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1. Exposing the Truth- Our Journey to Empower Homeowners, Exposeco Podcast
42 Plays1 year ago
In the first episode of the podcast, Paul Tarpy and Brian Tarpy introduce themselves as the founders of Exposeco, a business aimed at helping consumers make informed decisions on home purchases and avoiding being taken advantage of by contractors. They discuss their backgrounds and motivations for starting the business, highlighting the need for consumer advocacy in industries where sales tactics can be manipulative and dishonest.
Paul, drawing from his extensive experience in sales, emphasizes the importance of transparency and consumer protection in the contracting industry. They discuss common tactics used by contractors to upsell unnecessary services and the importance of consumers being informed and cautious.
Brian emphasizes the role of Exposeco in advocating for homeowners and providing truthful information about home services. Throughout the conversation, they share insights and tips for homeowners to navigate the contracting industry more confidently. Overall, they express their commitment to exposing industry practices and helping homeowners make better-informed decisions. Website: Exposeco.com
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Transcript
Introducing ExposeCo: Consumer Protection in Home Purchases
00:00:15
Speaker
Paul Tarpey and Brian Tarpey, we've, founders of ExposeCo, designing a business to help you, the consumer, be able to make ah informed decisions on big purchases in your home and making sure that you're not going to get taken advantage of or sold something that you don't need. Just protecting you guys and making sure that we're looking out for your best interests. I have been personally,
00:00:40
Speaker
in the industry of selling you something for a really long time on the other side of things and always wanted to be an advocate for the consumer. I just knew that there was so many different tactics out there that were being used on the consumers and people weren't even knowing what they're getting themselves into and oftentimes overpaying by thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars and not being able to somebody have their back an industry professional looking out for them. That that's the vision of what has been created today. And I'm happy.
00:01:28
Speaker
to have co-founded this with my brother, Brian.
Brian Tarpey's Journey from Pastor to Consumer Advocate
00:01:31
Speaker
And Brian, you want to say a little bit about yourself? Thanks so much, Paul. Excited and honored to be on this journey with you. We talked about the issues with contracting, with salesmen, with all the dirty ploys they pull. And I'm a pastor by trade. And so I have this justice bone that's just integrated into me. And I have a heart just to see the justice side of this thing done. It drives me wild.
00:01:57
Speaker
to hear some of your stories of what you've witnessed in the industry. And so I can't tell you how excited I am to go on this journey with you and lead this company to a place where and we're not self-serving in this. And we're certainly not serving contractors. We're holding them accountable. And that's what really excites me. And it's pretty awesome to be your brother, to be also on the same wavelength with this journey where we're headed.
00:02:23
Speaker
And yeah, that's a little bit about who we are, right? You have industry experience over, over 20 years plus in the sales industry. So I've seen it all. What would you say is the main thing that we're
Ensuring Accountability in Home Services
00:02:36
Speaker
trying to do? People don't know who we are. I figured the first time seeing us, hearing us, what do you think? How would you describe what we're trying to do for people?
00:02:44
Speaker
I would say we're really trying to level the playing field. Often the home services industries to any old homeowner is really confusing. It's really complex. It's really hard to know if you're making a smart decision. I think my original goal was to be able to be on the consumer side of things and help them to understand or at least feel like they have somebody that's looking over their shoulder and knowing that they're looking out for their best interests they're not looking out for their but the pocketbook like when a salesman's in your house no matter how nice they are at their job is to befriend you to sell you something and that's how they make their money and
00:03:29
Speaker
to have some people in the industry that consumers, they have the luck of knowing a family friend that lives far away or a family member that's far away that can't actually do the job for them, but can actually help them and guide them through the process to make sure that they're making a wise decision. And often those people, that's like a it's like a chunk of gold for those people because they have somebody that has nothing but their best interests at heart.
Exposing Manipulative Sales Tactics
00:04:01
Speaker
and And they have the industry experience to be able to make sure that what they're paying is a fair price and that the service that they're getting is a fair service.
00:04:13
Speaker
But often even with those, even though you have that gold nugget, they're still not like really doing a vetting process that we've created. They're not able to really hit all the, the boxes that, that we're able to create. Cause my industry experiences, I was the guy that was selling you and I was selling at a high level. I sold roughly $30 million dollars worth of home services to people over my career.
00:04:43
Speaker
And I've been trained by the industry leaders. And let me tell you, this industry is full of people that are professional salespeople. So if you think the guy that's coming in to tune up your furnace is just the guy that tunes up your furnace, think again, they are like ninjas. They will come in and they will take a call. And I've known a lot of those type of guys that are.
00:05:13
Speaker
averaging 10 to $20,000 per call on tuneups, which is crazy. That's what they're bringing in on sales. And you say, take a call. What does that mean? So that means like, but you call the people advertise for these tuneup, your heater or your air conditioner before summer, right? You see them on the billboards or you see them on TV. It says $29 or $39 to do the tuneup.
00:05:42
Speaker
They go and do those tuneups and they're averaging 10 to $20,000 tickets on those tuneups because they're going in. They're talking to people about how their system's failing or they're using tactics to be able to scare people into that the system isn't going to last you through summer. You're going to be stuck in the middle of summer and you, you live in Chandler, Arizona, where it's the armpit of the United States. Okay. Extremely hot. and And that scares real because it's like mission critical for you guys. So, but even in San Diego and other States and stuff like that, they have all these strategies to be able to coerce people into buying systems, not necessarily even needing them. And it's, I think it's an injustice really for the consumer.
00:06:32
Speaker
When people get roped into buying new systems every 12 to 15 years, systems should be lasting you 30 plus years in most cases. If you really think about it, okay, when somebody goes to buy a house, they have a real estate agent and that real estate agent is 100% on their side. they're not on the this If they're on the buyer's side, then they're not on the seller's side. If they're on the seller's side, then they're not on the buyer's side usually.
00:06:58
Speaker
And so in that scenario, that person is truly advocating for you. Now there are obviously scenarios in which they're trying to get something out of that purchase. Like they want you to spend money and buy something. That's the only way they make money. But in in some way, shape, or form, what you're saying is like that everybody kind of has somebody coming and acting like that role.
00:07:21
Speaker
and as a realtor will do for someone who's buying a house, but it's like a salesman, instead of that salesman being squarely on the side of the buyer, they're squarely on the side of the seller. So that salesman, say, is coming from a company and they they do not have your best interests at heart. Actually, they have the exact opposite. Their biggest interest is about making money for themselves or for the company. They may have quotas, and if they're doing a service for your house, let's say they're servicing your air conditioner or your heater.
00:07:53
Speaker
then they may also get paid for leads to to get a salesperson to your door. so they Just for the pocketbook, padding the pocketbook, there's all sorts of avenues for corruption for them to lie to you, to tell you things just so that they can take the next step, sell you something maybe that you don't
Consumer-First Financial Model: Avoiding Conflicts of Interest
00:08:13
Speaker
even need. so what people really need is somebody to come alongside them that really is firmly on their side, that's not being paid by contractors that can say, hey, this is a good deal for you, or this is a good plan for you. And you can move forward with this knowing that this is fair or this is right.
00:08:33
Speaker
I also have somebody who will say, no, and in fact, this company isn't even a good company that you shouldn't even choose to go with them because of the track record. So I just think that what you're saying is so fascinating about what you guys would do with sales and how like even your technician that comes to your door for a $29 service call, like how do they afford that? That's not even enough. You don't even make enough in gas to go do that. So how do they pay for that? They know they're going to get you another way, right?
00:09:03
Speaker
I want to clarify something that with the level of how much we have the consumers back is way more. I want to phrase this correctly. ah We have the consumers back.
00:09:16
Speaker
way more than a buyer's agent on a real estate transaction. Let me explain why. Because a buyer's agent on a real estate transaction, they want you to close the deal. They don't get paid unless the deal gets closed. The way we've structured it, we have nothing to do whether you actually purchase the contract or you don't purchase the contract. We're just there to tell you which one is the but has the most value and who is the best contractor, reputation wise, who also gives you the best guarantees. There's so many avenues to these proposals or offerings or estimates or whatever you'd like to call them that these contractors come up with.
00:10:00
Speaker
that we're there to even tell you, Hey, you don't need a system because your system's not old enough to really probably need to be replaced. And what they're telling you doesn't justify actually replacing the system. We don't make money on you closing deals or you buying something. We make money when you purchase our support.
00:10:26
Speaker
And that's it. There's nothing more to it. And that's the beauty of knowing that there's no transaction that makes a difference for us. So if you decide to totally scrap the whole project, that doesn't matter to us. And in a real estate transaction, if you have a buyer's agent,
00:10:50
Speaker
And you decide not to move forward with purchasing a home that buyer agent buyer's agent makes $0. So they're out there trying to get you to buy a house. And when comes to the table and negotiating happens or anything like that.
00:11:07
Speaker
You best believe you are still negotiating with your own real estate agent at the end of the day because they want that deal to be closed. They want to make sure that you are purchasing that home so they can get their commission. I wanted to create this because I wanted to be fully transparent that we have no interest in the sales process whatsoever other than making sure.
00:11:38
Speaker
that you've served the best possible. There is so many different companies out there with so many different tactics and there's so many different ways of approaching the end home sales in so many different trades. Right now we're doing heating and air conditioning and that's, that's where I've been most of my career. So I've had the most experience knowing where the secret language in your proposal or things that make it sound like it's so much better than it is are, and they're really just overcharging you for it. I don't know if I answered your question correctly, but I just wanted to clarify the fact of how much more we're looking out for the the consumer than even a real estate transaction is because there's a level of needing to get the deal done at the end of the day and
00:12:34
Speaker
the buyer's agent and the seller's agent come together because they both have both have an interest there in making sure that deal goes through. Well, that makes perfect sense. I think that the way that people think of realtors is generally positive. They think that those people are on their side, whether or not that actually is true. It depends on the person, right? You can have good and bad realtors, but with that said, it's almost like contractors would love their clients to believe that they have salesmen which exist to help support the homeowner. Like there's their sole purposes to go into their home and just look around, poke around and find exactly what they need and then service them. Like that's what they want to put on like a good look on their face. The salesmen are always better dressed than your average technician. And that's all to create this atmosphere of trust.
00:13:29
Speaker
in which the homeowners led to believe that this salesman's not going to lie to me. They're only going to tell me the truth. And more and more it's coming out. And I love what's coming out on social media about this. They're just exposing. They're exposing these contractors. They're exposing faulty work, over-promising, under-delivering. The lies are coming out. And we want to be in the mix. We got you, contractors. It's our time. It's our time to point the finger, to call people out.
00:13:57
Speaker
to let people know it's not okay anymore. We're not going to stand by. And hopefully what we what we do is part of a bigger mission that's going across the United States, which is that every service industry, it doesn't matter if it's car buying or whether it's like solar or whatever industry, that people are going to hopefully have advocates or people who are experts in those industries that can actually inform them truthfully from their perspective about what they should do and stop stealing from average good homeowners. It's time. Yeah, it's time. And there's, I'm sure there's people in tons of different industries that are experiencing
00:14:37
Speaker
that experiences on the opposite end of things. I'm sure insurance has their own thing. I know. What's that? and It's another home service, which is like flood and restoration. Those guys, they have an insane, I've caught them multiple times trying to take advantage of people, my own parents. I had, they had a little water leak in the wall.
00:14:59
Speaker
And it was like, had just happened and they, they literally were getting them to sign a contract and they were going to tear half that, like half the house apart and build the insurance and all this other stuff. And it was literally, we fixed the leak in 30 minutes and put a fan and let it dry out and never had an issue. And it was like a ah six by six drywall patch.
00:15:23
Speaker
ah Otherwise, it's going to be like a $50,000 to $100,000 tear out and put back type of project. And it's just, they were going to make it that big because they know the insurance was going to pay for it. Then my parents were going to have to pay for expensive homeowners insurance from there because of the claim. And the only person of course making anything of it was the home service company. Exactly. So they use that and they use the fear factor, right? How many stories probably you're familiar with that those, it's not just, Hey, we're going to clean up this bill.
00:16:00
Speaker
But it's like mold, right? They're going to drop the mold word, but black mold. Like once that gets into you, like you will die of lung disease. What's always so ominous with the furnaces, it's dangerous. You know, there's so many things like carbon monoxide. Yeah, you can die. And, and so it puts a sense of urgency because people who are uninformed.
00:16:22
Speaker
What are you supposed to do? You have to choose between life or death. Like what's money when you're dead? You can't spend money when you're dead. So I'll spend 20,000 bucks just to make sure I don't die tonight. Okay. And it's just not right. yeah And not to say that those things don't happen, but the thing is it's like.
00:16:39
Speaker
the The rule and the exception are two different things. And it's like the chances of you having carbon monoxide coming out of your vents is extremely low. And if you're really worried about it, get a good carbon monoxide detector. And you should have a good carbon monoxide detector. You could get the nicest carbon monoxide detector that will sense down to some crazy level that if you blow on it too hard, it might go off.
00:17:05
Speaker
and You will be more than protected. And if you put a couple of them in your house, it's even more protection. And those will probably cost you maybe a couple hundred bucks in the last 10 years. And you have peace of mind that your system is not dangerous at that point. That point you're talking about.
00:17:25
Speaker
a difference of how much, right? A couple hundred bucks versus 10 to 20 grand if you have to replace that system. yeah like And here's a little nugget for everybody. this If you don't listen to anything else today, but you listen to this, I'll save you guys hundreds of dollars every year for the rest of your life.
Money-Saving Tips for Home Services
00:17:44
Speaker
Don't call a heating and air conditioning company.
00:17:47
Speaker
to do a tune up on your system, call your local gas and electric company. They do it for free. And those guys will not sell you anything because they can't. And they will tell you if your system is functional and working just fine or if it's dangerous. They run all the tests for you for free. And if there's something wrong with your system, a lot of times they'll tell you what's wrong with it exactly. And that's for free as well. So everybody hates SDG and&E here in San Diego.
00:18:14
Speaker
And I think, what is it, PG and&E out there? or what What do you guys have for your utility provider? Oh, ah SRP, Salt River Project. Yeah. it's I know that our local SDG&E does it for free, and I'm pretty sure the rest of them do as well in California. So I don't know about Arizona. So Californians, you're welcome. I just saved you guys money every year.
00:18:40
Speaker
But wait a minute, but wait a minute. Okay. I got a question about that because I have a guy who told me that I need to get my system checked out so that he's going to clean the coils. He's going to chair the change the air filter and make sure my compressor is working.
00:18:57
Speaker
like is Don't they do that too? I know SDGNE doesn't do that. Yeah. So normally the the gas company really is going to do the heating side of things, not the air conditioning side of things. So they're not going to do that, but a quick YouTube video will tell you exactly how to service your air conditioner on your own. It's simple. it's Taking a garden hose and spraying your air conditioner down. Downwards, don't spray upwards. and And that's really the outside unit's needs. Inside, make sure your filter gets changed. That's like the most common thing that people don't do and destroys their system.
00:19:35
Speaker
Right now, you're saving me like 125 bucks right now. You're telling me all I got to do is spray my air conditioner down with a hose, a garden hose. And all I have to do is change my air filter. And that's effectively that $100 service. And I don't have to have a sales guy come over and tell me why I need a new system.
00:19:56
Speaker
Yeah, so these guys, their tactics, they'll come in. There's, some of them will do a more thorough job than that, but most, unless you're like your air conditioner is right next to a dryer vent where your dryer shoots out the exhaust, then you usually don't have a lot of debris in your air conditioner or unless you have vines or things growing all over or leaves going inside of it.
00:20:21
Speaker
If that's not the case and you really like your air conditioner, a lot of them are made to never really be touched. You can spray, like I said, spray them down and try to clear out and need debris around the outside portion of it. But the main critical need is to make sure your filter stays clean. Cause if it doesn't stay clean, that is, that will really, it'll, it'll kill a system.
00:20:47
Speaker
That's the two cents of for today, as far as like savings, I think that there's obviously sometimes there's needs for additional cleanings and such, but most of the stuff that they're offering you on those tuneups are added system protections. That's what they call them, added system protections. And they're just.
00:21:10
Speaker
You don't have to do them. Don't be scared into having to do something. A common thing that people sell surge protection, a surge protector and. Oh yeah. No, I've seen this one. Yeah. So they'll hit you with these surge protectors or, but like for the first, what 60 years of air conditioning surge protectors didn't even exist. And the one thing that we find.
00:21:38
Speaker
that go out quite a bit is like these little capacitor things like oval. They actually, if they shock you, it hurts really bad because they, they have a jolt. They'll jolt the electricity way up like a car starter. And we used to call them motor boosters. And the reason why we call them motor boosters, cause we don't want people to look up online to see how much the part was that we sold them.
00:22:01
Speaker
Cause the part is five bucks or 15 bucks, maybe even 20 now, but yeah we sell them for 500 bucks. That's what we, that's what the company sold them for. And people didn't want to get bad reviews or anything like that. So we ended up changing what the name of it was. So it didn't match anything that was online. So people couldn't look it up online.
00:22:22
Speaker
And so that stuff is super common part to go bad and system and people could do it themselves but you got to have kind of the tools and the knowledge to do it, which I don't suggest a homeowner to do it. And if somebody charges you to 300 bucks, the company's really probably not making very much money. Only charging you $300 because of all the overhead that they have and stuff. That it's also a misconception on the consumer side is that like contractors are making millions or tons of money. When.
00:22:52
Speaker
There's a lot of regulation on the contracting industry and there is, there is some, there's some grace to be had when it comes to actually understanding a service and the knowledge that comes behind the service. But where the problem lies is when people get greedy and they are, they're overselling and it's, they're not providing a good honest service at that point. They're looking out for their own best interests, you know? Yep.
Guiding Consumers to Honest Contractors in a Flawed Industry
00:23:23
Speaker
Yep. And so what we're going to do in this podcast, if you journey with us, is we're going to blow up some of those things that that Paul's talking about, some of those service specific industry things that we both know about in terms of sales, in terms of just communication tactics. I have my degree in communication theory. We're going to blow up some of those things. We're going to give our contractors a little bit of grace here and there, but that's not really our job.
00:23:51
Speaker
But yeah, we'll acknowledge the fact that there are good contractors out there. There are good people, men and women that are working in the home service industries. And so we just want to point those people or point you in their direction. If you utilize our services, if not, and you just ah journey with us and grow with the podcast, that's great too. But yeah, that's what we're going to do. We're going to expose the home services industry. We're going to help homeowners like yourself just get the service that they're looking for, what they need.
00:24:20
Speaker
And yeah, just hope that you journey with us in this process. I'm excited. It's going to be awesome. Sweet. All right, Paul. Thanks for hanging out with me tonight. I'm looking forward to more chats coming up and yeah, stay tuned.