A Scary Decision

What would you do?

John Wilson
November 26, 2025

Hello home service operators,

I recently sat down with Rich Jordan to dig into one of the scariest (and most valuable) moves you can make in home service: rebranding multiple companies into a single brand.

Scary? Yes. But the potential benefits are too good to pass up. Keep scrolling after the resources for more on our conversation…

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I’ve Got a Holiday Deal For You

A growing number of home service companies are leaving the “big” field service software providers behind and going all-in on FieldPulse.

Why?

Simple to use
Easy to roll out
Industry-leading customer service
More affordable without any lost features

And right now is the best time to switch…

FieldPulse is running a limited-time promo through December 12th. You get three months free, which works out to a 25 percent discount, plus a free one-month trial of the Operator AI add-on.

When A House of Brands Holds You Back

Many operators inherit multiple brands through acquisition. It works early because you avoid customer confusion and skip the pain of rewrapping trucks.

But as the portfolio grows, the cracks start showing. Marketing gets diluted. Culture fragments. Vendor negotiations get messy. The leadership team spreads its attention across too many identities.

That is where Rich Jordan found himself. After taking Sanford Temperature Control from $700K to $30M across three markets, running three different brands stopped working. What felt manageable at two became unwieldy at three.

The Real Downsides of Multiple Brands

Running multiple brands creates hidden friction:

Brand neglect. Creative, media buys, and leadership attention always lean toward one brand. The others fade.
Vendor challenges. Even with a shared EIN, some vendors treat each brand as separate, which weakens pricing power.
Cultural fragmentation. Different colors, uniforms, and taglines create subtle divides inside the team.
Marketing inefficiency. You split focus, reduce repetition, and lose the compounding effect of one strong name.
Leadership overload. It becomes impossible to think deeply about growth when your brain is divided across identities.

Eventually, you trade optionality for chaos.

Why Rich Rebranded Everything

The original plan was to consolidate all brands under Sanford. It was the biggest name, the most established, and the easiest story. But switching two founder names to a third founder name felt wrong. The team could not rally behind it, and customers would feel like they were being acquired, not served.

So Rich made a bigger move. He changed all three brands, including Sanford.

The new name came from one of the team’s most important core behaviors: Seize the high ground. Do the right thing even when it is not easy or profitable.

The new identity became High Ground Service Pros.

One story. One standard. One brand everyone could believe in.

How They Are Reducing Customer Risk

The transition plan follows what worked in a prior acquisition:

Keep old websites and GBPs live so customers still find the brand they expect.
Answer incoming calls under the old brand for several months.
Book the customer normally, then explain the partnership and the new name.
Maintain separate AI bots and scripting for each brand during the transition.
Shift mass media to High Ground while digital footprints run in parallel.

It is a controlled handoff instead of a cold switch.

The SEO Surprise

Rich bought highground.com for $10K. It turned out to carry a domain authority of 48 with a strong backlink profile. That created an unexpected upside and an SEO puzzle.

The plan is to redirect high-value legacy pages, protect the old landing pages during the handoff, and gradually shift organic traffic toward the new brand without losing trust signals.

The Investment

The total rebrand cost is roughly $500K:

About $300K in truck wraps
Around $50K in uniforms
The rest in website work, signage, radio, billboards, and brand collateral

It is a real cash hit, yet a long-term add-back. The cost disappears in valuation, but the operational lift remains.

Why This Matters for Operators

A house of brands works early. It breaks later. Splitting attention across multiple identities makes breakthrough moments harder. You stop seeing the obvious opportunities because you are juggling too much.

A single brand creates focus.
Focus creates momentum.
Momentum scales.

The question is simple: Would your business move faster if every market, every trade, and every truck carried the same name?

For Rich, the answer was yes. High Ground launches this month across all markets. Three brands become one. The team gets one flag, one voice, and one identity built around the values they already live.

And now the business finally has room to grow.

Watch the full episode here.

Need New Talent in the New Year?

Finding reliable talent is not getting easier in 2026. Hiring cycles are longer. Competition is higher. Good technicians get picked off fast. If you want to grow this year, you cannot afford slow staffing.

QuickStaffers solves the bottleneck.

They build vetted talent pipelines for home service companies that need techs, installers, dispatchers, and CSRs now. You get prequalified candidates who show up, stick around, and fit your culture.

If you want to scale in 2026, talent is the lever.

How would you attack this scary but potentially valuable opportunity? I want to know your thoughts. Shoot me a message on X or LinkedIn.

How do you feel about today's newsletter?

👊 John

Disclosure: Some of the content and links in this newsletter are sponsored or affiliate links, which means we may receive payment or earn a commission if you click through or purchase. However, all opinions expressed are entirely my own.