S3E11: YMI Talking to Brandon Weiss from Family Heating Cooling Plumbing & Sewer

Check it out!

This week on YMI Talking, we got to sit down with Brandon Weiss from Family Heating & Cooling, and this one's full of heart. From running a family business to volunteering as a firefighter and coaching his daughter’s soccer team, Brandon is all about showing up for his community.

Tune in to hear how he brings purpose, service, and real accountability to everything he does. This is what local business is all about!

For more info on YMI insurance visit our website at ymiagency.com

Or give us a call at 610-868-8762 to see how we can better protect your business and family.

Transcript

0:00

When I got into the industry, I was 17. I was working with guys that were 35, 40 years old, big age gap. So there was a lot to learn and a lot of guys just were great with, hey, you know, whether it was tough love or we're actually just teaching you. Yeah, yeah. They gave you this really great experience, someone to lean on. And that is a huge focus of what we do at family. It's just really making sure everybody knows we're here to make you better. We're not just putting you out there. Hey, Go get to work, clock in, clock out, go home. It's the idea of making everybody bigger, better, better than they were when they started. Almost like a family. Almost like a family. Yes. Look at that. Welcome to Why Am I Talking? A podcast where the guests are so good, you'll wonder why the host is even talking. In each episode, you will hear one of the leaders of the Lehigh Valley's vibrant business hub. They will tell you the keys to their success, the mistakes they've made, and what they have in store for the future. Here is the host of Why Am I Talking? From Why Am I Insurance, Jimmy Honichuk. All right, that is me, Jimmy Hanechuk, and this is another episode of Why Am I Talking? This is a special episode because you are here all by yourself today, Emily. Yes, I am. Thank you for coming. I am looking forward to having you on these podcasts. Thanks, me too. You recently got a new apartment. Yes. That is exciting. Very. How is it? Tell us about it. Tell us where it is. Tell us everything. Yeah, it's, um, Downtown Allentown. That's my first time living downtown in the city. Yeah. And it's part of the city center residential apartments. So they all kind of operate within a community, which is nice. So there's an app where all the residents can chat and stuff. They've got a lot of events that are hosted for residents of all the buildings. So I really like that because I don't know that many people here right now. Yeah, I got a one bedroom and it's really nice first time living alone. First time even having like my own bedroom outside of like home. Do you have furniture? Like I don't feel like I had furniture for a long time. Yes, my parents helped me with furniture which I'm very, very grateful for. At first I was like at school, I was scrounging up random furniture that people were getting rid of. So at least I had that, but some things are definitely still resting on boxes. That's awesome. Yes, yes, boxes become very important. And how's the HVAC in your unit? It's pretty good, actually. Right when I walked in, it was very cold. Okay, that's how I like it, as you know, yes. So I like that. I haven't had any issues with it yet, so hopefully not. Good. If you do, I know someone you can call. Oh, yeah? Yeah, our guest today, Brandon Weiss of Family HVAC. He was awesome. I really enjoyed the conversation. I don't know how you felt, but I thought he did a really good job. Yeah, very well spoken, very interesting guy. And yeah, what I came away with was that there's a real mission behind what he's doing. It's not just I install your air condition and I service it. He wants to build something where people want to work and make the world a better place. Yeah, I like that. Very family oriented. Yeah, I guess that's why he calls it that. Well, cool. Let's let's stop chatting and let's get into the episode. So without further ado, this is Brandon Weiss from Family Heating and Cooling. All right. That is me, Jimmy Hana Chicken. We are back with another episode. This one is something I mean, it's very timely. It's going to be great. Brandon is a ball of energy and he's got an incredible business, family heating and cooling. And I'm really excited that we've been able to connect. So Brandon, thank you for coming on here. Yeah, of course. I appreciate the invite. Happy to be here. Absolutely. So let's talk about family heating and cooling. As you know, the weather is starting to get a lot hotter. I think you're going to become a lot more popular. How'd you get into the business? My dad had his own business for many years back when I was very young. So I'd say probably started doing this when I was like 12 or 13 years old, just helping out in summers. often carrying tool bags that weighed more than I did. So that's really what started it for me. And then I was fortunate enough to just kind of grow up in it. My dad and my cousin owned the business together. And then as soon as I graduated high school, jumped right out and got right into a van and started learning. So I tried to get as far away from the family business as I could. You hopped right into it. I jumped right into it. Yeah. Did you love it? Was there something about it that spoke to you? It was probably more the the industry, maybe not even the industry, just being outside. I'm not big on like behind the desk in the school. Like it just wasn't my thing. You know, I'm to answer that. Yes. So for me, working for a family didn't exactly scare me, which kind of goes back to the name of my business family and cooling, very close family, very big family. So for me, it was like. Awesome. I get to work with my dad, my cousin, we had some other family members that kind of came in and out over the years. But yeah, I mean, it was always just, it just felt natural. It seemed great. Did you ever have issues? I mean, you were young when you were working for your dad, but where you guys would **** heads like. I would know. Wow. Because my dad and I. Yeah, my dad and I neither actually. Never. Yeah. No, we didn't. We. Well, you know, we don't **** heads in the traditional. Okay. In the traditional sense. Yeah. My, I guess like for the way that structure was set up, I was on the install side, like I was service and sales, so we kind of didn't necessarily always work together every day. They sort of maybe purposefully put me with a different lead, someone else to teach me. So it wasn't, you know, so we weren't having that sort of combat all the time. Yes. But I'd say for the most part, I mean, there were times where I needed to get my buck kicked a little bit. It certainly happened. And then you leave. What, I mean, tell me about leaving the family business. Is that, you know, just kind of natural or did you have to have a conversation with your dad? How did that go? No. So I mean, really, ultimately what happened was in 2015, they wound up selling the business. So for me, it was more of a, like, I can stay and work for the company they sold to, which is what I did. And it was a fantastic company. I was very happy there. But then eventually, Things change. So kind of I started working for a couple of different companies in between. And then eventually I said, you know what? I'm done with that. You worked for Haller Enterprises. Correct. How is that? Did you get training that you find now useful in your role or was it kind of a different experience than that? No, I mean. I'll talk nice about the competition here. Now, my my experience with Haller was fantastic. Yeah, back when it was owned by Rick Haller. I actually had a very good mentor at that time. I was doing sales for Haller and I had a very good mentor. My my manager was fantastic, just a really great, genuine, sweet guy. And I picked up on a lot of what he told me and taught me. And that really did impact I'd say the way I even run the business today, he probably doesn't know it, but he had a huge impact on that. And that seems to be something I've heard a couple of times now is mentorship, whether it's your dad or here at Howler. Talk to the importance of mentorship and whether or not you've kind of internalized that yourself. Oh, yeah, I mean, absolutely. Especially in this industry. That's huge, right? Taking that kind of younger person under your wing and teaching them everything you know, while still being open to, hey, you know what? I've been doing this for 25 years, a lot of new stuff. So yeah, I mean, between my manager at Haller, my dad, my cousin, other guys that I worked with, when I got into the industry, I was 17. I was working with guys that were 35, 40 years old, big age gap. So there was a lot to learn and a lot of guys just were great with Hey, you know, whether it was tough love or we're actually just teaching you, they gave you this really great experience, someone to lean on. And that is a huge focus of what we do at family. It's just really making sure everybody knows we're here to make you better. We're not just putting you out there. Hey, go get to work. Clock in, clock out, go home. It's the idea of making everybody bigger, better, better than they were when they started. Almost like a family. Almost like a family. Yes. Look at that. So to that point, I mean, the name, obviously you have family ties to the business, but where does the name come from? So the name comes from just the way I grew up. Yeah. I was very fortunate to have a very close, tight-knit family, just a bunch of wonderful people in my life. A big part of it, like my grandparents had a house down the shore. So we would go down the shore, down to Vendor in Jersey. The door I don't think was ever locked. Cousins, whoever, everybody just bouncing in and out. And you slept on sofas, you slept doubled up in beds, on the floor, it didn't matter. But just everyone was there together. You go to the beach together, you come home, you play cards. So that's kind of where it came from for me. The family side was just so very important to me. I like the way that felt. And I wanted to create a, if I'm going to create something, let's create something that's going to relay that same feeling to employees and other people that are just, you know, kind of in your environment. Yeah. And how has it been? So you started in 2022, I think you said. Correct. So that's not that long ago. How has it been going? It's been going well. I sort of just had this mentality when I started the business of just burning the boat. I'm doing this thing, it's going to succeed. There wasn't an option for it. So that's kind of what I did. I kind of put my two weeks in on my previous company and just started building websites. Can I just say that's the scariest thing in the world to me? Like, I need those boats. Let's just keep them on the island for a little bit. But no, you burned them. I burned them. I kind of felt like I had to. What's the worst that's going to happen? Okay, so let's say I did fail. All right, then I just go find somewhere else to work. Maybe it's not the best mindset, maybe it is, but that's just kind of how I felt like, let's just get at it. I've been doing it now for 25 years. I knew enough people, enough people that trusted me. I've always been there. No matter what company I worked for, if they had an HVAC issue, they just called me. So I knew I had a little bit of a network that I could lean on. And that's what I did. I just kind of jumped out there. Here we are three years later. That's awesome. Yeah. And who, you know, what separates you? So what makes you better than the places you've worked? They're big, right? And you're not. And I know that as a small insurance agency in a large world, like how do you differentiate yourself in that? So that's where I always say we're small business on purpose. And because of that, we have accountability. You know, the bigger you get, maybe this isn't true everywhere, but the bigger you get, then you have this manager, the other manager, and just the level of accountability just diminishes the further away you get from the top. Yeah. So with us, myself, I have a business partner, we're involved every single day with every operation, whether it's install, service, sales, the backend stuff, the marketing, the SEO, we're involved in every single piece. And to me, that's a differentiator between us and some of these larger companies where, hey, the guy with the original vision is sitting, who knows, maybe somewhere on the beach somewhere and just saying, hey, guys, go do this thing. We're here every day. We're still involved with every single customer, every phone call, every e-mail. To me, that's one of our biggest differentiators, just that. that closeness that we've created within the business. Yeah, it's great. And I feel the same way, like I'm involved in all these different aspects. Do you ever feel like it's too much though? Like you're getting pulled in too many different directions? Yes. How do you deal with that? So, I mean, what I've learned, and I'm sure you probably understand this feeling, it's hard to let go of some of your responsibilities. I've learned that I just have to trust other people. So like my business partner, I brought him on about maybe a year and a half, two years ago. And he's a guy I've known for 15 years, 20 years. Fantastic installer. This guy is the best of the best. Yeah. So like brought him on. Hey, you know what? You deal with the you handle the stuff in the field because that's what he's great at. You can't be great at everything, right? I hired a marketing team. They handle the marketing. We meet once a week. We go through kind of where we want to be. So for me, handling it is learning, like, you kind of have to start trusting other people. But you still need to be involved. You still got to keep the strings attached a little bit. But that's how I've handled it. Yeah. How do you go about finding the right team? To me, that's the key of everything that we do is team. So how have you assembled with that team? It's a challenge. It's certainly a challenge. Really, just sometimes you just kind of go through, it's kind of revolving door sometimes. You know, you got to, you have the, my, the way I do it, right? So there's the phone interview, the in-person interview, then a working interview. So it kind of gets you those three touches of who is this person? And sometimes they look, they're great, you know, great skill, great personality. and then you hire them and then sometimes things just don't work out. So that's you really just kind of got to cycle through some guys until you find that perfect fit. You know, for us, the big approach is as long as you have some sort of mechanical inclination, right? You can teach someone this trait. Yeah. But if someone doesn't have the right personality, if they're not a genuine person, they're not a good person, you can't teach that. I say that all the time. Yeah. I can teach you insurance. Right. But you can't teach someone to actually like be empathetic, to truly care about every customer that they're seeing, their other employees. So that's really what we look for is like, who's that guy that when you sit down, you have those couple interviews with them? What are the conversations that you're having? Where's their head at? Is it just, hey, I'm a robot. I have this thing to do and I'm going home. Or is it, oh man, you know, make sure that like... you know, we're vacuuming every, you know, single corner of the areas that we worked in and, you know, kind of thinking customer first. Yeah. No, that's great. Where do you see the business in five, 10 years? What would make you happy in terms of success? That's a good question. I mean, obviously growth, right? Every business owner wants to see growth. I'd like to bring on a couple more guys, maybe for your former guys, I really just, there's no part to me that wanted to turn this into A giant. Yeah. You know, one of these monster companies with 20, 30 people, because it's a lot of responsibility to keep these, your employees trust you, right? To keep them fit and their families fit. So like, it's a big responsibility and I'd like to keep that closer. So, you know, I mean, I'd say in five years we bring on a couple more guys. I'd like to expand on our plumbing side of things. get that growing and just have a bigger team in place to make sure that everything runs smooth and maybe I can step back a hair and spend more time on the beach maybe. I don't know. If you figure that out, please let me know. And this is just dumb Jimmy question. Okay. Plumbing and HVAC, I feel like they go hand in hand a lot. To me, they seem like two different traits. How, how, why, why? They're sort of like cousins. Okay. You know, they're, they're, they're in generally the same world, but there's a much different skill set. You know, we're talking about like water heaters, most of our, all of our HAC guys, right? They can handle some of your base stuff, water heaters, water, softer, things like that. But when you get into more, I'd say the more specialized stuff is like the sewer end of plumbing when you're, on blocking, you know, sewer laterals or having to dig them up and replace them. Yeah. Things like that. That's where it gets a little more specialized. But for the most part, I mean, they're close enough that it makes sense to put it under one umbrella. The big idea is, you know, most homeowners They're going to have their HVAC gun, their electrician, their plumber. You have all these different people, like, who do I use for what? And there's oftentimes where we get in a situation where we need to have a plumber on site for something we're doing. So it's kind of like, all right, well, we can keep reaching out to different plumbers and try to build that relationship, or let's put it under our umbrella. 100%. And our homeowners, our customers, hey, Brandon. I got no AC. I got a toilet that's blocked. Yeah. It's one phone call. It's so much better. It is. Yeah. It is. And it's, it's a trust thing, right? It's hard to trust contractors. So once you find that one person, if they can do, you know, 90% of what you need. Do you guys show up on time? I mean, we're not perfect, but yes. Because you're right. Like, yeah, I think about a contractor and that's the biggest gripe is that they kind of just show up when they want to. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a challenge. We operate on a two hour window and we make sure that we like from initial phone call to reminder, text messages, emails, just kind of like two hour window, like, please keep this in mind. And some jobs run long, sometimes get us on faster. I harp on my guys about communication. You can't over communicate. I'm going to be early. I'm going to be late. That's the name of the game. Exactly. We've all been there, right? You sit around waiting for the cable guys. They give you a we'll be there between eight and next Thursday. Yeah. So, you know, so be here at home all week. Yeah, exactly. And so, you know, you want to keep that in mind, right? That person's sitting there, they're waiting. Some people get anxious about them kind of peeking out the windows and where's the van at? So again, we're not perfect, but we do everything we can to make sure that we hit that two-hour window. Yeah. So let's talk about outside of work. It's not like owning a business and running that is enough for you. You do a lot outside of work. Yes. You have a family. We'll start there. Um, telling me a little bit, a bit about, you know, having a family, managing a family with all of the responsibilities that come with work. I know that can be a challenge. It's definitely a challenge. Um, so two girls, um, nine and 13, both soccer players, the 13 year old does track as well. My youngest does dance. So like, you know, you're doing the taxi cab thing, driving to practices and all that stuff. Uh, you know, you just, Again, it kind of brings it back to the whole like family name, right? So it's not all work and no play. You have to, whether it's myself, my business partner, the guys that work for us, everyone has that opportunity to, hey, my kid's got this thing. Can I get three hours, two hours, half that? We make it happen. Like that's the important thing. Going back to your original question, like what differentiates us, that's another part of it is, all right, cool, you know what, so if we miss out on One job, two jobs, we have to push them to the next day. Maybe it's not a deal. Right. But you have a family. Yeah. Like that's more important is having that home time, being present for your kids, your wife, your husband, whatever it might be. So for me, it's just kind of managing my schedule around knowing this one's got to be here at this time. That one's got to be there. the almighty laptop comes with me and I'm fortunate enough for most of what I do, I can do it remotely. So I'll just grab the laptop, sit there, go and practice and type away. But I think you're right, there is something in giving your people that time that makes them almost more devoted. I watched The Godfather two last night. I don't know if you're supposed to get takeaways like this from it, but Michael has the realization that all of his people are hired at this point, and you can't trust people who are hired. You trust people who are family, essentially, and people that have bought into the mission. And it sounds like you're doing those things to get people to buy in on the mission. Yeah. And that's, you know. It comes from a very genuine place, right? Like, I want to bring these guys in. I want them to want to show up to work because they like myself, they like Chris, they like the company, they like how we run it. So yeah, getting that buy-in is super important. And you can't get everyone to buy in. Some people just are naturally cynical and they're like, oh, why are you being so nice to me? But that's just... That's how I grew up. That's how my dad's business once felt, it always felt very comfortable. And that's just not coming from me because I was family. Like other guys have mentioned that too. And that's just what I wanted to keep going for, you know, however many employees we wind up having. Yeah, yeah. It was great. And so you've got the business, you've got the family. You're also a volunteer firefighter. Yes. How did you get into that? Why did you get into that? And tell me, you know, your experiences there. So, I mean, the reason I got into it kind of goes back to, I was probably like 13 or 14, the house next to me. where I grew up in Philly, went on fire. And it was probably maybe like 15 or 20 feet away from us. It's not very far. It was overnight. And it was very impressive watching. And I think most guys as a kid, you have this hero fantasy, right? And I remember just watching them just like, just fly into this house, do their thing, get the fire put out, wrap up, go home. I was like, man, that That was cool. So it was always in the back of my head. So when I moved up here, I didn't know, quite honestly, that a volunteer firefighter was a thing. And my wife's from up here. So she mentioned like, hey, why don't you go down to the fire department, check it out. And so I just popped my head in there and they kind of gave me the rundown on what it all takes. I had a beard at the time. They didn't tell me I couldn't have one. They wait till after I signed up. It's really, hey, by the way, you got to be clean shaven all the time, but that's okay. So yeah, I mean, that's sort of what inspired me to do it. Yeah, it just. I just have this natural inclination. Just help to want to do something for other people. And this is like, what better way to do it? Yeah. You know, sometimes you do get the. you know, keys down the gutter or cats, literally cats stuck up in a tree call. Have you had that actually? Oh yeah. That was one of the first calls I ran when I first started it, probably about eight years ago. Yeah. Yeah, I was like, that can't be real. Nobody really calls her that. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, it's fun because you get into a lot of unique situations that you wouldn't normally see. You meet a lot of great people. You kind of... When you're on a scene, depending on this, could be a fire, could be an accident, it could just be an automatic fire alarm where there's nothing going on. But you kind of make these connections with people. That's sort of like the rewarding part is when they're just like, oh man, thank you. You did your thing. We're just there because that's what we signed up to do. But it is nice when you make that connection with someone and they feel better, you've comforted them. You kind of move on. Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you. Because, I mean, I'm in your district, so thank you for what you do. What is like the hours for that? How demanding on your time is that? It's kind of a do what you can when you can. So you're sort of 24/7 on call. There's an app on your phone that's kind of dings the page or two. But if you're available, you go. Yeah. And that's sort of a misconception with volunteer firefighters, like, oh, man, if something comes in like You know, I got to like drop my tools. No, it's it's really like if you're available, you go do it. If you're not, you know, you don't. All right. So you've got the business, you got the family, you got the volunteer firefighting. Is there anything else? Is there room for anything else that you're doing? I mean, I volunteer for Australian Lehigh soccer. I coach the U9 team, my daughter's team, I've coached after the last few years. Play hockey once a week. Really? Yeah. So you do stay busy. I stay busy. Yeah. Yeah. After a certain point, you got to get it before the hours that anyone's awake, sometimes after everyone's asleep. So hockey happens after 9 p.m. So not really missing out on all my care. Do you sleep at all? Every once in a while. I do when I'm driving. I'm a baby. I need my sleep, so I can only fit in so much. Yeah, I mean, it's great. I feel like we are unfortunately running low on time. I'm going to do a shout out to our our sponsor, Z Craft. They are incredible. The food they make, the coffee they make, all of it's fantastic. You go there, you get your coffee, have a sip, but sometimes, as you know, sip happens in life. When's the time that sip happened to you, Brandon? That's a great question. I mean, I'm sure if I thought real hard, I could probably give you a hundred examples. I think I'll go back to when I was younger. This is one of those moments that just has stuck in my head forever. I think it was that level of embarrassing. I was probably like, I don't know, 12, 13 years old at soccer practice. Maybe the shorts were a little too snug. I extended the leg to get a ball and what you hear is right down the back of the pants. Yes. How do you get out of that situation? Own it. Yeah. I mean, it was I mean, I can remember like it was yesterday. Yeah. Maybe 10 minutes into an hour. Well, mom's not here, so here we go. I guess I'm just sucking it up, you know, just you own it and move on, I guess. That's fine. Is soccer a big part of your life? I mean, it is now because both my kids have been playing. playing for quite a few years. So it's become a much bigger part of my life than I thought it ever would. Yeah. They're way more accomplished than I ever was. That's funny. I mean, has it been cool watching them, you know, get more and more skill and just get to a higher level? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. That's like the parent stream is watching your kids get better, improve, you know? Hopefully they do better than you ever have done. It's not hard for me. Set the bar low. Yeah, oh yeah, very low. I'm sure that's not true, but yeah, it is cool watching them go from, you know, like just soccer, for example, since we're talking about to go for like sort of direct level and just improve their skills. And now my oldest don't travel for two seasons now, my youngest will be doing her first season of travel next year. So it is very exciting to watch them like, understand it and grasp the concepts better and really just get better. And yeah, it's fun. It's fun. It is. Anything that we didn't hit that you feel like we should have hit or something you want to talk about before we wrap it up? I don't know. I mean, I think we did a pretty good job here. Yeah, good. Because I did too. I mean, this was great. You have such a good story. You're doing-- sounds like really great work. The business is kind of moving the way you'd like it to be. And in a couple of years, you could see it growing. It's just really cool to get business owners on here who are making it happen. Yeah, and I appreciate you having me. I mean, like I said, the whole premise behind the business is just like, how do we impact the lives of as many people as we can? It's kind of a weird way, right? It's an HVAC business, like you're talking about impacting lives, but there's so many ways that you can by showing your employee. You get people from different cultures. Some people didn't have great parents or they grew up without a father or a mother or whatever it might be. So for some of these guys that grew up like that, you can show them, hey, here's how to just do a little better for yourself. There's a better path. It's not just punching in, punching out, and moving on. So that's been the most rewarding for me is being able to help some of these younger guys. We've got a lot of younger guys. It's just kind of help them build a better path in life and show kind of what it's the bigger picture of. It doesn't have to be just about the money. It doesn't just have to be about work. There's a much bigger picture here, right? We're all limited time on this earth. How do we make the most out of it while still doing things that work that we have to do? 100%. And you're making it better for them. But also for us, I said, you guys are pretty popular this time of year when it's 80 degrees in my living room and I can't figure out why you guys are at the first call. And it's nice when you guys make it happen. Yep. I always say, you don't realize how many best friends you have until that summer. When everyone's coming out of the woodwork, texting you, calling, oh, man, my uncle's brothers, sisters, he's not working over there. So yeah, no, it's cool. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy it. This is probably my favorite time of the year. Just when it's super busy and just you're firing on all cylinders for the next six or eight weeks. I love it. Do you staff up for that or are you able to kind of maintain the same level of staffing? So no, we maintain the level of staffing that we always have. It's obviously there's the planned growth and incremental growth. So that's sort of another issue in the industry is let me bring on all these extra guys for the upcoming busy season, then they all *** **** off. And I'd rather, we have a group of guys that would rather work later and harder than see that happen to someone else. And then as we grow, as you get that new steady, that new customer base, then we bring on the extra guy, and now we kind of hit this level, and that's where we run. But yeah, I mean, we don't staff up just because you're not going to maintain that year round. It's a seasonal business. Yeah. Yeah. This is what it's all about, Brandon. This podcast is, you know, about small businesses, about local businesses with a mission. And you truly have that. You care about your people, you care about the community. And thank you for coming on here and making the time for us. Yeah, of course. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Why Am I Talking? podcast. If you enjoyed this and want to hear more content from amazing personalities in the valley, please subscribe, leave a rating, and drop us a quick review.