New Leadership That Helped Scale Abacus from $30M to $100M

In this episode of To The Point Home Services Podcast, Chris and Chad sit down with Tony Patino, President of Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical, to unpack one of the most impressive leadership journeys in the home services industry.Tony joined Abacus in 2017 from outside home services. Fast-forward to today, and he’s helped scale the company from roughly $30M to over $100M+, while expanding service lines, redesigning systems, and building elite teams across multiple trades.This conversation is loaded with practical insights for operators, leaders, GMs, and anyone looking to grow inside (or break into) the home services world.⭐ What You’ll LearnHow Tony transitioned from retail, Aramark, and moving services into plumbing/HVAC/electricalHow to earn trust from seasoned technicians when you’re “not from the trades”The mindset that helped Tony scale Abacus through major transitions:new facilityServiceTitan rolloutadding electricalbuilding water treatmentlaunching generatorsWhy humility, curiosity, and solving simple technician pain points are core to leadershipHow Abacus built a unified sales process across tradesWhy cross-selling and a single “VIP Membership” structure transformed their businessLessons from working with industry legends like Alan O’Neill, Kevin Comerford, Darryl Bingham & othersThe biggest hiring mistakes—and the one sales hire that changed everythingWhat contractors consistently overlook when building new verticalsWhether you’re at $3M or $300M, Tony breaks down the frameworks that actually move the needle.⏱️ Timecodes00:00 – Intro: gloomy weather, fat-face jokes, and basketball trash talk01:16 – Introducing guest: Tony Patino02:00 – Tony’s background: retail → Aramark → moving → recruited to Abacus05:00 – Why being a “student of the game” matters05:25 – Tony’s first podcast ever06:00 – Early management lessons & leadership foundations07:30 – Getting recruited… twice09:23 – How Tony won over plumbers without being a plumber12:00 – Misconceptions Tony had about the industry14:00 – How he built trust with techs & managers16:40 – Rolling out ServiceTitan and using tech to earn credibility18:45 – Little changes that fix big technician pain points20:00 – Growing electrical and learning multiple trades24:00 – Mentorship from industry giants & learning from Wrench Group leaders25:50 – Deep dive: building water treatment as a real vertical27:30 – Launching generators the right way28:50 – The biggest internal gap Tony identified: sales leadership29:40 – Hiring the wrong sales leader—and fixing it fast32:00 – Merging new and existing sales teams without destroying culture36:00 – Cross-selling across trades: where contractors mess this up38:00 – Building a unified VIP membership41:00 – Why Abacus scaled fast—and what’s next🔗 Resources & Mentions• Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical — https://www.abacusplumbing.net/• Wrench Group — https://www.wrenchgroup.com/• ServiceTitan — https://www.servicetitan.com/🙌 Connect With the Guest• Tony Patino — https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonypatino/Thank you to our Sponsors!Basic Capital: https://basiccapital.com/tothepointChiirp: https://chiirp.com/Contractor Commerce: https://www.contractorcommerce.com/ryno/Bluon: https://www.bluon.com/get-demo?referral_code=ToThePointAvoca.ai: https://avoca.ai/r/tothepoint👍 Enjoying the Podcast? Do Us a Quick Favor!If you found value in this episode, help us keep making great content:✅ Subscribe to the channel💬 Drop a comment with your biggest takeaway🔁 Share this episode with your team or another operator🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss an episode