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Creating connections is essential to building a community. It’s even more important when the people you’re trying to connect with aren’t in the same location. Businesses and companies have always found geographic distance to be a challenge to building a really great community-oriented culture. At Empowered Ventures, the same challenge holds true, which is why we decided to start Empowered Owners, the podcast that takes you inside Empowered Ventures.
In each episode, CEO Chris Fredericks will have a discussion with one of our employees to discover and highlight their distinct personalities, perspectives, and skills while also keeping you in the loop with exclusive news, updates on company performance, and a glimpse into the future plans of Empowered Ventures. Not only is this an opportunity for Chris to learn more about our amazing employee-owners, but it’s also an opportunity for you to hear regularly from Chris and others from within Empowered Ventures.
00;00;00;11 - 00;00;28;15
Chris Fredericks
Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Empowered Owners, the community Building Podcast by and for the employee owners of Empowered Ventures. Join us as we take you inside the world of employee ownership, discovering the stories, insights, and sometimes surprising adventures in a family of businesses where everyone's an owner. Now let's dive in. I'd like to welcome Eric Lothrop, vice president at Benoure Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning, to empowered owners.
00;00;28;16 - 00;00;30;27
Chris Fredericks
Eric, thanks for coming on.
00;00;30;29 - 00;00;32;02
Eric Lothrop
Thank you very much, Chris.
00;00;32;08 - 00;00;50;22
Chris Fredericks
It's a pleasure. Absolutely. Really appreciate you doing this. Got into, you know, the pleasure of getting to know you a little bit over the last couple of years. And, you know, it's been a real, real joy to get to know you. So I'm excited for the listeners to to get to know you a little bit as well. So I thought it'd be fun to start off with a curveball question.
00;00;50;23 - 00;01;10;02
Chris Fredericks
I know we just talked about prepping and here's what we might get into, but I didn't want to prep you for this one. What is your favorite project that you've ever worked on in your career, like at Benoure before Benoure. But like a project that a Benoure might do. Like, what's your favorite that you've ever worked on and why?
00;01;10;04 - 00;01;22;07
Eric Lothrop
Curveball question right out of the gate. It's this is something I would have to say. My favorite project in all my years was the very last one I did in the field.
00;01;22;10 - 00;01;23;04
Chris Fredericks
Interesting.
00;01;23;07 - 00;01;52;24
Eric Lothrop
Yeah, it was, the Farley residence, and it was super challenging. Architects had, you know, full control of the project and really all the decisions made. But in general, the project just had such a great flow and the owners were fantastic and they cared so much about the project and the people who were involved in it. And everybody on that job just, you know, top notch camaraderie, which really produced a top notch quality.
00;01;52;27 - 00;02;04;16
Eric Lothrop
But at the end of the day, and we guys really were super happy to be there. They liked the owners. It was just a great vibe. The whole way through. So that was a great one to finish off because everybody was just, you know, I.
00;02;04;18 - 00;02;10;16
Chris Fredericks
Was great, amazing. That's a great answer. When was your last project? When was that project like your last in the field?
00;02;10;19 - 00;02;15;18
Eric Lothrop
Now when I'm still in the field. 2018 maybe.
00;02;15;21 - 00;02;16;14
Chris Fredericks
Okay.
00;02;16;16 - 00;02;18;19
Eric Lothrop
Yeah, it's been a long minute.
00;02;18;22 - 00;02;20;08
Speaker 3
I miss it.
00;02;20;11 - 00;02;21;05
Eric Lothrop
It's tough.
00;02;21;07 - 00;02;41;05
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. So what about that project you mentioned? The camaraderie. And, like, the and the the homeowners being a big part of kind of what made that a good, a good, you know, a great experience. Was there anything else about it too that like in terms of the technical thing, or was it more purely just like the, the experience of, of it itself?
00;02;41;07 - 00;03;03;07
Eric Lothrop
Both. It was a pretty technical project. Super high end, super high details and very, very challenging, just mechanically to get things around the building. It was another one of these systems where it's a residential home, but it might as well be a commercial project with the amount of heating and cooling that was in it. At a bunch of roof drains, a rooftop penthouse for equipment.
00;03;03;07 - 00;03;14;00
Eric Lothrop
To me, it was just something different that we hadn't done. And then you factor in just everybody enjoying what they were doing so much, and just wanting to be a part of that project made it very special.
00;03;14;03 - 00;03;26;14
Chris Fredericks
That's cool. Why don't we take a step back and maybe you can share with everybody? Like, what is it that you in particular focus on at Benoure? And what broadly does Benoure do from a services perspective?
00;03;26;17 - 00;03;54;10
Eric Lothrop
So for me, I focus mostly on our residential new construction. And with that being primarily custom homes. And we have been our focus on everything that is Hvac related plumbing, heating, building, air conditioning. I'm along with a whole lot of other, you know, things were into service or into sheet metal or into, you know, pretty much if you if your house needs it to function, we can pretty much provide it.
00;03;54;12 - 00;03;58;19
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. And how long have you worked at Benoure?
00;03;58;21 - 00;04;01;13
Eric Lothrop
I am coming up on 17 years. Wow.
00;04;01;19 - 00;04;11;01
Chris Fredericks
That's great. Yeah. And then before you joined Benoure, how long were you in the trades or like how did you get into the trades. Let's go all the way back to the the start.
00;04;11;04 - 00;04;34;27
Eric Lothrop
Back to the start. So I found my start early on in the trades in a industrial commercial setting. I took a job ad for a company called Johnson Controls, which is a sub up here, which was IBM at the time, which is now GlobalFoundries. So totally industrial. I took a job as a Hvac tech trying to learn heating, ventilating and air conditioning.
00;04;35;00 - 00;05;02;12
Eric Lothrop
And with that, let it work. Doing PMS on equipment. We were helping the plumbing department out and the general just, you know, maintenance department. So we were doing everything from fixing door jams to, you know, fixing sinks and urinals. And then they were working on air handlers and steam boilers and cooling towers and pumps and vacuum pumps and air compressors and, that's where my interest in mechanicals really blossomed.
00;05;02;19 - 00;05;14;29
Eric Lothrop
And then from there, I, I left there, we had weird schedules where I was working a lot of 12 hour days and every Sunday. So it was time for a change. And I left there and got into the residential side of things.
00;05;15;01 - 00;05;23;26
Chris Fredericks
And then that was before you went to ended up at Bonner. We went spent some time getting into residential at other companies or.
00;05;23;28 - 00;05;43;15
Eric Lothrop
Yeah. Yep I did, I went to a small residential company locally owned. And I went from basically, you know, a 2.5 million BTU boiler, which is a boiler big enough that you can climb inside of to work on down to a small little residential boiler. And it was a pretty dramatic change, you know. So I had a lot to learn there.
00;05;43;20 - 00;06;01;23
Eric Lothrop
And, I didn't have my plumbing license at the time, so that's why I decided I had to get into the need to get my licensing. So I got my, like, journeyman, like, and masters. I got my natural gas and then the propane, you know, started the whole process. There they were. They're fantastic. They really wanted their techs to become educated, to become licensed.
00;06;01;25 - 00;06;05;16
Eric Lothrop
They really want to just be inquisitive and ask questions and learn.
00;06;05;18 - 00;06;11;12
Chris Fredericks
You know, that sounds like that would have been really good training, you know, to kind of be encouraged to, to do that.
00;06;11;14 - 00;06;14;02
Eric Lothrop
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
00;06;14;04 - 00;06;28;07
Chris Fredericks
So at that point, did you were you feeling like, okay, this is my my career and like, I'm feeling good about this or like, how were you feeling and thinking about what it meant to build a career at that? At that point?
00;06;28;09 - 00;06;38;28
Eric Lothrop
I think I was just taking it all in at that point in time. You know, it wasn't something that I ever set out to do, but I started to get the bug for it when I was up at IBM.
00;06;39;00 - 00;07;16;25
Eric Lothrop
Interest the the mechanical and figuring out how things work and you know, just enjoying the whole Hvac experience and then you know, switching from there into the plumbing field and getting into the residential plumbing. It was now like new construction plumbing. So now we were actually building systems as opposed to repairing it, fixing. And that's the spot where I really, really kind of fell in love with the trade, was taking something from nothing other than a blueprint and maybe just some two buys into walls and creating, you know, a system that's functional out of nothing, you know, and just using the skills you've learned, the education given, it's putting it all together.
00;07;16;27 - 00;07;30;15
Chris Fredericks
That's great. So what about that? Let's dig in a little more. So what about that process? Did you find particularly rewarding? You know, versus a, say, maintenance, you know, project or something?
00;07;30;17 - 00;07;57;07
Eric Lothrop
Working with the hands and building something from nothing, I think was, you know, what really inspired me, you know, and I had a lot of great people that I worked with the time. I had a lot of fantastic teachers, mentors. You know, I worked under a lot of great master plumbers, learned a bunch of stuff from them. And ultimately, I have a lot of respect for all those guys that came before, you know, and were able to patient enough to instill some wisdom and teach a little bit.
00;07;57;07 - 00;08;05;25
Eric Lothrop
You know? Yeah, have to be patient for the for the young dumb apprentice. But they were great. And, I owe a lot to those people who came before us.
00;08;05;27 - 00;08;06;15
Chris Fredericks
That's cool.
00;08;06;16 - 00;08;07;12
Eric Lothrop
It's time.
00;08;07;14 - 00;08;28;24
Chris Fredericks
Yeah, I'm sure it's not called, you know, the skilled trades for no reason. What makes a great. Can your experience with those mentors teachers back then? Like, what do you think distinguishes the better teachers from those that weren't as effective at teaching a young, inexperienced apprentice patients?
00;08;28;26 - 00;08;48;20
Eric Lothrop
It's the the willingness to have patience, you know, to give somebody a chance and, you know, accept that they may fail, you know, but being willing to teach them, it's important to, to be somebody who can be taught as well. Hustle is important. Especially in the trades. You know, guys want to see moving. They want to see you work.
00;08;48;20 - 00;09;04;20
Eric Lothrop
And, you know, I see you standing around. So, you know, I brought all that at a young age and wanted to just earn my way. I wanted to, you know, take as much knowledge and get as much knowledge from the senior members as I could. And, Yeah. Here we are.
00;09;04;22 - 00;09;28;11
Chris Fredericks
So that's really interesting what you just said. I think the the teacher and the the the master, like, you know, plumber, electrician working with a student or, you know, an apprentice and for that to be really successful, it takes patience from the teacher, but it also takes how would you describe what it takes further, like from the student you mentioned, you have to be a good student, basically like.
00;09;28;14 - 00;09;50;06
Eric Lothrop
That aptitude to learn, desire to learn, a desire to be uncomfortable because we're out there when it's cold. You're out there when it's hot. It's generally unpleasant most of the time. But if you love what you're doing and you love the craftsmanship and you like the trade, then it's, you know, it's all easy.
00;09;50;08 - 00;09;53;19
Chris Fredericks
That's great. How did you end up at AB before then.
00;09;53;22 - 00;10;16;10
Eric Lothrop
So when I made the choice to come over here, I was really looking to get into new construction. The company I was working for was phasing their way out of new construction. And that's where I found my niche. That's where I found, like, that's what I really wanted to pursue in business, was one of a few companies that were doing it and doing it well and had a good staff.
00;10;16;10 - 00;10;39;06
Eric Lothrop
And so a couple guys that came here from the company, I was at before KBR prior to me, and they're still here, but one of them is and it was great. And they came in and they said, like, this is the place you ought to be. And here we are 17 years later, I came in as a I was not even a journeyman at the time, but I came in and I started roofing in houses.
00;10;39;08 - 00;10;42;08
Chris Fredericks
Okay. So what's roofing in houses mean?
00;10;42;11 - 00;10;58;24
Eric Lothrop
Oh, roofing and houses. So that is basically everything you don't get to see in the house behind sheetrock. Right. So that's all the drainage, the waste, the venting, the water, gas lines, wiring, everything that goes in to make the house work that you don't get to see.
00;10;58;27 - 00;11;24;08
Chris Fredericks
Yeah, yeah, I remember being struck by a comment that Brad Bynum mentioned at one point, which is he's never once, you know, unclog the toilet. And I think for a lot of people, they think plumbing, they think, you know, that kind of work. And then what you just said is like, and you mentioned a word earlier, craftsmanship that seems to me to be one of the main interesting differentiators for a company like Benoure.
00;11;24;11 - 00;11;37;09
Chris Fredericks
It's the pride of work. And that almost like artisanal level craftsmanship that good people seem to bring to the to the job. Is that something you feel like is true for for folks at Benoure?
00;11;37;11 - 00;11;55;19
Eric Lothrop
Certainly a lot of pride in the work they do. I had a lot of pride in the work I did. I know everybody's quite pride for what they do. And and they're they're always looking whether it's, going to be on display, like in the mechanical room later on or it's going to be buried in sheetrock, we try to keep the same standard and the same craftsmanship to all of it.
00;11;55;23 - 00;12;07;02
Eric Lothrop
Right? So whatever it goes in the wall looks as good as anything that you're going to see outside. The wall just speaks to our level of attention to detail and our level of, you know, I'm drawing a blank here.
00;12;07;04 - 00;12;08;16
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. Attention to detail.
00;12;08;16 - 00;12;09;03
Eric Lothrop
And and if that.
00;12;09;09 - 00;12;27;29
Chris Fredericks
Standards, that level of standards. Yeah. Everybody's like quality to it. Yeah. Yeah the quality. Yeah. So for you like now you've been I've been for 17 years and you're no longer the one going in to do the install. And what are you doing now these days have been or.
00;12;28;01 - 00;13;05;09
Eric Lothrop
Missing being the guy going and installing, now look a little bit. But in reality, I'm enjoying watching the younger guys come through and and and carry that torch. I'm overseeing a lot of that work currently. Now we're estimating and bidding and design build. There's a lot of what we do, which is pretty fascinating too. It's fun. Again, you're taking just some lines on a paper and figuring out kind of heating system, what kind of cooling, how we're going to route drainage and rain leaders and wiring controls and, and just figuring out how we're going to make this thing function and perform at the end of the day through all our seasons here.
00;13;05;09 - 00;13;11;21
Eric Lothrop
Right. So our heating season, our cooling season. So that's that's my day to day now is figuring all that out.
00;13;11;23 - 00;13;21;26
Chris Fredericks
Project management estimating like just like design and build and and then managing people and teaching I assume now you're the teacher.
00;13;21;28 - 00;13;28;15
Eric Lothrop
A lot of that stay still stays on the foremen who are out there. But yeah, sure, I'm always here to, you know, lend a helping hand.
00;13;28;18 - 00;13;58;11
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. So what do you think it takes for a company like Benoure to, you know, be successful and, like, continue that success over long periods of time because I think it's the, you know, the trades and contracting business. It can be really tough, very competitive, challenging to find people. Like in your experience, what are the things that like a company like business needs to be good at to be like a sustainable long term, successful business?
00;13;58;13 - 00;14;02;07
Chris Fredericks
Just a little a small little question for you. There.
00;14;02;10 - 00;14;09;15
Eric Lothrop
And, quality accountability honesty.
00;14;09;17 - 00;14;29;11
Eric Lothrop
And dependability and those I think are four things that we have always had in our wheelhouse. That's a strength here. Always putting the customer first or trying to make it right, doing what we say we're going to do when we do it, I, when we're going to do it, and just quality, always quality, you know, that's pushing on that all the time.
00;14;29;11 - 00;14;29;27
Eric Lothrop
Yeah.
00;14;29;29 - 00;14;51;01
Chris Fredericks
That's awesome. What about advice you might give to somebody who's starting their career, you know, at the end or or another similar company. Like what do they need to do to, you know, eventually be where you're at today or something similar, like what's your advice to someone starting off a career or career in the trades?
00;14;51;03 - 00;15;23;26
Eric Lothrop
Well, first of all, I think the career in the trades is fantastic. I think it's a great opportunity for growth. It's a great way to just challenge yourself and continue to, you know, get educated and just, you know, grow. There's so many different facets of this of this trade we're in. What you mentioned earlier like round not having plumbed or planted the toilet before had you know it's it's something we don't do that really is just it's just what people think of when they think of plumbers, you know, they think of, pants down low and the buttcrack, and.
00;15;24;01 - 00;15;24;28
Chris Fredericks
I didn't say you.
00;15;24;28 - 00;15;42;03
Eric Lothrop
Did. Yeah. That's right. But in reality, it's just not what it is. I never had a plunger on any of my truck. It's just now all we do. And there are other facets of this business that you can do, you know, that are you could be a welder. You could be just the gas guy. You could, you know, learn control and you could be a service tech guy.
00;15;42;05 - 00;15;59;09
Eric Lothrop
I mean, it's just it's endless. But for a young guy coming in, notice the grindstone. Pay attention. Listen to the guys who are willing to teach you. Find the ones that are knowledgeable, that are willing to teach you. You take the classes and pay attention to the classes. You know, take a lot of good information there.
00;15;59;12 - 00;16;01;09
Chris Fredericks
Be a learner. And what you said earlier.
00;16;01;09 - 00;16;04;12
Eric Lothrop
Learner life learner too, doesn't stop.
00;16;04;15 - 00;16;30;03
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. What you said earlier struck me along those lines, which is the ability and willingness to be uncomfortable. You mentioned the weather, but also learning is not always comfortable. I mean, it's not fun to to not know something and to feel a little bit under the pressure to like to learn. So I, I wonder if that feeling of being okay, feeling a little bit uncomfortable has, has been an important trait for you and others who've who've been successful in the in your field?
00;16;30;05 - 00;16;34;01
Eric Lothrop
I would, I would imagine so. I.
00;16;34;03 - 00;16;41;11
Chris Fredericks
Good good good. What about the experience for Bonheur of being employee owned over the last year and a half? Anything come to mind?
00;16;41;13 - 00;17;00;09
Eric Lothrop
No, I think it's I think it's been well embraced. We're moving in to closing in on two years now. I think more people now are starting to embrace it and really understand what it is and kind of just take this, this new path and create something with it. You know, it's it's great.
00;17;00;12 - 00;17;06;22
Chris Fredericks
It's awesome. All right. How about outside of work? What's Eric like to do, you know, outside of work.
00;17;06;24 - 00;17;16;10
Eric Lothrop
Outside of work. Well, I love to coach soccer. I love to run and I love to ski and family and friends. Those are my top four six.
00;17;16;13 - 00;17;25;02
Chris Fredericks
Love it. And we're headed into Thanksgiving as we record this. How's the snow season looking to be this year for Vermont?
00;17;25;04 - 00;17;48;29
Eric Lothrop
So far quite good. Yeah, we're in the snow pack right now. JP is looking at somewhere around 90in to date. They got a solid base. Probably the best opening they've ever had. Snows in the same way. So the northeast is looking pretty good this year. Open. It's going to be the same out west. We're taking another trip out west this year, so I hope that, they're off to a good start as well.
00;17;49;02 - 00;17;57;00
Chris Fredericks
That's awesome. So you mentioned coaching soccer. Like what what what do you like coach about coaching soccer?
00;17;57;02 - 00;18;23;21
Eric Lothrop
So I played all through my youth through high school, and I never really had any desire to coach until there was you know, it was lacking in our community. We had a program already. I was struggling with just involvement, you know, so we decided to step up and see what we could do to help. So I started the coaching when my son was, I think, five, and I coached him all the way through eighth grade, and it was just awesome.
00;18;23;21 - 00;18;38;21
Eric Lothrop
I mean, it was great getting to to be able to just, you know, it's really self-serving to be out here, really, because I enjoyed it so much. But, you know, just teach them what it's like to be a teammate, what it's like to be a good sport, and what it's like to work hard and what it's like to earn something.
00;18;38;21 - 00;18;52;05
Eric Lothrop
And, you know, just teaching them skills, you know, it's it's just completely fulfilling. Not coaching currently. So it's that's one of my biggest regrets. But hopefully get an opportunity here to coach again.
00;18;52;07 - 00;19;05;12
Chris Fredericks
That's great. Last question for you. I think I understand that maybe you're also into volunteering. Like what? What about volunteer work. Do you enjoy doing or is there anything in particular you like to do in terms of volunteering?
00;19;05;14 - 00;19;27;01
Eric Lothrop
I most of my volunteering was spent, with the soccer program and that was, you know, mowing, mowing fields and lining fields and helping with the jamborees and just all the extra. Yeah, things that come along with just coaching. Coaching in a small town isn't coaching and soccer. There's coaching soccer. Then there's everything else. Well, the grass is really tall.
00;19;27;01 - 00;19;52;21
Eric Lothrop
No one's mowing the lawn. You got a lot lined the fields, fixed the nets, all hands on deck. Yeah, all hands on deck, you know. So. But volunteering in general, my family has always been pretty important. My parents, the stay are still heavily involved. Their latest passion is, Vermont Adaptive, which is a program here that, you know, helps people with disabilities do all kinds of different activities from skiing, kayaking, biking, whatever it may be.
00;19;52;21 - 00;20;06;07
Eric Lothrop
Yeah. So their passion is skiing as well. So they, they still volunteer and ski at 78 and 77. Wow. You know sorry. 79 and 77. Yeah.
00;20;06;09 - 00;20;09;10
Chris Fredericks
So they're both skiing and they're volunteering and helping.
00;20;09;10 - 00;20;10;10
Eric Lothrop
With coaching.
00;20;10;12 - 00;20;12;03
Chris Fredericks
And coaching. Wow. Yeah.
00;20;12;05 - 00;20;13;04
Eric Lothrop
Yeah.
00;20;13;07 - 00;20;18;06
Chris Fredericks
Sounds like you have some an amazing role models to live up to.
00;20;18;09 - 00;20;22;04
Eric Lothrop
Yeah. Tall task.
00;20;22;07 - 00;20;27;07
Chris Fredericks
All right, Eric, this has been so much fun. Thank you for coming on. Empower donors.
00;20;27;10 - 00;20;28;15
Eric Lothrop
Thank you Chris. Appreciate it.