The Home Service Expert Podcast
Tommy Mello: $200 Million Founder|Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur Columnist

Latest episode
520 episodes
This Podcast Listener Built A Door Company Doubling Profits Every Year | Billy Cline
29/10/2026 | 1h 35 mins.đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Billy Cline spent 15 years running a door business without a playbook. Then he found this podcast, read the E-Myth, and started doing the work. Today YourNewDoor.com is a Dallas residential door replacement company that has doubled every year for three years, runs all W-2 crews with no subcontractors, and closes high ticket jobs entirely by phone. Tommy and Billy break down selling doors over a screen share, why his close rate went up after a 25% price increase, how he took over a struggling competitor for no money and watched its phone number sell over $1 million, why he never kills an old brand, and why owners who say nobody wants to work are looking in the wrong place.
Connect with Billy Cline â¶ https://www.yournewdoor.com/
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00:00 - Introduction
03:41 - Bring Culture Into Their Homes
05:45 - The Marble Jar Theory
07:56 - Fifteen Years Without A Playbook
18:36 - How He Paid For Harvard
20:36 - Meeting Roy Williams
26:31 - Never Kill Your Old Brand
28:43 - Home Service Vs Home Improvement
36:50 - Why Customers Really Call
39:47 - Selling Doors Over The Phone
44:53 - The Guided Buying Experience
45:50 - Close Rate After Raising Prices
47:56 - Chase Margin, Not Revenue
57:49 - Nobody Wants To Work?
59:09 - One Key Hire Away
1:05:00 - Why Tommy Posts Everything
1:07:41 - A Competitor For No Money
1:18:39 - The Affiliate Installer Program
1:24:27 - Advice To His 2020 Self
1:29:44 - Don't Ever Quit
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Facebook â¶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/He Built A $20 Million Remodeling Company Knocking Doors In Blizzards | Lakota Tidd
20/10/2026 | 58 mins.đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Lakota Tidd dropped out of college at 21, started Top Home Improvements in his mom's garage with two lawn chairs and no money, and built it to $20 million in seven years by knocking doors, including the day his pen froze solid in a Michigan blizzard with nothing on the board. No digital marketing, no bought leads: $14 million came from canvassing and events alone, and in March his events team did $1 million in revenue in one week. In this episode he breaks down how he recruits and pays canvassers, why he treats them like kings, the sword and shield mentality that got him through five years as a lone wolf, the scarcity paradigm that kept him stuck at $10 million, why he stopped tracking nothing and built a board, and what he would say to the owner who is spending $40,000 a month on leads that never come.
Top Home Improvements â¶ https://www.tophomeimprove.com
Follow Top Home Improvements â¶ https://www.facebook.com/Tophomeimprovements/
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00:00 - Introduction
01:55 - Two Lawn Chairs And A Frozen Pen
04:26 - Lone Wolves Die Alone
06:26 - The Sword And Shield Mentality
08:50 - What You Focus On Grows
10:08 - Treat Your Canvassers Like Kings
11:18 - Fresh Blood Every Single Week
13:32 - Hiring Is Guessing, Firing Is Knowing
16:01 - Competing With The Summer Programs
18:05 - Spending $40K A Month And Waiting For Leads
19:46 - Does Door Knocking Hurt Your Reputation?
21:24 - How Canvassers And Event Reps Get Paid
24:57 - Why $100 Million Is Not The Goal
28:54 - Kids, Leftover Time, And Balance
31:15 - Showers For Soldiers
34:47 - Profit Matters More Than Revenue
35:59 - The Law Of The Lid
38:06 - Build The People, Not The Business
43:20 - The Barbaric Way To $20 Million
45:15 - Enjoy The Bottom While You Have It
48:56 - The Sickness Of Indecision
52:32 - Five Books, Read Many Times
56:31 - Real Confidence Vs Fake Confidence
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Check Out My Social Media:
Tiktok â¶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello
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Facebook â¶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/He Built A $300,000 Truck Brand With Zero Ad Spend And One Daily Habit | Chau Nguyen
15/10/2026 | 1h 21 mins.đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Chau Nguyen sold two tech companies, bought a 1974 Bronco that kept breaking down, and turned that headache into Vintage Modern, a $60 million luxury vehicle company that hand builds classic inspired trucks for LeBron James, Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Lopez, and Tommy himself. He did it with no outside capital and no ad budget: he posted three times a day for seven years, built a following of millions, and made social media his number one sales channel. In this episode he breaks down why organic leads buy at three times the rate of paid leads, why rich customers are tighter with money than most contractors assume, how to market a home service company to the affluent, why the founder has to be the face of the brand now, and the hiring mistake that nearly held his company back.
Vintage Modern â¶ https://vintagemodern.co
Follow Vintage Modern â¶ https://www.instagram.com/vintagemodern/
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00:00 - Introduction
01:37 - The Bronco That Made His Wife Smell Like Gas
03:33 - From Coupon Books To A Top 100 App To 40 Cars
06:14 - No Investors: Sales Paid For Everything
07:15 - How Do You Charge For 900 Hours Of Craftsmanship?
10:42 - His Kids Taught Him Instagram
14:23 - Organic Vs Paid: Why Organic Leads Buy 3X More
16:25 - Your Product Probably Has A Hole In It
20:46 - Scarcity, Exclusivity, And Selling To The Elite
26:30 - Why He Has Never Paid An Influencer
29:18 - How A Home Service Company Markets To The Affluent
35:13 - Rich Customers Are Tighter Than You Think
38:12 - The Mark Wahlberg DM And The Tyler Perry Referral
42:16 - Should The Founder Be The Brand?
47:36 - Competing With Ferrari At $60 Million
51:03 - Robotaxis, EVs, And Listening To Paying Customers
54:52 - Productive Paranoia: Why Winning Is The Dangerous Moment
59:07 - The One Piece Of Advice He Has Never Shared
1:03:03 - On His Hands And Knees Under The Car
1:07:36 - The Two Books He Has Listened To 50 Times
1:12:11 - Where To Find Chau
1:13:36 - Grinding From Zero To 5 Million Followers
1:18:00 - What Comes Next For Vintage Modern
đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Check Out My Social Media:
Tiktok â¶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello
Instagram â¶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/
Facebook â¶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/How Tommy Mello Spends $5 Million A Month On Marketing And Tracks Every Dollar | Sara Nay
13/10/2026 | 1h 15 mins.đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Sara Nay is the CEO of Duct Tape Marketing and the author of Unchained. In this episode, Sara and Tommy break down why most contractors rent their marketing instead of owning it, which accounts your agency should never control, why referrals alone stall a home service company around $1 million, how to get found in AI search, and the two fixes to make this week if your marketing feels like chaos.
Get Sara's free marketing audit for home service owners â¶ https://dtm.world/hsep
Duct Tape Marketing â¶ https://ducttapemarketing.com
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00:00 - Introduction
02:59 - Tommy Spends $5 Million A Month On Marketing
04:34 - Do You Need More Leads Or A Better Journey?
05:58 - What's Broken About The Agency Model
07:47 - The Accounts You Should Own, Not Rent
08:32 - When The Agency Keeps Your Website
11:41 - Random Acts Of Marketing
13:00 - One Person Can't Run Six Marketing Roles
15:33 - Direct Response Or Brand?
16:38 - 87% Of Searches Now Touch AI
19:34 - Should Contractors Publish Prices?
20:38 - The $400 Steakhouse Problem
23:23 - Interview Your Best Clients
23:46 - Record Every Sales Call
28:49 - Nextdoor, Angi, Yelp: Pick Two And Own Them
33:19 - The A Team Sells You, The Interns Run You
34:38 - The Five Questions To Ask Your Best Customers
36:59 - A 91% Booking Rate And The Calls You Still Miss
38:11 - The Money Sitting In Your Old Customer List
39:33 - Why Competition Becomes Irrelevant
41:46 - Why Referrals Alone Are Dangerous
43:14 - The Sign: Pay More Per Lead, Always Win
44:53 - Marketing To The Affluent
47:38 - What Marketers Get Wrong With AI
50:40 - Your Home Page Is What AI Reads First
56:29 - The Founder's Brand Beats The Company's
1:00:06 - Use Your Voice To Pull Stories Out
1:06:30 - Buy Back Your Time
1:09:22 - Delegating Versus Dumping
1:10:24 - Two Fixes To Make This Week
1:13:33 - Sara's Final Advice
đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Check Out My Social Media:
Tiktok â¶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello
Instagram â¶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/
Facebook â¶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/How To Turn $15,000 Into $1.6 Million Without Adding Another Dollar | David Bach
08/10/2026 | 1h 25 mins.đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
David Bach is a ten-time New York Times bestselling author and the man behind The Automatic Millionaire. In this episode, David and Tommy break down why $3,000 a year saved from age 15 to 19 beats saving from 27 to 65, the one hour a day rule for retiring a millionaire, why a tech making $250,000 can still be broke, why owners should buy the building their business is in, and David's idea for a flat tax on IRA accounts.
Get The Automatic Millionaire, 20th Anniversary Edition â¶ https://davidbach.com
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00:00 - Introduction
01:37 - The Number One Rule: Pay Yourself First
03:17 - Save One Hour Of Pay A Day
03:57 - How 565,000 People Became 401(k) Millionaires
06:46 - The Myth About Investing Aggressively When You're Young
07:32 - Tommy's Roth IRA At 16
08:56 - What $20 A Day Becomes
10:06 - The $27.40 A Day Leak
13:38 - The Corvette Ride That Started It
16:19 - Born To Spend Or Born To Budget
18:15 - A Lesson At McDonald's At Age Seven
24:10 - Homeowners Are Worth 40 Times More Than Renters
27:31 - Why A Garage Door Is Worth Financing
28:29 - Buy The Building Your Business Is In
30:04 - Wealthy But Not Free
31:49 - Why High Earners Start To Resent Their Jobs
32:49 - Making $250K With Nothing Saved
35:25 - The Chart: Start At 15, 19 Or 27
39:33 - Why David Holds Zero Private Equity
41:07 - The Advice He Wishes He Had At 20
45:01 - Batteries Included People
48:11 - $46 Trillion Sitting In Retirement Accounts
50:42 - The IRA Flat Tax Idea
58:37 - Social Security In 2033
1:00:48 - Why The Trades Aren't Going Away
1:01:40 - The Barber Who Saved 75% Of His Income
1:04:55 - What Money Taught David About Himself
1:08:10 - Discipline And Non-Negotiables
1:18:05 - What People Said At His Father's Funeral
1:25:00 - The 20th Anniversary Edition
đ FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Check Out My Social Media:
Tiktok â¶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello
Instagram â¶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/
Facebook â¶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/
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About The Home Service Expert Podcast
The Home Service Expert podcast is the No. 1 podcast for ambitious home service entrepreneurs, whether they are in plumbing, HVAC or another niche. In this show, Tommy Mello, a $200M business founder, will talk with the best entrepreneurs and experts in the home service industry and beyond, to share insights that have made them successful: from the newest marketing tools to the best scaling strategies. Previous podcast guests include Terry Nicholson (former national trainer of NYSE-listed home services company), Craig Smith (President of HomeAdvisor, a home services marketplace valued at $2B+), Cameron Herold (former COO of three $100M+ companies), etc.
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