$62M & Growing: The Strategy Behind this Multi-Trade company in Indiana.
Episode 335 · 58 min · August 18, 2026

$62M & Growing: The Strategy Behind this Multi-Trade company in Indiana.

Jack Hope explains how Hope Plumbing grew to $62 million by owning a few zip codes, staying trade-focused, and making two strategic acquisitions.

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About this episode

Jack Hope, co-founder of Hope Plumbing, Heating, and Conditioning in Indianapolis, joined the show to discuss how the company grew from a two-man residential plumbing operation to a multi-trade business on pace for $75 million. The conversation covered the origin of the company, which Jack and his partner Brad started around 2007 after leaving a mechanical contractor, and how joining a peer group and visiting a large Kansas City plumbing operation gave them their first look at what a scaled service business could look like.

A significant portion of the discussion focused on geographic concentration as a growth strategy. Hope Plumbing built its early base by saturating a small number of zip codes in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis, using door hangers and business cards rather than digital advertising. The group agreed that this hyper-local approach still works and is underused, particularly when digital lead costs climb toward $300 per lead. Hope still deploys technicians with excess time to distribute flyers at their standard hourly rate.

Jack explained that the company stayed plumbing-only until April of the prior year, when it acquired a local HVAC company called Service Plus at roughly $12 million in revenue. The electrical trade followed through a separate acquisition. He noted that plumbing and electrical share similar operational rhythms, including steadier call volume and comparable KPIs, making that combination easier to manage than adding HVAC, which carries more seasonal variability and a steeper learning curve.

On rapid-fire business questions, Jack identified total revenue as the most overrated KPI and argued that close rate is more important than average ticket size over the long run, because repeat customers and trust compound over time. He also pointed to technician health as the most underacknowledged problem in the trades, noting that the job structure makes poor eating habits and limited physical activity the default for most field workers.

Key takeaways

  • Concentrate marketing and labor in a small number of zip codes before expanding, so you build real market share rather than thin coverage across a large area.
  • When technicians have downtime, deploy them to distribute door hangers at their standard hourly rate rather than paying for expensive digital leads.
  • If you are a plumbing company considering a second trade, electrical may be easier to integrate than HVAC because the scheduling patterns, KPIs, and day-to-day operations are more similar.
  • Set a clear internal threshold for adding a new trade, such as adding HVAC only when plumbing growth slows due to market saturation rather than operational limits.
  • Prioritize close rate as a long-term growth metric over average ticket size, because consistent trust with customers drives repeat calls and referrals.
  • Take technician health seriously as an operational issue, since the structure of field work makes poor nutrition and limited physical activity the default, and simple changes like providing healthier snack options at the shop can help.

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