Show Notes
Guest: Cody Fuller, Fuller Services
Guest Links:
- Website: fullerhvac.com
Cody Fuller started as a $10-an-hour install helper in the business his dad and granddad founded in 1991. Today he’s Vice President of Fuller Services, an 85-person HVAC, plumbing and electrical company in north Alabama, on pace for $13.5 million in annual revenue.
Jared Tangir sits down with Cody to talk about:
- How they added plumbing and electrical, and the one hiring rule that matters most
- Building a culture where employees stay for decades.
- Why acquisitions get messy and what Cody learned when a deal wasn’t what it seemed
- Expanding from Muscle Shoals to Madison and Huntsville, and the 10-year plan
- Earning respect when you take over your family’s business
- And his current bourbon picks
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Chapters:
- 0:00 Episode preview
- 0:24 Meet Cody Fuller
- 0:45 Joining the family business
- 4:00 Adding plumbing and electrical
- 6:27 Building a culture people stay in
- 10:06 Acquisitions get messy
- 14:14 Expanding across north Alabama
- 15:50 Earning respect in the family business
- 18:56 Modernizing an established company
- 20:15 Rethinking marketing
- 22:33 Revenue and growth numbers
- 24:02 Bourbon picks
Cody Fuller was born on February 1, 1991. Two months later, on April 1, his dad and granddad went into business together as partners. The trades run back further than that in his family. His granddad started as a technician at 18. His granddad’s dad was a plumber.
His dad wanted Cody and his brother to do something different. So Cody went to the University of North Alabama for a business degree and worked at Tractor Supply while he figured out what he wanted to do. A conversation with his dad’s financial advisor almost pointed him somewhere else. Then he looked at the family business and saw a foundation he could build on.
He talked his dad into hiring him as an installer. There was no interview. He started as a $10-an-hour install helper and did that for about two and a half years, then moved into the office and started applying his business courses to the company in front of him. A lot of his school projects were about going into another market and growing. That is exactly what Fuller Services has spent the last few years doing.
Today Fuller Services runs HVAC, plumbing and electrical out of Muscle Shoals and a second location in Madison, with about 85 employees. Cody is Vice President. When he sat down with me on Elevated Trade Secrets, it was his first podcast ever.
Here’s what stood out.
Add a Trade When Your Customers Ask for It
Fuller added plumbing in 2012 and electrical in 2020. Neither started from a strategy deck.
The HVAC side had built such a strong customer base that customers kept calling to ask for referrals: plumbers, electricians, really everything. Eventually Fuller stopped feeling comfortable sending people to some of those companies. In Cody’s words: “And we were like, well, we can do this.”
Plumbing started with one hire who, as Cody put it, kind of fell in his dad’s lap. He was a perfect fit, he brought on help to run calls, and within a few months the department had three or four employees. He is still with the company today.
Cody’s point is that adding a trade doesn’t create new problems so much as it repeats the ones you already have. Finding the right technicians and managers was already the hard part in HVAC. It was the hard part in plumbing too.
The One Hiring Rule
So what would he tell another owner who is thinking about bolting on a trade?
“Interview well.”
Then he explained why. “You’re only as strong as your weakest link, really. Like, if you’ve got 84 good employees and one bad, that one bad can…”
That one bad employee, as I pointed out, can show up in your Google reviews. Every new department starts with a handful of hires, and each of them has to fit your culture, not just your trade.
Culture Is a Lot of Small Things
Fuller has people who have been there for decades. Their first plumber is still on the team, and one employee has been with the company for 33 years, since its second year.
When I asked Cody what keeps people around, he didn’t point to one big program. He listed small ones:
- An open door. Anyone can walk in with a problem or an idea for making a process better. “We’re a team. We’re family, really.”
- A Christmas party worth showing up for. Everyone gets off early, there’s an event space, a band and catering, and the past couple of years they’ve played bingo for gifts like TVs, coolers and tickets to sporting events.
- A spring golf outing. Everyone is invited, whether they play or not.
- An in-house trainer who holds one-on-ones with everyone, from the call center to technicians to managers. People can tell him what they might not feel comfortable telling Cody, and they know they’re being heard.
- Making on-call worth it. On-call is probably the worst part of the industry. At Fuller, coming off an on-call week means a long weekend, Friday through Sunday, plus extra pay.
None of it is complicated. Cody’s summary: “It might not seem like much, but it tends to help.”
Acquisitions Look Better on Paper
Fuller has done quite a few acquisitions over the years. Most were small enough to roll straight in. The largest at the time came in 2020, a company of about eight employees with service techs and a combined sales and management role.
Then another opportunity came along this year. What looked like a great opportunity turned out to be more of a project than they’d hoped for. It was a completely different style of business. They relied heavily on third-party leads, where Fuller is mainly direct to customer. The culture was bad. And the information the sellers sent over didn’t hold up.
“They sent us information. The information was not a hundred percent accurate at all.”
They had polished it up. Even the reviews looked better than the company’s actual reputation once Fuller started digging in. Six months later, Cody says it is turning around, but the lesson was clear: do your due diligence, because an acquisition that isn’t carrying its own weight can create cash flow crunches for the company that bought it.
When Fuller evaluates a company now, Cody looks at:
- Fit. Can you more or less copy and paste it into your business with a few changes, or will it be a drastic difference?
- Reputation, and whether the public perception matches the reviews.
- Memberships. People who are already signed up and committed to the company are a big part of the value.
- Current customers, meaning people who have used the company in the past 18 months to three years, not just a long list of names.
- The market. This year’s purchase was about accelerating the expansion Fuller was already making.
The 10-Year Map Is All of North Alabama
Muscle Shoals is a small market. Cody says the Madison and Huntsville area is two and a half to three times its size, and he thinks the business there could get close to where the home market is within five years.
After that, the plan heads south. In ten years, he would love to be servicing the whole northern part of Alabama, from Birmingham up to each corner. The northwest corner is covered. The north central part of the state is in progress.
Taking Over the Family Business Means Earning It
A lot of trade businesses are changing hands right now. Some founders are selling to private equity and exiting. Others are passing the business down. Fuller is the second kind, and I asked Cody what it has been like to earn the respect of people who always reported to his dad.
He and his brother were raised not to be handed anything. Their dad grew up somewhat rough, and his dad grew up really rough. So Cody went into the business wanting to be respected for what he does and who he is, not for what his dad accomplished.
“I had to prove myself to get to the position I’m in.”
He thinks it took him longer than it would have taken anyone else, and he was always worried people would think he had been handed the job. His answer was to go the extra step and jump into the work. “I’m not going to send somebody to do something that I wouldn’t want to do.”
These days his dad calls him before making some decisions. The two have different styles. His dad is easygoing and laid back. Cody describes himself as more straight ahead. They work well together.
What Changed When the Marketing Did
Fuller had been with the same marketing group for about 20 years, and Cody felt they were struggling with digital. When we sat down together, we started with a completely new website and moved into the rest of their digital marketing.
What stood out to Cody wasn’t one channel. It was seeing what was happening. “You were showing me things that, over the years they had never even talked about. And I couldn’t get answers out of them.” Now he can see the numbers for the Google Business Profile, Local Services Ads and pay-per-click himself, almost immediately.
“I think it’s completely changed our approach on marketing.”
The new website went live in April 2025, about 18 months before we recorded. At that point, Fuller was at about $10 million. This year they are pacing about $13.5 million, about 35% growth. Cody says the home market is tapped, so nearly all of that growth is coming from the newer market around Athens and Madison.
The full story, with the attribution data behind it, is in the Fuller Services case study.
Bourbon Picks
Cody and I share a passion for bourbon, so we ended there.
- Bowman Brothers. What Cody just opened. Not an expensive bottle, maybe $35 to $40, and an easy, light drinker that isn’t too harsh.
- Weller Antique 107 and E.H. Taylor Small Batch. Two of his go-tos.
- Blanton’s Gold. His pick for a splurge after a good week.
- Widow Jane Decadence. Mine. It has a nice, sweet finish, and I believe it’s finished in a maple syrup barrel.
A heads up from Cody: Alabama is a difficult state to find these in. Tennessee is easier.
Read the Transcript
Cody Fuller (00:00.02)
We were at, 10 million. This year we’re pacing, about 13 and a half, you’re only as strong as your weakest link, They sent us information. The information was not a hundred percent accurate at all. They had polished it up.
Jared Tangir (00:15.98)
Uh, yeah. Polished turd.
Jared Tangir (00:24.02)
What’s up, everybody? Welcome back to Elevated Trade Secrets, the podcast for home service business owners who are serious about building something real. I’m your host, Jared Tangir, CEO of Elevated Audience. And today I’ve got Cody Fuller from Fuller Services joining me. So let’s get into it. Cody, tell me a little bit about your background, how you got into the trades start, you know, when you were in diapers until today.
Cody Fuller (00:45.00)
Yeah, so my granddad entered the trade as a technician, just wanted to learn years ago. I believe he was 18 years old. He’s 80 now. So, you know, it’s been a while in our family. His dad actually was a plumber. So, as far back as I know, my dad’s side of the family has been in the trades. Fast forward to 1991, my dad decided he wanted to do it for himself. And he and his dad went in together as partners, April 1st of 91. I was born February 1st of 91. So, two months after I was born, they started our family business. And my dad, he kind of wanted us to, me and my brother, to change directions, do something different.
And I went to college at the University of North Alabama. It’s in Florence, just right up the road here. And worked at Tractor Supply and was getting a business degree and didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I kind of tried a few things out, you know, talked to some different people. And ultimately, I talked to his financial, my dad’s financial advisor, and we kind of went over what he does. And that was something that I was interested in. But as we talked about our business, I was like, well, you know, I might could take this and help my dad grow it and turn it into something nice.
And he had already had a good foundation built and had been in business for a long time. So, I kind of shifted my focus to that. And after a year and a half of working at Tractor Supply, I taught my dad into hiring me here as an installer.
Jared Tangir (02:36.27)
Did he make the interview?
Cody Fuller (02:36.27)
No, he let me come on without an interview. So, $10 an hour, I was an install helper. So, I did that for two and a half years about. And I was pretty far into my college courses and business courses. And I started working in the office a little bit. And just kind of comparing my classes to our business and seeing how I could apply it and kind of help my dad out in operations and growth. And, you know, a lot of my projects were in business school were going into another market and growing, you know. So, it’s kind of cool. That’s been a plan of mine and my dad’s for a while.
And a couple years ago, we kind of got that started over in Madison, which is about an hour away from us. We opened a second location. And, you know, over the years, we’ve added trades. So, in 2012, we added plumbing. And 2020, we added electrical. That’s kind of how I got into the management side was through plumbing, just trying to shift and change our culture in that department.
Jared Tangir (04:00.15)
Let’s dive into that a little deeper. I don’t mean to cut you off. I really want to learn more about when you add a trade, right? So, you went from HVAC, built a successful HVAC company, got to a certain point, knew you needed to add another trade. What is the biggest challenge when you want to, you know, let’s say, bolt on plumbing, right, first?
Cody Fuller (04:19.17)
Yeah, I would say, really, it’s the same challenges you deal with on a daily basis, like, with anything. Like, so, with HVAC, we were already having challenges of employment and finding the right fit, the right guys, management technicians. And, honestly, a guy just kind of fell in my dad’s lap, really. And he’s still with us today. It was a perfect fit. So, we started with him. And shortly after, he brought on some help that could help him run calls. And before you know it, we were three, four employees within a few months, you know. And we just kind of built off what we already had.
But it was kind of like, so, we were doing so well in HVAC and with customer service and had built such a good foundation there with our customer base. Customers were calling us, asking us for referrals for plumbers, electricians, really everything. And it got to a point where we didn’t feel comfortable referring certain people anymore. And we were like, well, we can do this. So, that’s kind of how we got our nudge into the different trades.
Jared Tangir (05:46.79)
So, what would you advise somebody that’s, you know, you’re talking to a colleague, right, another one of the members of your coaching group. And they say, hey, we’re doing great with HVAC. Customers are asking us for plumbing referrals. We’re thinking about adding a trade. What’s the best piece of advice you could give them?
Cody Fuller (06:02.32)
Interview well.
Jared Tangir (06:02.32)
Yeah. I think that applies to every.
Cody Fuller (06:05.78)
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Finding the right fit. They have to fit your culture, you know. I mean, the right people. You know, you’re only as strong as your weakest link, really, you know. Like, if you’ve got 84 good employees and one bad, that one bad can.
Jared Tangir (06:23.66)
Yeah. Can show up on your Google reviews.
Cody Fuller (06:25.94)
You realize, yeah.
Jared Tangir (06:25.94)
So. And speaking of culture, you, we’ve had a lot of conversations about culture over the past, you know, almost two years we’ve been working together. What are some of the things you do to build a culture where people want to stay? I know, you know, we’ve talked about your morning Bible studies or, you know, groups and things like that. What are some other things that you’ve found that are really successful to build a culture of people that feel like a family?
Cody Fuller (06:52.69)
Honestly, just an open door policy. I tell everybody here, like, it doesn’t matter who you are, who you think you are. Like, doors always open. Like, if you have issues or if you have any ideas that you think would make certain processes better or make our company better, you know, come on in. Let’s talk about it. It just, we’re a team. We’re family, really. I mean, you’re around your coworkers a lot of times more than your family. So, like, nobody wants to come to work to a miserable environment, you know. So, you know, but we do things. We do a company Christmas party every year.
It’s a good time. You know, we let everybody off work early, go home, get ready for it. We rent an event space, get a band, get catered and have a good time, get a bunch of gifts. Like, the past couple of years, we’ve played bingo for the gifts.
Jared Tangir (07:49.77)
Oh, cool.
Cody Fuller (07:49.77)
If it’s bingo, you go pick your gift out, TVs, coolers, you know, all that good stuff. Tickets to sporting events, stuff like that in the past. But we do a golf outing in the spring, usually around April. And everybody’s invited. Even if you don’t play golf, you can come out, hang out, have lunch, play golf, hang out afterwards, all that good stuff.
Jared Tangir (08:14.32)
I’ll keep an eye out for my invite.
Cody Fuller (08:15.78)
Yeah, yeah. Come on, Matt. You’re more than welcome. So, you know, little things like that. And then one thing I think that’s really been great for us is we have an in-house trainer.
Jared Tangir (08:29.02)
Oh, yeah.
Cody Fuller (08:29.02)
And, you know, he does one-on-one meetings with everyone, you know, from call center ladies to technicians to managers. And it’s kind of like he can create a relationship and just kind of see where they’re at, what they want, what they think they might not feel comfortable talking to me about. They can go to him and, you know, they have that relationship with him. And it’s somewhat of a middleman. They’ll be heard. They know they’re being heard. And hopefully it finds the right person. You know, it’s a lot of little things like that. I think those are big things. Yeah. Work-life balance is huge for us.
Like, we don’t want to work people to death. You know, we run on call, which is, it’s not, that’s the worst part of this industry probably is being on call. But when you’re on call, you come off and have a long weekend the following weekend. So, like, you come off Friday, you’re off work. It’s Saturday, Sunday. So, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, after you’re doing that all week, you know, working long hours and stuff. So, it kind of makes it a little more worth it. And you get a little pay, extra pay for that as well. So, there’s a lot of small things you do that. It might not seem like much, but it tends to help.
Jared Tangir (09:54.44)
Well, it goes to show with, you know, you said that plumber you guys hired, you know, when you first added the trade is still there in what’s been 15 years. People don’t stick around in a place they’re not happy.
Cody Fuller (10:04.86)
Right.
Jared Tangir (10:04.86)
All right. So, you’ve been through a couple acquisitions, right? If memory serves, you acquired a company in Florence, right? You recently acquired another company. You’re welcome to share more about it, but I’ll leave it vague out in Huntsville. So, what did we learn, right? Acquisition sounds glamorous, but it can get dirty.
Cody Fuller (10:25.97)
Very much so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it kind of goes back to a culture deal, you know? Like, is it a fit? Is it, are they doing the same exact? Can you kind of somewhat copy and paste that into your business with a few changes? Is it going to be a drastic difference? It’s, we’ve done, we’ve had quite a few acquisitions over the years. A lot of smaller ones, we’ll just roll them in. And, 2020 we did, um, to date was our largest acquisition. They had, service techs, good, decent amount of service techs and, had a sales guy, manager all in one. But, I think they had eight employees and that was our biggest at the time.
Um, cause everything else was, we’re just kind of roll ends. We learned a lot from that one. And then we had another opportunity fall in our lap this year. And what we thought was a great opportunity ended up being a little more, a little more of a project than we had hoped for. But, we kind of got that turned around. It’s been going on six months now and, it, it’s kind of making a, making a good turn, but, it was, it had its challenges, completely different style of business. Like, you know, they were using a lot of third parties for leads where we’re mainly direct to customer.
The culture was bad, not a lot of, not a lot of happy people there. And, uh, we’ve kind of made a turn for the better on that as well. So it can get ugly. It can get tough. There can be some, cashflow crunches if that company’s not pulling their own weight. but, overall, I think it’s going to, it’s going to be good, but you just, you really need to do your due diligence. This one in particular, the group we bought it from, we’re trying to do a quick turnaround. They sent us information. The information was not a hundred percent accurate at all. So, as we started digging in, we started finding a lot more issues than they had, presented it.
They had polished it up.
Jared Tangir (12:31.21)
Uh, yeah. Polished turd.
Cody Fuller (12:31.21)
Exactly. Yeah. So, but we’re, we’re getting through it. It’s, it’s gonna, I think in the long run, we can fix it and get it, get ahead and in the right direction.
Jared Tangir (12:41.40)
Growth or acquisition is one strategy, right? And it’s one that works and is very effective, especially if you have capital and cash to deploy. When you’re looking at a, at an acquisition, I know your dad’s always looking for an acquisition. It seems like every time I talk to him, he’s got another one he wants us to look at. are you looking at, okay, will they fill labor voids? Like, will they fill, you know, expand our capacity on the board? Are we looking at their memberships? Are we looking at their service area, their digital assets? Their look like, what are the things that you’re evaluating?
Cody Fuller (13:14.99)
Yeah, really, really all of that. Your reputation. that, that’s one thing that was, kind of polished on this one that, when we started digging in, the, the reviews really, were better than the, the actual, public perception there. But, uh, but anyway, yeah, just seeing if it’s a fit, you know, looking at memberships, customer base, people we can market to that they’re already, servicing, and you want current customers. So you want to make sure they, they’ve used you in the past 18 months, three years, so on and so forth. So, make sure their current customers make sure that the memberships, like I say, are really a big, big portion of that.
Like if you’ve got, people signed up that are committed to you already, that’s huge. So, but, yeah, marketplace is big. Like if you want to, wanted to make a footprint, that’s kind of why we bought this one, this most recent ones, cause, we were trying to add to the, the expansion we were making to try to accelerate that growth.
Jared Tangir (14:13.17)
What’s you mentioned earlier, you have goals and a vision for that expansion, right? I mean, we’re about the same age, pretty young, got a lot, got a lot of, you know, a lot of gas left in the tank. Where do you see, you know, Fuller Services in five years, 10 years, 20 years?
Cody Fuller (14:31.28)
Man, I don’t know. I thought about it a lot. I don’t know. I, I’m a thinker. So I think about things, oftentimes more than I should.
Jared Tangir (14:39.52)
Yeah. Overthink.
Cody Fuller (14:39.52)
Every, yeah. Every scenario. But, I mean, I would think in five years, we, that business over there could be, close to where we are here just cause we’re in such a small market over here in Muscle Shoals, Madison Huntsville area being two and a half times the size of our market, three times the size of our market. I would think we could get to, the point of where we are in this market. And, hopefully from there, I, I would like to expand a little more to start maybe expanding a little more South. And I would eventually in 10 years love to be servicing the whole North part of the state of Alabama from Birmingham up to each corner.
So, we’ve got this corner over here covered, the Northwest corner, working on the Northeast or central North, I guess, and then Northeast. But, I’d like to start working my way down kind of towards Birmingham at some point in the next, five to 10 years.
Jared Tangir (15:38.34)
That’s awesome. We’ll be right there with you for the ride, man.
Cody Fuller (15:41.56)
We’ll have to talk.
Jared Tangir (15:41.56)
Yeah, absolutely.
Cody Fuller (15:42.66)
You need your help.
Jared Tangir (15:42.66)
We’re going to talk about it over, a bourbon at the bar and, you know, 18 holes.
Cody Fuller (15:45.78)
Sounds good.
Jared Tangir (15:48.82)
So what’s it like taking over your family’s business, right? The, the trades is seeing a huge changeover right now. You have the original owners that have been in business 30, 40, 50 years that are selling a private equity, right? They’re just taking that cash and exiting. Then you have the ones more similar to, to you and your family where you’re, the business is being passed down. So what’s it like taking over your family’s business? What’s it like, you know, what was it like earning the respect of the people that had always reported to your dad and now report to you? Because that’s a big challenge in any leadership change.
So what’s it like for you? What’s it like for the team? How did they take me down that road?
Cody Fuller (16:32.65)
Yeah. So, just had to fire everybody that was used to him and hiring a kid. No, it’s, uh, yeah, that, that really was a big thing, you know, and like, kind of the way my brother’s in the business as well. He was in sales for a long time. And then with that acquisition, we moved him over into management and, kind of like both of us, the way we were raised is like, you know, really not handed anything. contrary to what some people may believe, we had to earn everything and work for, for what we got. And our, our dad was the kind of guy, you know, he, he grew up somewhat rough and his dad grew up really rough.
And like, you know, they didn’t spoil us or want to spoil us by any means. So I’ve always thought of it as like, you know, I want to earn everybody’s respect just by the way I was raised. I want people to respect me for what I do and who I am and not what my dad’s accomplished and who he is, you know, just cause he started the business and is the boss and puts me in a position. Like I, I had to prove myself to get to the position I’m in. And, it took a lot longer than it probably would have taken anybody else just cause, of the way he is towards us.
Jared Tangir (17:43.58)
His leadership style versus yours.
Cody Fuller (17:44.68)
Yes. So, but yeah, I think, I was always worried that people would think that about me. So like, I think I went an extra step to earn that and just jumping in and showing that I don’t mind doing this stuff. Like I’m, I guess, I’m not going to send somebody that I don’t want to send somebody to do something that I wouldn’t want to do, you know?
Jared Tangir (18:06.71)
Right.
Cody Fuller (18:06.71)
So that was kind of a hurdle for me personally, but, I feel like it’s going good and, you know, we’re, uh, up around 85 employees now. And, so there’s some that I feel like I still am striving to get to, a certain point with, you know, we’ve got a guy that’s been with us for 33 years.
Jared Tangir (18:25.20)
Wow.
Cody Fuller (18:25.20)
And, uh, you know, he’s, he was with my dad year two and, he still wants to talk to him, but like, if he’s not around, he has, he will talk to me.
Jared Tangir (18:38.65)
Yeah. He wants to talk to him.
Cody Fuller (18:38.65)
So, but, he’s kind of like family.
Jared Tangir (18:43.05)
So I guess he’d be like, I’m going to go ask your nephew something.
Cody Fuller (18:46.81)
Right. Exactly. But anyway, but yeah, yeah, that’s, it’s, it’s been a, a fun road and trying to, capitalize on what he’s done, you know?
Jared Tangir (18:56.44)
And I know you’ve piloted some of the, you know, the improvements to the technology. Obviously we’ve collaborated directly on all the marketing, which was a new initiative, newer initiative, but what about like the, the change, right? We’re bringing a younger, fresh mind into an existing established business. How does, you know, is your dad receptive to change, right? When you, or your suggestions to say, Hey dad, I think we could do this better. Right. or is that a, is that a challenge in and of itself?
Cody Fuller (19:25.65)
Yeah, honestly, man, he, he calls me before he makes decisions. Sometimes, what do you think about this? Or will you do this?
Jared Tangir (19:32.60)
Except when he needs a new truck. He’s not calling you for that.
Cody Fuller (19:34.84)
Right. Yeah. So he, yeah, he’s pretty much, that has easy go and laid back. I’m a little more like straight ahead and, which we work. So we work pretty well together, but yeah, he’s pretty much just like, here you go, man. Can you do this or handle this? And, I mess with him a lot of times cause bringing you guys on board and the website, you know, we swapped over from that, pathetic old website to what you guys feel, which is awesome. It’s been great for us. So I mess with him like, yeah, man, thank goodness. I was here to pull the trigger on that.
Jared Tangir (20:09.32)
Yeah. Right. I’ll remind him of that next time I talk to him too.
Cody Fuller (20:12.32)
Yeah, you should.
Jared Tangir (20:12.32)
Well, if we have a couple more minutes, I’d love to take a, just dive into a little bit more about what it’s been like working with elevated and our team. So take us back about 18 months. What did your business look like before we initiated that new website and the SEO and the Google ads and all the different things we’ve been working on? versus how it is now.
Cody Fuller (20:30.15)
Yeah. So, it’s been a blessing, man. Like, the way we found you guys was cool. You know, it was just kind of out of nowhere and, uh, at a next store event. And, so, reached out, we talked to you, man. And like, we hit it off pretty quick. And then we were a little hesitant cause we, we’ve been with the same marketing group for years, like 20 years or so. And I had felt like they were kind of struggling with our digital. And, when we sat down, we went through it and then we started the process on rebuilding the website, or a complete, completely new website.
And, we started talking about the digital stuff and like, you were showing me things that, over the years they had never even talked about. And I couldn’t get answers out of them. And like the transparency with you now, even on our, our Google business profile or LSA or pay-per-click and being able to see those stats that you provide for us. I mean, I think it, it’s completely changed, our approach on marketing. And, like, for example, like you send me somebody to talk to, or somebody calls me like, Hey man, you got a guy and I’ll tell them. And they’ll ask me certain questions. Like, well, what are you doing on this?
I’m like, man, I trust you. And so I’m like, I’m just let him do it. And he’ll tell me later on. I don’t know. So, but, but yeah, it’s been awesome, man. Like, the review calls we have are always great, to kind of go over and say, which we, we monitor it and watch it, which is another great thing with you is we have access to all that, immediately pretty much. But when we do our review calls, it’s just, it’s cool to see where we were, where we are, you know, and the traction we’re getting with you and that you guys are constantly evolving and constantly working on it.
You know, it’s not like, Oh, we did this four months ago. We’ll check back in. And like, it’s no, it’s you’re on top of it. So it’s been awesome, man.
Jared Tangir (22:30.59)
Thank you, man. I really appreciate that. I’m going to ask you a couple more questions just to follow up on that. Do you, you know, do you feel comfortable sharing real numbers? Like what the growth has been as far as leads or calls, trucks, revenue, if you’re comfortable with it, if not, it’s totally cool.
Cody Fuller (22:46.12)
Yeah, that’s cool. I mean, do you have our numbers pulled? You can pull up, right? Cause I know I’ve got some of it now from our previous meeting, but it’s just month to month.
Jared Tangir (22:56.56)
Yeah, I can pull up. Let’s look at, let’s look at ServiceTitan.
Cody Fuller (23:00.82)
But yeah, that, the July return, the 20x was, that was awesome.
Jared Tangir (23:05.69)
Yeah. That was absolutely insane. Well, let’s just say round numbers. What do you think your revenue was estimated annual back then?
Cody Fuller (23:14.98)
So, yeah, I could pull it. Yeah. Let’s go to, when do we go live on our websites? 20, April of 24, wasn’t it? 24.
Jared Tangir (23:23.32)
Yeah. Yeah. No, believe it or not, it was 25. It’s been about 18 months.
Cody Fuller (23:28.79)
Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. Yeah. We were at, 10 million. this year we’re pacing, about 13 and a half, hoping to have a, uh, good, a good winter. So.
Jared Tangir (23:39.65)
That’s awesome.
Cody Fuller (23:39.65)
Yeah. There’s been some growth.
Jared Tangir (23:42.36)
Yeah. 35% in a year, in two years.
Cody Fuller (23:45.86)
And we’re, I mean, we’re in a market where a small market where we’re kind of tapped. So really all the growth is coming from the, the new market over there that you’re helping us, establish.
Jared Tangir (23:55.94)
Yeah. Yeah. That Athens, Madison has been just on fire.
Cody Fuller (23:59.82)
Yeah. Yes. On fire.
Jared Tangir (23:59.82)
But Cody, since you and I’ve been working together, we’ve always had one thing in that in common and that’s our passion for bourbon, right? So a good bourbon to end the day is always a good thing. So tell me what bottle did you just open? Which one’s your favorite right now? What, what do I have to try?
Cody Fuller (24:17.89)
So, I just opened a Bowman Brothers. It’s not an expensive bottle. It’s, but it’s, it’s a pretty light drinker. It’s easy drinker. not too harsh. But, I think you should give that a try. You probably get it 35 bucks, 40 bucks. Maybe. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, my, a couple of my go-tos, would be, a Weller Antique, the 107. Then, E.H. Taylor small batch is always good. But, if you want.
Jared Tangir (24:42.49)
Are those the ones you have to bring in out of state? You can’t get them in Alabama?
Cody Fuller (24:44.88)
You can find them. Alabama is just difficult, man.
Jared Tangir (24:49.12)
Yeah. Yeah.
Cody Fuller (24:49.12)
It’s, if you go to Tennessee, you can find them.
Jared Tangir (24:52.48)
Tennessee, you you can get whiskey out of a water pitcher. I mean, out of a water fountain.
Cody Fuller (24:56.79)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, if you ever want to splurge, it’s not, not a big splurge, but you know, just, had a good week, you know, get that, you need to find that Blanton’s Gold, man. It’s a, it’s solid.
Jared Tangir (25:05.82)
I gotta try that. I’ve been still really enjoying that Widow Jane Decadence like that.
Cody Fuller (25:11.35)
Yeah. Yeah. You sent me that bottle, dude. I need to get enough. I need to find another bottle. That was great.
Jared Tangir (25:14.87)
Yeah. Well, I’ll send you another one as a thank you for joining me on the podcast. It can’t go wrong with it. It’s got like a nice little sweet finish to it. I think it’s in a maple barrel, maple syrup barrel. So yeah, highly recommend that one. Well, Cody, I really,
Cody Fuller (25:27.70)
my pleasure, man.
Jared Tangir (25:30.98)
I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. This was fun. I’m sure our listeners will find a ton of value. I’ll tag you on, on the, the, on the socials. If somebody wants to reach out to you and ask you a question or can they contact you on like LinkedIn or what, you know, what’s a good place to reach you.
Cody Fuller (25:47.57)
I haven’t logged into LinkedIn in probably like 13 years.
Jared Tangir (25:51.65)
Okay. So, so message you on LinkedIn.
Cody Fuller (25:53.82)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m open to anybody could email me or whatever.
Jared Tangir (25:57.65)
Yeah, yeah. Whatever, however they want to reach out.
Cody Fuller (25:59.63)
And I’m, I’m on Facebook. I mean, if somebody wants to find me there, my email is, C O D Y at Cody at fuller, H V A C.com. And, that’s probably the best way to reach me.
Jared Tangir (26:10.39)
That’s awesome, man. Well, thank you again so much for the time. Always fun catching up. I look forward to our calls every couple of weeks, you know, where the beginning, when we first started working together, it was all business. Now it’s like 80% catching up and 20 % diving into the numbers.
Cody Fuller (26:26.59)
Yeah, absolutely. It’s always good. Yeah. This is my first ever podcast, man.
Jared Tangir (26:33.11)
You were natural, dude. You were natural. Once we got your camera set, it was easy. Smooth sailing.
Cody Fuller (26:37.71)
Yeah. A little rough around the edges, huh?
Jared Tangir (26:40.35)
It’s all good. First of many.
Cody Fuller (26:42.43)
Yes, sir. Sounds good, man. Well, I appreciate it, Jerry.
Jared Tangir (26:45.85)
My pleasure. All right, everybody. We will see you next week on the next episode of Elevated Trade Secrets. Thank you.
