Home Services Success Stories

How Hiring For Character Turned JDV Electric Into A Community Favorite

• Peakzi • Season 1 • Episode 9

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Peakzi Podcast: What does it really take to grow from a single truck to a trusted residential brand without losing your standards? We sit down with JDV Electric founder Joe Voci from Lansdowne, PA to unpack the hard choices, simple habits, and smarter bets that built a company known for top-tier workmanship and genuine customer care.

Joe takes us back to 2005, when he chose the trades over college and launched JDV with a truck and a business card. He shares how family influence and a deep respect for craft shaped a mission to do right by homeowners, not cut corners. We dig into the years of wearing every hat—technician, dispatcher, bookkeeper—and the moment he realized sustainable growth meant hiring, training, and implementing systems. Joining a best practice organization in 2015 gave JDV the playbooks for operations, KPIs, and customer experience, leading to a major milestone in 2020: crossing $1M in annual revenue and becoming a go-to name in the community.

The conversation dives into the hiring philosophy behind JDV’s success—selecting for humble, hungry, smart—and why a two-interview process plus assessments pays off with long-term team players. Joe explains the pivotal step of getting out of the truck to mentor and lead, opening roles for rising technicians and creating space for standards to scale. We also explore culture in practical terms: team outings, monthly KPI meetings with rewards, and simple rituals that keep work fun and performance clear. On the marketing front, Joe lays out why he adopted Peakzi early to win in AI search across ChatGPT and Gemini, and how new customers now cite AI as the way they found JDV Electric.

If you care about quality work, steady growth, and building a team that clients trust in their homes, this story is a blueprint. Stick around to hear where JDV is headed next—from expanding territories to possibly adding plumbing or HVAC—and the legacy Joe hopes to leave: fair prices, strong warranties, and work that lasts. Enjoy the episode, share it with a fellow contractor, and if it helped you, follow the show and leave a quick review so more owners can find it.

Powered by: www.peakzi.me

Find more info: www.jdvelectric.com

Peakzi Podcast: Home Services Success Stories

Julian Placino:

Welcome to the Home Services Success Stories podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business. And on the show today, we have Joe Voci, who is the owner at JDV Electric. Joe, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing? I'm doing well, Jolene. Thanks for having me on today. Yeah, excited to dig in and learn more about your story. So, Joe, take us back to the beginning. What inspired you to take that leap of faith in 2005 to start JDV Electric with just a truck and a business card?

Joe Voci:

Sure, sure. So, you know, coming to the end of high school, I never really um wanted to pursue college. I always really enjoyed working with my hand. So I knew that the school thing necessarily wasn't for me. So uh started off in the trades, you know, electrical looked like the right thing for me. It was either a car mechanic or an electrician. And uh electrician was definitely the the good route that I chose. Um worked for somebody for a little little period of time, but always always wanted to have my own business. And 2005, uh finally made that leap to uh go out on my own and uh have no regrets, would would do it all over again.

Julian Placino:

And that was back in 2005. So um, so I know that your your your your father, Joe, had played a very important part in your formation and your your your your journey as an entrepreneur. So how did his support shape both you personally and the business?

Joe Voci:

Sure. So you know, family is uh very important to me. And I think my father, he had his own business growing up. He he he wasn't an electrician by trade, but he had his own business. And most of my family were, you know, entrepreneurs and and were doing their own thing. My grandmother and my uncle both were um owned hair salons. Uh so it was kind of natural for me to to open my own business at that point. Um, but he's always been my, you know, the the one cheering me on that, you know, if you're if you're gonna get it accomplished, um, you know, he could help me help me get through it. So he's he's been uh a strong uh guiding light for me to help grow the business.

Julian Placino:

Interesting. So he's been uh you've you've had quite a bit of inspiration from family members to start their own business. So it was just kind of like normal for you to sort of want to do your own thing. So I guess before JDV, did you have any side hustles, any small projects, small businesses that you ran before that?

Joe Voci:

Uh no, not so much. I mean, I was uh I would dabble when I was younger. You know, I started it, I started the business young, but you know, prior to being 21, I was uh an avid seller on eBay. So I sold a lot of a lot of stuff on eBay. But uh that was my only little side hustle prior to uh prior to starting the business.

Julian Placino:

Gotcha. Well, you've run pretty much every role. In addition to being a hands-on craftsman, you have to learn like all the aspects of the business, right? You've worn every hat, technician, dispatcher, bookkeeper. So, what did those years teach you about what did those experiences teach you about running a successful business?

Joe Voci:

Yeah, that's uh that's a really good question. So, you know, in the beginning, you're you're wearing every hat. I still wear a lot of hats today. Um, I think the main thing is, you know, realizing that you need a team of great people to help build the business, and you just can't do it on your own for a long period of time. Uh, you know, it was just me and my father going at it on our own, and we would, you know, struggle but not realize that we needed the help. And um, once we started, you know, hiring people that that really helped the business uh get to the next level.

Julian Placino:

And what would you say were some of those keys to help you get to the next level? You mentioned hiring, so of course, a focus on people. But what else comes to mind? Because you have certainly become um a leader in the space, a leader in your market. So, what are some of those keys to success?

Joe Voci:

Sure. I think uh I would have definitely hired sooner, but also you know, being able to then train your people. So we had uh joined a best practice organization back in 2015, and that really had helped uh get us to the next level. Uh once I had joined there, uh really just took everything in on how we kind of operate a business and slowly implemented uh things, you know, as the years went on. Uh we didn't grow rapidly, but we definitely just took our time, made sure we were on a steady path for uh continued growth and profitability.

Julian Placino:

Okay. And was there a particular moment when you realized that JDV JDV Electric was more than just a one-man shop and on its way to becoming a really trusted name?

Joe Voci:

Yeah, I think it was probably around 2020. You know, we had finally broke the million dollar a year and revenue mark. And that's uh, you know, a pretty, pretty big obstacle. You know, I think the percentage is low of small businesses that ever break that million dollar threshold. So at that point, I felt like we really became a good household name in the community and started to develop, you know, an online reputation uh as the go-to for electrical services.

Julian Placino:

So definitely revenue. I mean, that is market acceptance of what it is that you're doing, and especially, you know, starting anything from scratch and learning that whole process from being, you know, hands-on craftsman to running the business to marketing, sales, and ops and balancing, all that kind of stuff. So I think that's a really great milestone. So, one thing also that I found interesting about kind of the way that you see the business is that it seems to be very mission-based because you saw problems in the larger contractor world. You know, some people were cutting corners or overcharging, but how did that shape the mission and the values of JDV Electric?

Joe Voci:

Sure. So I think with some of the larger contractors, they're they're very quick to just hire anybody and get them out, get them out in the truck and really drive revenue. And although, you know, growing the business and revenue is important, um, we want to provide a quality product, right? We're we're going to the homeowners' homes and that's their their treasure. A lot of people, that's their biggest asset that they own. So we want to make sure that we're doing top quality work is our number one priority. And I've seen a lot of these companies, um, you know, the larger they got, they had lost some of that quality control. So we want to make sure that, you know, through our hiring process, that we have a very good electrician that we're bringing on board and can instill those same values of making sure their work is, you know, top, top quality work is what we want to provide and customer service as well.

Julian Placino:

So real focus on quality work, customer service. And also you said hiring good people. I that's for sure probably one of the biggest challenges I think home services has. So, can you share a tip about hiring or kind of what you do to ensure that you attract, retain, and grow the best people?

Joe Voci:

Sure. I mean, that's still always a challenge, but we like to put them through like a two-interview process, and we're looking for people that are really um hungry, humble, and smart. So that's kind of the three things that we look for. Uh, we use some type of testings to test for these things and the applicants to make sure that we're we're gonna get a quality candidate. We don't want to bring somebody in and you know find out just a couple months down the road they don't work out. We're looking for a long-term uh team player to to join the team. So we really want to vet them the best we can and not just put anybody in a truck in a customer's home.

Julian Placino:

So it sounds like a real focus on character because you said humble, hungry, and smart. Because with those things, you can really train up a superstar. So I think that's uh that's really great. So so you've made a shift from running service calls yourself to mentoring and leading your team. Why do you think that has been a significant transition for the growth of your business?

Joe Voci:

You know, I think that that has to happen, right? If if we're not trying to grow the business, like I would have never got out of the truck. And, you know, me being able to step out of the truck, it's opening up opportunities for you know, the guys that I were training, that really gives them the opportunity to shine. And sometimes they can do the job better than me. And really that's what we want. I want to train them well enough that they're doing the job better than me. So it really opens up that door of opportunity and grow the company and build uh the future leaders for the business so we can, you know, keep on expanding.

Julian Placino:

So kind of allowed you to, I guess, step away and work on the business versus in it, so you can kind of see what are the things that you need to do to grow as a leader, support the team to ultimately scale the business, right? Um, so you you you have spoken to the people, but speak just a bit about the culture, because it often you know makes or break the business. So, how would you describe the culture at JDV Electric and how do you maintain it as you grow?

Joe Voci:

Sure. It's it's always a challenge, but you know, realistically, uh, we treat everybody like family, right? Uh at the end of the day, we want this to be an environment where they enjoy coming to work. Uh, nobody's gonna, you know, if they don't enjoy what they do, nobody nobody's gonna last, last long in any any company. So we try to keep it um, you know, fun and engaging, um, constantly learning and and training the guys so they can uh further their development as well. Um, but at the end of the day, it really comes down to treating people well. And if you treat them well, they'll they'll take care of you as well.

Julian Placino:

What are some examples of what you do to make things fun and treat people well? Because it can it can be a grind, you know? It's it's a it's a hard industry. So tell us about that.

Joe Voci:

Yeah, we've uh held some company outings in the past. You know, we took the team out. Um I think it was like a laser bowling event. So we did some bowling. We have done um like outdoor uh skeet shooting activities for the technicians. Cool. So they they really enjoy that. Um we're looking to plan like an out a sports outing at like uh, you know, we're based right outside of Philadelphia. So looking to do something at the Philadelphia Phillies, you know, taking the team out to a sporting event. So anything like that really goes a long way. And then obviously, you know, we have um some company dinners occasionally, you know, take the team out to eat. It's always a good thing. We hold our monthly monthly meetings where the uh team has certain KPIs that they could hit and they could uh they can win things at the monthly meetings. So that plays into it as well.

Julian Placino:

So it sounds like a big focus on experiences together outside of the office, kind of creating a different sort of social dynamic and getting people to open up uh and also some some interesting rewards uh from uh winning prizes and such during during the monthly meetings. I think those are uh great tips. So um, so you're a customer of Peakzi. This podcast is brought to you by Peakzi. So how would you explain what Peaksy is to someone who hasn't heard of it before?

Joe Voci:

That's a good question. So we've been on Peakzi, I think a customer now, probably almost a year coming up, and uh I think we're still learning about it every day. And I quickly jumped on it because I know it's the AI of the future, right? Like it's changing the landscape of how customers search, and I knew how important that was going to be a year ago and just wanted to get ahead of it. So I know it does a lot more than AI search, but really that was the main focus that had drawn me in. So if any customer is looking for, you know, growing their business and being able to be bound, you know, through all these various AI models, the Chad GPT and Gemini, um, you know, Peakzi's helped position me uh the competition in that aspect of it.

Julian Placino:

Okay. And what would you say have been the most significant results Peakzi created for your business so far?

Joe Voci:

Uh that's a good question. Uh, we've just seen probably over the last couple months that we're actually getting customers telling us that they found us on Chat GPT. So that's been very, you know, like, okay, this is working because I don't know how else we're getting there if we don't have Peakzi's help, right? Because I don't think my SEO team is is putting efforts into any AI search at this point. But, you know, Peaks definitely uh positioned me to to win in that aspect.

Julian Placino:

Okay, interesting. Yeah, I didn't quite think about that because you know, where where are people being found? Where are humans searching for information nowadays? And there's, of course, as everyone knows, a huge shift to AI. So, how are you being fine found through AI search? Interesting. Okay, great. Um, so as you approach 20 years in the business, what do you see next for JDV Electric? And what kind of legacy do you want to leave for your community?

Joe Voci:

Yeah, that's a that's a great question as well. So obviously, 20 years in the business. I'm still young. Uh, I still have a lot of growth ahead of me. Um, I think once the electrical business maybe hits its capacity, uh, we could either expand that into additional territories or add another trade line of service on, whether it's plumbing or HVAC. So we definitely have a ton of room for growth there. And I think legacy on the community is just, you know, if they can remember that JDV provided household quality service at a fair price and some of the best warranties in the in the area or industry uh is really what I would like to see happen. You know, that we put uh stickers on people's electrical panels. I'm hoping 20 years from now we're we're still seeing those stickers on the panel and uh homeowners are still calling us.

Julian Placino:

I think that's a great thing to leave behind and to be remembered as. So so Joe, close us out with first off, any any other parting words, anything else you want our our our listeners, our viewers to know um about the business?

Joe Voci:

Um I think we're you know we're still a small company, but we're we're still growing and it's kind of uh you know a strategic thing um as far as growth. Again, we we focus on top quality service, so we're not just looking to put any anybody in the truck. We want to make sure we're we're serving our customers at a very high level. Um that's kind of it.

Julian Placino:

All right. Well, Joe, tell us where we can connect with you, learn more about you, um, visit JDV. Tell us all that.

Joe Voci:

Sure. Uh so you can go to jdvelectric.com. Uh that's our our main website. Our main phone number is 610-364-5099 if anybody wants to connect. Uh, they can also shoot me an email, and that's Joe at JDVelectric.com. Uh, also we have Facebook and Instagram for JDV Electric as well.

Julian Placino:

Awesome. And we'll make sure to have all that contact information in the show notes. So, Joe, it's been really great to get to know you and appreciate you sharing your story on the podcast.

Joe Voci:

Yeah, thanks, Julian.

Julian Placino:

Greatly appreciate the opportunity. And everyone else, thanks for tuning in. And we'll see you next time on the next episode of the Home Services Success Stories podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business.