR position... I was out there, you know, selling, hustling, doing a tour of the shop. ...I wanted to make sure that was somebody I thought would fit in, that fit the mold."
— Sammy, [22:16]

Memorable Company Policy:

"We have two management policies... No stick up your ass policy... The other one is an open door policy."
— Sammy, [29:47]

7. Dealing with Culture Killers & Problem Employees ([34:49]–[45:32])

• Red Lines:
  • Draws a clear distinction between performance issues (coachable) and “cancerous” culture issues (zero tolerance for those infecting the team).
• Processes:
  • Weekly company meetings, open reporting, and visibility to weed out negative influences.
  • Promotes a positive, peer-accountable environment (e.g., family events, wellness, perks).

Quote:

"You will either fit in or quickly fit out of Apex. So those cancerous people or those people with bad attitudes... the technicians in dispatch and the call center and accounting or warehouse, they're all already chirping about that person."
— Sammy, [34:49]

8. Operational Change Management ([45:38]–[48:17])

• Adding New Divisions:
  • Importance of live, continuously-evolving procedures and operations manuals.
  • Every function needs clarity on expectations, KPIs, and workflows.
  • "Inspect what you expect"—don’t set and forget.

9. Branding, Marketing, and Scaling Without PE ([48:38]–[64:48])

• Branding:
  • Branded/wrapped trucks from day one; huge local visibility.
• Marketing Spend:
  • Strongly refutes formulaic % of revenue approaches to marketing.
  • Encourages aggressive, goal-aligned investment—sometimes up to 20%+ for high-growth targets.
• Key to Explosive Growth:
  • Relentless marketing + building a great team + flawless execution.
  • Don’t fall for “secrets” or shortcuts; it's all about hard work and hustle.

Quote:

"Nobody...somebody asked me, how do you grow, bro? Hard work, hustle. There’s no magic pill, buddy...The secret is years of hard work and hustle."
— Sammy, [50:53 & 52:11]

• Scaling Advice:
  • Growth isn't for everyone; be honest about your desires, risk tolerance, and skills.
  • Success does not happen overnight; “be patient, grow over time.”
  • If you want “visionary” freedom, you must grind it out first—can’t outsource the key early years.

10. Personal Growth, Learning, and Work-Life Balance ([60:05]–[64:48])

• Continuous Learning:
  • Prioritizes shop tours, podcasts, books, and mentorship—urges others to “be a student of the game.”
  • "If you don’t have time to learn, you’re probably not serious about being elite."
• Work & Hobbies:
  • Treats work as a hobby; relishes the “second shift” (self-development after hours).
  • Family, sports, and cars fill his cup—but willing to sacrifice hobbies for business growth when needed.
• On Visionaries:
  • All legendary skilled trade leaders put in the early work themselves; there’s no hands-off shortcut.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "Apex is a conglomerate of a whole bunch of good ideas from everywhere else...Let plumbers plumb, HVAC guys do HVAC, electricians do electric, and I focus on trying to run a business." — Sammy, [26:26]
• "Growth isn’t for everybody. And let me be frank, growth is not easy and everybody cannot do it. I don't give a damn how hard you try to do it, it's just not that easy." — Sammy, [56:32]
• "The secret is years of hard work and hustle and marketing and growth don’t happen by accident." — Sammy, [52:11]
• "Don’t ever ask somebody what percentage of marketing you should be spending unless they ask you 20 other questions first." — Sammy, [53:23]
• "If you think you can hire somebody who's going to do it for you, guarantee you if that person was that good, they'd be doing it for themselves." — Sammy, [64:04]

Memorable Moments / Advice

• On learning from shop tours vs. conferences:
  "I don't go visit a hundred shops...I visited five to ten that matched where I wanted to go." ([60:41])
• On personal sacrifice:
  "The guys and gals that are most successful are willing to put their hobbies aside for a short period during the growth stage. Business isn't going to grow without you being involved." ([63:38]–[63:50])
• On cultural enforcement:
  "Your culture is what's walking around your building...not what's written on the wall." ([32:52], paraphrased)

Key Takeaways for Listeners

• Explosive growth in the trades is possible—without private equity—through relentless hard work, smart hiring, an adaptive culture, and fearless investment (in people, marketing, and self-development).
• Smart hiring is a sales job: recruit for vision, culture, and potential, especially early on.
• Don’t expect to skip the grind—true leaders are in the trenches from day one.
• Build robust, living operational systems; inspect what you expect, and evolve with scale.
• Regularly reinforce culture through structure (meetings, policies, team events) and be ruthless with cultural detractors.
• There’s no “magic pill”—hard work and intentional execution are the true secrets.

For more info, visit: servicebusinessmastery.com

If you loved this summary, consider listening to the full episode for even more context-rich advice and entertaining, candid stories.