When Brad Hall says he grew up in the family business, it isn’t just a figure of speech.
Some of his earliest memories as a kid in Adelaide were of riding in the back of one of his father’s Ken Hall Plumbers shop trucks, sitting near the drain cleaner.
“Which, as you know, is completely covered in poo half the time,” Hall laughed.
Oddly enough, Hall loved those rides. It gave him an up-close view and appreciation of his father’s determination to build a business.
“(Plus,) if I was good throughout the day and I helped him on jobs, the reward was a can of Coke.”
Forty-three years after his father started the business, Hall is now in the driver’s seat as GM. He says they’re on track to clear $30 million this year handling residential plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing and various trades services with 100-plus trucks.
A recent rebranding that included simply renaming the company to Ken Hall was easy to pull off. However, taking the business into the future was anything but easy.
He knew the company needed to change its “do and charge” approach—book a job, send an invoice later.
That’s why years ago, Hall inquired about ServiceTitan. But the U.S.-based software platform built for the trades and designed to improve profit margins, workflow, and productivity wasn’t yet available in Australia.
Then one day in 2024, he received a random call from Scott Irwin, the CEO of Network Plumbing in Sydney—and Australia’s first ServiceTitan customer.
“He goes, ‘I'm coming over to your shop, and I'm bringing Tom Howard,’” Hall said.
“I’m sitting in Adelaide going, ‘What are they coming for?’"
‘There was something we were missing’
The visit from Irwin and Howard, who owns Lee’s Air in Fresno, California, and is ServiceTitan’s VP of customer experience, was strange at first.
ServiceTitan prides itself on bringing tradespeople together to share information and improve outcomes, but Hall acknowledged a reluctance to reveal too much to fellow shop owners and potential competitors.
It’s an attitude he says was pervasive in the industry when his father was in charge.
“He's from that era where you don't trust anyone, don't show anyone your business, don't give them any secrets,” Hall said.
It didn’t take Hall long to change his thinking, because while his business was growing fast, he felt the old software they were using was hindering the customer experience and the company’s ability to keep up with demand.
After meeting with Irwin and Howard, he understood how ServiceTitan could provide customers more pricing options on the front end of a job and offer him the ability to make data-driven decisions on the back end.
“I knew there was something we were missing,” he said. “It was up-front pricing, it was presenting options to customers, it was all the things ServiceTitan can do that this other software wasn't doing.”
Good, better, best
Soon after their visit, Hall made the switch in August 2024. And they’ve seen immediate impact, especially when it comes to reporting.
“Our complaint rate has dropped and our average ticket has gone up dramatically,” he said. “We now know what every marketing dollar returns per campaign, what return we're getting per technician, what (customer service rep) is booking the best amount of calls. You don't have those numbers at your fingertips on other pieces of software.”
He considers ServiceTitan’s proposal software, with good, better, best options, a game-changer. It enables techs to quickly build proposals with multiple pricing options.
Before ServiceTitan, Hall charged customers an attendance fee and for time on-site per 15 minutes, plus material.
“Our customer feedback's never been better, because people want to know the price before they start, and people want to be given a choice,” he said.
Collaboration is crucial
Hall credits the visit from his industry peers for the transformation of his business, and now believes owners who visit other shops, attend user conferences like ServiceTitan’s Pantheon, and invest in the software will separate themselves.
“If Scott and Tom hadn't come that day, I might still be doing do-and-charge work. I might still be stuck in that really difficult time,” he said. “The blueprint's there. If you want to run a successful home-to-service business, get ServiceTitan, implement all the tools it has, and you're bound to be successful.”
Hall considers his company proof.
“We've got bold budgets,” he said. “Our next goal is $50 million. We think we can achieve that within the upcoming years.”
Hall shares the same resolve to run a successful business that he saw in his father – back when a Coke was the reward for a day’s work.
He loves that his father, who remains active in a mentoring role, is on board.
“At 66 he's embraced this change,” Hall said. “He's always wanted to evolve and change in business. I think that's why after 40 years we're still continually growing, because if you're not growing, you're dying in business.
“We felt it was necessary to take the plunge (with ServiceTitan) to get ahead. And it's worked.”
