Welcome And Meet DJ Ostrom

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. I'm Julian Placino, your host, and we have got another great show in store for you today. Because today we have DJ Ostrom Jr., who is the founder and owner of Ostrom Electrical Plumbing, Heating, and Air. DJ, welcome to the show. How are you? I'm well, Julian.

DJ Ostrom 0:24

Thank you for having me.

Julian Placino 0:26

Absolutely. Excited to learn more about you, your story, and how you became a home services leader. So, DJ, you entered the trades at 28 years old. What influenced that decision?

DJ Ostrom 0:40

Well, I really enjoyed um, I had some experience prior to that working on homes and uh doing construction work. And um I was looking for something that that I could do independently, you know, in the future, potentially grow into a business. And um I was also looking for something that you not everybody could do. In other words, you can be a licensed tradesperson and that takes some time. So that was um kind of what drove me to do that.

Julian Placino 1:11

So it was kind of a journey, even getting to that decision. So, what are some of those other things that you tried and were like, this is not for me, really trades? What did that look like?

Leaving Airlines For Independence

DJ Ostrom 1:20

Well, I I started out in the airline industry. Uh originally I was interested in being a pilot, but my vision is uh, yeah, I have an uncorrectable issue with my vision. So the likelihood of me getting hired as a pilot sort of faded away as I as I was getting out of high school making those decisions. But I was still very interested in the airline industry. So I worked in the airline industry for for several years and uh really enjoyed um, I've always enjoyed being around equipment and machines, and so that was very interesting to me.

Julian Placino 1:57

Interesting. What was your role in the airline industry?

DJ Ostrom 2:00

Yeah, well, they would they our title was fleet service, but I also worked customer service as well for a while. In other words, I worked at the ticket gammer in the gate for a while, and then I transitioned to being outside with the airplane, so anything from cargo to loading bags to catering to you know, uh just general service of an airplane. Um, and I worked in five different cities doing that. Um, I think what really drove me to make a change is that you know, I was working for a company that had 40,000 employees. Um everything was seniority-based. The skills you had really didn't transfer to any other type of job. Um and so if you left that industry, your skills didn't get you a lot of money anywhere else. And so, yeah, I was interested in um taking more control of my future, and I'd always sort of been an entrepreneur. I had lots of small businesses as a teenager, and um actually even while I was working in the airlines, I was helping other guys do construction and uh you know different things. So I just wanted to take control of my life and not be um sort of under the thumb of a big company who makes big corporate decisions. And you know, I moved like three different times because of decisions they made, not decisions I made. And so just wanted to take a control of my life.

Starting From Scratch In 1999

Julian Placino 3:38

Interesting. So it sounds like freedom and control was a big motivator behind starting your own company, and that started in 1999. Is that right? That's when you found well, yes.

DJ Ostrom 3:47

So that's when I actually formed the company and went into business. Um, that's exactly right.

Julian Placino 3:54

And what would you say was your original vision for Ostrom? What did you set out to do uniquely different than others that have gone before you in the trades?

Customer Service As The Differentiator

DJ Ostrom 4:03

Well, I've always been that's interesting. So clearly being in business, um being independent, potentially making more money than I could make at a job, you know, things like that interested me. But I think one of the things that I wanted to be different or that I valued is customer service. And so um I really have and it sounds a little weird, but I've always considered myself to be a bit of a service snob. I really not in a bad sense, but I when someone gives you good service, I really enjoy it. And even if you, you know, just stop in at a gas station, right? And the people recognize you and say hello, you know, just that sort of thing. I've always really enjoyed that. So the other thing I observed when I was learning the trade was is that a lot of contractors didn't answer the phone, didn't call back right away, said they would show up on a certain day and didn't. Um, and that was never my thing. Um, I really enjoyed being around the end user, so that's why I had opportunities in commercial construction as well, but I really liked the residential because you a lot of times they were custom homes. You met the customer, spent some time with them, gave them a great product, uh, and I enjoyed just um doing what I said I was gonna do. I would call people back, I would show up on the day I was supposed to show up on. Um, I gave extra value. So that was just something. Professionalism is another thing that has always been um I valued, right? So I I wanted to, you know, act and do as a professional would do.

Julian Placino 5:48

So it sounds like there were definitely some things you observed about the industry, professionalism, keeping your commitments that you wanted to rectify with your brand. It's interesting to hear that you are very sort of customer service obsessed. And as a matter of fact, your brand promise it says something to the effect of it's all about you. So, what exactly does that mean and how does that show up in the way that you service your customers?

DJ Ostrom 6:13

Yeah, so it goes back to just the foundation. You know, we answer the phone. If we say we're coming, we come. If something goes wrong, we fix it. Um, we try to treat the customer. Well, we do treat the customer with respect, you know, um, and then we have integrity in what we do. Um, so being on time, being in uniform, if if there's a problem, we answer the phone and come back and fix it. Um we teach uh all of our team members to uh build a relationship with the customer, spend a few minutes getting to know them and let them get to know you, um, and just do the right thing.

Pivoting From New Construction

Julian Placino 6:50

So it really is about doing the right thing in the pursuit of excellence in all things that you do and every touch point in the delivery of your service. That's great. You also mentioned there was a bit of a pivot, and I think you stopped construction, new construction around 2011. So, how did you decide on that? And how's that shaped the way that you run the business?

DJ Ostrom 7:08

Yeah. Well, we were doing we were working for a lot of builders who did new construction, and um, quite a few of them were custom home builders, so there was clients and you know, end user involved, and I really enjoyed that. Um, but I never made a lot of money doing so, and then you know, 2008-9 were terrible for new home construction, and I needed to um you know pivot somehow to keep the business going strong, and um, I had an opportunity to uh meet some folks that were doing uh you know residential service, and I started to learn a little bit from them and got interested, and so I pivoted to that. At that time, I joined Nextstar Network, and which, as many people know, is uh a best practices group that focuses on you know um contractors who do electrical plumbing, heating and air, residential service. And so I started to learn a lot about the best practices of how to run that kind of business, and it fit perfectly with what I like to do. So um, you know, we started doing that.

Julian Placino 8:27

And you started the business literally from scratch. It was you and no one else, right? There was no acquisition or anything as part of your story.

DJ Ostrom 8:33

Nope. Okay, I I worked, you know, when I learned the trade, I worked for a local contractor. It takes in Virginia, it takes about five years to get all your licenses and become a master and have a contractor's license. And when I got that, I opened my own business and it was just me. And um, you know, um a lot of people assume that you, you know, your father or somebody was in the business, and uh my father wasn't, but he did help me a lot. So, you know, on those very first jobs when I needed help, I was like, hey dad, uh, can you come help me today? And so he was there with me. But no, I started the business and um, you know, slowly, you know, started hiring people and growing the business.

Growing To Around 100 People

Julian Placino 9:17

So I gotta say that you lead a team of I think a hundred plus now. Is that correct?

DJ Ostrom 9:22

Yes, yes, right around a hundred, right around a hundred people uh today. Yeah. So 26 years in business.

Julian Placino 9:31

26 years in business, and that is incredible. So congrats on that success. The thing I do want to find out is that you know, there's some organizations that I've spoken to that are about the same age as as you are, but have decided to sort of stay smaller, right? Maybe under you know 20 employees or whatnot. But what was your secret to growth? How did you go from zero to a hundred?

DJ Ostrom 9:48

Just showing up every day. Um Well, I it's uh I need a little excitement in my life and doing the same thing over and over, it's always been a struggle for me. After after doing something for two, three, four years, it's like, okay, you know, so um I've enjoyed growing the business. I've I've enjoyed um having more team members, having a larger customer base, and and all the challenges that come with that, right? So there's there's new things to work on, new things to do. Um and so just um, I don't know, it seems like a growing business is an exciting business to me. And um, so I've never wanted to to stay the same. Even today, my goals are are different than they were a couple years ago.

Julian Placino 10:35

So it sounds like you just actually truly enjoy the process of building the business, seeing it grow, serving your customers. So there's a lot of passion in what it is that you do. So now that you've gone from like small to 100, uh how do you how do you think about company culture and what makes your team great, do you think?

DJ Ostrom 10:52

Oh well, um we we run the company around our core values. And our core values are all about um integrity, professionalism, competence. Um and so when we hire people, we try to you know understand that about them when we're hiring people. And then if they don't, you know, if they prove themselves not to be to fit those core values over time, we help them find another job. And um, you know, we just try to live that every day. It's it's not a a complex, complicated um idea. It's it's just go to work every day and do those things.

Julian Placino 11:40

And did what does your interview process look like? How do you take the time to get to know someone who you've met for the first time and see if they actually have the core values in that snapshot of time that is that interview?

DJ Ostrom 11:52

Right. Yes, well, it's changed a lot over the years. Um, so I no longer you know am in the hiring process, but my team, they do uh, you know, first a phone interview. And if the person gets through the phone interview, we ask them to do a an assessment, um, which gives us a little more insight into their personality and their skills. And then if they get through that, um, then they get an in-person interview in our our HR uh person and the manager that needs to you know to hire is does the interview. We've worked hard to build a great list of questions to ask that um you know give us more insight. And so um it's just a process, it's it's no magic. I wish there was a little more magic to it that we could hire perfectly every single time, but um, we just run a process.

Julian Placino 12:52

But I think believe it or not, DJ, I think that's what allows you to scale because you what you mentioned, which is just kind of the way to you now, is a process. So you said there's like an assessment, and then that there's the phone interview, and then there's the in-person, right? Um, there are some trades leaders I've spoken to where it feels a bit more kind of organic and sort of flying by the seat of your pants kind of thing. But uh, I think that makes a lot of sense. Can you share a bit about what that assessment is? Is it like an online thing? Is it like uh what is that?

DJ Ostrom 13:17

Well, there's a there's several companies that do it. The one we're currently using is called Criteria. And uh it's a company that has uh you know assessments that you can use, and it's you you pay it a fee to have it, and um the potential employee can log in from any computer and do the assessment.

Julian Placino 13:37

And what is it assessing? Is it more personality, cultural, that kind of thing, or technical?

DJ Ostrom 13:41

It actually has well, it's been a while since I've been in there, but it it it um it has several different things. So you can actually like if you want to assess like a skill, like uh, you know, can they use Microsoft Word and Excel, you can do that. But it also goes, I think the key for us is like the personality traits, right? So um you could tell if someone has an opportunity to be better in management or in sales or um things like that.

Why Trades Careers Win Long Term

Julian Placino 14:12

Interesting. So you're bringing a level of empiricism into your process, which I think is really great. Okay. Well, I know that you personally, you said that you love teaching the trades and helping people build their careers. So why is that so important to you, DJ?

DJ Ostrom 14:27

Well, I feel like for myself, you know, um it's sort of like the American dream, right? But but I'm I'm not the kind of person who would enjoy um studying all the time. I'm a hands-on person. And um, a lot of people we hire are the same way, right? They enjoy so passing along skills that can change your life, right? So so many people are are kind of struggling around trying to figure out what their career is going to be and what their job's gonna be. It's really great when you hire a 20-something year old and they love it and they get really good at it, and then they can earn a really great living and provide for their family and live that American dream, right? So um, it's something that I'm good at. Um, I don't actually teach the guys anymore. We have a full-time technical trainer and an apprenticeship process. Um but it I still get a lot of um um value to me personally out of knowing that we're doing that with our team members.

Julian Placino 15:40

So, what's your pitch? What's your pitch to someone who, let's say, is considering more of a traditional corporate career versus the trades? Why trades over traditional routes?

DJ Ostrom 15:50

Well, I would say that the trades are traditional, and they're just maybe at different points weren't popular. Um, you know, you tell your kids that they need to be doctors and lawyers and engineers and go to school. Um and and I think that is true for certain people. But the value that, well, just think about uh an example would be a hospital. So you could have the most highly trained doctors, but if they didn't have a building, they didn't have refrigeration, they didn't have electricity, they didn't have clean water, they'd be working out of a tent, right? So um I think that the things we do are traditional, they are the foundation, and it's something to be very proud of. And some, you know, people that are in the trades and love the trades, they they have real talent, and um, you know, not everybody recognizes that, but it's really true.

Julian Placino 16:58

What would you say about the demand for that particular skill set? You are in it, you see the world differently than other people do. So, what would you say about the demand for the future of skilled tradespersons?

DJ Ostrom 17:10

Oh, that's a huge demand. Um, today our focus is on hiring young people who want to be in the trades and teaching them at our company. Um, because when you let's say you put an ad out and you need a plumber, the likelihood that you're gonna get any application applicants at all, and the few that you get might be people who have been struggling at every job they've been to. Um yeah, there's a huge demand. I mean, if you you the other thing I, you know, one of the things we say to young people too when we hire them is that you know, you could go to college, and we don't think that's a bad idea. And in fact, a lot of our tradespeople have been, and they you know, they take the courses in the community college so they can get licensed and all these things, but um you're not in debt, you're being paid, and we're training you, and you have a job, and and you you know, as you progress um and gain skills, your pay goes up. So you uh you don't have to go to college to have a great job.

Using Peakzi For AI Visibility

Julian Placino 18:22

Well, I think that's very insightful, and I appreciate you sharing your perspectives there. So um so so shifting gears just a bit, DJ. So this show here is powered by Peaksy. You are a Peakzi customer. So share a bit with our audience in your experience, what exactly is Peakzi?

DJ Ostrom 18:36

Oh, well, for us, I mean, the foundation of it is you guys are building a website that is meant for AI to read. Uh, and that's important because customers are now using tools like ChatGPT to you know ask, you know, what plumber should I hire? What electrician should I hire? You know, who's gonna fix my air conditioning? And uh so that's the foundation of what you're doing for us. Um but there's much, much more. I love the um information that you guys are able to provide for us, the insights, um, you know, through your, you know, our portal and all the information you provide us. Um well, for example, we learned that in our marketplace, we we are have the our company has the most customer loyalty of um all our competitors, which really makes you proud. And then it also shows you some areas where maybe you need to do a little work, and so then you can become better. And then, you know, I mean, you can't really fake the company that you are, so you know, as Peakzi is um generating an AI website, what we need to have on there is really truth, right? We need to be the best so that we're picked. Um, so that's the value that it adds to us.

Julian Placino 20:11

Love it. So I heard AI search. So the nature of the way people search and consume information is changing. It's becoming less and less sort of traditional search, Google, et cetera, but more of so these chatbots, right? LLM, Grok, Gemini, et cetera. So, how are you adapting to that? How are you becoming visible to the way that people search? And the second piece that I heard for you is the market insights, the benchmarks. How do you compare? What are the gaps similar to like looking at your competitor's uh playbook, right? What are the things that you can improve upon? I got that. Um, what would you say are some of the most significant outcomes so far you've experienced as a result of being a Pixie customer?

DJ Ostrom 20:48

Wow, uh significant outcomes. Well, it it the areas that we're going to work, right? So um one thing that we well, we we started this work at least a year ago. Our on-time performance to our first call was not the best. And I mean, it wasn't terrible. However, we would tell a customer that we're going to be at their home at 8:30, and it was probably nine before we got there. So that was an area we needed to go to work. Being on time was important, and we were able to see that we didn't score the best, right, through the insights. And um, so we went to work and we have vastly improved that. Um, we had we built a process, of course, for our managers, and in our weekly management meeting, we we now track our on time performance to the first call. And um I think we'll be best in class if we're not already very soon.

Julian Placino 21:52

That's a very significant outcome. So it helps you identify through an assessment an area of the business where you can improve upon and serve your customers. To a greater degree, and you fixed it. Um, I think that it's a very uh a very specific outcome. So thank you for sharing that. Um so, DJ, before we close out here, anything else you'd like to share about Peakzi?

DJ Ostrom 22:11

Well, no, I'm just um really glad that um we were introduced to you guys. And uh certainly I I'm confident that uh working with you guys is going to make us a better company and make us more visible to you know homeowners who are looking for service. Um it's it's a good thing.

Julian Placino 22:36

Love it. So thank you so much for sharing your insights about that. So so closing things out, um, DJ, you've been in business for 26 years, you have so much great insight. What kind of impact or legacy do you want to leave behind for your community, your employees, for your customers? Tell us about that.

DJ Ostrom 22:52

Well, the reputation um of being professionals and you know, doing what we say we're gonna do is very important. Um and but I'm honestly a little more concerned, or um, it's a little more important to me that the people that work at Ostrom, you know, build great careers um and you know, helps them to live the best life they can.

Julian Placino 23:18

Um and I think that's an absolutely great legacy to leave behind. It's the people like very true to like what you said, which is helping people not just have great jobs, but build great careers, quality of life, making an impact. I think that's amazing. So uh DJ, this has been really fun getting to know you uh and learning about your success story. If you would share with us how to connect with you, how to follow you on social, find out about you at your website, share with us all that.

DJ Ostrom 23:43

Oh, it's so easy. You know, Ostrom is not a common name. So Ostrom Services.com. Uh, if you go to Facebook, look up Ostrom Electrical, Plumbing, Heating and Air. Um, and it's easy.

Julian Placino 23:58

Awesome. And we'll make sure to have all your contact information in the show notes as well. So, DJ, this has been a wonderful time getting to know you. Thank you so much.

DJ Ostrom 24:06

Well, you're welcome. Thank you.

Julian Placino 24:08

And everyone else, thanks for tuning in. That's it for today's episode. 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.