The Trade Traction Podcast with Dennis The Apprentice

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You can’t afford an apprentice because your price doesn’t include one. You’re trying to fund the future of your plumbing company out of whatever happens to be left over, and for a lot of owners, nothing is. Dennis says the one-man shop is hurting the industry for three reasons, and it starts with a locked door between young people who want in and companies that won’t hire them.

This breaks down the three problems: nobody is training the next generation, prices that don’t support training, and what happens to you after 20 years of doing every job yourself. You’ll hear why the customer pays for everything including training, how to turn an apprentice’s phone into free local marketing, and the harder question to ask when you’re afraid they’ll leave: what can they become if they stay?

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Why the one-man shop is hurting the plumbing industry
(00:36) - Why the comments said “you’re wrong” instead of asking how
(01:26) - Problem one: nobody is training the next generation
(02:03) - The locked door between young people and plumbing jobs
(03:05) - Problem two: why you can’t afford an apprentice
(04:30) - Why the cheaper plumber isn’t automatically the better deal
(05:31) - Problem three: what happens to you when you do all the work
(07:46) - How to turn an apprentice’s phone into free marketing
(10:13) - “Won’t they just leave?” What happens if they stay
(12:29) - Who taught you the business side of plumbing?

Want to learn the business side of plumbing?

Watch Dennis’s free seven-part series

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

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👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

If your plumbing company doubled in size tomorrow, would things get better or twice as hard? Twice the calls, plumbers, trucks, payroll, and problems. Dennis learned the hard way that growth doesn’t automatically create freedom. Sometimes it just creates a bigger job for the owner.

This is part six, the final part of the Plumbing Business Apprenticeship, and it puts the whole series together into one game plan for your first profitable $3 million year. You’ll hear the five-part blueprint recapped, why the owner eventually becomes the bottleneck, and why business is a trade you have to learn just like plumbing. Dennis also shares what he wishes he’d had during his 25 years of trial and error, plus a quick one-to-ten scorecard that shows you the next thing to fix in your own company.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Why growth doesn’t automatically create freedom
(00:58) - Why revenue stopped impressing him
(02:12) - Putting the whole series together into one game plan
(05:22) - The last piece: when the owner becomes the bottleneck
(07:34) - Why business is a trade you have to learn
(08:31) - What Dennis wishes he’d had from day one
(10:39) - Why Trade Traction exists
(11:24) - The five-area scorecard: rate yourself one to ten
(13:14) - The next step: how to become Dennis’s apprentice
(14:19) - What a profitable plumbing company can actually give you

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

You’re probably paying to introduce yourself to a stranger 30 miles away, then paying your plumber to sit in traffic to get there. Dennis does almost the opposite. If he owned a small plumbing company again, he wouldn’t try to dominate three counties, and he’d start with five miles.

This is part five of the Plumbing Business Apprenticeship, and it’s all about marketing. You’ll hear why your job is to get the best calls, not just the most, what a 45-minute drive really costs your business, and why competing against bigger Google budgets is a losing game. You’ll also learn how one completed service call can become the center of your next marketing effort, why everyone on your team is a marketer, and how purpose-driven marketing gives a small plumbing company something a giant corporate competitor can’t copy.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Why you shouldn’t market to your entire service area
(01:19) - Why your job is getting the best calls, not the most
(01:33) - What a 45-minute drive really costs your plumbing company
(01:57) - Stacking your calls inside one five-mile radius
(03:13) - Why outspending bigger companies on Google is a losing game
(04:02) - Turning one completed call into a whole neighborhood
(04:50) - Why everyone in your company is a marketer
(05:57) - Purpose-driven marketing: purpose first, marketing second
(08:26) - The warning: become part of the circle, don’t just buy ads
(09:59) - Your homework: draw your five-mile circle

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

You keep saying there aren't enough good plumbers. Dennis agrees they're hard to find, but he thinks that's not your real problem. The real problem is that you're trying to find plumbers instead of build them, while every other company in town fights over the same handful of people.

This is part four of the Plumbing Business Apprenticeship. You'll hear why whoever has the plumbers owns the market, what you actually win when you hire someone else's plumber, and how a simple Wednesday code class turned into a training culture that attracted better people. You'll also hear the story of an apprentice nobody wanted on the job site who became a general manager, why one high producer isn't worth your whole culture, and how a small plumbing company can win without outspending anyone.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - What's really keeping your plumbing company from growing
(01:58) - Why whoever has the plumbers owns the market
(02:37) - What you actually win when you hire someone else's plumber
(03:59) - How a simple Wednesday code class started changing everything
(04:52) - Training meeting vs. training culture
(05:32) - The apprentice who became a general manager
(07:15) - Why one high producer isn't worth your whole culture
(08:03) - Your plumber is your primary customer
(09:51) - How a small plumbing company wins without outspending anyone
(12:30) - Your homework: are you finding plumbers or building them?

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique: https://www.podcastboutique.com

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

If you're pushing your plumbers to sell more, stop. They didn't sign up to be salesmen, and your customers didn't call expecting to be sold. In this video, Dennis breaks down the 80/20 sales process, a way to grow revenue without turning good plumbers into pushy closers.

He walks through the two failed extremes he lived through, high pressure selling and the opposite, doing only what the customer asked for, and explains why neither one worked. From there he introduces the decision hallway, the idea of "stocking the shelf" with real options, and why the plumber should never be the one deciding what a customer can afford.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Why selling more isn't the answer
(01:04) - The two extremes: high pressure selling vs doing the bare minimum
(05:38) - The decision hallway: trust, company, diagnosis, timing
(07:13) - Stocking the shelf: giving customers real options
(10:57) - Why average ticket isn't the goal, service is
(12:32) - What's coming in part four
(13:36) - Homework: how many options are you giving customers?

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

 👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

You keep thinking you just need more calls, more plumbers, more trucks, more revenue. Dennis believed that too, for years. Here's what he eventually learned: if the math underneath your plumbing company doesn't work, more revenue doesn't fix the problem. It can make it worse.

This is part two of the Plumbing Business Apprenticeship, and it's all about profit. You'll hear the five lessons it took Dennis years to learn, starting with the uncomfortable truth that revenue isn't profit and the customer pays for everything, including your mistakes. You'll also get the one-man-truck exercise that exposed exactly why a $3 million company can still feel broke, and why he'd rather teach you to stock the shelf than turn every plumber into a salesman.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Why "I just need more" doesn't fix a broken plumbing business
(01:42) - Why nobody taught you the business side, only the trade
(03:38) - Lesson two: the customer pays for everything
(05:57) - The one-man-truck exercise that exposed the real cost
(08:01) - Lesson four: sellable hours matter more than billable hours
(10:33) - Lesson five: profit can't be whatever's left over
(12:38) - Recapping the five profit lessons
(15:59) - Why stocking the shelf beats turning plumbers into salesmen

 This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique 

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

You keep telling yourself things will get better at the next revenue milestone. A million, then two million, then somehow there's still no money left over. This is part one of a six-part series built around one very specific destination: your first profitable $3 million a year, not a number with nothing left over, not one you can't sleep on, and not one built on salespeople you'd be afraid to send to your own friends.

This kicks off the Plumbing Business Apprenticeship, the blueprint Dennis wishes someone had handed him more than 20 years ago. You'll hear how he went from starting Gene Johnson Plumbing at $88 an hour to charging over $500, why hitting $3 million still didn't feel like a business he was proud of, and how the 2008 recession nearly wiped it all out. You'll also hear the seminar line that exposed his company as "breakeven," the moment giving customers options changed everything, and the exact order he'd build a plumbing company in if he were starting over today.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Why the next revenue milestone never actually fixes anything
(01:42) - Welcome to the Plumbing Business Apprenticeship
(04:40) - Starting a mom-and-pop shop at $88 an hour
(05:53) - The toilet that became the first flat-rate price
(09:06) - You can't grow your way out of bad math
(09:51) - Hitting $3 million and still not liking the company he'd built
(11:07) - The 2008 recession and losing half the company overnight
(13:19) - The seminar line that exposed a breakeven company
(13:48) - Discovering the power of giving customers options
(16:26) - Why "whoever has the plumbers owns the market"

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

Can't afford the new truck. Can't afford another plumber. Can't afford training, coaching, health insurance. Sound familiar? Here's the uncomfortable truth: that's not a cash problem, that's a pricing problem, and doing more work at the wrong price for another year will only make it worse.

This breaks down the one lesson that completely changed the way Dennis looked at money in his own plumbing business: your customers are supposed to pay for all of it, not you. You'll hear the real math behind why a $1,000 decision isn't actually about the $1,000, what he calls the plumbing business whirlpool and how it slowly pulls contractors under, and the better question to ask yourself the next time you hear "I can't afford it."

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - The lie behind "I can't afford it"
(02:41) - Who actually pays for your trucks, tools, and training
(04:06) - The real math behind a $1,000 decision
(06:44) - What the plumbing business whirlpool actually is
(07:01) - How the whirlpool slowly pulls you under
(12:58) - The question you should be asking instead
(13:30) - Charge less than cost vs. charge more than cost

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

👇 Take the Trade Traction Score Assessment and discover what to focus on next in your business:  https://tradetraction.scoreapp.com

Mike built a solid plumbing company almost entirely on hard work and grit, no business background, no formula, just figuring it out call by call. It worked, until it didn't. Here's what changed when he finally stopped trying to carry the whole thing himself.

This conversation gets into how Mike went from framing to plumbing, why getting his wife pregnant was the push that finally got him to start his own company, and the years he spent wearing every hat in the business before realizing that wasn't sustainable. You'll hear how discovering Profit First reshaped the way he manages money, what changed the moment he stopped touching his savings account, and why he finally reached out for help after 14 years of doing it alone.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Meet Mike: a great plumber, but new to the business side
(01:05) - Trading framing bags for pipe wrenches
(02:00) - The pregnancy that pushed him to start his own company
(04:17) - Wearing 20 hats and realizing he couldn't do it alone
(09:41) - The stress that finally pushed him to get help
(13:18) - Discovering Profit First and splitting one bank account into five
(16:56) - The moment Mike stopped touching his savings
(21:09) - Why you don't have to figure it all out alone

Want more of this? Join the Trade Traction community on Skool, where Dennis and other plumbing contractors dig deeper into pricing, hiring, and building a profitable company. 

Connect with Mike LoMonaco: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-lomonaco-68801a4b/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LomonacoPlumbing
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lomonacoplumbing/
Website: https://lomonacocoast.com/

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.

Send us Fan Mail

What does it take to build a successful career—or a profitable business—in the skilled trades?

In this episode of the Trade Traction Road Show, recorded at the SkillsUSA National Championships in Atlanta, I sit down with John, better known online as The Bald Electrician.

John built and operated his own electrical contracting company for 26 years, employed more than 100 people, completed multiple acquisitions, and eventually sold his business. Today, he’s focused on mentoring apprentices, technicians, and the next generation of skilled trades professionals.

We talk honestly about electrical and plumbing apprenticeships, skilled trades careers, contractor profitability, marketing, licensing, mentorship, workforce development, private equity, and the challenges of running a successful trade business.

You’ll discover:

• Why apprentices need experienced mentors
• How licensing can transform a skilled trades career
• Why business ownership isn’t the only path to success
• How everyday spending can affect your financial future
• Why many plumbing, HVAC, and electrical contractors are working for free
• What contractors must do to become more profitable
• How reputation and differentiation make the phone ring
• Why great technicians often need an operator to help run the business
• What private equity understands about the skilled trades
• Why contractors must know their true labor, overhead, and operating costs
• How hiring apprentices helps contractors grow their next generation
• Why every new contractor needs a second apprenticeship—this time in business

John and I also discuss the future of workforce development, virtual mentorship, training technology, and how retired tradespeople could continue passing their knowledge to younger technicians.

If you’re a plumber, electrician, HVAC technician, apprentice, journeyman, contractor, or skilled trades business owner, this conversation is packed with lessons earned through decades of real-world experience.

Ready to stop working for free and build a plumbing or HVAC business that creates freedom for you, your family, and your team?

Send me the number 30 on Instagram, and I’ll send you information about the Trade Traction Business Apprenticeship™:

https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/

Listen to the Trade Traction Podcast:

https://linktw.in/stxJSl

Book a conversation with Dennis:

https://calendly.com/dennishamon/30min

CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome to the Trade Traction Road Show
2:15 Meet John, The Bald Electrician
3:40 PHCC Connect 2026
4:35 Why mentorship matters in the skilled trades
10:25 Licensing and continuing your education
12:40 The skilled trades career ladder
16:25 Is owning a contracting business right for everyone?
20:40 Money lessons every apprentice and technician needs
23:45 Why so many contractors are working for free
27:25 How contractors can make the phone ring
30:00 Why starting a business requires going all in
32:35 Great technicians need a strong operator
34:00 Your second apprenticeship should be in business
36:35 Private equity, pricing, and contractor self-esteem
39:00 Residential versus commercial profit margins
41:15 Why everyone is already working for themselves
42:40 The future of apprenticeships and workforce development
45:00 Why small contractors should hire apprentices
48:40 Introducing Trades Tools
50:40 The future of virtual mentorship
52:30 Final advice for the next generation

ABOUT DENNIS

I’m Dennis Hamon—better known as Dennis The Apprentice. I spent 25 years building a residential plumbing and heating company to more than 60 employees and approximately $12 million in annual revenue before selling it for eight figures.

Today, I help plumbing and HVAC contractors stop working for free, become consistently profitable, develop great people, and build businesses that create real freedom.

Life is too short to take so long to figure out the business.

Now it’s your turn.

#SkilledTrades #ElectricalContractor #PlumbingBusiness #HVACBusiness #Apprenticeship #SkillsUSA #TradeCareers #ContractorBusiness #BusinessMentorship #WorkforceDevelopment #Electrician #Plumber #TradeTraction

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

Connect with Dennis:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dennis-hamon/?skipRedirect=true
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dennistheapprentice/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064205912242
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@dennistheapprenticeSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3LAHQrt3tYgfO60vasMZcW?si=9afc53dfaeba477e
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/the-trade-traction-podcast-with-dennis-the-apprentice/id1648541208

Thank you once again for your support and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your peers! Stay tuned for more exciting content coming your way every week.