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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Randy Hurtado, COO and co-owner of multiple home-based service companies. Randy shares insights on the importance of a servant’s heart in business, building relationships in the real estate industry, and the value of the Good Contractors List. He emphasizes community engagement and the need for authentic connections in today’s digital world, while also discussing his future goals for expanding his business and helping others succeed.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Randy Hurtado (00:00)
You know, it would, and again, I bring up 50 years ago, this would have sounded ⁓ obtuse that this would be my recommendation, but just get out and get in front of people. You know, we lost connection with people when the world went flat, right?Everybody’s swiping all the time.
Get out there in the community. Break bread with people. Get community with them. And not only will you bring your service to them through just proxy
Quentin (02:04)
everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And y’all know I am super excited today. I’m always excited just when I’m coming for you guys, but my guests always seem to get me excited. And me and this guy, we were talking backstage, and part of our last conversation really got me turned up. But I mean, just what he’s about, what he stands for, he’s probably going to talk to us from a couple different…perspective and through a couple different lenses today. He has a roofing company, but also I believe he’s going to talk to you about the good contracting list. This guy is very successful at what he does. He come into a business and he take a business from one position and he takes it to the next level. And so I’m super excited to introduce to you guys. And I should have asked him about his last name before I tried it, but I’m going to try it here. Here we go guys. I’m going to try it right here. Mr. Randy Hurtado. How did I do Mr. Randy?
Randy Hurtado (03:03)
It’s Hurtado, but either way, potato, potato, potato, right?Quentin (03:04)
Otado.There you go,
there you go. See, I should have seen you could have sat me up. I’m talking about setting you up. That was a perfect setup, man. So I appreciate you being here, sir. How you feeling today,
Randy Hurtado (03:17)
it’s feeling great. Whole day of meetings and you know what, when you’re meeting that means that things are happening in business. no, truly blessed.Quentin (03:27)
Absolutely, man. Absolutely. I totally agree with you. Listen, I know our listeners are really going to get a great takeaway as you talk. again, I told you, you know, I want you to talk about what it is you want to talk about because you have perspectives and different lenses and two totally different things, but they all unite and bring very, very great value to our audience. I know it is. And so, Mr. Randy, what I want to do is turn it over to you. I’m going to dial then.I want you to take people into your world, people that’s not familiar with you. want you to give us a short version of what’s your main focus these days and what markets you’re operating.
Randy Hurtado (04:07)
Sure, thanks for asking. So my name is Randy Hurtado. I’m the current COO and co-owner of five different home-based service companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.Quentin (04:09)
Absolutely.Randy Hurtado (04:18)
⁓ One of them, our largest one is a roofing company, a residential roofing company. We also have a construction company, a commercial roofing company separately, a gutter company and a garage door and service company. I am also the current COO of the Good Contractors List, which is a guaranteed backed solution for contractors who are looking for an opportunity to differentiate themselves in front of their clients when they’re one of the good guys.Quentin (04:49)
Absolutely, man. Again, I don’t want to try to stir you in a direction. I want you to talk about kind of what’s the burning sensation on your heart or burning sensation that you really feel like howwould get value from. I’ll be honest, I will set you up here. One thing I’m going to nitpick at a little bit is one thing that you said that stuck out to me is your servant’s heart.
Right? You feel like, you know, you want to serve people and that’s the engine that kind of keep you going. And so I would love if you could speak to that. And again, kind of take us again in a direction kind of you want to go. can, I can pull us a little bit, but man, I know you already got a perspective on where you want to go. So I just want you to lead us there for a little bit,
Randy Hurtado (06:18)
Yeah, so as it pertains to the servant heart, you know, that obviously comes from an element of my faith. But, you know, as we were talking about backstage, you know, the most service based companies, if they would just remember that if they focused on service and just serving their community and serving them well, that this success will happen organically. I think too many people focus on chasing that dollar and they forget that there are people attached to those dollars. And the more you connect with those people,the better chance you have of not only repeat customers, but being chosen in the beginning. Some of that also deals specifically in the real estate world. Our company ⁓ over the years has grown exponentially. And last year we did $30 million in revenue in the residential roofing area. Because of our relation-based ⁓ business model, real estate agents are one of our focal points when it comes to our professional partnerships.
real estate agents, insurance agents, property managers, but just sticking with real estate agents, a lot of contractors, when they try to engage real estate agents, they look at what the agent can do for them, how it can benefit their business instead of looking at how they can provide value to that agent. And what we learned many years ago is understanding the process that a real estate agent goes through when trying to sell a property. We realized that there’s three main areas that
hold up a deal ⁓ from moving forward. And that is the foundation, the HVAC system, and the roof. Now, obviously, we’re a roofing company. And so our messaging to our real estate agents locally was less about, hey, when you need a roofer, call me. It was more on the line of telling a story. Like, you what I like to do is I’ll stand in front of a bunch of agents, and I’ll say, how many times have you listed a property? You get a buyer on the hook. The buyer orders a home inspection.
And then the home inspector scares the crap out of the buyer and either causes them to start asking a bunch of questions that are unnecessary or kills the deal altogether. And almost every hand goes up. And so the value, the value add that we bring to our roofing partners, I mean, our real estate partners is we’ll say, look, if you will contact us before you list any of those properties and have us come out and do an adequate inspection on that roof.
We’re going to give you the results of what’s going on with that roof. We’re either going to give you a clean bill health, a few repairs are necessary to give it a clean bill of health, or this roof is hammered by hail or whatever the problem is, it needs to be replaced. Then we engage the seller’s insurance company, we get that roof replaced. Now, when you make that listing, it’s free, our brand new roof installed, right? So you have this value, this captured ⁓ statement within your listing that
will draw more customers. And even more so when we’re talking about commission-based people, every concession that you make takes money out of your pocket as a real estate agent. And so if you’re able to go back during that negotiating point and say, no, we’re not doing all that peddly stuff. We just put a $30,000 roof on this house. It gives you the ability to stand firm and then go, you know what? They’re right. They just put that.
You know, what we do in our area for our real estate agents gives them the ability to sell a lot more, to make more commission on the backend, to get the deal across the line. And we never asked them once, will you call us to, you know, for your roofing needs? No, we’re bringing a solution to a problem that they have
and resolving it. And that means what that results to is $8.3 million of our revenue last year.
was a direct reflection of relationships that we have with either real estate agents, insurance agents, or property managers. so, you know, if again, it goes back to my original point, if your number one focus is to serve, then the revenue will follow. But if you just go in and you say, I’m a roofer, here’s my business cards, if you need my services, call me, you’re probably not gonna be very successful in that.
Quentin (10:48)
Yeah, no.Yeah.
Yeah, Nah, man, I thank you for that. Again, I mean, what you said at the end sums up everything I feel like I’m getting to know about you. It’s like, serving to you, making sure that people know, hey, look, I’m here to serve, and that makes all the difference in the world. Now, I know, you I mean, you’ve done 30 million in residential real estate, so I know when I ask this question, your wheels are probably gonna turn.
I know there’s moments when things get real, right? When maybe a deal goes sideways or a time when you had to pivot fast. Do you mind sharing any stories like that within your roofing world of times when you had to kind of pivot fast? Yeah.
Randy Hurtado (11:49)
Most of those come in the form of if an agent decides not to engage us early and a home inspection happens and again scares the crap out of the buyer. So now their hair’s on fire. Now they got to find a roof. They call us up. Well, then we get out there. This happens oftentimes where, yeah, the roof is hammered, but that homeowner, that seller already filed a claim in the past and they didn’t replace the roof. They spent the money.And so where we will address that is as long as we know that there’s equity in the property in order to cover our invoice at closing, then we’ll go ahead and we’ll get that roof installed and replaced so that we could help them save the deal. And oftentimes it’s for nothing more than 500 bucks out of the homeowner’s pocket because in the state of Texas, if money doesn’t exchange hands, it’s not a valid contract. And so we’ll at least require about 500 bucks.
But then we will send our invoice into the title company and at the day of closing, we’ll get paid then. Being flexible during a time when people’s hairs are on fire ⁓ shows you to be ⁓ an adequate partner, a true partner when it comes to helping that real estate agent. And they’ll remember that. They remember and they tell all of their agents about it. And I know it was just a Freudian slip, but I haven’t done 30 million in real estate. It’s 30 million in roofing every year, but yes.
Quentin (13:15)
Thank you, sorry about that.And Ruth, and gotcha, gotcha. And I might have just wrote it wrong, trying to make sure I’m active listening and taking notes at the same time. So I might have just, but thank you, yeah, thank you. Because I want to be putting on a fraudulent information, so I appreciate that. Thank you so much,
Randy Hurtado (13:17)
Yeah. ⁓Yes, sir. No, I get it.
No, do have a real estate portfolio, it ⁓
is not 30 million.
Quentin (13:37)
I’m joking. ⁓See y’all, that’s the integrity coming through. I appreciate it. Like, yeah, yeah, we got it. Yeah, I appreciate you, man. And again, that shows me even with the story that you sent being flexible when the roof is on fire or when house is on fire, I guess pun intended maybe. But it lets me know that integrity, the way you approach business, lets me know you’re in it for the long term, right? You’re just not dabbing in this.
Randy Hurtado (13:59)
Yeah.Well,
it goes a lot to what you see behind me. These are our company mottos. It’s quality, culture, community, integrity. Like if you have all those things in place, all five of them, we’ve only talked about one of my companies, but all five of them thrive in their own respect. And it’s because those are the hallmarks of everyday communication.
Quentin (14:10)
Yeah.Let’s go.
⁓ yeah.
Randy Hurtado (14:33)
and discussion with clients and when we meet with them is if those things are in place, you cannot fail. And I’ll tell you why you can’t fail. 50 years ago, those were the norm.Quentin (14:45)
⁓Randy Hurtado (14:47)
Right? And so then you had to standout a little bit more. Today, that’s not the norm. People are always worrying about the dollar instead of worrying about the service side. So when you do focus on the service side, you stand out to the homeowner.
stand out to the community when they’re looking at you. The reason why we’re the Coca-Cola of roofing in our direct community is because people know we care more about the success of our projects and making sure we serve our client well than our bottom line. And
the cool thing is is our bottom line is just fine afterwards because of our original focus being to serve. And as it pertains to the good contractors list, the reason why, ⁓ where it ties into real estate agents there is oftentimes real estate agents will have amazing relationships with their client base. And when there is an issue either before the listing, during or after where they recommend a contractor to that homeowner,
If they aren’t choosing the right one to partner with, then that could quite literally affect their sales in the future. Because let’s say we have a great relationship with Mrs. Smith. She’s not only bought three homes from you over the last 20 years, but she sent her sons and her daughters and her cousin and her aunt and all this. And then one project, you send Mrs. Smith this guy that you deal with, you have dealt with in the past, or maybe just somebody that you found, and they do a terrible job.
terribly represent their company, but more importantly, terribly represent you because you recommended them. And that could affect your relationship with that customer long-term. so going to a service like the Good Contractors List to find the contractors that you work with for your clients, you know that not only have they been pre-vetted,
Quentin (17:00)
Yeah.Randy Hurtado (17:16)
but that every job that they do is backed by a $25,000 guarantee. So you don’t have to worry about if that homeowner does get screwed by that contractor because they were found on the list, the good contractors list is going to do the right thing and come in and make it right. And so it’s a relationship retention solution if you think about it, because you don’t have to worry about playing contractor roulette, going to the internet and trying to hope that you find the right guy. We guarantee it.Quentin (17:35)
Yeah.Randy Hurtado (17:44)
And so that’s that’s another connection directly to the real estate world.Quentin (17:44)
Yeah.Absolutely, man. Great tie in with the good contractors list, man. That was incredible. I want to make sure I get it right because I can’t see it all, but quality, community, integrity. I’m missing two more. What was the other two? Culture. it’s one more.
Randy Hurtado (18:01)
Culture.So
our culture within our organization is absolutely stellar. When we have other roofing company owners come into our, because I mentor people in my own industry and that includes people that are within a driving distance that I would even consider ⁓ could be a competition to win a deal. But I’m okay with that because, like I said earlier, my goal is to make sure that our industry is seen in a better light, not necessarily that I’m worried about.
Quentin (18:07)
Yeah. Yeah.Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Randy Hurtado (18:33)
you know, another guy being my quote unquote competitor. You know, one thing I always tell guys when they ask me when I’m mentoring and they’ll say, what’s your, what’s your angle? Like, why would you help me with my business? And I tell them, say, listen, only 5 % of the people that I share this information with is even going to do anything with it. And the other variable that you’re not considering is you’re not going to outwork me. You know? And so if, if I can help you be a better servant to yourQuentin (18:36)
Yeah.Mmm, mmm, yeah.
Randy Hurtado (19:02)
to the people that are around us. can’t serve all, know, in all of our markets, it’s probably equivalent to about a million people. I’m one company. I can’t serve a million people a year. So I need a bunch of good guys around me that run their businesses with integrity, efficiently so that they can afford when they make a mistake. You know, I basically need to help grow that around us so that the roofing industry as a whole has a good brand recognition with consumers.Quentin (19:22)
Yeah.Randy Hurtado (19:31)
and they’re not looking outside of our market to find good guys.Quentin (19:35)
Absolutely. No, man, I absolutely love that. something that you said sparked this question. What are you most focused on solving next? Like, what’s your next real goal?Randy Hurtado (19:45)
Well, with DT Roofing, we are constantly growing into new markets and growing teams in those markets to kind of bring things the DT way is what we like to say ⁓ and turn that area into DT country, you know, where customers are just constantly talking about us. ⁓ We are big on when we first get into a territory, getting into…the local chamber, making sure that we’re connecting with all of the realtors, insurance agents, property managers, the school districts. You one thing we like to do with school districts is immediately look for ways that we can bless those schools. You know, because we want to be embedded in ⁓ the community. One of the things that we’ll do is we’ll go to the schools in the summer and we’ll say, how many kids do you have with ⁓ a food bill that is still
you know, waiting to be paid and we’ll go in and we’ll wipe that clean so that when the parents, when those kids come back to school in the new season, they’re not sitting there stressed about, you know, I already owe the school this much money, so is my kid going to be able to eat? Like that should never be a concern for a parent. And so we were heavily in getting engaged with school districts. ⁓ But when you, again, it goes down to that service side. If your focus is serving the community, naturally they’re going to reciprocate.
Quentin (20:41)
Yeah.Randy Hurtado (21:11)
And so that’s what we’re focused on right now. Besides that, the good contractors list, it’s been, again, it’s been a DFW based solution for 15 years and we are now taking it nationally. So that’s my big, big project right now is I’m the COO. So all the pressure is on me to take this thing nationwide. But you know what? It’s an easy sell when you’re considering that what you’re doing is looking out for homeowners and making sure that they only ⁓ engage with the good guys.Quentin (21:11)
Amen. ⁓Yeah.
Yeah.
Randy Hurtado (21:38)
so that they don’t have people walking off with deductibles and walking off with down payments and off the job and what have you. They’re getting the good guys.Quentin (21:39)
Yes, sir.Yeah. No, man, I love it. I love it. I think one last question I want to ask you, and I think just because you were, you know, a service heart, your CEO, I mean, it sounds like you’re great at connections. And so we got a lot of people here that are listening, are early in their journey. They’re looking to level up. And I think they’re benefit hearing this when it comes to building relationships and growing your network. What has made the biggest difference for you?
Randy Hurtado (22:13)
know, it would, and again, I bring up 50 years ago, this would have sounded ⁓ obtuse that this would be my recommendation, but just get out and get in front of people. You know, we lost connection with people when the world went flat, right?Everybody’s swiping all the time. And all these people have these friends on Facebook and Instagram and what have you. Man, you don’t know who these people are. You don’t know. They’re showing you the best of their life or what they want you to see. Get out there in the community. Break bread with people. Get community with them. And not only will you bring your service to them through just
You know, most of the time, when I was in sales, for example, when I went into a homeowner’s house, the last thing that I was there to talk about was roofing. The first thing I would do is they invited me into their home and I’d start scanning the walls and I’d start looking for things that we can talk about that we have in common. I’d see maybe a husband who served in our military or I’d see ⁓ an apologetics book on the bookshelf or something.
Quentin (23:06)
Hmm. Hmm.Randy Hurtado (23:23)
Something that I also share a commonality with and I bring that up. I’ve actually read that book before. It’s a hard read, but man, yeah, a lot of good stuff in there. And then we talk about that for 30 minutes, right? At the end of it, they forget why I was even there. And so then they’re like, all right, well, let’s get that contract signed. You notice I didn’t have a conversation with them about why us, why not our competitor, why all this stuff? It’s like, just be a human being to these people.Quentin (23:48)
John.Randy Hurtado (23:51)
They just want to do business with somebody that they can trust, that they can, you know, and a lot of trust is interacting with them and showing them that you’re just another human being that’s just trying to feed your family and what have you. Yeah, it is important to mention your accolades. I mean, those are going to be variables that they consider, but just showing them that you’re a human being and that you’re taking the time. If somebody offers you a cup of coffee, take the dang coffee.You know, I got an appointment that I gotta get to. I just only got about five minutes. Well, you know what? Then you probably shouldn’t be in sales because relationships and communication are the two top things that if a company has, it doesn’t matter what they sell, whether it’s a widget or a service, they’re gonna be successful. Simple as that.
Quentin (24:39)
And there it is. mean, you can’t fake connection. You can’t fake relationships. You can’t fake authenticity. so, yeah, man, I absolutely love it. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?Randy Hurtado (24:57)
Well, if they are on Facebook, they can look up Randy Martin Hurtado with a blue check mark and that’s my official page. You can message me on there. We can set up a call if you have any questions. I love mentoring small businesses. I love serving in that regard. It’s actually worked out for me too. I’ve had companies that I’ve mentored that they realized they shouldn’t be in business because they weren’t good at business and they came to work for me. And now they love what they do. So sometimes it has ⁓ an additional benefit.Quentin (25:22)
Mmm.Randy Hurtado (25:27)
But there’s many more that continue to thrive and their businesses are doing amazingly well. so Randy Martin Hurtado on Facebook, randy at goodlistmail.com, mail like email, goodlistmail.com. ⁓ Reach me by email and yeah, those are the best ways to reach me.Quentin (25:48)
Absolutely. Mr. Randy, got to thank you, sir. I want to thank you for your stories. I am too. I love leading with stories. I always tell people my passion, my purpose is to unite and my passion is adored through storytelling. And so I believe in parables. I believe we are walking parables. And so I just want to, yeah, man. So I want to thank you.Randy Hurtado (26:06)
Absolutely. I mean,I can even leave you with one. It’s the name of my investment company. It’s Matthew 25 Investments. And Matthew 25 is the parable of the talents.
Quentin (26:12)
Yes.Randy Hurtado (26:20)
So if you’re listening to this and you have a talent, God tells us, don’t bury it. Go double it.Quentin (26:28)
I thought she was going let me be the host and let me do the smooth sign-offs. I mean, that’s just brilliant, man. We do not want to bury our talents. And so thank you for not burying your talent. Thank you for the communication. All the things that we did, the back channels to get to this point. know, would have, you know, now knowing how valuable this conversation was, I would have hate to have missed out on it. And so, sir, thank you so much again for your time, for your perspective.Randy Hurtado (26:46)
Absolutely.Quentin (26:56)
for the way you do business, the way you’re building business. We definitely need more people like you within this space and any space really. And so again, I thank you so much, man. Absolutely, absolutely. And for everyone else, if you are tuning in and I know you found value from this, please make sure you’re subscribed. You do not want to miss out on these amazing conversations just like I had with Mr. Randy. so Mr. Randy, thank you again. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time.Randy Hurtado (27:04)
Praise God. Thank you.Sir.
