Latest / The Erica Show / Brett Chappell President Maynor Service Company Sits Down with Erica DeLong - The Story Behind Maynor Services

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Brett Chappell President Maynor Service Company Sits Down with Erica DeLong - The Story Behind Maynor Services · The Erica Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Erica DeLong with Brett Chappell from a Manor Service Company.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Y'all are amazing. I'm so thankful to be partnered with you.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Of course we met because y'all came out to our
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: toy drive giving back to the community, and my HVAC
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: broke in the middle of a snowstorm and so boom,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: y'all showed up and kind of we're the heroes of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the day. And I've used y'all for everything so far
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: because you're just amazing. But Brett tell us all about
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Manor Service Company, what you specialize in and how it
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: all started for you.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: All right, Well, thank you, Erica. Well that's a lot
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: so and it's been a pleasure working with you as well.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Let me just tell you you're a great customer and we
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: appreciate everything you've done for us. We specialize in he
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: and air conditioning. That's how we started out. We've entered
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: into plumbing and electrical. We wanted to be a one
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: stop shop for our customers. You know, customers today need
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: somebody they can count on and trust. That's the company
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: we want to be. That's the company we strive to be.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: That's the company we trained to be. We have a
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: full time trainer that helps us focus on that. That's
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: office staff, every position in the company, and we train
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: every week to try to focus and really be there
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to take care of our customers. Uh. When my partner
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: and I Jake bought the company from Anthony Manor in
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, we promised Anthony and we would continue his
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: wonderful legacy of great service, wonderful pridemanship and everything that
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: he did. And we've done that, and we've worked really
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: hard to do that and we've grown quite a bit
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: since since that early beginning six years ago. But my
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: partner and I Jake, we wanted we wanted a company
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: that people wanted to work for and the customers want
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: to call. And we knew if we use those basics
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: to create our company, then everything else would fall into place.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Part of that is training. As I said, you know,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: we we contact each and every one of our customers
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: after our service to find out how we did. And
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: we do that not out of self service he but
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: really to find out or could we do better? Because
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: we can always do better. You know, the road to
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: perfection is the long road that you never get to
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  Speaker 2: the end of. But we're always striving to be the
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: best we can be. We've been successful in the community.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: My partner and I grew up in this.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Area, which is rare because you don't hear that as
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: often anymore.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: You don't everybody moved away and somebody else moved back.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: So you know, we grew up here. We know this
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  Speaker 2: we know this town, we know this area, we know
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  Speaker 2: the people, and we focused on hiring a team of
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: all stars to help us be the best we can be.
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  Speaker 2: We're proud of what we do. We're proud to be
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: able to give back to our communities because being successful
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: in business means a lot of people have helped you
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: along the way at every single step. That means you're
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: employees or customers, all the things that make success. And
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: we're strong believer in giving back to those that have
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: less and those that need us, and we focus on
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: that very much.
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  Speaker 1: And of course that's how I met you guys. Originally,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I know that you had listened over the years since
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: like the Bob days, but I met you at the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: at our toy drive that we do. It gives kids
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: toys right here locally during the holidays that may not
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: have anything. But also Anna on your team she made
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: a comment to me that really stood out, saying how
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: like this is the first job she's ever had that
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: she felt seen and heard and she was so proud
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: to work there. And I was like, that says so
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: much and speaks volumes about you guys, because like, you
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: don't hear that very often from an employee now, I mean, really,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: you don't. Not in today's world.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: You don't. And you know, finding employees that want to
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: stick around for a long time. When I grew up
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: in the industry, at my first job I worked at
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  Speaker 2: for twenty four years, so I thought, that's just the
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: way you do it. Not so much anymore, but I
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  Speaker 2: want a company that people want to work for where
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  Speaker 2: we can have some fun. We can still be serious
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: and we can do a great job, but we can
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  Speaker 2: have fun at it. Be a team, you know, do
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  Speaker 2: regular teaming events, even if it's a cookout or a
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: breakfast or a lunch or go play golf or whatever.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you've just got to be able to share success,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: to be able to breed success. I'm proud of our
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: team and over one hundred and sixty employees. We you know,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: we work really hard to try to make sure that
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: every customer is taken care of. Sometimes we fail because
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: we're not perfect, but when we find out that on
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: those rare occasions that that happens, we make sure that
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  Speaker 2: customer's taken care of. We're very proud of our industry.
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  Speaker 2: We're proud of our employees that have chosen to build
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  Speaker 2: a career in a very successful way, in a career
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  Speaker 2: in an industry where people need us really bad, and
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: we're proud to serve in those dimensions.
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  Speaker 1: And then you also do a big wall of your
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  Speaker 1: community service, which I love that because y'all are really
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: big on highlighting and helping those in the community. But
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  Speaker 1: what are some of the service projects y'all worked on?
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  Speaker 1: And I know it's like this big wall of all
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  Speaker 1: of your community projects you have in the office.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wow, we do that, and we do that because
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  Speaker 2: not out of self servency or to pat ourselves on
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  Speaker 2: the back. We just want our employees to know that
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  Speaker 2: we're a company that likes to give back because they're
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: part of that success. If it weren't for them, we
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to do that. You know. We like
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: to give to the Cancer Foundation, We like to give
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  Speaker 2: to anything that helps the special Olympics. We're a big
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  Speaker 2: provider of that. The toy drives shop for a cop,
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  Speaker 2: those are big ones. We were doing that this morning.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, as small as that sounds, you know,
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  Speaker 2: for a kid to be able to go one spend
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  Speaker 2: some time with a police officer, to be able to
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  Speaker 2: form a bond where they look up to that person
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  Speaker 2: and then go shopping and buy some toys, you know,
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  Speaker 2: as small as that sounds to us, that's huge for them.
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  Speaker 1: You never know who that It could be life changing
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  Speaker 1: for that child, and you.
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  Speaker 2: Never know who that person is going to grow up
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  Speaker 2: to be, what they're going to become, And if you
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  Speaker 2: can help nudge that success a little bit, then that's
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: a wonderful thing.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: All right. So heating and air plumbing, an electric I've
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  Speaker 1: called you'all for literally everything. How does that work? So
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: people usually call you when it's either really hot or
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: really cold. Of course they call you all year, but
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: is that when you see the heightened like calls from folks.
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  Speaker 2: It is we do maintenance most of all the year.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And you know, we do that for our maintenance customers
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  Speaker 2: so that when the hot and cold gets here, they
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  Speaker 2: don't have to call us. And the demand goes down some,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: but when they do need, it's the people call. And
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  Speaker 2: we have a call center that takes all the calls
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  Speaker 2: for our company, and these people are trained highly to
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: make sure that that customer gets routed to the right
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: person as quickly as possible, and that we can provide
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: the service expediently as we can. Sometimes if we're busy,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: like everybody else is busy with high demand, you know,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: it maybe later in the day or even the next
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: day when we get there. But we're gonna be honest
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: with you and tell you when we can get there,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: but we will expedite that to get as quickly to
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: you as possible.
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  Speaker 1: And then you expand it to plumbing and electric Like
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  Speaker 1: what made you, guys, because you started with HVAC and
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: then you're like, expand it out to other areas. But
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  Speaker 1: you were like, I'm not gonna do it unless we
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: do it right.
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  Speaker 2: Right. We took baby steps on that, and even though
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  Speaker 2: I've had my electrical license since the mid.
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  Speaker 1: Eighties, you're aging yourself, Brett, what's up?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I started when I was one.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we never really advertised that we did that
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  Speaker 2: in conjunction with our business to help us be more successful,
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  Speaker 2: and we just wanted to be the best provider because
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: we knew we had a huge customer base and we
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: wanted to be able to make sure if that customer
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: believed and trusted and counted on us, then why should
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: we have to refer somebody else to take care of
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: something else when we could do it ourselves. So we
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: don't have crossover between those three areas. We trained specifically plumbers,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: specifically electrical, and specifically hvac so that these guys are
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the all stars.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: At what they do and they're really good. I had
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: another company mess something up and so you had an
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: electrician come out and immediately fix the issue. Fantastic, Like
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: we ended up getting recess lighting throughout the house and
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: it looked so much better. So I was so thankful.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: What are some red flags for people to look out
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: for if you have an issue at your home, and
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: of course you should call manor services, of course, but
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: say you're in another area and you can't call manor services.
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  Speaker 1: What are red flags that people that are listening need
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to look out for, whether they're calling for HVAC, plumbing,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: or electric.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the biggest things to look for is one,
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  Speaker 2: is the person you're talking with licensed and are they
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: ensure fully insured. That's so important because anything could happen
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: on your job site, either to themselves or your property.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: The customer has got to be protected. So one check
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: the Better Business Bureau, ask for referrals. You mentioned our
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: sign of success where we show what we do for
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the community. We also have a big billboard that holds
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: all one thousand and forty of our five star reviews.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: And one of mine's up there.
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  Speaker 2: One of yours is up there. I love yours and
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: thank you. And you know, ask for these reviews or
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: look check them out yourself through Google. Just do some research.
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  Speaker 2: That's the biggest thing. The biggest flags are if it
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  Speaker 2: sounds too good to be true, and it's cheaper than
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: everybody else, there's probably something wrong, okay. And if we're
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: not in the area and you want to send it
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: to me and blank out their name, the price and
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: ask me if this looks right, I'll be happy to
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: help you.
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  Speaker 1: And I see that's the kind of company y'all are.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: You're like, all right, you might not get us, but
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I'll make sure you're not getting screwed. Over by some
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: other company that's not in your area.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right. We want customers for life. Yeah, and
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: our mantra as owners is we want to make a
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: fair profit. You know, we don't have these big fake
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: sales where we're gonna market up the market. Now. We
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: use we use a gentle margin all year round, and
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: we just want to be a great value.
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  Speaker 1: All right. So, Brett entrepreneur, you've been a serial entrepreneur
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: for a while now, Like, what advice do you have
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: for those that are aspiring to run a company? Because
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: it's not an easy thing. My dad ran a business,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: like it's a hard job, Like you got to give
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: it your all. So what advice do you have for
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: that person looking to run their own company.
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  Speaker 2: We could be here all day, but I'll start with
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: just saying this. You know, I've seen it, and I've
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: seen so many people try and unfortunately fail. And these
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: are some of the best mechanics and contractors and service
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: techs that the industry has. But when you're running the business,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: the business side can be a little bit tough. So
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: I would say, if you want to do that one,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: first of all, you got to get your license. You know,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: we teach a license prep class every two months at
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: our facility that goes all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: to help even our employees to get their license. And
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not afraid of that because you know, if I
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: can help them be more successful, then to me, that's
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: the right thing to do. So we're happy to help
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: with that.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And you're training competitors too on a regular basis when
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: you are doing your HVAC training and stuff, like, you
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: got competitors coming in, but you're like, I don't care.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I want you to do a good job.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We more competitors than in house actually in those classes,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: and we fill up our facility. It holds about forty
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: people in our training room. Our new facility that will
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: have soon in August, will have even larger training room.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: We're looking forward to that as well. But just you
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: know what, talk to somebody that's in business that's been
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: in business for more than five years. And in the
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: almost forty six years I've done this, I've seen some
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: people that we've trained that have become extremely successful, that
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: are great in the industry. They're some of my best friends.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I don't consider the competitors but partners because they're really good,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: and I've seen some great people fail because of some
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: of the things that you don't expect from a business side.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: So talk to talk to a contractors tractors is successful,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: and let them be honest and old front with you,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: because there's there's a lot more to it than just
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: turning the wrench. Good.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Now when it comes to financial so say somebody has
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: all the skills, they're trained, they're ready, they have the drive,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: but they don't have the financial backing to start a business.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Are there places out there that you know of that
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: people can say, all right, I can get a financial
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: backer for this, or is there a website?
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Because not as much as there used to be Erica,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: the financial side has become a lot tighter since two
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: thousand and eight.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: And more crash or whatever they called it, there were
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know everybody.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you learned a lot as the contractors in
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: those days and how to stay successful in the tough times,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: it all goes back to having great people and good partners,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: but so not so much anymore since that in COVID.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: But you just have to do some research. There's a
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: there's a million things that are going to affect it.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: And it's going to have your credit score and how
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: much you've gotten a bank and all of that. One
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: of the first things they're going to look for is
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: a good business plan. A good business plan involves showing
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: how you can make a profit. And it's not just verbiage,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: it's numbers. So on a lean on a contractor friend,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: call me, I'll give you some help. You know, just
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: having a good plan that the bank can believe in
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: will help you get started to loan that money for
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: your capital.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: And who has inspired you over the years, because obviously
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: we all need mentors.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: You know, I think my biggest I think the person
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: that influenced me the very most with my very first
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: my first job in HVAC in nineteen seventy nine, and
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: it's actually my partner's dad, Jake Williamson Senior. And I
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: worked for him for twenty four years and went from
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: an installer apprentice to management to UH general manager and
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: ran the business and after he retired. But you know,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: he just taught me the value of people and how
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: to hire really smart people and don't be afraid to
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: hire people smarter than you, let them do their job
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: and hold them accountable and teach them how to do
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: it and then let them be successful. So he was
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: my biggest mentor.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I love that all right. So what is the best
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: way for people to reach out to you if they
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: have questions or you know, life they need life advice
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: or for service.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: So we have one number. One number does it all.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: And that number is nine to one nine three sixty
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: one zero nine nine three. Just ask for Brett. If
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: you need to talk to me, I'm probably in a meeting,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: but I'll call you back and I'll reach out to
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: you and any way we can help. We just we
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: really appreciate this community. We appreciate our customers, we appreciate
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: our great partners. Uh, it's a lot of fun and
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: what I do I miss any day I can't be
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: at work. My wife's not a big fan of that,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: but I've done this for so long. It's just a
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: big part of what I do.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Visit today manorservices dot com. Thanks Brett.