loader from loading.io

How Service Businesses Can Stop Losing Skilled Workers

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Release Date: 05/20/2026

The Moneyball for Home Services: How You Can Catch the Jobs You’re Missing show art The Moneyball for Home Services: How You Can Catch the Jobs You’re Missing

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Most contractors think they need more leads. But what if the real problem is that you’re already missing the jobs you paid to generate? In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Shaun Ritchey from Breezy to talk about Moneyball for home services and how contractors can use AI, better data, and smarter systems to uncover the jobs hiding inside their existing business. Just like Moneyball changed baseball by finding overlooked value in the data, this conversation shows how contractors can find overlooked revenue in missed calls, slow follow-up,...

info_outline The Guide to Branding and Networking for Service Business Owners show art The Guide to Branding and Networking for Service Business Owners

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Most service business owners are chasing the next lead source. Google Ads. Facebook Ads. AI. SEO. Automation. But sometimes the fastest way to grow is still the most old-school strategy in the book: getting out into your community, shaking hands, building trust, and making sure people remember your brand. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Chuck Worley, owner of Worley’s Home Services, to talk about branding, networking, reputation, and the real-world grind behind building a service business people know, trust, and refer. Chuck shares...

info_outline Consistent Branding Can Solve Your Hiring and Growth Headaches show art Consistent Branding Can Solve Your Hiring and Growth Headaches

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Most contractors think branding is about logos, colors, and marketing. It's not. The strongest brands in the trades do something much more powerful: they attract great employees, create loyal customers, and make growth easier. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Levi Torres, founder of High 5 Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric, to discuss how consistent branding became the foundation for one of Colorado's fastest-growing home service companies. What started as a simple idea—a high five at the end of every service call—evolved...

info_outline How AI Actually Solves the Real Call Center Headaches in Home Services show art How AI Actually Solves the Real Call Center Headaches in Home Services

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Most home service companies don't have a lead problem. They have a follow-up problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Kevin Wu, founder of Leaping AI, to discuss how AI voice agents and automation are helping home service businesses solve some of their biggest call center challenges. From missed calls and slow follow-up times to after-hours booking and lead nurturing, Kevin shares how AI is being used as a practical tool to support customer service teams, improve speed-to-lead, and create better customer experiences without...

info_outline How Top Trades Businesses Use AI and Systems to End Recruiting Pain show art How Top Trades Businesses Use AI and Systems to End Recruiting Pain

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Most contractors don't have a recruiting problem. They have a recruiting system problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Paul Sanneman, founder of Contractor Staffing Source, to discuss how top home service companies are using systems, assessments, and AI-powered recruiting tools to consistently find better employees. After helping more than 2,000 contractors and recruiting over 2,500 successful hires, Paul shares the biggest recruiting mistakes contractors make and why most hiring challenges are self-inflicted. The conversation...

info_outline How Contractors Use Air Curtains to Solve Costly Building Challenges show art How Contractors Use Air Curtains to Solve Costly Building Challenges

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Most contractors walk past air curtains every day without realizing how much money they can save commercial buildings. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Curtis Rosol from Mars Air Systems to break down how air curtains work and why they’ve become a powerful solution for energy savings, indoor air quality, and insect control in commercial spaces. From convenience stores and restaurants to cold storage facilities and warehouses, Curtis explains how air curtains create an invisible barrier that keeps conditioned air inside while...

info_outline How Service Businesses Can Stop Losing Skilled Workers show art How Service Businesses Can Stop Losing Skilled Workers

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

The skilled labor shortage isn’t just a hiring problem. It’s a perception problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Ruchir Shah, founder of SkillCat, to discuss why home service companies are struggling to attract and retain skilled workers and what the industry can do about it. Ruchir shares how his background in workforce training led him to build SkillCat, an online trade training platform helping people transition into HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and appliance repair careers. If your company struggles with hiring,...

info_outline AI Search and the Death of Old-School Marketing for Home Service Businesses show art AI Search and the Death of Old-School Marketing for Home Service Businesses

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

The way homeowners search for HVAC, plumbing, and home service companies is changing fast. And most contractors are completely unprepared for it.   In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Phil Risher from Phlash Consulting to discuss the massive shift from traditional Google SEO to AI-powered search and what it means for home service businesses.   Phil explains why AI search is changing how customers find contractors, why conversational search matters more than keywords, and how tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews are disrupting traditional...

info_outline How Storytelling Can Solve Your Skilled Trades Recruiting Crisis show art How Storytelling Can Solve Your Skilled Trades Recruiting Crisis

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Ryan Kiscaden, owner of Kiscaden Consulting and creator of the Next Up Trades children’s book series, to discuss how storytelling can reshape the future of recruiting in the trades.   Ryan shares how a conversation with his plumber brother-in-law sparked the idea to create books that explain HVAC and plumbing to children in a way they can understand and connect with emotionally.   Instead of focusing only on wages, debt, and job security, Ryan believes the industry needs to tell a better...

info_outline How to Optimize and Automate Your Home Service Business show art How to Optimize and Automate Your Home Service Business

Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service

Most home service business owners are excited about automation, AI, and new technology. But here’s the problem… They’re implementing tools before fixing their processes. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Nathan Whittacre, CEO of Stimulus Technologies, to break down what actually works when it comes to optimizing and automating your business. Nathan shares decades of experience helping companies implement technology the right way and explains why most tech investments fail. What You Will Learn in This Episode Why automation without optimization...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

The skilled labor shortage isn’t just a hiring problem.

It’s a perception problem.

In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Ruchir Shah, founder of SkillCat, to discuss why home service companies are struggling to attract and retain skilled workers and what the industry can do about it.

Ruchir shares how his background in workforce training led him to build SkillCat, an online trade training platform helping people transition into HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and appliance repair careers.

If your company struggles with hiring, retention, or technician development, this episode offers a practical look at how the future workforce is changing.

What You Will Learn in This Episode

  • Why the trades are becoming more attractive to younger generations

  • How white-collar workers are now transitioning into skilled trades

  • The real reason people are leaving traditional office jobs

  • Why many technicians feel more fulfilled than corporate workers

  • The growing impact of AI on career choices

  • Why training accessibility is critical for the future of the trades

  • How online trade training and certifications are changing recruiting

  • Why mechanical aptitude matters more than experience

  • The role gamification and microlearning play in technician development

  • How companies can build better apprenticeship and training programs

Timestamps

00:00 Expanding online trade certifications

04:52 Starting SkillCat to help reskill

06:26 Job security concerns in Savannah

09:43 Switching to a paid model

15:01 Relying on social media sharing

17:05 Emphasizing the importance of networking

20:08 Trades job satisfaction and benefits

22:55 The value of trade jobs

25:58 Returning to familiar industries

31:27 Building trade school courses

32:59 Designing bite-sized, interactive courses

Follow the Host and Guest

Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/
Joshua Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/
Ruchir Shah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruchir-shah/
SkillCat: https://www.skillcatapp.com

Connect with Us

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/service-business-mastery
• TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@servicebusinessmasterypodcast
• Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/servicebusinessmasterypodcast
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/servicebusinessmasterypodcast

This episode is kindly powered by:

UpFrog: upfrog.com 

MarketStorm is an AI-powered advertising platform. Results vary by market, budget, and campaign configuration: https://marketstorm.ai/ 

Get Your 14-Day Free Trial with CallRail!: https://www.callrail.com/sbmpod

CompanyCam: https://companycam.com/ 

Breezy: Capture 25-30% more clients with Breezy AI Agents. Use code 'SBM' to book a demo and get $500 on us: https://getbreezyapp.com/schedule-demo

PhoneTAP: Your calls hold the key to growing your business. PhoneTAP gives you instant AI analysis, real customer lifetime value, and tools to coach your team. Learn more: phonetap.ai/demo