He Built Five Companies Then Admitted He Should Have Built One Better (LIVE)
7/15/20261 hr 5 min
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Adam Shampaine went from Capitol Hill to CEO of HomeFix, a $68 million home improvement company, and then built his own supply company, finance company, and window brand. In this episode, Tommy Mello and Adam break down how vertical integration creates a moat competitors can't copy, why company DNA decides which growth channels actually work, how a door-to-door canvasser can earn $300K a year, and the one lesson Adam learned from building five companies: he would be richer if he had built one better. If you run a home service or home improvement business, this is the conversation on canvassing, financing, and focus.
🕐 TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Episode Open
01:52 Capitol Hill Origin
07:20 Part-Time to Sales
12:20 Always The People
18:00 Solar and Supply Stack
23:20 Pure Finance Origin
30:30 Finance Platform Growth
37:20 Company DNA Canvas
43:50 Canvassing As Math
48:50 Canvas vs Demand Leads
54:12 Brand Power vs Canvas
1:02:02 One Thing Regret
Questions this episode answers:
01:52 How did a Capitol Hill staffer end up in home improvement sales?
12:20 Is it the market or the salespeople when a sales territory fails?
18:00 Why would a home improvement company build its own supply chain?
23:20 Should contractors start their own consumer finance company?
30:30 How does in-house customer financing actually make money?
37:20 Can you change your company's culture and business model?
40:50 Why do canvassing consultants fail at most companies?
43:50 How much can a door-to-door canvasser make per year?
48:50 What is the difference between canvas leads and demand leads?
54:12 Does brand marketing beat door-to-door canvassing?
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTommy Mello· Host0:00
The one thing that every founder screws up is they get sidetracked. "I'm opening up a bar. I'm gonna start flipping real estate. I got this and this and this."
Adam Shampaine· Guest0:08
I'd be halfway to Tommy Mello if I just focused on home fix. I swear to God, I'd be so much richer. It's always the people, it's never the market. You could drop me anywhere and the same thing'll happen. Jersey is the worst place on earth, don't get me wrong. Don't open there, but, uh, the same thing happened.
Tommy Mello· Host0:24
All right, guys, welcome back to The Home Service Expert. Today, I got Adam Champagne with me. He's an expert at scaling home improvement operations, multi-business portfolio building, vertical integration, proprietary product development, customer first culture, consumer finance and commercial construction. Today's episode is gonna be about, um, most home service owners build one company. Adam Champagne built a portfolio. He went from a part-time remodeling job to CEO of a $68 million company, then built his own supply company, his own finance company, and his own window brand. Today, he breaks down how vertical integration creates competitive moat that most remodelers can't replicate. Adam, how you doing, brother?
Adam Shampaine· Guest1:05
Good, man. Great.
Tommy Mello· Host1:08
Let's just start, so you, you spent five years on Capitol Hill as a special- Yep ... assistant in the US, uh, Representatives. Uh, you were pursuing a career in politics and took a part-time job at a remodeling company and never looked back. What happened? Tell us the story.
Adam Shampaine· Guest1:24
Yep. So my whole life, all I ever wanted to do was run for office. Like, I was a kid,