The Home Service Expert Podcast

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Jon McNeill ran Tesla as president while revenue went from $2 billion to $20 billion in 30 months. In this episode he hands Tommy Mello the exact formula, The Algorithm: question every requirement, delete what the customer doesn't pay for, simplify, apply speed, and automate last. Then he runs it live on a real home service business, from $350 pay per click leads and 30,000 in-home appointments a month to technician equity and the two-question performance review. Connect with Jon ⟶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmcneill1/ DVx Ventures ⟶ https://www.dvx.ventures -- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 01:04 - From a Nebraska farm town to Tesla 03:02 - The Sheryl Sandberg phone call 05:47 - The growth target that sounded insane 12:38 - Questioning a $100M rocket requirement 16:40 - Circle what the customer pays for 18:12 - A garage door install in under 10 minutes 22:43 - Good, fast, and cheap: pick three 23:07 - The $350 click and 30,000 appointments 24:16 - Why be in the home at all? 27:08 - Automate last 30:19 - Network effects for local business 37:05 - The Jeff Wilke trunk-delivery story 39:19 - Training 200 technicians a month 43:02 - Equity for technicians 46:01 - Watching your money go to work 50:11 - The two-question performance review 53:08 - 168 hours and the six Fs 57:12 - How long will we live? 1:02:05 - The Ottoman Empire's mistake 1:04:23 - Bring your A game every day 1:06:03 - Where to find Jon 🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Check Out My Social Media: Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/ Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Tommy Mello sits down with two returning guests: Aaron Gaynor, founder of Eco Plumbers, Electricians, and HVAC Technicians, fresh off crossing $100 million and pacing $113M this year, and Zac Dearing, co-founder of Mantel, the AI-powered sales platform behind some of the sharpest shopping data in home services. No rehashed stories, just what is working right now: why recruiting beats leads, the new hire who sold $1M of HVAC in his first month, the labor burden number every tech should know, why 60 to 70% of deals are still alive after you leave the home, the 15% market share rule that tells you when to grow, and the marketing math that separates maintaining from grow-grow. Follow Aaron Gaynor and Eco: https://geteco.com Follow Zac Dearing and Mantel: https://usemantel.com -- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 01:03 - Aaron's $100M Milestone And The New Headquarters 06:23 - Where Homeowners Spend Their Decision Time 08:46 - Two Years On Mantel: Eco's Close Rate Now 10:37 - 69% Shop For Pricing Online And Most Find Nothing 12:23 - The Options Formula And The Sunday Effect 14:55 - Recruiting Beats Leads: Who Not How 17:09 - The New Hire Who Sold $1M In One Month 18:46 - Loyalty, Labor Burden, And The 24% Line 24:33 - The One Truck Exercise And What A Call Really Costs 29:01 - Private Equity, Labor, And Who Really Benefits 34:04 - What Contractors Actually Adopt In AI 35:43 - Charging More Than The Average Bear 42:27 - Sales Is Not A Dirty Word 44:53 - Shopping Beats Selling 49:33 - When Homeowners Actually Read Your Proposal 51:31 - Buy Or Build: The Greenfield Answer 56:30 - Marketing Math: Maintain, Grow, Or Grow Grow 01:00:21 - The 15% Rule: When To Enter A New Market 01:06:30 - Closer Hats, Next Missions, And Final Advice 01:12:40 - Stop Assuming The Deal Is Dead 01:16:09 - The Apollo 11 Close 🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Check Out My Social Media: Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/ Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Can your techs close like a doctor prescribes? Jeremy Miner, founder of 7th Level and creator of NEPQ, the largest B2C sales training company in the world, joins Tommy Mello to break down why customers say "let me think it over" to salespeople but never to their doctor, the five tonalities that make prospects persuade themselves, how to seed doubt without pressure, the four types of people (wingers, dabblers, know-it-alls, and the committed to mastery), and why you probably don't need more leads, just better conversations. They get into recruiting people with a chip on their shoulder, the train station rule for growing teams, and the watch-write-rehearse path to actually mastering a skill. Get Jeremy's NEPQ Black Book of Questions ⟶ text 480-637-2944 Learn more from Jeremy ⟶ https://7thlevelhq.com -- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 01:18 - Why "7th Level" 02:40 - The One Skill That Rules Everything 05:03 - The Buy-Back Lens 07:31 - Creating Demand From Nothing 08:41 - "How Often" Beats "Do You Ever" 10:30 - The Zero-Cancellation Concept 13:05 - The 5 Core Tones 16:55 - Could He Sell Anything? 22:14 - Sales FOR People, Not TO People 23:41 - The Doctor Status Flip 25:50 - Deframe, Then Reframe 27:22 - The 4 Types Of People 34:38 - The Chip On Your Shoulder 38:50 - You Don't Need More Leads 39:26 - The Train Station Rule 43:29 - Songs Vs. Books 45:10 - Watch, Write, Rehearse 49:35 - Hiring People With The Chip 55:30 - The Final Round 01:10:20 - The NEPQ Black Book 🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Check Out My Social Media: Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/ Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://homeservicefreedom.com/ For the first time in 700 episodes, Tommy hands the other mic to his fiancée, Bre. From interviewing to be his EA at A1 Garage to planning their January wedding, they cover how they met, the season of scaling that scared her most, living below your means, faith, family plans, and the honest answer to what building something big takes from the person sitting next to you. -- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 01:31 - How We Met At A1 03:28 - The Early A1 Days 09:30 - Bre's Upbringing 10:56 - Grandpa Stories 14:30 - Does He Ever Stop? 16:00 - Living Below Our Means 23:39 - The Work-Life Balance Debate 24:49 - What We Sacrificed 27:02 - The Wedding Plans 28:40 - The Scariest Season 34:04 - Faith And Getting Baptized 37:11 - The Next Five To Ten Years 38:53 - Rapid Fire: Who's More Likely? 48:37 - Advice For Couples Who Work Together 🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://homeservicefreedom.com/ Check Out My Social Media: Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/ Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Michael Werner has lived several business lifetimes: Goldman Sachs M&A, president of Werner Ladder at $500 million plus, the Gerber turnaround from $100 million to $700 million, and founder of HomeX, where he sold Schedule Engine to ServiceTitan for nine figures. Twenty years ago, doctors told him he had about four years left. In this episode, he and Tommy break down private equity done right, why ownership changes how people work, the three things that motivate every employee, and the four trends that will decide which home service companies survive the next decade. Connect with Michael ⟶ [email protected] -- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 02:02 - Why He Asks Everyone Their Origin Story 04:19 - Goldman's 15 Minute Rule 06:05 - Growing Werner Ladder Past $500 Million 08:49 - Too Entrepreneurial To Stay 12:07 - The Gerber Turnaround: $100M To $700M 14:30 - Satisfy Customers Or Delight Them? 19:41 - Trust, Time, Transparency: The HomeX Idea 23:30 - Why He Took A Minority Partner 29:09 - The Rental Car Ownership Test 32:29 - The Three Things That Motivate People 36:19 - Did The Trades Give Him Cancer? 38:53 - Hold The Mirror Up Before You Sell 42:39 - Never Say Retirement 47:15 - Four Trends That Decide Who Survives 50:33 - The David And Goliath Strategy 53:00 - Where He'd Put His Money 59:39 - The Death Sentence, In Full 1:02:10 - Long-Term Greedy: Final Advice 🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Check Out My Social Media: Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/ Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Most home service companies think they have a lead problem. Lauren Kingsley says they have a friction problem, and she has the receipts: $5.1 billion in revenue managed across multiple organizations, a call center scaled from 25 people to 800-plus, and the playbook she wrote for Renuity after telecom ran this exact consolidation a decade ago. In this episode: the client who dropped raw volume 20% and watched net sales jump 36% in one month, the 48-hour scheduling window that decides 85% of your jobs, why 1 to 5% of your EBITDA disappears into data silos every year, zip-code-level marketing strategy, the greenfield playbook (canvass first, digital last), building Sovereign Command as a Layer 2 over your tech stack, and the "don't trust, verify" mindset she brought from Bitcoin into business. Learn more about Lauren: https://laurenkingsley.now Contact Lauren: [email protected] -- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 -- 00:00 - Introduction 0:30 - Welcome: a friction problem, not a lead problem 1:45 - Hopping fences and selling art: Lauren's path to telecom 3:30 - Writing the Renuity playbook 5:30 - Sovereign Command: a Layer 2 over your tech stack 8:25 - One source of truth: don't trust, verify 10:40 - Time: the only asset you can't create 11:00 - Inside Tommy's daily pacing report 12:30 - Dynamic lead assignment: propensity to net close 13:55 - 400,000 calls analyzed: let the machine pick the questions 15:10 - Frictionless journeys and omnichannel nurture 17:20 - AI search jumped from 6% to 60% of homeowners 19:00 - Brand vs direct response: the 80/20 flip 20:50 - Zip code strategy: where spend goes to die 22:30 - The case study: 20% fewer raw leads, 36% more net sales 25:00 - Speed to lead: 48 hours or lose 85% 25:50 - Aggregators, bots, and where the ROI really is 29:15 - The numbers: 1 to 5% of EBITDA lost, 27% missed callbacks 30:35 - Attribution: billboards, Yelp, and 7,000 tracking numbers 34:45 - Blue Sky Jets and the Wall Street stepdad 36:25 - 2008: "something's wrong with the money" 38:50 - The $100M question: Bitcoin as a long-term savings plan 43:00 - Legislation, cold storage, and 21 million coins 46:25 - Grow wide or grow deep? The hybrid answer 48:50 - Pre-approval financing and the whole-home sell-in 51:20 - Greenfield playbook: canvass first, digital last 54:40 - Retail from Costco to Ace, by zip code 57:50 - Your people are the lifeblood 1:00:45 - Dream Manager and DreamStride 1:06:00 - Bench strength and performance-pay training 1:09:55 - How to reach Lauren 1:10:15 - What keeps Tommy up at night 1:14:00 - Very few winners, massive winners 🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com Check Out My Social Media: Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/ Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://mellomedia.s.gy/promo3-freedom2026 George Paladichuk built a million-dollar AI company at 22 — and he's the first person selling AI who will tell you NOT to hand it your phones. His platform, NaiL, sits behind 100+ franchise locations and catches nearly 1,000 calls a day for Superior Fence & Rail alone — recovering $2.5 million a month in revenue from calls that would have hit voicemail. In this episode, Tommy sits down with George to break down where AI actually belongs in your call flow, the businesses that should never use it, the disclosure test that quadrupled hang-ups, what it really costs, and the three pitfalls that kill AI rollouts. Tommy even calls George's AI live on air — see if you can tell. 💎 Top 5 Takes for this Episode! AI is your safety net, not your first touch. Booking rates AND customer satisfaction go up when AI backs up an A-player on the phones — not when it replaces them. Missed calls are a hidden metric. No dashboard reports them — and for one franchise they were worth $2.5M a month. Some calls should never go to a machine. Restoration, funeral homes — nobody in a moment of distress wants to hear a robot. Don't lead with "this is an AI." Announcing it up front 4X'd hang-ups in 30 seconds. Solve the caller's problem first — 80% never notice. Solve the problem before you build the product. That one shift took George from $4K to $50K a month in 90 days. ⏱️ Chapters 0:00 — "The last thing they want to hear is a robot" 0:40 — Who is George: 22, CU Boulder, founder of NaiL 2:15 — Wholesale real estate at 18 → digital marketing → a $1M AI company 7:45 — Superior Fence & Rail: recovering $2.5M/month in missed calls 10:15 — The hidden metric: ~1,000 missed calls a day 12:45 — Don't fire your CSRs: AI as the safety net, not the first touch 17:25 — When AI is the WRONG answer: restoration & funeral homes 20:30 — Overseas agents vs AI: cost, coverage, and one-call-at-a-time 23:30 — "The worst AI will ever be": how fast the voices got good 25:55 — Outbound calling, TCPA compliance, and why SMS wins 30:35 — The next 2–3 years of AI receptionists 32:40 — Should you disclose it's AI? The 4X hang-up test 36:15 — LIVE DEMO: Tommy calls the AI 38:45 — Where to start + pitfall #1: solve the problem, not the technology 43:00 — Pilot programs: 30–60 days, build to launch 46:00 — Why young female voices win 47:40 — What it costs: $10–20K pilots, ~$997/location/month 50:00 — Advice to young builders: find the problem first, then market the hell out of it 54:15 — What's next for NaiL + how to reach George 57:20 — Why rollouts fail: vision, results, and a spokesperson 🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://mellomedia.s.gy/promo3-freedom2026 Learn more about NaiL here: https://usenail.com Contact George: [email protected] George Paladichuk is the founder of NaiL, an AI voice receptionist platform for home service franchises. A 22-year-old CU Boulder graduate, he went from wholesale real estate at 18 to running a digital marketing agency through college to building NaiL, which now serves 100+ franchise locations. His biggest client, Superior Fence & Rail, recovers $2.5 million a month in revenue from missed calls handled by the platform. Check Out My Social Media: Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/ Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/ My other podcast: Tommy Mello Millionaire ⟶ https://www.youtube.com/@officialtommymello Live Q&A submission form: https://homeserviceexpert.com/questions

🎟️ Join us at Freedom 2026 → https://mellomedia.s.gy/promo2-freedom2026 Cameron Herold is back for round two — the man who scaled 1-800-GOT-JUNK from $2M to $106M in six years breaks down why two A-players beat six average hires, the exact matrix Jack Welch used to decide who stays, and the profit math that tells you whether you should even own a home service business. If you're stuck between $3M and $10M, this one's for you. 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 0:00:00 Cold Open 0:02:26 Idea Capture 0:08:30 Vivid Vision 0:11:19 The HVAC Trap 0:19:19 Red KPIs Only 0:25:14 Expansion Warning 0:31:05 Interview Training Gap 0:40:37 Jack Welch Matrix 0:48:51 A-Player Math 0:52:12 The Doubt Rule 1:01:51 Entrepreneur Reality 1:13:54 Profit Over Revenue 1:17:28 P&L Basics 1:26:15 Call Center Rule 1:44:44 Books And Contact 🎟️ Freedom 2026 → https://mellomedia.s.gy/promo2-freedom2026 TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/officialtommymello