HomeServe Hosts Third Annual Contractor Conference with Special Guests from the PBS Series This Old House

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.- Last week, HomeServe USA, a leading provider of home repair solutions to 3.6 million customers across the U.S. and Canada, hosted 46 of the company’s top contractor partners at its Third Annual Contractor Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hosted at The Chattanoogan in downtown Chattanooga, the day-and-a-half long conference serves as an educational and networking opportunity for a select group of top contractors within the company’s 1,400-member North American contractor network.

In addition to hearing from keynote speakers and participating in focus groups, attendees toured HomeServe’s new state-of-the-art Customer Center of Excellence in Chattanooga to see firsthand how the company uses technology to improve its customer service and provide better efficiency to all of its contractors.

In July, HomeServe signed on as a proud sponsor of the venerable fan favorite PBS TV show This Old House. To celebrate that partnership, representatives from This Old House, including CEO Eric Thorkilsen and plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, joined the company’s top contractors at the conference. Trethewey, a fourth-generation contractor and featured speaker at the conference, talked about the need to close the trade skills gap, especially as it relates to the type of work HomeServe and its contractors do every day. He noted that more than 5.6 million jobs are currently unfillable due to the shortage of qualified skilled workers. Tretheway also highlighted This Old House’s two-year-old effort called  Generation Next, a campaign working to close the skills gap by encouraging young people to master the vocational trades that built this country.

With the skills gap top of mind, HomeServe announced its new veteran’s employment initiative, which aims to promote careers in skilled trades to U.S. military veterans. As part of the initiative, the company will commit $100,000 annually to help connect HomeServe’s network of contractors from around the country with qualified U.S. military veterans. In addition, HomeServe will target active duty military personnel whose service is concluding with a new transition-to-trade marketing effort. Communications and marketing components of the initiative include a dedicated Facebook site, a partnership with military recruiter  Viqtory  and targeted digital outreach. HomeServe’s efforts complement This Old House’s Generation Next initiative – of which HomeServe is also a new sponsor – to encourage more young people to enter the trades.

“HomeServe’s business thrives on skilled contractors who can fulfill our customers’ needs by repairing and installing the equipment they rely on every day in their homes. In talking with our contractors, we identified an area that makes us all vulnerable: a significant shortage of skilled contractors and tradespeople entering the workforce,” said HomeServe USA CEO John Kitzie. “One of the ways we believe we can help address the issue is by tapping into the talent and experience of our nation’s veterans. Our initiative aims to match qualified veterans with terrific job opportunities, which in turn will help our contractors find reliable candidates to fill seemingly countless positions across the U.S.”

HomeServe presented several awards at the conference to recognize the top contractors in the company’s network. The top winners were: