Speaker 2 0:15

Welcome back to Market it with Atma, where we share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. Strategies to help your business be successful. I'm your host, Dori, and today we have on the show one of the three owners of North Texas Plumbing Authority, Mr Todd Shaw. Welcome, Todd.

Speaker 1 0:32

Hello, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 0:33

You're very welcome. So you have come onto the show as actually one of Advent Trinity's clients right.

Speaker 1 0:40

Yes, that is correct.

Speaker 2 0:41

That's awesome. So can you tell our audience a little bit about how you came to be a part of North Texas Plumbing Authority and where you are now?

Speaker 1 0:49

Well, I'm actually the founder of it. I've been in the contracting industry here in the DFW area for the last 15 years and I got to know several contractors and plumbers over the years because I specialized in property casualty, okay, and so with that I got to know a lot of contractors, specifically in plumbing, and my two partners and I have a combined 75 plus years of experience. The two partners that I have both have over 30 years experience here in DFW as licensed seasoned plumbers years experience here in DFW as licensed seasoned plumbers. And myself, with my exposure to property casualty and dealing with plumbers and repairs of people's properties, I have 15 years here in DFW.

Speaker 2 1:35

So wow, and you guys did. You guys don't cover only plumbing, you, you cover commercial plumbing, residential, and you also have a contracting service, correct?

Speaker 1 1:52

Yes, we have a North Texas Contractor Services which it's an umbrella for you know all faucets of the customer service industry. When it comes to property, from plumbing to HVAC, roofing and so on.

Speaker 2 2:02

Wow.

Speaker 1 2:02

But we the plumbing aspect, the plumbing authority, we specialize in the plumbing because of the experience that we have and the knowledge that I have with the property casualty end of it.

Speaker 2 2:15

That's incredible. So, with 70 plus years of experience in the DFW area and the expansion of DFW, how has that impacted your business over time to make you want to expand into all the different services? Was it a growth or was it kind of something you had in mind from the start?

Speaker 1 2:33

Well, myself, I started out as the in property casualty, specifically in water damage properties.

Speaker 2 2:39

Okay.

Speaker 1 2:40

And typically when someone's sustaining a water damage that's from an interior source, a plumbing source, and typically when someone's sustaining a water damage that's from an interior source, a plumbing source, the first thing they think of is I've got to get this water stopped. And who are?

Speaker 2 2:50

you going to call in order to do that?

Speaker 1 2:51

A plumber.

Speaker 1 2:52

So plumbers would come out and assist them in their plumbing needs and would see damage and they would call my company, and then I would go out and assist homeowners and I had prior knowledge of the insurance industry so I assisted them in filing claims, collecting their claims and helping them file their claims and just all aspects of it. So from that area of expertise, with the exposure to property casualty and insurance, I've come to realize what a lot of people don't know is that a lot of these issues can be covered by their homeowner's insurance.

Speaker 2 3:34

Wow, that is something important to know. Still to this day, they can still have that covered. And do you inform your clients of that now?

Speaker 1 3:41

Absolutely, absolutely, yeah because more than half of the instances are an insured loss. If it's plumbing, they have a broken line under the home. It's very costly to get under the home and make access to fix the problem area.

Speaker 1 3:57

So all insurance companies understand terminology and the terminology is access and egress that they use, and so unless you're informed of that, unless you know something about that, it's very difficult to deal with insurance companies. Because I think it's general knowledge that insurance companies they really, you know, they're really resistant when it's time to pay out claims. So unless you're able to really talk to them and understand how your policy is written, a lot of people just would rather not go through it and just be out of pocket. They have to get loans, borrow money, because a lot of times these instances cost, you know, tens of thousands of dollars.

Speaker 2 4:34

Incredible. I've kind of I've had a couple of friends. They'll go and they'll find plumbers that'll do side jobs and things like that and they end up hurting them more than they are helping them and then they'll have to hire someone certified like you guys, yes to come in and fix it all. With that being said, um, I thought a great part of your business that you've implemented is you've implemented financing right for these clients. Yes, residential and commercial correct.

Speaker 1 5:02

Uh, we, we offer financing. We have a broker that has uh offers uh financing through 17 different lenders wow so they deal with all kinds of credit. From the worst case scenario the best case scenario, you'll get financing, um, and so that will play a part in helping folks who don't have that extra money to pay for plumbing. But also if, in the instance that they file a claim, they have a deductible they have to cover, which most of the time it's a couple or several thousands of dollars.

Speaker 2 5:34

Right, like 1% Exactly 1%.

Speaker 1 5:37

So if you've got, you know, a value on your property that's $250,000, you've got a $2,500 deductible.

Speaker 2 5:46

That's a lot for the working class On top of the $10,000 plumbing bill that you just got.

Speaker 1 5:49

A lot of people don't have an extra $12,500 in the bank, so we have a very simple financing option process. It's a 30-minute quick, soft pull application and within 30 seconds they'll have a response.

Speaker 2 6:05

That's incredible. So you're almost a one-stop shop for everything they need.

Speaker 1 6:08

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 6:09

The plumbing, the financing, the water damage, even.

Speaker 1 6:13

Assistance in filing claims. A lot of people get intimidated by adjusters because adjusters start using the lingo that homeowners don't understand because, those policies were written to help confuse and complicate things and they're counterdictive because they say in one part of a policy this is covered and you read a few pages over, they say it's not covered. A few pages over yes, it is covered. If then? But go to blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2 6:38

So it's very complicated.

Speaker 1 6:39

It's written intentionally like that to confuse the consumer, so that they will just be worn out and worn down and eventually get to a point where they'll just take whatever they give them or just say you know, it's too much for me, I don't want it and you know that's so true because I remember my parents calling me many times saying, hey story, will you come help me read through this or talk to this guy?

Speaker 2 6:59

I don't understand, like, what are you saying? And it's very frustrating to see someone try to take advantage of your family member or your friends, even because they're not knowledgeable. And with your knowledge in the background, a lot of people don't know that. Some people just think you get into the insurance, insurance industry and then you go out into a different world, but you've really brought your knowledge from each industry to everything you do.

Speaker 1 7:22

It seems like Well, to put things into perspective, several years ago I took a one-week course on policy interpretation.

Speaker 2 7:29

Wow.

Speaker 1 7:30

One week to understand policy interpretation and all the different instances of contradiction and how they trick and trip people up, because it's designed to give them an out right and unless you're willing to go ahead and spend more money and get a lawyer or something like that.

Speaker 1 7:48

Unfortunately, it's, it's just um, it's a situation where, over the last uh two or three decades, the insurance companies have taken billions and billions of dollars in losses from all the catastrophic uh storms and fires. You know, you had Katrina several years ago, you had Harvey in Houston, you had Sandy on the East Coast, you had multiple hurricanes just recently in Florida. You had Milton in North Carolina. I mean, I would almost suspect that the insurance companies are encroaching upon a trillion plus dollars in losses in the last 30 years.

Speaker 2 8:19

It's so sad, isn't it?

Speaker 1 8:21

So you couple that with the fraud that takes place also. There's just only so much they can take.

Speaker 2 8:27

Absolutely. So you kind of bring a piece to these people that you're coming out here to help. And from what you've told me because I know a little bit about the business, because you brought it to us and we started really understanding the content in your new website is that your service is now 24 hours.

Speaker 1 8:43

Yes.

Speaker 2 8:43

And you're accessible to anyone in DFW for 24 hours right.

Speaker 1 8:47

Well, we are accessible to anyone in DFW. We like to market ourselves in the mid and south DFW area. In other words 183 and south.

Speaker 2 8:57

Right.

Speaker 1 8:58

Only because of the amount of ground that you have to cover. And we like to have a a good response time um and be able to get to the customer as soon as possible. Because we are centrally located here in south arlington, we can reach those areas pretty quickly, effectively and easily, versus having to go all the way up to, uh you know, like denton or frisco in places in north dallas.

Speaker 1 9:21

we're just, uh, we would rather emphasis on being able to help somebody, um, you know, like Denton or Frisco in places in North Dallas. We're just, we would rather emphasis on being able to help somebody you know, sooner rather than later, so to speak, because a lot of people they are beside themselves, they haven't experienced anything like this.

Speaker 1 9:33

You know if you've got sewer water coming in the house, you know the toilet's overflowed and they just don't know what to do. It's in the middle of the night, so that is one of the things that we do offer is that we're 24-hour services. There's no extra after-hours service fees.

Speaker 2 9:46

Wow, that's incredible and the fact that you set that expectation.

Speaker 1 9:50

Yeah, and it's to help people out, because a lot of people get taken advantage of when they're in a vulnerable situation.

Speaker 2 9:56

Absolutely.

Speaker 1 9:57

They don't care, they just want to get it fixed. And they don't care, they just want to get it fixed and they want to get back to their way of life.

Speaker 2 10:02

Absolutely so. Here at Atma, I know you know, we use the Build Launch Grow skill methodology. Where do you think you are in that methodology? Build Launch Grow.

Speaker 1 10:13

So you know, we've been in business now for collectively about a year and a half or so. Myself and my initial partner started this about a year and a half or so when we myself and my initial partner started this about a year and a half ago.

Digital Marketing for Plumbing Services

Speaker 1 10:24

And then we brought in another partner, larry, who's got over 30 plus years here in DFW and he's got a vast array of contacts and folks that he's dealt with over the years, and then the other managing partner, donnie. He's got 30-plus years in the whole DFW region. So right now, collectively, bringing all of our experience together, we're going through a build stage. So, we're building our business based on our referrals, our past customers, our contacts and building our marketing with.

Speaker 1 11:02

Advent Trinity, of course, and so through word of mouth and just reputations and relationships that all of us have embarked on and created over the last for their case 30 plus years, me here in DFW for 15 years we're in the build stage, so y'all are helping us do the marketing stage, and so it's so. We're just kind of getting things and we're going through some exponential growth right now.

Speaker 2 11:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1 11:26

We have anywhere between five to eight crews going each day.

Speaker 2 11:32

That's awesome. So in the build phase I mean, it's so important to have that infrastructure built correctly you have put together the team that has the experience, the knowledge and the understanding and you've gathered a team that's going to help you build that infrastructure digitally, which is how each business would really structure it. You have to have all your facts and all your variables in place right yeah absolutely Doing it right the first time is going to save you a lot of money in the end, I think.

Speaker 1 11:58

Yeah, I mean you have to the old saying you know you've got to spend money to make money, absolutely, and it's a necessary, you know thing to do and have. In order for you to be successful. You have to have exposure and it's not like it used to be. Yeah, Everything is online, everything is social media marketing, multimedia marketing.

Speaker 2 12:19

And it changes every day, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 12:22

Yeah, it does change every day, but I think it changes in the sense that just exposure, because I think that obviously it's social media marketing that's here to stay.

Speaker 2 12:34

It's never going to go away.

Speaker 1 12:35

It's the best way, the best form of communication, the quickest way of communication, and people are getting more and more relying heavily on it. As far as for myself personally, you know I rely on reviews and I rely on comments stars, all that.

Speaker 2 12:54

And that's something to really focus on, because you would say that the primary bulk of your business and your new clients come from referrals, which is huge, because who speaks about you speaks volumes. When you have a friend telling you you need to use this person, because I've used them, it's huge. And then we just have to play catch up with the digital side, right.

Speaker 1 13:17

That immediate brand expansion. Exactly, and that's where we all come in, because my partners and I, donnie and Larry and myself- you know we've got a lot of.

Speaker 1 13:30

I guess hitting the beat experience, so to speak, because we've been out in the field and meet and greet and knowing people and just past customers, previous customers referrals. But as far as the current marketing and the way things are with social media platforms and multimedia platforms, you really need to have a company like Advent Trinity that knows what they're doing, has the capability to do it and just has the expertise and the experience to help us to get to that next level. Because that is where we're at in society now. It's not.

Speaker 2 14:01

No more yellow pages, no more phone books. Yeah, to stand out as an actual business. You almost. It feels like you have to do it this way because anyone on that has a social media account can say they're a business, unless you have it set up correctly as a business, right.

Speaker 1 14:15

Yes, I mean because anybody can be anybody, anything they want. That's right you know there's nobody there to verify it. And um so you have to have a professional company like you all to sort through all the nonsense and all the uh what do you call them? Spiders and robots and the AI and all that, and y'all have a really good team that uh can um recognize those features and bypass them in order to get some real organic marketing.

Speaker 1 14:41

And so real people can get a hold of us and see us and request our services, because there's a lot of nonsense out there. There's a lot of companies out there that just maliciously will try to take smaller companies out.

Speaker 2 14:54

It's so sad and the referrals just between you and I will be exponential. I've invited you to a couple of networking events and it's because I trust you. So the referral process still works. It's just connecting with people that are actually going to use your services.

Speaker 1 15:11

Right, and then this it's really the same thing. It's just using technology to refer. Exactly so you've got in-person referrals and then you've got technology-based referrals.

Speaker 2 15:22

Yeah, and with AI right now. I mean, everybody loves AI to create that automation, but at the end of the day, I want a real person that I know is going to take care of me to meet in person. And that's where you guys come in. You're real, you're authentic. Everything's clean, nice and tidy when I see you and your partners and that's important to me, when someone's coming into my home.

Speaker 1 15:42

No, absolutely. We've got all new equipment. We've got all state-of-the-art equipment. There's not a situation that we'll come across that we can't handle. We're fully capable in handling every aspect of plumbing and or property casualty when it comes to, you know, damage from a plumbing. Yeah.

Speaker 2 15:59

I'm so thankful we know you guys now for my own personal needs.

Speaker 1 16:02

I'm really thankful to be here.

Speaker 2 16:03

So what's one bit of advice, before we go today, that you would give our listeners? If they have a burst pipe or some kind of catastrophic thing that has to do with their plumbing happening in their home, what's one piece of advice you wish that they knew beforehand.

Speaker 1 16:19

As a homeowner myself and for the thousands of property casualties that I've come across specifically dealing in the area of plumbing. Just know that it's going to happen sooner or later.

Speaker 1 16:31

You're going to have some kind of water damage or water issue. I tell people this all the time you can be in the same home for 30 years and you'll never have a fire damage, but you're going to have a water issue. I tell people this all the time you can be in the same home for 30 years and you'll never have a fire damage, but you're going to have a water damage, specifically and especially here in the DFW area, because we're so prone to extreme drought and torrential rains, so the ground is constantly expanding and contracting that wreaks havoc on your pipes.

Speaker 2 16:56

Oh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 16:57

Absolutely, Because when the ground dries, everything shrivels up and then it swells up again. So the pipe is going. It's not designed to do that. It's not designed to expand and contract with the ground. Just be prepared. It's going to happen, but don't fret. That's why you have us.

Speaker 2 17:12

That's right. And how can they reach you if they want to reach out to?

Speaker 1 17:15

you. You can go to our website NorthTexasPlumbingAuthoritycom or NOTXPAcom no text. You can reach me at Todd at NoTextacom. And our local telephone number we are. That is a good thing about us. We are local, we're bonded, we're insured, we're licensed. You can reach us at 817-888-8762, 24 hours a day.

Speaker 2 17:39

That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing all those tips. It'll be invaluable to some of our listeners, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 17:45

Oh, I hope so and I'm sure it will be. If you have a home, you have water. If you have water, sooner or later it's going to be an issue.

Speaker 2 17:52

Thank you, todd. All right, thank you, and, and to all of our listeners out there. We'll see you next time on Market it with Atma.