Episode Description
What happens when you take an industry many people overlook—and start treating it like a modern home service business?
On this episode of Home Service Heartbeat, Joe Crisara sits down with Tanya Wilson, owner and CEO of HomeField East Valley and a founding partner in HomeField Onsite Environmental, to talk about what she's learned building businesses in the septic and commercial wastewater industry.
Tanya shares why hiring for attitude can matter more than hiring for industry experience, why owners have to stop trying to do everything themselves, how systems create consistency, and why customer education can uncover opportunities without turning service technicians into high-pressure salespeople.
Her philosophy is refreshingly simple: build a great environment for your employees, create systems that help them succeed, educate the customer and don't be afraid to modernize an industry simply because "that's how it's always been done."
Watch the Full Episode
Hear Tanya and Joe's entire conversation about leadership, hiring, customer experience, technology and building a scalable home service company.
What You'll Learn
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- Why Tanya hires primarily for attitude, accountability and willingness to learn
- The difference between owning a business and simply owning your job
- Why hiring support earlier can allow an owner to finally work on the business
- How HomeField creates consistency through a defined customer-service process
- Why educating customers creates natural opportunities for additional service
- How memberships can create recurring customer relationships
- Why expectations and systems matter for everything from customer service to fleet maintenance
- How technology and remote monitoring are beginning to modernize septic service
- Why Tanya believes building a great company starts with creating opportunities for the people who work there
- Tanya's hiring philosophy is particularly interesting. She tells Joe that most of her employees did not come from septic; she's hired people from oil fields, HVAC, medical backgrounds and elsewhere, then trained the skills while focusing first on attitude and openness to learning.
Want the Full Story?
There's a bigger lesson here for virtually every home service owner:
At what point do you stop owning a job and start building a business?
Our companion article explores Tanya's answer—and what contractors in plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing and other trades can learn from it.
FULL STORY COMING SOON →
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