Beck Electric, Generators & Plumbing Is Growing Fast. Its Secret? Great Software.

When Josh Beck talks about his company, he always tells people it’s about a 10-minute drive from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

“That's about the only way anybody seems to know where Waynesburg, Ohio, is,” he said with a chuckle. 

It’s here that Beck started Beck Electric, Generators & Plumbing as a one-man shop back in 2012. Since then, it’s blossomed into a thriving commercial and residential company—especially in the last two years.

“In 2021, we (saw) 60 percent growth from Q1 to Q2, and 100 percent growth from Q3 to Q4,” Beck said. “In 2023, month over month, we're up 100 percent.”

He’s also grown his team of managed techs by 120 percent and added a plumbing vertical. 

So, what’s behind the rapid growth?

In 2021, Beck Electric joined ServiceTitan, the software built for the trades. 

By using ServiceTitan, Beck’s team can move faster because they no longer have to slog through manual tasks. And because it’s an all-in-one platform, Beck can get up-to-date, automated reports on all areas of the business with a few keystrokes. 

“We’ve caught it a couple times where (we) may be low on certain types of jobs for that week, (or we) find an error,” Beck said. “It didn’t take six months to find, we found it in a week, corrected it and kept moving.”

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Predictability in profits

Accurately predicting the gross profit margin on a job shouldn’t be a guessing game—especially for companies that want to grow their bottom line.

To get a better sense of estimates, inventory, labor and materials costs, Beck uses ServiceTitan’s job costing and pricebook tools to calculate profits for each project. 

“The biggest thing that we changed, and then (saw) that growth and profit, was from the pricebook, so that everybody's essentially quoting the same thing,” Beck said. “It's not really left up to interpretation anymore.”

And if the cost of materials change, which they often do these days, ServiceTitan helps Beck protect his margins. For example, if the cost of a part goes up, the software will automatically update the company’s pricebook to reflect the new price of the item and adjust the overall job cost. 

But it doesn’t matter how accurate an estimate is if techs arrive at a site without the right equipment. To keep labor costs low and techs moving on to their next job, Beck’s team has embraced the inventory feature.

“Our warehouse manager is pulling stuff throughout the day and setting it on (the techs’) shelf to replenish in the morning, so they constantly have what they need,” Beck said. “The last thing you want is to run to the supply house. That’s the biggest killer.”

By better managing job costs with ServiceTitan, Beck Electric has grown net profits by 5 percent year over year.

“(That) got us into the double-digit net profit margin,” Beck said. “Which is great for us.”

Using technology to grow

Beck is eager to find new ways to increase efficiency and stand out from the competition. That’s why his team has leveraged ServiceTitan in several areas:

• Memberships: Beck Electric uses ServiceTitan’s membership feature to enroll customers in yearly service inspection and preventative maintenance programs. Currently, the company has 1,200 generators they service through memberships, and it recently launched a residential plumbing and electric program to boost sales.

• Modern customer service: Repeat business is big for Beck. After all, he said, “the customer costs a lot less to get the second time around.” With customer experience features like an online portal, Beck’s clients can easily pay their bills online, review estimates, schedule appointments and see their job histories—all without picking up the phone.

• A unified team: ServiceTitan’s templates and forms minimize confusion for Beck’s techs and office staff. For example, as soon as a tech completes a job completion form, it’s uploaded to the cloud and the front office receives a notification. Beck said this has increased efficiency, because “everyone knows what’s going on without actually having to talk.”

Building on success

When it comes to growing his company, there’s just one thing that keeps Beck up at night: finding enough great talent. 

And while ServiceTitan doesn’t have a tech tool to solve this problem, the software has helped Beck in other ways.

“When interviewing (younger techs) that may work in other companies, they're still using paper,” Beck said. “You tell them that you're going to give them an iPad and their light eyes light up.”

Since joining the platform in 2021, Beck has hired 10 new managed techs. Looking at the next five years, he wants to keep growing at the same pace, which means 25 new crews on the road. With that expansion, he’s also thinking about multiple warehouses—and a second location. 

And while Beck can’t promise the new office would be near the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he can say it will be a place where Beck Electric, Generators & Plumbing’s success will continue to be shared by his team.

“(We want to) give people a place to grow into.”