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The Larson Home Services Origin Story · Ask The Experts

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  Speaker 1: Eight oh five thirteen ten WIB and Ask the Experts,
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  Speaker 1: joined this morning by mister Andrew Larson of Larson Home Services.
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  Speaker 1: The website Larsenhome Services dot com. That's l a rs
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  Speaker 1: N Home Services dot com. Telpha number six oh eight
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  Speaker 1: five three five forty three forty three. That's five three
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  Speaker 1: five forty three forty three. And I drove through year
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  Speaker 1: old stopping ground yesterday, Andrew, where I was up heading
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  Speaker 1: on my way up to Minnesota. I was going to
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  Speaker 1: Valley Fair. Did you go to Valley Fair when you
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  Speaker 1: were when you were.
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  Speaker 2: A young man, Did I go to Valley That was
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  Speaker 2: the place to go in the summer? I mean try
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  Speaker 2: to go two or three times a year for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a fun place. Yeah. We were out there
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  Speaker 1: up there yesterday, and I thought, oh, we should h
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  Speaker 1: we should talk a little bit this morning about of
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  Speaker 1: course Andrew's history and kind of how how things came
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  Speaker 1: to be when it comes to Larson Home Services. And
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  Speaker 1: for folks that don't know Andrew, you are from the
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  Speaker 1: Baldwin area of Wisconsin, and and you've been here working
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  Speaker 1: in Dane County and Madison for god, say, I was
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  Speaker 1: gonna say a couple of decades. But you're not that old.
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  Speaker 1: But you've you've been You've been here in town for
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  Speaker 1: doing doing great things for a while now, haven't you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, you know. I don't like to talk
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  Speaker 2: about myself, Sean, but if we want the backstory, yes, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I grew up in Baldwin, Wisconsin. Most people ask where
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  Speaker 2: I'm from. I say Baldwin, I say hut. They go huh,
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  Speaker 2: I go Hudson, They go, oh, yeah, yeah, I did
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  Speaker 2: actually live in Hudson for a while too. So two
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  Speaker 2: thousand and eight is when we officially, me and my
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  Speaker 2: wife officially made the decision to leave Hudson, where we
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  Speaker 2: where we got married, where we bought our first home,
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  Speaker 2: and moved to Madison and start the company now known
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  Speaker 2: as Larson Home Services. Uh, honestly, it was it was.
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  Speaker 2: It was a pretty big decision. It was scary. We
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  Speaker 2: just married, my wife was pregnant. It was uh, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we gave up a lot, honestly. We gave up my
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  Speaker 2: wife's south, who at the time made just as much
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  Speaker 2: money as I did. We gave up our health insurance
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  Speaker 2: which she carried. So it was pretty scary. And it
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  Speaker 2: was also if people on this chance. I know, people
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  Speaker 2: remember what happened in two thousand and six through two
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  Speaker 2: thousand and eight, and really the market, I mean it crashed,
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  Speaker 2: so people were like, what are you doing? Like, I
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  Speaker 2: had a great job and a house, and Hudson's beautiful.
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  Speaker 2: If anybody's ever been there, it's amazing. But I knew
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  Speaker 2: that I wanted to do more and at the time
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  Speaker 2: we were a different gutter franchise and that the territory
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  Speaker 2: was open in Madison. So with the help of my
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  Speaker 2: boss actually at the time, mister Kevin Kevin and Emily Lindis,
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  Speaker 2: I went to them and said, hey, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: think I've been doing some research. I think Madison, Wisconsin's
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  Speaker 2: a great a great area to start a new company.
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  Speaker 2: And honestly, i'd always I mean, growing up to me
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  Speaker 2: was it was a big city, it was the capital,
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  Speaker 2: it was where we went for for state sporting events.
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  Speaker 2: I loved Madison. So with their backing, actually I owe
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  Speaker 2: a lot to them. They they supported me financially, helped
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  Speaker 2: me start the company, and I know not everybody gets
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  Speaker 2: that opportunity. So for me it was cool because I
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  Speaker 2: really had someone to not let down and he was
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  Speaker 2: anyway a boss mentor business partner. So started.
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  Speaker 1: What I was gonna say is is is obviously he
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  Speaker 1: saw something. I mean, there was there's clearly something that
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  Speaker 1: and and clearly, as as we're standing here today, you know,
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  Speaker 1: decades later, clearly he was right. I mean, there was
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  Speaker 1: there was a really you know, I'm gonna guess if
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  Speaker 1: if we go back to when this all started, that conversation,
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  Speaker 1: you probably weren't the first person to ever think, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I should I should venture out, but you were the
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  Speaker 1: first person to kind of get that, get that thumbs
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  Speaker 1: up of saying, okay, let's do Clearly, clearly they saw
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  Speaker 1: something in your abilities and what you are capable of doing.
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  Speaker 2: Well. I hope, so I hope so so I mean,
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  Speaker 2: and that worked out. And actually, this story, the story
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  Speaker 2: really starts with actually my best friend in the whole world.
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  Speaker 2: We worked together at the same company. We decided to
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  Speaker 2: almost do this at the same time without talking to
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  Speaker 2: each other. Neither one of us actually talked about what
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  Speaker 2: our plans were, but in our heads we both had
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  Speaker 2: the exact same plan, except his plan originated over in Appleton,
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  Speaker 2: the Appleton Green Bay area, which is where he was from.
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  Speaker 2: But so unbeknownst to each of us. We had been
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  Speaker 2: thinking the same thing, wanting to do the same thing,
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  Speaker 2: planning the same thing, and we really both did it
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  Speaker 2: around the same time. And the reason that I bring
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  Speaker 2: him up. He owns Knie Home Services over in actually
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  Speaker 2: based out of Nina, Nina Appleton area, and we both
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  Speaker 2: started at the exact same time, and you know, we
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  Speaker 2: helped each other. We he mentored me, I mentored him.
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  Speaker 2: We helped each other with production and sales and all
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  Speaker 2: kinds of different stuff. And we both kind of grew
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  Speaker 2: organically the same way with adding roofing and then adding insulation,
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  Speaker 2: and we added gutter shutter at the same time. And
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  Speaker 2: then you know, our paths really collided over the past
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  Speaker 2: couple of years here where we we really started expanding
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  Speaker 2: and we joined our companies. So here we talk about
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  Speaker 2: Larson Home Services all the time, but we have another
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  Speaker 2: branch called Larcearkini Home Services or l or LKHS brand,
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  Speaker 2: which we now have an office in Rochester, Minnesota. We
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  Speaker 2: have our office in Milwaukee, in office in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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  Speaker 2: We'll be expanding to the Chicago Land area. So wow, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's it's really taking. Here's the thing, it's it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: work out that way without the teachings of the lenduses
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  Speaker 2: where we both first started. Always taught customer service before
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  Speaker 2: making a dollar, like that was the most important thing.
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  Speaker 2: And here's an example of those type of morals and
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  Speaker 2: business ethics that we had. We just did a job
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  Speaker 2: over in Burlington, Wisconsin last week, and that's it's like self,
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  Speaker 2: a wakashaw and beautiful home out in the country. And
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  Speaker 2: when the job got done, the homeowner there are some
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  Speaker 2: things on the scope that didn't get put on the
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  Speaker 2: scope of work, so they didn't get done. And when
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  Speaker 2: certain things don't get done on a roof, that's pretty
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  Speaker 2: tough to fix. Right, We've got shingles covering it. So
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  Speaker 2: I talked to the homeowner and I said, look, I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to put the ball in your court. You tell
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  Speaker 2: me what you would like us to do. And he said, well,
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  Speaker 2: I think that I think that a ten percent discount
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  Speaker 2: would be would be would be reasonable, and and I agreed,
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  Speaker 2: I said that that would be very reasonable. But I said, sir,
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  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you still aren't getting
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  Speaker 2: what you want. You're just getting a cheaper roof. So
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to propose this. I said, I'll give you.
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  Speaker 2: I'll give you that discount if that's what you'd like,
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  Speaker 2: or I will completely redo your entire roof for free,
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  Speaker 2: giving you the open valleys that you really wanted. And
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  Speaker 2: he was shocked because obviously just doing a ten percent
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  Speaker 2: discount is a much easier, much cheaper alternative for me.
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  Speaker 2: But in the end, if somebody asked them, hey, how
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  Speaker 2: is that roof from LARSENKINI Home Services, he can say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: they did a pretty good job, but they screwed up,
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  Speaker 2: or they forgot something, but they gave me a discount.
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  Speaker 2: But that's not who we are. And I learned that.
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  Speaker 2: I learned those business ethics and those morals from Kevin Linda's.
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  Speaker 2: He had an example of a steel roof that they
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  Speaker 2: did and when the guys were finishing it, somehow a
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  Speaker 2: couple scratches got put in it and it was noticeable,
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  Speaker 2: and the homeowner wanted a discount. He was okay with
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  Speaker 2: a discount, and Kevin taught me that just giving somebody
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  Speaker 2: a discount at the end of the day istill doesn't
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  Speaker 2: give them what they wanted. He redid that entire seventy
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  Speaker 2: thousand dollars steel roof because it had scratches in it.
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  Speaker 2: Most people wouldn't do that. So we got to where
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  Speaker 2: we are because of what we learned a long time ago.
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  Speaker 2: But our brand is expanding and we're being able to
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  Speaker 2: help more and more and more people every single day.
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  Speaker 2: And I like to think some people say, well, you
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  Speaker 2: know you do You do these podcasts and you talk
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  Speaker 2: about how you do things and why you do things.
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  Speaker 2: And I've had other friends who are contractors reach out
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  Speaker 2: to me and say, you know, you divulge a lot
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  Speaker 2: of stuff, how you guys do things, why you guys
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  Speaker 2: do things, and we do. But at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the day, I like to think that even if somebody
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  Speaker 2: doesn't go with us, we're actually making other contractors do better,
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  Speaker 2: raising the bone because of the way we do things.
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  Speaker 2: And that's something that I think about daily and weekly,
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  Speaker 2: that we raise the bar for all other contractors so
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  Speaker 2: everybody can have a great experience, hopefully even if they
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  Speaker 2: don't go through us. So yeah, that's kind of something
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  Speaker 2: I try to try to hang my hat on and
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  Speaker 2: never forget.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's it's pretty impressive too. As we talk about
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  Speaker 1: LARSENALM Services and how you've grown over the years and
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  Speaker 1: why you've grown is I know that you've had opportunities
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  Speaker 1: over the years to do some different things, and obviously
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  Speaker 1: with the reputation that you've built with Larsenome Services, there
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  Speaker 1: are a lot of folks out there that are that
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  Speaker 1: are very eager to to do work with you, have
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  Speaker 1: you carry their products and do other things. And I
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  Speaker 1: know you've been very very diligent and very very cautious
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  Speaker 1: about even some things. There's a certain product out there
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  Speaker 1: that if you look around you can see right through
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  Speaker 1: that can make a lot of money, but it's got
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  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, But it's got to be
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  Speaker 1: the right product. And I know in the past, I know,
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  Speaker 1: I know you get approached regularly about about adding other things,
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  Speaker 1: and who knows what happens in the future, but it
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  Speaker 1: goes to the reputation. Not only we talk. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I had my experience working with you guys and how
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  Speaker 1: much I loved what you guys did for our house
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  Speaker 1: and building that reputation with customers, but also in the industry.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned having an effect industry wide, and it's locally
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  Speaker 1: saying listen, we're working to raise the standard, raise this bar.
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  Speaker 1: You're seeing it so you're not only seeing it from customers,
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  Speaker 1: but you're seeing it from from the construction, the inside,
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  Speaker 1: the industry side as well, saying this is how things
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  Speaker 1: should be done. And when it comes to having things
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  Speaker 1: done on your home, whether it's whether it's gut or shutter,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's doctor energy saver, whether it's having your roof restored,
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  Speaker 1: having a roof replaced, those type of things, it's important. Again,
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  Speaker 1: give Andrew a call talk with them at Larst Home Services.
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  Speaker 1: They'd love to come out take a look at your home.
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  Speaker 1: All I got to do is give them a call
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  Speaker 1: this morning six oh eight five three five forty three
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  Speaker 1: forty three. That's five three five four three four three.
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  Speaker 1: You can learn more online Larsenhomes Services dot com. That's
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  Speaker 1: La rt Son Home Services dot com. Also like to
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  Speaker 1: point out Andrew put his name right on the name
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  Speaker 1: of the business for a good reason is because he
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  Speaker 1: loves what he does and of course takes pride in
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  Speaker 1: what he does as well. That website Larsenhomeservices dot com. Andrew,
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  Speaker 1: it's always great chatting with you, my friend. You enjoy this.
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  Speaker 2: Beautiful day, all right, we'll chat next week and.
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  Speaker 1: Again the number six O eight five three five forty
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  Speaker 1: three forty three. That's five three five four three four
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  Speaker 1: three Kevin Ham Hamsarbacare comes your way next year at
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  Speaker 1: thirteen ten wib E