RTR Electric: Tom Goodwin's Dedication to Safety, Quality, and Personalized Service
Jun 05, 2024
Patricia
What does it take to truly stand out in the electrical industry? Join us for a heartfelt conversation with Tom Goodwin, the passionate owner of RTR Electric in Birmingham. Tom's journey is both inspiring and relatable, having launched his business in 2018 and then diving in full-time after losing his job during the COVID-19 pandemic. He shares how RTR Electric goes above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction, with a strong emphasis on safety, quality work, and personalized service. Tom contrasts the advantages of his locally owned business with the often impersonal and rushed nature of corporate entities, offering a fresh perspective on what it means to be a dedicated local entrepreneur.
Want to know more about RTR Electric? Tom walks us through the different ways to connect with his business, from their website and Facebook page to Instagram. His enthusiasm is infectious, making it clear why RTR Electric has become a trusted name in Birmingham. We also highlight how listeners can nominate their favorite local businesses to be featured on future episodes, reinforcing the importance of community connections. Don't miss this engaging episode that celebrates local businesses and the stories behind them. #GNPBirmingham #RTRElectric #BirminghamElectrician #BirminghamElectrical #electrician are #electrician #electrical #electricianlife #construction #sparky #electricians #electriciansofinstagram #tools #plumber #sparkylife #electricity #contractor
What does it take to truly stand out in the electrical industry? Join us for a heartfelt conversation with Tom Goodwin, the passionate owner of RTR Electric in Birmingham. Tom's journey is both inspiring and relatable, having launched his business in 2018 and then diving in full-time after losing his job during the COVID-19 pandemic. He shares how RTR Electric goes above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction, with a strong emphasis on safety, quality work, and personalized service. Tom contrasts the advantages of his locally owned business with the often impersonal and rushed nature of corporate entities, offering a fresh perspective on what it means to be a dedicated local entrepreneur.
Want to know more about RTR Electric? Tom walks us through the different ways to connect with his business, from their website and Facebook page to Instagram. His enthusiasm is infectious, making it clear why RTR Electric has become a trusted name in Birmingham. We also highlight how listeners can nominate their favorite local businesses to be featured on future episodes, reinforcing the importance of community connections. Don't miss this engaging episode that celebrates local businesses and the stories behind them. #GNPBirmingham #RTRElectric #BirminghamElectrician #BirminghamElectrical #electrician are #electrician #electrical #electricianlife #construction #sparky #electricians #electriciansofinstagram #tools #plumber #sparkylife #electricity #contractor
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, Patricia Blondheim, and today we have Good Neighbor Tom Goodwin. Tom is the owner of RTR Electric in Birmingham. Tom, how are you today?
Speaker 3:
I'm good. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:
I'm doing great. Hey, tell us about RTR Electric. Tell me what makes you different.
Speaker 3:
Well, you know, I started at about 2018. I lost my job during COVID in 2020, I decided I was going to go full time with this, and I think what makes us different is I actually truly, I truly do care about people and I want to do the best work I can for a fair price, but I want to do it to where it's right. You know, I very much care about people's houses being safe. I don't want people to have to worry about electrical fires or their house, just you know, not being up to code and not being safe, and so I really am passionate about making sure when people go home, they know, as far as on the electrical side, their home is safe.
Speaker 2:
Well, there are different options out there for homeowners. Well, there are different options out there for homeowners. There's some really well branded and, I think, fairly conscientious corporate entities out there that they don't say they're corporate entities. They might even say they're locally owned because they still have a partner that they bought in with who is local. But there's a difference between corporate owned and verifiably locally owned businesses. Do you want to get into that?
Speaker 3:
absolutely so. You know, I was actually just thinking about this this morning. Um, you know, when you say locally owned, I understand the traffic on 280. I understand when you say go Blazers, you, you know, I know what you're talking about. You know, I know who the teams in Tuscaloosa is and the team in Auburn is. You know, I know the local area. You know and the struggles that some of the local homeowners and business owners face. So you're right, it's a very big thing when I can show up and give an estimate and I can understand, you know what the local area is talking about and some of the struggles each area may present. You know, due to the ages of the house or the locations of the house, I feel like it gives us an advantage.
Speaker 2:
And I think that's really, really valuable that somebody who's culturally aware of where you live. But also, when a company gets absorbed by a corporate entity, things start to happen on the service side that the local owner doesn't have any say about, and that can include putting timers on your employees so that they only have an allotted period of time to go in and address a problem. It can include not having a say about the type of the supplies that you use, the equipment that you use. There's all kinds of things that a corporate entity does to make sure that they are servicing their homeowners and also their investors. What I would like to highlight is that a true locally owned business, they've got the latitude to choose the best of all of that and to spend as much time as they possibly can you know, conscientious time with the homeowners. I think that's part of how you lean. Do you lean into that?
Speaker 3:
Absolutely so. As we have grown a little bit and I've kind of come out of the truck, as we say, my goal now is to be more of a person who can make sure, like you said, the job's being done properly and we're giving them the right amount of time and we're not just rushing in there trying to get done to get to the next call. You know, I want to spend that extra 10, 20, 30, even maybe an hour in that house making sure that we scope out every square area that needs to be scoped to make sure that we are doing a good job and that you know, like when you become corporate, sometimes they do make you offer things that necessarily I don't feel comfortably offering. I kind of say I guarantee that I will never offer you anything that I would offer my mother. So if I say, hey, here's something that I recommend, it's something that I truly feel like is an important thing that needs to be installed or at least talked about.
Speaker 3:
But I have known companies in the area who have gone corporate and I've heard the negative feedback of how not only do the employees feel like they're no longer heard, but the owner no longer has no power. I like the fact that I can get on the phone and call a customer. Only do the employees feel like they're no longer heard, but the owner no longer has no power. I like the fact that I can get on the phone and call a customer and sometimes I can offer maybe a discount or some help, and I'm a lot more aware of what's going on with my company than maybe the other side would yeah, and and I don't mean to, I don't mean honestly to dog corporate companies.
Speaker 2:
That's just useful for people to understand what the difference is. And corporate companies do have things in place where they can check on the work of their employees. Their employees take a photograph, they send it to um, usually sometimes to a central office that's not local, sometimes to the owner, if you're lucky and that owner or that central office can take a look at that picture and make sure that those things were done. You know correctly, according to the picture, you actually go back and check the work of your own people with your own eyes, I do.
Speaker 3:
I go to a lot of our own jobs, you know, and go back. I can't say that I can make it to every single one, but on the things that I know that needs, you know, maybe another set of eyes on, or my guys, you know, sometimes I get phone calls and they're like, hey, I'm not exactly sure how to handle this. You know, I have no problem writing out and using that as an education moment. And you're right, you know, to backtrack on the corporate stuff. I think that in this field we're both very well needed, cause there's sometimes the bigger guys can get to calls in emergency situations when we maybe have a big storm come through you know that we can't get to all of them.
Speaker 3:
And so, with them being so much bigger, sometimes they can, you know, get to a customer a little quicker than we can. So I think we're both needed. It's. It's a big market. There's a lot of work out there for everybody. So, yeah, I think we both have a place in the local area.
Speaker 2:
Well, do people come through with any misconceptions about what it is that you do? Do you run into those? Very often.
Speaker 3:
We do. People think, just because I'm an electrician, I get a lot of phone calls about hey, can you install a car radio? Or you know they're like well, what do you need to run a pipe in the ground for? You're an electrician? Well, you know the wire has to get there somehow. You just can't put wire in the ground or run it, you know. So there is a lot of misconceptions and there's a lot of misconceptions as instructor and structure workers in general. You know I pride myself on my guys being pretty clean, cut uniforms, names on stuff. You know that way, especially when you go to a house, that customer knows just when you pull in the driveway you know, they know who we are, why we're there, just to make people feel very safe are why we're there just to make people feel very safe.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's funny. We live in a world where there's fear on both sides of every transaction that we do. Isn't it funny the way the world has gone from like handshake trust relationships to immediate suspicion? So it's nice that you deliver that reassurance to homeowners by you know branding your company, making sure that the individuals that you send are people that you would want to have in your home and um and you're right, everyone's different, but service people have a special kind of smart, that, um, that careful business owners select the ability to be able to put together a solution to an electrical problem. That's a kind of genius.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, you know it takes time and I've learned since I've actually started doing my own company. You know just how much I have learned in my 16 year career. You know you run into something and you're like man, that's something that I wouldn't have known three years ago. You know, and so you're able to. The longer you do this, especially in the residential side, you're able to apply knowledge you gain from jobs to other jobs and I think that's what makes a really good tech, a really good tradesman is someone who can learn from mistakes and they can also remember things they've seen to apply it to the customer. You know, maybe tomorrow, but it does take a special set of skills, not only with your brain, but having the being able to use it with your hands and actually perform that task.
Speaker 2:
Um, in the field tom, you've been doing this for 16 years.
Speaker 3:
Tell us a little something about your, your journey uh, let's see, I started in 2000 and I believe it was nine or eight, so I was 18 years old. I got a phone call from my best friend, said hey, we just fired a guy. Do you want an electrical job? And I said absolutely. And so I started doing it. You know, I've done everything from hotels to hospitals, digging ditches, installing generators to the south coast for cable companies working in the blazing heat, the freezing cold companies working in the blazing heat, the freezing cold.
Speaker 3:
I haven't worked on Christmas. This last year we had a storm come through and knock down two customers' power and I said I don't want people going without power here at Christmas. I'm going to go out there and take care of that. I've done a plethora of things and it's been a great journey. It ain't always been an easy journey. There's been days that's been a great journey. It ain't always been an easy journey. You know there's been days that's been hot and cold, but I really am a person who feels very lucky that I get to wake up and do something that I'm passionate about every day. Work is not a chore to me. I enjoy what I do very much.
Speaker 2:
Is there anything else you're passionate about besides work? Say something that you do for fun that feeds your soul well, you know I say I'm a late junkie.
Speaker 3:
I've drawn up on the lake my whole life so I can't say I actually do the sports anymore. But I love nothing more. But they're just. You know, sit in the water, watch the kids play. You know, teach people to do the sports. I've turned into more of a. I like to teach kids to wakeboard and kneeboard and ski more than I actually do actually doing it myself now. But just being around people you love. You know I'm a people person. I feel like I rarely meet a stranger. My wife says I talk enough of the both of us, um, but just meeting people, I just love to meet people and find out more about them. I share that with you.
Speaker 2:
What's the one thing that you want people to take away about RTR Electric?
Speaker 3:
That we're trustworthy, that we're going to give you a good, honest quote and if we say something needs to be repaired or something is dangerous, it needs to be repaired or it's dangerous, and that you can trust us. And um, we're not here to rip you off.
Speaker 2:
we're here to give you a safe house or a safe business and that's all anyone really wants, because you love your family, you love people and we love our families too. How can listeners learn more about rtr electric?
Speaker 3:
they can go to our website at rtrelectricllccom. They can go to our Facebook page at RTR Electric or our Instagram page at RTR Electric.
Speaker 2:
Wonderful Tom. It's been great getting to know you. Thank you for stopping by and sharing RTR Electric with us.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much. Have a great day.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148 break.
