Ep.4 Tyler Weimer | Exterior Cleaning | Virginia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChGmGKSmVOA

Episode 4

Nodirkhon: [00:00:00] Welcome to Irreplaceable by AI, where we spotlight work that technology can't replace. Today's guest is Tyler Weimer, a self-made entrepreneur and owner of F5 Exterior Cleaning, specializing in power washing, pressure washing, gutter cleaning, and window cleaning. With hands-on expertise serving Fauquier County, Prince William County, Warren County and nearby areas in Virginia, Tyler proudly embraces his journey as a high school dropout with no college education, turning it into fuel for building a successful business from the ground up.

Outside of business, Tyler is a passionate bass angler, often hitting the waters with his boat and fishing rod for some thrilling catches. His work has earned glowing community reviews for transforming homes [00:01:00] and businesses in places like Warrenton, Manassas, Gainesville, Woodbridge and Burke. Please welcome Tyler Weimer. So how are you doing today?

Tyler Weimer: I'm doing great. The weather is beautiful. It's a Thursday and everything's going well.

Nodirkhon: Great to hear that. So let's now start with a deep dive into your trade. If we speak about Northern Virginia, what does the exterior cleaning market look like there? What's the single most requested service you get now?

Tyler Weimer: Believe it or not, I get a lot of window cleaning calls. That's kind of half of our business—it's built around strictly window cleaning. It's something I started with years ago when I was younger. Back when I was sixteen, actually, I got into it, and we really made a name for ourselves out here for window cleaning. We get a lot of business with that. So I'd say that's [00:02:00] the most demanded service that we offer.

Nodirkhon: But it's not seasonal. It's kind of all year round. Number one thing.

Tyler Weimer: It can be. I mean, there are times where, you know, things you can't go out and do certain things because of the weather if it's, you know, too cold or if water turns to ice, you know, there's not much you can do but window cleaning, you know, there's a couple little tricks you can do to make sure you can clean windows in the wintertime, even when it's, you know, below thirty degrees.

Nodirkhon: All right. Another part of your business is power washing. We hear the terms power washing and pressure washing used all the time, but a major trend now is soft washing. Can you explain the difference and tell us why soft washing is so critical for modern building materials like vinyl siding?

Tyler Weimer: Yeah, absolutely. So there's a common misconception, I think, that, you know, pressure washing your house means, you know, hooking up a pressure washer and just [00:03:00] going at it with as much pressure as you can to get all the algae and everything, you know, organic off the house. But, um, that's, that's, you know, kind of old school and, and there's a better way to do things without, you know, risking damaging the siding because, you know, if you hit things with a lot of pressure, especially vinyl and stuff, it just tears it up and it'll disturb the oxidation on it.

It'll, you know, mess up the way the house is going to look and the longevity of the siding itself. So, back I think maybe the mid-1900s, soft washing became a big thing. And a lot of guys started doing it and it kind of just took off after that because, you know, you don't have to worry about, you know, the damage that it can cause.

And it's all low pressure. It's all just with chemicals. As long as you know what you're doing with the chemicals and you use the right stuff, um, and nothing beats it, it's. It's truly the best thing to do. And it saves a lot of people. A lot of time, a lot of headache. Uh, keeps the guys [00:04:00] off the ladders.

Um, and it really just cleans things up the way it should be versus, you know, when you just go to pressure wash something, you're just using water and you're not using anything to actually kill any of the organic growth on anything. So that's where soft washing kind of comes in. It helps. Um, it takes care of all that for you.

It kills everything and makes sure everything is dead, and it actually keeps it clean for a little bit longer than it would if you were just to pressure wash it, because there's not little areas where, you know, there's still algae growing. You get everything, everything dies, and, you know, you don't have to worry about it coming back for a little bit longer than you would just using straight water.

Nodirkhon: When we speak about soft washing, does it also include AI? I don't know if it's hype or if it's real—you tell me. Is there AI controlling or regulating pressure in those machines, or is that not part of soft washing?

Tyler Weimer: Sorry, what was that?

Nodirkhon: I mean, there's talk that there is AI built into those pressure washing machines that regulates the pressure. Is it a real thing? Have you encountered or used that kind of technology?

Tyler Weimer: I haven't heard of anything like AI regulating pressure. [00:05:00] I honestly don't think there's much AI out there for our industry at all. It's mostly, you know, just geared around our CRM and stuff. But as far as the actual labor that goes into pressure washing, there's not much out there, um, that can really manage that.

So a lot there's a lot of guys that use drones and you know there's some some techy things out, but there's nothing that can really replace, you know, just hands on, you know, getting getting down with it and, and and doing it. There's, you know, there's a million different types of services. There's little things, you know, as you're doing it that can come [00:06:00] up.

You know, there's if you're, you know, doing a deck, for example, and there's, you know, maybe one board that's a little rotted. Um, and you're using pressure on the rest of that deck. If you get to that rotted board and use that same pressure, you're taking a very high chance of just blowing that thing to pieces.

So it's good to be able to, you know, know when to back off. And I don't think that's ever going to be a thing for, you know, a computer can figure out.

Nodirkhon: What do you think about drones for roof inspection or robotic window cleaners? Is it a real thing? Is it really helpful, or is it still mostly hype?

Tyler Weimer: You know, as much as I've seen, I've seen the drones get used and I've actually I've looked into them a bit. Um, and as far as window cleaning goes, you know, all the drones are doing really is just spraying water on the glass, and that's not going to get it clean. Just spraying, you know, the surface of glass needs agitation for it to actually clean.

Um, and that's anything that has dirt on it. Like your car, for example—you have to agitate the surface. You know, you got to put a [00:07:00] brush on it. You got to do something. Um, and you can't you can't hook up a drone you know, a brush to a drone and expect it to go up and be able to clean a window.

All the drone window cleaning, um, devices that are out, those just spray pure water. Uh, they don't actually scrub the glass. Same thing with with pressure washing. Um, they have drones that go up and they can spray, um, which they're great. They're a great tool to have, of course, but they still have to be controlled by a human.

And they still, you know, they're not dialed in exactly to where you need them to be. To be able to clean as good as a human eye could see.

Nodirkhon: All right. But continuing this discussion about the tech and how it changes, uh, how those services are provided. I wonder, for window and gutter cleaning, how much has equipment like water fed poles or advanced gutter vacuums changed the game in terms of safety and efficiency? [00:08:00]

Tyler Weimer: Uh, you know, I'll be honest with you, I had a I had a gutter vacuum for a little bit. Um, and I, I was not I was not happy with it. I, I noticed that there was a job that I've been doing for over seven years, and I went back, uh, to do that job with the vacuum. Um, and, you know, it's it's fancy. I spent thousands on it.

I it was an investment. Um, but I ended up just taking that job normally would take about an hour and a half. Uh, I think we charged, like, I think we charged two fifty for it. Um, that job ended up taking me six hours with a gutter vacuum and trying to look at a camera as I'm working, and it didn't perform well either.

It was horrible. Um, I could see it working if there's not much in the gutter or if, you know, there's just, like, light, dry leaves. I could see it working. But to be honest with you, I really wasn't happy with it. And I ended up selling it on Facebook Marketplace a few months ago. Just, just it was just a total piece of crap and waste of time.

So it's definitely not as [00:09:00] efficient as just going up and doing it. How we, you know, we would normally do it with our hands, um, and our, the water fed pole did help. That does save a lot of time. You know, that that does keep us off the ground, you know, off off of ladders on the ground. And it has a, you know, it has a brush on it.

So it is agitating the surface and it is getting it perfectly clean.

Nodirkhon: It's really great to hear from you. And I think that would be valuable for listeners because you had a professional in this domain. You have tried this. You know, all the ins and outs and so we can cut through what is hype and what is kind of real when it comes to technology. Uh, the next thing I'd like to ask is to move to regulations and liability.

Uh, I heard that many homeowners don't realize it's illegal under the Clean Water Act to let chemical-laden wash water run into a storm drain. Can you walk us through the correct [00:10:00] professional process your team follows to comply with the EPA and local Northern Virginia rules.

Tyler Weimer: Uh, well, well, to be honest with you, most of the work that we do isn't near a storm drain. Uh, most of the work we do, you know, we service here, and it's just a lot of farms and a lot of houses out, you know, kind of in the middle of nowhere. But, um, as far as that goes, when we do work in cities or neighborhoods, Um, most of the time it's just rinse, rinse, rinse.

And as long as you're keeping as much water as possible on it, it, you know, nothing really drains into the storm drain. And most of the time, you know, if we're pressure washing something, it's that's going to go in the storm drain. It's a sidewalk or concrete. So we don't use any chemicals on the concrete until after and when we when we post, treat it.

It's just to keep, you know, keep keep it cleaner for a little bit longer. But it also, you know, it takes up all the algae that you couldn't get or all the organic growth that you couldn't get from just pressure washing it, which is something a lot of people don't, don't realize. Even homeowners, you know, [00:11:00] they go pressure wash something and then in six months later they see the lines where they were pressure washing.

It's because they didn't treat it. So when you there's special ways you can treat things, um, without them running off. And honestly, most of the time we use a light treatment a very not light, uh, but but then so that when it goes over the concrete or whatever hard surface that we're treating, It's it's it it doesn't run off or anything.

It just sits right where it's at. Um, and it's all about having the right mixture to, uh, but there is some cases, you know, we have dealt with over the years where we've had to divert water. Maybe we'll put, you know, gravel barricades on a driveway or something to get the, you know, the water divert somewhere else.

Um, or even in some cases, some guys, you know, they, they recover their water, um, or they, they put tarps up. And then I know out in California, their laws and their regulations are a bit different. So out there they, they like to think from what I understand, [00:12:00] um, there's certain areas where you have to reclaim your water and you can't let any chemical touch the ground and you have to tarp up everything.

And I mean, the market out there is completely different from here. I would never want a business in California personally. I would never want to live there. Um, because of that, because there's so many restrictions on things and it's just it's completely different world there. But, um, that's how we handle storm drains.

Nodirkhon: Well, regarding California, it's so true. I think it applies not just to your industry but to so many others, including IT and software.

All right. In the Northern Virginia area, do you find it to be kind of a big challenge for you, the rising cost of insurance and fuel, or let's say it's more issue on the side of finding and retaining skilled, reliable technicians.

Tyler Weimer: Uh, you know, I think finding help has been the [00:13:00] toughest thing for any of us. All of us in this industry, really? Um, I think the workforce has definitely changed over the years. And I think people have gotten a little more comfortable with, with working less hard. And, you know, there's so many different opportunities out there these days that I mean, for lack of a better word, the world's gotten a bit lazy.

Um, as far as work ethic goes. And that's something we've definitely faced challenges with, you know, that there's been a few guys that we've had that are they have a solid work ethic and, and they they really like to get things done. Um, but it is tough to find good help. It is very, very tough. And the thing about it is, is once you find that good help, you got to pay them good.

And you better take care of him because you want to keep them around as long as possible.

Nodirkhon: I don't know if it's a silly question, but for your business, have you ever considered, uh, bringing people from abroad to work for you?

Tyler Weimer: Uh, what do you mean by [00:14:00] people from abroad?

Nodirkhon: Well, as technicians, for instance—or working as a technician. I mean, if you if you face, let's say, the challenge of finding people in Northern Virginia itself, have you considered maybe not just abroad but from other locations, helping them to relocate and come and work for you?

Was it so acute that you wanted or consider this kind of option?

Tyler Weimer: Something I've something I've learned over the years is that it's really tough, especially if you know somebody lives from a bit farther away. It's it's tough for them to to make it in and out, especially in Northern Virginia. Um, Virginia, we deal with a lot of traffic on sixty six and twenty nine, and it gets a little stuffy.

Um, so if somebody lives, you know, pretty far away, they're going to have to make that, you know, two hour commute in the morning. And it's just it's just too much. It's too much for them. You know, they they end [00:15:00] up not having time in their day and you know, they're unhappy. And, um, you know, there's there's a lot of situations where, you know, if somebody's living far away and they try to come here.

Then we're late in the morning, we're late leaving. And time is everything in this industry. Being on time and honoring your word is everything. So if you know you're held back by your employee that lives two hours away, then there's not much you can do. You know, you have to you have to kind of find people that are close by, or at least somebody that's willing to, to show up early and make the commute. And I do have my current employee. He lives he lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, and that's an hour and forty minutes, you know, for him every morning. But he makes the commute. He's he's here every, you know, every morning, twenty, thirty minutes early. Um, but it is tough. It is tough.

Nodirkhon: Yeah, I can imagine. It just. I also heard when, when I, [00:16:00] when I was recently in Pittsburgh from one painting service owner, um about the challenges of bringing workers in due to some quota regulations. Uh, but I don't know, maybe they were operating on a bigger scale, and for them, it was more relevant.

All right. Um, can you tell me, as a business owner, what marketing actually works for you to get new customers? Is it those, um, videos on social media or Google's local service ads or old fashioned word of mouth referrals?

Tyler Weimer: You know, I always find this question kind of interesting because I the thing about marketing it is, is you don't really stop at one thing. There's not one golden ticket that's going to get you the most clients. Sure. It's, you know, always wise to pay attention to what's [00:17:00] effective, but a little bit of everything is what works.

So on our Facebook we have, you know, we have tons of videos on on exactly what it is that we're doing. We're showing how we do it. Um, and that's that's good. You know, for the consumer end, because they can see everything. They can see exactly what their house would look like. They can see exactly how our process goes.

Um, so that's good. You know, that's kind of more of a branding thing, though. So that's more awareness. Um, our website is, is has produced as far as leads and getting new clients because our website has definitely been the, you know, the top for many, many years. Uh, we got, you know, we have it so that you can go on our website, you can book online, you can pick a date that you want that works for you.

Um, and you can schedule your service online. We have some of our prices listed online for when you go to schedule. Um, there's an estimate request form on our site that brings in a lot of leads. Um, and good SEO helps a lot, a ton. I have dabbled in Google advertising some and [00:18:00] that's generated some leads, but that's really expensive.

Even Facebook can get really expensive just to get established and get it going and get it to be effective and to get your audience dialed in. It's it does cost money and it does take time. Um, but word of mouth has always been huge for us. Um, that's I think, you know, networking too helps. I've joined a BNI group.

I've been in BNI, a BNI group in the past, um, getting out, networking and socializing with some of these people, you know, that you're going to be doing business with. It's good to make, you know, face to face connections and get to know them because, I mean, these people are giving me business. At the end of the day, I need to go out and I need to, you know, make an impression on these people, um, and make friends with some of them.

And honestly, they've been great contacts for me, too, in my business because I can use them as a resource just as much as they use me. Um, but word of mouth is definitely huge. You know, you do a good job for someone and they're going to tell their friends and people are going to, especially [00:19:00] with what we do.

It's kind of an instant change. And if you go to, you know, your mom's house and it's filthy. It's, you know, the windows are disgusting. You can't barely see out of anything. Um, the siding is all caked up with crap. You know, you get used to seeing that for a long period of time. And then while you go there again, everything's clean and shiny.

You can see everything's beautiful. Crystal clear windows. You know, it does make a huge, a huge difference. And it's it's definitely noticeable. So people, you know, they say who did your windows, who did your house. This looks great. And then they'll give me a call.

Nodirkhon: Now let's move back to how it all started. Take me to the beginning—to the moment when you decided you wanted to open your business and start your career in exterior cleaning. How has it all started?

Tyler Weimer: Well, honestly, it started back when I was sixteen. I've always had this mindset [00:20:00] that I don't want to go to work and be like everybody else. I needed to learn some kind of skill. I was very blessed to meet David Bayles. He was the owner of Crystal Clear Window Cleaning out of Warrenton. I started cleaning windows with him right after I had left school. I decided school wasn't for me. I left in tenth grade. Uh, I, you know, just wasn't my thing. I had been doing construction as a gig, making plenty of money. Um, I was on my own at that point, and I started cleaning windows with a friend, and I really liked it.

I wasn't making as much as his construction, but I didn't have to deal with the headache of construction. That's a whole another beast. Um, and I really like that. The the simplicity of it, the, you know, you show up somewhere, you're there for maybe a day or two, and then that's it. Um, so, you know, I between sixteen and twenty, whenever I started my business, um, [00:21:00] I mean, I just kind of mastered my skills, learned everything there is to know about the trade.

Uh, moved to North Carolina and worked for a company there for, uh, a TLC window cleaning. I worked there for maybe nine months, and then I moved back to Virginia after I had a bit of a falling out there. And I just it wasn't a good fit for me, but, um, I decided, you know, I, I take I observed all the things that other companies were doing over the years and learning their mistakes, um, and learning how I can, I can, you know, be a better company.

So I wanted to start my own business, and that's exactly what I did. I came back and I had a business partner. We launched, um, I moved back to Virginia, was here for about a week. Um, came up with the idea overnight, and and we just launched and hustled and hustled and hustled. Um, and about six months later, that business partner, we went our separate ways.

Um, and right as right as we went, our separate ways. Actually, the business really took off and [00:22:00] became what it is now. Um, and I I'll tell you, I wouldn't trade. I wouldn't, wouldn't trade it for the world. Um, I absolutely love what I do. Um, and and in fact, in twenty twenty three, January first, twenty twenty three, I became full owner of Crystal Clear Window Cleaning, which is the, you know, the first company I started working for.

And I took over all the clients, all the, you know, all the jobs and and everything. Um,

Nodirkhon: Have you. Have you acquired the company? That's what we're saying.

Tyler Weimer: Yeah, absolutely. One hundred percent on I started to, uh, it was about a year into business. Whenever I sat down with David and we, we discussed things, and, um, so it was that was back in twenty nineteen. I started taking over in December of twenty nineteen and then finally July first, twenty twenty three. Um, I was I was full owner at that point. And um. And [00:23:00] that's how that went.

Nodirkhon: That's really beautiful story. So you really proved yourself. You bought out the company where you started actually your career. And, uh, and basically outperformed. So to say your your teachers.

Tyler Weimer: A little bit and that's kind of, uh, you know, that's I've always had kind of a chip on my shoulder, you know, maybe, maybe some from childhood and just from, you know, just from over the years, a lot of people say a lot of things to you. And I've had a lot of people come up and and tell me, hey, you're never going to make it doing this, you know?

And I even when I started my business, you know, I've heard so many things, um, you're going to fail. This isn't smart. You know, I've had lawyers tell me this isn't smart. This is. You know, you're not going to do well. Um, and honestly, at that time, it didn't look like I was going to do well. I started my company with a I had a two thousand and seven red Toyota Camry, and I was towing behind a, I bought a trailer hitch for it online, and [00:24:00] I towed a trailer that had a little pressure washer on it, and I was strapping ladders on.

I mean, I look crazy driving around, um, and I just got a lot of hate for it. A lot of people didn't like it. I don't understand why, you know, if anybody wants to go out and do their own thing and you got to start somewhere. And, um, I have a lot of respect for people that that do that and, and take that big step into doing something.

Um, so I've always had and, you know, even being a dropout, you know, my parents don't like that I'm a dropout. Um, I could care less about what my mother thinks, but, um, you know, there's a lot of people that hate on that, too, you know, leaving school. You know, it's like there's been this thing in this world where it's been pounded into us, even going through high school.

You know, you have to go to college. You're not going to be successful. I even had a counselor tell me. Sit down and tell me when I first left school. Uh, I was leaving school. She sat down and said, you know, you're not going to make it out there in this world without a college education. And that was just, to me, more fuel to kick, kick butt.

[00:25:00] Um, it just gave me so much more fuel to the fight. It just it really put everything together for me. Um, and you know what? I'm making more than those teachers do. I'm making more than a counselor does. I'm making more than both of my parents combined. Um, and I'm not trying to be cocky or anything, but I'm just.

It's a point to prove. And I love proving it every time. And a lot of times, the people that did talk trash or, you know, say have a lot to say, a lot of negative, negative things to say about me. Um, when they see me now, it's it's a different conversation now. Now it's hey, I'm proud of you. And. Yeah, well, I don't forget that you talk trash, you know, that's that's what I respond.

I don't not respond, but that's what I think. I just say thank you, but, um, it's It feels good to. It feels good to beat the odds, I suppose.

Nodirkhon: But I think your story is, is really inspiring. And what is amazing is that a lot of people try to pull you down, but you still kept going. And [00:26:00] also at such a young age, basically without much experience, we can say that was your first experience. I wonder where did you find the source? Well, you said that you wanted to prove otherwise.

That's one thing. But besides that, where did you find this source and confidence to keep pushing, to keep moving forward despite of all the odds?

Tyler Weimer: Well, when I started my company, I mean, I went hard with it. I went I spent all my time just working every every waking second. I was doing something for work, you know, I was going out and putting myself in those uncomfortable situations, I would show up to realtor parties that I wasn't even invited to, just to make connections, and ended up hanging out and making really good connections and good friends.

Um, and, you know, that's how I started. I really I it was, I was there was many nights where I was working till three, four o'clock in the morning and then waking up at seven o'clock to get to the job or going out and door [00:27:00] knocking and, and after creating that for a bit, that becomes like a it's like a child.

It's like your baby. Um, and it's not. And you think about all the hard work that you put into it and all the things that you've done to, you know, just make it work so far, you know, this long and you just don't give up on it. There's there's no there's it's never been an option in my head of, of hey, let me throw my hands up and just and just give up. That's

never been an option. I've, I've faced a lot of different obstacles, you know, between having, you know, parting ways with my business partner at the time, um, the contract with, uh, the window cleaning company, you know, that was a that was its own thing. And just all these obstacles and and hoops to jump through.

Um. And I'm doing it blind, too. You know, I it's not like there's a guide on exactly how your business is going to go and anything, you know, everybody has their own obstacles and own battles to face. But, um, when you love what you do and you're really just driven, uh, especially, you know, especially with, [00:28:00] with people saying negative things to you and that really just makes you want to do better.

I think at a certain point, and it just pisses you off enough to say, hey, you know what? I'm going to be, I'm going to be the best company and I'm not going to fail, and I'm going to keep going forward. And that's how it's been for over seven years now.

Nodirkhon: That's really amazing. And obviously not everyone can handle this. I mean, I would say a lot of people would give up under such pressure. And I'm really happy to hear this. And You said when you parted with your partner. So then it kind of took off and started growing. And there was this kind of like success moment.

Can you share how did you feel at this at this point? What was this period of time? How how did it look [00:29:00] like to

Tyler Weimer: Um, so. I have to I have to word this a certain way, I suppose. Um. I think when I had a business partner, I think that did take a little bit of the drive out of it, because it's just a it's just a weird feeling, you know, you're working your butt off and you know, the industry, you know everything and you have, but you have a business partner and it's like, that's what you have to take care. you?

have to take care of somebody else and somebody else that's got their hands in the pot, somebody else that's, you know, if you want to make a decision, you have to run it by somebody else. And that's just that's just no fun. Um, and I didn't really. I will say, I, I think parting ways with that business partner was probably the best.

Well, the best decision I made for my company and for myself. Really. Um, because then I, you know, you treat things differently, your perspective changes, and all of a sudden, you know, it's it's yours and you can build your own empire, not building yours and somebody [00:30:00] else's empire. And, you know, there's there's just too much conflict with having a business partner and too many things.

You got to make sure it's okay. It's just not worth it. Um, and I don't advise anybody to get a business partner in this industry at least, um, just simply because ninety nine percent of the times it does not work out. But as soon as I parted ways with that, that person, um, I mean, I just I turned into a monster again.

It was more fuel for me because, you know, that person. It was kind of an ugly falling out. But, um, I mean, it it really just it turned things around and all of a sudden it just things fell into place just right at the at the same time at, you know, I left that partnership and at the same time was building a brand and I was building a reputation and a, a networking group.

And because of that networking group, I was able to generate, uh, in four months, we generated seventy thousand in revenue. And before that, I think in the year we had only like [00:31:00] twenty thousand or ten thousand or twelve thousand, I can't remember. I'd have to go back in the books. But it wasn't much. We didn't really do much.

Um, most of my work at that time was going out door knocking and, you know, just trying trial and error things, um, you know, trying to figure out what what could I spend my time doing that's going to, you know, produce the most, uh, amount of jobs or income and door knocking, you know, was the most effective out of all of the things that I was trying, you know, Facebook and all this other other stuff, Uh, door knocking was definitely the best.

Um, but at that time, I had built a brand and these networking groups and, you know, people, the word gets out, um, you get to know a lot of people. Um, and one person, one there was one specific person, um, that really helped launch things. And his name, his name is TJ. And TJ sent us a ton of work. I mean, he he was very well connected with many, many people.

Um, and [00:32:00] just getting the foot in the door with somebody that knows a lot of people can really make a difference on in your business. Um, and in this industry, just knowing one, one solid contact to just get things off the ground, just to be able to have some income, um, to do things with, to advertise, to reinvest, you know, that that's that winter is actually when we got our first truck, I was working out of my car until then.

Um, but, you know, we got we got our first truck. Um, got another truck. Uh, now we have another truck. And, you know, things really, really lifted off just from just from knowing people and getting your foot in the door with the right people and doing a damn good job, um, and making sure you take care of the people that you know, are, are sending you work and and taking care of you.

Nodirkhon: A very good point, and I fully agree. How have you thanked this guy T.J., or have you? [00:33:00] I'm just asking—curious.

Tyler Weimer: Oh, many times, many times. I haven't spoken to him. It's been it's a little while, but, um, you know, he's still he's still definitely holds a place in my in my heart, I guess you could say, you know, I'll never. I'll never forget. I'll never forget launching the company and everybody that. And it's not just him.

There was, you know, it's a number of people, um, that that really helped me and supported me. And I'll never, ever forget them. And I have definitely showed them gratitude over the years. Um, however I can.

Nodirkhon: I see.

Now moving to today. Um, you you have overcome so many different challenges. But if we speak about the today and it doesn't mean it's not successful or something like that, but obviously we always have some kind of challenges. What what number one biggest challenge for you currently when you're running your business [00:34:00] where you're kind of looking for a solution or way to solve or improve?

Tyler Weimer: Uh, currently, uh, we actually, we're in between. We're at the stage. Um, and a lot of guys have experienced this. Um, we're at the stage where, you know, it's it's time for me to kind of step away from the field, but I'm in between, you know, the field and going out and networking and doing all the, you know, the white collar part of the business, the the sales, the, you know, the, the computer part of it, the the legal part of it, all of it.

Um, and even just just reorganizing things and getting things structured, you know, that all that stuff takes time and you have to be sitting at a computer or sitting in front of a group of people, or going out and having lunch with people. Um, and that stuff, you know, that takes time. So we're we're in the in between stage where I have to step out of field of the field, but I also have to find, you know, the right kind of technicians to take my spot [00:35:00] because we're very, very particular about what we do and the kind of jobs that we do and the kind of, you know, service that we perform.

And I'm, you know, I'm very particular about who I hire and and who I want to go out and manage those things, especially with, you know, with without me. So I'd say, you know, delegating time. And, you know, I have three phones. I answer to that. You know, I have my my personal phone. I have, um, I have, you know, my F5 exterior cleaning phone.

I have my crystal clear window cleaning phone. I also have my gutter Max phone, which is, uh, you know, just for gutter cleaning and gutter guards. That's another little business. I haven't really done anything with it too much. I've, you know, landed some jobs with it, but, um, you know, that's that's that's a lot of my time managing, you know, three, four phones throughout the day.

It takes a lot. Um, so now that we're growing, I think the next step for us is to find somebody that can help manage these things with me, [00:36:00] as well as finding the right technicians to manage things in the field.

Nodirkhon: But hearing you, I kept wondering. This is actually really interesting. Do you? You have built a successful business. So where where do you see yourself mostly going out to the field. Let's say you find people handling operational and administrative stuff, but then is your soul calling you to go to the field, or is it just that you want to distribute things so you could focus on some strategic development?

Where do you see yourself? Do you still want to have to get your hands dirty or be on on kind of high level overview? Do you mind sharing? Um, how

Tyler Weimer: I would say, you know, I really love going out in the field. I really love what I do for work. You know, even as crazy as it is just going up on ladders and all the the heights, the risky things, the the fun parts, you know, the hard work, getting your hands dirty, getting getting the jobs [00:37:00] done. Um, I do love that.

And beyond that, I love talking with my clients. I have a great, great, uh, I love all of my customers. They've all been great to me. Um, I've met some really cool people, and there's there's a lot of places that I'll never not go to. There's certain jobs that I'm going to do and you know, they move or and you know, I'll never I'll never discredit, um, the field work.

There's I'd love it. Um, but I do think that as far as my future goes and the company's future, just because of who we are and where we're trying to go with things, you know, um, I think there's going to be a point in time where I'm going to have to step away from the the field entirely. Um. And go more to, you know, the managing part and making sure, um, the company can stay going, um, and growing.

Not going, of course, that but, uh, as long as the [00:38:00] company can stay growing, I I'm going to stay. You know, I'm going to have to I'm going to have to step away from the field to be able to manage the growth. And. That's that's kind of. Yeah. That's that.

Nodirkhon: Do you see—like in five years, where will you be standing? You and your company?

Tyler Weimer: I think in five years I think we'll probably have a new fleet of trucks. Um, I think we'll have an, you know, a new office space, You know, where we have garages to park things and places to work on things. Um, and I think that we're really we're really starting to expand our commercial side of things. And that might include some travel to, um, back to what you said about, um, you know, finding people from, from other areas to, to come and work.

You know, I think that will come into effect then as well. Um, because some of the contracts for our industry that you would sign on to, you know, you had to travel maybe [00:39:00] three or four states to be able to clean everything that they have. You know, it might be a Home Depot, for example. Um, they might have you do all the Home Depots on, on the East Coast or what have you.

And, and so I think at that point, um, that that's, that's kind of where I want things to go, um, because I want something for my family to have as well. Um, I don't want to stay, you know, small that I'm comfortable where I'm at, of course. But, um, I've always had a drive in me. I don't want to stop. There's there's there's going to be no stopping.

We're going to keep growing and growing. Um, as long as we can.

Nodirkhon: And I hope you will succeed as you have done already. Um, but, um. Let's go back to the previous thing that you have mentioned. I just wanted to deep dive and clarify, uh, when you said it takes a lot of time [00:40:00] for you to juggle a lot of those, uh, administrative, operational things. If you be more specific, what is, like number one or top three things that are taking your time and that you would like to delegate or automate.

Tyler Weimer: Um, well, we've already kind of started to, to delegate some time with the, with the book online option, um, on our website so that people can just schedule online. They don't even have to reach out to us. They can they can just, you know, because I think that's that's kind of where the world is headed. Um, especially given, you know, and the reason we did that is because if you notice every time you walk into a McDonald's or any a lot of places have a lot of places have like self-checkout or, um, you know, it's not that you're not getting interaction with a person so much anymore.

So people are kind of getting more, especially the younger generation as they get older. I think that they're getting more used to dealing with the computer and just doing everything themselves. Um, so that's kind of where our [00:41:00] website is going to come into play. Um, because eventually it's going to be entirely online where you can book any service.

Any service online you want. You know, you can go online, you can book it which you can do that now. Um, and I think that that's going to really gear all our clients into our website. Um, so I think that will save us the most amount of time because being on our phone and, and just, you know, there's a lot of back and forth, you know, for example, from start to finish, if a, you know, a client would call us, um, if we can't get to the phone or something like that, they have a voicemail and we have to call them back then, you know, sometimes things get a little, little sticky with that, but, um, you know, texting and calling, and then you have to go back and forth and you have to go out, give an estimate.

Um, and then after the estimate, you, you, you know, schedule them. It's a lot of work that goes into, you know, just, just getting somebody on the schedule after they call [00:42:00] and getting the job done. So there's there's certain things that we've done, you know, we have a good CRM, we use Housecall Pro, we have a really good CRM, you know, for for scheduling and for our clients, um, they get notified as soon as the job scheduled or, you know, what have you, they get their estimates sent through it, um, and they can approve or deny it.

They can, um, you know, they have that estimate on, on for as long as they want. Um, it gets sent to their email, to their phone. Um, they get a text a couple days before we show up. They get a text when we're on the way. They get a text when we're finished, and they get their invoice through text also when we're finished.

So everything is kind of automated. Um, and that does help save a ton of time and a ton of trouble that, you know, the old school way of of writing in a calendar, you know, and, and doing everything on paper by hand with pen and paper. I think that's behind us now. And I think with the way technology is going, especially I think scheduling online or, um, you know, the ease [00:43:00] of things is what the future is, whatever that may be. Um.

Nodirkhon: You just mentioned about this CRM that you're using. But, um, I wonder if you are getting, uh, clients from different kind of sources or platforms which generating those leads. I don't know if you're using this address list, something like that. You probably still have to manually put this into your CRM system to make it work,

Tyler Weimer: Correct? Correct. Absolutely. And, you know, I think, I think here's a million dollar business idea for someone. I think that if there was a platform that could manage every other platform, um, that that would be that's a million dollar ticket right?

there. That's, that's that's a software that's worth, you know, whatever you want to charge.

Because if I could, if I could make it to where I, could post on Facebook and at the same time I post on Facebook, it's posting [00:44:00] to, you know, next door. It's posting all these other sites and building all these backlinks online and even my website. you know, there are some things out there that have started to do that, but it's different. if somebody messaged me on Facebook, I have to open up messenger on my phone to get to that message. And if I, you know, if I have them in my software and I'm looking at their stuff, I'm on the phone with them and I'm trying to find, you know, maybe some some things that we discussed through Facebook Messenger, I might not see it because I'm going to look at our previous texts, especially if it's one two years down the line.

I'm going to look at our text and see in the past where where we have talked about things or maybe little notes that needed to have been made. Um, I'm not going to open up Facebook Messenger simply because most of our clients text and, and so if there was a platform where I could go on and see all of my messages from Facebook Messenger, all of my text messages, all of my, you know, everything, all on one platform, um, even even just one phone.

Um, I think that would that would save [00:45:00] that would save me and anybody our industry a ton of time and trouble. Um, because, yes, you do have to manually go in the system and enter everything in, um, there's some coding you can do with it, but it's not something I want to really put on my website. You know, most CRMs are very particular about how they do things, and you have to use their system to be able to have the schedule online option, for example.

Um, that's done through our site. That's all coded. That's, that's completely separate from the software. So something that would even pull things from the software to put on my CRM, where I can say, this person needs an estimate, and I got it right away that that would save a lot of time

Nodirkhon: Thank you for sharing your your vision of how these things could have been done better in your domain, in your industry. Um, this is not the topic of this podcast, but just briefly, what you have just mentioned. This is something [00:46:00] that, uh, I'm building with my company. This is, uh, this the startup that I have.

Uh,

maybe separately, I can tell you more about how this looks like and what we're trying to achieve. But right now, I'd like to move, uh, to the final stage of this podcast, which is rapid fire questions. So basically, whatever is on top of your mind, you just shoot it without overthinking. Um, are you ready? Great.

Nodirkhon: First question: what is one business book, podcast or online course that has had the most significant impact on how you run your business.

Tyler Weimer: I have no other way to put it. Um, I didn't really do any online course or anything. I just kind of winged [00:47:00] it, but, um, I mean, I watched some guys on YouTube in my industry and kind of saw what they did and followed it and online forums like Facebook. I've read a lot of, you know, things online and also the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

That was a damn good book. I recommend everybody read that.

Nodirkhon: Great. Now to the second question. If you could recommend one piece of software, app or physical tool that you simply can't run your business without today, what would it be and why?

Tyler Weimer: I would say Housecall Pro. Um, I've had Housecall Pro since I started my company and and honestly, it's it's a, it's a great software. Um, and they're always doing, you know, upgrades and improvements to it. Um, and they're tweaking things constantly, especially for other industries that are maybe related to mine, that, you know, there's options where you can put in different costs for different things, and you can look at the charts and you I mean, it really helps you run your business.

Um, [00:48:00] and the customer service is great. So I definitely would say Housecall Pro for sure.

Nodirkhon: All right. And now to the next question. Thinking about all the lessons you've learned. What's the single most valuable piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out in exterior cleaning

Tyler Weimer: Um, I would, I would always say just to well, of course I would say to never give up, but um, I would say to make sure.

That's a tough that's a tough one. But a piece of advice, I would say to think twice before making a decision. And always and you know, it was intimidating at first, going out and meeting people and doing this whole thing, you know? But confidence is huge. I think if you have the right amount of confidence when you're doing this and you're confident in what you do and you know, you know your value, you know what kind of job you know, your prices are going to reflect that, too.

Um, it's easy to, you know, for a lot of startups to go out [00:49:00] and charge pennies to. Do, you know, something we're going to charge a premium price for, well, why aren't they charging premium price? They're doing the same job we are. You know, um, even even my competitors, I don't I don't know why they don't charge more if they if because I've seen I mean, some of my competitors do phenomenal work, but they charge.

They're not charging what they're valued at. So, you know, confidence and your work and confidence in what you do and confidence in yourself when you're going out and talking to people, this is your industry and you own it. You know, this is your business. This is this is you. Um, and you should be confident in it no matter what.

And and not even if somebody says things to you. You always, always think not everybody's got their shit together or sorry. It's my language. Not everybody's got it together. Not everybody's going to gonna know, um, everything. And some people can say things to you and it's just all about confidence at the end of the day.

So I guess be confident would be the best piece of advice I could [00:50:00] give.

Nodirkhon: finally, where can our listeners find you and learn more about your work?

Tyler Weimer: You can find us on Facebook at F5 Exterior Cleaning. You can go to our website at www.f5exteriorcleaning.com, or you can call us at 540-660-5698.

Nodirkhon: Thank you. Today our guest was Tyler Weimer on this episode of Irreplaceable by AI. Thank you for listening.