Vision and Values: Exploring the Dynamics of Entrepreneurship with 5 Star Heating & Air

Wayne Herring 00:00:00 - 00:00:35
Business builders. Today, I am at 5 Star Mechanical. I'm in Llewellyn, Pennsylvania, a small little town close to where I live. And I get to interview, Kevin and Tiffany Pudelavich, who are the founders of 5 Star Mechanical. They started this business in 2020 after Kevin got laid off, during the COVID initial, recession and setback that we all had. Tiffany was working in health care at the time and was pregnant with her daughter. So she was in the midst of what we know was a really kinda hellish time for health care workers. And Kevin said, hey, I don't think I wanna go back to work.
Wayne Herring 00:00:35 - 00:01:05
I think I wanna start a business. They did that. And in today's episode, you'll hear how they've done that together. You'll hear how they create family, how they have boundaries, how they talk about each of their roles. They each have a very key role in the business. You'll hear them talk about their vision for the future. You'll also hear about how they encountered coaching and learning and self improvement that enabled them to create a culture, a winning culture, values, and a team that cares about those things, and a team that gets weekly training. So you're really gonna enjoy today's episode.
Wayne Herring 00:01:05 - 00:01:09
I recorded it inside there with him, and it's a pleasure to bring it to you.
Wayne Herring 00:01:09 - 00:01:13
Hey, Kevin and Tiffany. Really good to spend time with you today. Welcome to the business, both our way.
Tiffany Putalavage00:01:14 - 00:01:15
Thank you for having us, Lane.
Kevin Putalavage00:01:15 - 00:01:20
Yeah. Thank you. I've been looking forward to it, reflecting and thinking a lot about it. Awesome. Definitely have a lot to share.
Wayne Herring00:01:20 - 00:01:47
Yeah. Good. So, unique experience today. I'm in the business. I'm at 5 Star Heating and Air in Llewellyn, Pennsylvania. Little town took me 20 minutes to get here. So I'm excited to have this live conversation. Can you just tell us about what is the business? If you were to, like, paint a picture of it, of course, we're in your office here, but I know there's service vehicles and there's always people and processes, but how would you just paint us a picture of what's going on here?
Kevin Putalavage00:01:47 - 00:02:24
Yeah. We're a heating and air conditioning contractor serving mainly Schuylkill County. We have a few clients, long time friends, family that are a little bit outside of Schuylkill County, and that we expand a little bit there, but not much. But right now, we're about 70% of residential. So we do a lot of residential work with heating and air conditioning, you know, and heat pumps and gas furnaces and always looking for new ways, the best, most efficient equipment. We're a young team that is looking for future, more sustainability, and and the other 30% of that is commercial. Commercial work is a whole different animal for us. It's, of course, a lot bigger buildings, businesses.
Kevin Putalavage00:02:25 - 00:02:52
We have all pretty big contracts that that I've held on dearly to and and have worked with even with a small crew have made it manageable. So we haven't bit off more than we can chew. Residential keeps us going 90% of the year. We're very tight knit to the community. We're all local technicians, and it's heating and air conditioning. That's what we do. It's a skill that I've had for, you know, about 11 years now and still have a good passion for it.
Wayne Herring00:02:52 - 00:02:58
So So, Kevin, what do you do in the business? And, Tiffany, what do you do in the business? What are your goals?
Tiffany Putalavage00:02:58 - 00:03:14
I would say that my role is, like, the mastermind of, like, operation. So I pretty much hold the whole business together behind the scenes. So I do dispatching. I do scheduling. I do, like, everything that everyone doesn't say.
Kevin Putalavage00:03:14 - 00:03:14
Insurance.
Tiffany Putalavage00:03:15 - 00:03:21
Marketing, scams, Facebook, website design. I work with, like, our website design crew that we work with.
Kevin Putalavage00:03:21 - 00:03:27
Local small business, the any legalities, lawyers, you know, coaching, setting up meetings, trainings
Tiffany Putalavage00:03:27 - 00:03:28
Yeah.
Kevin Putalavage00:03:28 - 00:03:29
Pretty much at all.
Tiffany Putalavage00:03:30 - 00:03:40
The problem solver for everything, the communication with all of our customers. So I have a big role. I've worked multiple times.
Wayne Herring00:03:41 - 00:03:44
Yeah. Got it. And how about you, Kevin? What is what is your role for that?
Kevin Putalavage00:03:44 - 00:04:28
So it's changed it changes very, very often. But today, it's a lot of sales. We have a lot of new clients, new leads coming in. And what I mean by sales is we have many people calling us that wanna upgrade their systems or they have broken systems for a second opinion. Sure. So I'm that on-site person that establishes relationship with our clients, our new and old, or or new and existing clients. So doing a lot of proposals, bids, maintenance plans, structuring those things, some processes within the software we use, so trying to create easier platforms or ways better technicians, it makes things easier in the field. We have a a pretty deep software that keeps a big database of all of the pictures, the summaries, all the things that guides to that site.
Kevin Putalavage00:04:28 - 00:05:08
So I'm constantly going in and and picking those things out and talking with the field our field technicians about, hey, what's the technicalities of the field. So a lot of the troubleshooting, a lot of the up and coming new refrigerants, discussing the technicalities of units, and then, of course, is putting together a plan for install, making sure the installs are performed. That's a big part of business for us is, of course, we offer service work, but 70% of our work is also is installations. So that's my role. That right now has been become in the past, you know, a a year ago, I wasn't really at the point where where I was full time doing that. This is still growing, but now it's pretty much a full time position in in out of the field, but working with the field technicians.
Wayne Herring00:05:09 - 00:05:15
So how many field technicians do you have? How many service vehicles do you have? It's easier you know, it helps to make
Kevin Putalavage00:05:15 - 00:05:46
a picture with the fleet. Yeah. It is a small fleet right now. At one point, we were up to 7 guys in the field, including myself when I was in the field, but now we have, one full time service technician. We have a part time technician, and then we have 2 full time installation technicians. So pretty much a 4 man crew, full time with 3 vans, and, our 3rd band is ready to be picked up that has a new wrap on it. So we have 3 wrap fans and an installation trailer, and that's what we have going on in the field. We have our install crew drives together.
Kevin Putalavage00:05:46 - 00:05:55
They work together hand in hand all the time. Sure. Whereas our service techs have have their separate vans, and they're taking all the service calls, any breakdowns, repairs, maintenance, stuff like that.
Wayne Herring00:05:55 - 00:06:15
So I'm sitting, of course, in Kevin and Tiffany's office and back behind Kevin, which you can't see, is a whiteboard. And I'm gonna ask you what that mean. The whiteboard says, why do we do this? What's our why? What is it like working for 5 Star? Do you understand our why? Do you understand our core values? Whose handiwork is that? Whose artwork is that?
Tiffany Putalavage00:06:16 - 00:06:21
I would say both of ours. Kevin actually got a lot of those questions from this book. Right?
Kevin Putalavage00:06:21 - 00:06:27
It's it's a cultivation of things. Yeah. The book I'm reading now is it's a Harvard read. I bought an airport coming back from
Wayne Herring00:06:27 - 00:06:29
a coaching hall. On high performance.
Kevin Putalavage00:06:29 - 00:06:30
On high performance.
Tiffany Putalavage00:06:30 - 00:06:30
Yeah.
Kevin Putalavage00:06:30 - 00:07:06
It's a it's a cultural thing between why do we do this. You know? It's still hard to determine exactly what that is because it's constantly adapting. Why we do this? We wanted to create a lifestyle for ourselves and and our employees as well to live a life of abundant. We wanna support our families. We wanna be able to live, you know, hopefully not paycheck to paycheck and try to create those things. And of course, then the other sign of it is why choose a service like this where we are at other people's homes. Well, Well, we wanna create relationships, and that's the best part about my position now is hearing stories about what people like to do beyond their work and really engage with people.
Tiffany Putalavage00:07:07 - 00:07:16
Yes. Our customers are not just our customers. They're actually family to us. Like, we get to know them. They get to know us. They share stories with us. So it's really, like, personal. It feels really good.
Tiffany Putalavage00:07:16 - 00:07:41
There's a connection there. We're not just a contractor coming to your house and we're doing the work and then we're leaving. We want that built relationship. I feel like years ago, there was a lot of business, especially in small towns like this where you built those relationships, and I think that we've gotten away from that. I think a lot of people don't trust contractors now because they don't show up. They're not reliable. They take your money. They never show back up.
Tiffany Putalavage00:07:41 - 00:07:44
We're trying to change the the approach on that.
Kevin Putalavage00:07:44 - 00:08:16
Yeah. I'd like to always say that I'm I kinda go against the most common denominator. People are the same thing as it's it's it's kind of outside the box. I like to think outside the box a lot, and like Tiff is saying is when we're often at people's houses, a lot of people say, oh my gosh. I can't get a hold of people. They don't answer. They're this price, that price, or or just something is making somebody not feel right inside. And that's where we've invested and put our time was, well, what is right? What do people want and ask people? We've constantly been asking for feedback and Mhmm.
Kevin Putalavage00:08:16 - 00:08:19
What people desire, and people wanna be answered.
Tiffany Putalavage00:08:19 - 00:08:21
They want peace of mind. They wanna know that we're gonna be
Kevin Putalavage00:08:21 - 00:08:33
We've doubled down. So That's where we've doubled down in culture is to you know, we will answer the phones. We Yeah. We want to be available. We wanna have the most honesty and integrity in what we do.
Wayne Herring00:08:33 - 00:08:45
So have you posed those questions around the whiteboard to your team, or is it more like the 2 of you are reflecting on the answers to those questions to get clear together as the business founders?
Tiffany Putalavage00:08:46 - 00:09:09
So we have trainings. Like, we have meetings with our team every week. We try to have them every week, and when we get busy, it's a little Mhmm. Crazy, but we always go over something with them. So it's not just work related, but it's also, like, culture, making sure that we're following what our culture is, and they're all aware of what that is. Because I feel like with a lot of companies, you forget why what is your culture. Sure.
Kevin Putalavage00:09:09 - 00:09:36
So Yeah. That's something that's been on the board for a couple weeks now, and it is something that we do discuss with our team members. We have 2 other blackboards here, chalkboards that we use that have some more values, core values, and pillars of the company that we do constantly ask. We have assets with the team, and it's never the same answer. I leave it there because I want guys to see it. I want guys to reflect on it. Like, wait. Why do we do what we do? We all come in maybe on a Monday or, you you know, a day you don't wanna really do much.
Kevin Putalavage00:09:36 - 00:10:08
You're not really motivated, but then you see that why do I do what I do? Well, my family. You know, it's for my friend, my business, my life. So it's a good reflection thing, and I try to keep these things open as much as I can. We've done a lot of things in the past with with openness and just mindset in general, where I've given out the 5 star journal. This was given everybody to write down what's wrong or if you didn't wanna talk about some people being young. Sometimes it's hard to, you know, create productive confrontation. Sure. So there were certain things similar
Wayne Herring00:10:08 - 00:10:49
to that where we needed to reflect on things, and we no longer need the journal because we can now openly communicate. I I grew up working in Schuylkill County, and there's probably other rural small town type areas with a strong industrial, in our case, coal mine work ethic Mhmm. Where I I worked at it used to be called Spookle Products. It's now Northeast Pre Stress when I was in high school. And the culture there was pretty much, like, you would get yelled at, hollered at, as my grandfather would have said. You get hollered at if you weren't doing your work right. And the the culture was just like people wouldn't have shared. People went to work to get their get paid, and it was expected that if you're at work, you're just gonna do your job, get out of the way.
Wayne Herring00:10:49 - 00:11:08
And so you're working with younger people who maybe haven't been in an environment where they can openly share things, but you're also in an area geographically or culturally, sociologically, where there wasn't a lot of that. So good for you that you've been working on training and getting people to talk. That's a big deal.
Kevin Putalavage00:11:08 - 00:11:35
Yeah. I mean, societal changes are constant. And I think it's it's kind of like a generational thing where it just what it does is it opens up outside the box in your mind to think there is another way. Right? There is other ways to, you know, the book on high performances. How do you work with your colleagues and partners and friends to be able to work on a high performing level? And I think that's openness. A cool event that, and part of is rough rise of things. So that's iron sharpens iron as man sharpens man. So you need to be open.
Kevin Putalavage00:11:35 - 00:11:51
That needs to be need to be vulnerable and and willing to adapt. So that's the nature of our culture is I've taken a lot of beatings mentally from people, and people really will lay it on with no filters and but those ultimately lead to the biggest gains to be able to mindfully work through them.
Wayne Herring00:11:54 - 00:12:10
We we've talked a bit about the what the business is, but I wanna know how did you start this. Kevin, you looked at Tiffany and you said, well, do you remember how we started? Like, your story is different than mine. Right? So, Tiffany, how did this start? What is your perspective on how the business started?
Tiffany Putalavage00:12:10 - 00:12:31
So it was during COVID 2020. Kevin was laid off work. I was expecting our daughter. I was working in health care, and I was just trying to survive what was happening. It was not a fun time. Wow. And especially when you were expecting a shout out. It was very scary because there was a lot of different things going on.
Tiffany Putalavage00:12:31 - 00:12:49
And it was May. Kevin came to me. I think it was 2 weeks after we had Haven, and and you said, I don't wanna go back to work. Everybody was starting to start work a little bit more, and you said, I wanna start my own business. And at that time, I just had this newborn baby. I just survived COVID and health care.
Wayne Herring00:12:49 - 00:12:49
Right.
Tiffany Putalavage00:12:49 - 00:13:06
I'm nursing, and I just looked at them, and I'm like, do whatever you want. Like, do whatever you want. Like, it's all you. And I think we started it. We filed everything by June, beginning of June. We posted our first video, I think, on Facebook, June 6th or June 9th.
Kevin Putalavage00:13:06 - 00:13:06
Yeah.
Tiffany Putalavage00:13:06 - 00:13:08
And it just exploded.
Kevin Putalavage00:13:09 - 00:13:51
I think there was a little bit more to that. I mean, we in the midst of that, we were building an addition on the home because during COVID, like, in December, we started as I got laid off, we started to build an addition to accommodate for a daughter Mhmm. That we waited till, of course, last minute. And all in the midst of coming up, I still have some business I still have my original business plan and file here of just a notebook of all the notes I would take of what I was gonna do for a business plan, which was very integral, very critical for for starting business was I at least had a vision. And I think Tiff wasn't too much involved with that vision because, of course, having a baby and not working for several months. So we weren't making as much money as we were. We were spending more than we had. Mhmm.
Kevin Putalavage00:13:51 - 00:13:57
And then we had, like, I think we had, like, 4 or $5,000 in savings and ended up buying a van.
Tiffany Putalavage00:13:57 - 00:14:02
It was roughly 6 $1,000 that we started our business.
Kevin Putalavage00:14:02 - 00:14:05
And we haggled for a the Astro van. We bought an Astro van that was from 2,005.
Tiffany Putalavage00:14:06 - 00:14:06
Yeah.
Kevin Putalavage00:14:06 - 00:14:10
And that was it. I was working out of a truck before that, doing some side work, but,
Tiffany Putalavage00:14:10 - 00:14:12
like, bought the van. Lots.
Kevin Putalavage00:14:12 - 00:14:46
And that's how we started when Ryker was born when I got out of college back with Thaddeus Stevens. So for me, it goes back a little bit even further is so I graduated college in May of 13. I had a couple $1,000, moved to Harrisburg was a was the same exact thing as starting the business. So it was, like, on repeat. But at that time, Tip was a huge, huge supporter in getting through college. That was the key to to me in the field was I had my cousin Scott and coach Pat Mason. There was a a few that said that this industry is really good. You're mechanically inclined.
Kevin Putalavage00:14:46 - 00:15:19
Like, I was working on Jeeps with my dad and brothers and stuff, and the mechanics were there for me to be able to have the motor skills. And when I went to college, graduated, son was born, graduated the next Monday, graduated Saturday, and Monday started in the field. We moved to Harrisburg 3 months later Mhmm. Which was a huge risk for us to move away from all family with a newborn. Again, had a couple $1,000 if that at 23 years old, and and we made it work for a year. We we rented a place for a year. Didn't miss any payments, and he took a nanny position. All of that was, like, a lot of sacrifice.
Kevin Putalavage00:15:19 - 00:15:45
But TIFF's commitment to get me through to help me get through college, I wasn't known for the best grades in school. I didn't have I would just I was c player. I was, like, getting by. But when I got to college, it really, you know, pushed that with me and to make sure I was graduating on a a good note and getting with a good company. And it was important. And I realized, of course, having a child, I was very critical that I needed a good paying job. Mhmm. So I was fortunate to get a very good job and a union position.
Kevin Putalavage00:15:46 - 00:15:53
Met some incredible people that are huge, influence on me starting business. And and fast forward, you know, then I I'd work
Tiffany Putalavage00:15:53 - 00:15:56
We bought our first house a year later.
Kevin Putalavage00:15:56 - 00:16:03
Yep. It was a year later. We built some credit from 600 up and really hammered down on budget and saving and saving.
Tiffany Putalavage00:16:03 - 00:16:31
There would always be, like, a mountain that we had to climb, and then there would be another mountain we had to climb. And it it just got us farther and further to where we wanted to be. I feel like we've always had visions and goals of, like, what we wanted, and we always, like, got to that point. Like, it was hard. There was a lot of crying and a lot of tears, and there was a lot of a lot of things, but we never gave up and we just, we kept going after it. And we're not done. Like, we just we constantly setting goals, constantly setting visions. And
Wayne Herring00:16:31 - 00:17:09
So starting the business, what I what I hear in that is starting the business wasn't the first time that you went off and kinda stretched even though there weren't a lot of financial resources. You were or you call it a mountain, Tiffany. So you started this business in 2020, Astrovan. You're a technician. You're able to go out, do work, charge for that work. People, for sure, at that time, really wanted to get things done. And now we're 4 years later. At what point when did you hire your first person? When did you buy another van or maybe something that's a little bit of an upgrade, maybe not brand new.
Wayne Herring00:17:09 - 00:17:13
Like, what's the journey been to growing the team and the the business?
Kevin Putalavage00:17:14 - 00:17:28
So the first hire it was actually my great aunt Barbara to help me with just filing my stacks of papers. You know? I had invoices. I had people I wasn't even billing at the time. I'd actually had customers calling me saying, Kevin, you didn't bill me. Are you billing?
Wayne Herring00:17:28 - 00:17:29
San Jose Jose, personally.
Kevin Putalavage00:17:29 - 00:17:46
Yeah. Like and we're sitting at home, like, we we need to pay the bills. And we didn't even ask people for the and I was cutting a lot of bills off, and I didn't really understand the aspects of business Sure. The growth and the the profits and what you need to sustain and build a business. And so I was just taking it in. It's like, oh, hey. $60 is great. I never made $60 an hour.
Kevin Putalavage00:17:46 - 00:18:07
So my my great aunt came in. She helped with filing, and this was a total curveball for her. It was actually her son that influenced me to get into this industry. So it was just kinda it was cool to have that, but she's retiring. She was and she was able to help me file some things. So after that, like, my pace was very quick. It was gotta move quickly. You know? If things aren't the way I kinda wanted it, it would create a lot lot of stress.
Kevin Putalavage00:18:07 - 00:18:23
Mhmm. So then I hired and she was only gonna be a temporary help till I can get another person. Within a few months, realized that I need help. And Tip's background wasn't this type of work. It wasn't dispatching if she had a newborn. We had a newborn. So it was not at that time for me to lean on on on Tip.
Tiffany Putalavage00:18:23 - 00:18:24
I went back to work. As she
Kevin Putalavage00:18:24 - 00:18:54
was holding a family together as I was going through this. Then I I called upon a really good friend of mine, Samantha, and she ended up taking over dispatch role. And, coincidentally, she was ready to move back home from Philadelphia, but we've been talking about starting a business for many years together. Entrepreneurial person that is now in business for herself. So she worked with us for 3 years, and then last year had, created her own business. So she was dispatching working out of our house, out of our closet in a new master bedroom. Did you
Tiffany Putalavage00:18:54 - 00:18:55
ever see the guy
Kevin Putalavage00:18:55 - 00:18:56
Like, that's with
Tiffany Putalavage00:18:56 - 00:18:58
the Amazon? Like, he's literally with a desk.
Wayne Herring00:18:58 - 00:18:58
Oh, yeah.
Tiffany Putalavage00:18:58 - 00:18:59
You ever seen the picture?
Wayne Herring00:18:59 - 00:19:00
The day?
Tiffany Putalavage00:19:00 - 00:19:04
That was that. It's like a walking closet, and we had a desk in our walk in closet. Closet. That's
Kevin Putalavage00:19:04 - 00:19:27
where we started. Really funny. It was just in the corner with the printer and then Sure. You know, like Kevin's space and Sam's space that were like a square and square in the midst of our bedroom. So that was very challenging. And, so it was funny because at the time, you weren't allowed of course, we're still, like, nonessential. So, like, I'm trying to weed through that with COVID. I can't not be at people's houses when so what we end up doing was doing consultation calls.
Kevin Putalavage00:19:27 - 00:19:30
I do a 15 minute consultation with customers for an estimate. Mhmm.
Wayne Herring00:19:30 - 00:19:30
You
Kevin Putalavage00:19:30 - 00:19:54
know? So I'd slap a York sticker or a unit, you know, like a manufacturer, like, on the wall to make it look like I was in an office because I was doing a consultation. What a great story. So if I'm gonna be professional, I gotta also look the part. Right? In a bedroom, that's not how you wanna present. And so I ended up ripping the paint off the wall, but we ended up getting out there. At that time, I also had somebody helping in the field. I I heard a first helper that was helping me with many things. We worked hand in hand on everything.
Kevin Putalavage00:19:54 - 00:20:20
I did all the installs with him, and then he was operating with me out of the van until it it got into coaching. We were called upon by our distributor for our equipment. They had reached out and said, hey. We're running this program. It's called a boot camp. You know, this is contractors boot camp. And this is a program designed for a startup business, a one man show that wants to go to a 3 to 5 man crew, wants to go to business. And that's always been in the plan.
Kevin Putalavage00:20:20 - 00:20:57
So for us, it's always been, we want to grow this. Right? We didn't know how far time, but we knew it was it was 5 plus people, 10 plus people, and I can envision it being a $30,000,000 company. I can see that. Okay? So, contractor boot camp, and you did a Zoom to the to see if we're good candidates for it. Here, we ended up getting in contractors boot camp. This leads into Saletta leadership, Michael Saletta, that got me into then the the neurological aspects of just people. The the human being, the the mind, and that what people want and how they want it and what people don't care about versus what they do. Uh-huh.
Kevin Putalavage00:20:57 - 00:21:04
Right? So he was very good at neuroscience, and we invested heavily there. And we went to a 7 man crew in 2 years. And We
Tiffany Putalavage00:21:04 - 00:21:09
moved into here and not even a year later. 2021. June 2021.
Kevin Putalavage00:21:09 - 00:21:14
A year we start renting. Yep. Yep. A year we start renting. So we moved out of the.
Wayne Herring00:21:14 - 00:21:56
That was good. Yeah. So what it's one of the things. I'm often making notes while you're talking, and I had written down coaching and reading and the things we do because you have you've grown fast. And what I was thinking is there's probably competitive companies competitors in our area, and there's probably other, heating and air conditioning companies in other small towns America who haven't done as much with that, like, the why, what's our why, and the values and how we do things, or, having training for the technicians, talking to people about, hey. We wanna hear what's on your mind. So I with the journals. And so I knew that probably came from somewhere that that you were able to do that quickly.
Wayne Herring00:21:56 - 00:22:23
And I I mean, I think some of it is, Tiffany, we were speaking offline before you have started about you were interested in coaching work, and I've seen some of your videos. You're conscious about life, food, things we're eating, how we move, whatever, mindset. So now I hear where some of that comes from, which is really cool. So you've built this beautiful business. You got the 3 vans now. You've settled in to the place where you're at. You had started with 7. Now you're you've settled in a little bit.
Wayne Herring00:22:23 - 00:22:42
Then there'll be another climb in another place that you go. Right? But what what is it vision wise? You said I can see 30,000,000. You said we're not done yet. So what is the next place? What's the next kinda climb and place that you can see you going together and see the company going?
Tiffany Putalavage00:22:43 - 00:22:47
So what we we actually have we're in the works of actually moving locations.
Wayne Herring00:22:48 - 00:22:48
K.
Tiffany Putalavage00:22:48 - 00:23:07
So that would be the next thing that we're gonna do, and that's gonna make us grow even more. So I think where we wanna be is I would love more commercial businesses. I think we have a lot of residential. I think there's potential for even more residential, but my background is I love I love the business.
Kevin Putalavage00:23:08 - 00:23:21
The commercial and Yeah. With with commercial business. Yeah. You do have a lot of resource and connections there, and I think it's a demand thing. The area is demanding a lot of businesses are demanding for these contracts to be able to be peace of mind,
Wayne Herring00:23:21 - 00:23:26
knowing that if something goes wrong, that they'll actually be there because a lot of people aren't there, donate to
Kevin Putalavage00:23:26 - 00:23:43
the phone. Right? Yeah. You know, when you invest into your maintenance and stuff like that, there is key components like numbers that work when businesses look at that and say spend 10% on maintenance for a year. That is critical for you not to spend chunks more than that for time. So so I I know that that in our our area of comfortable. Sure.
Wayne Herring00:23:43 - 00:23:47
Yeah. They wanna be able to predictable predictably know what they're gonna spend for budgeting and Yes.
Kevin Putalavage00:23:47 - 00:24:16
And I love that strategy. You know, I love to strategize with companies. We have a big company that we work with that didn't realize in 17 years the importance of maintenance, and now they are thrilled that we put together a a massive contract for them. And and they they took care of her building for as long as they ever did, but now they freed up their guys to be able to do the production they wanna do. So they didn't know that that was possible. So educating and strategizing for future benefits of of their business is a win for our employees, for our company, and for our clients. So it's a triple win.
Wayne Herring00:24:16 - 00:24:27
Yeah. And moving locations and creating a new location naturally creates kind of a vacuum. Like, now we gotta fill it. Now we gotta optimize the next location. So that's inviting. So when you you're gonna move imminently, or is it
Kevin Putalavage00:24:28 - 00:24:29
It's been a couple months.
Tiffany Putalavage00:24:29 - 00:24:50
Across the building, a new shop. I'm really, really, really big on efficiency and customer service and making sure everything flows really good. So I came on board 6 months ago, and I've been changing a ton of things for the better. Yeah. Mhmm. And that was one of them. I was like, we need something where we can be more efficient. We could be more organized.
Tiffany Putalavage00:24:50 - 00:24:53
I'm seeing this and that. He was a 100% on board with it.
Wayne Herring00:24:54 - 00:25:12
So other people that are in residential and commercial contracting of any sort, other service oriented businesses, Always wanna know, you mentioned you have a robust computer system that you're using. So people like to know about, like, what's your tech stack or what are your tools? How do you manage the business? What are the things that you're using now? Yeah.
Kevin Putalavage00:25:12 - 00:25:30
So we're using a software. It's called FieldEdge. So we FieldEdge? Okay. FieldEdge is a dispatch software that keeps, like I said, pictures of everything. It keeps all of our summaries, work notes, inter internal notes. It can build proposals for us. We we have our numbers imported in there so that all of our system match ups. The dispatching is phenomenal.
Kevin Putalavage00:25:30 - 00:25:55
There's time stamping that guys are clocking it out. It shows us travel. It shows us the actual work time. So constantly in our field of service, people ask, well, that that guy wasn't there for an hour. Well, let me double check. And we have that stuff. So very important efficiency type things that are built in there that is, at first, cost us a lot. We didn't have the it wasn't really part of it was more so of a reactive approach to go to a software, but we ate that.
Kevin Putalavage00:25:55 - 00:26:01
We took that risk and, of course, have developed that and been more efficient with it. So that's one of the big tools.
Tiffany Putalavage00:26:01 - 00:26:24
And our our guys have been trained too, especially since I've been on board. They take a ton of notes. Like, if that customer because a lot of our customers are not home when we do perform a meeting. And so Sure. They are putting everything that they did, everything we need to solve. If they're making recommendations or solutions, they're adding a quote to it, or they're putting it in the work order, and then they're sending it off to the customer.
Kevin Putalavage00:26:24 - 00:26:27
Some people say it's covering your ass, and I say it's our due diligence.
Tiffany Putalavage00:26:27 - 00:26:27
Yeah.
Kevin Putalavage00:26:27 - 00:26:34
Sure. It's our due diligence to to give you every piece of information that we have seen. Mhmm. And that's what we do.
Wayne Herring00:26:34 - 00:26:45
Are you doing maintenance agreements with residential customers or service? Like, for the following year, we'll come and do 2 inspections or one inspection or anything like that? Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Putalavage00:26:45 - 00:26:59
Yeah. Very good maintenance program. We're nearing our goal for that. So we have goals set up. That's one of the biggest things. We have these things laid out. We're about a 200 and I'm not sure today because I think we had 2 more maintenances, but we're out of, like, 2 almost 250 maintenance agreements with residential customers, and we're our goal's 300.
Wayne Herring00:26:59 - 00:27:13
So I have a contractor that I'm another heating and air conditioning contractor in Connecticut who maybe we'll get to meet at some point, and they were working on their service agreements and stuff. Can your customers pay with a credit card, like, online? Is it easy for them to pay for their Yeah. Service?
Tiffany Putalavage00:27:13 - 00:27:13
Yep.
Kevin Putalavage00:27:13 - 00:27:20
Yeah. We have a monthly subscription too, so it's kinda breakdown. So, like, the maintenance is $250. We can break that down in 12 months automatic payments.
Wayne Herring00:27:20 - 00:27:22
And do you run that through the program, but your Yeah.
Kevin Putalavage00:27:22 - 00:27:46
The software, it it Yeah. It's automatic. And And our scheduling is automatic too. So we have your maintenance set up. Basically, we say April 1st October 1st is the start of our maintenance season. April 1st is for the spring to the summer, and then our October is for our heating equipment, and we'll be prompted to give you a call to set up your next maintenance. So Yeah. That's been the most big biggest feedback for us recently is that we just want somebody to have it all.
Kevin Putalavage00:27:46 - 00:27:47
I don't wanna have to worry about it.
Wayne Herring00:27:47 - 00:27:57
That's what I want as a consumer. Yeah. I want somebody to just handle it for me. It is worth paying a premium to know that somebody smarter than me about that particular thing just has it handled. Yeah.
Tiffany Putalavage00:27:57 - 00:27:58
I I don't Yeah. Except mine.
Wayne Herring00:27:58 - 00:28:04
Like lawnmower. Like, come pick up my lawnmower, sharpen the blade, straight I mean, I can do those things. Yeah. Yeah. But I forget sometimes,
Kevin Putalavage00:28:04 - 00:28:05
or it's like, when am
Wayne Herring00:28:05 - 00:28:07
I gonna get to it? So it's really nice.
Kevin Putalavage00:28:07 - 00:28:32
Well, I think that's speaking with societal change too now is the the you know, with COVID, a lot of that has been the importance of our time. Right? And that's where, like, a lot of those things happen in the past couple of years. It only started during COVID, but I'm noticing for myself that my time is becoming very, very important in how I spend it. So when I spend it on maybe looking at my air conditioner, I you know, if that was me, you know, as a consumer of it, I for example, my lighting in my house. I can run some wire and electrical, but I won't.
Wayne Herring00:28:32 - 00:29:02
Because maybe you should. There's 2 more areas I just I wanna explore kinda quickly. One is habits. Like, Brendon Burchard has the same high performance habits, or we would call it entrepreneurial success, you know, habits, routines, etcetera. How do you live more of a a high performance, not from an ego point of view, but, like, hey. We're trying to optimize. We're trying to, spend as much time with our kids as we can even though we have a business. We're trying to make sure, though, that we're here proactively with the employees.
Wayne Herring00:29:02 - 00:29:11
So what would you say are your entrepreneurial business builder in my world? What are your business builder habits that help you be better, more effective leaders?
Kevin Putalavage00:29:11 - 00:29:44
My business builder habits. So my biggest one is definitely it's it's Scott. I I have a lot of belief and faith in God. It's something I do I read scripture and prayer, and I also incorporate my visions and goals into that. So I I thank God for everything around me, and I also ask him to help me along the way. And it it brings a lot of more consciousness to what's in front of me. I read a lot of books. I have a lot of books that I don't finish, but I'm constantly going and taking the best parts of them, highlighting constantly, and then even rereading some things.
Kevin Putalavage00:29:44 - 00:30:13
Coaching has been the biggest thing. We have invested heavily into coaching. I've done some hypnotherapy, just some mindful things. I'm very, very passionate about fishing. I make sure that we accommodate for those things. I make sure that we're doing the family things that would bother us if we didn't do it right, playing outside with our children. And those things don't come if we can't balance that work life balance. I like to call it all it's all life, but I think the biggest thing for me was is shutting off that time.
Kevin Putalavage00:30:13 - 00:30:33
There was a big thing when I a few years ago was on call is one of the biggest things for, like, service technicians. We haven't had on call in 4 years, and nobody has shook a stick at it to us. We are not on call. I'm not answering at midnight. I'm sorry. You know? But you leave us a message, and I'll call you back at midnight. Right? It's not that we won't be there. It's that we we have ways around it.
Kevin Putalavage00:30:33 - 00:30:48
We can work through things, not just not being there on-site all the time. So there there's a couple of those things that keep us going is being very mindful of our time and where we're spending it. We have children. We spend it with them. We don't have any guilt, shame there. And when we do, I mean, back to god, all thanks. So that's been my building blocks.
Tiffany Putalavage00:30:48 - 00:31:19
I feel like mine's a little bit different because when you're a woman, you have a lot to juggle constantly. So I just making time for myself, working out, meditating, coming up with, like, what is priorities throughout my day that I need to accomplish. I am the one that stays home with the kids when they're sick. So just trying to let things be, and I love control. I I'm very organized. I'm very OCD. So I've learned with owning your own business, none of those things count. They really don't.
Tiffany Putalavage00:31:19 - 00:32:10
And just when things got really, really tough and you feel like you can't go one more day or you wanna give up, it's just taking a break, taking a breather, and picking up the pieces, you know, later on or the next day and having faith because there has been a lot of rock bottoms. There's been a lot of times where we question things as business owners. And if you have faith, it it always ends up out working out for you. So faith has been really high up there for me. But making time and then just making sure that we're making time for our kids too. Because at the end of the day, life is short. You can never get time back. And everybody that I've talked to who have has owned a business, their biggest regret is working too much or putting too much into their business and then not spending time with their kids when they're young and they're grown up and, you know, they regret that.
Tiffany Putalavage00:32:10 - 00:32:19
So it's not that we're not gonna come out in the middle of the night. It's not that we're not gonna come. But if we're in the middle of dinner, we're gonna finish dinner as a family, and then Kevin's gonna come out and help. So
Kevin Putalavage00:32:20 - 00:32:29
One more thing was, like, you know, when you're saying, like, the mountain, the climbing, the rock bottom, and stuff like that. Like, one thing that I'd like to use over time was your mess becomes your message.
Wayne Herring00:32:29 - 00:32:29
Mhmm.
Kevin Putalavage00:32:29 - 00:32:48
Right? So how far you have fallen in things, how far things have seemed like they failed at rock bottom. Like, that's how far it goes down is how high it will grow. Yes. That's been a philosophy that we've really sat on as your mess becomes your message. So we've leaned on them. I have been open about those things to share the the challenges, and there's many of them.
Wayne Herring00:32:48 - 00:33:13
So I think you you kinda hit it. I'm gonna I got a 3 circle Venn diagram model. I don't know if you've seen this, but it comes from Harvard Business, School also. It's 3 circles of a family business is this model. So it's like you could be in a family business. You could be a family member. You could be an owner, and you could be a worker, like a key employee. You could be the 2 of you, I would say, are all 3 of those.
Wayne Herring00:33:13 - 00:34:04
Your family, your workers, you both have a key role now, and you're both ownership, which we might say has more to do with longer term strategy and and where we're headed. Eventually, maybe you'll have one of your kids comes into the business, and maybe for a while, one of them will be family and they'll be a worker, but they won't be an owner. Right? You have other people in your business, these technicians, and maybe 1 or 2 of them are, like, really key and have been here longer. They might be workers, but they're not family. Maybe eventually they have a little bit of ownership or something. So people are moving in those three circles in a family business. How do the 2 of you keep these different dimensions separate? Like, how do you have conversations about our family and then conversations about the business and then conversations about, hey. You're in that kind of lead technician sales role.
Wayne Herring00:34:04 - 00:34:13
Were you the adviser, I guess, to the technicians. Right? More technical advice and on the operations. How do you see that playing out and having boundaries?
Kevin Putalavage00:34:14 - 00:34:32
It's been a while since I feel like I've been in the center of that for a while. And I think one of the biggest things is the importance of communication with everybody here at the team. Right? I think communication is is just the biggest thing where we assume expectations.
Tiffany Putalavage00:34:33 - 00:34:49
Yeah. So, like, me and Kevin wake up usually together in the morning before the kids wake up. We talk work. We talk about what's on the schedule that day, what happened yesterday if we weren't able to because, you know, if I was at a chamber like, yesterday, I was at a chamber event all day, so we didn't get to talk a lot of work and business yesterday.
Wayne Herring00:34:49 - 00:34:50
Yeah.
Tiffany Putalavage 00:34:50 - 00:35:10
Who do I need to follow-up with? So on and so forth. Then we the kids wake up. We're family. We don't talk about work. We take the kids to school, and then we come to the office. Usually, if Kevin's here in the morning, again, we'll we'll catch up. We'll talk about business. Sometimes we'll talk about the kids if, like, he needs to pick a kid up after school or sport or whatever.
Tiffany Putalavage 00:35:11 - 00:35:16
I know when we leave, it's all about our kids. We have homework. We have sports. Our kids are in a ton of things.
Kevin Putalavage 00:35:16 - 00:35:16
Yeah.
Tiffany Putalavage 00:35:16 - 00:35:39
So we pretty much turn it off. And then if the kids are out in the yard and they're playing and they're sitting up on the deck and I needed to tell him about something Mhmm. He has to tell me about something work related, we'll talk about it, but we don't make it, like, the center of our attention. If our 3 year old runs up and she wants to show us her bubbles, we turn it off. We constantly are just, like, being present in the moment, but then also just making sure that we're also communicating throughout the day too.
Kevin Putalavage 00:35:39 - 00:36:02
Because it reminds me, we're creatures of habit. Right? So I'm trying to think of how did I get to that point where we were able to create a habit that you wake up, you don't discuss certain things because the children are present, and you wanna be present with those. Right. A little while back, the this is called the 5 second journal where I first go through things of gratitude. And I'm writing this first thing in the morning. This was a habit I created that is ingrained in me. It's a morning routine. It's very critical.
Kevin Putalavage 00:36:02 - 00:36:36
Waking up in the morning is is being grateful for everything yesterday and today, and it can only be a couple small things. So three things. And then it is my top priorities for the day. What's my number one top priority in writing that down? And then, you know, just going through my schedule, making sure I have my schedule laid out and have foundations of that. But then once that 15 minutes is done in the morning, then all the other things that happen when the kids wake up in the next half hour, I can turn this stuff off. I have it written down. I have it ingrained. It's already there, so I can put it down and pick up the other aspect of life.
Wayne Herring 00:36:36 - 00:37:30
That's really great. So what you spoke to was the family and then the key employee or the worker. You're both key employees, so you talk about the business. There's the family and the key employee worker boundary. And then you're getting into your morning habits and the need to make sure you take time for yourself, meditation, exercise, etcetera. So you're speaking to the personal leadership that you do within that encompasses this model. The one piece that we didn't talk about as much or that you didn't really mention, and I'm guessing you have a time for it, would be more the owner or the strategy. Like, do you have a 3 year or a 5 year strategic plan, and do you talk about that together? Have you talked about where we might be in 3 or 5 years, and how does that building factor in? When does that time happen? When do the 2 of you put your owner's hats on and and speak in that way?
Tiffany Putalavage 00:37:30 - 00:37:52
So in the beginning of January, I make a vision board personally. I hang I hang it in where I get ready every morning, and that is my personal vision board. And then we do one for the business. We do one with our team as well. So we constantly during our team meetings, we follow-up where we're at. Like, we'll talk about where our goals are with maintenance customers and where we are with sales for the year
Kevin Putalavage 00:37:52 - 00:37:53
and that
Tiffany Putalavage 00:37:53 - 00:38:15
kind of stuff. Yeah. But when it comes to me and him, I definitely take the no offense. I take the hat and the ownership of making sure that everything is aligned and we're at where we're at, and then I just kind of, like, hey. This is what I'm doing. This is what I'm doing. I just let him know. But he's definitely gives me permission to kinda just take that on solely.
Wayne Herring 00:38:15 - 00:38:18
So can strategy. You can see a $30,000,000 company.
Kevin Putalavage 00:38:18 - 00:38:19
Yeah. Yeah.
Wayne Herring 00:38:19 - 00:38:31
So can you see that? Do you want that? And you don't have to know in the moment, so I might, like, be open enough something like, oh, maybe we need to talk about that. Like, when will that happen if you're primarily driver of strategy and vision board?
Tiffany Putalavage 00:38:32 - 00:38:42
So we grow every year. Yeah. We we grow, what, 30 percent every year. Consistent. 30% growth every single year. Yeah. So that's awesome and cool to see. We're counting down on efficiency.
Tiffany Putalavage 00:38:43 - 00:38:53
We're counting down on our employees and training. We're getting better as owners. We're moving locations. The the vision is definitely there. Realistically, I would say probably within the next 10 years.
Kevin Putalavage 00:38:54 - 00:39:24
If the demand for our type of culture is still present and it's still engaging and other contractors won't do it, then we'll be that company. If they adapt to culture like we do, I'm okay at at $5,000,000 company. Nice. I'll be perfectly fine because I'll be able to take care of the community we're within. I don't think enough for in this area for the commercial work. You have to get a lot of commercial work by doing that. Right? You know, residentially, it could happen. There's plenty to possibly bring that revenue, but I don't think the area even wants to see that either.
Kevin Putalavage 00:39:24 - 00:39:49
People do want options. Part of V Go is control, and we wanna be able to have options that we have all the options available. If I have to do that because other people aren't adapting because people want you to communicate and they want the fairest price the first time. They want your honesty every time. If that's not gonna be the culture, that will be the area. That's what it will be. So it's more so a demand. I would love to be that market holder, but it doesn't have to be.
Wayne Herring 00:39:49 - 00:40:26
I love it. So so the real driver you've got is the culture and and the level of service and how we do things. And if there's the employees in this area that wanna come work in a culture like that and if there's the people, businesses, or residences who wanna consume that and work that way, then you will. Mhmm. And if if not, that's okay too, and you can continue to have this integrated family and business and fishing. Exactly. And and self development coaching things that you're into. You can have all that at 5,000,000.
Wayne Herring 00:40:26 - 00:40:37
That'll be beautiful too. Yeah. That's a great place to stop. It's been a real pleasure hearing your story, where you're at, and where you're headed. So thanks for giving your time and attention to the business, both the way. Cool.
Tiffany Putalavage 00:40:37 - 00:40:39
Thanks for having us.
Kevin Putalavage 00:40:39 - 00:40:40   Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it.

1. How have Kevin and Tiffany Putalavage's experiences of facing financial challenges and persevering shaped their approach to business and personal growth?

2. In what ways does the couple prioritize work-life balance and family time within their business operations, and how does this impact their overall business strategy?

3. What methods do Kevin and Tiffany use to communicate and set boundaries within their family business, and how does this contribute to the success of their company?

4. How do the Putalavages utilize personal and business vision boards, goal setting, and tracking to drive their business forward?

5. What are the benefits and challenges of having a family-owned business, and how do Kevin and Tiffany navigate the various roles within the company?

6. How do the guests emphasize the need for reflection, vulnerability, and adaptability in their company culture, and how does this contribute to high performance within their team?

7. What strategies do the Putalavages employ for time management, especially considering the impact of societal changes like the COVID-19 pandemic on their business operations?

8. How does the couple effectively blend faith, reading, coaching, and work-life balance into their entrepreneurial habits, and what impact does this have on their business growth?

9. What measures do Kevin and Tiffany take to build personal connections and trust with their customers, and how does this differentiate their business from other contractors?

10. How have the Putalavages adapted and grown their business from working in their bedroom during the pandemic to envisioning expansion to a larger scale, and what strategies have they used to achieve this rapid growth?