Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

Hosted by John Wilson

Business Marketing

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Episodes

386

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Owned and Operated is the podcast for home service entrepreneurs who want to build larger, more profitable businesses. Hosted by John Wilson and Jack Carr , each episode features candid conversations with the founders, operators, investors, and industry leaders shaping the future of HVAC, plumbing, electrical, septic, roofing, restoration, and the wider home service industry. From acquisitions and marketing to sales, leadership, hiring, finance, AI, and operational excellence, you'll hear real-world lessons, proven strategies, and actionable playbooks from people who have actually built successful companies. If you're buying your first business, scaling past your next revenue milestone, or building toward an eventual exit, Owned and Operated delivers practical insights you can apply immediately. New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Learn more at www.ownedandoperated.com

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 20, 2026Episode 33930 min

Why Everyone Is Buying Home Service Businesses (And You Should Too)

Home service businesses are getting more attention than ever. But are they really as good as they look? In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr talk about why HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other home service businesses have become so popular; and why they’re still incredibly hard to operate. They break down what makes home services attractive, the mistakes people make when buying into the trades, and where there’s still opportunity as more buyers enter the space. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In This Episode ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • Why more people are getting into the trades • What makes home services such an attractive business model • Why fragmentation creates so much opportunity • The reality of staffing, seasonality, and competition • Why running a home service business takes more than being smart • The biggest mistake people make when buying a home service company • The difference between buying a business and buying a job ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Connect ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ John Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Jack Carr https://x.com/thehvacjack Catalyst https://www.ownedandoperated.com/catalyst ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Sponsors ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Quick Staffers Hire trained HVAC and plumbing CSRs without the overhead of traditional hiring. Save $500 on your first placement with Quick Staffers: https://www.quickstaffers.com/ Profit & Grit Running a $3M–$15M home service business? Profit & Grit helps contractors improve cash flow, pricing, forecasting, and profitability with guidance from an operator who's built and sold a $25M service business. Book your free 20-minute strategy call: https://www.profitandgrit.com FieldPulse Ready to ditch the whiteboard and spreadsheets? See how FieldPulse helps home service companies simplify scheduling, dispatching, invoicing, and more. Book a free demo: https://landing.fieldpulse.com/owned_and_operated Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

August 18, 2026Episode 33828 min

How to Build a $40M+ Home Service Business: Cash Flow, Sales & KPIs

You can be profitable and still run out of cash. In this supercut episode of Owned and Operated, featuring insights from several episodes , John Wilson breaks down the cash flow, sales, and KPI systems that helped him scale a home service business from $1M to roughly $40M in revenue. Learn why profit doesn’t equal cash, how to improve average ticket by solving higher-value problems, and the five numbers every home service owner should track to find problems faster and scale with more control. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In This Episode ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • Why profitable home service businesses still run out of cash • How to improve cash flow and get paid faster • The systems John would implement at $1M in revenue • How to increase average ticket with a value ladder • Why training and ride-alongs drive better sales performance • The 5 KPIs every home service owner should track • How to diagnose lead, booking, closing, and average ticket problems • Why “number of options” is a critical sales metric • How scorecards and daily KPIs create accountability ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Connect ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ John Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Jack Carr https://x.com/thehvacjack Owned and Operated https://www.ownedandoperated.com/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Sponsors ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Service Scalers Get more high quality leads with marketing built for home service companies. Book a free strategy call with Service Scalers and see what's driving real jobs: https://os.servicescalers.com/go/oao_podcast/referral/podcast Quick Staffers Hire trained HVAC and plumbing CSRs without the overhead of traditional hiring. Save $500 on your first placement with Quick Staffers: https://www.quickstaffers.com/ Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

August 13, 2026Episode 33736 min

The $1M Decisions Contractors Don’t Realize They’re Making

The biggest decisions in your home service business usually don’t feel big when you make them. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down the $1 million decisions contractors make without realizing how much they can impact the business over time. They discuss hiring the right people, choosing technology that can scale, building a membership program, reinvesting profits, making smarter marketing bets, and why seemingly small decisions can shape the next decade of your business. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In This Episode ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • Why small decisions can compound into million-dollar outcomes • How hiring the right people can change the trajectory of your business • Why your CRM, payroll, phones, and technology stack matter as you scale • How membership programs create long-term customer value • Why reinvesting profits can accelerate growth • Why John and Jack prioritize executors over “strategic” hires • The two areas they would focus on first at $5M: people and leads • How training, KPIs, and better data create a long-term advantage ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Connect ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ John Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Jack Carr https://x.com/thehvacjack Owned and Operated https://www.ownedandoperated.com/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Sponsors ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Avoca See how Avoca helps home service companies book more jobs with AI that handles calls, texts, follow ups, and dispatching without adding more chaos. Book a demo: https://www.avoca.ai/partners/oao Service Scalers Get more high quality leads with marketing built for home service companies. Book a free strategy call with Service Scalers and see what's driving real jobs: https://os.servicescalers.com/go/oao_podcast/referral/podcast Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

August 11, 2026Episode 33640 min

Why Home Service Businesses Get Stuck at $3M and How to Scale to $30M

The strategies that get your home service business to $3 million will not get you to $30 million. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson and Jack Carr break down why contractors stall at different stages of growth and how the owner’s role has to evolve as the business gets bigger. They discuss escaping “hero mode,” building the right teams and systems, reinvesting in growth, and why the owner can ultimately become the biggest bottleneck in the business. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In This Episode ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • Why the playbook that gets you to $3M stops working as you scale • Why contractors commonly stall between $3M and $10M • Getting the owner out of "hero mode" and building a real organization • Reinvesting profits versus pulling cash out of the business • The systems and positions you need as the company gets bigger • Why adding trades and locations too early can slow down growth ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Connect ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ John Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Jack Carr https://x.com/thehvacjack Owned and Operated https://www.ownedandoperated.com/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Sponsors ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Avoca See how Avoca helps home service companies book more jobs with AI that handles calls, texts, follow ups, and dispatching without adding more chaos. Book a demo: https://www.avoca.ai/partners/oao Service Scalers Get more high quality leads with marketing built for home service companies. Book a free strategy call with Service Scalers and see what's driving real jobs: https://os.servicescalers.com/go/oao_podcast/referral/podcast Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

August 6, 2026Episode 3351 hr 10 min

From a $2M Family Plumbing Shop to a Multi-Trade Powerhouse

Every growing home service company eventually hits the same wall. The systems that got you to $2 million will not get you to $20 million. In this episode of Owned and Operated , John Wilson sits down with Brady Jolly and Scott Sharrock of Jolly Heating, Air, Plumbing & Electric to break down what it actually takes to scale a second-generation home service business. They discuss moving from commercial to residential, building a leadership team, using acquisitions to accelerate growth, creating a culture people want to stay in, and the management systems that help businesses continue growing without relying on the owner. The conversation also dives into scorecards, leadership development, AI, private equity, and why investing in people often creates a bigger return than investing anywhere else. In This Episode • Growing a second-generation plumbing company into a multi-trade business • Why residential service changed the trajectory of the company • Lessons from acquisitions, launching roofing, and adding new trades • Building leaders before you need them • Creating a culture that people actually want to be part of • How scorecards and KPIs improve decision making • AI, private equity, and where home service businesses are headed next Connect John Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Brady Jolly + Scott Sharrock https://justcalljolly.com/ Reimagining Home Services Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@ReimaginingHomeServices ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Sponsors ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Yelp Looking for more qualified leads beyond Google? See how contractors are using Yelp to reach homeowners who are ready to book and diversify their lead generation. Learn more: https://business.yelp.com/campaign/ownedandoperated/ The Military Veteran (TMV) Hiring a VP, GM, or C-suite leader? The Military Veteran (TMV) specializes in executive search for home service businesses, connecting you with proven veteran leaders who know how to execute, build teams, and drive growth. Select Owned and Operated as your referral source when you schedule a consultation: https://themilvet.typeform.com/to/BDwkmCU0?typeform-source=www.themilvet.org Big Reputation Get more from your Google Business Profile with Big Reputation. Automate reviews, improve local visibility, and turn more Google searches into inbound calls. Learn more: https://www.bigreputation.ai/oao?utm_source=oao&utm_medium=paid Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

August 4, 2026Episode 33444 min

The Complete Home Service Marketing Playbook

Home service marketing strategy isn't one-size-fits-all. In this Owned and Operated compilation, John Wilson sits down with Lisa Appleby and Ethan Wright of Service Scalers to break down the marketing systems, lead generation strategies, SEO, Google Ads, Local Services Ads, reviews, AI, and growth playbooks that help contractors scale from $1M to $10M+ . Whether you own an HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, or other home service business, this episode explains where your next marketing dollar should go, how to generate higher-quality leads, improve conversion rates, and build a marketing engine that scales with your company. In This Episode The marketing roadmap from $1M to $10M in revenue Where to invest your next marketing dollar When to use Local Services Ads, PPC, SEO, and aggregators Why speed-to-lead dramatically increases booked jobs How online reviews impact rankings and revenue The biggest marketing mistakes growing contractors make How AI is changing SEO, Google Search, and digital marketing The KPIs every contractor should actually be tracking Connect John Wilson https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Lisa Appleby https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-appleby/?originalSubdomain=uk Ethan Wright https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanwrighttx ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Sponsors ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Comfort Connect Turn one installation into years of repeat business with Comfort Connect. Give homeowners flexible payment options, stay connected after the job, and create new recurring revenue opportunities. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4wGXqSX Yelp Looking for more qualified leads beyond Google? See how contractors are using Yelp to reach homeowners who are ready to book and diversify their lead generation. Learn more: https://business.yelp.com/campaign/ownedandoperated/ Profit & Grit Running a $3M–$15M home service business? Profit & Grit helps contractors improve cash flow, pricing, forecasting, and profitability with guidance from an operator who's built and sold a $25M service business. Book your free 20-minute strategy call: https://www.profitandgrit.com Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

July 30, 2026Episode 33326 min

Google Just Changed Local Services Ads (Here's What Contractors Need to Know)

Google is changing Local Services Ads again, and this one actually matters. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston of Service Scalers to break down Google's biggest LSA update yet. With Local Services Ads moving into Google Ads and Performance Max, contractors could see major changes to how budgets are spent, campaigns are managed, and leads are generated. John and Sam walk through what's changing, what could go wrong, and the simple checklist every contractor should work through before the rollout. If Google is an important lead source for your business, this is an episode you'll want to hear before the switch happens. In This Episode: Why Google is moving LSAs into Google Ads What Performance Max means for contractors The biggest risks during the migration How to think about budgets and campaign structure What data you need to save before it's gone Why your Google Business Profile matters more than ever What to watch for if your lead volume changes overnight ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ John Wilson → https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Sam Preston → https://www.linkedin.com/in/sampreston/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💰 SPONSORS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Breaking $5M Workshop Join John Wilson and Jack Carr in Akron, OH for a hands on workshop built for home service owners ready to scale past $5M. Get the proven playbook, tour Wilson's operation, and connect with other growth minded contractors. Register here: https://www.ownedandoperated.com/upcoming-events/oao-workshop-breaking-5-million Yelp Looking for more qualified leads beyond Google? See how contractors are using Yelp to reach homeowners who are ready to book and diversify their lead generation. Learn more: https://business.yelp.com/campaign/ownedandoperated/ The Military Veteran (TMV) Hiring a VP, GM, or C-suite leader? The Military Veteran (TMV) specializes in executive search for home service businesses, connecting you with proven veteran leaders who know how to execute, build teams, and drive growth. Select Owned and Operated as your referral source when you schedule a consultation: https://themilvet.typeform.com/to/BDwkmCU0?typeform-source=www.themilvet.org ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 LSA Shakeup Preview 01:02 Migration to Google Ads PMax 09:20 What Stays Same vs Changes 14:27 Budget Risks and Action Checklist 26:31 Stats, Prep, and Final Thoughts Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

July 28, 2026Episode 33239 min

Why We Stopped Buying $60,000 Service Vans

The fastest-growing home service companies don't scale by spending more. They scale by making smarter operational decisions. In this special compilation episode of Owned and Operated , John Wilson and Jack Carr break down one of the biggest hidden expenses in home services: your fleet. They explain why they're moving away from expensive service vans, why the Ford Maverick has become their vehicle of choice, and how rethinking truck stock, inventory, and install trailers can save hundreds of thousands of dollars while making technicians more efficient. They also dive into the future of fleet strategy, from modular trailer systems and simplified inventory to why most branded truck wraps no longer create a competitive advantage. If you're looking for practical ways to lower costs without sacrificing growth, this episode is packed with ideas you can apply immediately. In This Episode: • Why expensive service vans may be hurting your business • How Ford Mavericks reduce fleet costs and fuel spend • Rethinking truck stock to improve inventory control • The trailer system that could replace traditional install trucks • How fleet decisions impact profitability and cash flow • Why most truck wraps no longer stand out • Building a brand that actually differentiates your company ———————————————— 🔗 CONNECT ———————————————— John Wilson → https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Jack Carr → https://x.com/thehvacjack Breaking $5M Workshop → https://www.ownedandoperated.com/upcoming-events/oao-workshop-breaking-5-million ———————————————— 💰 SPONSORS ———————————————— QuickStaffers Hire trained HVAC and plumbing CSRs without the overhead of traditional hiring. Save $500 on your first placement with Quick Staffers: https://www.quickstaffers.com/ Breaking $5M Workshop Join John Wilson and Jack Carr in Akron, OH for a hands on workshop built for home service owners ready to scale past $5M. Get the proven playbook, tour Wilson's operation, and connect with other growth minded contractors. Register here: https://www.ownedandoperated.com/upcoming-events/oao-workshop-breaking-5-million Yelp Looking for more qualified leads beyond Google? See how contractors are using Yelp to reach homeowners who are ready to book and diversify their lead generation. Learn more: https://business.yelp.com/campaign/ownedandoperated/ Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

July 23, 2026Episode 3311 hr 9 min

Why Growing Home Service Companies Can't Find Great Leaders

The fastest-growing home service companies don't fail because they run out of demand. They fail because they run out of leaders. In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Jim Lose of The Military Veteran to discuss what separates great operators from average managers. They cover how to hire executive talent, build a structured interview process, identify red flags before making an offer, and create leadership systems that scale with your business. From scorecards and reference checks to compensation, coaching, and military leadership, this episode is a practical guide to building the team that takes your business from operator-led to professionally managed. In This Episode: • Why leadership becomes the biggest growth constraint • How to identify and hire A-player operators • The interview mistakes most owners make • Building scorecards that drive accountability • Coaching vs. replacing underperforming leaders • Compensation, incentives, and equity for key hires • The next executive hire growing businesses should make ———————————————— 🔗 CONNECT ———————————————— John Wilson → https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Jim Lose → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslose/ The Military Veteran → https://themilvet.org/ ———————————————— 💰 SPONSORS ———————————————— Breaking $5M Workshop Join John Wilson and Jack Carr in Akron, OH for a hands on workshop built for home service owners ready to scale past $5M. Get the proven playbook, tour Wilson's operation, and connect with other growth minded contractors. Register here: https://www.ownedandoperated.com/upcoming-events/oao-workshop-breaking-5-million FieldPulse Ready to ditch the whiteboard and spreadsheets? See how FieldPulse helps home service companies simplify scheduling, dispatching, invoicing, and more. Book a free demo: https://landing.fieldpulse.com/owned_and_operated Quick Staffers Hire trained HVAC and plumbing CSRs without the overhead of traditional hiring. Save $500 on your first placement with Quick Staffers: https://www.quickstaffers.com/ Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.

July 21, 2026Episode 33046 min

Why Septic Might Be the BEST Home Service Business to Own

Septic may be one of the most overlooked businesses in home services, but it might also be one of the best. In this special compilation episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson brings together two of the biggest conversations we've had on the septic industry, featuring Chad and Kyle from Epic Septic alongside Micah of Homefield. Together, they break down why septic has become one of the most compelling opportunities in home services and what it really takes to build a scalable business in the space. From pumping and repairs to installations, route density, marketing, and franchising, they share the economics behind the business, the operational challenges unique to septic, and the systems they're using to grow across multiple markets. Whether you're looking to buy a septic company or simply want to understand why so many operators are bullish on the industry, this episode is a complete deep dive. In This Episode: • Why septic is one of the most attractive home service businesses • The economics of pumping, repairs, and installations • How pumping creates long-term customer value • Why modern marketing is a competitive advantage in septic • Pricing, route density, and improving profitability • Scaling across multiple markets and states • The infrastructure challenges every septic operator faces • What buyers should know before acquiring a septic business ———————————————— 🔗 CONNECT ———————————————— John Wilson → https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbwilson1/ Chad & Kyle (Epic Septic) → https://epicseptic.com/ Micah Findley (Homefield) → https://www.homefieldonsite.com/ Breaking $5M Workshop → https://www.ownedandoperated.com/upcoming-events/oao-workshop-breaking-5-million ———————————————— 💰 SPONSORS ———————————————— Service Scalers Get more high quality leads with marketing built for home service companies. Book a free strategy call with Service Scalers and see what's driving real jobs: https://os.servicescalers.com/go/oao_podcast/referral/podcast Big Reputation Get more from your Google Business Profile with Big Reputation. Automate reviews, improve local visibility, and turn more Google searches into inbound calls. Learn more: https://www.bigreputation.ai/oao?utm_source=oao&utm_medium=paid FieldPulse Ready to ditch the whiteboard and spreadsheets? See how FieldPulse helps home service companies simplify scheduling, dispatching, invoicing, and more. Book a free demo: https://landing.fieldpulse.com/owned_and_operated Send Us Mail! More Ways To Connect with O&O John's Podcast YouTube Channel Owned and Operated Newsletter Bonus Videos From John Leave a Review John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC 📌 Disclaimer: Some links may include UTM parameters or affiliate relationships, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. Episodes may feature sponsors, but all opinions expressed are our own.