October 15, 2025 • 16 mins
Brien Murphy is the owner and driving force behind EZ Home Exteriors, a Pittsburgh-area exterior remodeling firm rooted in quality, transparency, and integrity.
Since taking the helm in 2005, Brien has grown the business into one of the region’s premier exterior specialists, offering roofing, siding, windows, doors and full home exterior renovations.
With deep experience in the window and remodeling sectors, he emphasizes a no-games approach—no commission sales, no deposits—just honest work and direct engagement with clients.
Brien holds a B.S. from Penn State, is a lifelong Pittsburgher, and leads his team with a belief that excellence should be expected—not negotiated.
Since taking the helm in 2005, Brien has grown the business into one of the region’s premier exterior specialists, offering roofing, siding, windows, doors and full home exterior renovations.
With deep experience in the window and remodeling sectors, he emphasizes a no-games approach—no commission sales, no deposits—just honest work and direct engagement with clients.
Brien holds a B.S. from Penn State, is a lifelong Pittsburgher, and leads his team with a belief that excellence should be expected—not negotiated.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
And welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Heart. Well, let's s alo to
Brian Murphy of Easy Home Exteriors. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey John, happy to be here. Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
All right, so tell us everything we need to know
about your company.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Well, so, Easy Home Exteriors. I've owned it for almost
twenty years now. The advantage I have and my customers
have is I don't have a team of commissioned salespeople
that go out and just are trained to strike go heavy,
go high retail prices. I go to the home myself.
I visit every job site and I price them out.
I price out all my jobs in an affordable manner
(00:38):
to get them. I make money on volume. I'm not
a one hit wonder.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
So you're the man. You're the man.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I run around all day measuring stuff, taking photos, and
then working with my team to get the proposals sent
out in the very timely fashion.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
All right, So what is what else has set you
apart from maybe other companies that offer similar things?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So I'm a window, door, window and roofing car tractor,
and what I do differently than just about anybody else
in my industry, I will go visit your home or
Michelle's home or Steve's home to check out a roof
or windows, and you don't have to be there because
it's not going to change the measurements or photographs I take.
I can send a detailed proposal. Ultimately there's a second
(01:18):
visit to talk about some colors and some different options
that maybe we didn't chat about me being there the
first visit. But my industry is known for making sure
that you and your spouse are there and two people
at the table and they sit and annoy you for
two or three hours. I can go visit a house
and measure a roof for windows and be in and
out of the driveway in less than ten minutes. So
(01:39):
it's crazy, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
So what made you? What made you offer that kind
of style?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So early on after I graduated from penn State, I
worked for two different window manufacturers, and it was on
the wholesale end of it, and I worked with guys
like me across Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and I saw
what the good ones did, what the bad ones did,
and what the medium ones did. And I decided in
September of five, when I started my business to think
of a way to be different, and I thought, if
(02:06):
I could be different enough and not annoy somebody and
still get the job done and still offer fair, honest
prices every time, then it was going to work. And
early on some people in the industry that I was
friendly with they said, oh, murph, that's not going to work.
You need to see people, you need to read they're
buying signals. You need to warm up to them. And
twenty years later it works. I recently a week ago, John,
(02:30):
believe it or not, finished a thirty two thousand dollars
siding job in Avonmore, Pennsylvania, which is in Westmoreland County.
Never met the guy wow, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, you're you're less of a salesperson. You're you're fulfilling
somebody's need and that's what they's they've got a problem,
you're solving that problem.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Correct, And you hit the nail on the head about
I'm not a salesperson. When people tell me I'm a salesman,
I get annoyed and I get offended because I'm not
there asking what their budget is. I'm not there saying
what's a good monthly payment. I'm not starting at a
retail number of forty or fifty thousand, then netting out
at twenty six thousand. That's what salespeople do. I'm there
just to be their consultant. Let's figure it out together,
(03:09):
and let's solve the problem together. All right.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
You said you started in two thousand and five. What
made you get into this business?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So being on the wholesale end for twelve or thirteen
years after college again, I thought it would be a
fun business to get into. And at the time, in
two thousand and five, Easy Home Exteriors and Garage Doors
was an existing company and I came in to sell
them product as a salesman for a window manufacturer and
at the time they needed a sales person and a
(03:36):
partner to run the roofing, siding, window door division. So
at the time I had a six month old at
home and spouse wasn't working, and said, let's just do this.
And you know, the flight or fight mentality, you know,
there was no turning back. And it took a year,
year and a half to figure out how I wanted
to do things. And you know, twenty years later, you
know it's working well. But I got a great team,
great suppliers, great partners. It's not just me, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Tell me about your team.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So I got a couple of women in the office
that helped send out all of my quotes very quickly,
very efficiently, as we engage with customers on new work.
I got a team of in production. They order all
the materials, schedule the dumpsters. And then we got the
warden that runs the office that if things go a
little south, then she gets involved. But for the most part,
nobody talks to.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Her really a good way. All right, So you're not
the boss, Yeah, there's somebody else running the ship.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, you know what. The entire team I have allow
me to have the latitude and run around like a
madman every day and accomplish what I accomplished for my customers.
Without them, I couldn't do it. Well.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
One thing that you mentioned that to me is different.
You mentioned roof, but you also windows and doors and
things like that. What made you expand that into those
kind of areas as well?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well? Windows are natural for me because for twelve years
after graduating college, I was always a window manufacturer rep.
So I love windows and I love doors. What's great
for me is I teasingly call my four food groups, windows, doors, roofing, siding.
You know, our roofing industry has gotten so saturated john
in the last five to ten years, and a lot
of the roofing guys hate windows and doors. I love them,
(05:07):
So that's good. If they all want to battle all
over the scraps of roofing and they don't care about
twelve windows or a front door or kitchen door. You know,
I froth at the mouth because I love windows and doors.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Well, why, why? Why do you love it?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It's the first job I had out of college, you know,
working in the window industry. You know, before I graduated college,
I didn't know a window was something you slid a
twelve pack of beer through to the next guy for
the party. I didn't know anything about windows. It's just
you know, come, you know, when graduating I had a
chance to work for that window manufacturer here in Pittsburgh,
and I'm just very passionate, not only just about windows
(05:40):
and doors, but I have a lot of passion for
what I do because it's it's always about solving in need,
helping others, doing it the right way, and not having
to hide behind a telephone poll when you see a
customer because you did something wrong to them. I want
to make sure that I'm transparent with everybody that I
do work with. I do a ton of jobs each year,
and it's a lot of fun to run into that person,
either the mall or the pirate game and say, hey,
(06:01):
we did your roof for Hey, Murph, you did my windows,
and a lot of pride and seeing people after the
fact too.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
All right, let me dig in a little deeper. You
said the right way. What is the right way in
your opinion? In Murph's opinion? What's Murphy's law when it
comes to the right way.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, two things. Not wasting anybody's time because it's one
of the most valuable resources we have that we can't recreate.
Not annoying the crap out of somebody, because the salespeople
in my industry annoy the crap out of people all
the time. They want to sit at their table for
one or two or three hours and bring out all
kind of propaganda to lead a homeowner to believe what
they're selling is better, when really those are just tools
to convince and deceive. So the right way is being honest,
(06:38):
being fair, and making a fair dollar every time. To me,
I've coined for myself, I make a living not a killing.
A killing is when I do some work for John
or one of John's neighbors and they say, hey, Murph
was honest, he was the real deal, the price was right.
I would highly recommend him again. Then I go to
John's neighbor or John's neighbor refers me to you, and
so I make a living not a killing.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Okay, that's that's an interesting philosophy. Is that kind of
your mission statement? Is is just being the being as
fair as possible?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, being fair, fair, honest, reasonable each time, every time.
And the other one is, you know, I enjoy giving, uh,
because if you give enough, eventually you'll get some back.
But that's not the plan, and that's not that's not
the roadmap. If you give and help others, if good
comes back from that, great, But if helping those people
(07:28):
with whatever need they have, uh, that satisfies my appetite.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You mentioned earlier the how how roofing the roofing industry
in Pittsburgh is completely saturated. It's a it's a very
busy space right now. And it's probably because Pittsburgh, well,
we have different weather changes and we have different situations.
We have the hills and everything else, so our need
(07:53):
for roofs is probably greater than maybe other communities. But
in that saturated world, how have you succeeded?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Well, I've been fortunate, like I said twenty years later,
to have built a customer base and a group of
people that have known my brand and trusted me. And
whether that comes from college buddies, people in the neighborhood
I live, my kids, baseball and basketball teams, people I
golf with. You know, I've built my brand and people
have gotten to know Murph and say, hey, that's the
one that you call, and again each time they know.
(08:25):
And I've debated John for years. People have told me
to hire salespeople and hire more guys. You don't have
to work as hard, working hard and going to visit
all the job sites every day. That's my drug. I
love it.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Do you do? You love what you do?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh? I love it. I'm very passionate about it. And
when people say call easy, you're going to see Murph.
I'm not going to send Tim or Bill or Scott Ott.
It's going to be Murph. I'm the one that they're
going to see. I've done this for twenty years. I
love it. I've got another hopefully ten or fifteen in
me of doing this. But you know, I don't consider
it work.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Why is it? Why do you love it?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's going to sound cliche, but because there's so many
idiots in my business. And again, if that's wrong to say,
then I'm guilty. It's just there's so many idiots. And
you know, there's good guys and girls in my industry
as well, but the idiot's far out weigh the good people, all.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Right, So warn us about the idiots? How are they
deceiving the consumer?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, and again I get very passionate about this. So
if John, you if let's just say you needed eight
windows in your house, and you call ten different companies
and when you call, they pick up the phone and say, well,
will you or your spouse be there? What on why
does it matter if I have a spouse? Why doesn't
matter if my spouse is here? Because the industry is
taught that when there's a two leg appointment, one leg
(09:37):
of a man, one leg of a woman, or two
legs of a spouse group, that there's a better chance
they'll buy that day. And then when they say, hey,
can you you got a couple hours you can block off.
What do you need a couple hours for. I'm going
to measure your eight windows in less than ten minutes,
send you the literature, tell you tomorrow you'll have the
detailed proposal. But then the other idiots, again as I
classify them, are going to start at twenty thousand dollars
(09:59):
and hand you the paper, say John, how does that look?
John's that good? And you're like, well, I don't know.
Well hold on, John, hold on, we have thirty percent
off right now. So now they gets you down to
fourteen John, and they talk of their real soft voice.
How's that's on? John? Can I call my manager and
give you the home show discount? Even though it's August,
I can still do that for you. What do you think, John, Yeah,
that's what they do. Yeah they do. Does it work well?
(10:23):
Sometimes they beat people down to the point when.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It started because they have a problem and they're offering
a solution, but it may not be the most economic solution.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Correct. And let me back up. Those people are nice people.
The ones that I classify idiots. They're just trained as
assassins to do it a certain way, and at the
end of the day, I told like, if you said
to me, well, what am I gonna get my price? Murph?
But when you open up the email this afternoon tomorrow
and guess what, there's no guess work, there's no retail number.
If the price is supposed to be seventy six hundred dollars,
guess what you're gonna about the email? Seventy six hundred dollars.
(10:54):
It's not gonna be fourteen grand. Take half off. And
now we're seven, you know it's not gonna be by
two and get two. I mean, it's just a bunch
of crap.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So what is your biggest challenge?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Then? My biggest challenge is getting a chance to at
least meet somebody so they can see that I'm genuine,
I'm sincere, and I'm honest. Because once in a blue moon,
the technique I employ it going to measure your seven
windows if you're not home and say hey, I'll mail
it to you. Then unless you knew ten people or
five people that worked with me before and gave me
(11:26):
the credibility nod that you needed. So every once in
a while, one of those highly trained sales people will
get into home and convince John or your spouse as
to why they're better and why you're going to spend
more money when indeed the product's not any better. You're
just paying more money because that commissioned salesperson their job
(11:47):
is to go for the juggular and get whatever they can.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
You mentioned that you you installed a roof without even
meeting that particular person. What are some other really unique
experiences you've had in your business?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Well, A lot of times I'll tell people and we
go to the Home and Garden Show every year and
it's a great, you know, shot in the arm in
the springtime down at the convention center. And one of
the things that I've done is as we talk to
people at the Home and Garden Show, if they stop
by and say hello, and they say, hey, here's my list.
I need twelve windows, you know, and then the entire
floor down there's goh, twelve windows. We're gonna go out
(12:23):
and have a field day on this. And what I've
told people for probably the last fifteen years, I said,
do me a favor, Go tell that person, that person
and that person that you have one window in the kitchen.
That's all you have. And guess what, They're not going
to come out and see you, because it's not worth
their will to come out in one I go out
on a storm door, I'll go out on a pair
of shutters. If you had one window in the attic
and you lived in Allison Park, guess who's going me?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Okay, how does one how large of an area do
you service?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
We had all five counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. I've teasingly
said that I like to eat, so I'll go wherever
to work wherever their food.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Okay, so you seem like a very passionate kind of guy.
What other kind of passions does Murph have?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
The biggest one is helping others and just doing my
best to do the right thing. Have I had some
missteps in life? Yeah, we're all humans. We all have
had missteps in life. But at the end of the day,
if you can assist somebody, and whether it be with
one I do every day with work, or whether it
be with something with one of my kids or my community,
or just in general. Again I said before, not only
has worked my drug, but helping people and just doing
(13:29):
something that's nice. I mean see ultimate high.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
All right, So that leads me to the question that
I ask everybody I interview, is how do you give
back to the community. Do you have a particular charity,
do you have a you know, a charity in mind?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Well, you know what, It's funny you ask that because
in years past, we are involved very heavily with Make
a Wish, and I died away from that for several
years and for no reason other than just the busyness
of life. So I'm going to give back to that.
Dealing with the customer a week ago, that was I
don't get in many arguments with people, but we kind
of didn't see eyed eye, and I told him I'm
(14:06):
gonna take his final payment and donated to make a
Wish in his name. He was pissed when I said that,
and I said, guess what, I'm gonna double that donation,
and that's what you're gonna get. So I want to
get back to Make a Wish. But you know, just
just trying to help different causes, and you know, a
lot of what I've done in the last ten years.
My children are eighteen and twenty now, but for all
of the years when they were in youth sports, not
(14:28):
only sponsoring the team and getting involved with this young
child who had their dance athon, and you know, those
are dollars that the stuff we spend money on every
day is ridiculous. But if I can contribute to this
dance funder, this cheerleading deal, or the baseball team, the
basketball team, I love that because not only do I
get to see that when I go to the baseball
or basketball game, but all these kids are my kid's age,
(14:50):
so you know, the fraternity of life with the moms
and dads. And seeing all the little kids, you know,
with MY logo on their shirder, knowing that we sponsored,
you know, this lunch or this dinner again brings a
tear to my I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Are you a Pittsburgh guy?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So I grew up in Brookline, I'm a city boy,
live in the South Hills. Now. I love Pittsburgh. I
will never leave here. I just love the four seasons
and I love how friendly Pittsburgh is is a city
because some of the installers we work with have come
from Philadelphia, New Jersey and Baltimore, and they even love
Pittsburgh because they said, everybody is so friendly here, and
(15:24):
that's what I love about Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, you know, we're friendly to Pittsburgh's not so much
from people to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
If you have, but you know.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It's a but Pittsburgh's do take care of Pittsburgh's, don't.
Brian Murphy, can I call you Murph?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Because please?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
All right Murph from Easy Home Exteriors and definitely a
CEO you should know.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Thank you so much. Thanks Johns my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
This has been the CEOs used to know podcast showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank
you so much for
And welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Heart. Well, let's s alo to
Brian Murphy of Easy Home Exteriors. Thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey John, happy to be here. Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
All right, so tell us everything we need to know
about your company.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Well, so, Easy Home Exteriors. I've owned it for almost
twenty years now. The advantage I have and my customers
have is I don't have a team of commissioned salespeople
that go out and just are trained to strike go heavy,
go high retail prices. I go to the home myself.
I visit every job site and I price them out.
I price out all my jobs in an affordable manner
(00:38):
to get them. I make money on volume. I'm not
a one hit wonder.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
So you're the man. You're the man.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I run around all day measuring stuff, taking photos, and
then working with my team to get the proposals sent
out in the very timely fashion.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
All right, So what is what else has set you
apart from maybe other companies that offer similar things?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So I'm a window, door, window and roofing car tractor,
and what I do differently than just about anybody else
in my industry, I will go visit your home or
Michelle's home or Steve's home to check out a roof
or windows, and you don't have to be there because
it's not going to change the measurements or photographs I take.
I can send a detailed proposal. Ultimately there's a second
(01:18):
visit to talk about some colors and some different options
that maybe we didn't chat about me being there the
first visit. But my industry is known for making sure
that you and your spouse are there and two people
at the table and they sit and annoy you for
two or three hours. I can go visit a house
and measure a roof for windows and be in and
out of the driveway in less than ten minutes. So
(01:39):
it's crazy, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
So what made you? What made you offer that kind
of style?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So early on after I graduated from penn State, I
worked for two different window manufacturers, and it was on
the wholesale end of it, and I worked with guys
like me across Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and I saw
what the good ones did, what the bad ones did,
and what the medium ones did. And I decided in
September of five, when I started my business to think
of a way to be different, and I thought, if
(02:06):
I could be different enough and not annoy somebody and
still get the job done and still offer fair, honest
prices every time, then it was going to work. And
early on some people in the industry that I was
friendly with they said, oh, murph, that's not going to work.
You need to see people, you need to read they're
buying signals. You need to warm up to them. And
twenty years later it works. I recently a week ago, John,
(02:30):
believe it or not, finished a thirty two thousand dollars
siding job in Avonmore, Pennsylvania, which is in Westmoreland County.
Never met the guy wow, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, you're you're less of a salesperson. You're you're fulfilling
somebody's need and that's what they's they've got a problem,
you're solving that problem.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Correct, And you hit the nail on the head about
I'm not a salesperson. When people tell me I'm a salesman,
I get annoyed and I get offended because I'm not
there asking what their budget is. I'm not there saying
what's a good monthly payment. I'm not starting at a
retail number of forty or fifty thousand, then netting out
at twenty six thousand. That's what salespeople do. I'm there
just to be their consultant. Let's figure it out together,
(03:09):
and let's solve the problem together. All right.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
You said you started in two thousand and five. What
made you get into this business?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So being on the wholesale end for twelve or thirteen
years after college again, I thought it would be a
fun business to get into. And at the time, in
two thousand and five, Easy Home Exteriors and Garage Doors
was an existing company and I came in to sell
them product as a salesman for a window manufacturer and
at the time they needed a sales person and a
(03:36):
partner to run the roofing, siding, window door division. So
at the time I had a six month old at
home and spouse wasn't working, and said, let's just do this.
And you know, the flight or fight mentality, you know,
there was no turning back. And it took a year,
year and a half to figure out how I wanted
to do things. And you know, twenty years later, you
know it's working well. But I got a great team,
great suppliers, great partners. It's not just me, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Tell me about your team.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So I got a couple of women in the office
that helped send out all of my quotes very quickly,
very efficiently, as we engage with customers on new work.
I got a team of in production. They order all
the materials, schedule the dumpsters. And then we got the
warden that runs the office that if things go a
little south, then she gets involved. But for the most part,
nobody talks to.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Her really a good way. All right, So you're not
the boss, Yeah, there's somebody else running the ship.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, you know what. The entire team I have allow
me to have the latitude and run around like a
madman every day and accomplish what I accomplished for my customers.
Without them, I couldn't do it. Well.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
One thing that you mentioned that to me is different.
You mentioned roof, but you also windows and doors and
things like that. What made you expand that into those
kind of areas as well?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well? Windows are natural for me because for twelve years
after graduating college, I was always a window manufacturer rep.
So I love windows and I love doors. What's great
for me is I teasingly call my four food groups, windows, doors, roofing, siding.
You know, our roofing industry has gotten so saturated john
in the last five to ten years, and a lot
of the roofing guys hate windows and doors. I love them,
(05:07):
So that's good. If they all want to battle all
over the scraps of roofing and they don't care about
twelve windows or a front door or kitchen door. You know,
I froth at the mouth because I love windows and doors.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Well, why, why? Why do you love it?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It's the first job I had out of college, you know,
working in the window industry. You know, before I graduated college,
I didn't know a window was something you slid a
twelve pack of beer through to the next guy for
the party. I didn't know anything about windows. It's just
you know, come, you know, when graduating I had a
chance to work for that window manufacturer here in Pittsburgh,
and I'm just very passionate, not only just about windows
(05:40):
and doors, but I have a lot of passion for
what I do because it's it's always about solving in need,
helping others, doing it the right way, and not having
to hide behind a telephone poll when you see a
customer because you did something wrong to them. I want
to make sure that I'm transparent with everybody that I
do work with. I do a ton of jobs each year,
and it's a lot of fun to run into that person,
either the mall or the pirate game and say, hey,
(06:01):
we did your roof for Hey, Murph, you did my windows,
and a lot of pride and seeing people after the
fact too.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
All right, let me dig in a little deeper. You
said the right way. What is the right way in
your opinion? In Murph's opinion? What's Murphy's law when it
comes to the right way.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, two things. Not wasting anybody's time because it's one
of the most valuable resources we have that we can't recreate.
Not annoying the crap out of somebody, because the salespeople
in my industry annoy the crap out of people all
the time. They want to sit at their table for
one or two or three hours and bring out all
kind of propaganda to lead a homeowner to believe what
they're selling is better, when really those are just tools
to convince and deceive. So the right way is being honest,
(06:38):
being fair, and making a fair dollar every time. To me,
I've coined for myself, I make a living not a killing.
A killing is when I do some work for John
or one of John's neighbors and they say, hey, Murph
was honest, he was the real deal, the price was right.
I would highly recommend him again. Then I go to
John's neighbor or John's neighbor refers me to you, and
so I make a living not a killing.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Okay, that's that's an interesting philosophy. Is that kind of
your mission statement? Is is just being the being as
fair as possible?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, being fair, fair, honest, reasonable each time, every time.
And the other one is, you know, I enjoy giving, uh,
because if you give enough, eventually you'll get some back.
But that's not the plan, and that's not that's not
the roadmap. If you give and help others, if good
comes back from that, great, But if helping those people
(07:28):
with whatever need they have, uh, that satisfies my appetite.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You mentioned earlier the how how roofing the roofing industry
in Pittsburgh is completely saturated. It's a it's a very
busy space right now. And it's probably because Pittsburgh, well,
we have different weather changes and we have different situations.
We have the hills and everything else, so our need
(07:53):
for roofs is probably greater than maybe other communities. But
in that saturated world, how have you succeeded?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Well, I've been fortunate, like I said twenty years later,
to have built a customer base and a group of
people that have known my brand and trusted me. And
whether that comes from college buddies, people in the neighborhood
I live, my kids, baseball and basketball teams, people I
golf with. You know, I've built my brand and people
have gotten to know Murph and say, hey, that's the
one that you call, and again each time they know.
(08:25):
And I've debated John for years. People have told me
to hire salespeople and hire more guys. You don't have
to work as hard, working hard and going to visit
all the job sites every day. That's my drug. I
love it.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Do you do? You love what you do?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh? I love it. I'm very passionate about it. And
when people say call easy, you're going to see Murph.
I'm not going to send Tim or Bill or Scott Ott.
It's going to be Murph. I'm the one that they're
going to see. I've done this for twenty years. I
love it. I've got another hopefully ten or fifteen in
me of doing this. But you know, I don't consider
it work.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Why is it? Why do you love it?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It's going to sound cliche, but because there's so many
idiots in my business. And again, if that's wrong to say,
then I'm guilty. It's just there's so many idiots. And
you know, there's good guys and girls in my industry
as well, but the idiot's far out weigh the good people, all.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Right, So warn us about the idiots? How are they
deceiving the consumer?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, and again I get very passionate about this. So
if John, you if let's just say you needed eight
windows in your house, and you call ten different companies
and when you call, they pick up the phone and say, well,
will you or your spouse be there? What on why
does it matter if I have a spouse? Why doesn't
matter if my spouse is here? Because the industry is
taught that when there's a two leg appointment, one leg
(09:37):
of a man, one leg of a woman, or two
legs of a spouse group, that there's a better chance
they'll buy that day. And then when they say, hey,
can you you got a couple hours you can block off.
What do you need a couple hours for. I'm going
to measure your eight windows in less than ten minutes,
send you the literature, tell you tomorrow you'll have the
detailed proposal. But then the other idiots, again as I
classify them, are going to start at twenty thousand dollars
(09:59):
and hand you the paper, say John, how does that look?
John's that good? And you're like, well, I don't know.
Well hold on, John, hold on, we have thirty percent
off right now. So now they gets you down to
fourteen John, and they talk of their real soft voice.
How's that's on? John? Can I call my manager and
give you the home show discount? Even though it's August,
I can still do that for you. What do you think, John, Yeah,
that's what they do. Yeah they do. Does it work well?
(10:23):
Sometimes they beat people down to the point when.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It started because they have a problem and they're offering
a solution, but it may not be the most economic solution.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Correct. And let me back up. Those people are nice people.
The ones that I classify idiots. They're just trained as
assassins to do it a certain way, and at the
end of the day, I told like, if you said
to me, well, what am I gonna get my price? Murph?
But when you open up the email this afternoon tomorrow
and guess what, there's no guess work, there's no retail number.
If the price is supposed to be seventy six hundred dollars,
guess what you're gonna about the email? Seventy six hundred dollars.
(10:54):
It's not gonna be fourteen grand. Take half off. And
now we're seven, you know it's not gonna be by
two and get two. I mean, it's just a bunch
of crap.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So what is your biggest challenge?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Then? My biggest challenge is getting a chance to at
least meet somebody so they can see that I'm genuine,
I'm sincere, and I'm honest. Because once in a blue moon,
the technique I employ it going to measure your seven
windows if you're not home and say hey, I'll mail
it to you. Then unless you knew ten people or
five people that worked with me before and gave me
(11:26):
the credibility nod that you needed. So every once in
a while, one of those highly trained sales people will
get into home and convince John or your spouse as
to why they're better and why you're going to spend
more money when indeed the product's not any better. You're
just paying more money because that commissioned salesperson their job
(11:47):
is to go for the juggular and get whatever they can.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
You mentioned that you you installed a roof without even
meeting that particular person. What are some other really unique
experiences you've had in your business?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Well, A lot of times I'll tell people and we
go to the Home and Garden Show every year and
it's a great, you know, shot in the arm in
the springtime down at the convention center. And one of
the things that I've done is as we talk to
people at the Home and Garden Show, if they stop
by and say hello, and they say, hey, here's my list.
I need twelve windows, you know, and then the entire
floor down there's goh, twelve windows. We're gonna go out
(12:23):
and have a field day on this. And what I've
told people for probably the last fifteen years, I said,
do me a favor, Go tell that person, that person
and that person that you have one window in the kitchen.
That's all you have. And guess what, They're not going
to come out and see you, because it's not worth
their will to come out in one I go out
on a storm door, I'll go out on a pair
of shutters. If you had one window in the attic
and you lived in Allison Park, guess who's going me?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Okay, how does one how large of an area do
you service?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
We had all five counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. I've teasingly
said that I like to eat, so I'll go wherever
to work wherever their food.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Okay, so you seem like a very passionate kind of guy.
What other kind of passions does Murph have?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
The biggest one is helping others and just doing my
best to do the right thing. Have I had some
missteps in life? Yeah, we're all humans. We all have
had missteps in life. But at the end of the day,
if you can assist somebody, and whether it be with
one I do every day with work, or whether it
be with something with one of my kids or my community,
or just in general. Again I said before, not only
has worked my drug, but helping people and just doing
(13:29):
something that's nice. I mean see ultimate high.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
All right, So that leads me to the question that
I ask everybody I interview, is how do you give
back to the community. Do you have a particular charity,
do you have a you know, a charity in mind?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Well, you know what, It's funny you ask that because
in years past, we are involved very heavily with Make
a Wish, and I died away from that for several
years and for no reason other than just the busyness
of life. So I'm going to give back to that.
Dealing with the customer a week ago, that was I
don't get in many arguments with people, but we kind
of didn't see eyed eye, and I told him I'm
(14:06):
gonna take his final payment and donated to make a
Wish in his name. He was pissed when I said that,
and I said, guess what, I'm gonna double that donation,
and that's what you're gonna get. So I want to
get back to Make a Wish. But you know, just
just trying to help different causes, and you know, a
lot of what I've done in the last ten years.
My children are eighteen and twenty now, but for all
of the years when they were in youth sports, not
(14:28):
only sponsoring the team and getting involved with this young
child who had their dance athon, and you know, those
are dollars that the stuff we spend money on every
day is ridiculous. But if I can contribute to this
dance funder, this cheerleading deal, or the baseball team, the
basketball team, I love that because not only do I
get to see that when I go to the baseball
or basketball game, but all these kids are my kid's age,
(14:50):
so you know, the fraternity of life with the moms
and dads. And seeing all the little kids, you know,
with MY logo on their shirder, knowing that we sponsored,
you know, this lunch or this dinner again brings a
tear to my I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Are you a Pittsburgh guy?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So I grew up in Brookline, I'm a city boy,
live in the South Hills. Now. I love Pittsburgh. I
will never leave here. I just love the four seasons
and I love how friendly Pittsburgh is is a city
because some of the installers we work with have come
from Philadelphia, New Jersey and Baltimore, and they even love
Pittsburgh because they said, everybody is so friendly here, and
(15:24):
that's what I love about Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, you know, we're friendly to Pittsburgh's not so much
from people to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
If you have, but you know.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It's a but Pittsburgh's do take care of Pittsburgh's, don't.
Brian Murphy, can I call you Murph?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Because please?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
All right Murph from Easy Home Exteriors and definitely a
CEO you should know.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Thank you so much. Thanks Johns my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
This has been the CEOs used to know podcast showcasing
businesses that are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's
commitment to the communities we serve. I'm Johnny Hartwell, thank
you so much for
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