Terry Tanker met with Chadd and Keegan Hodges immediately following a presentation by Florida Governor Rick Scott, who presented the co-owners of Best Home Services in Naples, Fla. with the Business Ambassador Award in recognition of their growth from 10 to 145 employees. The three discussed company growth, job creation, risk and company culture.

1. How do you remain so humble after a visit from Governor Scott, his security detail, television and newspaper reporters?

It’s nice to be recognized for what we love to do. Obviously, you don’t set out with a visit from the Governor as a goal, but creating jobs (68 in 2016) is what happens when you set aggressive growth goals.

2. You’re both young (Keegan 38, Chadd 34) — how did you start?

Our parents bought a small electric business called Best Electric when we were 13 and 9. We helped out during the summer and on school breaks. Keegan dropped out of high school to work in the trades and later went to trade school to get a certificate in HVAC and electric. Chadd went to college to get a masters in business marketing. One of us is blue collar the other white collar, as our father would say.

3. What did the company look like in 2007?

Our dad retired so, our mom, Marilyn, ran the company along with a service manager and 10 employees. When the economy tanked in 2008, we shrunk like everyone else. Our revenues of $1.8 million were cut in half. Adding HVAC increased our top line revenue by about $400k and that helped bridge the gap in 2009. We purchased the company from our parents in 2010.

4. What happened next?

Our parents were long standing members of Nexstar, and through that organization we met Jaime DiDomenico, owner of Cool Today in Sarasota, Fla. He’s been a great mentor.

5. What was his message?

He taught us how to market. But we really didn’t have the money. In 2010, we didn’t have “credit,” but a lot of credit card companies were offering interest free credit cards. Chadd and I took out as many as we could and used the money for marketing. It was sink or swim!

6. What marketing investments did you make?

Everything — postcards, billboards, radio, telephone books … you name it. It was relatively inexpensive, because the economy was bad and media outlets needed advertisers. People raise their eyebrows at phone books, but our demographic is older and they use them.

7. Where have you seen the best results?

We do so much under the umbrella of “marketing” it’s difficult to say. Internet based strategies, such as Google and SEO, are built to be tracked, while television, radio and billboards are dificult to quantify.

8. You must also get a lot of exposure from your fleet of 90 vehicles — how did you decide on the wrap?

Our serious growth phase started in 2012, and in 2013 we decided we wanted to change our logo, our name … everything. True to our nature, we went all in. Most companies change things as they acquire new vehicles, but we pulled all the trucks off the street and changed them at the same time.

9. How do you find service technicians?

We focus on it. Hiring is our number one priority because our company culture is one of growth. We live by a few simple core values — be a family, be fun, be amazing and constantly grow and learn.

10. How many employees come to you?

A high percentage, actually. We’ve built critical mass and we’re a known entity. We have applications from as far away as Mich. and N.J. Everyone wants to play for the winning team. We pay well, but have high expectations. Honestly, being small is more difficult than being large.

11. How are your retention rates?

Some employees will thrive in this environment, others won’t. A percentage won’t buy into our culture even after screening, interviewing and going through the on-boarding process. We’re prepared to release some of our talent to the competition.

12. Why aren’t more contractors growing?

It’s simply a mindset. We just visited a contractor in New Mexico. He’s 60 and has 550 employees. He doesn’t have a “cap” in mind and he just keeps growing. He keeps thinking big. For some, $5 million is big, for others it’s $75 million. We don’t have a number.

13. Where is Best Home Services right now?

When we started we thought $6 million would be “the” number. After meeting with Jaime, we thought $12 million was achievable. Last year, we were at $18 million and this year we expect $24 million, maybe a little more.

14. How do you break up job responsibilities?

Chadd is administration and Keegan is production — our backgrounds dictated this and it’s where we’re most happy.

15. How do you manage each of your three divisions — HVAC, plumbing and electric?

We have a great general manager, Mike Kiser. Then there are managers for each of the divisions, as well as accounting, human resources and our call center.

16. Where is your expansion headed?

We had a grand opening in Sarasota on January 1. Later this year, we’re opening another location in Ft. Myers. Next year, we’ll open in Tampa, which is a huge market. Each time we expand, it adds opportunity for our employees to move and take on additional responsibilities

17. That also benefits the company, right?

Absolutely! We embed new offices with our company culture by bringing in existing employees who show new employees what we’re all about and how we operate.

18. How do you manage profitability?

Right now, we simply reinvest everything back in the company and it’s been working for us. We live modestly, because that’s how we were brought up and we don’t see any reason to change. There will be time for all the extras later in life, but right now we have a laser focus.

19. Have you had to change parts of your operation due to your growth?

Recently, our bank told us, “We don’t want you to own any more trucks because it’s making your balance sheet ugly”. After investigating the market, we now lease them and it’s had the intended effect.

20. Any final thoughts?

Al Davis, former owner of the Oakland Raiders, used to say, “Just win, baby, win.” We like to say, “Just grow, baby, grow.”