Running a Trades Business | Matt Weber, BWS Plumbing, Heating, and Air #005

Hello everyone, welcome back to Shining Light on Minnesota, season two, I think. Yes, it is. We have a special guest and we're at a new place today. Obviously you can see the facility and you'll see more of it later. Why don't you tell us who you are and where we're at? Absolutely, my name is Matt Weber. I'm the sales leader for BWS Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning. We've been around for a very long time. Yes. It's a beautiful thing. Absolutely, thank you so much for having us. This facility is amazing. Just seeing it grow and seeing where you guys have all gone and what the future looks like. Why don't you tell us where you guys started and how it all started back in the day? Absolutely, so we're actually three generations deep now in this company, in this industry, into four generations now that Kevin had a daughter and things like that. So, Del Strandberg, who is sort of the originator, started Bel-Aire back in the 60s. Nice. So, a very long time. He was in it for some time. His son, Bruce, who now owns the company, was with his father's company. And then eventually it changed from Bel-Aire to that sort of went away and then BWS started back in the early 2000s. And Kevin's running around here somewhere too, I hear, or I see once in a while. And so, Bruce's son, Kevin, is also here as well. So, those two do all the day-to-day stuff. Perfect. How big is the company? I know you guys have a lot of fleet and you have a lot of people walking around the building. We do. Right about 25 employees now, which is, you know, it changed even from three or four years ago when we were at a different building, you know, when we moved here about two years ago and built out this place to what we wanted. And I mean, as you said, we absolutely love it. It's a great place to be. It's more togetherness where, you know, instead of the old school offices split apart, all that kind of stuff. Everybody's kind of all in one here. It really makes you feel at home when you walk in too. You just kind of get that local small business feel. So, when we've worked with you in the past and I've played golf with you, we started talking kind of about your service area. Tell us where you guys all service. Absolutely. Technically, we service everywhere in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and all the suburbs. We like this area specifically. This is where a lot of our history is, where Bruce and Kevin are from Hopkins and things like that. That's where they grew up. I grew up in Osceo Maple Grove. So, you know, the western, southwestern, northwestern suburbs sort of place, but we go everywhere. But we're more centralized here. Perfect. I know you guys are big in your community. You do a lot for not just the heating and air conditioning, but you're big in the community too. Tell us a little bit about where you've been and what you've done yourself. Absolutely. So, our company is a member of the Prairie Chamber, which is huge. And yes, we definitely like to give back. I'm also an In-Prairie ambassador. So, right before this, I was actually at a ribbon cutting for a new company, Ending Prairie. So, we do a lot of events just welcoming people in the community because you can get so much in a good, thriving community that you can't get as just trying to be a standalone, and that's it. Yeah, absolutely. I know you've talked about being in the communities. I know you guys are. I see your fleet all around. It's like everywhere you turn, you see the BWS logo, which is awesome. You want to be omnipresent. We like that. Yeah, that is a good thing, right? Especially when people start noticing it, my kids will be driving down there like, hey, mom, there's that. I'm like, yep, that's BWS. Absolutely. So, you have some kids of your own, and you are also into the hockey scene a little bit. Oh, boy. Yes. Here we go. Yeah, personal life. Yes, I have three kids, been married for almost 22 years. I now live in Plymouth. I'm a, why is that a hockey coach? Nice. This year, I'll be doing Girls 15U coaching. I'm also a USA hockey official. Perfect. So, I ref hockey as well. Hockey, I've played hockey my whole life. Hockey and golf, I'm the true Minnesota hockey winter. Golf in summer, and that's what I do. Yeah, we had an event just a couple weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. Got out to Majestic Oaks, played some good golf. I didn't golf good. No, we'll stop that conversation. No, we both played great. We had a great team. We ended up doing really well. The weather was nice, typical Minnesota weather. It was hot. Yes, it was. It was one of the hottest days that we've had. Yeah, just a little bit. So, you started off, tell us about your background in the heating air conditioning prior to BWS and kind of what brought you to the job today. Absolutely. That's a long story, but I'll bullet point it for you. Perfect. I've been in the industry now for 24 years. Awesome. So, I was born and raised here in Minnesota. Okay. I went to Osseo High School. Nice. That was my life. When I turned 23, I moved to Colorado. Oh, nice. And to literally be a ski bum. That's where I eventually met my future wife and things like that. And that's when I got into plumbing. After I stopped being a ski bum and actually get a little responsibility, that's when I got into plumbing. So, I actually started as a plumber back in the day and then worked my way up with plumbing and heating air. And I've been very blessed to be able to have trained with the people I have in the industry, some pretty big names. That's good. So, it's been a fun ride. So, from Colorado to Phoenix for a little bit, running a shop out there and then back to Minnesota. Phoenix is a little hot. You might need a little bit of air conditioning when you go there, especially this time of year, right? Oh, yeah. You don't really live until you deal with like 118 degrees. It's ridiculous. I'm good with like the main 50, 60, 70 degree temperature. Not hotter than that. Not colder than that. It's good for business when it's hotter though. Perfect. It is. You bet. So, when people come to you and they say, hey, we've got a three story house. We only have one main zone. What do you tell them when it's hot out? How to regulate the air? Do you keep it on auto? Do you flip it around? What do you do? Wow. Good question. I know. The best thing is to, when it's the hottest and coldest and it really does depend on what kind of equipment you have. But generally, yes, Ryan, your fan when it's hottest and coldest will try to help regulate it. Now, a lot of the older equipment and very basic equipment is just on and off. Sure. So, it's a hundred percent or zero. So, you know, some of the fans that inside those furnaces, they sound like airplanes taking off. So, it's a little different where the newer ones can ramp up and down. So, it can help a little more. But generally, on the hottest and coldest days, yes, run your fan. Just keep running it. Perfect. I know we get that a lot in our world. You know, when we go into houses that want, they say it's too hot in here. They want window film. So, what do we do? We start kind of directing them. Okay. Well, let's see how you're controlling your air conditioning, everything like that. But getting the experts advice is always the best way to go. If you're having questions with the heat, the cold, anything, BWS is obviously the place to go. Yes, yes. So, you came here to BWS. Kevin and Bruce have been around for a long time. Are there any other areas that are looking to expand to? BWS is mainly focused on growing the company as it sits here. I mean, not necessarily opening up any other locations or any other places. No, they're very focused. And this is a very family-oriented company, as you can get by four generations now into it. Yes, absolutely. And that's one thing that brought me here some time ago, is just how real Bruce and Kevin are. That's a huge thing. And there's too many people in our industry that they sort of wave the carrot a little bit and don't, you know, their heart is in the right place. They kind of treat you like family. Our experience is always from beginning end, from the first touch, when the girls answer the phone to the very end, when we're servicing new equipment or just servicing old equipment. Perfect. We like to build a customer experience. We like to build long-term relationships. And it's not just one and done because there's way too many companies out there that are one and done. Oh, there's more customers. I can get another customer and that one just doesn't matter as much, even if it's new equipment. Yeah, makes sense. And that way, I mean, for word of mouth, for you guys too, you not only retain your customers, but you grow from that because it's word of mouth. Absolutely. Yeah. That's, we are very, also on top of that, we have a membership, the company club, you probably hear on the radio and things like that. It's a part that we're really focusing on. Tell me a little bit about that in case they haven't heard about that. Great. Yeah. The comfy club. So the best thing you can do to make your equipment last longer is to maintain it. That's always the biggest thing. Dirt and dust is the number one killer. Furnace is an AC. So you need to be religious about your filters and you need to get looked at once a year. That's not me saying it. That's a manufacturer saying it. They say that you should get looked at once a year. So as part of our comfy club, that includes three visits. So we come out once in the fall, check the furnace, everything inside of it, make sure it's ready to go. Come out once in the spring, check the AC, clean off, get all the cottonwood off, things like that. And then also includes a plumbing inspection as well. Perfect. So doing those three things generally, not all the time, generally we can find things before they become a big problem, be a little more proactive. And that's really what people that are comfy club members are, is they're being a little more proactive towards it. Plus they get savings and the front of the list and they're our family at this point. Absolutely. And it's nice to have that small town, family, local feel, not only when you're dealing with you guys with your club, but also just to make them feel safe on the hot days in summer. Hey, it's still going to work or on the really cold days. It's not going to shut down and we're going to have to move out really quick because of the long-term maintenance. So great. And even if it did break down, we're a 24 seven company, so you can always call us. How do they get ahold of you? How do they call you? Our main number, obviously, we can look it up. I can tell you, but you can search it up just as much like everybody does. Right. We, you can email, you can call us. We always have someone on call. So there's never a time that we won't be able to come out pretty quick. And as people in the twin cities are aware or maybe not aware being 24 seven, are you guys pretty quick when you receive a call? And what's that process look like after you receive a call? Great question. It depends on the time. You know, if it's the middle of the night, that's, that's one thing we have to get a tech up and things like that. But generally it's next day. Okay. Now, when it's really hot and really cold, we'll still get out next day. It just might not be first thing in the morning or something like that. We do pride ourselves on being able to put a purposeful order and get texts out there. Perfect. So you're not backlogged and going to be a week or two out because it is never, no, no, no, no, I've never seen that happen. Good, good. So installs, that's a little different, but, uh, but for the most part, no, we're, we're there. Nice. That's important with Kevin and Bruce being around still, do they do any community events as well, or is it more the salespeople now just kind of keeping the name alive? Uh, they do as well. I would say it's, it's more, uh, Justin and I and other people in the shop. But for example, in a couple of weeks, we'll have a booth at James J. Hill days and we've done that for multiple years. And like the Ian Prairie home show and other home shows. And yeah, just getting out there, right. Just handing out our rubber ducks. If you've seen them in the events, all the fun stuff that we give away, uh, it's just a way, another way of getting our name out there there, Adam. Yep. So, well, that's good. I mean, I know people definitely do notice the name. They see the name, they see the colors, the logo, the rebranding, everything like that. Um, why don't you tell people where exactly you're located and where we're at right now in case they don't know. Great. Uh, and we'll eventually have a ribbon cutting for this facility. We just haven't had that yet. That's all get the, all the chamber people there to do it. Yeah, exactly. So right now where we're at is in right off of 62 just west of Baker road in the very north part of Eden Prairie. So where it's, uh, Minnetonka is on the other side of 62, I believe somewhere right around there. Very, very centrally local based, which is great. It is. And it's easy access to all the major freeways and things like that. And so, no, we were very purposeful when we chose this location. Well, when Kevin and Bruce and other people chose it way, because you're all our family, but like truly, like when you talk to somebody here, it just seems like everybody's just all one. So it's, it's fun to see that we don't see a whole lot of companies these days that are virtually all one. Like when you get someone, no matter who it is, you all come together and work as a team. So that's great. It's very much a culture here. Yes. People always say it. And I think it's almost a little cliched word at this point is to say, our company has great culture. Uh, I think the proof is sort of in the pudding more than anything, you know, how are your technicians, how are, how are their attitudes? What kind of things does the company do? Like we have a picnic coming up and things like that. I'm not saying just cause you have a picnic, you have great culture, you know, but, but it is again, a very family oriented atmosphere because I've always said that if you are good in an industry, you'll make your money one way or another, but want to enjoy what you're doing and where you're at. Yes. Yeah. It's huge. So talking about loving what you do, what is your why and what is keeping you going today? First and foremost, it will always be family. Yeah. My wonderful wife and three kids. That's always what drives me to do what I do. Perfect. You can't really give a better motivation than that. So, uh, again, I've been very blessed in my life and, and, but it's, it's everyone. It's not just me. It's everyone in our company that makes it work. It's not just one person, but my why is, is them. And to, to really do the right thing and to help out everyone else and Kevin and Bruce who can provide it for us. It's great. And you probably notice, I mean, from obviously being a fourth generation handed down to Bruce, then to Kevin, and now then Kevin's children. Yeah. Then all the kids, your kids, all the community kids who start noticing, and they are like a moving billboard for you too. I'm sure when they go out, they're like, Oh, Hey, I know somebody that can help you with that or EWS or just wearing the clothing. It's really truly a culture, which is fun to be a part of. For sure. We all have a bunch of, uh, you know, sweatshirts. My kid have sweatshirts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone notices it. So, and the kids kind of, even when they go out and start talking to their friends, you can hear them. Like if you listen at a distance to any kid, what their parents do, just going out there and being like, you're actually kind of trying to sell for me, even though you don't know what it is or you don't fully know how to do it, but they do do that, which, which is fun. My daughter has listened too much to me because what she does now is she'll be like, Hey dad, uh, we can do one of two things. We can either go to the store or we can get ice cream. Which one sounds better? There's a sales pitch. I'm like, it doesn't work on me. I'm like, I like it. So you're trying to explode in time. She's my future salesperson. Yeah. I'm going to be training her. So she's already trained. You can tell by that how fun and how old is she? She's 14. Oh yes. She's the hockey player. Oh yeah. Very good. So she's busy. She's got her future plan and she's already, sounds like she's going places too. She does. Yes. What position does she play in hockey? Uh, generally right wing. Nice. When she plays him, my older, my son, he's 16. He plays football and my younger daughter 12, she plays volleyball. Yep. So you're busy in the community for sure. Running here and there in the calendars. Yes. Well, it was great coming out today. We'll definitely take a look around. We'll show the viewers. Oh, we have been here before. The viewers probably remember seeing this place. It's possible. It's very possible. Yep. I remember Christmas time somebody named what, the Grinch happened to stop by maybe. I was sort of surprised. Yeah. Someone, I'm not sure who would put on a Grinch costume, but yeah, there was a Grinch that stopped. Oh boy. Only some control would do something like that, right? That's what I thought, but it was fun. It was, it was really fun. It was out of left field. So that's what made it great. Yep. Well, maybe we'll have to see if the Grinch is around again this Christmas and where he'll stop in or what he'll do next. It was great coming by and it was great talking with you today, Matt. You as well. And hope to do more business in the future. Thank you. Thanks for your time. You bet. Thank you.