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I started in this industry at one of the biggest residential HVAC contractors in Orange County. Within two months I knew it wasn't for me — it was pure sales culture, zero customer care. I almost walked away from the trade entirely.
I found a company that matched my values and stayed for ten years. Grew from technician to quality control, service trainer, then service manager. We built a real team — people who cared, customers who trusted us, manufacturer and retail partnerships that helped feed our families year after year.
Two years before I left, the company was sold to private equity. We were promised nothing would change. Within a year, the people I'd worked with were gone. Replaced by corporate restructurers with no industry experience and one objective: extract every dollar from every customer, every employee, and every vendor relationship we'd spent a decade building. The retail and manufacturer partners who'd supported us for years? They were being lied to and billed in ways they never would have agreed to. If they'd known, they'd have walked immediately.
I left. Got my California C-20 contractor license and tried to build my own company — the right way. I couldn't compete. PE groups don't just outspend you — they actively work to eliminate you. Predatory pricing. Market saturation. Poaching your technicians with investor-funded signing bonuses. They're not competing. They're eliminating. Once the independent is gone, the prices go right back up and the customer has nowhere else to turn.
That's why FreeFromPE exists. Not as a lead gen platform. As a counter-movement. Built by someone who watched this system dismantle something great — and refused to accept that it wins.
Sean Greene
Founder, FreeFromPE.com · C-20 Licensed Contractor · 10 years Residential HVAC · Anaheim, CA
How we vet every contractor before they touch a single lead
01
CSLB license verification — We pull every applicant's license through the California State License Board directly. Active status, correct classifications, no suspensions, no disciplinary actions. If the license has a blemish, the conversation ends there.
02
BBB standing — We check accreditation status, complaint history, and how complaints were resolved. A complaint isn't automatically disqualifying — how a contractor handles a problem tells you more about their character than a perfect record.
03
Google & Yelp review audit — We don't just look at the star rating. We read the reviews — the positive ones and the negative ones. We look for patterns in how customers describe the experience, how the contractor responds to criticism, and whether the reviews reflect a business that actually cares about the people it serves.
04
Direct outreach to prior clients — This is the step no directory does. We contact actual past customers directly — not references hand-picked by the contractor. Real homeowners, real conversations. We ask about the quality of work, how they were treated, whether the contractor was honest about pricing, and whether they'd call them again.
05
Ownership verification — We confirm independent ownership before anything else moves forward. We check state business filings, LLC registration, and corporate parent structures. PE-backed platforms, franchise brands, and roll-up companies cannot join this network regardless of how they present themselves. If we find out later — they're removed immediately.
06
Unannounced spot checks — After joining, network contractors are subject to unannounced pop-ins on active jobs. Not every job — but any job. Quality isn't something you perform for an inspector. It's something you do when no one is watching. We verify that.
07
Post-job customer follow-up — After every lead we send, we follow up directly with the homeowner. Not a survey link — a real conversation. If a customer is not satisfied, that contractor goes on a watchlist immediately. Patterns of complaints get them removed. Our name is on every referral. We treat it that way.