Julian Placino: 0:00

Welcome to the Home Services Success Stories podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business. And on the show today, we have Tony Enger with Harrison Electric. Tony, how are you? I'm doing great. It's great to have you on and to dig into your business and learn more about your story. So uh, well, Tony, just kind of start from the beginning. Share a bit about the founding story of Harrison and tell us now about your role with your organization.

Speaker: 0:29

Oh, sure. Um, we're a little bit different than most. Um we started as the it was Mike Harrison that started founded this company. At the time, he was working for another heating company or another electric company, excuse me, um, and had an opportunity. Uh he was juggling like regular construction projects, electrical construction projects, and working with the H H VAC industry doing like furnaces and air conditioner reconnects. Um, a lot of times he was getting pulled away from reconnecting someone's furnace, leaving them you know cold for a few days. Um, and the heating companies finally got fed up with it and said, Hey, why don't you start your own company and like they'll join together and they will support him as a as his own entity. So it was kind of interesting that way. I mean, he had a lot of depth in the industry. Um and for several years that worked really good. Um, but at some point, uh, you know, you grow so much, you add electricians, you add apprentices, trucks, and all that kind of stuff. And all of a sudden they were finding uh he was finding himself um in the off season not having any work for anybody. So it was, you know, in in our state, you do a lot of furnaces in the winter and a lot of air conditioning in the summer, but your fall and spring are pretty mellow and there's not a lot of demand. So he was finding um uh a different way to fill those voids, and that's what brought me into the company essentially. I mean, a little bit later than I mean, they started dealing with that earlier on, but I got into it and that was part of it. Um, and then uh because that cyclical thing, uh it's like ever they tried to add a lot of different things working with homeowners, working with contractors, working with um in in different types of industries with industrial type work or spray bake booths and stuff like that, uh, that kind of slid out along the side of the HVAC industry, HVAC industry. Um what we found um, or when I got involved, I got involved in 1996, so about 11 years after founding. Um when we got to the late 90s, the the HVAC industry was changing, and we adapted to that as well. Um, where we were kind of being pushed out as the industry was kind of consolidating, and they were putting all the heating companies together, and they were using one or two electricians or bringing them in-house. So we found ourselves not having the uh ability of doing that work as much, so we kind of expanded and did a lot more of the other types of work.

Julian Placino: 3:09

Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. So so tell us a bit about your role with your organization. What's your day-to-day like?

Speaker: 3:16

Um, right now it's putting out fires, just making sure everything else goes as smoothly as possible. If it's a uh um uh truck that's down trying to figure out a way to make sure that we have uh our electrician in a new truck or a different truck, a spare vehicle, so we can get that truck fixed while he doesn't uh have any downtime on his time, and then we're also satisfying the customers' needs as well. Um, other than that, we get into the the um the resources, what people need, the benefit side of stuff, and it's always interesting because one guy might need a um a different type of insurance, and someone else might need something with a little more insurance. So we're always trying to balance what our employees need, uh what we can offer to them. So we're always trying to find that. And then recently it's been just working with um our lead generation companies that have, you know, that whole industry is changing. That's part of the reason that we're working with Peaksy. So we're just trying to find ways to be ahead of the game instead of uh two or three steps behind it.

Julian Placino: 4:26

Gotcha, gotcha. I I'm curious, Tony. You've been in in the industry for a long time. What is it that you love most about what you do today?

Speaker: 4:36

Really, is actually reading the reviews from customers. Uh finding out how we're doing, because that really is the nuts and bolts of what makes my life tick is when the customers say, uh, so and so was out, they did such a great job, you know, whatever the circumstance is, but it just reading the reviews is actually what keeps me going. That customers know that they're getting taken care of, and I know that our guys are taking care of our customers.

Julian Placino: 5:02

So delivering great customer service, receiving that feedback, knowing that you're making an impact for your customers.

Speaker: 5:07

Exactly.

Julian Placino: 5:08

Yeah. Well, I know that uh it's said that Harrison has over a hundred years of combined experience. So, how is that actually calculated and what type of legacy does that have? And how does that translate into the service that you provide?

Speaker: 5:22

Certainly. Yep. Uh we we actually have way more than uh way more than that. Closer to 200 years, we don't really count. But uh, like I said, Mike Harrison is still part of our business, he's still a part owner. We still rely on him on occasion for doing this, that, and the other thing. Uh, he he alone has over 50 years. I mean, he started the company. Well, he started the company over 40 years ago, so he has a lot more experience than that. Uh, the um I have over 35 years experience. I've had my master license for over 27. Uh, John Harrison has over 42. We have electricians that are second generation that they worked with alongside their fathers in this industry and then came to work for us. Um, so they grew up literally with the diapers on and a screwdriver in hand, ready to do the work, right? So those guys are, you know, 50 years plus. Uh some of our younger guys are like 15, uh, 10, 15, 20-year guys. So everybody has experiences. We all have different experiences, which is wonderful. Um, so when you add up all those years, I don't even know what it comes to, but a lot, but it keeps a lot of the uh information, the trade knowledge in-house. So we're able to rely on each other, you know. So if someone sees something that they haven't seen before or don't remember what it was that we needed to do in a certain instance or certain panel or a certain uh brand of lighting, uh, we're able to draw on each other and ask questions like, hey, did you see this before? How did you handle this situation with this type of uh scenario?

Julian Placino: 7:06

So there really is a depth and a breadth of expertise, and I like how you can kind of lean on each other and tap in each other's wisdom uh based on kind of the variation of jobs that you're presented with. So I think that's really great.

Speaker: 7:17

Yeah. Um and the cool thing is that it's not just the electrical side either. Um, you know, we've worked in every type of building possible over the years. Uh every type of when you get into home construction from the traditional, you know, two by four, two by six stick framing. We also worked in houses that have balloon framing, uh structural insulated panels, insulated concrete forms, manufactured homes, um, everything in between. So we have experience not just on the electric side, but how the electric goes together in a house of a certain age, you know, something from 1800 and you know, 1880 or something like that. We've been in that house. We've been in the house from the 40s, we've been in the house from the 60s. So we can share with each other how you get a wire fished in or how you install a bath fan, you know, something like that.

Julian Placino: 8:06

Gotcha. And um, I know that you emphasize very much safety and code compliance. So can you share a moment when that focus really made a difference for one of your customers?

Speaker: 8:17

Yeah, and I can almost still taste the smoke in my mouth and in my nose. Um, we had a we were working on a uh a home where another contractor had bailed out on these people, and they'd done an extensive remodel or extensive um work on the house, uh, electrical work, and come to find out that they weren't licensed and didn't pull permits, anything like that. Um I'm not exactly sure how we got involved, but one of the first things we did was we installed arc fault protection, arc fault circuit breakers on those on the circuits that they installed. And it wasn't more than a few days after we were involved with this project that the homeowners called us and said, Hey, this circuit isn't working, only to find out that the home that the the um uh other electrician had used a lot of shortcuts and installed boxes incorrectly and actually drilled um a screw into into one of the wires that was actually arcing inside the wall. Uh, we definitely prevented a fire um from that situation. And other things, um, you know, so that saved their house. It's you know, who knows what could have happened had we not been involved. But it's just something that your regular circuit breakers won't even uh identify, they won't see it as an issue. And the arc fault breaker in this case uh saved them from having that fire happen. Um, you know, there's many thousands of fires that happen annually in houses that arc fault protection actually prevents. Um beyond that, it's uh GFIs, um, smoke detectors, uh, carbon monoxide detectors, they all play a good um uh a purpose in minimizing hazards, um, also giving early warnings if there is something that's happening, and it gives you know homeowners peace of mind that they can sleep well at night.

Julian Placino: 10:14

So truly mission critical safety. And and again, you homeowners, you're dealing with their most prized asset, which is the the dwelling place, right? So possibility must be must be key in in service delivery. So and and you also put your money where your mouth is, and you offer what I think is the most bold guarantee, which is a hundred percent satisfaction or your money back guarantee. So, why is it important to make such a bold promise?

Speaker: 10:42

Yeah, um we aim, you know, our goal is 100% satisfaction or money back um guarantee. What that means is our guys, we, our guys, our our people, everybody that works here, uh demonstrates that there's a genuine, genuine confidence in that the quality of work and the service that we provide for the homeowner and bring them peace of mind. Um it just helps to reassure the clients that the um that they're not having to take a risk when hiring us. Um anybody else, it's like, you know, pay me or I'd you know take the electric panel off your house. We're like, nope, we don't want to get paid till the end. And in fact, we won't we won't won't get paid until you're satisfied. So we want to make sure that everything's working, that we've done our job, and that you're satisfied. Uh it goes beyond that, but it covers the fact that our electricians uh we background screen them and we drug test them, and that's for the client's safety, for their family, to make sure everybody's uh safe. Um, another background check we just just literally did two days ago um was through Google. Um we're and it google came back and said, well, in most cases, most companies that we screen, it takes up to three weeks to to validate your information to check all the backgrounds on all your your electricians and all the owners of the company. It came back in 24 hours, and Google was like, Hey, good job. Well, you know, you you get the Google badge uh right now because very seldom does a company actually that happen to.

Julian Placino: 12:19

Yeah. Well, I I love how you can just instantly build trust that way. Like you said, you take the risk out of hiring Harrison Electric for the job, right? Because it's a hundred percent satisfaction or money back guarantee. So you mentioned also and you and you have it in writing, right? Okay, there you go. So so you mentioned that um, you know, your people are a big distinguishing point, the depth and breadth of experience and also training and professionalism. Um, but you've also got hundreds of five-star reviews from organizations like a Better Business Bureau, Home Advisor. So there's like a customer satisfaction element. So outside of the technical expertise of your team, what do you accredit to receiving such great customer reviews and feedback?

Speaker: 13:06

Uh it's honestly, it's our people and our dedication to the customer in a nutshell. Um, getting hundreds of the five-star reviews uh recognition, you know, the Better Business Bureau. Um, we've been a member of the Better Business Bureau, an accredited member. In fact, we um were um celebrated a milestone last year of being the 20 a 25 consecutive year member of the of an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau. Very few companies even get to that point. Um, you know, most of them, if they survive that long, aren't aren't members of the Better Business Bureau that long. Uh they aren't definitely don't have the accreditation that we do. Um it's not a result of just you know, it's systems, it's but communication, you know, our pricing or communication with the customer about pricing and what's going on, putting the customers' needs uh first for them, delivering the excellent workmanship every single time. And if we make a mistake, we're going back to take care of it.

Julian Placino: 14:11

Yeah, you know, so uh when you think about a review, that is like the end product of a lot of things having to work together. It's the technical expertise, it's the customer service aspect, it's the entire end-to-end process. So congrats on all of that success. Well, thank you. Um I know there's also an interesting thing, you and I think it's it's copyrighted. It says warehouse on wheels, right? So explain to us what is the warehouse on wheel concept and how does that change the customer experience?

Speaker: 14:38

Well, it's we have 10 10 warehouses on wheels. Um, it's a concept, it it just helps to prevent or helps to make the downtime for the customer, minimize that, help the frustration factor bring it way down. Um, by turning each service vehicle we have is a fully stocked mobile warehouse. It means all of our electricians arrive at the home uh with the most of the inventory that they need to take care of the the uh the need the customers need that same day at the same time. Um we have it right on the truck when we bring it out there. So instead of having customers wait for parts to be delivered or rescheduling their job and asking them to take more time off of work, um, an electrician can complete the job on the first visit, the single, the first visit or a single visit reduces the the delays and the inconvenience to the customer. It prioritize, you know, it helps us prioritize just taking care of the customer efficiently uh and conveniently. And it allows a technician to be a one-stop shop without having to worry about having someone else take care of some some other part of this the solution, you know, getting them parts, if you will. Uh for customers, they love it because it uh offers the fat quick and fast resolution and trans, you know, transparent service. Um a review from just like a week ago came from Linda B. And uh uh in the review, she said uh let's see here, John was knowledgeable, professional, and friendly. He communicated with us in every step of the way, explaining his recommendations and related costs. He successfully identified how and fixed anything that needed attention and installed a new charger for my EV vehicle. I love that Harrison trucks are fully stocked so that there's no time-consuming trips to get parts or supplies. Everything was done on a professional, timely manner at a fair price. I can't ask for more than that. I love it.

Julian Placino: 16:42

I love it. It is, it it essentially kind of ensures that the service will be done with high quality and done quickly. And being a homeowner and having just actually recently had not a great experience with a plumbing company, you you kind of you want it done quickly and you want it done, you want it done quality and you want it done quickly, but having all the parts and everything, it's like that full service um uh of of the delivery, it's right there. So you can truly be a one-stop shop. But I think that's really great.

Speaker: 17:10

Well, thank you.

Julian Placino: 17:11

Absolutely. So, well, you you mentioned Peakzi earlier. The the podcast is brought to you by Peakzi. So tell us what in your experience is Peakzi?

Speaker: 17:22

Um to us, it's a curiosity, it's it's something of interest. Uh, by partnering with Peakzi, uh, we're finding different ways to do marketing. We're finding different ways to engage with customers, we're finding different ways to engage with with um potential employees. Uh, it's it's interesting. We're also finding ways for different operations, like they can help us forecast what's going to be relevant in two, three months out as far as what a customer what customer demand sees. And we see where we rank in the market as well. Um it's also putting together um working towards a future, excuse me, of what marketing could be um in three, six months or just a few years down the line. Um it's kind of an unknown uh with what's going on with marketing. Um I go back to the phone book days, so and most people now don't even know what a phone book is. Uh, but Peakzi, you know, and Peakzi is gonna help us get us to the next level.

Julian Placino: 18:27

So I heard marketing, I heard operations, and I think you mentioned a bit about insight. So what would you say has been the most measurable positive outcome in your business by using Peakzi?

Speaker: 18:39

You know, the one thing that was really interesting was when we started using it to show employees what their overall score is in the community. Uh, it scores all the technicians in our area, and I think there's I want to say 1,700 technicians that are in heating, plumbing, and electric. And it scores them on what customers are saying about them.

Julian Placino: 19:04

Interesting.

Speaker: 19:05

That was an interesting um way to use that tool.

Julian Placino: 19:10

Interesting. It's kind of like a global leaderboard, right? Like you know where you stand based on real legit feedback. And I imagine that as like a great like training and development tool as well for your people. Yes.

Speaker: 19:24

Yeah. Yep. Yeah, good. And and we it it comes out about every three or four months, you know, just because doing day-to-day would be kind of a little bit monotonous. But every three to four months we get an update of hey, this is where everybody in your your crew is scoring against everybody else, against 120, I believe it's 128 companies that we're scoring against, and this is where you rank, and this is what customers are saying about you. What's good and what's bad.

Julian Placino: 19:51

Gotcha. Really interesting insights. Anything else about C before we uh move on and and uh and kind of close out the conversation?

Speaker: 20:00

Uh, you know, they're helping us, kind of just being on the cutting edge of, like I say, with what could be, and we're just gaining a lot of knowledge from it. So it's hard hard to explain what we're gonna get out of it, uh, because I don't think I fully even know what the capabilities are quite yet.

Julian Placino: 20:19

Yeah, and that they're always innovating and creating new things, new use cases. Uh, so it'll be really interesting to see how they continue to help the home services industry level up. So um, so Tony, finally, what is your vision for Harrison Electric? How do you see it serving the community, the future of the business? Close us out with that.

Speaker: 20:40

Um this year uh we we're celebrating our 40th uh or 40th year of serving the Twin Cities. Um looking ahead, our vision is remaining, we're gonna remain what we do. We're gonna be the trusted electrical experts for the Minneapolis uh area and surrounding communities. We embrace you know everything in the home services industry with the on the electric side. There's gonna be technologies that we haven't even heard of that are gonna be coming out that we're gonna you know make sure that we're on top of them. Um with all that, with all that, we're focused on growing by deepening what we know, um communicating to our customers, committing to the safety, the code compliance, and just continuing on to do the customer service. Um one thing that we're working on in the growth side is uh we're we're investing in our future. We're supporting our local high school and uh the school's engineering technology program. They have an electric program as part of that. I mean, it's uh and um it's part of the electric tech or it's part of the engineering technology program, and it didn't exist, uh, I don't believe it exists for more than five years at this point. But Mr. Becker, um, the instructor of that program, he's he tells us now that there's so many people wanting to get into the electric program that they have a waiting list of eager students. And that's just so fantastic because we've seen for the past 40 years of dwindling people have in interest in the uh in the electrical industry becoming electricians. So uh so investing in in our future, investing in a in in the high school, um, that aligns with our broad vision of sustained growth and community partnership. And you know, 40 years is one thing, but we want to look towards the next 40.

Julian Placino: 22:39

I love it. I love it. You're investing into like the in what's really interesting about that is that you know, just maybe five or 10 years ago, people were all about like getting corporate jobs, computer science, and all those things are still super valuable, but you now hear people talking about the trades, and they're like, that's the future, right? Tactical, it's it's like like emergency essential services, that kind of thing. So it's cool that you're kind of bringing that uh to to full full circle and fruition and investing in the community. That's awesome. Yeah, well, um, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Speaker: 23:11

Oh no, that's it's it's just part of what we do. It's it's just one of the fun things when you when you see people that are coming out of that program, they're like, you know, we're there for a day or whatever, helping the program out for maybe doing their testing labs or or just explaining what you could be or what the electrical industry is and just having the the kids' faces light up because you're not used to it because you see them, you know, with their their their faces and their you know in their tablets and their phones and their laptops and their you know, but then as soon as they start hearing what the possibilities are, they they start to perk up and they put down the electronics. And it's just like those are the kids we need.

Julian Placino: 23:52

That's awesome. You are literally inspiring the future leaders of home services, and that's really cool to think about. Yeah, yes. Well, Tony, tell us how how what's the website, your social handles, plug all that.

Speaker: 24:05

Oh, um the website Harrison-electric.com. Uh Facebook is Facebook uh Harrison Electric Inc. And I'm not even sure what the rest of them are.

Julian Placino: 24:23

Well, we'll make sure to have those and the rest of your contact info plugs in the show notes, Tony. So uh this has been a fun conversation. Thank you so much for uh sharing your story, and we certainly wish you all the continued success.

Speaker: 24:37

Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

Julian Placino: 24:39

Absolutely, and everyone, that's all for today's episode. So thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on the Home Services Success Stories podcast, powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business.