Deutschmann Lane Holdings

A very successful founder was asked what it takes to succeed.  He responded with this: "The same thing it took to get started—a sense of urgency about getting things done." The world is full of competent people who honestly intend to do things... tomorrow... or as soon as they can. Yet their accomplishments seldom match those of less talented people with a sense of urgency. The latter group understands the importance of getting started now. I see the sense of urgency not as a topic for discussion, but as a state of mind necessary for success. People with urgency = movers and doers.  Everyone else = stallers and talkers. You can choose to have an impact now. Or you can put it off like everyone else. Which do you choose?

There's no magic bullet that propelled our business from $10 million to $100 million over 7 years. No big unlock.  No single strategic business decision. The primary driver of our growth has been a commitment to executing "the basics" very well over time. Here are 14 of those basics:  1. Giving our team a reason (beyond simply a paycheck) to spend their career with you. 2. Giving our business a compelling Purpose (why we exist) and Values that guide our actions in pursuit of our Purpose. 3. Defining success clearly across every role type. 4. Designing processes that will drive incremental improvements in the KPIs we need to drive. 5. Coaching to those processes often and with consistency. 6. Setting organization-wide goals and translating them into specific and measurable goals for both teams and individuals. 7. Fostering a high-accountability environment by incorporating weekly 1-on-1s and performance evaluations. 8. Recognizing people for doing great things—often and publicly. 9. Bringing core functions and mission-critical competencies in-house. 10. Outsourcing everything else. 11. Knowing your business model then sticking to it. 12. Refusing to give in to the temptation to chase shiny things or say "yes" to work that isn't in our model. 13. Adopting a mindset of continuous improvement. 14. Never accepting "good enough" and constantly challenging the organization to do better—even on the small things. If you're trying to grow your business, execute on the basics consistently over time. Focus on continuous improvement. Growth will follow. 

My dad’s warehouse was in a not-so-great part of the city. To expand his business, he would need to buy several adjacent homes. Dad was able to buy most of the houses for $15,000 each. These homes were very run down—windows boarded up, no AC. One gentleman refused to sell his house. Some local advisors suggested that my dad use eminent domain as a legal route to force the sale of this house without the owner’s consent. My dad had another idea. He bought the house across the street and gut-rehabbed it. New interior, new appliances, new finishes.   Nothing fancy, but functional. My dad then knocked on that homeowner's door and offered to trade homes— the old house for the newly renovated one across the street. It was Friday, so my dad left the homeowner the keys to the new house and told him to think about it over the weekend. When my dad pulled in Monday, the gentleman had already moved into the new home across the street. My dad has always done the “right” thing, even when it wasn’t the easy thing.   It's a lesson I aspire to emulate.

We started talking about creating "Hoffmann Brothers University" because we needed two things: more leaders and more plumbers. Our team at Hoffmann Brothers others has grown from about 50 people in 2016 to well over 400 people today. We've grown so rapidly that we have struggled to: • develop the leadership talent we need internally; • bring leaders in from elsewhere; and • hire enough skilled tradespeople (plumbers specifically) to meet customer demand. We realized that we needed a training program that could scale with our business. That’s why we decided to invest in Hoffmann Brothers University. Our 3 pillars for HBU are:  1. Leadership Foundation 2. Training and Education for Our Team 3. Entering the Trades (giving young people exposure to the trades as an attractive career path). So far, we have: • Opened a 30,000 square-foot training facility on our campus in St. Louis County. • Had 100+ leaders at HB attend sessions. • Built partnerships with local schools to introduce young people to the trades. • Graduated three classes of plumbers. • Graduated our first class of HVAC professionals, pictured here on their first day at HBU a couple months ago. And we are just getting warmed up with it. --------------- I'll be posting regularly about HBU over the coming months, giving updates and sharing stories. If there's anything specific you'd like me to address, comment here or message me.

When I joined Hoffmann Brothers in 2016, I didn’t understand why a service business like ours might be the best place to work in uncertain economic times. I now have 3 reasons to believe it's true. 1. Consistent Demand Unlike many products and services, demand for our services is largely insulated from economic cycles. Pipes burst and air conditioners go out regardless of how the economy is doing. They must be repaired or replaced. We've had nearly 10 years of solid, predictable growth despite down economic cycles, a pandemic, and high inflation. 2. Profitability Service businesses (residential service businesses in particular) tend to be very profitable. Customers place great value on the quality of their service experience, which results in strong gross margins. Those profits put our business in a position to make substantial investments in training, compensation, benefits, and the latest tools and technology. Those investments help us stay in a position to continue delivering excellent service to our customers, and the cycle continues. 3. Customer Priorities Post-COVID research has shown that homeowners will invest heavily in their homes to ensure that the critical systems provide the convenience, comfort, safety, and reliability they desire. When faced with budget constraints, homeowners prioritize these factors above many other discretionary spending categories. That means our customers would rather forego eating out, travel, luxury goods, and entertainment before sacrificing the convenience, comfort, safety, and reliability of their home's HVAC or plumbing systems. I didn't fully understand all that 8 years ago. But needless to say, I am grateful to work alongside so many talented service professionals in one of the most resilient (and in-demand) industries in this great country!

Our dad wasn’t interested in bringing his sons into the family business straight out of college. The way he put it: Show me that someone else will promote you. Then I’ll consider bringing you into the business. Our dad Robert started Hoffmann Brothers in 1988 and built it into a $9 million business with 45 team members by 2014. It makes sense that he wouldn't hand the keys to the company over to somebody who wasn't qualified, son or not. Joe and I weren't planning on joining the family business coming out of college. By the time we started having conversations with our dad about the company’s future, we were were pursuing successful careers elsewhere. Joe spent 5 years gaining engineering experience at a large HVAC company. I served in the Marine Corps before going to business school. We did decide to join our father in 2016. Not because we lacked options, but because we shared a vision for what Hoffmann Brothers could become. We saw a path to grow Hoffmann Brothers to a 9-figure business making a major impact in the industry and in the lives of both our customers and our team members. That's what we've done. In 2024, our team of more than 400 people are on track to generate $140 million in revenues. And we'll continue to pursue that vision, which is captured in our company’s stated Purpose: Improving life in every home.

When megatrends are buffeting your industry and your business, how do you respond? How do leaders gain the confidence to make a choice when the future of the business—and more than 300 employees—is on the line? Listen to an all new episode of the On Principle podcast with special guest Chris Hoffmann now ⏩ https://bit.ly/3TvUM14 #OnPrinciple #Podcast #Olin

Grateful to have Scott Cange on our team. He joined us a few months back, and is already driving impact and challenging us to grow (and think) in new ways!

How do we get people to buy into our vision at Hoffmann Brothers?  We start talking about it during your first interview. Then when you arrive for your first day, I'm your first stop. And I will reiterate: - What we’re doing;  - What we stand for; and - What’s in it for you. We still don't have it figured out entirely, but we make huge investments in our people that you can't find in many businesses in our industry. Those benefits come with the expectation that you will buy into our vision, contribute to maintaining our culture, and do you part to advance our organization's purpose: Improving life in every home.    Can you get behind this vision of ours? ---------- This clip is from my recent conversation with Chris Powers on The Fort podcast.