• Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
  • ENGINEERS
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
  • RESOURCES
  • EMAGAZINE
  • SIGN UP!
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • PRODUCTS
  • FEATURED PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
  • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
  • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
  • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • WATER TREATMENT
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
  • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
  • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
  • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
  • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
  • CONTINUING EDUCATION
  • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
  • FIRE PROTECTION
  • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
  • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
  • PME COLUMNS
  • PME COLUMNS
  • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
  • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
  • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
  • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
  • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
  • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
  • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
  • CODES
  • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
  • PROJECT PROFILES
  • COLUMNS
  • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • COLUMNS
  • Codes Corner
  • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
  • Guest Editorial
  • MEDIA
  • EBOOKS
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
  • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
  • DIRECTORIES
  • PM BOOKSTORE
  • CE CENTER
  • MARKET RESEARCH
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
  • EMAGAZINE
  • ARCHIVE ISSUES
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE
  • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
    • FEATURED PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • EBOOKS
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!
ColumnsBusiness Management

Al Levi: It’s a drug and we’re hooked: social media world company culture

Ensure your company is pursuing the right jobs for the right money.

By Al Levi
social media and company culture
December 4, 2019

"It’s a drug and we’re hooked!” is what I said to my brother, Richie, about the fix I felt we got from doing the really big monster commercial and residential jobs for what we felt were lots of dollars. The reality is once we learned to track these jobs better and better, we realized that they tended to generate little to no profit or sometimes even a loss.

Some of that was because we weren’t as good at getting paid for change orders as we thought we were. Also, we allowed ourselves to get squeezed on price initially because we wanted to stay busy with jobs to pay for the lights in our building and keep our staff working. After all, we figured we charged enough; there had to be money at the end of it all.

It seemed like we had to be making money because we loved how much the total sale was. However, the profit was choked off because we had little chance of adding value because we were famously stuck in the middle of a bidding war.

Middle of what you ask? The middle was between the end user (the commercial or residential owner of the property) and the general contractor (GC) who hired us. It wasn’t that the GCs were bad people … not at all. But, the harsh reality is they only made money by squeezing us on the price because they, in turn, had to win the bid away from the other GCs they were competing with who were in an all out bidding war.

When Richie and I finally sat down and thought about it, what we realized was we had to get more attached to doing install work for money versus install work for exercise. Once we saw our addiction to the big-ticket jobs working for the middleman versus the person or business who had a stake in the outcome, we instantly knew installing for money meant working for the end user versus working for the middleman.

We had to build value with the only one who’d be willing to pay for it. The only customers who would pay for our level of expertise and craftsmanship that our company could uniquely deliver were those end users. That’s because they had a vested interest in the outcome, which is why they valued what we did and how we did it as much, if not more, than just the price we did it for.

For us, the most profitable work became apparent with tracking. Those jobs were the install jobs that lasted two weeks or less. We actually become super fond of one day, two day, one week and two week jobs.

I know there’s fear in letting go of the new construction and bid jobs. I know because we also feared that there would be no work and no money to cover the overhead. However, we found that as long as we stay addicted to the big money job “drug,” we couldn’t see all the other work we should be pursuing. Once we withdrew from the fix, magically, we got serious about finding and capitalizing on the right type of profitable install job. And the work magically appeared. The reality is it was always there, but hidden by the shiny glow of big-ticket jobs for the wrong people.

Today, I do a lot of consulting with commercial contractors in the plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical industry. This type of work fits with what my company has done for years serving the commercial, industrial and residential markets. Actually, I do work with garage door companies, roofing companies and cabinetry companies because they have the same issues so many of the same solutions apply to these contractors too.

What I’ve seen with large commercial contractors is they too have felt the squeeze when doing “plan and spec” work for general contractors versus doing “design and build” work for the end user.

One client explained the way to understand the difference between doing “plan and spec” work (which they don’t want) and doing “design and build” (which they do want) as “plan and spec” stands for “pain and suffering!”

The best of the commercial clients I work for are doing profitable install work today because they too have realized that only the people who own the premises care about what they uniquely can do and are willing to pay for it.

Note: If you have a good working relationship with a GC and can get them to allow you to talk to the end user about value added subjects, this too can unlock profitability and better serve the customers.

If not, is it time you quit the addiction of doing big-ticket jobs for the wrong customer at the wrong price and wrong profit margin?

KEYWORDS: business coaching pricing sales

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

200x200 7power blog

Al Levi teaches contractors how to run their businesses with less stress and more success with operating manuals. To get control of your business and grow the right way, check out the "7-Power Contractor Signature Operating Manuals System," at 7powercontractor.com/manuals. Also check out Zoom Franchise Co. at zoomdrainfranchise.com. It’s a living example of the power of manuals and more in action.

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
to unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • Worker using the Milwaukee Tool SWITCH PACK drain cleaner

    Pipeline profits: Drain cleaning, pipe inspection create opportunities

    Drain cleaning and inspection services offer lucrative...
    Green Plumbing and Mechanical
    By: Nicole Krawcke
  • Uponor employee, Arturo Moreno

    The reinvestment in American manufacturing and training

    Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke and...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster
  • March 2024 Women in Plumbing hero image of woman engineer overlayed by circle of hexagon shapes with numbers from 1 to 10

    Celebrating 10 Influential Women in the Plumbing Industry

    Celebrating Women's History Month and Women in...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke
close

1 COMPLIMENTARY ARTICLE(S) LEFT

Unlock the future of plumbing trends with Plumbing & Mechanical.

REGISTER TODAY

Already a Registered User? Sign in now.

Manage My Account
  • eNewsletters
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • eMagazine
  • Manage My Preferences

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

NIBCO Press Solutions

NIBCO Press Solutions

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

More Videos

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is a special paid section where industry companies provide high quality, objective, non-commercial content around topics of interest to the Plumbing & Mechanical audience. All Sponsored Content is supplied by the advertising company and any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of Plumbing & Mechanical or its parent company, BNP Media. Interested in participating in our Sponsored Content section? Contact your local rep!

close
  • J.J. Keller CMV vehicles on road
    Sponsored byJ. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

    The dash cam game-changer for small business safety

Popular Stories

Heat pump of air-water technology for the home.

Rethinking Heat Transfer: Why 'Natural' Isn't Always Ideal for Air-to-Water Systems

Bath & Kitchen Pro 2025 Cover 900x550 hero image

eBook | Fifth annual Bath & Kitchen Pro

Solar rooftop on apartment condo building in Nashville, Tennessee. Production of clean ecological electrical energy. Renewable electricity with zero emission.

The Age of Deregulation? Proposed Changes to Federal Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation Standards

2025 Bath & Kitchen Pro eBook

Events

November 13, 2024

Future Proofing MEP: Navigating the 2026 High Efficiency Water Heating Standards

Join our deep dive into DOE’s new standards so you can future-proof your MEP practice.

EARN: 0.1 ASPE CEU; 1 AIA LU/HSW; 0.1 IACET CEU*; 1 PDH

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Will business be up or down in 2025?

Do you anticipate business in 2025 to be up or down in comparison to 2024?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

The Water Came To A Stop

The Water Came To A Stop

See More Products

Download the FREE Water Conservation, Quality & Safety eBook: Plumbing Trends Increasing Safe Water Availability

Related Articles

  • Al Levi

    Al Levi: Behavior in the new social media world company culture

    See More
  • Al Levi

    Al Levi: Sharpening the axe before you need it company culture

    See More
  • Al Levi

    Al Levi: No such thing as accidental company culture

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • Whitepaper-Social-Media-3.gif

    Optimizing Social Media from a B2B Perspective

  • M:\General Shared\__AEC Store Katie Z\AEC Store\Images\Plumbing\new sites\lessons_learned_in_the_boil.gif

    Lessons Learned in a Boiler Room: A common sense approach to servicing and installing commercial boilers

  • pocketfullsteamproblm.gif

    A Pocketful of Steam Problems (with solutions!)

See More Products
×

Keep your content unclogged with our newsletters!

Stay in the know on the latest plumbing & piping industry trends.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Directories
    • Store
    • Want More
    • Supply House Times
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletter
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing

search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
    • FEATURED PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • EBOOKS
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!