Home Services Success Stories
The Home Services Success Stories: Real Stories. Real Businesses. Real Growth.
Every home service business has a story — and we’re here to tell it.
The Home Services Success Stories Podcast features conversations with real Peakzi partners and clients across the trades: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and beyond. Each episode spotlights an entrepreneur or service leader who’s built something remarkable — sharing how they started, what drives their business, and the lessons learned along the way.
From building teams to scaling operations and embracing AI-driven marketing, our guests talk candidly about what’s working, what’s changing, and how Peakzi helps them grow, hire smarter, and show up stronger in AI search.
It’s not just another business podcast — it’s authentic storytelling from the people keeping homes and communities running every day.
Brought to you by Peakzi — helping home service companies grow through AI marketing, visibility, operations, and recruiting solutions.
Home Services Success Stories
One Decision In Beverly Hills Changed A Business Forever
A framed house in Beverly Hills, a missing paycheck, and a moment of clarity—those are the beats that set Mike Cottle on a different path. What started as a trade school leap turned into a 30-year blueprint for building a people-first home services company that grows with discipline, not hype. Mike opens up about leaving the risky cash-flow cycles of new construction, acquiring Cole-Services in Garden Grove, CA, and engineering steady 20% year-over-year growth through culture, training, and relentless learning.
We explore how sports shaped his work ethic, why independence lets him invest deeply in people, and how weekly one-on-ones, book studies, and role plays create a bench of confident leaders. Mike shares the structures that keep Cole moving—EOS from Traction, peer accountability via Nextstar Network, and a deliberate shift from “spray and pray” marketing to precise, data-driven outreach. He explains how AI-powered segmentation with Peakzi unlocks smarter acquisition and retention, turning every campaign into a targeted bet rather than an expensive guess.
The heart of the conversation is leadership you can feel: humility over ego, consistency over shortcuts, and accountability that protects the culture. Mike’s next chapter—building “Cole University”—aims to elevate adult learning with practical tracks for technicians and managers, combining technical mastery with communication and business skills. If you care about meaningful growth in home services, this story is a road map: build your people, give them tools and clarity, and pair craftsmanship with data so every effort compounds.
If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend in the trades, and leave a quick review to help more builders and operators find the show.
Powered by: www.peakzi.me
More info at: https://cole-services.com/
Peakzi Podcast: Home Services Success Stories
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 Mike Cottle, who is the owner at Cole-Services. Mike, welcome to the show. How are you?
Speaker 2:Julian, thank you. I'm uh I'm thrilled to be here. And it's an honor and a pleasure to uh be invited to this.
Julian Placino:Absolutely. I'm very excited to learn more about the story. So um let's kind of jump in. So, Mike, take us back to the beginning. What first you drew what first drew you into the plumbing trade right out of high school?
Speaker 2:Well, great, great, you know, look, great question. We'll unpack that. I don't know how much time we have, but uh I'll I'll try and keep it short and sweet. So it kind of goes back to the childhood. My uncle, favorite uncle, right? Everybody's got one of their favorite uncles, and uh he was uh lo and behold, plumbing contractor. And uh he kind of grew up on uh where he lived was in the very nice beach community, you know, beautiful home, overlooking the water, and and great family, and and you know, just was able super, just a super human being, very involved with the community and giving back to different uh boys and girls club and and just full life, right? And uh on the other side of the tracks, I kind of came from, you know, everybody's got a story, but I didn't come from that that that being, right? Like when I would go over there, it was like, wow, I'm like in a mansion, and you know, we were we were you know, we were kind of just living day by day, right? Uh uh on the other side of the track, so to speak. So that kind of all always stuck with me. Uh, fast forward to high school, uh, graduate high school, and one of the things, Julian, you're you're gonna get a big kick out of this. When I graduate high school, I told myself, I don't want to go back to, I don't ever want to go to school again. And two months later, I'm enrolled in plumbing trade school. So it was kind of like I just you know, I just decided that I didn't want to be a car mechanic. I knew I was gonna do something with my hands, right? Uh dad was a part-time electrician. If he could make a couple of bucks to, you know, keep the lights on. That was that was his agenda, right? And it was all good. Uh, I wanted a little bit more. So uh, you know, working two part-time jobs out of high school, going nowhere fast. One was a delivery job, one was busing tables at night. And uh so the work ethic was there, Julian. It just wasn't, you know, the there was there was no career path there. So got involved with plumbing uh trade school, uh two or three months into it, got place at a little mom and pop shop, and then uh, you know, just everything kind of took uh took off from there. I uh worked day and night, seven days a week, whenever they asked me to, and and I was happy to do it. I've I I wanted, you know, I wanted to learn this. I wanted to master the trade as as best I could.
Julian Placino:Well, what I really think is interesting about your story is you had a kind of a vision, an inspiration, and sort of a role model, because I I would I would say that a lot of folks, when they think of the trades, they think, oh my gosh, it's a dirty job. I'm on my knees, I'm plumbing, I'm doing, you know, that kind of thing. But you saw something different. You saw someone who had character, who had poise, who lived a good lifestyle, who gave back to community service. I think that's that's awesome. And that's why I think the whole show is interesting, is because you are now becoming kind of the role model to help kind of inspire that next generation. I think that's a really great key right there. So so after you started in the trades, I know you worked in service, construction, even troubleshooting for plumbing manufacturers. What ultimately made you decide to return to your roots and acquire coal services?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great, great question. And you know, from from when I was a uh a child about six, seven years old, and kind of seeing that environment with my uncle, and then you know, getting out of high school, there was the you know, uh I I'm I'm very thankful that sports was in my life, and I was actually, I guess, pretty good at it, some sports better more than others, but I played almost you know any sport I could at any time. And that kind of set some disciplines for me in the work ethic side, and you know, showing you know, that it takes no talent to show up on time, right? Uh, you don't have to be an all-star to be there on time or early. Uh, getting, you know, come to practice, you know, don't don't miss anything, don't be a screw off and all that. Now, the the the trade-off of that was is I went to a school where uh our football in high school was very coveted. And if you played on the team, the teachers kind of gave you a hall pass on your grades, right? That probably wasn't the best thing for me, right? Because it let me do what I wanted to do, but it all came full circle when I got to the trade school. And now to kind of get back to your question, um I I had an epiphany one day. I was doing I was running a new construction company, and uh um it was it was my second business I was on, and I had partnered with another gentleman. I was a license holder for the in the state of California, we need a uh a contractor's license, right? I acquired that when I was 22, and uh and my partner was 44, and we did new construction, we had a lot of work, lots of work. We were we were we were so we were behind in work. And I just the way the new construction business is modeled is that it's always uh kind of stringing you out of money, and we're good, we'll get you on the next job, right? If you if you kind of underbid this job a little bit, we'll we'll make sure you get a little higher bid on the second one. And that job never came, right? It just kept parlaying over and over again. And um, you know, honestly, uh it was on a Saturday, Julian. I I vividly remember this. I'm in Beverly Hills. Uh, me and my crew are doing all the plumbing, you know, and the two by fours and all that good stuff, you know, before framing, uh, before all the bones, before all the drywall and all the niceties go go into it. And the homeowner, uh, the husband and wife came by and and they were walking around looking at it and go, wow, the progress. And they're like, Oh, hey, you know, who are you? And I'm oh, I'm like, I'm my call on the plumber and everything. And oh, you know, thanks for doing the plumbing in our house and everything. I said, Hey, I got a question to ask you. When am I gonna get paid? And they're like, Huh? Well, we we've already got we've already had two draws submitted to us, and we paid both of those. And we already paid, so we paid the contractor already, the general contractor, right? The person that I'm working for. And Monday morning I was in his office and I wouldn't leave until I got a check. So then, Julian, I opened up the LA Times. I know I'm dating myself a little bit here, and I look for businesses for sale, and I lo and behold, coal was for sale. So uh I called, you know, like we used to, right? There's no internet or texting, and I old school called, and I was in LA and the the the business was in Costa Mesa, California at the time. And I called, I talked to the owner, I came down, I looked at it, and um, you know, we kind of we we formed an agreement and and uh I removed myself from new construction, went back into service and repair, and never looked back.
Julian Placino:So that's how it happened. Okay, so you kind of had a moment of like, man, something's gotta change. I don't like the way the intricacies work with this particular business, and then you just started seeing, hey, I can acquire a company, and you found coal. Okay, you know, out of frustration, right?
Speaker 2:You either you can you conform to the frustration or you change your pattern, right?
Julian Placino:Yeah. Well, you've led coal now for nearly 30 years, and it is still a hundred percent family owned, correct? So so why has staying independent been so important to you?
Speaker 2:Wow. Uh that's a that's that's a loaded question. There is I I I I guess at this point in time, just uh uh Julian, there's several different factors in there. There's a there, you know, there's a lot of great young and women that great young men and women out there that come in and they're looking for employment and they really don't know, right? They they to be honest with you, they really don't know what they're looking for. And they it's I just feel like I need to give back, right? Um several years ago, I I I served on the uh uh on the board and then became president, past president of uh plumbing heating and cooling contractors of uh Orange San Bergino and Riverside Counties. And it was all about back then we were all about you know creating a school for training young men and women because we knew the the the wood shop and the metal shops and the and all those all those were gone from high school. They cut all the budget on that. And I've I'm deeply passionate about we need to learn the trades to to take care of everybody, you know, you know, everybody that's out there in their families, right? So I guess what keeps me what keeps get me up in the morning and being uh an independent is that I want to give back to I want to pay it forward, right? Like I want to I want to get these young men and women to believe in themselves because a lot of times I believe more in them than they believe in themselves, right? Uh we typically, I think the last couple of years we've invested about $100,000 in education alone. And I mean, there's not one day that probably goes by in here that at any given hour somebody's on a uh Zoom call for online training, or this morning we had all the technicians in for role playing. Uh there's technical training, uh, either here or some of our partners' locations. So it's just it's kind of seeing something grow and develop in front of your own eyes, right? Like, you know, having a child. And uh that that you know, that warms my heart. It really does.
Julian Placino:So it kind of sounds like it's a mixture of um like being able to own it and also making the impact. It's not just the business, it seems like you're very mission-based and you're able to see the fruits of your labor because of that control um and the impact it's making in in people's lives from a cultural perspective. I think that's really awesome. Um now the business itself is very successful. Um, it looks like it's been consistently growing for decades and averaging about 20% each year. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Julian Placino:Okay, so what do you attribute to the keys to that growth?
Speaker 2:Well, uh, certainly a lot of smart people uh besides myself. Uh it uh so really the I I guess as we go down the line here is that remember if we go back a few minutes ago, I went to trade school to be a plumber. Uh there was no there was no additional school there for how to read uh PL in the balance sheet, uh as a and and be a business owner. So uh that's been a long trials and tribulations. And are you the right price? And oh, you need uh liability insurance and auto insurance, and you gotta have workmen's comp and you gotta make a profit, and you gotta make a profit and pay taxes, and you know, all those fun things uh get wrapped up and and and run into business. And there's been so many different events in in my career of that continued elevation and uh just just just you know being in the right rooms with the right people. Uh I've always been one to go and visit other companies. And they I belong to a group called Nextstar Network, one of the best decisions I've ever made. Uh, and I have uh uh a plethora of of uh friends there. I call them friends now or colleagues that that are similar, you know, have businesses just like mine, and they're all over the country. And I can pick up the phone and call them and tell them, hey, I want to come see your shop and see what you're doing. And and I could be there tomorrow if I wanted to for best practice purposes. And then with their coaches, and what you learn from them, the coaches, and what you learn from your colleagues, there might even be some things outside of Nextdoor that you can still tuck in to help continue to improve the business, such as like uh uh you know, uh a book that we all read by Gina Wickman called Traction. Uh, so there there's just it layers upon layers, and and you know, if you if you want to be successful, I was taught this a long time ago. If you always if you want to be successful, you go talk to successful people, right? You put yourself in the room, and nowadays I feel like I I always want to be the lowest guy on the totem pole in that successful room because that's how we're continuing to reach. But I'm also bringing the staff with me, right? And that's part of their development. So it's not there was a point in time where it's like, hey, it should just be Mike, right? At some of the, you know, a seat at the table, but now we're bringing the whole entire uh leadership team to the table, and they're getting exposed to that. So that really takes a lot of pressure off me. And that's how I become, you know, uh I I enjoy my my days, right? I get excited about coming in and sending voice texts at 5:30 in the morning. Hey, you know, let's do this, let's try this, you know, just getting people up and about and so on and so forth. So and and and really the I guess one of the other things is just be consistent, right? Be curious, uh, be eager, uh, ask a lot of questions, but be consistent in what you're doing, right? If you uh and failure, failure is gonna happen, right? We're gonna make mistakes. Uh, you know, Michael Jordan missed more shots than he ever made. Actually, let me retract that. Kobe Bryant missed more shots than he ever made because I'm a Laker fan. So, but all the goats out there, Tom Brady lost Super Bowls, right? And he lost games, but he's got all these rings. So there's there's the pattern there of success. And if you don't try something, you're you're you're you're gonna stay dormant. And in this day and age, Julian, with AI, it's you know, that's one of the reasons why we joined Peekzi, right? We see we we we we were delivered the the the vision and we believe in it. I wholeheartedly I see it on a day-to-day basis with everything else, the all the other noise that's going on in the world, uh, and all the other AI products. And that's why we we we chose Peaksy. We we we see that, and we feel that that's like one of our strongest partners right now, running into the running into the abyss of the AI race.
Julian Placino:And we'll definitely talk more about Peakzi here in a little bit, but I I have to share some observations. I think you just shared so much wisdom, and it seems to connect with so much like leadership philosophy that I've been exposed to. The first thing is number one, you are very humble, like you know, good to great. The first thing there is like a humble leader, constant learning and development. And that is not just something that you have, but you bring about in your team as well. You're always looking for best practices, right? The second thing also is you mentioned EOS. I'm no uh or traction, I'm no expert on EOS, but that has to do with scalability. So it's like this humble attitude that you have combined with this kind of structure that helps you scale, it kind of now begins to make sense how you steadily keep growing. And I think that's really awesome info, um, insights that you shared there, Mike. That's cool.
Speaker 2:And honestly, that probably the total investment on those, and you hit the nail right on the head. The total investment on those, Julians, is probably just a nice dinner somewhere. Just thanking them for letting me come and visit them and pick their brain or a Zoom call or whatever. Um now, now we got a nice, I learned this from a really good friend of mine that actually referred me to Peakzi. Uh we send so so when I have a call or I go and visit somebody, we'll take their logo off their website and we'll do like custom sneakers and high tops, because that's I guess that's kind of all the rage with young folks. Uh, and then we'll we'll you know, we'll put a nice little thank you card. We'll get them, we'll get them made, and then we'll put a thank you card, and then we'll send them off as like, you know, hey, thank you for at least taking, you know, even if it was 30 minutes, we talked to a huge company back in the Midwest and a couple months ago, and it was brilliant, right? The phone call was just amazing. And we sent him a uh uh you know a pair of sneakers, and he was just like super thrilled about it. It's like, man, that's one of the coolest gifts I ever got. So shamelessly stealing you know, the next are we call it shamelessly stealing uh uh others' ideas, right?
Julian Placino:Copying from the best, right? Imitation is the best like implementation of flattery. Totally makes sense.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Julian Placino:Um, well, well, Mike, you brought us here to the topic of Peaksy, and uh, of course, the show is powered by Peaksy. So, what has been your experience with the product, the service, the team?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so uh you know, the the our calls are consistent, uh structured. There's always another add on, which is like you know, which is great because it it it just kidded, it's like a uh Flower that we're watering, it just continues to bloom, right? So uh there and it's very I I like the part of it, it's very strategic, right? There's different vehicles that we can continue to open up and use, and then when we're just about ready to feel like we kind of we don't have any more uh landing strip there, then you know what our our our our count rep says, oh by the way, you know, we opened up another landing strip to extend that. So it I really like that. I I just see it and I just you know I think it's just gonna explode. I really do, uh, and so many different avenues. So what would you say Peak zi helps you do? Uh think more strategic about new customers, existing customers, different criteria of of going to market than the some of the I guess standard conventional ways that have kind of been ingrained in us over the years. And how does it help you do that? How detailed did you want me to get? As detailed as you like. Oh, okay. So uh we we we can now go into a uh you know a specific zip code, and we can pick and choose our customers and target them for particular marketing piece of some sort, right? Whether that's uh uh direct mail, postcard, email, something like that, and and the data that we're given can really get down into the roots of everything instead of just having it surface oriented. So I'll uh I to sum that up is that we in marketing in previous years we used to call we used to use this uh expression uh spray and pray, right? We're gonna spray, we're gonna spray the market with a message and we're gonna pray that we get a return on investment.
Julian Placino:So it helps you become much more intentional and strategic about marketing. That seems to be the biggest benefit you've gotten so far.
Speaker 2:Well said.
Julian Placino:Awesome, awesome. Well, before we close out with uh a couple more questions, anything else you'd like to share about Peakzi?
Speaker 2:Mike uh you know, I I guess I I guess as an added bonus, we've also been able to, with the knowledge that our our our our the the the our our face rep and then the team behind it is that we're we're getting other um we're getting things that have nothing to do with them. They're just kind of like, hey, we know we we we have a referral for you that could possibly help you out with this or possibly help you out. So a true partner, right? Not somebody that's looking for a quick buck, let's say they're they're the or like you know, they want to they they want to kind of like put everything together and try and sell you everything, even if they're not good at something. They're like, hey, we're we're gonna stay in our lane, we do this, but if I hear what you're saying, you might want to talk to this person or explore this, or you might want to look over here, and and we have done that, and we've been very impressed with those with those individuals as well.
Julian Placino:We have a great as well, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't you can't you can't put a number or you know, that doesn't, you know, there's there's really nothing you can chalk up on there except thank you for helping be a true partner and and you know helping us grow. So absolutely.
Julian Placino:Oh, that's wonderful feedback, and I certainly appreciate those words. So um, so Mike, you have really great core values, development, honor, respect. You have been recognized as one of Orange County's top 25 places to work, also top plumber in 2025. You have been growing for decades, um, 20% year over year. Like it's it is obviously and objectively there that you are a successful business. So, in your opinion, what do you think makes coal services stand apart?
Speaker 2:People. It's not me, it's all about the people, right? It's I'm just here to do some framework, and I I'm certainly not the smartest guy in the room. So the it's it's very common for if somebody if somebody were to come to me and ask me for some knowledge of something, and I didn't have that, I would refer them to a colleague, a next door coach. Uh we also use a couple other firms. We I might say, hey, text that person. Uh I don't have I don't claim to have all the answers and and never will. And I am really getting them to think that it changed their thinking that they can solve the problem themselves because the resources are available. And I guess the other thing is we do one-on-ones religiously, week after week, right, with our people. We're here to build long-term relationships. It's not, it's not like, hey, I want you here. This isn't a seasonal job, right? It's not a seasonal seasonal career. But back to good to great, there are, you know, my responsibility is to drive the bus and we stop, we pick people up. We certainly got to find the right seat on the bus for them. And then sometimes we do stop, and some folks have to get off the bus as well. And and I think that's with anything, but I think the people here that are here appreciate that because they recognize that I'm not gonna just let it slide and keep uh a bad apple right around for various reasons. It's just let's just move on and and we'll get it. We'll we'll wake up tomorrow, everything will be okay, we'll survive. So, you know, it's a giving back. And then, you know, we do book readings, right? We uh as a leadership team last year we read about eight books, like not about, but we did, we read eight books. Then I do uh uh a book reading down the street at Starbucks. I'll buy the book and the coffee. You just donate your time at 6:30 in the morning. If you if you want to improve yourself and get some one-on-one time with me, so be it. If not, I'm okay with that too. I my bed's nice and cozy and warm sometimes too. So I get it, right? Uh, so it it it's you know, your readers are leaders, and uh, I firm believe I'm a firm believer of that, and and and it's a and it's a passion of mine. I'm I'm addicted to it now, right? I just don't uh I don't subscribe to some of those other things. I I don't watch TV. Uh I'm either reading or some taking something educational and then transferring that back to the team, right? Because that's my position in in in in helping people, right? I'm their I'm their personal trainer for for coaching and all things business, and even obviously personal things too that come up.
Julian Placino:Well, Mikey, you are a really great leader, very inspiring. All the things that you said. You've inspired me, so thank you very much for for who you are and sharing what you have. Um, close us out with what is your vision for the company? What is the legacy, the impact that it is that you want to make through Cold?
Speaker 2:My the the the I guess the the next chapter for for for us here is that we want to we and I'm I'm shamelessly stealing this for somebody else. Uh we want to really dive into what it takes for adult learning because it's different, right? There's a there's a little bit of a different difference in as a child, and there are so many great people out there that have either retired or um went in a different direction. And uh good friend of mine hired a uh um um an ex-principal of a school, and he's he's now leading them on their university, they call it university. So, you know, my vision next is Cole University, where we just we we we just get better and better and keep sharpening all our tools and putting the best product on the market for the families that are out there that we service on a day-to-day basis. And I just want everybody to think you know fondly of us as we're our trucks are driving down the street or they see a billboard or a commercial or or you know, direct mailpiece or online or what have you. So that that's that's kind of my you know, uh I guess uh maybe I'm gonna be an educator of some sort, you know. Uh that that that would really be because you know when some when you find somebody that wants to learn, it it ignites something in you, right? It gives you some passion because we're we're human beings, we're always willing to help somebody else. And uh yeah, that that's that's that's kind of the that's my vision right now uh and where I want to take this.
Julian Placino:Well, that's a very inspiring vision for the future, and I have no doubt that the world will benefit once that comes into fruition. So uh so Mike, close us out. Tell us your website, your social handles. How do how do people get a hold of you personally? Tell us all that.
Speaker 2:Oh boy, I wasn't ready for that one. Okay, so it's uh website is www.colservices.com. Uh email is mc-o-t-t-le at cole-services.com. And uh I do have a Instagram account now. I think it's Mike Coddleofficial. So uh it's it's fairly new and not not a whole lot going on there. Uh and then obviously uh we at at we're we're on Facebook and Instagram with Cole Services, and uh I believe there's TikTok too. Again, you're asking the wrong person when it comes to some things like that. So uh I've I'm I'm getting there. I'm getting there, Julia. I'm getting there. So and thank you for letting me be a part of this. My first podcast. Uh I I'm honored, right? It was very, I was super excited about it because I was like, oh wow, it's podcasts, right? You know, like I listen to podcasts all the time. So uh and and and I and I and uh and I listened to uh one of yours the other day, so it was great. So uh yeah, thank you for everything. Appreciate it.
Julian Placino:Absolutely. Well, I hope you enjoyed listening to this back because you shared so much incredible wisdom and really enjoyed hearing about your story and wish you all the continued success, Mike.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Julian.
Julian Placino:We'll we'll talk to you real soon. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Well, everyone, that is it for today's episode. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on the Home Services Success Stories podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business.