Please enjoy this episode where Alex is featured as a guest on The Garage Door Podcast Lab.

Andy Felice and Alex Bridgeman explore what garage door business owners earning over $1 million in revenue are experiencing in today's economy, and how they're responding. Bridgeman, co-founder of Durable Trades, brings a fresh perspective to the consolidation trend in the industry, offering an alternative to traditional private equity that emphasizes long-term ownership and sustainable growth across the Pacific Northwest.

They discuss:
- Why old-school tactics like farmers markets and canvassing are seeing surprising success
- How garage door owners can avoid "selling out of their own wallet" and better understand customer psychology
- The value of incremental improvements—five yards at a time—over chasing big, complex projects
- Why tune-and-lube offers create long-term customer relationships and neighborhood visibility
- How handwritten details on mailers and personal touches during service calls lower a customer's guard

This episode offers practical insight for operators navigating inflation, rising competition, and shifting consumer behavior in the home services space.

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:01:33) - Alex's background and founding Durable Trades
(00:04:37) - Durable Trades vs traditional private equity
(00:07:27) - What garage door owners are seeing in 2026
(00:09:09) - Old-school marketing tactics making a comeback
(00:11:26) - Economic externalities and business control
(00:16:30) - Finding the right next best step
(00:18:24) - Five yards at a time: incremental improvements
(00:23:30) - Selling with good, better, best
(00:26:38) - Building trust and educating homeowners
(00:31:42) - The value of tune-ups and canvassing
(00:36:12) - Creative sales competitions and team vision
(00:41:00) - Industry maturity and best practices
(00:44:56) - Lightning round: robots, tech, and micro projects
(00:54:29) - Handwritten mail and human connection
(00:58:39) - Closing

Alex Bridgeman and Carrie Kelsch explore the journey of building A Plus Garage Doors from a side venture during the 2008 mortgage crisis into a $55 million multi-location operation. Kelsch shares how she initially opened the business to provide future jobs for her children, then found herself pulled deeper into operations as the housing market collapsed. The conversation traces key inflection points in the company's growth, from discovering she actually owned a business during the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program to implementing systems that allowed her to delegate and scale.

They discuss:

- How the 2008 financial crisis forced an unexpected career shift from mortgage brokering to garage door operations

- The transition from pen-and-paper scheduling through Google Calendar to implementing ServiceTitan as a foundation for growth

- Building intentional company culture through revenue milestone celebrations, walk-up songs, and quarterly bonuses tied to performance

- Expanding into new markets while centralizing functions like dispatch and accounting to reduce risk

- Using AI to handle customer calls, research new markets, and reduce dependency on operational staff

This episode offers practical insight for service business owners navigating growth, culture development, and the challenge of maintaining personality while scaling across multiple locations.

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:00:34) - From mortgage broker to garage doors

(00:02:53) - Surviving the 2008 housing crisis

(00:04:42) - Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business program

(00:06:04) - Learning to delegate and replace yourself

(00:07:54) - Building a business for your kids

(00:10:51) - Building intentional company culture

(00:13:13) - Early culture initiatives and team events

(00:15:36) - The quarterly revenue bonus system

(00:18:25) - Walk-up songs and bonus day celebrations

(00:20:47) - Ideas that didn't work

(00:22:38) - Scaling marketing and creative content

(00:23:49) - Key milestones in company growth

(00:25:58) - From pen and paper to ServiceTitan

(00:28:13) - Hiring executive team members

(00:30:15) - Technician hiring and training process

(00:31:40) - Making new hires feel welcome

(00:33:24) - Implementing AI across the business

(00:36:22) - Expanding into new markets

(00:37:49) - Learning from greenfield expansion mistakes

(00:41:00) - Final advice for garage door owners

Links:

Carrie on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-kelsch-61699720/?isSelfProfile=false
A+ Garage Doors - https://utahgaragedoors.net/

Josh Melton joined his uncle's garage door business in 2008 during the recession with zero interest in garage doors. Eighteen years later, he's president of Easy Lift Door, overseeing three locations across California and Nevada. Alex Bridgeman and Josh Melton explore how the company has evolved from paper scheduling boards thumbtacked to cork walls to modern field service software, and how EasyLift is now building out a residential service arm after decades focused on new construction.

They discuss:
- Why the "pit crew" warehouse loading model failed and what replaced it
- How customer service training differs completely between new construction and residential service calls
- The pros and cons of service vans versus pickup trucks for residential garage door work
- What In-N-Out's opening playbook teaches about operational efficiency
- How AI-driven search is changing how homeowners find garage door companies

This episode offers a ground-level view of what it takes to professionalize a second-generation trades business while preparing for third-generation succession on Think Like an Owner.

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:00:53) - Getting into the garage door business
(00:02:42) - Joining during the 2008 recession
(00:03:50) - Lessons from the recession
(00:04:54) - Modernizing operations as president
(00:05:04) - From paper tickets to digital systems
(00:08:37) - Building a company truck fleet
(00:10:44) - Expanding into home service work
(00:12:36) - Customer service training challenges
(00:14:38) - Learning from In-N-Out's efficiency model
(00:20:00) - The failed pit crew experiment
(00:26:32) - Service truck design: pickups versus vans
(00:28:56) - Building a marketing strategy
(00:30:59) - AI and the future of local search
(00:32:48) - Growing pains across multiple locations
(00:42:07) - Succession planning across generations
(00:44:19) - Closing

Links:

Easy Lift Door - https://www.easyliftdoor.com/

Josh on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jomelton/