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Show Summary
In this conversation, Jeff Ortiz discusses the transformative power of faith in personal life and business. He emphasizes the importance of understanding God’s will and how it influences success. Jeff also highlights the significance of building strategic relationships in business and offers insights into his consulting services, both in handyman work and spiritual guidance.
Resources and Links from this show:
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- Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
- Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
- Mike on Facebook
- Mike on Instagram
- Mike on LinkedIn
- Jeff Ortiz’s Email Address: [email protected]
- Jeff Ortiz’s Phone number: (330) 802-4469
Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode
Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Jeff Ortiz (00:00)
the electricians don’t know what they’re going to do. The plumbers don’t know what they’re going to do. The professional people have it, like you mentioned a couple times. They don’t know what they’re going to do, but this is what they’re going to do. They’re going to have handyman that have experience in all things.and end up hiring some of these handyman guys, they come in. I work on furnaces. go, people send my furnaces out. It’s 10 degrees. I go over there, pull out their thermocouple, sand it, put it back in. I charge them a service call, 45 bucks, 50 bucks, whatever. Turn it on, everything’s fine. Now you call a Havoc guy, out, he’s $165 for the service call.
He’s going to do the same exact thing I’m going to do to get it back running.
Dylan Silver (02:19)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Jeff Ortiz in Ohio, has a handyman services company, been active for many years and also has a background in faith as an apostle with pastoral services with his ministry Firestorm Prayer Ministries International. He’s also a published author. Jeff, welcome to the show.It’s great to have you on here, Jeff. I always like to start off at the top of this show by asking guests how they got started in business, in your case in Handyman Services.
Jeff Ortiz (02:54)
Oh, from an early age, I quit school when I was 16 and ended up in my dad told me if I’m going to quit school, I have to go to work. So I started working at an early age, started roofing houses. My dad had a lot of friends. worked in the roof and you know, that type of stuff. And so I was fortunate throughout my life to always beworking with people that would teach me what they know, roofing, plumbing, electric. I worked on ships. I did all kinds of stuff throughout my life. And I’m good with my hands. So that’s how kind I got started. And then when I got older, I went back to school, got my GED. Now I got a bachelor’s in pastoral psychology and theology. So it’s been a long road.
Dylan Silver (03:49)
I am curious how the business has grown. When you were just starting out, for instance, young, young age, right? Did you know at that point in time that, this is gonna be a lifelong pursuit? And did you see into the future, know, scaling a business? Or did that come at some point in time later?Jeff Ortiz (04:09)
When I was probably 25, between 25 and 30, I had started, I had a son, Jeff Jr., he’s older now, he’s almost 50, or he is 50, but anyway, he and me, I started a construction business, because I work construction, I work maintenance and this type of stuff, called Jeff and Sons Construction.Now my son was only 10 years old. He couldn’t do the construction. He’d work with me on occasion. But eventually I wanted to work and then whenever I retired, I could leave him the business. He could run the business or what have you. But he worked with me several times. So I worked the construction field for many years. I mean, before the handyman, before they even had handyman. They didn’t even have everything you work construction. You’re a carpenter.
Dylan Silver (05:02)
Right.Jeff Ortiz (05:02)
plumber, you’re a drywaller, you’re a roofer, you’re, you know, whatever,electrician, what have you. So I knew that ⁓ eventually having your own business, I was business oriented. I knew I needed to have my own business. I worked in the oil refineries. I worked on ships. ⁓ I had a mindset to work.
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Dylan Silver (06:15)
Right,right. You know, when I think about, for instance, those early days, we were talking before the show, Jeff, about the distinction between, you know, handyman services and some of these other terms ⁓ that people are familiar with, you know, ⁓ plumber, contractor, HVAC, right?
And you’re involved in a lot of that. For our audience and for me, can you break down some of the differences in terminology? For instance, when someone is a handyman and they do some of these services versus when someone is a licensed plumber.
Jeff Ortiz (06:52)
Okay, let me just, let me kind of just break this down for you real quick. What is happening now in the work field as far as construction, handyman and all that? The younger generation don’t want to work like I work or we work because it’s more high tech. They want to become ⁓ YouTube. They want to do all these high tech stuff. They want to be movie critics. They want to be⁓ you know, more of the business computer type, most of the young people that they, so when I was younger, we would work and be appointed to somebody that was a plumber or electrician. That plumber or electrician would hire you and you would learn that trade. Well, now 30 years later, handyman are popping over up all over the country. And the reason why they do that
is because these handyman have been trained in all trades. Now my licensing, when I’m licensed, but when I pay my insurance, it’s called all trades. So a handyman does all trades. It doesn’t mean he’s a master plumber, it doesn’t mean he’s a licensed electrician, but he does enough in the household to do just as good as work as them.
The point of it is, is the old guys have went into the handyman business because they can’t survive being just a drywaller, a mudder, a plumber, an electrician. If you don’t know everything, you’re not going to stay busy. If you’re just a roofer, just a roofer, how are you going to roof in over here in Ohio when it snows and it’s cold for six months? No, you’ve got to do something else. So they’re popping up. Everybody does.
Dylan Silver (08:15)
Yep.Right.
Jeff Ortiz (08:35)
They call them home repair, handyman. They call them all kinds of different names. I’ve even seen one, howdy duty handyman and all kinds of different stuff. So that’s what it’s going to. We become handyman because the young people do not want to work like we worked and how we was taught. I’ve been through 10 guys, usually a year.Dylan Silver (08:54)
So you gotta be a literal jack of all trades.Jeff Ortiz (09:01)
They can’t, they can’t, they don’t want to deal with it. They get paid. Well, I don’t really want to do this. It’s too hard to work. You know, you could be a concrete finisher. can be, there’s all kinds of trades, but if you do a little bit of it, if you don’t know how to do it, then you suggest the customer, why don’t you go ahead and hire, you know, if you set cabinets, get a cabinet hanger, you know, and stuff like that. I do all of that, but, so handyman, I get calls constantly.Come fix my plumb on my pipe rope, blah, blah, blah. So.
Dylan Silver (09:32)
I want to ask you about, you mentioned the younger generation, not necessarily being gung-ho about working in the trades, handyman services and so on, and they might do it for a little bit, this isn’t for me, I’m not interested in how hard this is, how I might be doing this for a long time, heavy work, right? There’s also a…School of thought out there that I see a lot online I also it resonates with me personally which is you know, there’s an aging plumber There’s an aging, you know HVAC there’s a you know aging, you know people who own roofing companies and so on and that for young people especially There is a huge opportunity in the trades in handyman services especially
you know, if you’re in an area where, you know, it’s more uncommon for people to, you know, pick up and swing a hammer, and if you can go out and make a name for yourself, build a brand, especially as someone who’s young in the field, I think there would be a lot of enthusiasm from, you know, your local market to support you in your business.
Jeff Ortiz (11:18)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, let me just, let me just comment there for a second. This is what it is. We’re getting old. I’m 70 and I’m still forced to work. ⁓ Not kind of forced. I could retire, but I still got a couple of years. I think I could, you know, continue a little bit, couple more years. Anyway, what takes place is all the older gentlemen and I see them every day, Home Depot, Lowe’s. I can’t keep a helper.I can’t keep somebody to help me. So they’re at my age, 65, 63, 68, 70, whatever. They don’t have a helper. They have to do everything their self. If they get a young guy, because young guys don’t want to work hard, they want to, you know, actually the Bible says that the next generation will be wiser than the generation before. So they want to do tech stuff. They want to be
Dylan Silver (11:59)
ThankJeff Ortiz (12:08)
Lawyers, they want to be stuffed without getting their hands dirty. They want to make more money. want to… Sothe electricians don’t know what they’re going to do. The plumbers don’t know what they’re going to do. The professional people have it, like you mentioned a couple times. They don’t know what they’re going to do, but this is what they’re going to do. They’re going to have handyman that have experience in all things.
and end up hiring some of these handyman guys, they come in. I work on furnaces. go, people send my furnaces out. It’s 10 degrees. I go over there, pull out their thermocouple, sand it, put it back in. I charge them a service call, 45 bucks, 50 bucks, whatever. Turn it on, everything’s fine. Now you call a Havoc guy, out, he’s $165 for the service call.
He’s going to do the same exact thing I’m going to do to get it back running.
There’s three things. It’s either that, the motor’s burned out, or something minor. So that’s what I’m talking about. Now they’ve got a busted pipe. I got to go in there and cut the plumbing pipe, put in a shark bite, I’m done. 30 minutes, 45 bucks. Plumber comes in, 150. I’ll fix it. 150. So what it is is people, our communities,
Dylan Silver (13:12)
Right.triple.
Jeff Ortiz (13:24)
don’t want to pay that high price because everything they make usually just enough to make the house payment, the car payment, and just surviving. I’m not calling that master plumber. Let me go call Jeff. So they call me, can you fix it? Yeah, I could fix it. You know, like the hose bus, the hose thing broke off, water’s shooting up. Can you fix it? Yeah, shut your water off. I cut it, repair it, put it back on, boom, 45 bucks. Plumber.Dylan Silver (13:31)
Yep. Yep.Right.
Jeff Ortiz (13:52)
275.Dylan Silver (13:53)
Yep. You know, and when we, when we talk about the increased price for, you know, one individual trade plumbing, right, for instance, you would think that, you know, if there’s an aging plumber that he’s built a book of business that there would be someone out there who would be excited to buy that business. And that way that plumber could retire and sell the business.As I’ve learned from talking with folks like yourself, even if you’ve built up ⁓ a substantial book of business, there’s not people jumping out of the woodwork to buy these small trades or handyman services companies.
Jeff Ortiz (14:32)
You got to look at the community and you have to look at the people and how they’re surviving, how they’re making. Sometimes if the husband is just the husband working, the mom has to stay home and take care of the kids. That husband’s income usually just covers everything. They may go out once a a week or they have one good day, but they’re not financially.⁓ secure enough that they don’t have to worry about it. They’re calling me and they say, Jeff, can you come do… You know, the plumber and the havoc guy over there, I got a busted sewer line in the concrete, in the basement. Can you repair that? No, but I, I, I can, I can do it, but I just have to have my guys, my, my, my crew do it. Well, this guy wants $5,000.
Give me $2,000, I’ll do it myself. Come over, get a jackhammer, boom, place the broken pipe, wait till it says, have the inspector come look at it. I got a license, hello. Fill it back up, concrete it. I’m out of there for 2,000, but meanwhile, the Roto-Rooter company want to charge them $5,000.
Dylan Silver (16:25)
Yeah. You know, when we talk about the just the cost of life in general, people look at especially as a real estate guy myself, people look at owning a home as a tremendous investment, which I still believe it is. And I’m not just saying that as a realtor, but I truly believe, you know, that it is. But I will say that, you know, especially for folks who are looking at, you know, making a quick buck.It’s more and more challenging to do that right now in real estate. Not to say that it’s impossible. There’s definitely ⁓ lots of flippers that I’m affiliated with through this show. And of course there’s people who have built a successful business in that. But if you got in, let’s say, at the peak of flipping, which might have been around 2019 timeframe, and you’re applying that same strategy now in the fix and flip space, it’s just not as easy for so many reasons. And so…
folks who are looking at making money in real estate, they’re having to ⁓ factor in maintenance. If you’re renting the place out, you’re having to factor in vacancy, possible evictions, right? And so I was speaking with an investor actually yesterday, Jeff, who told me point blank, I’m looking to get out of my rentals, and he had built up a sizable portfolio. So when we talk about real estate ownership,
It’s definitely not all sunshine and rainbows because you have, you know, a $5,000 repair and you’re struggling just to get by. How do you make the payment? for folks like myself and for our audience who Handyman Services may or may not be on their radar, I think more people are going to be looking at it now, especially after listening to a show like this.
Jeff Ortiz (18:09)
Okay, one of the things I’d like to just implement here with that same guy that you just mentioned, if he would had me and my two guys, right, then he would become profitable because I would show him that we could take care of all his maintenance problems. You pay, you know, worth $30 an hour, my guys, I’ll charge you.We’ve got two guys, $60 an hour. Let them go and put the water heater in. They’ve done hundreds of them. This or that. Let me go in there and take out that panel. If we have to have a licensed electrician to get the permit, which you do here, we’d have the license. He’d get the permit and I’d do the work. So when you have good people backing you up, I got guys that I worked for. One’s got 20 houses. One guy’s got 60 houses. Another guy I’m just trying to get, he’s got 40 houses.
So if I lock in and we become their handyman business, maintenance business, because I did maintenance on houses for years too. So what they do is guess what? They’re going to be profitable. That’s like you hire me over there. I come over there. You got 10 houses. Guess what? All he does is say Jeff. This is what he does. Jeff Crystal, whatever name might be, her water.
Dylan Silver (19:16)
Right.Jeff Ortiz (19:26)
And her furnace ain’t working. I don’t know what’s going on. I go over there. She just needs a filter. It shuts down because the filter has never been changed. Pull the filter, put a filter in. Water leak and I tighten up all the faucets. I tightened up. Everything’s stopped, fixed. He’s at work. He works for the city. He’s at the city. I text him, taking care of how much I owe you. He zels me. He zels me.I give them a picture of an invoice. I take a picture of it. I send it to them. They pay me. They got proof of the work and a legal document for some, know, this is how I do it. It goes on my Zelle, goes into either my handyman count or it goes into my church or however he wants to pay. Some people want to donate it to the church. Let me just give you a donation. I have a church, online church, whatever it is.
Dylan Silver (20:17)
Yeah.Jeff Ortiz (20:19)
So I would make you profitable. If I worked for you, I would make you profitable because you can buy and invest without worrying about a $5,000. So what happens? We have established a good work ethic and you are successful.Dylan Silver (20:31)
auto repair. Yup. Yup.Yeah, yeah, you know when we talk about getting started, especially for folks, you know, who may have jobs outside of the real estate space, they may be doing this part time, this may be one of their first investments, they can’t afford, you know, a $5,000 a pair in many cases, nor can they afford, you know, if they’re needing to do a maintenance call and they’re at work and they can’t be there themselves. So having these type of strategic relationships is pivotal.
⁓ Jeff, we are coming up on time here though. Where can folks go to learn more about your business, Handyman Services, but I also know you’re involved in so much. Where can folks find you? How can they reach out to you?
Jeff Ortiz (21:20)
You can do this for consulting. Say that you got a problem within your household, something you could call me. I’m going to give you, it’s [email protected] Okay. You could text me or send me something, say, you know what, I need some advice. I’ll give it to you. Pay me or not, because I don’t want you to go have to end up paying a bunch of money. And then also,I consult spiritually. I’m a pastor. I’m a minister. And then that’s how you reach me. My phone number is 330-802-4469. I’m on Easter time. Please don’t call me at two in the morning because Africa does that. They don’t get it. They’re seven hours ahead of me over there. They’re calling me at 1230 at night.
thinking I’m awake, because it’s 7.30 over there, right? So, don’t, what time is it there with you?
Dylan Silver (22:18)
.So Eastern, we’re one hour ahead at this time of year. So it’s 9.30 here. It’s probably 8.30 over there where you’re at.
Jeff Ortiz (22:27)
Yeah, that’s not bad. I could put up with that, but seven hours. And then India, I work with India pastors, ⁓ they’re 11 hours. What? That’s a whole nother other can of worms there.Dylan Silver (22:36)
Yeah, that’s another day.Jeff, again, thank you for coming on the show today. Thank you for talking with our audience. Thank you for coming on the show, Jeff.
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