[00:00:03] Speaker A: Well, good day, everyone, and welcome to the Cutting Edge Install Podcast brought to you by Omni Cubed, where innovation meets installation and could be literally everything in between. I'm your host, Merck Campbell, and it's an absolute pleasure to have you with us.
What's this podcast all about? Is it just, you know, to listen to an Irish guy with his dulcet tones? Well, it is that, but it's also to celebrate pros, professionals, those who are installers, those who are experts, those who game changers in the industry.
We're going to dive into stories, we're going to share insights, and we are going to have some fun along the way so you don't fall asleep and you actually find this informative and a blessing to you. So whether you're on the job, whether you're on the road, or you're just looking to stay sharp, you have come to the right place.
And today we have a pro in the glass industry. Now, I'm not going to say anything more.
I'm going to let him introduce himself and then he's going to give us a little bit about his background and then what led him into the glass industry.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: So take it away, Merv. Thanks so much for having me. I'm Stephen Mullins. I do not have the dulcet tones of an Irishman, but I do hail from the Emerald Isle.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: That's a blessing.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: We'll take it. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's good to have you.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: So I'm with the Glass and Design Group.
I've been in glazing for about nine years now, and we're, we're a fairly new, new company, just started this calendar year in 2026, as far as being incorporated and being completely independent. So, yeah, fairly new enterprise endeavor. But, but definitely been. Been in the glazing industry for, for the better part of the last decade.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Awesome.
What was it that kind of pulled you in? What made you have a career in this wonderful industry and what keeps you kind of going?
[00:02:02] Speaker B: It is a wonderful industry, and it's not an industry you think about ever until you're in it.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: And I'm sure, as you've talked to many others that have fallen into the industry for years and decades when they had no plans of doing so.
It's not something that you planned on doing necessarily.
So for me, I was, I, I had a career in banking for over a decade.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: You know, I was in an office, I was lending, you know, having those, those sorts of conversations.
A lot of regulatory stuff. Very boring. Looking back on it, and I came to realize that the office, the cubicle, the four walls, that the desk, the computer, that wasn't for me.
So a friend of mine back in 2016, 2017 said, hey, my, the company my brother is working for needs an outside sales rep or measure tech. Somebody go out there and measure for glass and talk to customers and sell frameless tower doors.
And sales always makes more money. So I was like, all right, let me, let me try this out. And I get to be out on the road. I'm not in an office.
So win, win for me, my, my type of person.
[00:03:17] Speaker C: Totally.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
So that led to me joining kind of a. A group that created another business, another family owned small business from that.
And that's where I was for about four years. So, okay, you know, about, about four years at each. Each company and really good people, kind of like family.
And that's what you find. The glazing industry is so supportive, so collaborative, just very positive as an industry.
And I can't speak for the other trade, but I feel like it's the best trade out there because of those, those communal reasons. Yeah, but basically I love the sales part of it. I love talking with people. I'm going into their homes or I'm meeting with a contractor on a job site and finding out what's important to them and building that rapport, that relationship. The first interaction is great, but I love the second and third and 11th and 20th because, you know, you think you don't have repeat customers. You absolutely do if you're in it for long enough.
And that's what ended up happening, is that I've been in it long enough. And even though the glass itself didn't draw me in at first, realizing what you can do with glass in both an architectural and design aspect and how it's so often interior, the last one of the last things to go in, it just puts that finishing touch on this beautiful idea that was there to begin with and now it's become a reality and you're the one finishing it off.
You might not be the star of the show, but you definitely.
It wouldn't be finished without the glazer. So that's what got me in and that's what kept me awesome.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: It's funny you should say that. A lot of people don't think about this industry and that's that last. It's funny, it's like 100% true.
And then I've challenged people with like, wherever you go, just stop and look.
And I guarantee you, you will see glass everywhere. All different shapes, all different sizes, all different colors.
But it takes a lot of brain power and a lot of finesse to make a building actually look beautiful with a lot of glass in it. But people don't get that. They're like, ah, it's just a window pane. No, there's a lot more to it than that.
[00:05:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: I was just in Chicago last weekend and, you know, being the glass nerd, you just, you're taking pictures of all the glass that you see that you think looks really cool. And yep, you're just, even, even someone in the industry, you're still just amazed by how much glass it takes to build a city.
Skyscrapers, you know, the five story Starbucks, that, that's in Chicago. And it's just got this beautiful creek, curved escalator with curved glass. You know, it's, it's 916 laminate starfire. Just gorgeous. And that's just, you know, a fraction of it. But yeah, same thing. You will see it everywhere.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: Oh, totally. You so. Well, and it's, it's a wonder to behold.
It finishes the building when people don't realize it does. It's. Yeah, you get nerdy at times. I do that too. And I'm like, oh, my goodness, that is absolutely beautiful.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Well, we have to, because the people who don't know about it, they're not going to give us any credit. So we just got to, man.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Yeah, we got to pat ourselves on the back and be like, yeah, we got this. We got it.
[00:07:08] Speaker C: Oh, that's hilarious.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Well, your logo is right over your shoulder.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: It is.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: But what led you to glass design, grip, and what are you building there?
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for asking that.
It's nice to talk about the origin story. For me, it's super fresh because it's really just hitting, you know, we're hitting our stride. Really focusing on being independent over the last like 90 days.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: But really before that, what led to it is.
I'll kind of start back with COVID I think we all changed a little bit during and after that, especially if you're an extrovert and needed to be out talking to people.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: And then. And then not being allowed to for a little bit, that I think that kind of changed us. So for me, I wanted to make the best use of my time so, you know, driving to sales appointments. I mean, so I'm, I'm in Southern California.
The, the companies that I'd worked for previously, we covered all of Southern California. Right. So we're talking hundreds of square miles, and I'd be driving three, four, five, six hours a day.
And before COVID it was like, all right, the things you should know, Podcast or stuff you should know. It's like entertaining stuff. Audiobooks that are fictional. It's like, all right, this is fun. Just help me, like, get through the drive. Help me get through the day. And after Covid, I'm like, that's such a waste of time. Not that, not that those things aren't needed or necessary because you need to have fun and be entertained. But I'm like, I'm working during the day. I need to focus this time rather than being entertained on being educated.
So I decided, hey, I want to be the best salesman I can be. So I listened to podcasts and audiobooks, focused on sales, and then, you know, the, the owner of the company I worked for, really good friend, small family owned business. I'm like, man, I really want this business to succeed. So I started listening to business podcasts and audiobooks on how to build businesses or how to make them more efficient.
And I just became fascinated and obsessed with that, really.
So over the last five years, you know, listening to YouTube videos, podcasts, and audiobooks on those specific subjects, I mean, we're talking hundreds, probably over a thousand hours where, you know, I kind of got a little, a little minor degree in business, entrepreneurship, sales. And so I started building this business plan about two and a half years ago with this, the previous company.
And it came to a point where the leadership there decided they just wanted to go in a different direction with their, with their business plan, which is obviously, that's their, their choice.
But after that, I was like, I was a little disappointed, but I was like, man, I, I've developed a really good business plan. I had field tested it. Like, I, I, I started implementing the different pricing and sales and warranty practices that I was proposing.
And it was going exactly or even better than I, than I, you know, anticipated that it would. So I tested every iteration, every number, every calculation, different demographics, and I'm like, I know this is going to work. So it just became painfully clear almost. It was the obvious choice. I'm like, someone should do this.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: I was like, oh, maybe.
Maybe I should do it.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: Because, because, Merv, I never, I never had this dream as a kid or as a, as a professional at any point in my career. Like, oh, I need to own my own business. I want to be an entrepreneur. It sounded terrible. Like, entrepreneurs are like, man, this is really freaking hard, you know, And I'm like, yeah, that's, that's cool. I'll work for somebody else who's built it and I'll just make their business really successful. But totally, I'm a very logical person also. So I'm like, man, this is the most logical thing I can do.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: So I started building it. And, and that was.
We were incorporated as the Glass and Design Group here in south Orange County January 1st of 2026.
And the, and, and that's where we're at now. Right. We're, we're six months in. But the beginning of that was really just, you know, creating some systems.
[00:11:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: There was no selling. There was no contacting potential clients or customers or reaching out to a network and letting them know I started a business. There was none of that totally. Until, until March really. So we're. So we're three months in and as far as like, you know, so that, that's, that's the. Why does I. Hey, I had a business plan and I felt it would be an injustice to not act on it.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Now the what is.
We're building a very hyper, local focused, architectural, residential, glass and design group. So we want to be very focused on who our avatar is, who we are as a company. We don't want to stray from what we're not just to try to win a bid.
We want to be very principled and disciplined in our approach.
And so we, we've come up with, not come up with, with. Really the basis of the business plan is very unique, extreme differentiators that will separate us from companies that do exactly the same thing that we do. We just approach it in a different way. So we want to, you know, we're not, we're not at the moment and for the foreseeable future. I have no intentions of being a volume based company. I want us to be very strategic in the jobs that we take on.
Because every job, every client, whether that's the contractor, a designer or the homeowner, they deserve the attention that they so often don't get correct from general contractors because there are several jobs happening.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: That's the relationship and rapport building blocks that I was talking about earlier that I just really enjoy.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: I believe that we're installing something that's going to last for decades.
So we need to be building a relationship that's going to last for decades.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Yeah. 100% now. That's awesome. Well, congratulations. Well done.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: It does take a lot of hard work and graft to get these things up and running. So yeah, I Can only imagine the work that you've gone through. And hey, all success in the future. And who knows, maybe this podcast will bring people your way. Who would know? It would be pretty awesome.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: And then, you know, in six months, a year, whatever it is, you know,
[00:13:58] Speaker A: we'll check in and absolutely see how things are going.
See how many gray hairs you have, you know, who knows?
[00:14:08] Speaker C: Well, how much hair I have.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: Exactly. It's like, I don't have time for that guy.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Merv, do I have fewer hats or more hats?
[00:14:15] Speaker A: More hats. There you go. Is my hat. Is my hat collection.
Yeah, there you go. Totally.
Well, as a new company.
So since you guys are a newer company, kind of fresh and hip and, you know, be able to be agile and move with the times or what advantages do you think that has? Rather than someone who's been in the industry for 20 years and who's kind of, you know, stuck in the rut doing the same thing. How does that set your grip apart from others?
[00:14:48] Speaker C: Yeah, I think the size helps agility and like you said, the newness of the brand.
The brand isn't really established in most people's minds. I mean, the problem that most companies have is that they think, you know, they, they. Everyone knows who they are and they really, you know, don't realize how. How few people even know they exist,
[00:15:14] Speaker A: actually know they're there. Yep.
[00:15:15] Speaker C: So when you're, when. So you know, the, the anonymity is there. You. No one even knows you're around. So. But. But businesses who have been around for a while, they have established a reputation. There's lots of Google reviews, hopefully lots of Yelp reviews. And, and they are what they are. You know, they, they could be a bunch of three stars, four stars, or says, hey, they prove they do really quality work, but they take a really long time.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Whatever.
[00:15:40] Speaker C: Your reputation has been fairly cemented at that point.
And business owners, I'm. We can only. I can only really speak to glazing industry business owners.
It's really difficult to move from entrepreneur, startup. Oh, we're growing, we're busier.
And now we're really making. Oh, we're so busy. We're maxed out. And then you try to grow beyond that.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: You're.
[00:16:15] Speaker C: You're trying to use the same systems to grow from, you know, 3 to 5 million that did. That you did from 0 to 3 million. And it's not working. So the owner is stuck working in the business, and so he's not able. He doesn't have time or the focus to create new Systems or just look at the business from the 30,000 foot view. Be like, okay, what do we need to change to actually grow? So internally the systems and externally the reputation, we've got a blank slate. So like I said, the business plan, I had the advantage of unknowingly building my own business plan for two and a half years. So the systems I was able to put in place before we hit the launch button. So that helped us to be able to look at, okay, we're actually using it as a company. What's working?
If it's not working, we just change it. I don't have to go through training five different people on how we have to do something differently or, you know, when I want to try out an ad, I don't have to see, okay, does this, is this consistent with the brand voice that everyone's been seeing?
No one's been seeing my brand voice. No one knows what it is.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: It's a new voice.
[00:17:35] Speaker C: It's a new voice. So it can be different iterations of the same voice. So I can test and see what works from a marketing or ad perspective.
I can show up on a job site and I can be the expert who knows exactly what to do.
And, you know, I can be whoever I want. Not that I'm playing a role or trying to deceive people, but, you know, I'm not looked at as, oh, you're the window guy, or you're the mirror guy, or you're the shower glass guy.
It's like the glass and design group.
We do these things and we can do these things really, really well. And now you just got to prove it. So, yeah, that's good. We're not pigeonholed into any specific niche.
We can still choose our niche and we can change systems like that. If AI helps us with something, we do it, we change it. And we don't have to, you know, train a dozen or 20 people yet.
I don't mind getting there one day. But, yep, right now I've got to use the agility to my advantage. And we can, we can change really quickly.
While perhaps other businesses are very slow to move, they're the big tanker that's taking a long time just to change direction.
Even if they even have the time or ability to see or have the vision to see that a change needs to be made. So we have, we have the, you know, that's smaller companies in general, but as far as in the glazing industry, we can adapt to trends or even try to set trends.
The possibilities are endless. At this stage of a new enterprise.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think you hit the nail on the head a few minutes ago, and we talked about COVID and how much even that has changed everything in the world to the fact of even how marketing is perceived, how business should be done.
And a lot of companies who aren't able to pivot and move with the changes, they're actually slowly dying.
And we see that in various industries.
And so it's no different in glass, where if you're kind of stuck in that rut and you're not willing to see the changes or change and adapt, then it's a slow death, or for some, a pretty rapid one. So being able to change and pivot and move, so key to things. And then you mentioned trends there and like, seeing trends and things are changing, and obviously the glazing industry, there's different things now than there was 10 years ago.
What are you watching kind of closely right now in that regard?
[00:20:18] Speaker C: So it's interesting talking about trends, because depending on where you live in the country or in the world, trends arrive at different times.
I was talking with Keith Dobman of my architectural glass, my shower door, and he's in Florida, Right. Southwest Florida, Naples area. And he even said it. And this is something that I think people in fashion or film, they're very aware of this, that in this country at least, the trends kind of go from west to east. They originate on the west coast, particularly Southern California, where we're located, and then they make their way through the metropolitan.
Metropolitan areas across the country, eastward.
And then a few years, perhaps later, you see those trends now becoming popular on the east coast of the United States and the same. Same thing throughout the world. So a couple of those, you know, we started seeing a lot of that black grid pattern that people wanted, whether it was on shower doors or windows, whether it was actual framed, truly separated lights, or just a cosmetic appearance of that.
You know, we started seeing that several years ago. And now on the east coast, that's. That's really starting to pick up some steam as well.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: And, you know, because a lot of my experience was in frameless shower doors, I'll kind of talk about that a little bit too, because frameless shower doors have been around for, you know, three decades or more as far as, you know, in. In the. In the zeitgeist, people actually buying them as a. As a viable product, you know, because they were installed in the 80s, too, but they just weren't.
They weren't something that most people heard of or even Thought about doing, you know, how ridiculous. Why would you want your shower to leak?
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Why did you want that?
[00:22:22] Speaker C: All those things.
But one thing that we're seeing a lot right now, and I mean, almost 50% of the requests that we're getting are for custom bespoke framed shower doors, framed office partitions, and I'm going to be speaking primarily about residential. So, yeah, in home wine displays that they want fully framed, perhaps with divided lights, office partitions that they want fully framed shower doors that they want fully framed. But not. You know, this isn't the old bendy aluminum.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:05] Speaker C: Shower door, you know, golden grade stuff.
[00:23:08] Speaker A: This is totally.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: Yeah, this is. This is bronze. Solid bronze through and through, solid brass through and through.
And that is a completely different price point, and it is a completely different timeline and a completely different look. But that look, especially in our area right now, is.
That is the trend. I mean, it is growing far more rapidly than even I anticipated when I started talking about this a couple years ago. It is. It's in full swing for where we're at. So framed, true. Divided lights, or even just cosmetic, but like actual stainless steel, bronze, or solid brass enclosures.
Yeah, gorgeous.
Way more expensive by orders of magnitude and much longer lead times. But people are willing to wait for that and pay for it.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, it's funny you say that because as a European, as an Irishman, I think we're probably a decade behind everything that's here.
And so when my folks would come visit or even friends would come, they would always remark about how not futuristic, but, like, how elegant everything looks, simply because it is the new trends that are coming through. And they had never seen it, had never known about it.
And so, yeah, it's funny, even some of the supporters, because it's World cup season, some of the supporters that have come from Europe are just blown away by just how beautiful some of these big cities are and just the architecture and just how amazing and how beautiful everything looks. And part of that is glass, and then they're staying in Airbnbs and they're remarkable about, you know, wow, the kitchens are so gorgeous. The bathrooms are like, you know, a room that you would just live in because they're so amazing and laid out. And yeah, it's.
It's funny how each part of the country is just that little bit behind, and then you have a whole ocean and then it's a lot behind over there.
So it's crazy, man, when you think on it.
[00:25:31] Speaker C: And there's so many different factors that play into that Building codes and natural phenomenons and natural disasters and certain things that plays into all of this. And then culturally, obviously, but you know, in California, the building codes are built to withstand seismic activity.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Right.
[00:25:54] Speaker C: So.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:25:55] Speaker C: I've seen glass applications back east, you know, in Nashville and other places where they're using five 16 or quarter inch glass for frameless, where we would know we can't even get that type of glass here. Yeah, you know, the, the, like reeded glass, for instance, for a long, long time. The thickest we could get that in out here was 5:16.
And that was just way too flimsy if you're trying to do something frameless.
So we, when, when, when we're talking about like more rigid or more structural, it makes sense. That framed solid metal piece. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Is, is coming back into style. But also.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:26:43] Speaker C: Culturally and, and just from a fashion standpoint and design standpoint, you know, designers, they love themselves and they know. Yeah, they know a lot about everything.
Not, not to disparage them, they're wonderful, wonderful people.
Yeah, the, the, the French farmhouse of what Americans think French farmhouse is.
That is, that is informing a lot of design, Design decisions as well. So correct different colored frames for this hardware. It's like, okay, we want that white window and lattice sort of thing in a shower door.
Or, you know, we want that aged brass. We want it to look like old world.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:27:29] Speaker C: And then in Europe, they're like, well, we are, we are that. So we want it to look different, like the US was, you know, 10, 15 years ago.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Frameless.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: Right. Yeah.
[00:27:39] Speaker C: So, you know, I was in, I was in Nice, and they had, you know, very thin, frameless piece of glass and I had the support bar going across in the shower. Yeah, but that, that home wasn't built for frameless. It was just a snow, a splash panel or shower guard.
And the floor was sloped out of the shower to the vanity, and then that floor in the vanity was sloped out to the hallway, and then that floor was sloped right toward the bedroom and under the bed. So I didn't realize I was creating a river to a pool in the Airbnb.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: That's funny.
[00:28:16] Speaker C: I doubt I was the first person to do that, but yeah, I wouldn't think so. There's so many different design aspects that inform what needs to happen or what people like.
Yeah, a lot of it does start for better or for worse in California, you know, where if you like that
[00:28:32] Speaker A: or you don't, we're the trendsetters. That's what we can call ourselves, for sure, maybe he goes kind of pivoting a little bit. But you've been in the glass industry a while.
Obviously, you're. You like to talk to people.
But what do you. What do you think or what do you feel is one of the things that, like, in this industry that we're not talking enough about, that things need to be brought more to the forefront and just good, Good conversation about.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: So glazers have been, you know, again, I'm going to. I'm going to really focus on interior.
I'm not going to get into, like, you know, storefronts and.
And curtain walls and all that stuff because that's. It's a different part of the construction.
So interior, especially when it comes to light, commercial and residential, specifically, Glazers were, you know, typically another subcontractor. They get in, they do their thing, they get out.
Or if you had an independent outfit, they're. They're trying to find people that. That want what they offer.
And, you know, they're. But they're coming from the same background. A lot of glazers came from another part of the construction industry.
They're not necessarily salesmen or business guys or gals.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:03] Speaker C: So we just don't talk enough about being business owners, being entrepreneurs, being salespeople, because we're. We're thinking from the construction mindset of, like, okay, you walk in, you see exactly what needs to be done, and you're like, okay, this, I would do this. I need to do this, this, and this. And so you have a customer who wants to be treated like they're at Bloomingdale's or at Neiman Marcus. And, yeah, they want their personal shopper in Nordstrom to, you know, to find out what they want and what they need.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:46] Speaker C: And the skill set hasn't been focused on there. It's not that guys in the glazing industry or construction industry can't have those conversations. It's just that hasn't been a focus. No one talks about it as much as, hey, here are the regulations. You need to make sure this is safe. You need to have this anchored here. You need to have this thickness. And so when people are like, hey, I'd really like it to look like this or like that, you know, hopefully they share that with you. Because a lot of times we don't dig enough to find out what they really like for sure. You know, a lot of times our first answer is like, no, we think this. We don't say it. That's stupid. Um, that's not going to work. So we say, sorry, we can't do that. We, you know, this, this needs to be like this, this needs to be like that. And we don't come up with creative ways.
You know, we're thinking about cost a lot and say wow, if we try.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:31:40] Speaker C: If we try to make that happen, it's going to be too costly or yeah, our, our suppliers, our vendors don't provide that sort of thing. It would take too much time for me to figure that out.
I'm too busy to do that. Like we're thinking just very narrow minded and tunnel vision on, hey, I want to get this accomplished for this person in a safe way and this is how I know how to do it.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:02] Speaker C: Rather than having that conversation, a discovery conversation with the person finding out what they want, taking a beat and then having a conversation around, yes, we can do that.
And here's what it would look like and here's how that, you know, what do you think about this?
And then the conversation about price comes later. But you need to have that empathy first. You need to have the desire and the skill set. Practice. Right. You need to have reps in of.
Okay, that's an interesting idea. There's no bad ideas, there's no stupid ideas.
They just don't know. We're there to educate, we're there to design, we're there to help bring a vision to life and we're there to make money. We are for for profit business.
So this isn't how can I do this the cheapest. It's like, hey, what, what would be required if they got what they wanted and if that's too expensive, then they'll make the decision to do something else.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: So.
[00:33:01] Speaker C: So really more that interpersonal conversation, sales tactical empathy.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:07] Speaker C: Being able to say yes, that more personal side of it. Because glazers are really, really freaking good with glass.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Yeah, they are.
[00:33:14] Speaker C: You tell them what to do, they got it.
[00:33:16] Speaker A: They got her done.
Yeah. And then from our standpoint, we have the other side where it's like, okay, the customer wants X. X is extremely heavy and you've only got a couple of guys on the crew.
How do you install this?
How do you bring it into the house? How do you do it efficiently? And so we're at the other side trying to educate and instruct and help these guys with longevity of careers because they are so good. There is a dearth that's happening and a little void. Well, not a little, but a void that we see with like the next generation coming up. And so we want longevity.
We want these guys to, you know, stay safe at what they do and also, like, look professional when they're doing it. You don't want them, you know, two by fours or, you know, as the Egyptians did, using rollers to roll in the glass out of the house or something. It's like, no, there's tools, there's tools that we supply to help you install and just, you know, efficiency, safety and, you know, giving that, even the customer a peace of mind of, wow, this guy's got pretty legit stuff. Like, he must know what he's doing. So, you know, it's funny that you say that because it's both. It's both and, and I think that's. Communication is key. It's, you know, it's key in business, it's key in mortgages, it's key in everything.
Just opening up and being totally honest and transparent with each other is, like, so important.
[00:34:48] Speaker C: That. That is, that is important. And also, at the same time, if you don't know something or if, if you've, if you're getting a request of something that you've never done before or like you said, I don't know how we would get that glass up on this third story. And all the doorways are barely seven and a half feet or, sorry, six and a half feet tall. And this is a massive half inch whatever, and we can't get up this staircase. It's like there is a way to accomplish anything.
It's how much time and how much money.
Yeah, there will always be a way to accomplish something. But.
And this could be a lot of business owners. But again, speaking for Glazers, a lot of times we revert to people aren't we going to. People aren't going to want to spend that much because they already told me maybe what their budget was. And people aren't going to want to wait that long because they said they're going to.
Are we good?
[00:35:58] Speaker A: Yeah, we're good. Sorry I had to stop and start my camera again, but we're good.
[00:36:02] Speaker B: Keep going.
[00:36:04] Speaker C: And people aren't going to want to wait that long because they already gave me a deadline of when they're going to move in or when they need this project done by.
And so in the past, I've been one of those guys where I just walked away from a job because there, you know, as a, as, you know, for the companies I worked for, we didn't want to go through presenting a different option because it was going to be too complicated or A hassle or cost too much money.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:33] Speaker C: And we, you know, we didn't want to present that massive number, whether it was time, you know, calendar days or dollars. We don't want to present that to the customer because, you know, it'd be met with criticism or whatever.
And so we just walked away from the job when, like you said, there are tools, there are lifts, there are power.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: Multiple. Yep.
[00:36:57] Speaker C: Yes. Vehicles that can move the glass for you. It can get you to different heights, it can go into different spaces.
But we're thinking of what we. We come from a perspective a lot of times of, well, this is what I do. This is what I normally do. That's how I would get it up there. And I can't do that.
[00:37:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:37:15] Speaker C: And then we stop.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:18] Speaker C: It's like. And then they got the rest of the house built.
[00:37:21] Speaker A: We can't do it. Well, yes, you can.
[00:37:23] Speaker C: Well, and then. And then, you know, we kind of fall back on. Well, glass is different. And it is.
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:37:29] Speaker C: I'll be the first one to say that. Glass is absolutely different.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:37:34] Speaker C: But it's still.
Still a construction material.
[00:37:39] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:37:39] Speaker C: That people use to build things.
[00:37:41] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:37:42] Speaker C: And you can get it.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: You can.
You just gotta ask. And I think a lot of people pride is a horrible thing.
And I think a lot of people don't like to.
They don't like to make themselves kind of the idiot in the room, when actually the idiot in the room is the most smartest person because they're asking why and how.
And I've seen that even, like, in the 10 years I've lived here that cultures are different.
The Irish are known to be. They call us stupid patties, but really we're not. But it's just the fact of we ask so many stinking questions that people go, oh, well, they don't know what they're doing. Actually, we do. It's called we're learning and we're growing. And so having that mindset of, okay, I know what I'm doing, I. I have a fair idea, but if there's something I don't, I'm going to ask someone. And it's like, I loved. I seen you on a podcast a few days ago, and you know those two men that you were on with wealth of knowledge?
I've had guests on here who are a wealth of knowledge. And what's really cool is they're not hiding it. Like, if you ask them, they will tell you. They will explain things to you and encourage you as you do that. And I think a lot of people just need to get out of their own minds and be like, no, I don't know, but I'm going to ask and find out. It's kind of like the five year old kid.
Why? Why, why? Why? Until, until you're satisfied with the answer. Just be that five year old kid and learn and grow and get better and then teach it to someone else.
Exactly
[00:39:24] Speaker C: to your point.
Well, first of all, I got to say, it sounds like every Irish person should have a podcast because of how good they are at asking questions.
[00:39:33] Speaker A: We'll see. We'll see.
[00:39:36] Speaker C: But, but to an extreme example of your, of your point, a good friend of mine is the CEO of a, of a lumber company out here in California, Southern California. It's, it's still a family owned business that was started 140 years ago back in the 1880s, I believe.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:39:58] Speaker C: And still owned by the same family. And he was, he started there 30 something years ago and he started off in sales. He was the general manager of a yard. They moved him to general manager of their flagship yard. Then from there he became the chief operating officer and then from there he became the CEO.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:40:21] Speaker C: And what did he do? At every single step he asked why?
[00:40:26] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:40:27] Speaker C: Why do you do this?
You know, even as the general manager, he moved into the flagship lumberyard and people who've been working there for decades, because it's a family owned company, people are very loyal. It's an employee, it's an esop. Right, so it's employees.
[00:40:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:46] Speaker C: He was like, so accounting, what do you do with that triplicate copy? Oh, we put that over there. Why do you do that?
I don't know.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: It's what we've always done.
[00:40:56] Speaker C: What we've always done. And doing that he made his yard so much more efficient and saved so much money and so much time that allowed people to focus on more important revenue producing or loss stopping activities.
That, that's what got him to the C suite.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:41:18] Speaker C: And then he did that on a company wide level as the chief operating officer did that.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: So.
[00:41:24] Speaker C: Well, they're like, all right, you're the CEO.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:41:26] Speaker C: So he all. And so just because you're asking why doesn't mean you're dumb or stupid.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: No, it's not.
[00:41:33] Speaker C: You're getting to a point. And the person who asks why will be more successful faster than anyone than the person who just doesn't want to have their ego bruised or look stupid in front of people that they shouldn't even really care about their opinion anyway.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: No, exactly. Yeah, that's a big one for me. Trying to teach people even here just ask why there's nothing wrong with that.
Because what it does is it cements in the person who you've asked the reason why we're doing it a certain way and maybe that why, like we're talking Covid and changes that why might have to be slightly tweaked here this way or that way. And so yeah, very important. So sorry, keep going here. Next questions.
We talked. Well, we kind of mentioned AI, but what are some of the tools, some technology, even habits that have made the biggest difference in how you operate and you know, your new company, I mean
[00:42:35] Speaker C: you brought up AI, so that's all I'm thinking about right now. Top of mind. So I'll kind of go with it from that, from that direction.
AI has helped me because entrepreneur wearing a lot of different hats, doing a lot of different very important time intensive tasks that need to be done. These aren't, it's not just busy work. They need to get done.
AI is helping me with that. I'm still learning how to use different platforms and APIs to build agents that can do things on an automatic basis or have things automated. So I'm still learning that I'm by no means an expert. I'm asking why a lot and there you go.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:43:20] Speaker C: But one of the, you know, a lot of people use chat, a lot of people use Claude and some, some other, other platforms. So in the beginning it was a lot of chat. I, I do, I do like Gemini also.
But something that I've really liked recently that has helped with a lot of consistent bids and proposals, a lot of contract writing and just quickly producing a document for a customer is Manus M A N U S Manus.
[00:43:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:43:58] Speaker C: It takes a while to think, but it is developing a very robust and comprehensive document. And it, even if you don't tell it not to, it will first create a website. It's essentially interactive landing page or an interactive quote or bid where, you know, I created this bid and I just want it to be a PDF. I'm just going to email it off to the contractor.
And it had all the information I wanted in there. I'm like, okay, this looks good but like there's a button that says email to approve the quote. I'm like what's that going to do in a PDF? Or it says call me and it has like a call me button or it has a drop down arrow that says learn more about this product or what does this warranty cover? What does this warranty cover? What are the differences between these two options? What are the pros and cons?
And I'm clicking and it's expanding and opening up all these menus and I click on the call and it's call Stephen. It has my phone number in there. It says email to approve quote. It puts my email in as the recipient and the subject matter is quote approval. And then.
And I'm like, this is a website.
[00:45:10] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:45:11] Speaker C: Oh.
So I send that over to my web guy. I'm like, hey, can you.
Because it gives you a really weird URL, so you've got to blend that in.
No, AI is perfect. I wouldn't just send that directly to the client.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: Definitely not.
[00:45:27] Speaker C: But. But it has built in like access points where.
Or gateways where you have to approve a certain email address to be able to access that site. Not anybody can't just go on the site and find someone else's quote. So, you know, you get your web guy involved, he puts it on that. You take the link, you send it to the customer, you approve their email to access it.
[00:45:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:48] Speaker C: And that is just. It's so impressive. You know, people are like, wow. They're not. They will get that. I'll tell you right now, they will get that from zero competitors of yours.
[00:45:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:57] Speaker C: No one else will give them that.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: No one else. Nope.
[00:46:00] Speaker C: So I think it's valuable if, you know, for better or for worse, it's unique.
I think it is for the better.
It's also helped with speed.
I can on site. I'm with my. Got my iPad there, I've got my iPhone and I'm having it work on two different tasks. And it creates the bid, it creates the. The warranty, the contract. It has pictures because I already have, you know, the library of that picture is my logo. Have the color scheme the same. Right. So we got consistency across the board.
[00:46:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:28] Speaker C: Here it is. Here's the proposal.
Oh, you have that. You don't need to go back and wait two, three days to get this over right there. And then that's on a very straightforward, you know, very few units. Maybe one or two for larger scopes.
It will take longer than that because I want to double check everything. But yeah, fairly straightforward stuff. Let's turn it around. Let's get this bid sign, let's get this contract done and get the glass ordered. And that just.
That helps with your reputation, helps with speed, helps with closing rate.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:47:02] Speaker C: Makes it very profitable. So. So that's. That's One thing that I use on a daily basis, there's also others that, you know, read the emails and can give me synopsis. I'm hesitant to have the automated responses go live.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: Yeah, totally.
[00:47:18] Speaker C: But we're still. And we're working on some other agents that will.
Well, actually, they're going to send me an automated email when someone wants to be contacted so I don't lose any time. I'm updated immediately when I get a notification. So that's another one.
And again, I'm not doing all this myself. I'm not building all this myself. I do have a partner who built the website and he's learning that and he's developing that and he's. Because he can focus on that. If I had to learn to do everything, it's like me learning HR regulations or payroll compliance. Like, no, I'm not an expert in that. I will get sued. I'll end up in court. I'll end up with no company.
[00:47:59] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:47:59] Speaker C: Leaving that to the expert.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: I'm leaving that to the experts. Yes.
[00:48:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:03] Speaker C: Keep out of jail and leave it to the experts.
[00:48:05] Speaker A: There you go. You have to do that sometimes because.
[00:48:08] Speaker C: Yeah, there's so much I have no pride that will prevent.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: There you go. You're like, yep, I will hand this off gladly.
[00:48:15] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:48:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
In your own experience and your own life that you've lived thus far, if you could give sort of one piece of advice to someone starting a glass company, you know, thinking about what you do, what would you tell them?
Having. Having worn many hats even in different industries, like we talked about banking at the beginning.
Now the company you've just started, for some of the younger people who perhaps are listening, what's. What's a bit of advice you would give them.
[00:48:51] Speaker C: I. I love talking to someone who might be younger or newer in the industry or thinking about starting a business.
If you're limiting me to one piece
[00:49:03] Speaker A: of advice, you can say a couple. It's okay.
[00:49:06] Speaker C: Well, I'll just say this. You have to have a business plan. Again, I kind of stumbled into that. I didn't mean to make it for myself, but it was thoroughly built out. You have to have the basic systems and ideas and processes in place before you do anything. A lot of people will say, hey, just jump in.
They mean jump in educated, and then you can do it. So aside from that, do the basic business building. Aside from that, my one piece of advice, and I'll expound on this.
Know who you are.
And by that I mean what type of company Are you wanting to be?
So the subcategories under that will be okay, what type of customer am I trying to service?
[00:49:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:49:57] Speaker B: Because
[00:50:00] Speaker C: the company that tries to be all things to all people ends up being no things to no one.
[00:50:07] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:50:09] Speaker C: So if you think, hey, I'm just going to cast a really wide net to try to catch as many fish as possible, you don't realize that that wide net is just not. It's not going very deep.
[00:50:19] Speaker A: It's very shallow, very shy.
[00:50:21] Speaker C: So you're not getting the big fish.
And you need to have your bait specifically for that type of fish. So if you're trying to produce ads and marketing campaigns or a certain look of a website or a logo to try to attract everyone, no one identifies with being everyone. People identify with being who they are individually. So identify your avatar. You can have more than one, but you can't have 20.
No, have your one avatar at first, Maybe a second one. Like for me, for instance, because I love that we're talking to business owners here, because let's just share. Like, there's no. There's no secret sauce, in my opinion.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:51:14] Speaker C: It's just the people who do things and do them consistently. Like, there's no. There's no threat to us here. But for me, one of my avatars is going to be homeowners that have just completed a full remodel of their home. So that means they wanted to change a lot of things, whether they just purchased the home and wanted to make it perfect before they moved in, or they've been in the home for a long time and they just wanted to redo the whole thing.
So that. And they have the budget. Right. So they have the vision and the budget. They've done the whole home. There are multiple glass projects there, and they're in an area where home values for us exceed 2 or 3 million dollars.
So that's the ideal client from a consumer and individual standpoint. Homeowner, full remodel, home value well over two or three million dollars.
And they've got, you know, shower doors that need to be done. They've got the backyard wind screen. They've got some ornate mirror that they want created with, you know, an antique finish. They've got, you know, this huge tabletop that they want done. They have this massive wine display that needs to be enclosed and refrigerated.
They have an office that, like, that's my ideal avatar. I'm not looking for someone who just wants a single piece of glass or like, hey, can you just do one Mirror for me, it's not that we won't do that, but that's not who I'm targeting. I have to know who I'm targeting to try to reach that person. The second one would be a contractor who is servicing those types of customers.
So I would market to that contractor differently than I would the homeowner. The messaging will be different.
The points that I bring out of our differentiators is going to be different. So know who you are, know what you're going to specialize in. You don't have to. People say, you know, just niche down, niche down, niche down.
There that there's an extreme where you can get to where you're in such a small niche or niche that it's like, well, you, you don't have enough business and people are always going to ask you for something beyond that scope.
So you need to have niche down to a reasonable degree.
But just focus on that. You need to know who you are. This is what we're going to specialize in, and this is what we're going to say yes to. And these are who we're going to target. So know who you are, know who your avatars are or your, you know, the demographic or the ideal customer profile that you're looking for, and stick to that.
That would be my 1 advice. Figure that out first because then that will dictate and inform how you develop your ads, how you develop your marketing, what platforms you go on, how you're going to create your forms, what do you want the warranty to look like, what do you want the contract to look like that will inform all of that.
[00:54:05] Speaker A: All of that. Yeah, no, that's very helpful. That's good.
Get grading.
[00:54:10] Speaker C: And also knowing who you are, by the way, I wanted to talk about this in the beginning, but knowing who you are, what makes you different from the other guy that's doing the same thing?
[00:54:19] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:54:20] Speaker C: And don't say something generic. Well, like, you know, you've hired your friends or you've hired, you know, people that you've worked with for a long time. Like, man, our people, our people just make us so different. It's like, so like the other companies don't say the same thing. They don't have people that make them different.
It's got to be something truly unique.
[00:54:44] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:54:44] Speaker C: And if you don't have that or if you don't have the vision of it, sit down and think about it.
[00:54:50] Speaker A: Figure it out.
[00:54:51] Speaker C: Totally figure it out. What is my go to market differentiator, for instance, for ours, I Don't want to hide it.
Two big things.
We offer a lifetime warranty that is not available in our area. There are some companies nationally or globally that will offer that. But we offer a lifetime warranty and we offer glass breakage coverage.
[00:55:17] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:55:18] Speaker C: So if you select that coverage and a panel of glass breaks, you don't pay for the replacement material.
Or labor.
[00:55:27] Speaker A: Or labor. Wow.
[00:55:29] Speaker C: And people get scared of that because they're like, well, oh, my gosh, I'm installing thousands of pieces of glass a year. What happens if, you know, a quarter of them break? It's like, yeah, when's the last time that happened?
[00:55:44] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:55:45] Speaker C: So that it's not like I'm. It's not just a gimmick because, oh, let me get some free money because, you know, 1/10 of 1% of the glass panels are ever going to need to be replaced, and I'm going to just make all this money. It's your. It's like any insurance, you're selling peace of mind.
You're not forcing this on somebody who doesn't need that. If somebody's getting you to upgrade their home real quick so they can sell it, why do they need a lifetime warranty? Why do they need the last breakage coverage? They don't.
It'd be ridiculous for you to try to sell them on that. So correct.
This is with the premise that you're already selling something good and moral to people who need it. It's not that you're trying to trick somebody into buy.
That's kind of the given with this conversation. So those are our two big differentiators that we just try to hammer in our advertising.
And that's what that will. That's what will set us apart, along with, you know, some other, like, turnaround time stuff and unique offerings. But those are going to be the two big ones.
[00:56:45] Speaker A: Two. Two markers in the grind.
[00:56:47] Speaker C: Awesome.
[00:56:48] Speaker A: Well, kind of to wrap everything up and kind of sort of last question here, where, you know, it's 2026.
Things keep moving.
Things are very fluid at the minute.
What do you see? Or what do you think will be even five years, 10 years from now that we'll be doing differently than we're doing kind of right now.
[00:57:11] Speaker C: So, I mean, I have to go and talk about AI. I think that will probably affect a lot of what Glazers will be doing that far down the road. I mean, you know, chat GPT came online what, November 22nd of like, 2023. Like, has.
[00:57:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:34] Speaker C: Has it even been three or four years?
[00:57:36] Speaker A: No.
[00:57:37] Speaker C: Imagine doubling that or tripling that time period.
There should be a lot of tasks that are current time suckers and time wasters.
And by time wasting, I don't mean that they're not important. I mean that they don't directly contribute to producing or increasing revenue or they don't directly stop revenue loss.
Those are the two most important roles in any business and there could be multiple people in each of those groups.
But if there's a task that's taking an inordinate amount of time or an inordinate amount of FTEs or manpower that could be spent toward producing revenue, automate that. And that's not like, oh, let's take away all these jobs that are clerical or data entry or AI is going to take jobs away.
Glazers will always have a job. I mean, I'm sure there will be some robot with rubber hands that can carry glass at some point.
But again, that will help us more people to create businesses. So I'm not concerned about job loss in that way. Not to sound cold hearted, but I just think that's being oversold and kind of fear mongering. People will always have a place and you can create more jobs by automating the stuff that can just be low skill and AI done and be done faster.
So ideally what that trickle down effect hopefully would mean is that business owners and Glazers are able to spend more time collaborating and being a part of the discussion and having a seat at the table on these remodels, on these jobs, on developments that are going up, you know, and this could even apply to, to, to storefronts and, and curtain walls and all that sort of thing too, because you're not having to manage all of these other tasks.
If we can have a seat at the table during the design discussion or during the build phase where the contractor's down with the designer and the homeowner.
Like you said before, you're just so surprised when you don't think about it, how much glass there is when you're building something.
So in my opinion, because it can be architectural in nature, that should be a part of the discussion, that should be a part of the design discussion. So there should be at least four seats at the table at that point down the road. And companies that are implementing this now, they're already doing that, that's already happening. So I would hope that more business owners can do that. You're there with the gc, the designer and the homeowner and the Glazer, those have a seat at the table and that Will make everybody's life easier. You have more of a say, you have more influence, and we can produce beautiful masterpieces and works of art far more efficiently, far more profitably and quicker.
And the.
The pride you take in your work. The Glazer now has more of an ownership.
[01:00:52] Speaker A: Correct.
[01:00:53] Speaker C: So that's what I was. That's my positive outlook and what I would hope the industry looks like five years from now.
[01:00:59] Speaker A: That's cool. And hopefully we're still here. Yes, we're still doing it. We're still doing it. Maybe we'll. We'll do a podcast in a year and then we'll. We'll think, okay, five years from now, let's see what this podcast looks like.
[01:01:12] Speaker B: For sure.
[01:01:12] Speaker C: Exactly. Put it in a time capsule.
[01:01:14] Speaker A: Yeah, there you go. We'll put it in a hard drive or a flash drive and stick it in the ground.
Find me in five years and see. Well, Stephen, thank you so much. This has been awesome, and I hope the people who've listened have gained an awful lot of knowledge from you.
Just before we leave, do you want to, you know, if people want to find you, if they want to, like, get to, you know, how do. Where can they contact you if they're interested or they've got questions?
[01:01:41] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So we're on Instagram, Fairly Active. That's lassgroupdesign.
The website is glassdesigngroup.com and then my email is Stephen with a
[email protected] you can just Google the Glass and Design Group. We're in South Orange County.
Those are. Those are the easiest ways to get a hold of us.
You know, our phone number is on the Google page. It's on our website. You can, you know, email us right from there, and we get back to inquiries or DMS very quickly, and we're, you know, excited to collaborate and provide our expertise and service to those who need it.
[01:02:27] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you being on here as a guest.
[01:02:30] Speaker C: Thank you for having me, Marv. I really appreciate it.
[01:02:32] Speaker A: And hey, a year from now, let's do it again. Let's get it on the calendar. Yep. And hopefully none of the technology issues that we've had before will. Will resurface.
[01:02:41] Speaker C: We got it. We got it done this time.
[01:02:43] Speaker A: There we go. We got her done, that's for sure. Well, listen, that's a wrap for the Cutting edge install podcast today. If you've enjoyed it, be sure to follow, subscribe, leave a quick review. If you've listened to this and you're like, I'd like to sit in that chair and talk to the Irish guy. Leave me a note there. Just say, hey, put me down as a guest. These podcasts drop every other Thursday at 8am Pacific State Time, so watch out for those. For more information about us and omnicubed, go on our website, that's omnicubed.com you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. We're pretty much on across the Wall and yeah, that's it. I hope you the rest. You have a wonderful rest of your day and cheerio and take.
