Freedom Blueprint for Home Services | HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Leadership, Business Growth

Seventeen years old, making minimum wage, driving past a "Now Hiring" banner on his way to pick up a shirt for a night out — that's how Ismael Valdez stumbled into an industry he'd go on to reshape twice.Justin sits down with Ismael to trace the whole arc: six or seven years behind the counter selling HVAC parts, the leap into Home Comfort Air Conditioning (zero to $20M in four years, back when that made you one of the biggest contractors in America), and the founding of Next Gen Air Conditioning — started almost out of spite after a stock dispute, and grown into the fastest-growing contractor in the country at $108M in six and a half years. From there, Ismael explains why he walked away from contracting to build Nuve, a smart thermostat company, and lays out his vision for the next era of the industry: fully autonomous contracting businesses, proactive service that fixes problems before customers notice them, and a thermostat that becomes the branded hub of the home.The conversation also gets personal — Justin shares real numbers from an AI answering service he deployed at his own pizza shops, and Ismael closes with the advice he wishes someone had given him earlier about being a great entrepreneur without sacrificing the people at home.⏱️ VIDEO CHAPTERS0:00 — Meet Ismael Valdez: From Counter Guy to Industry Disruptor3:18 — How an 18-Year-Old Found the Trades by Accident5:55 — What If You'd Never Seen That Hiring Banner?8:35 — The Leap From Selling Parts to Home Comfort Air Conditioning10:20 — Founding Next Gen Out of a Stock Dispute (and Scaling to $108M)12:30 — The Truck Humps: Scaling From Zero to Hundreds of Trucks12:55 — At Peak: 150 Trucks at Home Comfort, 400+ at Next Gen13:48 — Why Owners Who Sell Rebuild to Their Old Size in Under 24 Months14:30 — The Discipline of a $100M Operator15:35 — The Next Big Bet: Building the First Autonomous Contracting Business17:24 — Why Autonomous Contractors Could Get Valued Like SaaS Companies18:32 — The Thermostat as the New Hub of the Home21:05 — From Reactive to Proactive: Fixing Problems Before Customers Notice22:30 — Why Customers Will Pay a Premium for Proactive Service23:12 — Face Recognition, Ring Cameras, and Fully Vetted Technicians24:15 — From MapQuest to AI: How Far the Industry Has Come25:05 — Backing Up: From Next Gen to Launching Nuve25:18 — Totally Different People: Contractors vs. SaaS Teams27:05 — "Because That's How We've Always Done It" — and Why That's the Enemy28:20 — Why the Home Service Industry Shares More Than Any Other31:00 — Why Ismael Built Nuve: Putting the Contractor's Brand on the Thermostat33:10 — Justin's AI Answering Service Experiment at His Pizza Shops33:57 — Be Upfront That It's AI (and Give People an Out)34:53 — Scaling Nuve to $20M+ and a New Patent-Pending Switch35:40 — Why Ismael Wants the Whole Industry to Win, Not Just Him36:30 — How to Book a Demo With Nuve38:00 — The Thermostat as a 24/7 Billboard for Your Brand39:06 — The Advice Ismael Wishes He'd Gotten Earlier41:45 — Time Is the One Asset You Can't Get Back43:04 — Documenting the Next Journey: Prime, Autonomy, and a Netflix Pitch44:40 — Wrapping Up🎯 IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN✅ How a chance glance at a "Now Hiring" banner turned into a 22-year run building multi-hundred-million-dollar companies✅ Why Ismael believes the thermostat, not the phone, will become the hub of the home service customer journey✅ The case for building the first fully autonomous contracting business, and why bigger valuations depend on it✅ Real numbers from Justin's own AI answering service experiment at his pizza shops✅ The advice Ismael wishes he'd gotten earlier about being a great entrepreneur without sacrificing familyThis one's part origin story, part forecast for where the industry is headed next. If you've ever wondered what's actually possible beyond the truck-count humps everyone talks about, this conversation is for you.🎧 Welcome to The Freedom Blueprint Podcast — short, powerful episodes to help home service business owners lead better, grow faster, and keep crushing it.👉 Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode👉 Share this with an owner who thinks they've hit their ceiling#HomeServiceBusiness #HVACBusiness #PlumbingBusiness #ContractorMarketing #FreedomBlueprint #JustinDeese #IsmaelValdez #Nuve #SmartHome #HomeServiceTech

You're sitting across from another owner at a conference, or your spouse at the kitchen table, saying the thing every owner says: "I can't find good people. Nobody wants to work anymore." Now flip it — if you were Jimmy, clocking in every morning under a boss exactly like you, would you stay?In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin turns the mirror all the way around. He admits there was a stretch where he blamed his team for having no fire, until he actually watched himself — walking in stressed and letting the shop feel it, only talking to his guys when something was wrong, expecting loyalty he hadn't done anything to earn. He didn't have a team problem. He had a me problem.Justin breaks down the difference between compliance and commitment, why your team is really just a mirror reflecting the energy you bring them, and the one bold move — asking your team what it's actually like to work for you — that changes everything once you're willing to sit with the answer.⏱️ VIDEO CHAPTERS0:00 — The Question Every Owner Avoids: Would You Work for You?1:40 — Welcome to the Freedom Blueprint Podcast1:58 — Turning the Mirror Around: Grading the Boss, Not the Team2:28 — My Confession: I Had a Me Problem, Not a Team Problem3:10 — Why Good Techs Get to Choose Who They Work For3:30 — Compliance vs. Commitment: The Whole Ballgame3:51 — Your Team Is a Mirror4:00 — A Morning in the Life: How the Stress Lands on Jimmy4:27 — Why a Conversation With You Means "I'm in Trouble"4:40 — Why This Never Feels Like Bad Leadership From the Inside4:59 — What to Actually Do: Ask the Question and Mean It5:11 — Start With the Energy You Walk In With5:26 — Catch Them Doing It Right, Out Loud5:33 — The Bold Move: Ask Your Team What It's Like to Work for You5:56 — What Changes When You Become Someone Worth Working For6:30 — Same Guys, Different Leader6:35 — Your Challenge for Today7:07 — Share, Subscribe, and Leave a Review🎯 IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN✅ The uncomfortable question at the center of the episode: would you actually work for you?✅ Why compliance and commitment are two completely different things, and which one you're actually getting✅ How your own morning stress quietly becomes your team's daily experience of you✅ The bold move of asking your team what it's really like to work for you, and how to actually hear the answer✅ The one-thing-this-week challenge to start closing the gapAverage leaders blame the hiring pool. Great leaders check the mirror first. If you've ever said nobody wants to work anymore, this episode is for you.🎧 Welcome to The Freedom Blueprint Podcast — short, powerful episodes to help home service business owners lead better, grow faster, and keep crushing it.👉 Subscribe so you don't miss the next Freedom Fuel episode👉 Share this with an owner who's still blaming the hiring pool instead of the mirror#HomeServiceBusiness #HVACBusiness #PlumbingBusiness #ContractorMarketing #FreedomBlueprint #JustinDeese #LeadershipDevelopment #TeamCulture #ContractorTips #BusinessGrowth

Justin sits down with Ellen Rohr on the beach right after Home Service Hoorah wraps — Zoom Drain founder, Service Titan brand ambassador lead, and someone who's been humbled by this industry more times than she can count.Ellen walks through her path from founding Zoom Drain to running Service Titan's brand ambassador program, how she discovered Jered Williams (the Wealthy Plumber) on Instagram, and why his Wahoo Plumbing launch, booked solid for weeks off a handful of Facebook ads, is proof that personal brand matters more than ever in an age of rising ad costs and AI-generated noise.From there the conversation turns to the basics: the John Wooden "how you put on your socks" lesson on repetition and training, why SOPs should start with something as simple as "sober, on time, dressed right," and a string of shop-tour stories — from A+ Garage's high-tension springs to Any Hour's maze-like $125 million strip mall to the shop visit that changed how Ellen thought about scale back in 1992. She closes with details on Service Titan's free Titan Creator Summit on November 19th.⏱️ VIDEO CHAPTERS0:00 — Hanging Out With Ellen After She Rocked the Hoorah Stage3:00 — Why We Kept This Year's Event Intimate3:50 — Ellen's First-Ever Podcast4:19 — How Wealthy Plumber and Hoorah Joined Forces5:20 — Ellen's Path From Zoom Drain to Service Titan6:20 — Building Service Titan's Brand Ambassador Program6:53 — Discovering Jered Williams on Instagram7:50 — Practicing What You Preach: The Wahoo Plumbing Ad Story8:50 — Why Personal Brand Matters More Than Ever9:37 — Guerrilla Marketing for the Small Guys10:07 — Chad Peterman's $200M BHAG11:11 — The 18–24 Month Rebuild After Selling a Business11:35 — Jered's Take: Why Getting Bigger Reduces Risk13:39 — John Wooden, Socks, and the Power of Repetition14:45 — SOPs Start With Sober, On Time, Dressed Right15:53 — Most of Your Time Is Spent Correcting What You Never Clarified16:18 — Shop Tours: The Garage Door Ride-Along17:34 — A+ Garage and a New Respect for Dangerous Equipment18:40 — The Advantage of Not Knowing the Trade19:27 — What Am I Doing That's Getting in Your Way?20:27 — What Really Matters on a Ride-Along21:47 — Simple Process, Overcomplicated by Owners23:16 — The Titan Creator Summit, November 19th25:07 — Half the Room Was at Their First-Ever Conference25:26 — The $100 Million Shop Tour That Changed Ellen's Mind27:00 — Tommy Mello's Business Is a Training Business27:28 — Any Hour: The $125 Million Strip Mall29:36 — Training Rooms Built Like Real Garages30:53 — Patrick Lang and the Art of the Long Q&A31:52 — Texting Kristen From the Panel32:33 — John Fay's Next Chapter33:30 — See You Next Year at Hoorah🎯 IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN✅ Why Ellen believes personal brand matters more than ever in the age of AI and rising ad costs✅ The John Wooden "how you put on your socks" lesson and what it means for training your team✅ Why simple SOPs, starting with "sober, on time, dressed right," beat over-engineered systems✅ Stories from shop tours at A+ Garage, Any Hour, and Mike Diamond's landmark 1992 shop visit✅ Details on Service Titan's free Titan Creator Summit on November 19thThis one's less of a lesson and more of a conversation — two people who've built and sold businesses swapping stories about training, brand, and the mistakes that taught them the most. If you want the behind-the-scenes of Home Service Hoorah straight from one of its guests, this episode is for you.🎧 Welcome to The Freedom Blueprint Podcast — short, powerful episodes to help home service business owners lead better, grow faster, and keep crushing it.👉 Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode👉 Share this with an owner building their brand from the ground up#HomeServiceBusiness #HVACBusiness #PlumbingBusiness #ContractorMarketing #FreedomBlueprint #JustinDeese #EllenRohr #ZoomDrain #ServiceTitan #HomeServiceHoorah

It's the first of the month, and your reviews look great — 4.8 stars, fifty-something reviews, only two bad ones you can still name off the top of your head. So you lean back and think, we're doing all right. Then you pull the year-end numbers: a thousand calls, fifty reviews. Where did the other 950 people go?In this Freedom Fuel episode, Justin admits he spent years using his review page as a mirror — if it looked good, he felt good — while never once asking about the customers who said nothing at all. He was reading the highlight reel and calling it the whole game film. Silence isn't approval. Silence is the sound of somebody leaving, and it's costing more than most owners realize.Justin prices it out: at $400 a ticket and a five-year customer relationship, even a small slice of your silent customers walking away adds up to real six-figure money, money you then have to pay twice to replace. He lays out three simple ways to close the gap — one question every technician should ask before leaving a job, an old-school phone call to customers who've gone quiet, and training your team to notice when something feels off before it turns into a lost customer.⏱️ VIDEO CHAPTERS0:00 — The Reviews Look Great. The Math Doesn't.0:30 — Where Are the Other 950 People?0:41 — Today's Topic: The Customers You Never Hear Complain1:42 — Welcome to the Freedom Blueprint Podcast2:15 — Why "No News" Isn't Good News2:50 — Reading the Highlight Reel Instead of the Game Film3:08 — Pricing Out One Lost Customer3:31 — The $380,000 Hiding in Your Silent 9503:45 — Paying to Acquire the Same Customer Twice3:55 — Why We Only Measure What's Loud4:13 — The Assumption: "If We Were Bad, They'd Tell Us"4:40 — The Real Reason Nobody Goes Looking4:50 — Fixing the Silence Starts at the Door5:00 — The One Question Every Tech Should Ask5:20 — Finding the Customers Who Already Left5:36 — The Old-School Phone Call That Wins Them Back5:56 — Teaching Jimmy to Read the Room6:17 — What You Get When You Stop Guessing6:45 — Back to My Confession7:00 — The Challenge: Call 10 Silent Customers This Week7:20 — Your One Assignment for Today7:34 — Share, Subscribe, and Leave a Review🎯 IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN✅ Why "no complaints" doesn't mean "no problem" — and what silence actually costs you✅ The simple math that turns your quiet, unhappy customers into a real dollar figure✅ The one question every technician should ask before driving off the job✅ How to reopen the door with customers who quietly walked away, the old-school way✅ How to train your team to "read the room" and catch a problem before it becomes a lost customerAverage owners read their review page and call it the whole story. Great owners go looking for the 950 people who never said a word. If your reviews look great but your growth doesn't match, this episode is for you.🎧 Welcome to The Freedom Blueprint Podcast — short, powerful episodes to help home service business owners lead better, grow faster, and keep crushing it.👉 Subscribe so you don't miss the next Freedom Fuel episode👉 Share this with an owner who thinks 4.8 stars means everything's fine#HomeServiceBusiness #HVACBusiness #PlumbingBusiness #ContractorMarketing #FreedomBlueprint #JustinDeese #CustomerExperience #CustomerRetention #ContractorTips #BusinessGrowth

Recorded live from the beach right after the second annual Home Service Hoorah wrapped, Justin and Kristen break down the biggest takeaways from two days built around one thing: hiring.They walk through the "open house" recruiting process they've run for years across markets big and small, then dig into the Facebook and Indeed retargeting trick that got one brand-new plumbing company booked out for two weeks in just three or four days — and pulled 70 people into an office built for a fraction of that. From there, the conversation turns to the growing presence of women on stage and in the trades, and closes with a story from the Blue Angels' ground CEO about why the team hires for attitude and teamwork over raw skill — and what that means for how you build your own crew.⏱️ VIDEO CHAPTERS0:00 — Recording Live From the Beach After Home Service Hoorah0:30 — Two Days, One Deep Dive: The "Open House" Recruiting Process1:27 — Going Deep Instead of Wide: Why This Year Hit Different1:56 — Jared's Walkthrough: Building an Ad in Meta3:04 — The Retargeting Trick Nobody Talks About3:52 — 70 People Showed Up to a Brand-New Company's Open House4:39 — Why This Fixes the "Employees Holding You Hostage" Problem4:47 — Big Takeaway: More Women on Stage This Year6:05 — Is the Industry Changing, or Just Getting Louder?6:34 — Half the Room Had Never Been to an Event Like This7:14 — Pensacola Beach: The Hidden Gem Behind the Event8:01 — The Real Cost of Showing Up9:13 — Guest Speakers: Steve Wilmer Brings the Energy10:12 — The Ground CEO of the Blue Angels11:14 — Inside the Diamond Formation: 18 Inches at 800 MPH11:54 — Why the Blue Angels Hire for Attitude, Not Skill12:41 — Best Teammates, Not Just Best Pilots13:32 — Wrapping Up: HomeServiceHoorah.com🎯 IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN✅ The "open house" recruiting process that's filled trucks for years, in markets big and small✅ The Facebook + Indeed retargeting trick that booked one plumbing company solid in days✅ Why systems like this only work when you stop treating them as "set it and forget it"✅ What the Blue Angels' ground crew can teach you about hiring for attitude over skill✅ Why going deep on fewer topics beat going wide this year, and what attendees left able to implement immediatelyAverage events send you home with a stack of ideas you'll never open again. Great events send you home with one thing you can implement on the flight back. If hiring is your biggest headache, this recap is for you.🎧 Welcome to The Freedom Blueprint Podcast — short, powerful episodes to help home service business owners lead better, grow faster, and keep crushing it.👉 Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode👉 Share this with an owner who's tired of the hiring grind#HomeServiceBusiness #HVACBusiness #PlumbingBusiness #ContractorMarketing #FreedomBlueprint #JustinDeese #Recruiting #Hiring #HomeServiceHoorah #Leadership