Gus Vassilopoulos is an accomplished marketing and business professional with a strong background in growing small to medium-sized businesses. Experienced in working with C-level executives to create and execute growth strategies. Strong analytical and financial background holding an MBA with finance and accounting concentrations.

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Selling Extended Warranties COULD Transform Your HVAC Company 

Tersh Blissett: Hello everyone out there in Podcast World. I hope you have a wonderful day. You’re listening to or watching Service Business Mastery Podcast and I’m here. I’m your host Tersh Blissett and sitting virtually next to Joshua Crouch, my co-host. And I feel like this is like the hundredth episode we’ve done today, but in reality is, is episode three. And if you have watched all three episodes, kudos to you. I will give you a. Whatever book or.

Josh Crouch: Whatever free thing you have from all the shows you go to.

Tersh Blissett: I’ll give you one of those air bags that I have with all the gadgets in it, not, oh, we’re going to talk about extended warranties for equipment and how. Well, one of the things with extended warranties is how it separates you from the competition. But at the same time, we’re going to talk about why what you don’t know can hurt you when it comes to the extended warranty [00:01:00] world. And so we have Trinity Warranty with us here on the show today. I’m not super familiar with Trinity, but Josh, you you said that you are correct.

Josh Crouch: Yeah. So two HVAC companies ago, I we used what we sold through Gustav last. We sold American standard equipment and that’s one of their partners. So they, they use the Trinity Warranty Program and we always like as we leveled up our packages for people and went to the higher end equipment, we always included extended warranties with that stuff and purchased them through Trinity and Gustav Larson because we always wanted to. It’s like anything else in business. You want to stand out and have something. You want to try to get people to go to your better product because you know, A, they’re going to be happier be they’re not going to have any problems. And if they do, it’s covered. You’re not to worry about a thing. And that’s what we always try to do is get people into those systems with those extended warranties.

Tersh Blissett: Do you ever find that [00:02:00] people wanted like your yeah, you’re up north. Y’all can sell like ten year stuff still. Do you ever find like the 1314 series stuff that they they would want the extended warranty like the ten year they try.

Josh Crouch: But that’s the thing with that 13 series stuff. So 13 series right now until the new DOE update, then I think it goes to 14 here. But with 13 here, we wouldn’t offer the extended on the 13. It would always be like 14, 16, 18, 20 I think is what we had. We would we would start offering extended warranties on those because the whole purpose was to get them out of the base package or the builder package, if you will, into something that’s going to be better for their home. Because we all know that single stage equipment, people are going to complain because it starts and stops and they never they never get comfortable if they go with at least a two stage, we know that that’s going to bring an additional level of comfort. So let’s do that and pair it with an extended warranty because that extra investment, it’s [00:03:00] a pretty sizable investment for somebody to make. Yeah. So that’s that’s what we did.

Tersh Blissett: Tell me this. So this is completely off topic for what we’re talking about today on today’s episode. But if you’ve ever listened to a episode of this podcast, you know that this is something I do sometimes. Have you ever heard of anybody who when they’re creating their prices for their equipment, they just do like a flat, let’s call it $4,500. Like so like no matter what tier their equipment is, they’re making the same amount of money on it instead of it being based on percentages, their margins on percentages.

Josh Crouch: Oh, I think a lot of people make that mistake. That’s why we see all these group chats about pricing and what are you doing and how do you calculate margin pricing and stuff like that still is a concept that people are still like. It’s like eye opening, like what you make. So you make more money on the higher end equipment? Yeah. We do. We have more risk, too. And a lot of times that stuff takes longer to set up because now we got [00:04:00] extra controls and wires and stuff like that with the communicating equipment. So I would we always put a margin on it. We kept the same. It was hard for me at first when I first learned it because I wanted to lower the margin a little bit because I’m like, Oh man, that price is really high.

Tersh Blissett: On the high end stuff. Yeah, I’ve.

Josh Crouch: And I’m like, well, at a certain point you’re just like, you know what it is, what it is, and this is the price. We’ve got to make the same margin so we can cover our overhead and then have these expenses so we can go build our business. And it takes a little bit like you really got to trust, you just got to trust that this is going to work out and and people have done it before. So you’re not the first one.

Tersh Blissett: You’re not reinventing the wheel. I’m super excited to have Gus and Rich are on the show today and we’re going to talk a little bit about extended warranties. And yeah, so let’s get started with show.

Announcer: Are you looking for valuable business advice to reach that seven figure revenue mark? Do you want actionable tips to properly navigate through every [00:05:00] business challenge you encounter along the way? Let Tersh Blissett and Josh Crouch be your guide in getting you to the top here at Service Business Mastery. Tune in as they sit down with world renowned authors in business leadership and personal growth who share valuable insights about management, marketing, pricing, human resources, and so much more. Let their nuggets of wisdom gold guide you in owning a thriving, profitable and ever growing business. Here are your hosts, Tersh and Josh.

Tersh Blissett: Hey. Welcome to the show, Justin Rich.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Hey. Hey, Josh. Good to be here.

Tersh Blissett: How were you all today?

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Doing good.

Rich Jurek: We’re doing.

Tersh Blissett: Well. Good, good, good. So tell us a little bit about yourself and about what you have going on before we get started.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Sure. So my name is Gus Vassell. I’m working at Trinity Warranty. I’ve been here for a little over two years. My background [00:06:00] is a marketing, so I’ve spent probably before I came to Trinity, a good maybe spent seven years before then in marketing. And before then I was more in the finance accounting but transitioned to to marketing. So I’ve been with Trinity for two years. And we’re going to talk a bit about extended warranties there. That’s their street name, but they’re actually extended service agreements. That’s the formal, I guess, name for them and which is has a different background than me. Tell us about yourself.

Rich Jurek: Well, as you can see, I’m the old guy. So I have been around the industry for quite a while. Many, many moons ago, I actually started as a helper when I was in college and I have worked with a contractor and was a commercial account rep, actually was part of an over HVAC trade school. And so [00:07:00] kind of. And then a lot of experience here with the extended warranties, extended service agreements. I’ve been at Trinity here for seven years and so kind of a very diverse background in HVAC. So I have a lot of interesting perspectives and I like to think of myself as having worked in the field with a contractor. I understand the day to day challenges of operating a contracting business and how the extended warranties can play a part in helping that.

Josh Crouch: Rich I got a super important question to ask you. So it’s been eating at me since you told me you’re from Chicago. Are you a Bears fan?

Rich Jurek: Yeah, but I mean, there’s not much to cheer for right now. So the bears are selling like.

Josh Crouch: You probably hate us Packer fans.

Rich Jurek: Well, all I know is were subservient to Aaron [00:08:00] Rodgers.

Josh Crouch: He owns you guys, man. That’s what he said. He owns you guys so. Well, you didn’t realize he was a part owner of the team, did you?

Rich Jurek: With that 50 million a year that he’s getting, he could probably buy.

Josh Crouch: He can probably buy. Me, too.

Tersh Blissett: Oh, Jim said easy on bears. So, guys, let’s talk about the things that we should know about the extended service agreements or extended warranties and the things that we don’t know that that could possibly hurt us.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Sure. Rich, did you want to maybe hop in here? Let’s talk a little bit about setting the tone as far as the some of the audience that maybe doesn’t know what these are and some of the things that we want to kind of lay the groundwork before we start telling them.

Rich Jurek: You know, some some of the basics. I mean, ultimately, the extended service agreement complements the OEMs warranty. So pretty much all residential equipment [00:09:00] will come with a minimum of a ten year parts warranty. And our product what it does, you know, and contractors, they may include a 90 day labor, a one year labor on their workmanship. What our product does is basically gives them the opportunity to purchase a ten year labor and offer their customer a fixed cost solution for ten years so that if they have a compressor that goes out in year seven, not only is the compressor covered by the OEM, but the labor to replace that compressor is covered by the extended warranty.

Tersh Blissett: So, Richard, let me ask you a question real quick. Sure. How often do you. Because I don’t know. This is something that I feel like in our industry. It’s a. Ignorance is bliss. It’s probably the best way to say it. People assume when they hear they got a ten year warranty [00:10:00] and it’s a ten year manufacturer warranty, that there’s the assumption that that includes the labor and then after after a year or 90 days and they need something repaired and then all of a sudden they have to pay out of pocket. They’re like, Wait a minute. I thought that this covered my extended warranty. Like my warranty was included all this. And then also like let’s say that it’s within the year and refrigerant needs to be added to it and the refrigerant is not covered under a manufactured warranty. And then they’re like, Wait a minute, that’s a part, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so like, how do you how do you see that? As often as I feel like it’s probably there. I don’t know, you know.

Rich Jurek: What you what you’re bringing up, I think, is more standard than you think, because when you’re selling that system to your customer, basically you’re telling them it’s got a ten year parts warranty. What your customer has heard is it’s got a ten year warranty.

Tersh Blissett: Exactly.

Rich Jurek: You [00:11:00] know, they and contractors do their best at trying to put it on their proposal or any kind of sales document that they’re signing, that it’s just ten years apart. But ultimately, the customer here, they’ve got a ten year warranty and how it plays out Tersh is like you had mentioned, you know, all of a sudden the compressor goes bad. In year seven, the contractor walks in and tells their customer, Hey, you have a bad compressor. The good news is it’s covered by the OEM. The questionable news is you have to pay me $1,000 to replace it. And that’s when the interesting conversation started. You know, because the controversy is wait a minute, now, you said I had a ten year warranty and the contractor will go, well, no, no. I said you had a ten year parts warranty. And before you know it, there’s negotiation because the contractor doesn’t want to upset his customer. [00:12:00] So that 1000 becomes 800 or 750. Now we take the same scenario with the extended warranty product, and the contractor walks in and says, okay, I have bad news, your compressor is bad. But the good news is the compressor part is covered by the OEM. The labor is covered by your extended warranty. There’s nothing out of pocket you need to spend. Yeah. Boehner has a.

Tersh Blissett: Smile. Oh, yeah. And I feel like whenever you have the conversation with them about like whenever you’re selling the system to them, when you’re offering system replacement options and you have the extended warranty on there. And at that point, if they decide to remove the extended labor warranty and then seven years later, obviously I don’t remember what I did yesterday, much less seven years ago, but it’s easier to have the conversation like, Hey, look, I offered you this extended labor agreement [00:13:00] and you declined it at that time, and especially if you could show records of them declining it. And then that’s a little bit easier. You don’t have to really negotiate the price of the labor at that point because it’s legit, like what you said. But we’re also we’re also going with the fact that the average person lives in a home for seven years. And so the eight or nine year mark, a lot of times it’s not the original homeowner. Is that. Is that service agreement transferable or is that is it gone when the original homeowner moves?

Rich Jurek: Oh, the Trinity product is transferable.

Tersh Blissett: Okay.

Rich Jurek: So as if there is the home is sold, the new homeowner can get the agreement transferred to their name as long as they basically contact us within 90 days of the sale. Gotcha. So one of the things we even tell, we tell a contractor even that they can tell the homeowner is basically that [00:14:00] extended service agreement is an asset. Because when someone is buying a home, if they’re thinking, well, they will be concerned about the mechanical systems. And so basically they’ll be saying, well, I don’t like the way this looks or whatever. You know, this is an eight year old unit. I wish it was a brand new one. You know, that basically the person selling the home can say, hey, you’ve got another two years worth of coverage. If there’s something that goes wrong, you’re covered.

Tersh Blissett: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I like that 100%, that peace of mind because a lot of people don’t realize the cost of moving into a house. Josh, He’s about to experience that firsthand. And but one of the things is you get into a new house and then all of a sudden you have to replace the air conditioning unit. It’s gonna be ten, 15, $20,000, whatever it is. And you have that extended warranty. That’s just an extra layer of peace of mind, for sure.

Josh Crouch: Is [00:15:00] their wages recommend as far as during the sales process of promoting this in a way that the communication is a little more clear and concise. So that way it does you. You can take and add your offer to their product and make it stand out and make it differentiate that contractor. Or are there any recommendations or things that you guys have that you you train contractors on or help them kind of understand a little bit better?

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Yeah. Rich, if I could take this one.

Rich Jurek: Well, please, please do. Yes.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: I think a big part. And I’ve seen some of your podcasts, some of the folks that you’ve had on where they speak to empathy and really trying to get a make a bond with a customer and not just like, hey, I’m trying to throw a system in and then get your money and have a good have a good day, you know, and prepare.

Tersh Blissett: Yourself.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: But, you know, you do a lot of work around branding yourself as a [00:16:00] responsible, caring company. And when you put a package together, it’s some people will speak to the two ways that I see contractors kind of doing this. They they feel like it’s their responsibility to make sure the kind of scenario that was just described never happens from the standpoint of, hey, I never want to be in a position where I’m arguing with my customer that the warranty that they that came with the manufacturer is not going to take care of their, you know, take care of their labor. And you know how that is. If you get a bad review, somebody’s saying, hey, this guy I remember one of the podcast, they said that 50% of the feedback that they get from HVAC contractors is that the thieves or that they’re rotten or whatever. And that’s just another reason for that sentiment to kind of perpetuate. Right. And this really the contractors, you know, they approach it with different strategies. But the one that we see and the one that we feel is the most successful is that they they make that part of their product. That [00:17:00] being said, they don’t say that, hey, you know what, we’re going to put in this system and we’ll get better best you on the warranty you do three year, five year, ten year or whatever you may want to offer. They just say, this is the way we do business. Like we’re going to put in a system. You know, you’re going to dish out ten, 15, like you said, 20 grand. You’re going to finance it. And we’re going to make sure that that you’re covered.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: I mean, we’re looking out to make sure you’re not going to have to dip in your pocket for 1500 dollars or 1200 dollars four years down the line, because, hey, you know what? Sometimes the manufacturers make mistakes, too, right? So they’ll give you a compressor. But I mean, is it your fault that you got to dish out 1200 bucks for the labor? You know, I mean, so you really kind of seal that that empathy and that looking out for the customer to make sure that, hey, you know what, I’m looking out for your long term kind of comfort, right? So the one way I would say is that customers, they just brand themselves that way and they say, listen, you know what? Yeah, we might be or they may tell [00:18:00] you, hey, you know, you’re about a few hundred or 1000 or whatever the pricing you’re going to do as far as margin more than my competition. But, you know, you speak to the fact that, hey, you stack the value as far as being there for them long term. Right. And that really sets them apart as a way of doing business. Not so much. Hey, this product is better or that product is better, this tier or whatever. It’s like, Hey, we just feel that this is the way we got to do things. I mean, imagine, you know, you put you put a system in on your brother’s house or something and it’s like, Hey, Tersh, man, you just put in a system and you broke down. A year from now you’re going to go there, you’re going to take care of them. I mean, you know.

Tersh Blissett: That’s son of a gun. He’s lucky. Don’t burn his house.

Tersh Blissett: No, no, I’m just kidding.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: So. So, you know, and it really just like you were talking later on when you when you go to that home seven years and they’re covered, I mean, they’re talking you up, right? They’re giving you another review. They’re just, you know, they’re going to town telling people, man, you can’t believe this, man, my compressor. It it [00:19:00] was a hot day. And and they came out, they took care of everything and that was it. You know, it’s an experience that that really goes into your brand and it really helps kind of set you apart. Like you were saying. Josh Now that’s the one avenue. The other is the good, better, best model, right? So you walk into the home and you know, the there’s different ways to go about it. So we do offer different years of coverage. So you can you can do a two year or three year, five year, ten year, right? It doesn’t have to be ten years with everything that you sell. And you can go walk into the room with different models and attach different labor warranties to those models or optionality on every tier if you want. Right. We try not to tell the customer or the contractor exactly the way they should do it. Right, because everyone has their own kind of have their own consultants and they have their own advisors and they have their own way of doing business. But what we do is at least explain to them what we’ve seen. In the market. [00:20:00] And what they can do is when they open up that book, that kind of goes through the different options. Or if they’re using an iPad, they can add a screen or an option where they say, hey, here’s here’s a here’s another option, right? You could do a three year with a system, a five year or ten year. And then, like you said, Tersh, as far as the know, if somebody doesn’t take them up on it or if you’ve included it and they’re really adamant about getting it off, you know, get it off their invoice. Well, you do that, but you have a record saying, hey, my, my customer pick there.

Rich Jurek: If I can interject something. And Gus has been kind of humble here. One of the things that Trinity also offers is Gus works with our digital marketing marketing, and we have a contractor portal that he has tools that training tools that the contractor can use, and some videos that they can basically take and incorporate into [00:21:00] their presentation to their end user and help to explain the extended service agreement product sometimes better than some of their salespeople can.

Josh Crouch: Okay.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: And it’s a nice addition. Yeah. What that does is it helps you. Like I’ve seen this said before, when somebody is trying to get a price from you, it helps you stack the value first. Let them know what they’re getting like. Here are the repairs that could happen. These are the costs that you could be seeing down the line. And what these are all covered. Right. And it’s not a deductible. It’s not a calling trinity up and getting approval. It’s it’s broken. There’s a work order signed by the customer. And then we take care of the customer, I mean, the contractor. So the homeowner is not going to have to fiddle with anything, right?

Tersh Blissett: It’s not like a home warranty.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Right. Right. Yeah. You know, it really gives the power to the contractor to use the product. How they how they feel. It’s best for [00:22:00] them. We equip them with every different, like, best practices, you could say. But but we really leave it up to them. And then there’s the hybrid, right? There are some contractors. What they’ll do is they’ll come in with a three year. That’s the way we do business, three years on everything or five years on everything. And then they’ll offer, hey, you know, you could do an additional five years for an additional cost, right? So so so we’ve seen we’ve seen that as well. As a matter of fact, I remember one of them. This is one of the richest accounts. They actually started out with the five year. And they were sick of dealing with what was kind of described in earlier, where the customer would be like, hey, you know what? I thought I was covered. And they said, listen, we’re not going to sell anything. But ten years they upped at the ten years and said, like, this is just the way we do business. We’re not going to hassle and haggle with people because, you know, they had actually had a bad year. I forget which which systems they were putting in.

Tersh Blissett: And I think it might start with a Y and with a K.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: But, you know, they had bad coils, they had bad they had bad coils. And I mean, they were they were, you [00:23:00] know, 70 some coils they did that year. And, you know, if they didn’t have a warranty, you know, yeah, they got they got the new coil. But the customers were were hurting for that for that service.

Josh Crouch: I think that’s an important point, too, because every manufacturer has had batches where they have problems, every single one, the different coils, TVs, on and on and on. This helps protect you, too, as a business because. One the headache, the anxiety, the stress of trying to deal with all the customers with these problems and then also trying to collect from them. And then, you know, and maybe we want to segway into because I.

Tersh Blissett: Know George also.

Josh Crouch: Had a question.

Tersh Blissett: Here with what George has a question about, too. One of the things that I will say that it also would help with we’ve had conversations in the past on the podcast about this, and that is client retention. At same time, it kind of puts almost an invisible handcuffs on on the client [00:24:00] with you. Obviously, they could go they could get the extended warranty transferred to someone else if you were providing bad service. But if they like, they would stay with you as the as the contractor throughout that entire process. And and for us, we we I don’t know if you all do or not, but we require maintenance agreements throughout that that process. Is that something that that that you require as well or. Rich.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Why don’t you take this one? Yeah.

Rich Jurek: You know what? We prefer that there is a maintenance agreement in place. Excuse me. It is not mandatory, but the goal is basically to incorporate the maintenance agreement along with the extended warranty for a number of reasons. Number one, obviously, with the maintenance agreement, the equipment is going to run more efficiently over time. And it just gives [00:25:00] you more opportunities to get into the customer’s home and continue to build that relationship.

Tersh Blissett: Yeah, it’s it’s hard to swallow the pill of a they have six Siberian huskies with hardwood floors and the return is on the ground and the air handler is right there and then never had a maintenance agreement. It’s 11 years old or it’s eight years old and there’s blower wheels going bad and magically and it’s never had an air filter in it. I’m surprised.

Josh Crouch: No Tersh. They change the air filter the day before you come out.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Right.

Tersh Blissett: I just changed it. I don’t know what the problem is.

Tersh Blissett: Obviously, we’ve never dealt with anything like that.

Rich Jurek: No, of course not. You know, one of the reasons I brought up that whole contractor portal and the tools available is once again, from being in the field, what you discover is salesmen don’t sell what they don’t know how to sell. That’s true. You know, if if [00:26:00] there’s a new product that a contractor brings on board, there’s always the tech meeting and the sales guy meeting once a week. And usually the company comes out and talks to those techs and those sales people about the product and about the benefits and tries to give them the tools so that they can explain it to the customer. You know, the benefits of it. And once again, having worked for a contractor, sometimes people walk out of those meetings and going, I’m never going to do that, and or I don’t know how to do that. I don’t feel comfortable with that. And so having that whole contractor portal as well as something that they can download into that presentation takes away some of that anxiety.

Tersh Blissett: Yeah, 100%.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: You know what? I want to speak to that service agreement you may not have or the homeowner may not choose to use the contractor for that that service agreement, but they’re required to do their own service if [00:27:00] they’re not going to use you. So that’s kind of a that that goes with the manufacturer’s warranty as well. I mean, within the manufactured warranty, it says, hey, we expect A, B and C, right. As far as maintaining your system. So most homeowners, when you before you leave their house, you know, obviously you want to get that main it’s agreement. You let them know the expectation that the manufacturer has. You know, you’ve got to do these 12 things. You can do them most can’t or don’t want to. And then they’ll say, yeah, I can handle that. At least then they know what the expectation is, right? So that they don’t they’re not surprised if like your example, you know, there’s, there’s a, there’s a ball of, of hair in the blower motor and they’re like, hey, you know what? Yeah, the filter is clean, but what’s going on here? Right. Well, there’s like three inches of cottonwood on the condenser outside and you know, or they never removed the cover for for when when summer came along from the one that they had.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: So yeah, it’s I mean, it does your general [00:28:00] maintenance needs to be there, right, for this for this to kind of for this to kind of work. And it helps, like you said, you know, kind of talking to the customer about, hey, this is what we do with this maintenance agreement. It’s not just another way for us to get some more money out of you. We’re taking care. We’re taking care of your system. Right. I’d like to talk about this question that George kind of put up here. So the the nice thing about these programs, it provides the flexibility to the contractor to pick their reimbursement rate. Right. So if a contractor is is is at a certain level, we have reimbursement rates from $75 up to 150. So if a contractor is is okay with 75 and then their market, that that’s what’s going then that’s what they pick. And then if they’re looking for for a higher reimbursement, they can they can go up to 150. Right. And here’s here’s one of those. What you don’t know can’t hurt you is, is when you talk to companies like us, you’d want to find out, well, what’s that reimbursement [00:29:00] actually look like? There are some companies out there that that may claim to have a higher reimbursement rate, like let’s say they’re giving you 85 bucks instead of 75.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Right. So that’s a product of of two things. So at least to find out how much money I’m getting my pocket for the service call, it’s a product of the reimbursement rate. And then how many hours are allotted for a repair? So just to give you an example, let’s say a capacitor, you go to the home and for whatever reason that capacitor is gone. You know, the one company could pay you $85 an hour for the repair, but they only pay one half hour for a capacitor repair. So now you’re looking at there’s usually a trip involved to so you’re like, okay, this company there at $85 automatically, like, oh, this is more reimbursement than the $75 here. But then you actually do the math and you get half an hour for the repair and you get $65 trip. And then you’re looking at and then some some parts lounge, you’re looking at 180 bucks to roll a truck, which is nothing. Right. And [00:30:00] then, you know, for us, for instance, the bottom tier of the $75 reimbursement, you get one hour trip, one hour for the repair and then a parts allowance. So you get $185 for that capacitor.

Josh Crouch: So let me ask you about that. So how as a contractor, how are we supposed to be able to how do we how do we know the difference? How can we compare these things when we’re trying to select an extended warranty provider?

Gus  Vassilopoulos: And this this is you ask the right questions. So one is obviously, what is the different types of coverage and what is the pricing for that coverage? So that’s the upfront cost, right. But then on the back end, there’s usually a program guide that that describes the the function of that extended service agreement. Right. So me, when I when I talk to a contractor, we’ll go over the the cost. But we also talk about the reimbursement. And usually what the contractor is looking for is like a high, low, you know, simple repair capacitor or contractor. Whatever. What’s that going to net me [00:31:00] at the end of the day, if I pick this reimbursement level, right. And then on the high end, it’s a compressor. It’s a it’s a evaporator coil. What’s that going to net me? Right. And they kind of know what they expect to get for those. Right. This is their business. So, you know, if it’s if it’s let’s say at the let’s just pick $135 reimbursement level. You know, you get the same hours for the repair, you get the one hour for the repair, one hour trip, and then a parts allowance of 35 bucks. So you get to 85 for a contact or change out. Somebody can look at that and say, you know what, that that that works for me, right? It works for for my market, for what I’m trying to do and how I’m trying to do things. And then on the high end. You know, if it’s a competitive excuse me, a a compressor or an evaporator coil, you’ve got to pull out. You know, we pay 4 hours for the repair one hour trip, and then we also give an additional hour because you’re going to have to pull you open up a SEAL system, pull vacuum, and then the the parts alone.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: So then you’re looking at close to what’s that [00:32:00] going to be? 785 Right. For for that type of repair. And then you kind of have an idea of, hey, this is where I want to be, right? Or you want to go to the 150. You know, everyone has their own kind of way. They want to do business, right? And you pick a plan that works for you and then that’s from from understanding. You know, when you’re looking at one company or another or even a manufacturer, you know, you’ve got to make sure it fits your business model. A lot of the manufacturers try to make you fit into their kind of setup, right? So we try to give the optionality to the contractor to be able to to build it the way he he sees fit for his company. And then there’s the other question you could say, right. It’s like, okay. Obviously the higher the reimbursement, the more the cost. It kind of makes sense. Right. So some contractors say, listen. I’d rather make that on every sale. I’d rather make that extra three or 400 bucks that I’m going to pay you for the, you know, the additional reimbursement rate. I’d [00:33:00] like to make that on the sale, because the reality is maybe I’m not going to get that claim because I’m not going to need to. I’m not going to.

Tersh Blissett: Get a good job installing it.

Josh Crouch: Well, there’s only a certain percentage to that are going to have any problems, especially if they have a maintenance agreement and you require a maintenance agreement or something. Like there’s things that you can probably do to offset having those issues later on. So, you know, your failure rate maybe is one or 2%. And now you’re you’re really not worried too much about coming back to something that is under warranty because you got it up front. If that homeowner right now like so I’m full disclosure. I didn’t tell you guys for sure I’m moving to Arizona and people are like moving houses like every 2 to 3 years down there because the house values are like ridiculous. And so people that bought houses two years ago are now selling. And so anything that they got installed, like their warranties and all that stuff are going with them or they’re being voided or whatever. But a lot of people are moving. They’re moving from different house to house or they’re remote. They can move to like myself, [00:34:00] I can move to a warmer climate. So I’m not stuck inside for six months a year. So stuff like that where you can kind of. There’s so many factors that really like worried about a little bit of price here, a little bit of price there at the end of the day. Sometimes you almost overanalyzing something that just like, let’s let’s find a plan I’m comfortable with. Let’s make sure I know the details. Like you’re talking about the details behind the repairs so I know exactly what I’m getting. Make decisions and start selling.

Tersh Blissett: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Tersh Blissett: So the last thing and we’ve got. We’ve been talking really for a while. I didn’t realize the. So refrigerant. How does that even work? Because it’s different, even like in the manufacturing realm. Like, there are certain things where it’s like, oh, well, refrigerants not covered in that repair. And that’s even though it’s a part on the in the system.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Yeah. So for, for, for the, [00:35:00] the extended service agreements that that also holds true. So refrigerant wouldn’t be covered. So what I when a contractor hears that, like, you know what refrigerants going up, you know, I’d like to get something for it, right? So what I always say is, hey, listen, think of the reimbursement that you would need to get to cover that refrigerant. So just just kind of quantify that when you’re picking your reimbursement rate. So if you’re saying, hey, 100 bucks is where I want to be, but refrigerant isn’t there, well, what do we need to be so that refrigerant, the cost of refrigerant is factored into the reimbursement? Right. So I would say. Go ahead.

Rich Jurek: Yeah. Let me interject something. Okay. And I just a correction here. We do cover refrigerant in the case of a burn out or a leak. So those are covered by the agreements. If it can.

Tersh Blissett: Be recovered and reused.

Rich Jurek: Right, then it’s not covered. If the refrigerant is not contaminated and they’re just [00:36:00] replacing a TCP or whatever, then basically what we’re anticipating they’re going to do is recover it and recharge. But if it is contaminated or if there has been a leak in the system, the refrigerant is covered. Cool. Usually at the cost that the contractor incurred.

Tersh Blissett: Yeah. Yeah. Right now our 22 is sure. It’s ridiculous. Yeah. All right, cool, man. So I have a lot more questions, but in the sake for the sake of of respecting everybody’s time. Probably need to wrap things up here. But before I go, where is the best way for people to learn more about Trinity Warranty and or connect with you guys?

Gus  Vassilopoulos: So obviously you can come on our website it’s trinity warranty dot com. You can if you if you can call obviously there’s a number there. Or you can email us. I’d be happy to provide some emails. If somebody wants to reach us, reach out to us directly Tersh [00:37:00] and we’d be happy to answer any questions they may have.

Josh Crouch: For the show notes and stuff like that. Put that down on the bottom. That would be.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Great. Yeah, I’ll throw it up there and we’ll be happy to answer any, any questions. So Trinity Warranty dot com is our website. It’s got several different ways you can reach out to us. There’s a chat, there’s a there’s a there’s a contact us. There’s our telephone number. So they can they can definitely reach out to us there. But yeah, that’s probably the best way. And then I’ll put all my information on the, on the comment section here so that people have it. We do play I just saw Cheryl throw in there. Do you pay a reclaim allowance? So that was one of the one hour, the additional hour that that I spoke to that that you get. So that is for the claim. Okay. Yeah, go ahead.

Josh Crouch: I was just I was just going to say that the this this devil in the details type thing, because there’s you know, there’s there’s different warranty providers out there and knowing what is behind it, like don’t look at the rate that might entice you on the front end. Like how [00:38:00] long do you get for these repairs? Do you get extra time? I think that’s a I honestly, I had no idea that I didn’t know any better. You guys took care of us when when we use you. But I didn’t know any better when that stuff came, so I’m glad. Hopefully somebody picks that up from this episode and understands that stuff. So when they’re. So they actually compare apples to apples versus apples to oranges.

Rich Jurek: And one of the things the trip charge, like you mentioned, I mean, our standard program is basically the trip charge gets reimbursed at the same amount of your as your labor rate. So if someone is picking $125 labor reimbursement program per hour, the trip charge would be 125. Now, we can also customize a program where they can say, well, I don’t need $125 for a trip charge. We can customize it and make it 75. Okay. So like you said, it’s our standard product is basically the trip charge is mirroring the [00:39:00] labor rate, but it can be customized. And that’s a very good point because there’s other companies that may pay the 125 an hour, but their trip charge is only 75 or 85.

Tersh Blissett: Oh, yeah. So we got ask ask lots of questions to make sure you.

Josh Crouch: Reach out.

Tersh Blissett: If you can.

Josh Crouch: If you guys need to reach out, compare these things, go deeper on these questions if you need to. These are great questions. I appreciate anyone that jumps into these live streams and stuff and ask questions because it helps us to kind of guide what you want to learn about. So we appreciate that.

Tersh Blissett: 100%, guys and Rich, we really appreciate you coming on the show and taking some time and spend with us and answering all the ridiculous questions that I have anyways.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: Thanks for having.

Rich Jurek: Us, John. We’ll be happy to do a sequel if you get a million questions about it.

Tersh Blissett: All right. That sounds good. That sounds great. I appreciate you guys.

Gus  Vassilopoulos: See you.

Rich Jurek: Thanks.

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