Welcome And Guest Introduction

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 another great show in store for you today. Because today we have Tim O'Brien, who is the Senior Vice President of Operations at Fast Home Services. Tim, welcome to the show. How are you?

Tim O'Brien 0:22

I'm doing very well. Thank you. I appreciate the time.

Julian Placino 0:25

Absolutely. Excited to have you on and to learn more about you and your success story. So, Tim, let's jump right in. So, share with us a bit about your role, your background, and what you focus on day-to-day here with Fast Home Services.

Tim O'Brien 0:38

Yeah, well, FAST is a relatively new operation for me. I've been here about three months. Um, we are a water heater legacy company. So we do uh a huge volume in water heaters in three states. So it's pretty exciting. And one of my directions is to grow the HVAC plumbing and the electric divisions to complement that uh water heater business that we've had for so many years, 40 plus years at this point. Um yeah, so mine, you know, I'm I'm focusing on on the operational side of things, looking for efficiencies and great people and and how

From Water Heaters To Full Trades

Tim O'Brien 1:10

do we grow the business in today's uh day and age of how people do business at this point.

Julian Placino 1:14

So three months into the business, what did you do before?

Tim O'Brien 1:18

Uh I was actually been home services for a little bit. I had a privilege to work for a very good operation a little bit north of here. Um, but I was actually in different industries. Uh, I was up at Microsoft for about nine years in a in a vendor capacity and doing a lot of their, you know, we had a larger team than I actually have here, uh was actually pretty exciting, pretty innovative. Uh, and I have a hospitality background, uh, curiously enough. So I've I've transferred industries, uh, a lot of skill sets transfer to this business because it's all about people and service. So uh it's actually worked out quite well.

Julian Placino 1:49

Interesting. So I was gonna ask you about that. How do you think your kind of varied background equipped you for what you're doing today?

Tim O'Brien 1:55

Well, I think if you if you have just one industry you've worked on, you you only you can only see just that. So when you bring in experiences from other industries, you have an opportunity to say, hey, this really worked well over here. Is there an application for that skill, that service, that whatever it might be, to apply into this one and how would you modify it? And so I it allows me to pull from a lot of different businesses, and actually it's quite helpful. Um, I find it very intriguing when people from other industries come and join because they bring in a whole new perspective. Also, they have very fresh eyes. They're like, Well, why is it like that? It's like, well, I don't know, it's always been that way. Well, perhaps if we try this, so you have a chance to you have a chance to have a little more of a growth mindset because you need to, I think, at that point.

Julian Placino 2:39

So yeah, you can see things through a different lens and what might be, and that's kind of like how innovation takes place, sometimes, right? Someone from the outside comes in, questions how the way things are done, and uh kind of shakes things up a bit. I think that's great. But well, having been with Fast only for three months, what specifically drew you to the brand? What about it excited you most?

Tim O'Brien 2:58

Well, in our industry, there's the there seems to be two set groups. There's the the very large PE groups. Um are excellent to work for, a lot, maybe not so much. Then there's a lot of private owners, a lot of great ones to work for, some that might be struggling. We found that there's an opportunity for us to be kind of in the middle. Yes, we're uh a private equity, but it's a collection of uh families here in Washington State that has the funding behind us, and we're trying to create something that's for tradespeople. So if we can find a place where people that want to come practice their craft and have that opportunity here, we have the latitude uh to do that. Obviously, we're you know we're in business like everyone else. So, yes, there's metrics and KPIs and all those pieces, but but we're not um it's a much more trade person focused. I don't know how else to say it. So it's uh it we have an opportunity to be to be right in the middle. So there's an alternative for folks that want to practice their craft in an environment where they're gonna be respected and appreciated uh and a continued growth. And uh I like that idea. So interesting.

Julian Placino 4:01

And we're gonna dig a little bit more into that when we start speaking culture and hiring. Um, so but but just you know, having been around the industry, and of course, there's so many different kinds of home services companies out there, but what do you think FAST does uniquely different that allows it to stand out as a leader in home services?

Tim O'Brien 4:19

Yeah, at this stage, obviously we have the legacy of the hot water heaters, as I share it with you. You can call today for a service, a replacement, whatever it might be. And we're not going to put you on a schedule days or weeks from now. We could probably do it today. If you call in before noon, we can go ahead and uh and get your install uh or or repair whatever needs to be done corrected in the same day. Uh so that's for us is a huge opportunity. And we can do it across and we do it across three states. We've got a pretty broad footprint. Um so there's a good opportunity for us uh there. Now we just have to grow the, you know, we call them the the the three young kids or the other the other trades that need to kind of grow up in that environment and be able to provide that same type of service, which is exactly what we're doing now. Um they just uh they're just not the scale of the uh water heater division at this point.

Life And Family First Scheduling

Julian Placino 5:05

So gotcha. Okay. Well, let's go and jump right back into the whole talent piece of things. You mentioned that you created an environment where you allow technicians to be true craftsmen, right? So I'm curious, what do you think fast uh fast home services does um in terms of uh cultivating that kind of place? Like when you think about it as a place to work, what sets the culture apart?

Tim O'Brien 5:25

Well, for for me, and there's some other guys have have joined me from other companies and have come back in this, they've heard me say this before, but for me, it's life and family first. My responsibility to the individuals that join us is to provide them an equitable job that they can be successful at so they can enjoy their life and family and have fun, make money. So that there's some, you know, we have some folks that have been here 25, almost 30 years. So some folks will retire out of here, the vast majority won't, right? So while somebody's here, we spend dedicated time and energy to make sure that when they leave, they're better off personally, professionally, or economically because of their time and influence with us. But if you know, if we make decisions for the type of people that we want that we know that they know we care about them, then I can just get the best of the best. And you know, love is tough sometimes. There's coachings, there's all sorts of things you know you need to do, but there's not a time that we don't uh think about the person. That translates to the care and consideration for our customers in the field. Um, and we have people that are knocking on the door to join us. So it's just a matter of how fast can I grow at this point in time.

Julian Placino 6:31

So I love that. So an emphasis on on life and family first. Yes. What are some maybe specifics, maybe one or two things that you do that actually help put that forward and allow you to live that out?

Tim O'Brien 6:43

Uh the schedules can match. There's a lot of times some, you know, there's there's, you know, a lot of the home services you're in very early. If you have an if you have the opportunity to alter a schedule or to come up with more creative scheduling, people can spend time with their kids. They can take them to school, they can pick them up after school. There's opportunities to do that if you can schedule something that also works for the for the business. It shouldn't be just uh a monotone approach to how you schedule. We had a at a previous location, um, we were looking at the schedule, trying to find efficiencies and what can we do? And they were concerned about changing people's schedules and the structure that we had. So we we put the we posed the question to the team and said, look, here's what we're trying to accomplish. Is anybody interested in an alter at time, stuff like that? It was the easiest transition we've ever done. Had a lot of hands raised up, boy, if I could start at nine, or hey, if I could work on these days, I'd like to work on the weekend, if I could have this Wednesday off at helping the child care, whatever it might be. It's like, well, if you just ask, sometimes the answers are right there. And that was kind of the approach we've taken. And uh we got greater efficiencies from a company, we got happier employees. Uh, they did have a better time in their life, uh, and it worked out quite well. So um, I've used that same approach uh in multiple different industries and other companies. Um, and that same approach works. A lot of the time, the people, if you're willing to listen, have the answers to the problems you're trying to solve. Um, then everybody wins. Company wins, people win. Nothing wrong with that.

Julian Placino 8:08

So that's a big differentiator. So basically giving the individual sort of autonomy over their schedule, because you know, as we all hear, time is the most precious asset, but allowing them to be real partners in planning out the day. Um in that kind of thing.

Tim O'Brien 8:22

And plan it out properly too. I mean, obviously, we're here to it's it's a business. I mean, I'm not gonna, you know, we're not all just holding hands and standing in a circle going everything is just perfect. You know, we have to figure out a way to maximize and uh you know, find the margins you want, although the profit, you know, challenges that any company and organization has, um, but that you shouldn't do it in a vacuum with the absence uh of the people that generate the money for you. Have to say so in it, you tend to get a lot better by it.

Julian Placino 8:47

So yeah, and and like you said, not just holding hands and singing kumbaya, but of course the run. But nevertheless, you said that the net benefit is happier employees and greater efficiencies within the business. Yeah, yeah.

Tim O'Brien 8:59

Because if I come, if I come to you and say, here's when I need you to work, I didn't take any consideration to the fact that now you can't afford child care or you have an issue or something, I'm taking care of a sick family member, whatever it might be. That right now the schedule is built around your life, has been built around that. I come in and go, that doesn't work for me. Here's what I need you to do. Then that is a that becomes a big problem for that person on a professional level or a personal level that I didn't even take it, I wasn't even considered enough to ask them about. That's shame on me. Now, whether I would make a different decision or not, I should at least either have them part of it. They don't always get the answer that they want, but there's got to be some modification. Typically, there's a workaround. And if there's not, then you exit and you exit with dignity. How can I help you find something? If this one doesn't work, can I help you build a resume? Can I help you interview? Where can you land? So when you leave here, your our legacy of care and consideration for you does go out the door with you. You have good things to say about us. The schedule just didn't work for you and your family. That's okay. I mean, exits are okay. That kind of messaging is all right, but as I don't think it's right at all for me to come in and dictate that's what it is, but doesn't work, then you're out. That's there's no care and consideration there, right? So um the business can be healthier and can work better uh if we take our people into consideration.

Julian Placino 10:18

So taking them care into consideration, but also at the same time setting clear expectations of what needs to be done. That way you kind of track the people that are okay with this and repel in a loving way the ones that won't be able to. Yeah, right.

Tim O'Brien 10:32

Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with the word no, you know, but but you can, like I said, the how you know everybody talks about when people come in, there's the orientation, you get snacks, God, we have a great time while you're here. When it comes time to exit, then someone's like, they're out, they're no longer part of the group. Like, well, wait a second, what message does that send to the folks that are still with you? And if someone is having to leave because of a policy change that we made, doesn't make them a bad person or or uh no benefit, and I want them to take my name with me in you know in a positive way, right? So uh the exit's just as important as the entrance, uh totally

Exits With Dignity And Respect

Tim O'Brien 11:06

okay.

Julian Placino 11:06

So so once once the uh once you hire in technicians and you know there's such a huge focus on on the development aspect, what are some of the specific things you do to train and to grow uh the folks that you have once they're in place?

Tim O'Brien 11:20

We have a um there's a fairly good training program that's already in existence now. There isn't a good training center. Um, so I have uh a gentleman I worked with in the past um uh that created a good training program for us, and he actually came down and designed a new training center uh that we're gonna be building here, and it'll encompass all the trades. So we'll have um uh they it's funny, before I got here, they'd already built a wall, and this is where the training center is gonna be, but nobody really owned it. So it kind of came in the catch-all area, it came into a snack room, and it was this big footprint of a collection of not good stuff. Um uh so we're in a process now of getting to the point where we can build a training center that we can then do mini trade shows. So I can have Navi and I can have Renee, I can have other folks come in and uh we can do podcasts like this one. It could be live out of our warehouse. We invite other organizations and other trades companies can come in and also view those products. So we would like to have an open door kind of a uh uh, I guess, trades a trade show is for want of a better word, that we would allow anybody to come in here and do it because it's good products. It helps raise caliber for everything all the way around. Selfishly, I get to meet some people face to face that maybe I wouldn't get a chance to meet before. They might leave here and think, well, gosh, if I ever make a change, maybe I'd come over to FAST at some point. Um, but my team will have physical, hands-on uh HVAC plumbing and electric opportunities, everything from span panels and generators to actually working furnaces, uh, plumbing issues, whatever it might be, and certainly tanks and tankless and a variety of other uh equipment. Um, so we can train here and really help them practice their craft and their trade and get it to a level that they deserve. Um and then you'd also have a chance to enhance others. It's a recruitment tool. People come down here and take a view of where you are, you know, for for trades, tradespeople in particular. Business starts from the warehouse, not from my office. So the warehouse area or the training area where you might be working from needs to be clean, efficient, uh, and everything else, because that's where their life emanates from, because they start their day there and likely end their day oftentimes. Um, so uh attention to that detail and that opportunity for them shows uh care and consideration for their craft, which is what we're all about. So

A Training Center Built For Craftsmen

Tim O'Brien 13:32

wow.

Julian Placino 13:32

So a few things there. Number one, of course, a great intensity when it comes to training, but instead of just kind of hoarding it for yourself internally, you're sort of sharing it with the broader marketplace, right? A lot of services. Um so there's like some ongoing feedback and you kind of grow from there, but but also like a good sense of like goodwill in in terms of strategic application, too. It serves as kind of a recruiting tool and a brand building tool. Absolutely. I have a shift.

Tim O'Brien 13:57

I have some really good competition locally here, and one of them actually in our complex right around the corner, and and another one that actually just moved in down the street. And um, and we pick the phone up and email and so forth and communicate with them on a variety of things. And you know, everybody likes everybody's post, great install, whatever, you know, whatever the trade might have been at that point. So um why should we not? Their problems are the same as my problems, their good days are the same as my good days. So why should there be some sort of camaraderie? They're gonna beat me in the field for a customer sometimes, I'm gonna beat them sometimes. That's okay as long as it up level uplifts all the trades, then we're all in a good space, in my opinion.

Julian Placino 14:31

So I think that's a that's a that's a really great philosophy to see how how things work in in in training. So before we before we move on to learning a bit more about your own personal leadership philosophies, anything else you want to mention about what makes your team greater, why uh fast is a great place to work?

Tim O'Brien 14:47

I you know, the the legacy we have, we've been around for for quite some time. Um we are going through some expansion right now. So there's kind of a there's a level of excitement that there hasn't maybe hasn't been in the past because we've been doing the same thing for so long. And you know, when you're mono focused on one particular trade and you don't really have the other ones growing, that sometimes the smaller ones that are trying to grow up and and to expand are kind of overshadowed. But now there's this sense of excitement and we're finding the collaboration and like, hey, this trade works well with this one. Here's how you like we don't like I when I tell my HVAC team, when you go out and sell, you do not sell HVAC equipment. What you sell is clean, healthy air, clean, healthy water, and on-demand power. If you walk in and look at that and you look all the way around, then all of a sudden you're happy to have those other trades because those other trades are what's going to help you grow and provide a better opportunity for your customers. So that's a really good opportunity for them, as opposed to walking out there going, all I do is this one particular thing. Same with hot water heaters and you know, the heater techs or anybody else that's out there, they realize and they walk up now and they say, Oh, there's a furnace over here that's really old. Maybe I can call my friend that's on the HVAC team and we can do some of the cross-trade selling, and it's a good opportunity. So we've really we're forging, we're not there, we're far from perfect. I could, I could tell you all the excellent things we're doing, but you know, like anybody else, you know, warts and all, we've got our challenges, right? But right now, there's a sense of like, okay, we've we've been around 40 plus years, but we're kind of excited, some cool things are happening. And, you know, a little shot in the arm, like I do a training center. I've got the the drawings right here on my screen of my computer, and and so this is what it's gonna do. And people are like, oh, that's great. What if we did this? And I'm like, all right, talk to me. So there's this engagement that really hadn't been there before, right? Or hadn't been there for some time, I don't think. Uh so for now I'm pretty excited

Failure As A Problem To Solve

Tim O'Brien 16:30

about that.

Julian Placino 16:30

So it sounds like there's a lot of things in the works. You're totally open to learning from your mistakes, and there's a continuous process of improvement. So lots more to come. I think that's awesome. So um, so Tim, you you've been also so I want to speak a bit more about kind of like your leadership and also what it would be like to work with you, work for you. And you've been very open and honest saying that you've experienced major personal and professional setbacks, and you often talk about failure as a problem to be solved. So, how has that mindset shaped the way that you lead through growth and protect the culture during times of change?

Tim O'Brien 17:03

Right. So, you know, in uh 2008 wasn't a real pleasant time for housing market, and a lot of people, you know, remember that, right? So uh my wife and I were both in real estate at that time, and that was certainly an eye-opener. Uh, there was a big shift uh in in business and what we had to do. Um, when you when you run across, you know, what everybody thinks will never happen or the unimaginable, and it happens, and all of a sudden you're standing there the next day, it's like, oh, okay, well, it's a problem, you know, I didn't want it, but how can I resolve this? What next steps can I take to do it? Then all of a sudden, you know, with your perspective, you're like, well, that was the most horrible thing that ever could have happened. We we struggled here, we did whatever, and all of a sudden you're realizing, well, actually it wasn't so bad. So now I'm having to think and I'm resolving a problem. And once I resolve the problem, like, okay, well, throw anything at me you want. And all of a sudden, you know, it's possible till it's proven impossible, right? You're telling me that, oh, it's gonna be you can like I got into the trades now, right? So I haven't I haven't been in that long, and you know, I'm a little bit older than you are, right? So I've been in the trades about three years and I'm holding a very nice position here. And it took me a while to kind of learn to understand what happens. My first uh I mentioned some other the um uh some of the private equity groups that you know have maybe less of a soul than others, and I experienced that in my first in my first go around, but but I stayed true to my values. I stood up for, I saw some how some people were being treated inappropriately and everything else, and it it was irreverate, it was it was unacceptable to me for anybody that I was responsible for to be treated like they were. So I made a lot of noise, and I made a lot of noise and I got exited. It's like, okay, that wasn't a really nice introduction to this industry, right? So is that what the industry is all about? Well, I don't think so. Because I know I know what I'm doing is is good and right, then I got to find an environment and be able to do that. Although another opportunity came up and it was an exceptional opportunity, and it worked out very well, and we grew the business. I'm like, yes, this is exactly what it should be. And now, stepping forward, Haram with fast, holding a very nice position, and you know, senior vice president of operations. I have influence over a large piece of the company in the direction that we're gonna be going. It doesn't make any difference. Keep true to your values, where you want to go. Every setback is just a problem to be resolved. Uh, and I truly believe that it is possible until proven impossible. And I'm and I'm a curious person. So I'm, you know, if that's the issue, like, well, let's look at it from a different angle. And if you look at it from a different angle, maybe there's an opportunity that suddenly that's not really a problem. It might be the biggest, might be the biggest win you ever had because you actually could see something a little bit different. And it doesn't make any people and people struggle all the time with personal life, health, jobs, you know, whatever it might be. And and yes, it hurts. And I'm not going to imagine that you know I know exactly how that person feels because everybody internalizes things differently, right? So um, but I had a uh a very important person to me that had a medical issue at one time, and they turned around and looked me right in the eye and they said, I am not my disease. I'm like, that's pretty powerful to me. I'm like, okay, so so whatever I have to deal with, I will deal with and I will still be me, I will still move forward, and I will still do things. I'm like, well, how could I ever argue that I had a bad day at work? How can I ever argue that, oh, I don't like the job I have when someone's standing there facing that kind of that kind of challenge, and and and it was just it was just such clarity. I am not my disease. Then I'm like, good for you. Let's how it I am not my problem. I am not today's problem. Yesterday is already done. Tomorrow hasn't even happened yet. Today's a pretty nice day. Today I'm talking to you, it's a nice conversation. I have a lot of problems when I get off this call. I have to go resolve. I'm not there yet, so that's good. Right. But but at this point in time, this is a really good moment, right? And if I can live within that moment, I know where I'm trying to go. Along the way, things will change. I'll adapt or I'll stay on my ground, whatever it needs to be. But whatever comes up, it's fine. Chaos is kind of relaxing for me, not for everybody, you know, but chaos is pretty cool because you have you have to think quick and you get to see things differently. And if you can imagine what could be, then you can go towards something. You know where to go. I am not my problem, just like that person's not their disease. And I think that's pretty powerful, in my opinion.

Julian Placino 21:16

So wow, I think there's a lot there. And I think the biggest thing that I'm getting from that is sort of a change in perspective. And when you change your perspective, it kind of puts you in a more sort of optimistic or resourceful state. Um I wrote down possible until proven impossible. And also, whenever you look at challenges as just a problem to be solved, it sort of looks at it more objectively and sort of takes the emotion out of it. So think a bit more logically about what to resolve. I think that's great. Also, super powerful about I am not my disease to really separate uh that from kind of what's going on. Um I think that's really powerful insight. So thanks for sharing that, Tim. So um, so coming from environments like Microsoft and all the things that you've done in in real estate, um, so what have you personally had to? Learner unlearn when it comes to translating all your experience into home services?

Tim O'Brien 22:05

Well, I don't think you need to unlearn anything. It's just a you know, it's it's it's like tools. Like what, you know, it's funny, it's like it's the you know, the bigger hammer theory, right? If you can't fix it, bring a bigger hammer. Well, actually, why don't you bring the right tool, whatever it might be? So, you know, Microsoft, you know, it's a very big campus. There's 55,000 people on that campus, which is just right down the street here. It's actually not far away here in Redmond. Um uh there's a little bit of mystery about that if you don't happen to be on the inside. So coming from the outside, I arrived about the same time that Satya, there, uh the current CEO uh arrived at Microsoft and you know, Steve Ballmer was exiting. There was a culture there that really wasn't super positive, right? Satya comes in in 2013, is about when I was up there or started. And you could, after a bit of time, you could see and feel the transformation across that larger group of people because of one individual's vision. Wow. It was really highly impactful. Also, working up there, it demystified a lot of things, like, oh, it's tech, it's this, you know, it's a whole bunch of stuff, you know. And you know, I hadn't really worked in that environment. I'd done some other pieces. So all of a sudden you realize people like me, people from around the world, very eclectic. My last team had 16 different languages spoken. We would do 28,000 events a year. It was there's a lot of activity, a lot of things going. Some people didn't speak any English. It was it was a fascinating environment. When there's 250 people, off we go, right? So um, you can do anything with any group of people with the right clarity and vision. And if you have the ability to start positively influencing people, you don't get through, you don't grow through punitive actions. Punitive actions is part of life. You know, there's you know, there's the cause and effect. You shouldn't have done that, so therefore, this is not good for you today, right? So, but you don't lead with that. So the growth mindset that that Microsoft has become has touted. Um, I watched it and felt it work. I was like, this is pretty incredible. I mean, for that large group of people to shift like they did was pretty amazing. And then you see all the benefits from it and got to participate. And then the next thing you know, I you know, I ended up coming out of there with a patent penning device and a bunch of other things that really worked out because my mind just opened up. I'm like, I see everything. I can see all the different pieces that could be done across all things. So this high, high-level tech creator or innovator. Then there's the people that are in the field, the two don't talk. I found that was a very good conduit between those two. I see what you're trying to do. I don't know how you got there, but I see how you can apply your skill, tech, innovation, whatever it might be. I see what you need. Let's see how that can how can we how can we get your idea onto the street or onto the, you know, into the the hands of the people. That ability to work with all the different teams and all different levels, socioeconomic, cultural, all those different pieces became very easy to kind of flow through that. And there is a flow to it of the communication. Common threat is everybody wants respect, everybody wants to be heard, everybody has an idea. And how do you apply that? That works in any business. I you could drop me into any business you want, just shy of needing an engineering degree or a specific you know, education for doc, you know, doc, you know, for medical or something along those lines, and it's still the same process, it's still the same people. So if I had a trade, like I've everybody teases me, I can't turn a wrench to save my life, right? So um, but I know I know where to find the right wrench and I know find the right person to turn that wrench. And that's that's my so my trade would be people or my craft would be people that you can find that should be doing the work that this kind of work is does. And my job is to remove those barriers so they could be successful. And then they have a sense of self-worth, they they want to participate, they want to contribute, they want, which is a big difference than standing here with your arms folded when everything, you know, when they just have your hand out, what are you gonna give me? It's like, I'm gonna give you an opportunity, you can take it or not, you know. So how do I, but then how do I translate it? Wouldn't be quite as blunt as I just said it, but how would I how would I translate to here's an opportunity, here's what I see your abilities are. Sometimes people can't see it for themselves and need that nudge. How do you help them out? Um and it was really good. It was every like I my business up there looks almost like a trade business. I had 40 vehicles, I had 250 people, nothing was consumed at the building, everything was just delivered to all different locations. We had set timings you had to get it done by, and all those things, no different than here. I have a warehouse, I've got all those things. It's the same business. It's people, it's a different product and a different service, but the business is the same, you know.

Julian Placino 26:47

So wow, a lot of a lot of insights there. Really, the the first thing that hits me is just just how leadership can completely change a culture. Story. And and and your job as a leader in your business is not not, of course, like being in the field, but it's it's it's the dealing and the leading of the people. Um, you're not the guy that can turn the wrench, but you got to be able to help remove the roadblocks for you to be able to do that. And people want to be heard and understood. Um, I think those are all very powerful insights.

Tim O'Brien 27:15

Yeah, I laughed. There was when I was growing up from the East Coast, when I was growing up, there was um uh ran with a bunch of guys that you know one of them ended up having his own fleet service. One guy is that was an engineer at Pratt and Whitney. I mean, so there's all these guys were all just kind of by nature, right? We all ride motorcycles and everything else. Well, mine never I could never keep mine running like it was supposed to. So I ended up trading some stuff. This was a long time ago. I had trading some stuff. So I got a top and bottom box full of tools, put it in the garage, and I always brought food, beer, and they had the tools. My bike always ran. We always had a great place to go. They didn't have to bring anything. It's like while you're here, you know, and that's what I'm doing today for a living, essentially. Oh, you're here? Oh, great tools, great everything. You need a different vehicle, let's get you the right one. And we're gonna get you out there and get you working, and we're gonna get you closer to home. We're not gonna send you from way up north and the way down south when you live up north. I'm gonna keep you up north as best I can. So it's it's a good business thing, it's good for everybody. I just provide the process and the systems for it. So, you know, I've been practicing this job for a long time, didn't know it at the time. So um, but you know, if if any leader would pay attention and listen to the group that they have, they know where they're going. If they can't communicate it, you're gonna really struggle to get to where you want to go.

Julian Placino 28:30

Wow. Well, you certainly seem well suited for the role that you're in, and you share it. It's fun. Yeah, I'm having a blast. Yeah, it's a it's a good time.

Tim O'Brien 28:36

Yeah, it's I have some bio fun people I'm working with, it's a really good time. Yeah, so awesome.

Using Peakzi For Smarter Growth

Julian Placino 28:42

So let's shift gears just a minute. So we are uh so the show, of course, is powered by Peakzi, you're a Peakzi customer. So let's kind of jump into that a bit. How would you describe to other home services leaders what Peakzi is?

Tim O'Brien 28:54

So it it provides such valuable insights, not only to your competition, but what to to the um uh what your immediate market is doing, what kind of demands are out there for your customers? It's a great recruiting tool. You can figure out how to use it for recruiting. I just had my team meet with uh with your group down there and had them uh go through some of the recruiting you know options with it. But I see it as a great, it's the alternative to search that's traditionally as everybody has known it, but it be at Google or Bing or whatever you might be working with. And I think, you know, for the first time in in 20 years, I think Bing and Google both have seen a drop-off on their search in the last couple of years, and everybody's going to this more generative AI approach where you can find what you need in a much more dynamic way than just you know what's someplace next to me, you know. So um uh so Peakzi gives us that. It also gives us the opportunity to preemptively look for marketing. It's gonna help, it's also helped us be very specific instead of kind of a spray and pray approach with marketing. I can dial in exactly what I want. And one of the last projects we worked on was um previous company. We got caught up in the middle of an acquisition, so we didn't get fully launched, but we are gonna figure out a certain zip code, target just a certain product that we wanted to do. There's federal Pacific panels, which are not a safe electrical panel, um, figure out which homes would be that way, what's their age, what's the um the last time they had a permit pulled for that, and we can target market rate to those homes specifically for what we want. And you know, out of the 10,000 homes, then maybe I dial it down. I'm just gonna send out 3,000 uh mailers. I can do a better mailer, bigger impact, and target just those specific ones, where I want to work, where my guys want to do it, and the products that I want to do. If that works there, I can flip it around and do it to the same thing specific for tankless, electrification, whatever I want. I can be much more laser focused uh on what we want to do. And we're actually doing that now from our HVAC side. Um, in fact, later on today, we get our mailing list. We're gonna start sending it out. So um we're gonna work on that, but we're gonna pick out specific areas that that will maximize my you know now growing HVAC team that we can target specifically what we want so the customer's not inundated with something they don't need. Um yeah, so it's uh it's a wickedly sharp tool. Yeah, it's and it's good, yeah. I mean, I I like it. I have to tell you, from a lot of other, there's a lot of AI, everything out there at this point in time, right? It's just it's kind of it's almost become an old term at this point. But uh the Peakzi team has been exceptional to work with. Uh Bijan has been excellent, is one of the you know, is my immediate contact. But everybody I've dealt with uh has just been spot on, very helpful, very educational, uh, and extensively supported. So uh we just had one of our board meetings uh uh last month, and they were asking about, you know, Google just announced they have now AI search up in their search bar. Uh they're starting to change things, and so our board was pretty excited. They we, you know, we should be looking towards that. So it was easy to say, oh, been working with Peakzi for a year and a half. Yeah. So uh and brought it here. So we're actively working with it. So it was uh was like great, you guys were ahead of the curve, like definitely ahead of the curve.

Julian Placino 32:01

So love it. Sounds like you jumped right in. I heard the market insights, the recruiting piece, and of course marketing, right?

Tim O'Brien 32:06

Oh, yeah. And I'll tell you a funny story. So I was, you know, those those that know me, like I'm I'm hoping I'm sound like a nice person right now, but sometimes people give me these presentations, and I'm the first one to say, stop. You have like 40 slides in front of me, and I don't want to hear them. I need to know what you do, what's good for me, and how would how would it work? And you probably do that in about 10 minutes. Hook me in 10 minutes and I'll listen to the rest of it, right? So I was talking with Bijan initially a year and a half, almost two years ago. And he's like, So I did, you know, he did some work, and here's some some of your competitors, and he pulled up one of them. I'm like, well, wait a second, that guy's way down south, and I know it because one of my friends actually runs that shop. I'm like it's not local to us here. So I was like playing Mr. Gotcha, right? And uh he's like, No, that's not that's what it is. So I actually called my friend, I'm like, hey, you guys don't have a shop up here, right? And he goes, Oh, we just we just moved up that way, we have a satellite location there. I'm like, I had no idea. So I was hooked. That was my that was the quick intro. I'm like, so you gave me business insights and accurate, articulate information that I could work with. And then sure enough, my some of my uh comfort advisors came back, going, Hey, you know, we're up against this company now, we've never seen them before. I'm like, oh yeah, I know that. You know, because you know, because I it was it was um uh business insights that I didn't have. So it was pretty helpful

Why AI Search Is Now Mandatory

Tim O'Brien 33:21

to have.

Julian Placino 33:21

So wow. Yeah. So so in your opinion, then how important is AI visibility to the future of services?

Tim O'Brien 33:30

I think it's I think it's imperative. It's in home services, any business, any industry, right, is gonna is gonna go the way of society. The way of society is going is is this is a is an AI search ability or anything you're using in you know in the environment. So, you know, one of my one of my recent companies, the last home services company, there were people that weren't that weren't comfortable working in Excel. So they're already way behind the curve. They couldn't filter the lot of things they could not do. And I didn't realize that. I'm like, just go do this. And they're like, what? You know, they don't know how. Then the same thing with AI. It was like, oh my God, it was just like this foreign thing, right? So just simple things like chat or whatever it might be, show them this is what you could do. Well, the productivity jumped dramatically for people that couldn't make a formula in a spreadsheet, they couldn't filter in a spreadsheet, are sending me great information. Their insights have been have been synthesized and and developed so that I, as the person that's a final decision maker, needs to be able to hear it, so then we're able to make progress and use it to fix their spreadsheets. There's lots of things. So all of a sudden, all of society has moved this way, and it's in everything we do. So if you're in home services and you're trying to, you know, trying to fight something that that's an inevitable wave, it's just really not good energy use, in my opinion. And I think you need to be careful. There's a lot of cool, slick tools that are out there, and everything sounds really wonderful. You want whatever you do, should simplify you and your team's life. It should not create more work. If anything you start that's new from a technology perspective, simplification is the most difficult. If you can simplify, if you do, you bring on Peakzi or any other service, you know, any kind of support services that come in, and it doesn't make it easier for everyone, then you've made the wrong choice. It needs to simplify and get you better results.

Julian Placino 35:24

So wow. Yeah, it sounds like um you you said exactly what it is that we see, that it is inevitable. Like this is the wave of like now of how people are searching for information. So um you talked about some of the the tools and features. Um, have you what has been your experience with the AI visibility tracker?

Tim O'Brien 35:44

For the come for my competitors and for what I'm using in the field?

Julian Placino 35:48

Yeah, so for the uh the the Peakzi AI visibility tracker.

Tim O'Brien 35:53

Not familiar with that one specifically, sorry.

Julian Placino 35:55

Okay, okay, yeah.

Tim O'Brien 35:56

Maybe I'm not looking at that way. For the marketing side of it, is that what you're yeah?

Julian Placino 35:59

So it's a it's okay.

Tim O'Brien 36:00

So the marketing team is using it now to try and track where we're where where our customers are coming from. Yes.

Speaker 1 36:05

There's okay, good.

Tim O'Brien 36:06

And that's yeah, so marketing team is doing that. I'm personally not on that in that aspect of it, but they're hooked in with our marketing team. And that's kind of what we're using now to figure out how we're gonna be launching the HVAC portion of it. Um, and to do that. So yeah.

Julian Placino 36:19

Perfect. Perfect. So anything else about Peakzi before we begin to close things out here, Tim?

Tim O'Brien 36:24

Uh no, uh from a like I said, from support and from a service perspective. I mean, there's an awful lot of things out there that can be complicated. Um, the support we receive and the um uh the explanation and how to use the tool is just really exceptional. There's you know, there's a few companies out there that might have great, you know, great concepts and great ideas, but you guys are already proven uh it fundamentally works. You stay at or above the curve on a regular basis. I I was texting Bijan here this morning and he texts back. You know, I get I get service, like I feel like I'm the most important guy in the room every time I talk to you guys. And and from me, I I don't need to track my service providers down. I need them to find out, hey Tim, here's where we're going, here's what's going on. I'm getting response here. I need help from your team. Like they kind of manage me, which is really nice. They kind of make it, like I said, they make it easy for me at a one-stop shop. And we're gonna gravitate more of our marketing towards Peakzi because I can dial it in a lot tighter there. And for me, that's a that's very, very important for me.

Julian Placino 37:24

So love it. Well, certainly appreciate all the insights you shared about Peaky. Look for your continued success on the board. So uh so, Tim, let's close out.

Lightning Round And Arctic Leadership

Julian Placino 37:33

We kind of do sort of a fun lightning round at the end of it just to kind of get to know you a bit more. So let's kind of jump right in. So having been in home services for for three months, I'm curious about the bank of uh experiences you're pulling from.

Tim O'Brien 37:44

But um three three months a year, but three years all up.

Julian Placino 37:47

So all out, right? So so what's been the funniest or strangest service call that you've you've heard of so far?

Tim O'Brien 37:54

Uh a cat stuck in the ductwork.

Julian Placino 37:57

A cat stuck in a duck in the ductwork. Okay. That was an interesting call.

Tim O'Brien 38:02

Yes, we went out there and and yes, we were successful. So yeah.

Julian Placino 38:05

Awesome, awesome. Yeah. Um, what's something about you that most people don't know about but would find unique or interesting?

Tim O'Brien 38:13

Um well, I mentioned it earlier. Chaos is relaxing. You can pretty much drop me in any place. The uh, you know, the the more the more chaotic, the better, I guess. Um, and recently um uh was in the went to the Arctic Circle for a pack rafting and backpacking trip. We were up there for about two weeks. I really hadn't backpacked much in my life. I never used never used a pack raft before. Had to go out and learn how to do that. And we went up into the Brooks Range and the uh gates of the Arctic, and we were off grid for two weeks, and uh and it was great. And and you know, like I said, he and I was and it was interesting that suddenly I was far from the leader, like not even close. There was only three of us, right? And one guy's been hiking all his life, the other guy was uh uh former uh pilot for um Marine 2. For I mean, he's been he's been they know how and there's Tim, right? You know, and I still have my REI tag on my tent. We were out there in the middle of the Arctic Circle getting set up, and um and they're all looking at the tag. I'm like, I can't believe it, you know. Um, but uh due to some planning, due to the right direction, due to the good leadership, they cave, they adjusted pace till I got up to where I needed to go. So I received the leadership from them that I try to give my team. I know it works because I came back with all I'm the only guy who didn't fall out of the raft, I will tell them that. Um but the uh but yeah, it was uh it was a very, it was a very, very extraordinary experience to be that far in the remote anything. Like it was just amazing. So it was uh yeah, it was good. You can anything's possible, right?

Julian Placino 39:42

So that sounds like quite the advantage. It was a yeah, it was a journey.

Tim O'Brien 39:46

Yeah, it was a journey.

Julian Placino 39:47

So so what what would you say is the future of home services in a single word or phrase?

Tim O'Brien 39:53

Uh it's required for health and life. Yeah, it is. I mean, plumbing isn't, you know, a lot of jokes for plumbing and everything else. Plumbing is is a health requirement. It's sanitation, it's water, right? You can't do it. You know, electricity, what doesn't run in electricity these days? You need to have, you know, if anything on the HVAC side of things, you you know, you in some places you die without it. You don't have heat. So yeah, it's uh it's for health and life.

Julian Placino 40:17

And that's certainly a good business to be in when you're supporting the essential needs of health and life's not gonna go away. Yeah, not gonna go.

Speaker 1 40:24

It's not so yeah.

Julian Placino 40:25

And last question here for you, Tim. Um, what kind of legacy do you personally want to leave behind with your career and the business for your customers, your clients? Tell us all that.

Tim O'Brien 40:34

Yeah, I care. That's good enough. Like, hey, I work with that guy and he actually cared. And you know, it was it was genuine. Um, I'd be happy with that. That works for me.

Legacy, Where To Connect, Closing

Julian Placino 40:45

So and I think that's a great legacy to leave behind indeed. So, Tim, this has been a lot of fun getting to know you, your success story. If you would close us out, share with us your website, your social. How do folks connect with you?

Tim O'Brien 40:56

Uh yeah, you can go to fasthomeservices.com. Uh, so please go in there and check that. You'll see there's a variety of different trades underneath it, but that'll get you the overarching uh where you need to be. Um uh we're based in uh Oregon, California, home base is in Woodenville, Washington. Great wine country, wine tastings all over the place if you haven't been to outside of Sea, just outside of Seattle. Um, and we have a couple, a couple locations in Washington State, one just outside of Portland, one in the Bay Area, and one in the LA market. Um, and we're growing. So we're looking to expand and we're gonna run down I-5 with a whole bunch of uh trades in all the locations. We're getting there.

Julian Placino 41:32

So awesome. Well, we'll make sure to have all your contact information in the show notes. So, Tim, again, this was a true pleasure. We wish you all the continued success.

Tim O'Brien 41:41

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Julian Placino 41:43

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