Marriage, Money, and Scaling a Trades Business
Tue Jan 06 2026
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In this episode, I sit down with Angie and Ryan Snow, owners of Western Heating, Air, and Plumbing, an eight-figure company that’s been in business for nearly two decades. We talk about what it’s really like building a business as a married couple, why buying an existing company changed everything for them, and how they survived the recession, hiring mistakes, sales struggles, and major growth transitions. We dig into sales, pricing, data vs feelings, leadership, people, culture, and why paying top dollar for top talent is non-negotiable if you want to scale. If you’re a contractor trying to grow without blowing up your marriage or your business, this episode is packed with real lessons.
What’s in this episode:
00:00 Why Angie and Ryan’s story matters for contractors
02:05 How they got into the trades and started their careers
05:45 Buying an existing HVAC company vs starting from scratch
09:40 Surviving the recession and running out of cash early on
13:45 Marriage, stress, and setting boundaries between work and life
17:30 Finding the right roles as a couple inside the business
21:37 Hiring mistakes, sales failures, and hard lessons learned
26:05 Data vs feelings and how to actually lead people
30:05 Why sales was the real growth bottleneck
32:21 Scaling past $5M and building a true sales process
34:30 Paying top dollar for top talent and why you can’t afford not to
38:07 Private equity, building value, and planning an exit
40:57 What they would do differently starting over today
44:11 Starting over with $1,000 and the power of relationships
Contact & Social Media:American Contractor Network: https://www.americancontractornetwork.com/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/gerrittbake/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gerritt.bakeSubscribe me to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@UCewWukVmYzA7_fCVv4-UnKQThanks for watching my video! Stay tuned for more high-quality content that could change your life.
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👉 Join BuildPro Now! https://buildprosystem.com/vip In this episode, I sit down with Angie and Ryan Snow, owners of Western Heating, Air, and Plumbing, an eight-figure company that’s been in business for nearly two decades. We talk about what it’s really like building a business as a married couple, why buying an existing company changed everything for them, and how they survived the recession, hiring mistakes, sales struggles, and major growth transitions. We dig into sales, pricing, data vs feelings, leadership, people, culture, and why paying top dollar for top talent is non-negotiable if you want to scale. If you’re a contractor trying to grow without blowing up your marriage or your business, this episode is packed with real lessons. What’s in this episode: 00:00 Why Angie and Ryan’s story matters for contractors 02:05 How they got into the trades and started their careers 05:45 Buying an existing HVAC company vs starting from scratch 09:40 Surviving the recession and running out of cash early on 13:45 Marriage, stress, and setting boundaries between work and life 17:30 Finding the right roles as a couple inside the business 21:37 Hiring mistakes, sales failures, and hard lessons learned 26:05 Data vs feelings and how to actually lead people 30:05 Why sales was the real growth bottleneck 32:21 Scaling past $5M and building a true sales process 34:30 Paying top dollar for top talent and why you can’t afford not to 38:07 Private equity, building value, and planning an exit 40:57 What they would do differently starting over today 44:11 Starting over with $1,000 and the power of relationships Contact & Social Media:American Contractor Network: https://www.americancontractornetwork.com/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/gerrittbake/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gerritt.bakeSubscribe me to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@UCewWukVmYzA7_fCVv4-UnKQThanks for watching my video! Stay tuned for more high-quality content that could change your life.