The Good Contractors List with John Stewart Hill

I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer

of Specialty Metal Roofing.

Welcome to Construction Disruption, the show that helps home

improvement contractors reach ever higher levels of success.

Today I'm joined by my co-host Ryan Bell.

Ryan, how you doing today?

Hey Todd.

I'm doing great.

How are you?

I'm doing well also looking forward to this episode.

And, uh, once again, we will be doing our challenge words where, uh, Ryan

and I each along with our guests, have some special word or phrase.

We have been challenged to work into the conversation, uh, so you, our

audience can listen for things that we might say, that you may think, oh, I

wonder if that was the challenge word.

At the end of the show, we'll tell you what our challenge words were.

So Ryan, you good to go?

Let's get started.

Very good.

So today's guest is John Stewart Hill, uh, based in Texas.

John is the founder of TGCL, the Good Contractors List.

Now, this is a national platform that is changing how homeowners.

contractors interact.

The good contractor's list is the first and only resource that's actually

financially responsible for every contractor's work on their list.

Backing each job with a $25,000 guarantee.

Instead of leaving customers stranded in disputes, T-G-T-G-C-L steps in as a third

party offering a proven mediation process and true peace of mind for that homeowner.

This solves the classic two-way agreement problem, and finally

separates good contractors from those who do not meet industry standards.

birthplace of what we're going to call collective authority marketing.

The Good Contractors List, brings ethical contractors under a

responsible umbrella altogether.

Since 2011, TGCL has backed over $5 billion in jobs and fostered a

movement driven by accountability, integrity, and craftsmanship.

Contractors embrace TGCL as part of their identity, and homeowners can trust

in a system where both sides police the collective for ongoing quality.

John, welcome to Construction Disruption.

Truly an honor to have you here today.

Well, thank you.

I feel honored to be on your show.

Thank you.

Well, we're looking forward to learning.

So I wanna start something outside of TGCL, though.

I think it's interesting.

Your LinkedIn profile has it front and center says that you are a

servant to all at the kingdom of God.

Kind of curious, what does that mean to you and how do you live that out?

Just tell us a little bit.

Well, um, back in 2011, I had, uh, a very.

Profound, uh, happening in my life.

I had a heart attack and, uh, really should not even be here,

but, uh, I really felt like God spoke to me and, and said that.

If you decide to stay, kinda left it in my hands.

Really?

Do you wanna stay or do you want to go?

Um, if you decide to stay, I'll be with you and I'll give you a purpose.

And so, up to that point, I had, uh, really been a, what I could

consider a failure in life.

I was very disappointed with my life.

I, and so when I had this epiphany that I wasn't alone, it wasn't up to me

to really try to get this thing done.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized.

I'm really not here for me at all.

'cause I, I wanted to leave the earth.

I'm here for a purpose that God has put in me.

And so I just started letting everything go.

I just was like, you know what?

You lead the way.

I'll follow.

And that's the way I've lived my life every day since.

And I know that I'm not where I'm at today because of my skill or any type

of thing that I bring to the table.

It's because.

The Kingdom of God lives in me and guides me, and I, I try

to live every day like that.

And, and Jesus was a servant.

That's what he, that's what he came here to do.

And so that's what I'm here to do.

And when I leave, I want people to be able to say that about me, is

that he did what God told him to do.

Well, we certainly love that and, and that's a great story.

I'm kind of curious, um, did your faith journey actually start pretty young and

like a lot of us just kinda lay dormant for a lot of years until something

suddenly kicked it into gear or what to.

Did that look like for you?

I, when I was a child, I, I felt the presence of God all the time.

I, I was an only child, so I spent a lot of time alone, and I just

felt the love of Jesus all the time.

I loved him.

Um, but I was raised in a Pentecostal church and I don't know if you know

much about the denominations, but, uh, Pentecostals are pretty strict.

And so if, if you have a mark on the book when you get to heaven, that one

mark's gonna keep you out, you know?

And so, um, when I started realizing what sin was and that even my thoughts

were sinful and I, I just realized I was never gonna be that perfect.

Person that would get there without a mark, you know?

And so when I got into my teenage years and girls and all the things

that were around me, I just finally realized I, that I didn't have a chance.

And so I kind of gave up on Jesus because I, I didn't feel like I

would ever be able to perform well enough for him moving from that.

And over the years, just, uh.

Shame almost all the time because I, I could never get it right, you know?

And so it was more, not, not that I didn't want to be close

to him because I loved him.

I still deeply loved him.

I just didn't know that that, that I had, uh, there, that there was that much

grace in the world, you know, for me.

And so, uh, that's what I did, is I spent a lot, lot of time running from him.

Um, he would pull me back in occasionally when things, uh, were kinda lined up

and, and then miracles would happen.

It was, it's like I, this rollercoaster ride when it comes to faith and until,

uh, 2011 when the, the big event happened.

Wow.

Well, God never Lets go as he keeps pursuing.

Um, thank goodness that's, uh, an amazing, great story, John.

Amen.

Yeah.

so let's kind of pivot, pivot and talk about the good contractors list.

Um, kind of curious me, were you in construction or contracting

work prior to this and what sort of problem did you see out there that

caused you to, to wanna start this?

In the early two thousands, I was selling yellow pages.

Uh, you remember where the yellow pages, they had the ads in them.

And so I used to sell the ads that were in Yellow Pages and there were,

uh, a lot of times that I got, uh, an ad that I was going back out on,

you know, that had been sold years.

Previously, and I started getting a lot of contractor ads.

And so I would go in, uh, to meet with, uh, the, the owners and, you

know, they'd have this really big, nice ad that talks about, uh, integrity,

professionalism, all these different things that, uh, that they want to.

Portray to the consumer.

And so I went in, uh, and one, one day I was in, I, I believe it

was an air conditioning company.

And I was outside waiting for the, for the owner to come speak

with me about buying Yellow Pages.

And I could hear, uh, a meeting going on in the background and they, I

heard clapping and stuff like that.

So I kind of moved closer and was listening and, um.

And one story right after the other about, uh, how there was a, just a, it was just

a small little thing, but we were able to sell this much because, you know,

I told her this, this, this, and this.

And, and then they would cheer, you know, and it was, and I, the more I

heard it, the more I was just like, man, they're not there to fix a problem.

They're there there to sell stuff and they're there to, you know, uh, take

advantage of people and look at this ad. I don't even wanna sell this thing.

To them, you know, I mean, but there's not, you know, there was

nothing there protecting anybody.

And I just was like, man, somebody needs to come up with something that's

gonna protect, actually protect people.

I, I don't think you've, uh, been in this business

too much and you haven't stumbled on to where you're hearing those

conversations go on in the back room.

So I, uh, I get that point of discomfort, that's for sure.

Tell us a little bit about TGCL, the good contractors list, um, in particular,

you know, what is the promise that you folks are making to homeowners?

When I really started this out, it really, it was just something that,

that I felt the Lord was leading me to do.

This was right after my heart attack.

Six months after my heart attack is when, when, uh, we started this and,

uh, I had read a book called Nuts and it was talking about Southwest

Airline and about doing something that nobody's doing and something different.

You know, they always tried to, they were trying to do something different.

And, um, I was, at that time I was selling coupons and I was talking to a plumber

and the plumber says, um, you know.

I, uh, and he was pretty well known little plumber in this town.

He goes, I don't really have the money to do the big thing.

Uh, but I would like to share it maybe with one of my, um, electrician

friends and a roofing friend that I truly trust their work.

And, uh, so I started thinking about how could I bring these guys together?

The more I thought about it, the more.

It came to me that this was something I was supposed to do.

I was actually supposed to build a website where I highlighted different services

that trusted each other, you know, that.

And so it was real easy to find the good guys when you got into that

right vein, you know, and you're able to, the ones that they refer that

they wouldn't risk their reputation on, you know, and start building.

And so I went into, uh, it was called Money Mailer.

This, uh, this coupon place.

And I said, I said, listen, I'm gonna have to leave.

I'm gonna have to quit my job to come do this.

Um, I, I know I'm supposed to do this.

And so I started bringing in, uh, contractors and I started telling

'em, listen, we're gonna separate the good guys from the bad guys.

Um, we're gonna give you kind of an exclusive area that'll be yours.

And here's the thing that's gonna be different.

My company is going to guarantee your work so that the homeowner can feel safe and.

I'm actually accountable for things.

Now I'm a, I'm not a businessman.

I didn't realize I was creating a, a business model where I was, where

I was limiting who I could bring in and putting myself at greater risk.

You know, like, like who, who does that?

That it's not, it's not the best business model out there, but

it's what held integrity to me.

And I'm like, man, when I started hearing the contractor say,

if you can make this happen.

I want to be there.

And so they were writing checks and I was, I was going in with a

yellow legal pad saying, someday the website's gonna do this someday.

You know, and, and so it was a dream that, that God planted in me, that I,

that I, uh, brought to these people.

And what it did, it was way more than just a guarantee.

It's like that.

Now we, we have a $25,000 guarantee that backs every contractor that's on our list.

But what we found is that it really created a community when I was

starting to go out and I would say, Hey, we're a good contractor's list

and we're gonna guarantee the work.

I started hearing things that I never heard in my sales career before, and

that was contractors saying, well, if so and so is on this list, I don't

want, I don't want any part of it.

And the more I heard that, the more I realized that, that they want ownership

of what, what we were building that, that they want to be able to say.

Listen, if, if you're, if this is about money for you and you're willing

to put on anybody and the guys that have the big money in town, they

knew those guys were ripoff artists.

You know, if that guy, if, if his money means that much to you, that you're gonna.

You know, compromise what you're saying you're building, then

I don't wanna be a part of it.

And so we've just kept that, that mode of operation from day one is

like our contractors have a say, our homeowners have a say and uh, we put

that good with a halo out there and we talk about a $25,000 guarantee.

Believe me.

If there's a signal that somebody's not right in this group, it's

either coming from a homeowner or coming from a contractor.

So, uh, we found an amazing community here and, uh, I've learned a lot.

Well, I think that's fascinating because I think so

often, yeah, I mean, you can find all kinds of really lead aggregators

out there that are putting together con contractor lists, and yet at some

point the homeowner realizes this isn't all at all about vetting these guys.

It's simply about.

Making money, making, um, I'm kind of curious then, so what

is, um, some of the basics of your contractor vetting criteria?

What, what gets someone on the list and what keeps someone from being on the list?

Well, early, early in my career, we used to use a third

party, uh, background check software.

And so, uh, we would submit what the owner gave us and so we had a contractor

that had somebody else poses the owner.

And so when we did the background check and did all that, came

back clean, everything was great, and um, we ended up that guy.

Started ripping people off from day one.

He got in the door, and it was about six weeks later when we found out, when

homeowners started, contacted us saying, Hey, this guy started this job was

here one day and now I can't reach him.

And then it was like, oh wait, this guy, um, uh, he, he

didn't start a project at all.

I gave him $4,500 to get started and he is disappeared.

I can't get ahold of him.

And so we kept, so we tried to get ahold of him and so we.

Went back and we actually record every call that comes through

the good contractor's list.

So we, we called back every homeowner that this guy had any communication

with, and, uh, found out we had nine jobs that were out there floating.

And so we went out and met with every one of 'em.

Some of the, some of them, we were able to bring contractors in to complete the

job, and it didn't cost them any extra.

Some we just had to refund their money and just say, Hey, listen, that's, uh,

uh, we're sorry this happened to you.

And what we, we took it a little bit further.

We actually, I actually called Channel 11 news because my job isn't to hide

if we make a mistake, it's to make sure that the ones that we find out are bad.

You know?

I mean, it's like.

We're gonna, we're gonna make sure that this guy gets outed.

And sure enough, that Channel 11 came in and we, we interviewed us,

interviewed the homeowner that was taken advantage of, and, uh, outed

this contractor in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Um, and they asked, you know, why in the world would you let everybody

know that you made a mistake?

And I, and I, you know, my, my whole point of being integrity, having

integrity is I'm here to protect people.

Um, this guy still has an A plus at the BBB.

There's still people gonna hire him and still people who are gonna

get ripped off by him, you know?

And so.

That's, so that's been my standard, uh, forever.

So finding the contractors that do business, right?

They've been in business for, uh, they've owned the business

for more than three years.

They've been in the industry for at least five years.

I mean, um.

Because a lot of people might be really good at the, at the, their job, but

they don't know how to run a business.

So we, we need to make sure that they're not gonna be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Um, we interview everyone now, we, now we can interview face-to-face via

Zoom or, or Google Meet or whatever.

Um, but.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, we've met all of our contractors face to face.

We get to know them.

We talk, we tell them about the relationship.

We don't want contractors who are just here to utilize our

guarantee to help close sales.

We want people who make the good contractors list part of their identity.

Um, where they're, where they are part of a, what I call

a safe contractor community.

And, um, and so, so the criteria is, is, like I said, the, the, the time around.

We want to want 'em to have a good online reputation.

We take that very seriously.

And today, and AI and all the fake stuff, and you can buy reviews and all this

stuff, it's really hard to determine.

Just by reviews, who's good or not.

But because of that incident that we had, we have invested in a 2,800 a

month background software that we use in our own organization, FBI level, so

we can see if that guy shut down, who are the real owners of this company.

And you know, if there are more owners, look, we need to have a

background check on that guy too.

So we truly make sure that everything is as solid as possible.

Um, also something that.

You know, I, I think that there's more good contractors out there

than there are the bad guys.

And, um, some people will disagree with me.

They think, oh no, it's, uh, there might be more bad guys out there.

But the truth is most contractors want to do, right?

They, they didn't get in to rip off people.

They want to get to the end of the job.

And so, um, the, the guy that makes up a good contractor for me is someone that

I can see consistently takes care of his mistakes because we're all human and

every one of us make, makes mistakes and things happen that are out of our control.

And what happens is fear.

Causes a lot of disruption in relationship and that, uh, a lot of

people labeled bad contractors aren't bad.

Contractors life happened and, uh, and then the homeowner did, didn't give 'em

a chance to actually redeem themselves, you know, so yeah, I'm, I'm looking

for a guy who has a heart for people.

I'm looking for, uh, men and men and women who own businesses that, that

their bottom line is I would rather lose.

Than break my integrity.

I'd rather lose than, than cause this person to feel like I've

slighted them in the least.

So yeah, that's what we're looking for.

That's a long answer.

Sorry about that.

No, it's a great answer and I love, you know, you're,

you're looking for this balance of character and capability the.

Gotta be able to do the job, but they also gotta be of good character.

And uh, I get it.

I mean, certainly not literally, but every once in a while you're gonna run into the

one where you just kind of wanna see white lilies on his casket and just be able

to tell homeowners to avoid this person.

So, uh, I, I get that.

But you know, also on the other side of that, there's the homeowners.

The homeowners can get really crazy and go down that rabbit hole, you know, Alice

in Wonderland kind of stuff, you know, and it's like, uh, it just gets crazy.

So it's, um.

Once mistrust falls into that relationship, you need someone like

you folks to be able to come in and try to mediate and bring that trust back.

well I'm kind of curious, I mean, how do you see some of your members of

the good contractors list using it to their own benefit in the sales process?

And you know, let's face it, those guys who are good, we wanna see them

prosper and do well and sell more work.

You know, a lot of times I'll be talking with contractors and, and

we'll be talking about this guarantee, and they're like, well, why in the

world would I need your guarantee?

I mean, I guarantee my own work.

I'm honest.

I do all the right things and, uh, I've really worked hard to be, to

separate myself from everybody else and.

I have to bring them back to reality and realize that you know, that you'll

stand behind your guarantee, but because of all the horror stories out

there, homeowners just don't know that.

And the system really is broken, uh, since there's been contracting.

The only option a homeowner has is a two-way agreement.

That's, that's, that's all there's ever been, right, is it's either,

it's the homeowner and the contractor entering into an agreement.

And every horror story you've ever heard about contractors

started with a two-way agreement.

And the reason those horror stories exist is because really

at the end of this thing, it's just the word of the contractor

against the word of the homeowner.

And so if the homeowner isn't happy.

The only, the only thing that they can do is go out and write a bad review

or maybe try to sue the contractor.

Um, but, uh, there really isn't, there's really never been anybody

else that says, you know what?

I know these contractors well enough, uh, to say, I will guarantee this work.

So when someone enters into an agreement with a contractor who's

on the good contractor's list, there's not just two people involved.

There's actually a third party.

That takes financial responsibility for that contractor's work.

And it's not just based on, it's not an insurance policy.

It's not like general liability where something tragic has to happen.

If that homeowner doesn't think the quality's there, they call us.

We get involved and we, we get people, um.

All on the same page.

And a lot of times, uh, it's, it's, it's great.

The contractor did a great job and the homeowner just, I mean, homeowners

just have this feeling like, oh, I'm gonna be taken advantage of.

I'm gonna be made a fool of all my friends are gonna laugh at me, you

know, and so they don't feel safe.

And as soon as that third party, um, gets involved, and I would say 99% of all the

issues we've come across in 14 years, I would say 99% of it is based in fear.

And all we need to do is say, I'm here.

And, and they'll let the contractor get to the end of the job.

They're happy about it.

They, they're, they appreciate that we've been there with them and,

um, so they just don't feel alone.

And so as a contractor with this, every job that you do is

backed by that $25,000 guarantee.

So while we not, may not be our lead resource, like Angie's List and Home

Advisor and all that, what we, uh.

Make possible for that contractor is to be able to go in with a partner

saying, it's not just me, it's them.

Saying that I'm good.

Um, everyone's gonna try to say they're good.

Everyone's gonna say the same thing.

Everyone's gonna say they guarantee their work, but we have a third party

that's watching us, you know, and if we don't do what's right, they will

pay for this and kick us off the list.

So it's, it's a very powerful tool, um, to, to take that fear

off the table for a homeowner.

You touched on something there that I've seen happen a few

times over my career, um, where, you know, it, it really is the homeowner

being unreasonable and the contractor hits a point where they're say,

I just, I'm just gonna walk away.

I don't care that I'm not gonna get paid for the job.

I'm just ready to walk.

And I'm like.

You're so close.

Let's just figure out a way to get you guys back on the same page and,

and we can make this thing happen.

And so I, I, I can see this working on, on all sides of that equation.

Well, I'm kind of curious, so do you continually read that your member

contractors, or are you waiting more on feedback from customers?

What does that look like?

We consistently watch their online presence.

Um, we, we listen to every homeowner.

We actually call back every homeowner that calls through our website because

it, it's a, it's a call tracking number.

So we call back and say, Hey, were you taking care of?

And so, uh, there is a follow up process to this.

We, we can't just wait for the, you know, the.

Hammer to fall, especially if there could be multiple jobs that this guy has booked.

And um, and that's really what we see is sometimes most of the things that

we've had to go fix over the years.

Was life things, you know?

Uh, and the contractor lost maybe some key players in his organization that decided

to go off and start their own company.

Now I'm bringing on another sub that I really don't know.

And so now I'm going back and fixing jobs that this sub messed up.

Um, we will give them op the opportunity to bring in someone

else and make sure that it's right.

But there's been, there's been times where it's been so shaky and,

uh, that we didn't feel confident.

That they would be able to get the job done.

And so we've let them step off honorably and quietly, and we brought in another

contractor to finish this stuff up.

And it, it's always been because it's so relational, even the ones

we've taken off our list felt like we did the right thing to help them

not go out and get a bad reputation.

They needed a chance to get back up on their feet.

Most of these guys are good people.

I mean, it's, it, it, they just had life happen to 'em or bit

off more than they could chew.

And so does that answer your question?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I'm, I'm kind of curious, so, um, I, I assume that you're open to

pretty much all trades in terms of the type of contractor and then,

you know, what does it look like?

You know, what's the cost involved for.

Or contractor to be a part of the good contractor's list.

What's, how long does that process take?

That type of thing.

Well, we, we try to make it very easy for the contractor.

This is, this is not something that we're, we're trying to just get every

dollar that we can outta somebody, because part of the balance is if we're

gonna be responsible for something, then it needs to be heavy for us.

A $25,000 guarantee.

That could be one job.

You know, and, uh, but what we do for the contractor is it's a

$500 setup fee and $250 a month.

So it's nothing that's gonna break them.

It's nothing that's gonna have to cause them to have to raise their

prices, you know, to, to cover it.

Um, it's something that's really valuable to them, but we, instead of just.

Giving this to them so that they can use, uh, we want, we want to bring in

contractors again, who want to help build a safe contractor community.

So when we, when we're talking to contractors, we want to make sure that,

that they're the type of people who want to help build the organization

because we we're not gonna make it on $250 a month from everybody.

I mean, it's, uh, for this to really work.

It's gonna take the participation of our contractors.

They need to, they need to be proud to be good contractors.

They need to be, uh, out there talking to homeowners.

We give 'em the tools that they need to get homeowners to register.

And I, and I'm imagine this within the Safe contractor

community, because you know.

One of the main things contractors want is, is leads, you know, and their only

options right now really are abysmal.

We're talking about, you know, regurgitated leads and all kinds of

stuff that they get charged for, and most of them hate the lead sources.

So what we're hoping to do with the community is.

The plumber gets all his homeowners registered, the roofer gets all his

homeowners registered for the guarantee.

And all of a sudden now, because all the different services are

there and they're helping us bring in contractors, Hey, I know a good

electrician that needs to come in here.

So they're bringing, they're bringing us people who are gonna

take care of their community.

And they're gonna be able to network together.

And the more that, that all these guys get their homeowners registered and

say, go to the good contractors' list.

Don't hire contractors if they're not on here.

Um, and if you, if you find somebody that, that isn't on, uh, if you

need something that's not on there, please come back to me so that I can

try to find out who, who to get you to, because it's scary out there.

And the more that they start coming together and pushing people

to the good contractors list.

Next thing you know, you start seeing leads coming from the website that they

have generated through trust, not through hype or gimmick or any other thing.

It'll be, it's what I call collective authority marketing.

The more we come together as a collective, the more authority we have and the more

homeowners will trust the, the resource.

So, uh, it, it is a self building community thing.

So, I mean, does that, does that help you?

Love it.

Part of your vetting, I assume, is also looking at things, you know, to

make sure they've got proper licensing and insurance and business permits,

you know, as required by their locale.

Is that something also, you're taking a look?

Get

Yes, uh, absolutely They have to meet all those criteria, but

honestly, it's it's relationship.

That, that keeps them on the list.

And it's, it's how, it's how homeowners, uh, react to them and

it's how contractors react to them.

So it's a, like I say, it's kind of a living organism and those

things, everyone has those things.

The guy that's gonna get in trouble and run off from the job has those things.

And, um, so, so we just, we're, we're looking at character a lot in this,

and, and it, whenever you put your name out there that you've got a

guarantee and that, that it's good.

Believe me.

It, it doesn't take much.

It was very small incident.

They, they're like, Hey, wait, you, you said this guy was good.

Well, he, he forgot to call me today.

Well, no, it was tomorrow.

You know, and we find this stuff out.

It's just like, no, you, you're a day off.

You know what I mean?

Th these kinds of things happen every day.

We're human.

I'm curious, finish this thought for us.

A good contractor is good because,

Because they take responsibility for their work and they

don't run away from mistakes, period.

Well, I, I know that you're in a period of.

Ongoing growth.

I'm kind of curious, what do you see as the future for the good contractors list?

Um, are you happy with the things way things have gone the past 11 years?

And, um, what do you see happening down the road a little bit?

I'm, I'm really excited about it because.

What we created here in, in DFW, you know, we just had our fourth annual

10 year dinner, and there's people who I was sitting in front of with that

legal pad that are still here, that are still out there singing our praises.

Um, when people start pulling together, it's such, it, it's so exciting

to watch and it's wa it's, it's exciting to watch the communities

build and how much they love.

Us, you know, and these guys show up and they, they work together.

And, and so I'm very excited about it moving across the nation.

And I think that the way that we've built this and because it's really,

uh, it's, it's not, it's not a place that you're just spending money

in hopes to get something back.

It's a place that you can belong.

You know, that you can be a part of something.

And the more that grows, the more excited I I am to be able to see people saying

some of the things that were born in me.

To homeowners and, and you know, really whenever I really understood that

this, this thing has made it is when I started hearing homeowners say, oh,

well I won't even hire a contractor unless they're on that list, you know?

And, uh, and it's just gonna continue to perpetuate.

I think, uh, the nation needs this really badly, but the thing I

think I'm most excited about is if this does become a household name.

The contractors who are on here are growing their businesses well, and we're

able to, to do all the right things for a long time, it's gonna raise the standard

in the industry 'cause home, because there's gonna be contractors who start out

their jobs going, I'm not, I don't want to just figure out how I can make more money.

I want to know how do I get on that list.

How do, what do I have to accomplish?

You know?

And so I see that as this grows, we're probably gonna have, I always wanted

to have a good contractor, school of integrity, you know, and, and be

able to bring up new contractors and teach them the right things to do.

And, and in today's world.

It's, it's so hard to know who's, who's fake and who's not fake.

And so to be able to be a part of an organization where everybody can

feel like, no, that's the real deal.

The, if they're a part of that, they're genuine.

And so that's, that's what I'm excited about is, is I think it could

affect the entire industry really.

Very interesting.

So big news story this week, um, about, uh, Renova Home Partners filing

bankruptcy and Renova is a venture capital owned group that owned several

leading home improvement contractors, um, here in the United States.

And it's left a lot of team members displaced.

Um, a lot of.

Former owners of those companies feeling very disillusioned

and, and even heartbroken.

Um, some of those companies had just sold to Venture Capital

in the last two or three years.

I'm kind of curious, have you had any contractors come to you who are owned

by Venture Capital and um, again.

We may not put this in the show, um, but I'm kind of curious, what

would your feelings be on that if a contractor came to you who, um,

wasn't so much answering to consumers, which is where I think we want most

people to be as they were answering to financiers and investment folks.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We, we try to stay away from, um.

Large organizations.

Uh, I, I like to put, I like to put our con there's, there's really kind of

three different types of contractors.

The, there's, you know, what, what we call bucking a truck.

And, um, a lot of times they just don't have the resources to there,

you know, to get things done quickly.

They don't have the resources if something goes wrong.

Then on the other side is what you're.

Talking about the mega contractor,

the one that, uh, I mean, when, usually when you're a part of a larger

organization like that, there's, uh, they're being trained to sell more than

they're being trained to, you know, so like you're saying, they're kind of

under the, you know, we, you've gotta produce, uh, you've gotta say this

line, you've gotta use this thing, you know, and so we kind of, we kind

of stay away from, uh, a lot of that.

We're, we're more focused on what I call the honest guys in the middle.

Gotcha.

And so, uh, by doing that and ke and keeping that balance, we, we

typically don't find those that, you know, that get caught up in that kind of thing.

Very appropriate answer.

And you know, I, I think that we're gonna see more fallout in coming weeks and

months, um, as a result of, you know, that bankruptcy that was filed this week.

And, uh, my feeling is this may only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of, uh,

how this is going to impact our industry, um, over the next couple of years.

It's gonna be very interesting.

Well.

John, I absolutely love what you're doing, what you're doing.

I look forward to maintaining and even growing our relationship.

Now that I know that you're out there, um, is there anything we haven't covered

today that you wanted to be sure to tell the audience of Construction disruption?

Uh, I think really.

Because, because I've kind of focused on community, I think you've heard me

say that many times during the, during this podcast, um, it takes everyone.

To create a movement.

And that's what I feel like the good contractor's list is.

I don't look at it as a business.

I believe that this is a movement and we need everyone involved.

We need homeowners involved, we need contractors involved that,

that want to make sure that, that this remains pure as we go through.

So really the, the one thing that I, I ask is that if you're a homeowner

and you know, a good contractor.

That's been in business a long time, that does business.

Right?

And then go to our website and, and, you know, refer that contractor to us.

Uh, the only way we're gonna build this and build it right

is with the help of everyone.

And, um, we're not here to just sell stuff, you know, that the, the rates that

we're charging is not, is not exorbitant.

We're trying to build an organization and a movement of contractors that

are gonna take back that, that trust factor that's been lost over the years.

Absolutely love.

It seems very necessary and uh, good, good stuff.

You're doing John, this has been a great time together.

Um, before we close out, I have to ask if you're willing to participate in a little.

Something we call rapid fire here on construction disruption.

These are five questions for the most part, serious.

Maybe a couple are a little silly.

All you have to do is give a off top of your head response

you up to the challenge.

Well, you got me scared.

Now.

I don't know what this brain's gonna come up with off the top of its head, you know?

So, uh, yeah, sure.

Let's play it.

We love it.

We love it.

Ryan, you wanna ask the first question?

Yes, I would love to.

Question number one, is there a product or service that you've acquired recently

that's been a game changer for you?

I don't, I, I can't think of one.

No.

Okay.

No, nothing.

Rapid fire may not be right for me.

Go

That's all right.

one.

Quite all right.

Second question.

I love this one because it resonates with me.

So what is a vehicle that you once owned or maybe drove, maybe it was your

parents that you wish you still had?

I have the exact vehicle I've always wanted, I was a little kid and

I saw a Dodge Challenger that had been broken down in a field, and I used to

go in there and sit down and go, someday I'm gonna have a Dodge Challenger.

I wanna fix this one up.

You know?

And so that's what I drive today, is that my Dodge Challenger.

Not, not the one that was broken down in the field.

Right.

I got, yeah, I got one of the newer ones.

that'd be, oh, those are cool too.

Good

I love it.

Question number three.

Um, you're not allowed to answer with baby back ribs on this one,

but what is your favorite food?

Oh well I was gonna go baby back ribs.

What?

Okay.

Well, no.

Okay.

Well,

other than, other than baby back

well, right now it's, I mean, I'm a carnivore so I eat nothing but

meat and I like, I love ribeye steak.

There you go.

Good answer.

Uh, what's your bucket list?

Vacation?

Where's that place you've always dreamed of going to?

I kind of want to go where, uh, the Hobbit was filmed is, I think

it's New Zealand, the, or, you know, some of the someplace like that where

it's just a lot of jungle and stuff.

We do a lot of beach vacations.

I kind of always wanted to do one of those, uh, those types of vacations.

Something a little different.

You know, I, I, I never got into the, that movie, that movie series,

I guess it was, I should have probably, but I saw this thing the other day that

these people got married in front of, I guess, the Hobbit house or, you know, and.

Yeah,

Woods suddenly showed up at their wedding,

what

which was kind of cool.

That was ai.

That's fake.

I, I, I really think it was legit.

You might be right.

I should go back and check it out, but it seemed like it was legit, but who knows.

Okay, last question.

We will end on a serious note here with the last one.

How do you hope to be remembered, um, at the end of your days?

I like, I started this thing out, man.

I, I want to be remembered for being a servant.

I want to be remembered for doing the right thing.

Consistently and that I've, that I never fell under the pressure of the world.

You know, I just followed what God told me to do and that I, that

I ended my life knowing that I did everything God told me to do.

That's it.

Amen.

I was thinking to myself, I think you already answered this, so

Yeah.

Fantastic.

I love that question.

That's the way we know you're genuine.

'cause you gave the same answer both.

So we love that so well John, thank you.

You're making a great difference out there.

Um, for those who want to learn more about the good contractor's list, perhaps

even apply, uh, to be a part of it.

Um, what is the easy way for them to do that?

It's thegoodcontractorslist.com and you know that, that I wasn't a

business guy when I first started this thing because that domain's long.

But go to the good contractor list.com and uh, if you're a

homeowner, go to refer a contractor.

If you're a contractor that really feels like this is something that

you really want to be a part of, go to become a good contractor.

It'll give all the things that we require and fill out our

initial screening form that easy.

Well, we have a URL that is roofing for homeowners associations.com,

so we may actually even have you

Oh,

that's a long one.

so I'm pleased to say we all worked in our challenge words.

Um, Ryan's got used numerous times.

Ryan, your challenge word phrase was,

Baby back ribs.

oh, now I'm hungry.

I know

Mm-hmm.

lunch.

Um, John, yours was

Going down that rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland.

awesome and I had white lilies, which I was a little worried

about, but we got it in there, so.

White lilies on the grave of a contractor.

That was a good one.

I like that.

I felt a little bit, a little morbid saying that, but you know, we are

recording this on Halloween, so who knows.

Hey, John, thanks so much.

It's been a real pleasure to get to know you.

Thanks for joining us today.

Pleasure to know you guys.

Thank you.

I do appreciate it.

Thank you to our audience for tuning into this episode of

Construction Disruption with John Stewart Hill of the Good Contractors list.

Um, please watch for future episodes.

We always have great guests.

Don't forget to leave us a good review.

Um, until the next time we're together, keep on disrupting, keep on challenging,

keep on looking for better ways of doing things, and never forget to have a

positive impact on everyone you encounter.

Encourage them.

Make them smile.

Um, so God bless and take care.

This is Isaiah Industry signing off until the next episode

of Construction Disruption.