May 15, 2025
Tom Howard is the first to admit that he did not build Fetch-a-Tech alone. In fact, he gives direct credit to Gerry Finney, Dennis Thompson, and Brent Buckley — three individuals whose specific skills, combined, created something none of them could have built independently. The company went from losing $9,000 a day to generating over $6 million in EBITDA in roughly 16 months. None of that happens without the right team. This post breaks down exactly how Tom thinks about people — and why empowering them is the most important leadership skill in the trades.
The Talent Audit: Know What You Actually Need
Before you can build a great team, you need clarity on what roles are essential. Tom identified four critical functions for Fetch-a-Tech: someone who could connect with the industry and source deals (Gerry), someone who could run day-to-day operations and implement systems (Dennis), someone who could close at a world-class level (Brent), and someone who could see the financial picture and build toward a strategic exit (Tom himself).
Notice that Tom did not try to do all four. He plugged in genuine experts in each lane. This is how great operators think: not “how do I do everything?” but “who is the best person for each role, and how do I get them aligned?”
Brent Buckley went on to generate over $7 million in personal sales in a single year. Dennis Thompson held the operational core together during a Las Vegas summer where they were installing 10 to 12 AC systems per day. Gerry Finney drove marketing and sourced the original opportunity. None of them are interchangeable. None of them are replaceable by a single generalist.
The Equity Play: Getting the Best People Without Cash
One of the most practical lessons in the book is how Tom assembled this team without a large cash budget. His answer was equity. He gave Brent 30% of the company. He gave Dennis 10%. He later gave Dan Antonelli (their brand designer) 1% of the company in exchange for doing all the branding and web design without cash payment.
Critics might look at that and say he gave away too much. But here is the math Tom understood: 30% of something extraordinary is worth far more than 100% of nothing. Brent’s presence turned a $5 million revenue company into a $60+ million exit. Dennis’s operational stability made the whole thing viable. Dan’s branding may have doubled the effectiveness of their marketing budget.
The question is never “how much am I giving away?” The question is “what is this person worth to the outcome?”
Empowerment Is Not Delegation — It’s a System
Tom watched Gerry Finney undermine his own general manager, Dennis, by taking calls from technicians who went around Dennis to complain. Even when Gerry’s instinct was correct, the act of overriding Dennis destroyed Dennis’s authority and stalled the whole company. Tom calls this out clearly: “If you have a general manager, set targets they must hit and boundaries they have to stay within, and then get out of their way.”
Empowerment, properly understood, is a system with three components. First, clear goals: the person knows exactly what “winning” looks like in their role. Second, defined boundaries: legal, ethical, and operational guardrails they must stay within. Third, actual authority: when they make a decision within those boundaries, you back it up — even if you would have done it differently.
When Dennis made the final call on who to keep after the Climate Control Experts merger, Tom disagreed with some choices. He says so explicitly in the book. But he let Dennis’s decisions stand. Because undermining a leader’s authority in front of the team costs more than any individual decision ever could.
Hiring Family: The Real Risks Nobody Talks About
Tom’s chapter on hiring family is one of the most honest in the book. His bottom line: avoid it when possible, but the real problem is not awkward Thanksgiving dinners — it’s that most owners lack the discipline to hold family members to the same standards as everyone else.
The danger is invisible. You may not even consciously be treating your brother or cousin differently. But your team sees it. And when they see that performance standards are selectively enforced, the best employees start looking for exits. Only the people who “can’t get jobs elsewhere” stay.
His sister Kathryn’s story is the exception that proves the rule. She came in for a specific project, was hired by a third party (Dennis, not Tom directly), and was held to the same performance standards as everyone else. When she ran a sales training for service technicians — a role she had zero technical background for — she handled a confrontational technician with such skill that Dennis promoted her to service manager on the spot. The following month, the service department’s average ticket doubled.
The lesson: when you hire family, remove yourself from the equation. Let someone else manage them. Set identical standards. And be honest about whether you actually have the stomach to enforce them.
The Bottom Line
Great businesses are built by great teams. Tom Howard did not have the best office space, the cleanest financials, or the most established brand when he started Fetch-a-Tech. What he had was a small group of people who were genuinely excellent at their specific craft. If you are building or growing a trades business, nothing you do today will have more leverage than getting clear on who your key roles are, finding exceptional people for them, and then actually letting them run.