Latest / The Home Service Heartbeat Podcast / From One Van to 60 Employees: How David Mikkelsen Grew Fluid Plumbing, Electrical & Air Conditioning

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From One Van to 60 Employees: How David Mikkelsen Grew Fluid Plumbing, Electrical & Air Conditioning · The Home Service Heartbeat Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, everyone, and welcome to this episode of the Home Service Heartbeat Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm Joe Cressera.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Today I'm excited to be joined by David Mickelson from Fluid Plumbing Central Coast and Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, where quality flows naturally.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: David, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: We're thrilled to have you on the show.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, David, let's get started and just dive in and share how you got started in the service industry and what led you to your leadership role here at Fluid Plumbing.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was probably very typical of most owners in the trade industry, I guess.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I sort of um fell into it a little bit.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So originally when I wanted to do a trade, I wanted to go and become a carpenter.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad sort of talked me out of it.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he um, this was back in the early or mid-90s, he talked me out of it and he said, um, you don't know what's gonna happen with technology and and how we're building houses.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and at the moment, at that time, he was doing a renovation on his house and had a couple of carpenters there.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: He said, This all might change.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: You should become a plumber because it doesn't matter what happens with in the future, even if we change how we build houses, people are always gonna want water in their house.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna wash in it, they're gonna drink it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hmm, okay.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I went and became a plumber.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of wisdom there about your father.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: He was right.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: He was it turns out he was right.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: He was very right, and it's um yeah, it's proved it's proved right so far.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so I did my plumbing apprenticeship with a commercial construction company.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then um I always decided I didn't at that time I didn't really want to run a plumbing business because I didn't like the commercial construction side of it.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: So then when I finished that, my wife and I started a different business where we're importing furniture out of China, antique furniture all over Southeast Asia, and then we ran into um the GFC, and then that didn't work so well, so I went back to plumbing.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I was very fortunate my wife did make me go and get my license, and at the time I thought I didn't want to, and she's like, No, you should do it, you need to go and get it, which I did.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So then we I fell back into plumbing and um yeah, we started fluid plumbing.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how um just me and a van is how it started, and my wife was doing all of our all the books at home at night, and yeah, that's how we started, and we've grown from there.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: How many people work there today, David?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you you still got you still got that same truck, or do you sell that one?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I sold that one a lot.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I actually gave that to my nephew because it it um we kept it for a long time until it didn't run anymore.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: But um, so we've got about 60 people now.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I gave that one away, but I I think he's got rid of it now since as well.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that was very very generous of you to do that for sure.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it was good advertising, it just drives it around.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: That was that's it's brilliant, it's brilliant, David.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's brilliant.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, David, uh, let's talk a little bit about that.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say um, while you're growing a business like this, and when you go from uh you and your wife starting, which uh is a very common story with tradesmen starting their own business.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you start you so soon learn that the plumbing is not the hard part, right?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so tell me a little bit about some of the challenges that maybe the people out there who are maybe looking for a job at fluid plumbing, or even people who uh might watch this video who are possible customers may not know about some of the things that are difficult that are not just plumbing, but that are other problems when it runs a business.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about some of the challenges you have there.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: The challenges that you had as you were growing, I should say.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: The challenges growing the business, I guess was me learning how to run a business.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we were very typical for a long time.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: We weren't making any money, and we were saying yes to every single type of work that we could get.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: We were doing strata, we were doing real estate work, we were doing new construction work, we were doing jobs for mum and dads, we were doing absolutely everything we could.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it took me a long time to learn that we needed to focus and become niche at what we were doing and get really good at serving one type of customer, not every type of customer.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's that that was one of the biggest challenges.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, learning that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that and I guess that happened through experience.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think it does.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think the when you when you narrow and find the client avatar you're looking for, it definitely makes it easier to serve because everything otherwise it gets watered down, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: It gets diluted uh for sure.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so is that one of the strategies is to make sure that you focus on uh doing it uh for a certain type of uh client or residential versus commercial and everything else, or is it tell me a little bit about some of the unique strategies uh or customer experiences that people get from fluid plumbing?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so if I work there, the standard I would be held to, or if I purchased from you um the standard I would receive, uh tell us a little bit about some of the unique strategies you have that a client would see very easily, and so would an employee.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think it's it's very it's almost identical to what you teach, to be honest, because we we realized we can't, if we're trying to do a job for a real estate agent or strata, the the object there is to get in and out as quick as you can.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Get that job done.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a work order for that one particular job, you've got to get in there, get it done, move on to the next one.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And price is really important in that situation because and you're trying to be as quick and efficient as you can.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas that's almost entirely opposite when we're working direct for a homeowner.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: The object is to slow down, give as much service as we possibly can to that customer, give them every single option that we can.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So then that customer gets to choose what they want, and and the service goes along with that, and the customers love it.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that is, I guess, what's unique about what we do is that we're specializing in that one type of customer, which is a residential homeowner, and we train all our guys how to give the best service to the customer.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so giving clients choices, or as I say, give them options, not ultimatums, is a uh is a key component of the uh successor.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think that's an I think it's something that's I think a lot of people don't realize that creates value.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really I think that's why I see fluid plumbing and I heard about you, David, is that uh specializing and saying, you know what, we may not be the cheapest, but we definitely will give you the most value for the money you pay.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: That uh I think one of the reviews I've been reading are it mentions your people and how important they are, how how how the experience they get from the people.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: But it also says, like, hey, you know what?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it this this is definitely an investment in my family, but it's one that's gonna be I'm happy to make because I got the job done right.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, is there a key moment you realize that when a client can tell us a story?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's a client who previously, with the other way of doing it, wouldn't have worked out, but with this new way, uh the client told you it's like, hey David, you and your wife are onto something.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like like this is this is working.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Can you think of a story where that uh maybe somebody like this is not gonna work and all of a sudden it's like it works?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh something that convinced you that this was uh a good idea, what happened here?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Look, one thing I realized very early on was I wanted to where I started the business was in a small town called Terrigal, which is a little beachside suburb.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I always wanted to make sure that if I was walking down the road in Terrigal and I ran into customers, that they were like, there's that guy that helped us out, not there's that guy that did the wrong thing by us.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I've always put my face on our advertising and my name behind it, and so right from the very beginning, that I guess that though that ethos of how to run a call, I've had it.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: What I didn't have at the beginning was realizing that we need to make money as well, or we can't, um, we're not gonna be around.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it took me a long time, and I was very fortunate to find Nexstar uh back in 2016.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think we found Nexstar, and I loved how they were teaching the way that the way one of the Nexstar trainers at the time said, you would be really happy if your customers were sitting in this uh training.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: You'd you'd be happy to show what we're teaching your your technicians to your customers.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, well, that's interesting.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because previously I had heard some other teaching and I was like, I didn't love that, just didn't sit well with me.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I love the fact that this trainer was like, sure, you'd be happy to let your customers sit in and see exactly how we're training your technicians because all we're doing is training them on how to give great service and a great experience to the customer.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: How important is that to the culture?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, too.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, honestly, when you hire people, they have to be proud of what they're doing or you have to believe in what they're doing, right?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: How important is that to the intrinsic belief inside of the technician or the employee at the company that they are doing something that is uh uh trustworthy and ethical?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's everything.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I I guess just literally last week we had um five brand new technicians that were all doing a service system training down in another location a few hours south of here.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I went down and had dinner with those guys, and I was so incredibly proud of the people that we've got in the business because so Gary, who is our general manager, has done a brilliant job recruiting and with the culture in our business where we only have amazing people who want to deliver absolute five-star service to our customers, so that culture is there amongst the whole team.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if somebody doesn't fit that culture, they don't fit in our team and they move on real quick.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, I was so proud of all of these brand new guys, and they they were loving it.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was sitting there going, Man, I could have never imagined this 15 years ago that we'd have so many amazing, amazing people here that all want to deliver phenomenal service, and they're all winners.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's that's the thing about actually what's that like when you see the uh the people who work for you change their life for the better, or they turn they they they transform into something more confident um and more successful for themselves and their family.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: What's that like?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Look, that's our mission actually.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: At the moment, something that I realized traditionally when I came up in the trades, I feel like especially plumbers, but lots of tradespeople were we undervalued ourselves and we did not expect to be paid what we were worth.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that I've got a real mission around changing that culture in our industry that our guys are gonna be paid what we're worth.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we are as just as valuable as a doctor or a lawyer or any other member of the community, and we deserve to be paid just as well.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the only way you're gonna do that is by providing the service.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it makes me so incredibly proud to see all of these guys doing exactly that, getting paid really well, they're setting their family up for success, they're buying houses, and they're having yeah, setting their family up for success, and they're delivering amazing service to the customers, getting five-star reviews all the time.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's I think you you've said this a lot, but I've heard other people say it that um, you know, something along the lines of you you earn by how much service you give to other people.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So the better you are at giving service to other people, the more you're gonna earn yourself personally.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would say I would say we don't sell people, we serve people, and that earns us the right to be trusted, honestly.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's really what it comes down to.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: I feel the same way you do.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I think that's uh yeah, I think I'm ready to apply for a job over there.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're welcome anytime.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds sounds like a great place to uh to be associated with.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I'm really looking forward to learning more on this and this interview and even after this.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So um as you grow the business, um uh what qualities do you look for when how do I like how would I know if I would be a good fit if I if I was going to try to be an employee?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do I have to be like uh 20-year expert at plumbing or do you develop people?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me how how I know I would be a good fit at uh fluid plumbing.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: One, if you're a nice person, you gotta be a hungry person and you're you want to be a winner.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: So what that's that's what we want.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: We want winners.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you love serving people and helping people, then you gotta fit in really well.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we can train you with the technical skills, whether that's uh HVAC or electrical or plumbing, it's it's your personality and your attitude that that's what we look for.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, that's that's the that's the only only real um necessary thing that you need to have is a great attitude.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So so if I come to work and I love my job and I uh have a smile because I'm happy to serve, uh, I'm on the right track.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh how am I doing so far from my first job interview?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're in.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: When can you start?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just looking for a I'm looking for a company that's got a passion for customer service like I do, David.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I I feel so fortunate because that goes right through right from our CSRs in the office, um, right through to our apprentices out in the field.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Every single person feels that way.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and I guess I've got to give credit to Gary for really helping create that culture.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's done an amazing job with that.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Gary's one of the people who are one of the supervisors or your top.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, it's how important is that the alignment of the company that uh you know you started out, I heard what you said.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love what you said about I want to be able to walk on you said on the beach, you guys are in your seaside community?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right on the beach, yeah.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh I want to be able to walk on the beach and uh and people come up and give you a hug because you took care of them, not uh like, oh my god, I gotta run from that lady because uh she's unhappy, unhappy, right?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, how important is it that the that the company's in alignment with that and that we don't lose track?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it is easy to lose track of that because like you said, when it does uh the when the when it comes to like uh there's gotta be a profit in order to make to be able to stay in business, yet that that could that can sometimes cloud the judgment of the best homeowner, best uh business owners.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: How important is it that the company remains in alignment on that uh mission?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Look, that's critical.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it is it is absolutely critical.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And over the years, I have had to make those tough decisions where we, you know, somebody is not the right fit, but they might be great at selling and they bring in a lot of revenue, but if they're not the right fit, they're not the right fit.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we've had to make those tough decisions.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: That has become a whole lot easier now because I feel like we've almost got some critical mass around the culture of our business.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And as soon as if somebody's not if somebody doesn't fit in with our culture, they stand out like a sore thumb really quick, they just don't last.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it it's um but that's taken a long time for that to for us to get to that place and it and a lot of hard decisions along the way.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, all we've all everybody in our business has known all along that culture is is the most important thing.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: We have to have the a great culture.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be something to uh the training it takes to defend the culture, and like you said, Nextar, but you know, even Nextstar or what we do as well, it has to have somebody on the ground like a Gary or somebody who's actually doing it in real life.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And how if I was gonna work over there, um, how much training would I uh could I expect to get?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think uh the service you provide to the employee of training, I think every employee has a right to be trained.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's just my feeling on it.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: How how much how much training would I get uh from your company uh if I was working there on a weekly, daily, monthly basis?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: What would I be seeing in terms of the amount of training I would be getting over there?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, look, so Michael is the guy that does our training and he trains five days a week.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got people in doing training nearly every single day.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So this week we've got some technicians at an external event down in that Nextstar is running, but when those events aren't on, Michael will be running training every single morning in our business.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, Monday through Friday, there will be some technicians undergoing training.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's training.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say tell Michael, thank you, because uh we we definitely are we're fortunate to have Michael.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: You can play this podcast for him and tell him I said it.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know, training is the thing that every leader knows we hey, so somebody's like, hey, we somebody's got to train these people.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, was this guy trained?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, we we forgot, or whatever, right?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's like uh, you know, but when you got a guy like Michael who's willing to do it and grind it out, that is definitely something that uh it's not easy to do.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I think we owe him a good debt of gratitude for sure.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so what but you will be very pleased to know, even before I had any any knowledge of this, Michael has bought, I don't know how many copies he's bought of your book, What Should We Do?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he gives them to every new technician that starts, and he makes them listen to the book, uh the audio book as well.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: So Tom, he's a he's a genius.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: He is.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: He is.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: He was the one that put me onto that book, actually.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, and even though I'm normally the one telling him about, you know, you need to listen to this, you need to read that.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, No, you need to read this book.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Oh, okay.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is, it's pretty well.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I must say, I do recommend that book.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, it's fantastic.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's a I'm a little, I'm a little, I have a conflict of interest, but I will recommend that book to anybody because it's a lot, it's a life's it's a life's work, and uh, and it is very specific on how you create connection.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's important, right?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's there's plumbing and there's people.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: I this is a uh I'm gonna go ahead and go off script here and just ask you a question.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's people and there's plumbing.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, is it harder to teach somebody to be the plumber and work with your hands, or harder to get people, harder to learn teach a person how to connect with people and all that?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Which what's a harder task?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh working with people, uh teaching somebody how to work with people, or teach them how to work with a pipe wrench?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely how to work with people is is the is the harder, harder task.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess we also look for people that have a natural aptitude with how to work for people.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um learning the plumbing skills, it's not, I wouldn't say it's easy, but it's easier to teach and it is easier to learn.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so most of the training, well, we we do some technical training as well, but most of our training is around people skills, around um sort of running that service system.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Although we do still we've got a an area in the back of our workshop where we've got um almost like a mini house that um so we do teach technical skills.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: You got a host area where people can simulate what it's like in a home and that type of thing.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so we'll bring in new products and and um give technical.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: We we sort of do that that training will be both technical and um I guess people skills.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: How to actually what are the benefits of these products?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: But then also how do you how do you explain that well to the customer?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I heard something, David, you might want to try this on.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: I had somebody who I worked with and I said, you know what we should do?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because like I'm like, you know, I don't think they are getting it because when I when I'm role-playing, I'm not a customer.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Why don't we do this?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let's ask if you you have a good couple good customers who would be like maybe they're not like with it retired or whatever.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: We should bring them in and see if they would want to do this part of the training.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: We called like 20 customers, and like 12 of them said, heck, hell yeah.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you bring when do I come out?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: And they actually had customers come in.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so this way when they did the all that all that role play, it was actually with a real customer.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what do you think of that idea, David?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Tell Michael that one.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's a free one.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: I will, I'll tell you, man.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: It worked out great.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, because all of a sudden you never saw the guys like, oh my goodness, these are real customers.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: I can't, uh, it's not just not just Michael I'm working with here.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: So so that worked.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how important is that to uh make sure there's a balance between the efficiency of the job and like you said, taking your time uh to deliver the service here is it's not going to be like a machine gun of calls over and over again.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be like, hey, take the one call you got.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us about that philosophy if you don't mind there, if you don't mind their David.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that we do differently, I guess, which any new technicians that have been working at a similar business, they love when they come to our business.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: We give the tech one call, they They don't see another one until they call in and they're completely done with that.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll we will let them stay there as long as they need to stay there.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if they get there at seven o'clock in the morning and the customer needs them there all day, they can stay there all day.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's the way we set up our call board to now that makes it harder for dispatchers sometimes, but um yeah, that's the way we run it.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: That we we give them one call and they focus on that one call until they're done, and then we'll give them another one.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: So as a client, I can feel care, respect, and support, and I don't have to be like, has this guy got time for me?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I would say the reason for the work, you're the reason for the work, not an interruption to it, as I always say.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like you're sounds like you're living that, David, and your team.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: The clients love it, and especially if they call in and book a job, and then our CSR team will tell them, Yep, sure, we can be out there tomorrow.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you if you go ahead with we'll get the work done straight away, and they're like, Oh, you can do it straight away.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll stay there right now and do it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Oh, okay, that's fantastic.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's like reading like not now now.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, we're not going anywhere, we'll do it right now.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um clients love it because so often they're they're expecting to have to wait a week or two, or you know, someone will come out and they'll give them an estimate, and then they'll get approved for it, and then they've got to ring back and book it in, and we'll come back in two weeks later.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And clients, clients hate that.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's um they're so much happier when they realize you can do it right now.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was just working with I was working with a guy in working with a HVAC guy in Melbourne, and I'm like, he's like, Yeah, we got to shoot him an estimate.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hey, have you ever asked him if I stayed here today and gave you the estimate now?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: What would happen?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, I'll try that.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then he goes, he called me back next day and he goes, guess what?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Three of the people said, Yeah, we just get the job done.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I'm like, Yeah, see, do it now, or the client will find someone else, I always say, right?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, David set that up on our call too with our CSR so that we're we're telling the customers, you know, if you whichever option you approve, we're gonna do it right now.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Oh, okay.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we we set that up for success with CSR.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's it's not always very, very abnormal.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: The average person I work with, and so one of the hardest things to teach uh tradespeople is that hey, don't don't be looking for the next call, get this one done.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that is a that's a core philosophy, and I'm glad that you embrace uh what I believe in.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for doing that.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Here's let's have some fun now, Dave.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: We've we've had the hard parts over.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're gonna have some fun.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be a question that's going to involve dreaming of the future, because uh, you know, uh the the the past and the present have been good to us both, but now we're gonna say, let's imagine what service looks like in the future.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: What future trends do you see shaping the client experience and the way people will work with plumbers in the future?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Can you go ahead and give us some trends that are shaping the home service industry?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: And how are you preparing your team and your clients for those future trends?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh homeowners uh will uh demand uh higher levels of service within their home.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I think people are starting to expect more from from their actual home, and I think people are willing to invest more in their home as well.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um I see you know, I was speaking to you before this podcast started, I've been to the US many times, and I feel like Australia is probably 10 to 15 years, maybe even 20 years behind the US as far as trends for homeowners, and I I can see that over in the US homeowners' expectations of how their house should should support them, whether that's you know, water quality or or indoor air quality or um all of these types of things.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Australia's a little bit behind that, but it's happening.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I can see that's happening.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um I can see finance is becoming a big thing here in Australia, um, making it easier for customers to get into the option that they want now by being able to spread those payments.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're on the forefront of that.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a great partner that that's able to offer really flexible terms, which is good.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think just homeowners expecting a higher level of service is what's going to happen.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think the days of having Joe Blogs in a van delivering terrible service, those guys aren't going to be able to survive very long, I don't think.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's it should be a reality.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously, it is a reality because with all there's never been more information available to both the consumer and to the average worker to be able to improve.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh this information that we're talking about right now would have been unheard of.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this interview would have been something that never would have been shown to anybody 15, 20 years ago.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: So uh thanks for being on the in the forefront there, uh David, uh of this uh process here.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and so let's go now and uh ask a little bit about this.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: David, uh, you've been doing this for how so how many years has this business been going for now?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh over 20 now.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um 20 years now.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: So 20 years grinding it out, starting with starting another.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: You've got you've been carrying the water for a long time here.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: What keeps you motivated to wake up every day and hit the ground running?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Look, now we've set some pretty pretty ambitious goals for the business.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: But like I said earlier on, what keeps me really, really motivated is creating a place where we can have our people win.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I I need to create, I'm trying to create a system within our business that allows all of our people to win while our customers are winning as well, and the and the business is winning.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: And when we can do that, it it's a win-win-win for everybody.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that I'm really passionate about that.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I can see that you're on the way.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I think if you keep if you keep doing that, I think you'll definitely be on the way.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you're I think that destination is it's not a destination, it's more of a journey.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you agree that it's never never really finished, is it, David?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not just gonna arrive one day.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're on the way, but but it's we did it.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: We finally it's all it's perfect here.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is is this business perfect?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is it is there is like you ever have a situation like, hey, I think I think we think everything's going good today, but then something you're in the business of fixing problems for people.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and just when you think you've got them all solved, uh, is there more tell us uh was this just is this business perfect, David?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Far from it, far from it.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I was talking talking to Gary the other day, and I was saying that we know we're in real trouble if we ever think we're perfect.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's when something wrong is is when there is no problems to fix.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: But but something actually I need to get better at is recognizing the the success that we do have.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I I'm I'm constantly looking forward, but I feel like a broken record sometimes because I'm constantly saying to the guys, oh well done.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, last week was our best week ever, last month was our best month ever, and and we are growing and we're we're hitting new goals.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I need to, and we could probably do that better as a business, is is recognize that and celebrate that sometimes because I'm constantly focused on where we're gonna go and and what we what we can achieve.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: That sometimes I get a bit um, I can be like, yeah, cool, okay, we've had a record month, great, now move on.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening next month?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like you know, I I I see a lot of different styles of management, and uh one of them is where it's like you know, the owner's not present or they don't uh not unable to communicate with the average employee at the company.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: What's your style of management?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: Are you uh open open uh to be to communicate and learn from the employees who work here and see what their experience is like?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: How much feedback does the average are you open to from your average employee who works there?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have conversations with everyone in the business.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, very open to to talking to all of the technicians, right through from the apprentices to um to the senior management people.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I yeah, and I I think everybody in our business or all of our management is very open to that.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that does come back to some of that culture that Gary's created, I think.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, there's definitely people feel like they can, all the guys have got my number, they know they know where my office is.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: If they want to come and talk to us, they can.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still in lots of the meetings.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Gary turns up to lots of the meetings.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the guy, we still we're in front of the guys often.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's go back and have a little more fun with the past.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you could go back in time, David, and I want you to imagine a young David Mickelson who uh probably just got out of uh you know school and you're ready to hit the hit the ground, and your dad's like, all right, get out of here and go become a plumber plumber.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, before you do that furniture business, learn how to do plumber.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and you want to remember, I want you to remember that time.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: What would you tell yourself if you could go back in time and uh give give yourself some words of wisdom?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: What would those words uh sound like if you were giving yourself to speak to all the young people in uh South Wales, if you don't mind, about uh some advice uh for young people in South Wales is that you could share with them that you would have shared with yourself when you were younger.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be priced right.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you have to know your numbers, and that took me a long time to learn that.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you can't go and set your price based off what another contractor is doing.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: You have to go through your own numbers and set your price so that you're profitable.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that took me a long time to learn that, and I only learned it through experience, whereas I wish I could have um taken that advice from somebody younger that you have to you have to know your numbers and you have to charge the right price.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And because I I I sort of did realize I've seen so many businesses that start and stop, and they think they're doing the customer a favor because they're charging them a cheap price.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is they're not going to be around in a few years to be able to honor any warranty.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: They're not even gonna be in business.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not making a profit, you you can you can deny that for a few years, but they end up it becomes inevitable, those people will not be in business.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: So they're not being able to serve their customers.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that that would be the thing that I would I would want to learn when I was younger, if I could.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I think a lot of contractors, David, you could probably speak to this like they think that the public is like they're gonna be mad at us if we make money.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but honestly, I've never gone to a really nice steakhouse or a really nice hotel or resort and said, Man, I'm upset because these people are making money.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always like, man, I'm this place is so nice.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, man, I that but yeah, I always do say, Yeah, I bet they're making some money here at this place.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: But but I'm honored, I honestly I'm humbled as a consumer that I'm able to afford and be part of something uh that has made has opened the doors to me because there was a time back in the old days when maybe you and I were younger where some of the elite more elite places, like I didn't know, I didn't even know they made steak in a steakhouse.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: I thought you uh I just I didn't think it was a place a place that does that.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know, I think um whenever I go to a really nice restaurant or hotel or resort, I'm like, man, this place must make some money.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm always like, but I'm so happy I could be here.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm so honored, you know what I'm saying?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: The only way they can make money is because they're providing an environment that customers want to keep going back to.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: So customers are choosing to go there, and that's that's why they're making money, because they're providing an amazing service that the customers are choosing to go back there.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, I I totally agree with you.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I don't think customers care.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think in in actual fact they actually want their their the business they're working with to make money.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: They they do because they know you won't be around.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: They know you won't be there if you're not making it.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: You won't be around and you can't provide the right service unless you you're making the money to pay for it.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because that that's the problem.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not making the money, then you cut the corners on everything.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: You cut the corners on the service, you cut the corners on the way you do the installation, you cut the corners on everything, and then the customer ends up paying for that.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: So let's end this whole thing here by you you giving can you want to give us an uh give an invitation to anybody who'd like to work for or do business with uh Lewid Plumbing?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and you you have the final word here, David.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and give us the what's your final words for your clients and maybe possible co-workers.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you have listened to this interview and you feel like you've got an alignment in culture and fit with our business, then feel free to give us a call because we would love more people that that fit because we're growing and we need more people.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um every month we're we're expanding and we need more great people.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: But if you if you feel like you're a good fit, we'd love to talk to you.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that was another great conversation here on the home service heartbeat podcast.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: David, I'm gonna give you a I'm gonna give you a review right now.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: On a scale of one to five, you're a 12.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: Does that work out?
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you can put the put that in your put that in your uh you can put that on your for for the future.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can uh I'll I'll write you a note on that one.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Make sense?
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it and I hope you had as much fun as I did on this uh podcast.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: David, uh just tell us um thank you for being on the show, number one.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, how can people uh get in touch with you or learn more about working with you or uh purchasing from you?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh probably the best place is go to our website.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's um yeah, bet website you can get in touch with us.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um all of my contact details are there, our office details are there.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um I am on LinkedIn as well if people want to link, look me up.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: Although I'm not really good on the social media stuff, so you probably better to yeah, find my phone number and give me a ring.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: You're more of a just a real person just coming, just coming in and talking, just coming and say hi, go get a cup of coffee or something.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, all of you out there, just thank you for sticking with us until the end.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you gain value from today's episode, we'd love to leave you a rating.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Leave a, please, we'd love for you to leave a rating and review like I did for David.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: And wherever you listen to podcasts, if you know someone in the service industry or someone who's looking to uh get a great job or career, or someone is looking for an amazing plumbing electrical and what what trades do you do, David?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Plumbing electrical and HVAC.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: HVAC.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you need that kind of a service on the uh central coast of Newcastle and Newcastle and Newcastle, as well as New Zealand as well as South Wales, all of that.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just call fluid plumbing, and you got your man.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh take one key insight from today and put it into action.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let us know how it goes.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: We'd love to hear about your progress.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you again, and thanks for joining us, everyone, uh, for this episode of the Home Service Heartbeat.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Goodbye, everyone.