I'm writing this one from the conference hall at ServiceTitan Pantheon. It's been a great week of seeing owners face to face, including a lot of ShareWillow customers.
One customer I connected with is Jared Smith, who owns Clogbusters, a drain cleaning company in Des Moines.
When I ask most owners what holds them back and the number one answer is finding good help. But for Jared, hiring has become easy.
"The reason it's easy is because I can say, here's what Clogbusters can do for you as a technician," he said. "Here's what it's doing for the people we currently have. Facts don't lie."
The Paycheck Is the Pitch
Jared doesn't recruit with a job description. He recruits with what his current techs earn. His lowest performers make about $80,000 a year working 40 to 45 hours a week. His top performers make $250,000 to $300,000.
Every tech starts with a guaranteed floor, and nobody caps the top. "Where can you go and be guaranteed a $52,000 a year salary with the opportunity to make $350,000 a year?" he asked me. The floor takes the risk out of switching jobs, and the upside gives a strong tech a reason to make the switch.
"Every week, everybody knows what everybody makes, how they're doing, who's winning," Jared said. "We want to build a team full of winners, and we want people to get paid what they're worth."
Plenty of owners get nervous about that much transparency. At Clogbusters, it gives every tech a clear target. Chris McDowell, who runs operations there, put it this way earlier this year: "Nobody wants to see their name at the bottom of the list."
A School for Drains
Growth takes more techs, and Jared ran into a gap most trades don't have. "You can go anywhere in the world and learn plumbing, electrical, and HVAC," he said. "Where do you go to learn to run drains? You don't."
So Clogbusters built one. Jared says the Clogbusters Drain Cleaner Academy is the only one in the United States, and it gives him a way to train and teach new techs himself instead of waiting for them to show up ready.
The young techs are coming up fast. Andrew, an 18-year-old on the team, generated $40,000 in labor-only revenue in a single week. The paycheck for that week was $8,000. When every skill a young tech picks up shows up in the next paycheck, they have a reason to learn fast.
$5 Million to $50 Million
Jared is in growth mode. Last year the goal was $5 million in revenue, and Clogbusters hit it with 11 techs. This year the goal was $10 million, and they're tracking to finish around $12 to $13 million. The 2027 goal is $20 million, and the long-term target is $50 million.
He gives the credit to his people. "Kudos to our technicians and the team of people we have. They're freaking amazing. Right people, right seats."
Listening to him, I kept noticing the order. The pay plan brings in the right people, the academy gives them the skills, and the weekly numbers keep everyone pushing. The revenue came after all three.
Clogbusters runs its performance pay through ShareWillow, so every tech sees where they stand in real time. Chris told us payroll used to take a full day, sometimes into Tuesday. Now it takes less than an hour.
If you want a recruiting pitch like Jared's, jump on a call with our team. We'll sketch the upside of performance pay could mean for your techs and your business. See What Your Techs Could Earn here →
Best,
Ryan