Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Service Scout (14 day free trial): https://getservicescout.com/demo.html

This is the toughest year to close a sale in home services since 2008. Equipment costs more than ever, credit is tighter, and the customers calling for a replacement are the hardest ones to sell. The problem usually is not your leads. It is what happens when your technician walks in the door.

In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch sit down with Justin Riley, CEO and founder of UpFrog, for a straight read on the 2026 home services market and how the best companies are still closing jobs hand over fist.

Justin breaks down why likability now beats price, why repair and maintenance calls are the easier win this year, how to lead with the right financing so a customer with tough credit still says yes, and the new tool he built, Service Scout, that briefs your tech on the home, the buyer, and the strategy in 90 seconds before every call.

If close rate is where your money leaks this year, this one is the fix.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Upfrog, one of our show partners. Fitting, since today's guest is Upfrog's founder. Upfrog turns paid ad spend into booked, sold system replacements instead of wasted leads. Learn more at upfrog.com.

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Raise Your Close Rate by Listening for 90 Seconds
3:01 – From HVAC Apprentice to Founding UpFrog
7:11 – The State of the 2026 Market: Toughest Since 2008
9:04 – Why Close Rate Is the Number One Problem This Year
11:45 – Why Customers Shop for Who They Like, Not Price
13:00 – Why Repair and Maintenance Calls Are the Easier Win
14:03 – The Average Ticket Meat Zone and the Credit Ceiling
17:01 – How Service Scout Was Born
19:12 – Inside a Service Scout Pre Appointment Intelligence Brief
23:30 – The Results: A 5 to 14% Close Rate Lift
24:12 – Leading With the Right Financing to Win Tough Credit
28:02 – Handling the Data Responsibly
31:27 – The Reporting Most Contractors Have Never Seen
33:11 – The Pricing and the ROI Math
36:53 – AI Should Make Your People Super, Not Replace Them
49:30 – The Number One Reason Close Rates Are Down

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- Why 2026 is the hardest year to close a home services sale since 2008, and where the money is actually leaking
- Why likability now beats price, and why the replacement estimate is the hardest call to win
- How a 90 second pre appointment brief can lift your close rate 5 to 14%
- How to lead with the right financing so a customer with tough credit still says yes
- What you can learn about a home before the visit, and how to use it without crossing a line
- Why the real IP of a home service business is your people, not your AI stack

THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY

UPFROG
System replacement leads from paid ads, nurtured and booked into sold jobs before your team arrives: upfrog.com

MARKETSTORM
An AI-powered advertising platform. Results vary by market, budget, and campaign configuration: https://marketstorm.ai/

CALLRAIL
CallRail's Voice Assist is a 24/7 AI voice assistant that answers every call, handles customer questions, and books jobs directly onto your calendar, all without you ever having to step away from the current job. Try Voice Assist for free today at voiceassist.com

BREEZY
Capture 25-30% more clients with Breezy AI Agents. Use code 'SBM' to book a demo and get $500 on us: https://bit.ly/4ihjXkx


PHONETAP
Your calls hold the key to growing your business. PhoneTAP gives you instant AI analysis, real customer lifetime value, and tools to coach your team. Learn more: phonetap.ai/demo

COMPANYCAM
Capture work, track job progress, and stay connected from the field to the office with photo documentation and AI tools that keep work moving. Start a free trial at https://companycam.com/

CONNECT WITH OUR HOSTS AND GUEST

Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/
Josh Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/
Justin Riley, CEO and Founder of UpFrog: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justintriley/
UpFrog: https://upfrog.com
Service Scout (14 day free trial): https://getservicescout.com/demo.html

ABOUT SERVICE BUSINESS MASTERY

Service Business Mastery helps home service owners run better, more profitable companies. Every week, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch break down the operations, technology, and leadership behind growing an HVAC, plumbing, or electrical business, with the operators actually doing the work. More at https://servicebusinessmastery.com/

Subscribe on YouTube and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. If this one helped, share it with an owner who needs it.

#ServiceBusinessMastery #HomeServices #HVAC #HVACSales #CloseRate

Most companies do not last. A huge share of the biggest names in the world vanish within a few decades. The Smith & Oby Company has been running since 1898. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch sit down with Jake Wattenbarger, president of Smith & Oby, a Foundral brand, a Cleveland mechanical contractor that has stayed relevant for 125 years by reading the market before it forces the issue, and by building systems and a culture that outlast any one person. Jake spent nearly a decade as an Army logistics officer before the trades, and it shows. He gets into why you never cross the finish line, how to build a business you can hand down instead of sell off, why you do not have to sell to make real money, and how culture and a talent pipeline keep a union shop winning the big jobs. If you want to build a trades business that lasts for generations, not just one you flip, this is the blueprint. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Upfrog, one of our show partners. Upfrog turns paid ad spend into booked, sold system replacements instead of wasted leads. Learn more at upfrog.com. CHAPTERS 0:00 – Why You Never Cross the Finish Line 2:33 – From Combat Engineer to Mechanical Contractor 4:19 – Logistics Before Tactics: Structure and Accountability 8:28 – Advice for Anyone Starting Their Own Business 11:04 – Still Standing Since 1898: A 125 Year Old Contractor 12:47 – You Don't Have to Sell Your Business to Make Money 14:05 – The 40 Year Employees Behind a Lasting Company 15:15 – Recruiting Into the Commercial Trades and the Union Hall 18:06 – Building a Talent Pipeline When the Hall Can't Keep Up 18:51 – What Union Labor Really Costs, and Why It's Worth It 22:20 – Competing on Best Value, Not Lowest Bid 26:22 – Building Culture Inside a Union Shop 29:44 – Empowering Field Leaders Who Still Turn Wrenches 34:46 – Adapt or Become Polaroid: Reading the Market Early 35:26 – Staying Ahead With VDC and Investing in the Shop 46:01 – Where to Find Jake WHAT YOU'LL LEARN - Why the best businesses never cross the finish line, and how to read the market before it pushes you out - How to build a trades business you can hand down, instead of one built only to sell - Why you do not have to sell your company to make serious money - The Army logistics mindset that runs a business: structure before action, logistics before tactics - How to build a talent pipeline when the union hall cannot fill your jobs fast enough - What union labor really costs, and why best value beats lowest bid - How to build culture in a union shop, where there is no PTO by default - How investing in your shop and technology turns into margin, not just cost THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY UPFROG System replacement leads from paid ads, nurtured and booked into sold jobs before your team arrives: upfrog.com MARKETSTORM An AI-powered advertising platform. Results vary by market, budget, and campaign configuration: https://marketstorm.ai/ CALLRAIL CallRail assigns a unique tracking number to each marketing effort, so you know which channels bring your best leads. Try it free at https://callrail.com/sbmpod. BREEZY Capture 25-30% more clients with Breezy AI Agents. Use code 'SBM' to book a demo and get $500 on us: https://getbreezyapp.com/schedule-demo?utm_source=partner_servicebusinessmastery&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=servicebusinessmastery_partnership&utm_content=youtube_video PHONETAP Your calls hold the key to growing your business. PhoneTAP gives you instant AI analysis, real customer lifetime value, and tools to coach your team. Learn more: phonetap.ai/demo COMPANYCAM Capture work, track job progress, and stay connected from the field to the office with photo documentation and AI tools that keep work moving. Start a free trial at https://companycam.com/ CONNECT WITH OUR HOSTS AND GUEST Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/ Josh Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/ Jake Wattenbarger, The Smith & Oby Company: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakewattenbarger/ | https://smithandoby.com ABOUT SERVICE BUSINESS MASTERY Service Business Mastery helps home service owners run better, more profitable companies. Every week, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch break down the operations, technology, and leadership behind growing an HVAC, plumbing, or electrical business, with the operators actually doing the work. More at https://servicebusinessmastery.com/ Want the frameworks from each episode in your inbox? Join the free Service Business Mastery newsletter: [newsletter link] Subscribe on YouTube and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. If this one helped, share it with an owner who needs it. #ServiceBusinessMastery #Trades #FamilyBusiness #MechanicalContractor #SkilledTrades

Private equity is buying up home service companies and quietly gutting the good ones, and most owners think their only options are to sell or get outspent. There is a third one.
 
In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch sit down with Zach Cooper-Vastola, co-founder of Hickory, who has bought and built home service companies across the tri-state to roughly 350 people and 80 million dollars in revenue, without ever running them from an ivory tower.
 
Zach breaks down how he keeps technicians from walking out the door after an acquisition, why he refuses to put AI on the phones with customers, how his team builds their own tools instead of renting SaaS, and the data unlock that lets two CSRs run at the scale of a 30 person team.
 
If you run a home service business and you are tired of hearing that AI just means replacing your people, this one flips the script.
 
This episode is brought to you in partnership with Upfrog, one of our show partners. Upfrog turns paid ad spend into booked, sold system replacements instead of wasted leads. Learn more at upfrog.com.
 
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
 
- How to keep your technicians from walking out the door after an acquisition
- Why changing pay structures on day one is the fastest way to lose your team
- How to read a company's real culture by walking the warehouse, before you ever see the financials
- What buy and build owners look for that a private equity roll up ignores
- How to underwrite an early stage AI vendor before you bet six figures on it
- Why building your own tools can beat renting SaaS once you hit scale
- How making the humans super with data beats putting AI on the phones
- The data unlock that lets two CSRs run at the scale of a 30 person team
 
THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY
 
UPFROG
System replacement leads from paid ads, nurtured and booked into sold jobs before your team arrives: upfrog.com
 
MARKETSTORM
An AI-powered advertising platform. Results vary by market, budget, and campaign configuration: https://marketstorm.ai/ 
 
CALLRAIL
CallRail assigns a unique tracking number to each marketing effort, so you know which channels bring your best leads. Try it free at https://callrail.com/sbmpod.
 
BREEZY
Capture 25-30% more clients with Breezy AI Agents. Use code 'SBM' to book a demo and get $500 on us: https://getbreezyapp.com/schedule-demo 
 
PHONETAP
Your calls hold the key to growing your business. PhoneTAP gives you instant AI analysis, real customer lifetime value, and tools to coach your team. Learn more: phonetap.ai/demo
 
COMPANYCAM
Capture work, track job progress, and stay connected from the field to the office with photo documentation and AI tools that keep work moving. Start a free trial at https://companycam.com/
 
CONNECT WITH OUR HOSTS AND GUEST
 
Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/
Josh Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/
Zach Cooper-Vastola, Hickory: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-c-8b881969/ 
 
ABOUT SERVICE BUSINESS MASTERY
 
Service Business Mastery helps home service owners run better, more profitable companies. Every week, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch break down the operations, technology, and leadership behind growing an HVAC, plumbing, or electrical business, with the operators actually doing the work. More at https://servicebusinessmastery.com/ 
 
Subscribe on YouTube and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. If this one helped, share it with an owner who needs it.
 
#ServiceBusinessMastery #HomeServices #PrivateEquity #HVACBusiness #AIforContractors

Most home service businesses keep just 5 to 12% net profit, and most owners have no idea that is where they are. The best run HVAC, plumbing, and electrical shops keep 20%, and the gap almost always comes down to a few fixable mistakes. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch sit down with Matthew Mooney and Raymond Gong of Profitability Partners, a fractional CFO firm that spent years on the private equity side of the table and now helps owners find the profit already hiding in their business. They break down the real gross profit benchmarks for every trade, the labor and pricing mistakes that make your P&L lie to you, why fixing your booking rate beats spending more on ads, and how one plumbing company cut 3 million dollars a year in overhead in six months. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Upfrog, one of our show partners. Upfrog turns paid ad spend into booked, sold system replacements instead of wasted leads. Learn more at upfrog.com. CHAPTERS 0:00 – The 20% Net Margin Most Contractors Never Hit 3:49 – Meet Profitability Partners: Fractional CFOs From Private Equity 7:54 – What Private Equity Looks For in an Undervalued Business 11:00 – Gross Profit Benchmarks by Trade: HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical 15:56 – The Fully Loaded Labor Mistake That Hides Your Real Margin 18:16 – The What Is Everyone Charging Trap and the Discount Price Book 20:24 – Why Discounting Costs You More Than Spending on Ads 23:36 – Fix Your Booking Rate Before You Spend a Dollar on Marketing 27:47 – What Separates a 12% Company From a 20% Company 29:55 – Switching to Commission Pay Without Losing Your Techs 36:41 – Where AI Actually Helps a 5 to 30 Million Dollar Contractor 39:12 – The Overhead Trap: Unused Software and Oversized Leases 41:56 – Case Study: Cutting 3 Million Dollars a Year in Six Months 48:22 – The Exit Math That Turns 200K Saved Into 2 Million 52:15 – The 1% Booking Rate Worth 3 Million, and Why Your CRM Lies 55:33 – Where to Find Matthew and Raymond WHAT YOU'LL LEARN - The real gross profit benchmarks by trade, and why a 50% GP can secretly be sub 40 once labor is fully loaded - Why 20% net profit is realistic, and the mistakes keeping most shops at 5 to 12% - How discounting quietly wrecks your margin, and why 2 to 3% more on ads beats 10% off the price - Why booking rate is the first thing to fix before spending another dollar on marketing - How one plumbing company cut 3 million dollars a year in overhead in six months - The exit math that turns a 200,000 dollar expense cut into 2 million more at the sale THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY UPFROG System replacement leads from paid ads, nurtured and booked into sold jobs before your team arrives: upfrog.com

BREEZY About 30 percent of inbound calls in home services go unanswered, and those are customers ready to book with whoever picks up first. Breezy puts AI agents on every call, books the job, and follows up instantly, so you wake up to booked jobs instead of missed calls. See how many jobs you are losing at https://getbreezyapp.com and use code SBM for 500 dollars toward Breezy. MARKET STORM Market Storm uses AI to catch early buyer intent and put your brand in front of homeowners before they ever search. Visit https://marketstorm.ai or text 213-575-5448. CALLRAIL CallRail assigns a unique tracking number to each marketing effort, so you know which channels bring your best leads. Try it free at https://callrail.com/sbmpod. PHONETAP Your calls hold the key to growing your business. PhoneTAP gives you instant AI analysis, real customer lifetime value, and tools to coach your team. Learn more: phonetap.ai/demo COMPANYCAM Capture work, track job progress, and stay connected from the field to the office with photo documentation and AI tools that keep work moving. Start a free trial at https://companycam.com/ CONNECT WITH OUR HOSTS AND GUEST Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/ Josh Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/ Matthew Mooney (Profitability Partners): https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-mooney-54b09047/ Raymond Gong (Profitability Partners): https://www.linkedin.com/in/gongraymond/ ARTICLES WORTH READING HVAC profit margin benchmarks: https://profitabilitypartners.io/hvac-profit-margins/ Plumbing profit margin benchmarks: https://profitabilitypartners.io/plumbing-profit-margins/ ABOUT SERVICE BUSINESS MASTERY Service Business Mastery helps home service owners run better, more profitable companies. Every week, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch break down the operations, technology, and leadership behind growing an HVAC, plumbing, or electrical business, with the operators actually doing the work. More at https://servicebusinessmastery.com/ Want the frameworks from each episode in your inbox? Join the free Service Business Mastery newsletter: https://servicebusinessmastery.com/ Subscribe on YouTube and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. If this one helped, share it with an owner who needs it. #ServiceBusinessMastery #HomeServices #ContractorProfit #HVACBusiness #FractionalCFO

AI is not coming for your techs. It is coming for the busywork, the missed calls, and the guesswork that quietly eats your margin.

In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Chris Plunkett, a Tucson HVAC owner who has been in the trade since he was eight years old, to talk about what using AI in an HVAC business actually looks like day to day.

They get into how Chris turned home inspections from a loss leader into one of his highest paying jobs, why his AI voice agent books calls so well that customers swear they were talking to a person, and the simple pay change that made after hours emergencies fair to his technicians again.

If you run an HVAC, plumbing, or electrical company and you are tired of AI hype with nothing to show for it, this one is built for you.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Breezy, the AI voice agent Chris uses for his after hours and overflow calls. See how many calls you are missing at https://getbreezyapp.com and use code SBM for 500 dollars toward Breezy.

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Why AI Won't Replace HVAC Techs
1:45 – Welcome to Service Business Mastery
2:37 – Fix Your Processes Before You Automate Anything
3:44 – Meet Chris Plunkett: From 8 Year Old Tech to HVAC Owner
7:33 – Where Chris Actually Uses AI in His HVAC Business
8:21 – Letter Grade Diagnostics Customers Understand
10:28 – The Real Way AI Is Changing the Trades
11:49 – Turning Home Inspections Into a High Ticket Profit Center
15:37 – Presenting Diagnostics So Customers Say Yes
18:04 – AI Voice Agents for After Hours and Overflow Calls
20:31 – The Call Nobody Could Tell Was AI
27:07 – Trigger Words and On Call Routing That Keep Owners Out of the Mix
29:41 – The Late Night Call Policy That Protects Your Techs
32:06 – Why Emergency Rate Beats After Hours Rate
35:02 – Nobody Wants to Work for YOU: Hiring the Next Generation
37:32 – Trade Culture, Mentorship, and Bringing Young Techs In
46:24 – Where to Find Chris and His Whiskey Side Hustle

ABOUT SERVICE BUSINESS MASTERY

Service Business Mastery is where home service owners come to run better, more profitable companies. Every week, Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch talk through the real operations, technology, and leadership decisions behind growing an HVAC, plumbing, or electrical business, with the operators and experts actually doing the work.

More episodes and resources:

https://servicebusinessmastery.com/
https://linkin.bio/servicebusinessmasterypodcast   

THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY

BREEZY
About 30 percent of inbound calls in home services go unanswered, and those are customers ready to book with whoever picks up first. Breezy puts AI agents on every call, books the job, and follows up instantly, so you wake up to booked jobs instead of missed calls.
See how many jobs you are losing right now at https://getbreezyapp.com and use code SBM for 500 dollars toward Breezy.

UPFROG
Upfrog is the OG of pricing transparency online. They find hard to reach system replacement leads through paid ads, then nurture and book them into sold systems before your team even arrives.
Learn more: upfrog.com

MARKET STORM
Market Storm works with home service companies across the country, using AI to catch early buyer intent and put your brand in front of homeowners before they ever search. So when they do search, your name already feels familiar.
Visit https://marketstorm.ai/

CALLRAIL
CallRail assigns a unique tracking number to each of your marketing efforts, so you know exactly which channels bring your best leads and which ones to cut.
Try it free at https://callrail.com/sbmpod.

PHONETAP
Your calls hold the key to growing your business. PhoneTAP gives you instant AI analysis, real customer lifetime value, and tools to coach your team. Learn more: phonetap.ai/demo 

COMPANYCAM
Capture work, track job progress, and stay connected from the field to the office with photo documentation and AI tools that keep work moving. Start a free trial at: https://companycam.com/

CONNECT WITH OUR HOSTS AND GUEST

Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/
Josh Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/
Chris Plunkett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-plunkett-11613385/

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

Subscribe on YouTube and follow Service Business Mastery on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If this one helped, share it with an owner who needs to hear it.

#ServiceBusinessMastery #HVAC #AIinTheTrades #HomeServices #HVACBusiness