HVAC Operational Failures

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In this powerful and deeply honest episode of To The Point Home Services, we sit down with Will Staton, owner of Staton Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, to unpack his journey from personal loss and addiction to building a $17M+ residential home services company with sights set on $23–$24M.

Will shares the real story behind cutting new construction, jumping headfirst into service, adding HVAC without experience, and learning business fundamentals the hard way. This episode goes far beyond tactics, it’s about ownership, leadership, perspective, and resilience.

If you’re a trades business owner, second-generation operator, or anyone navigating growth through chaos, this episode will hit home.

🔑 Key Topics & Takeaways

• Growing up in a second-generation trades business
• Losing a parent young and how it shaped leadership and work ethic
• Addiction, recovery, and extreme ownership
• Cutting new construction and transitioning to service
• Adding HVAC and surviving early operational disasters
• ServiceTitan lessons, pricing mistakes, and KPI reality checks
• Why leadership buy-in matters more than tactics
• Hiring for standards, accountability, and culture
• Rebuilding operations the right way
• What Will would do differently—and what he wouldn’t change

⏱️ Episode Timecodes

00:00 – New year mindset & intro

01:30 – Who is Will Staton & overview of the business

04:10 – Getting into the trades & second-generation roots

08:55 – Losing his mother at 13 and early life impact

11:55 – Addiction, recovery, and rebuilding identity

15:20 – Lessons from addiction that translate to business

19:00 – Extreme ownership & leadership perspective

25:00 – Leaving new construction behind

26:30 – Adding HVAC during COVID

28:30 – ServiceTitan, marketing mistakes & cash flow pain

31:15 – Why HVAC almost broke the business

34:10 – Leadership failures & rebuilding the team

36:50 – Hiring differently & resetting expectations

38:30 – KPIs, pricing, accountability & culture

40:00 – What it really takes to scale sustainably

🔗 Resources & Mentions

• Staton Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
• ServiceTitan - https://www.servicetitan.com/
• EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) - https://www.eosworldwide.com/
• Extreme Ownership – Jocko Willink
• Terry Nichols HVAC Training - https://www.praxiss10.com/

📢 Call to Action

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