The Home Service Expert Podcast
Why Most Remodelers Keep Paying for Demand They Could Be Creating for Free
05 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the origin story of Tony Hody and his journey in remodeling?
Many of them try to solve their marketing problems strictly in the checkbook. They try to Google ad campaigns, buy leads from lead aggregators, try to advertise in print media or television, radio. That's all they're doing.
We're going to continue to help contractors stick with the fundamentals, with stuff that's guaranteed and proven, going out and knocking on doors, working live home shows and events.
All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert.
Chapter 2: What is the difference between hunting and farming in lead generation?
Today, I have a legend in the lead gen door-to-door canvassing, home show and events, sales team training, remodeling, consultant industry. His name's Tony Hody. He's based out of Cleveland, Ohio.
Chapter 3: How can door-to-door canvassing be effectively utilized for lead generation?
He's widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on lead generation and residential remodeling industry. Tony began his career knocking doors as a part-time student at Ohio State and worked his way up to...
Every channel of the business, canvassing, call centers, home shows, retail, in-home sales, before launching his own remodeling company and eventually transitioning into full-time consulting. Tony and his team train individuals and companies nationwide and internationally to generate more appointments, handle leads more effectively, and grow their business through proven repeatable systems.
Tony, I got so much more to read, but how are you doing today?
Chapter 4: What strategies can remodelers use to create infinite demand?
I'm doing great, man. Thanks for the introduction. I appreciate it.
Yeah, so this episode, the thesis is most home improvement companies are leaving money on the table because they rely on one or two lead sources that don't have the systems to maximize any of them.
Chapter 5: How should remodelers approach capacity planning for their business?
In this episode, Tony's going to break down how remodelers can diversify their lead generation, build high-performing canvassing and event teams, and convert more of the leads they already have without just throwing more money at digital ads. So let's just talk about the beginning, man.
Chapter 6: What role does company culture play in hiring and training?
Walk us through what, you know, your personal story and... and what you're excited about.
Yeah, so my personal story, I got a part time job for beer money as a student at the Ohio State University. And it was just supposed to be a part time job, but I fell in love with it and really learned the business. I learned how to go door to door around job sites and generate leads. I learned how to work home shows and events, other live events like fairs and festivals.
I sat in the call center in the wintertime sometimes when it was too cold and frigid to get out there and knock on doors. We would resurrect old dormant inquiries over the phone. And even worked in retail stores like HQ and Builders Square. That was Home Depot and Lowe's before those transitioned over.
Chapter 7: What are the common mistakes in lead handling that remodelers make?
So that was my start, you know, and I learned the business. I actually went back to my hometown in Cleveland and decided, you know, I was going to start my own home remodeling business. And after my first short stint in the Fortune 500, I thought once you finish college, you were supposed to put on a suit and tie and go work for a Fortune 500 company.
And so I did that for a short spell and did well at it, but I just didn't enjoy it. And so I wanted to get back into the home remodeling industry. And so I did at the age of 23 and built up a multimillion dollar business pretty quickly on the principles I had learned in Columbus.
But you know, it didn't take long before I crashed and burned because it's not just skill that gets you where you need to go. I actually, you know, By the time I was 28, 29, I had filed bankruptcy personally and for the business. And my character just could not withstand the first big storm we came across, which was lending was backing out of the home remodeling industry.
Chapter 8: What steps can business owners take to improve their lead conversion rates?
We sold a lot of payments at that time. um and you know 2008 was starting to start starting to show its ugly face a little early in cleveland and just couldn't you know weather that storm um and you know i went on the road for 10 years helping companies around the country with the one thing i was good at i had no choice but to travel around because i didn't have the credit and the financial
you know foundation to be in business in the home remodeling industry so i had to just go work as a trainer all over the country and i learned what to do you know what not to do some of the mistakes i had made and decided you know after 10 years of doing that i wanted to go back and and open another remodeling business and this time do it right and you know i've been doing that we're about 10 years in business uh this year and uh
I do well over 10 million in sales in my retail business, Window Expo and Bath Expo. And so that's kind of my story in short. Obviously, a lot of lessons, you know, learning from lessons and helping others. I actually help myself.
I really, Sean McGraw is a good buddy of mine and he kind of plugged me into a lot of the home improvement space. And I'm just fascinated. You know, we're order takers in the home service space. Like I dominate Google. I got one of the gals here, Joy Hawkins. She's in town visiting right now in the other room. I just, you know, whether it's PPC mailers, like we do a lot of TV radio.
We service 25,000 homes a month. But I was always jealous of home improvement because I met a guy named Matt Esler, and he's doing well north of a billion dollars in windows. And he's like, yeah, I got the formula, dude. He's like, we don't have to rely. We go get the business when we want it because we can get as much business as we want. And I'm like, man.
That must be nice to be able to go hunt versus – I farm. At least they come to me. And I just think it's fascinating whether it's door-to-door events and just the way it runs. I mean, in a city like Phoenix, they could do an event every single day. Sometimes they're at a high school football game. And I'm like, that's crazy to me. And it's hard.
It's way harder, in my opinion, than doing what I do. But we're booking a 92% booking rate. We got a high conversion rate, a good average ticket for our industry, and we control the lead cost. But I don't know how to just get the demand.
And you got to, you know, create it, you know, uncover it, get out there, you know, be proactive. What your industry is based on what we call on demand, you know, when, when the, you know, the hail storm hits, you know, the roofers, you know, chase the storm, follow that storm because the demand already exists in that market.
And that's different, you know, when someone's garage door spring breaks and they need someone to call and you guys have done a phenomenal job being that
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