Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to the Cutting Edge Install podcast brought to you by Omni Cubed, where innovation meets installation and quite literally everything in between. I'm your host, Merv Campbell, and it's a pleasure to have you here.
We've got movers and shakers that come on and this time we thought we'd actually bring the person in to the studio. So I may look like this and I may try like this, but through it all, we're going to have fun.
That's what we're all about. Learning, growing, and taking things to a whole new level. So we're going to get into it, we're going to share stories, and we're going to try to keep you guys awake as much as possible. So let's try to do that. So, Chad, it's wonderful to have you here. Thank you for coming.
Let's start at the very beginning. Take us back to how you got into tile and stone. At what point did you realize, you know what, I'm actually going to make a loving out of this.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Well, thanks for having me. Nice to see you too.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: Yeah, you too, my friend. Yeah.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Oh, when I started a long time ago. Yeah. 19 years old, was gonna go to college. But as on my own, I remember something in the back of my parents head saying, if you're not going to college, go get a trade.
So here I am, 19 years old.
[00:01:17] Speaker C: Oh, man.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: I thought I'd go get trade.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: And then that's where it started.
Met a wonderful lady and said, dang it, that's. I need to work.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: I gotta work real hard.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: So there you go. That's what did it.
[00:01:28] Speaker C: That's what started it. Awesome.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Well, happy days. Well, you're at it over nearly 20 years.
How long have you been doing it?
Wow, 32 years. Wow. I really skimmed you on 20 years, on the questions.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Been in business 20 years.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: A little bit over 20.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: So if we go back to the very beginning, you're learning, you're growing. What's one thing you wished you had known then that you know now that would have helped you?
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Man, everything about businesses, it's the same as any part of the trade.
We're still learning.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: I've been doing this forever.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: That's all I know. And I'm still learning. So I, I thought about that and I'm thinking, I don't know, there's. It's everything.
Every year it's something new. Every year it's something new. We've all, I mean, to own your own business, you got to work hard, you got to put your head down. You just got to go. I think as you get older in your business and you come more developed, you. You. You talk to people better, you go out, you venture farther. You're going to do more jobs, right?
[00:02:34] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: At first you think, oh, I'm just going to do an estimate and it'll be days. Yeah, there you go. And you don't know. You don't know what you're doing, especially if you start when you're younger.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: So that's pretty much. That's how I feel about it.
I'm still learning. I'm still learning all the way through,
[00:02:50] Speaker A: which is good, because we have to learn. Every day should be a learning curve.
So you're learning, you're growing, you're trying to get your feet onto you. You're trying to keep your head above water as much as possible.
Was there a job early on that almost broke you to the point of, hey, you know what? I need to walk away from this. I'm done. Whether that's financially, physically, even mentally, but looking back actually on that has actually taught you, even for today.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I think when we first started, we're just trying to get jobs. We're trying to figure out who we are, how are we bidding? Even if you know how to bid or you have an idea on how much things will cost, there's still more costs. When you're on your business, you need to think about all that. But how do I get the work?
I really think that that's where we're at. The hustle. It's about the hustle. Trying to figure it out and develop into who we are today for sure. And I don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out. You know, the jobs come a little bit more easy over time.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Okay.
Yeah.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: That's where we're at.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: So do you have a horror story?
Most people do. Very few are willing to tell anyone that they've had a horror story. Not to put you on the spot,
[00:04:08] Speaker B: I think the story would be.
No, man. The story is just developing as a person. Everybody. Every job is hard. That's what I'm saying.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Every job is difficult.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Is going to be difficult. Especially. Especially.
Especially when you're starting, even now, when you're trying to develop your company even more.
Every job is hard. Every job is a horse word. You're just trying to get paid. You're trying to do everything you can.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: What if you had a break?
That kind of deal. How do we Handle that. So the stress level as a business owner is always high, but it's very rewarding.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I think anything about being broke or financially struggling with that is getting paid.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: How do you. Everybody can run a business. Right. But no matter what, you're. The. The end is about you getting paid, for sure. So if there's pay delays or anything like that, that is the really mess it up really hard because you need that capital to keep moving and keep moving forward.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: So very. That's. I mean, that's it from the beginning.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: So how do you deal, like today with. We use the word Karen for, like, the homeowner who's really difficult to work with.
You bring in the stone, you lay the tile, you come back the next day, and there's blue painter tape everywhere on every little.
How do you deal with that as an owner? Not to, like, blow your top, lose the rag, because you want to get paid. So. So how do you deal with people like that?
[00:05:36] Speaker B: So I think it's how you talk to them. That's why it's so smart to become, you know, get a good relationship with your homeowner, because then they're going to trust you a little bit more. There are those ones that are extremely difficult.
You know what the bottom line is? You just got to do it.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: You. You need to do this job. So if they have blue tape everywhere, you do your best to fill those blue tapes, and there's some that are going to have to get by. And over time, that's something for, you know, I've learned. There you go. So from the beginning, I didn't quite know how. How to say, like, hey, no, this is okay. This is actually really, really nice. You can't do anything about this.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Yeah. It is what it is. Yeah.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: You develop. You learn that skill as you go.
You do more people, contractors, homeowners, whatever you're dealing with.
[00:06:26] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I know, I know. I know what it's like, for sure. You know, big time.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So. Yeah. So, yeah.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Good.
Yeah. Communication's key.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: It's huge. I make sure I'm fully. I. Even if I'm working with a contractor, I always try to communicate with the homeowner.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Every now and then we get a contractor and says, look, it's. It's not your business to communicate with
[00:06:50] Speaker A: them, but it really is. It is.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Our finished product is what they see every day.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: You know, I know there's a lot to build a house.
Most of it is under walls.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: We have to give them what they want.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Yep. You know, if you're building a space and what's seen. Yep, totally.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So as a good company, as a good owner, we are going to help that.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: That's where we need to be. And maybe that's how you become successful in like a custom home remodel world.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. The people that we've had on here, a lot of them, it's down to communication. The more you can communicate and even over communicate, the better it actually is in the long run.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: And.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: And it's just helpful all around and then there's no surprises.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: It's helpful all the way around because those people are always going to remember you.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Then you have a referral basis at the end.
[00:07:40] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Because that's. That's your best form of customer service and marketing.
Totally. You're done. You don't want that person to say, yeah, that guy was awful.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: No, that's why we take care of it.
[00:07:53] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: So I do have one to backtrack.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: Okay. On the horror story.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Okay. So here's. For me, it was a horse. Right. And it changed how. Right. We just brought this up about. No, we just take care of it.
You want it, Fine. We're going to figure this out. We're going to take care of it.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: So we had a homeowner, whatever. Doing.
We were supposed to. When. When courtside first came out, you know, they wanted something special.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: You know, you know, it was a double bowl, whatever. It was three slabs, whatever, you know, so I was fighting it because it was kind of against the industry standard. And, you know, if you're, you know, if they say, this is what I want, even I know it's wrong.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: You have to deliver on it.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: You do. You need to deliver. But as you get as now, I would explain to them more about, hey, this is why. And how. This is why you can't do this with this material.
But we're going to do this for you. But I need you to understand this is your expectation.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: And if they say, that's what I want, I'm paying for that, then you know what, you just need to stop and say, hey, we can. Well, we're gonna figure this out and do.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Yeah. What we can for you.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: And we always want to give that because we had someone that, that we did a job for, and it was a long battle on saying yes or no. And finally we said yes. And he really only got to see it once.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Sad story.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: It's. That's a bad story.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Yeah, totally.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: You're like, whoa.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: I know.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: No, no, we're gonna.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: We're gonna get her done.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Yeah, we're gonna do it by some way.
Yep.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Totally. Yeah. And it's like a kitchen and a bathroom to your point.
Electricians, plumbers, it's all hidden. No one can see anything, you guys. And even the glass people, it's all seen.
Every sin seen. And then what do they do? They have a housewarming party. And guess what? All the neighbors are in. And where are they at? They're in the kitchen. They're looking. Oh, you got your kitchen redone. And then they're looking at the seams and looking at the finish. Yeah, it's. It's important because it's. It's.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: It's one of the most important things in the house.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: Totally.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: That it's so important. Yep.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: It's.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Boom. It's right there. It's focal.
Sadly, kitchens are getting smaller because everyone is just doing their own thing. But for me, I'm like, you want the biggest kitchen because I like to eat, but that's a whole different story, you know?
[00:10:12] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Maybe. Maybe they're going to just do all islands now.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: I know.
[00:10:17] Speaker C: No, kind of bigger and bigger.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: It's like, seriously, just do one big island and then have all your cabinets underneath and call it good. That's crazy. It's crazy. So you guys, reputable company, fantastic installers. I've been on some of your jobs.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Down till the T. Love having you on the job. Oh, yeah, it's always fun. We always have a good laugh and sometimes free foods.
[00:10:39] Speaker C: And you as well. Totally. We get to see the crew.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: But what separates.
And I hate to do this, but what separates a really good installer like you and your team from. We've all seen the. Oh, my word. They just put caulking in that seal, and it's like a quarter of an inch thick. What separates a really good installer from just a guy who puts stone in a house?
[00:11:04] Speaker B: First of all, we try to.
My group, we all try to communicate.
It's all we have to work as a team. Everybody has their position on what they need to do. They understand if I'm doing something, they know they need to hover just in case I need something really fast.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: And if they're doing something, we're hovering.
[00:11:21] Speaker C: Yeah, we're.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Everybody. It's stone.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: It's a. Oh, yeah.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Dealing with epoxies that dry fast.
[00:11:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Even silicone dries fast on the sink.
[00:11:29] Speaker C: And you're like, oh, man, how do I do this?
[00:11:33] Speaker B: That's what's good about having good, good installers and people that.
Here's, here's what, here's how I call this. That's what I call it. Every. We. We need to dance.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Everybody that's with me needs to dance. We all dance. And then when I'm not there, I see them dancing.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: Good.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: And I think it's great. They're communicating with each other, doing everything. They're pulling their seat. They're doing everything they need to do. That's, I think, what is key. You can't have the one guy and you can't have the guy just standing there. No, it's not going to.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Doesn't work.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: One guy is going to be like, I'm so done. And just don't do a good job job.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. He's going to switch off.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: And by doing that, it releases a lot of the stress. It releases everything. And overturn. You're going to get a better install.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: That's how I feel.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: That's how you do it. Yeah. And it's done well. I can attest to it. So as an owner, this is. So you're talking there. You're hands on. You're in the midst of it, but you're an owner.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Okay. So how do you learn or how are you training yourself at the minute to take a step back from being the guy, training the next generation and actually having trust in them to do it?
[00:12:39] Speaker C: Where are you at, my friend?
Where are you at, my friend? Yep.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: So I am one of those guys that I need to be there, I need to do. This is just how I was brought up. So I'm working on.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: I know you are. Yeah.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: But we need someone to take initiative.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: Right. So I can't walk away from something if someone's not going to take initiative.
[00:12:59] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: That's really, really, really important. You need to.
And this is something I'm working on as well. And other people, if they watch this, they should go, oh, yeah, you're right. You know, but you have to trust them.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: They also have to say, I can do it.
[00:13:13] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Even if they. We know they can do it.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: They have to know it themselves.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: They have to know.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: The reason why, too. Also, it's a lot of money, big time. There's a lot of money happening there.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: And there's safety concerns, everything. There's. It's the whole package.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: It's the whole nine yards.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: At least someone step up.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Let me show me what you got.
Take that initiative. Take charge.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: And dance with everybody. And then we'll go. Good. And so we're starting to get a little bit more of that flow.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Good.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Which is good.
[00:13:43] Speaker A: And awesome.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Stepping back a little bit, which is going to free up some time and get a little bit older.
[00:13:49] Speaker C: There you go. Yep.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: But I still make sure I want to hover on the jobs. One of my main goals, to make sure I show up on every single job. Sh.
Every job.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: And the beginning and the end. Good, man. Yeah. That's awesome.
Yeah.
It's hard when you're the guy for so long to then take a step back and not have sleepless nights. Not when they drive off in the truck, go, oh boy, I should really be there. But there's a role that you need to play as an owner that these guys who are installers, they don't have to worry about many things. You're the guy that worries about all that. And so there's. Being an owner is a. It's a. It's a double edged sword, especially the like of your guys in your company. It can be really difficult.
[00:14:38] Speaker C: It can be really hard.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: You have to have, you know, you're trying to keep your reputation, but you're trying to do a solid job.
[00:14:44] Speaker A: I know.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: But you're also trying to be there for your employees.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Although, you know, when I learned they said here do I remember I showed up to work.
So I was in the tile union doing I. I was one of those guys. They're like, man, this guy's good. Throw him everywhere.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: And I remember the first day I show up and I'm like, what is that? And it's a slab of like red.
[00:15:07] Speaker C: Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Just sitting there.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: I'm like, I know what that is.
[00:15:11] Speaker C: Yeah. What's going on?
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Well, that's basically what they said. Figure out how to make this top.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: So I don't figure that out. So there's ways to do that.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: I know, I know.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: But that's hard when you're.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: It is.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Figure that out.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Very difficult. And then on that, being a small company, like labor shortages at the minute are crazy.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: I think that's going to change.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: I think everything's changing. We got. The world's kind of shifting how I feel, you know, there's not a lot of labor stuff going on, you know, Or. Or I'm sorry, Employees. People want to do labor. I remember growing like right after me, everybody was like, go to college. Get your.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Get this, that and the other now
[00:15:51] Speaker B: that's going to, I feel that's starting to reverse a. Yeah. And we're starting to see kids are still going to college, but they're like, you know what? Hold on. These guys are doing really, really well.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Why don't we, why don't we just do that?
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And then. So I'm hoping that changes.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: We need that.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: The whole industry needs it, you know, and I really hope it goes well for us.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Everybody else.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I think I, I, it's hard to know because there's so many, like when you look at college classes, there's so many kids who are still doing the, I call it the non calloused work. So they don't, they don't want to get calluses on their hands.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: So they want to type, they want to have, they want to work, they want to work remote. No one ever wants to go to a job site anymore.
But I do feel there is like my son is in the middle of doing like a Cad Cam class.
My boss's son's doing it with him.
They're young, they're learning, but they're enthusiastic about it. And they're at that age where they're what, what age? 15.
Dude, why not do it? Get your feet wet, see if you like it or not. Instead of going into a ton of debt and coming out going, where's the jobs? There is none. Because that's the other side of it. A lot of kids go into college, they come out and it's like, oh, I thought there was a ton of work and there's nothing.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: So I remember growing up, right? I mean, my brother would always be like, hey, look at this on the computer. Look at this.
[00:17:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: And I'm like, whatever.
You know,
[00:17:28] Speaker C: there you go, doing dumb stuff. Yeah. You know, oh, yeah.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Or whatever. And then there, there's a balance.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: He kept going in that route and then I kept going this route.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: It's the ones that are like me if they, if they're afraid of the trade.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: No, don't be, don't be afraid of it and don't be afraid of hard work.
That's the other part, because it is hard work, dude. When you're lifting slabs all day, you come home at night, you're tired, you're exhausted. Big time. For sure.
So labor shortages, perhaps, but what combats labor shortages is good tools.
So when you first began and you're doing your work, how much was basically the thought?
Four guys on a job, let's Grunt it out. Let's just get it done.
Versus now where there are tools to help you roll when you can, to help actually stop that and get that in. But also change the mentality where you know the way it's hard for a leopard to change its spots. If you've grown up doing that, where it's just sand, six guys behemoth it.
It's hard to change the mentality of an owner to be like, no, buy this cart over here. That'll actually help. So talk a little bit about before any like install things became available versus now where you can send less guys to the job.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. We would go do jobs and have at least six guys there. You know, someone switching off, going upstairs. You know, we're like putting it down. Okay, your turn. Go. You know, I just wanted how it was, you know, the tools help. I mean, the tools help so much. You know, you get tools, you got your jaws, you know, your aqua jaws and you're holding on and you're just like, I got this. Yeah, we got this.
So that really does help. You know, small jobs, you know, you can drop down to just regular two guys. Normally we always have a third guy.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah, totally.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: And there's a safety issue your tools supply Safety.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: So I don't need my kid or you wouldn't want your kid going underneath. Hey, I'm going to pull up under here. You know what I'm saying? So your tools are really helping with that. So, yeah, from back in the beginning we were cutting. I'll tell you, I used to.
I'll tell you how what I did, I put the slab on my A frame.
Right. I put on my full wet gear, whatever. Epoxied some water lines to a skill saw.
Put my 2 by 4 up with a clamp. Use china markers.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: Oh, my word.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Set that up. Had a pocket full of shims as we were cutting. I'd put the shims in so.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: So the slab wouldn't fall down on the difference. Wow.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: Yeah. The industry is changing and it's really helping big time.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's good.
So you've used Omni Cube tools.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: You've used a Slim Slab saver, which is hard to say.
When did Omni first get on your radar? I know the story, but tell the people.
And what was this kind of first tool? You were like, you know what? I need that thing.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Yeah. So we're gonna talk about the Slim Slow saver.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Say it quicker than that.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: Neither can I hear good.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: My boy was Trying to say today,
[00:20:45] Speaker C: it's like I can't say this words.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Call him the triple S. Yeah, there you go.
[00:20:49] Speaker C: The S3. Call it good.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: S3.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: Awesome. So anyways, I believe I called you.
[00:20:55] Speaker C: You did.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: You did call me.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: And I was like, what's up, dude? We need to talk.
[00:21:01] Speaker C: We need to have a conversation.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: Yeah. So I had 6 mil porcelain slabs going on on walls with returns wrapping around the back. 30ft high. 27. 30ft high.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: And I was concerned about the safety of people. My people, myself, everybody involved with that.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: And I said, what can you do? What do you have that would help me so I don't have to worry about safety. Safety should not be my concern when I'm moving these.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: The proper installation should be.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: And you did the spiel.
[00:21:39] Speaker C: Let me tell you.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: That was a great hit. That's great hit. Everything went in perfectly.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: It's beautiful job turned out beautiful. And I did not have. Okay, so we did have one slab break and nothing happened. It broke, but it held on.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: You know, and that got injured the brain was our fault.
You know, we weren't paying attention when we were.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: When we were lifting it up.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: Yeah, we should have. It was a new process.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: It's.
[00:22:14] Speaker C: You're learning.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: We're learning. And that's another thing.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: That's the stressful, you know.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: You better be ready for that.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: So it broke, but it held on. So no one possibly could have got hurt at all. So nothing fell. And it was great. So I love that.
[00:22:33] Speaker C: I know. I use that tool all the time. Oh yeah.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: All the time. We just had a eight thousand dollar slab break on us three times last Saturday.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: Oh my word.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Yeah. We were there I think 12 hours. And the only thing that saved the guys was that tool.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Because it was. It was trying to fold in on us while we were. It was full slab going up.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: And it just has all those fissures and stuff.
[00:22:59] Speaker A: Oh yeah. What do you do exactly?
[00:23:01] Speaker B: Yeah. You just do your best.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: And so those saved us. That stopped it from folding completely in. We had full control.
We were able to come back down far enough.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: Regroup, figure out how we're going to do it. And then we did. So safety. Safety. That is the anything slabs that have fissures. That's going to save someone. I've seen a horrible, horrible injury due to a slab breaking.
And that was just a slap. You're talking this porcelain panels, dude.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: It's like knives.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: Like there's no way.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: There's no way. Like, I'm not even messing around. I've done so much tile. It's just, like.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: I know.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: Coming out of my ears as well. And, man, just. Just moving tile out of a bucket, you just slice yourself open big time. So same thing. And this house, actually more brutal, you know?
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Way more, brother.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: One ding.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: It's cracking.
[00:23:51] Speaker C: Totally.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: So, yeah.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: Love that tool. Thank you. That was a great phone call.
Conversation had.
[00:23:58] Speaker A: That's where. That's where it started.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember you. I remember that call vividly.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: I didn't know what to do.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Yeah, you were. You called me and you were like, hey, I'd really like to get into this stuff, but I have no idea. And. And your biggest concern was your people.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Like, I have to say, that's what made me really like you a lot
[00:24:20] Speaker C: on the phone call.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Because some people call up and they're like, I just need a tool to get it done.
And you're like, why?
I need to make money. And you're like, those people, you talk them around. But you were like, hey, I've got guys. I care about them. I want them to go home the way they came to work, but I also want to be able to provide this customer with what they want. What can we do?
And we got. We got to go in that install.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: It was pretty legit, and it's grown since then. It's like, nearly every install we're on with you guys.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: It's awesome. Yeah. It's crazy.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: So cool.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: We got.
[00:24:54] Speaker C: I know. Yeah.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: But when you have.
You're able to do more of these jobs, you're more comfortable doing these jobs, knowing that, hey, this I have until. It'll be my slab.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: First of all, you're right. I mean, safety is number one, too.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Also, as a business owner or anybody, they're like, this needs to install.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: We need to get paid on this job.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: This also saves a slide.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: This saves the job totally. Let's do it.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Let's do. See if that's. Kill two birds with one stone.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Don't anybody be messing with the porcelain slots.
[00:25:26] Speaker C: No.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: You should get the proper tools.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: You have to.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: 100.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Because that's.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: That's on tile or anything. They know.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: They know.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: They know.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: It's like, stop.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: Just get the.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Get the tool. And when you're dealing with a full slab of that stuff and it starts to go.
It's like a small tile. You can kind of see it. This one, it could be your leg, it could be your foot. It could be your. It could be your arm. It's so large. We do a lot of it can just slice you.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: It's very, very, very dangerous.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: So. And that's another thing about having employees.
They need to understand that everything you do is a dance. You're all working together to move those slabs, even if it's two guys.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: But they also have. They kind of have a good focus.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, and they. They got to have trust in the tool that they can actually do their job.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: Focus.
[00:26:14] Speaker C: Totally.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: Because it's not. They're not. We talked about your tools, too. You, you know, you have these good tools. It's already stressful enough doing these things. A lot of people don't understand.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: No.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: What. What we do.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: And at the end of the night when we're saying, okay, wrap the tools up and you see, you're all. Your tools. Pull off the slabs and they all.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: And everything and they go.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: Your stress level just went down because it went in.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: That's what happened today. I had the same situation. I was like, okay, that's the tools.
[00:26:45] Speaker A: I'm good material. Yeah.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: That we already know. Like, one mistake with it, it's toast. But now it's in.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: See, there you go.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:53] Speaker A: So now you can be in a podcast. And no sweating. It's great.
As a business owner.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: So some people are all. Are so expensive.
Okay. You can't put a price on a person.
But how would you encourage people to look past the sort of bottom right hand corner with like, okay, the tool's four grand?
But I know if I get this tool, there's a lot of markers that's going to be taken away. CFD's going to be looked after, the job's going to get done, and the customer's going to be happy.
How, as a home or as a. As a business owner, would you encourage someone to think, just buy the tool and have peace of mind?
[00:27:40] Speaker B: Oh, that's what we were just talking about. I mean, it's absolute, like, stop messing around.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Just buy the tool. You guys gotta buy the tool.
Everything's gonna go. You're just gonna be so much more happy. Your job's gonna get done. You're not gonna have a break.
You won't have a break. I haven't had a break.
I. I mean, you. You get a break from something. Like when we're lifting a whole slab and it folds in a corner.
That's the way that goes yeah. You don't have a choice on that.
[00:28:08] Speaker A: No.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: But if you didn't have those on.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: You just thought it was an eight thousand dollar slot.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: I know. You've lost it.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Yeah, you lost it. That's one of those jobs where you're definitely going to go backwards.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: You're just eating it.
[00:28:18] Speaker A: You're eating.
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Walk away from it.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Nope.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: As a business.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: Because you've got to get it done.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:23] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's it. So don't even take that chance of owning it.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: Just own the tool.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: There you go. Yeah, there you are.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: Yeah, it's true.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: What I also try to encourage people like at trade shows is, yeah, they're expensive tools, but they're. They will last for ages. It's like you've got an AT1 card that Noah had on the ark. It looks like it's like so old, but it still lasts.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: And you know, we have.
[00:28:47] Speaker C: And it's beat the life out of that thing. That thing gets worked every single day.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: But it's what I tell guys, like amortize the cost into a couple of jobs and then it's paid for itself.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: That's exactly what you should do. That's exactly what you do. But that cart, man, I'm telling you, D, man, we 4x4 with that baby.
[00:29:07] Speaker C: Oh, man, that's so awesome.
Yep.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
So it's time for a new one.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: It is, it is. And we have new cards. So go on our website, check a bite.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: New card is awesome.
[00:29:18] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:29:19] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:29:19] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:29:20] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: Quick release.
[00:29:21] Speaker C: You're like, get her done.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: I'm so happy.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: So at Omni Cubed, we make tools to help people.
So we're saving bodies, we're saving time, reputation, all the rest.
Which of those are what becomes most important to a business owner? The further you get into being a business owner? Like when you're first there, it's like, let's make money.
Let's be honest, when we're first doing business, we got to pay the bills. If we want to grow, we got to make more money. And some things fall to the wayside.
What in your mind as a business owner is kind of top of mind most days.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: So what's on top of my mind?
Well, obviously we all still want to keep money coming.
[00:30:09] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: To be honest with you, top of my mind is making sure that I work for all my guys.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: Number my absolute number one thing. So I'm all about our little family taking care of everybody. Good. That's my number one thing. Let's get them work and make sure we get them work is we need to do all of our jobs properly. We need to do anything and everything. We can do those jobs properly and then go from there. That's. That's it.
[00:30:37] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: It's not all about making the money.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: No.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: I got to get the jobs to make the money.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Yep, totally. So you're right, being the SEALs guy.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we all are. That's what we advertise on the truck.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Oops. Oh, you're all right.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: Hey, bro, don't worry.
[00:30:52] Speaker A: He's just wrecking the place here. That's why you never. That's why you never do live events.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
And then quality of work is always, you know, as you get. As you're developing your company, your quality gets better. You have more ideas.
[00:31:05] Speaker C: You just get.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: Like I said, we're always learning.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: Y.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Like, oh, my God, did you see what we just did?
[00:31:09] Speaker A: We just got to grow.
[00:31:10] Speaker B: Oh, see?
[00:31:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: So, okay, so you've got your crew, you're out doing jobs.
How do you do it all? Like, because there's only so many hours in a day.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:25] Speaker A: At what point.
Because we don't want to burn ourselves out.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: So at what point do you turn around and say, you know what? Enough's enough.
I gotta get someone else in here to help me out or I'm gonna get burned out? Because a lot of. A lot of business owners. That's what. That's what I keep hearing. Burned out. You know, been there. Like, I. I've been there recently with health issues and stuff. Just burning the candle at both ends and you end up six days in the hospital.
[00:31:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: You know, what advice would you give to an. To another business owner in regards to past experience on, hey, don't burn yourself out. Yeah. You gotta provide, but you've also gotta take care of yourself to be able to keep that going.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's. That's a fine balance. That's a hard balance, you know, because a lot of business owners are.
A lot of business owners or people that I know that are in business, they. They have this high drive, man. They just want to go. They just want to go, and they want to work hard and they want to do a good job. And I think that's probably another thing about one of your first questions on how.
[00:32:36] Speaker A: From when you first started to now, tonight. What's.
[00:32:39] Speaker B: I. I've always worked hard. That's how I always read. But I am a very. I can balance it. I can do it. And that's all about just getting your peace time.
And it's not so much about still get the work. You know, just try not to overbook or at least finish your job completely
[00:32:57] Speaker A: and then move on to the next one.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Cuz you're chasing. If you keep chasing your tail, you're never getting stressed. You're going to make mistakes.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: And everybody that knows that gets busy understands that.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: They're all going to go, yeah, I did.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: I get that.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: I really struggled with that.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: And then you're not getting paid. Now you're working on cash flow. And then now you're back to, oh, I'm only doing this to make money.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: Totally. So that's the thing.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: So it's a big revolving door. So just kind of try to pace yourself and finish your job.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: But to finish your job, you need the good tools.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: You need the good help. Do what you can. You can't do you. Right.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: You can't do it all.
[00:33:30] Speaker B: We can't do all this.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: No, we can't.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: You need that people to come help you.
Personally, one of our things are, hey, are you. If you're tired, I mean, if we happen to work late, which we do,
[00:33:41] Speaker A: it's, it's normal construction. Oh, yeah.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: And working late. If somebody says, hey, man, I, I think I'm getting a little tired. Well, we all stop.
[00:33:49] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: No matter what we're doing.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:51] Speaker B: We all say, take a break, go. Okay, no, hold on. We're. We're pretty tired, dude.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: We'll go home. Yeah.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: You shut the job down because that's
[00:33:59] Speaker A: where your mistakes, that's where injuries, that's where things happen. Yep. Okay.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: So there you go. That's, that's what I think.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: So what do, what do you do? What would you do as a business owner for downtime?
What's your hobbies?
What's your personal interests?
[00:34:16] Speaker B: Well, I'm at a great age. My kids are grown, you know, still being part of all my kids and doing that. I'm starting to travel a little bit with my wife. This is my downtime.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Go home. And then I cook.
[00:34:30] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: I do a lot of cooking. So I put on my, my Dave Matthews.
[00:34:36] Speaker C: There you go, right here.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: And I cook and my wife have a glass of wine. It's great.
[00:34:44] Speaker A: Good, Great.
[00:34:45] Speaker B: Things are a little bit different as
[00:34:47] Speaker A: the kids get older.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: It really helps. So if you're on contractors, have a bunch of kids, don't worry.
[00:34:52] Speaker C: Because it gets better.
It gets better for sure. Yeah.
[00:34:56] Speaker A: And I think, I think it's important that we do have something that we enjoy because a lot of guys will just work till 9 o' clock at night, go to bed, get up the next morning and go.
Don't neglect your family.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: Yeah. I think when you first start.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: I think you don't have a choice. Yeah, I mean, you don't have a choice. You need to lay.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: Go, go, go and get her going.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: You're all in at that point. Especially if you're going to be a sole provider and all that. It's, you know. What's the cool thing, though, what you need to think about is how can I make this easier? How can I make my company better?
[00:35:32] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: Right. And then like we were talking about earlier, how can I make it to where I'm not having to do all this stuff? What's the trick? How do we do that? So you totally bringing in proper guys, getting your help, and then if you find the right guys, you can start releasing more.
[00:35:46] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:47] Speaker A: Yeah. It's important. Very important.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: As kids growing up, that just means you're getting older.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: Yeah. It doesn't mean you're getting older. And it's like, oh, shoot, it doesn't
[00:35:54] Speaker C: work like how it used to.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: For any younger guys that are listening, we're talking there, like, things get better. But if you could give them one piece of advice, like early on, an older guy mentoring a younger guy, what would you tell them?
[00:36:09] Speaker B: Well, that's a toughie. That's a toughie.
I think I was based off on the grind. I was like, let's go. I had support. My family supported me and I mean, I had little. No, no, some tile.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:24] Speaker B: Shirts for all my kids, you know,
[00:36:25] Speaker C: like, yeah, let's go. Let's get out. Yeah, let's go.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: So, I mean, everything like that helps. But you got to make your name. You got to be true to your word. You got to finish those jobs.
[00:36:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: You just gotta be true to your word. Yeah. You're a handshake guy, you know, or if you're a contract guy, it doesn't matter, you know, you still got to do your job.
[00:36:43] Speaker A: Gotta do your piece.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: Yeah, you gotta do. We've been on a lot of jobs where we've seen contracts, contractors that do a job. I get called a lot. Hey, we got a problem. I need you. What do you feel about this? Yeah, I never badmouth the contractor or I have to go fix something.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:58] Speaker B: I just do with the home what they want.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: What they want.
[00:37:01] Speaker B: Fix it. I don't need to Talk about the contractor. No, let's just do it. But that's just the contractor that. That maybe we're talking about, like, don't be that guy that does that.
[00:37:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: Like, be the guy who, like, says, hey, I'm gonna fix this.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: Yeah. I'll take care of it.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: And they will.
[00:37:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: And good companies, they do fix it, or they network and they have other people come in.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Come in to help them out.
[00:37:20] Speaker C: Huge.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Totally huge.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: That's what I want to say to a new contractor.
Everybody's your competitor, but really there's. If you have 10 competitors, five of
[00:37:33] Speaker A: them are actually willing to help you out.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Yes. Don't be afraid. And that's another thing I've learned through growing. Growing through. I met a lot of tile guys, a lot of granite guys. If I was too busy, I would call. Call them, say, hey, can you help me?
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:46] Speaker B: And they would say, yes, I'll send one of my. My employees. Or they would come help me personally.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: So you need.
You need that network.
[00:37:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: Be nice to everybody.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:56] Speaker B: Be nice.
[00:37:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Get.
Get rid of the whole pride thing where it's all about me. It's not because we need each other.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: It's not because as soon as you get in over your head.
[00:38:06] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: Guess. What about you?
[00:38:09] Speaker A: You're a beat.
[00:38:10] Speaker C: Yeah. You're toast. Yeah.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: You're totally toast.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Some help, man. Get some help. Be friends with people. Shake them.
Yeah.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Big time.
[00:38:17] Speaker B: Huge help.
[00:38:18] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: Huge, huge, huge help. I have multiple. Multiple people that help me.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: See, that's so important. That's.
[00:38:23] Speaker B: And that's why I called you.
[00:38:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: And you were great. And if I ever have a problem.
Oh, yeah, you guys, I got a problem.
[00:38:30] Speaker A: Hey.
[00:38:31] Speaker C: Hey.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: What do you think?
[00:38:32] Speaker C: What have you got this time for me? What do I need?
[00:38:34] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:38:35] Speaker B: That's what people should do. That's what the whole industry should do. And make the industry better. I know, because everybody's still learning.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: And we have that problem. And. And you have all these new people coming into the industry, and they can't get help from everybody.
[00:38:47] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: Figure it out then. We're not.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: We're not going to grow it. We're not.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: Who's going to be building?
[00:38:52] Speaker A: We're not going to do it.
[00:38:53] Speaker B: Especially with all this stuff going in. That's dangerous. And all this.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: Big time.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So we need to all communicate.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: It's communication.
[00:39:00] Speaker B: This is a great show that you're doing this.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: Yeah. It's back. Back to communication and back to. There's an. I think people are afraid that there's not going to be enough for them.
There's enough out there for everybody to make a living, to make a good living.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: There's.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: Don't be afraid.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: Totally.
[00:39:17] Speaker A: There's enough out there.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: I give jobs to someone.
[00:39:20] Speaker C: There you go. There you go.
[00:39:22] Speaker A: Hey, bro, I've got enough right now.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: I've already talked to my contractor.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: He's good.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: This is the dude they're going to be calling you. Can you take care of this for me?
[00:39:30] Speaker A: That's the way it should be.
[00:39:31] Speaker B: Like, sure.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: That's the way it should be. Scratch each other's backs.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Sometimes where I need to be at, like, hey, I need to be at this. And then they're like, okay, we'll take care of that.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: It's fine.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: Yeah, doesn't matter.
[00:39:41] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:39:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: Good man.
[00:39:43] Speaker C: Good man.
[00:39:44] Speaker B: Way to. To keep.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: Keep everything going in the right direction. You've got to. You have to.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: You have these big, real large companies that just take.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: Monopolize everything.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: Everything they want. They go, these builders, and they just take everything, take everything.
That's all that I think needs to stop. And I think it just needs to be like, hey, oh, wait, hold on. This guy can have this little portion, too. It's okay.
[00:40:07] Speaker A: That's fine.
[00:40:08] Speaker B: Because. Because he's feeding. Yeah, he's feeding like, 17 people.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:11] Speaker B: So.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: Yeah, why not give it to him?
[00:40:13] Speaker B: Yeah. So.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: And sometimes what. What we've. What I've seen is those big companies, the quality.
[00:40:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: Deteriorates. It is tough because they don't care about. I don't care about Joe Blow because they're.
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Or they don't know.
[00:40:25] Speaker A: They don't know exactly.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: They're not trades.
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Tradesmen that are skilled that.
[00:40:30] Speaker B: That are up there. So maybe some of them are.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Okay. Wrapping everything up. It's 2026.
Yeah, it is 2026.
We're getting older.
Everything's starting to hurt a little bit more.
Okay. 20 years from now, what do you want people to know your company as?
What's your vision for the future?
And what legacy do you want to leave behind?
[00:40:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, Legacy's the. The company, right?
[00:41:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:02] Speaker B: Legacy is a company.
Integrity. The name. You know, this. These are people we can rely on.
One of my things is when I talk to people, I tell them, you know, this is a fair price. You know, we talk to them. Yeah, I'm gonna see them.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:17] Speaker B: See you at Home Depot, totally.
[00:41:19] Speaker C: Or.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: Or at Trader Joe's or wherever you go. You're going to see them. On the streets, mainland.
[00:41:23] Speaker B: If I'm in San Diego, I'm telling you, if I'm in. If on Washington.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:29] Speaker B: I'm seeing those people. I don't know why.
[00:41:31] Speaker A: I don't know how, but they show up.
[00:41:32] Speaker B: They do. They show up and all that. So that is great. That's a great lead for, you know, later in life.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: You know, these people are remembering.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: You installed my kitchen 15 years ago, and it's still green.
[00:41:44] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: That's what you want to hear.
[00:41:45] Speaker B: If they remember you, then they remember their company and all of that. So. And then if you could pass that on, I know better. That's what I'm working on, which would be great.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: What was the beginning part of that question, bud?
[00:41:57] Speaker A: When people talk, like, 20 years from now, what do you want people to remember the company by?
[00:42:04] Speaker B: Oh, just. Yeah. Hardworking, good people. Can't shake people.
[00:42:07] Speaker C: Good.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: You know, I. We're going to be there, you know, sometimes some. We do get a little busy. I know people understand. And as long as you communicate and talk to them and then you'll be okay. You can't. Sometimes it slips.
[00:42:18] Speaker A: You just don't know.
[00:42:19] Speaker B: Do your best.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:42:21] Speaker B: Do your best.
That's pretty much it. I just want people to remember God, they did a really good job.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: And I wanted this, and he took care of that. Like, his company took care of that.
[00:42:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:32] Speaker B: So. And that's what, like, all my employees are learning, too. They're like, oh, no, we're going to take care of it. You know, great guys. I know they're great.
And so I'll send them into homeowners. And they know. They already know. Like, you know what? I'm just going to take care of that.
[00:42:46] Speaker A: This is going to be done.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: It's okay.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: It's going to be done.
[00:42:48] Speaker C: Right.
[00:42:49] Speaker B: And they should. And they should know that. And people need to feel comfortable. This is what I want. I want, like, hey, call Chad.
He's going to take care. You don't need to worry about it. It's okay. He's, you know, all of his guys are good guys. They're not, you know, just. They're just not hiring people to hire people.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: They're going to pay attention to all
[00:43:06] Speaker B: the details and you. So maybe that's all I really want. And if I can help support my family and help support their families and then have my kid or something. Want to take it over.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:18] Speaker B: They're not going to want to take over a company if it's not a good company.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: So if they take over a company, that'd be great. That would be a great legacy for me as well. To look back and go, yeah, wow,
[00:43:29] Speaker A: look what I was able to pass on.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So we've been what, 21 years. 21 years in business. And let's say I hang them up a little. That's whatever. Let's just say, you know, and the business goes for another 25, 30 years. Now you got a 50 year old company.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: Then maybe, maybe even more. Maybe their kids or one of my,
[00:43:50] Speaker A: you know, somebody grandkids who knows in the ways to come.
[00:43:53] Speaker B: Now that is a great legacy as a business owner. That has pride.
[00:43:56] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: If you're going to run a business and you're going to have pride and all that integrity, you're going to want that.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: If you're just opening a business to run a business to make that money, then your legacy doesn't matter because at the end you're just looking to sell.
[00:44:09] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, Absolutely.
[00:44:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: That's awesome.
That's so cool.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: You know what? It was hard. It is hard work.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:44:18] Speaker B: And it was hard and it still is hard, but yeah. So, so hard. Just getting through the grind and getting up into where you need to be. Yeah. And becoming established and nothing was given.
[00:44:28] Speaker A: No.
[00:44:29] Speaker B: I ever want to let that go.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: You got to earn. Let that go.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: You earn that. And so, yeah, it'd be really good to, to pass it down to someone.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: Yeah. What's been really, what I've noticed when I've went on installs with you is your son's there.
And it's absolutely awesome to see a father and a son work together.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a good.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: That actually get along.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: That you can tell your like you've tr. I see the hands on training you're giving.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: But to see the delight in his face like when the job's done and when it's installed is like pretty darn special.
[00:45:05] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a good thing. He's gonna be a good business owner. He'll be good for every homeowner, every contractor. He's got a great soul. And you see it.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: And then talking about, you know, when to let go, you know, he did take it. He took initiative during fab and he said, you know what, you're done. Go. Yeah, I'm going to take over the fab.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: See, there you go.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: There you go. So this is great.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: So that's awesome.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: It's good to see.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So if you're so like to the young people out there, take initiative. Don't always wait to be told, just go do it. And you'll probably mess up. You'll make mistakes. Learn from it, grow from it. That's the most important part.
[00:45:49] Speaker B: We have a new guy in right now and right now it's all about safety.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: I said, look, I know you, I know you're an eager guy, you want to do some stuff, but unfortunately I'm not going to let you do anything until I know you're safety conscious.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:02] Speaker B: So all the other guys are watching him as he works while they're working to make sure.
And then if that all works out, those first steps work out, then we're going to go ahead and let him go.
[00:46:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: Like now. Go ahead.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: Now you can do your next part.
Go to learn and grow.
Yeah. Awesome.
[00:46:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:19] Speaker A: Sweet, man.
[00:46:20] Speaker C: That's so cool.
[00:46:21] Speaker A: This is such a good one. This is awesome. Well, thank you for coming on.
[00:46:26] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: It's so nice to have a person this way because normally I'm just looking into a tiny little screen and it's
[00:46:31] Speaker C: like they're up here in the corner. It's awesome to have an in person version.
[00:46:35] Speaker B: This is great.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: So, yeah, you do phenomenal work. Thank you. Not to make your head any bigger
[00:46:39] Speaker C: than it is, but you really. It is, it is.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: You know, we have a small door.
[00:46:44] Speaker C: No, I'm just kidding.
[00:46:45] Speaker A: You do really good work. Keep it up. And I, I, as a father who is looking at his son, I actually kind of emulate you a little bit. In regards to what can I teach my son, to bring him up, to maybe do the same things I do?
Who knows? Or not.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: No, that's for sure.
[00:47:03] Speaker A: But I always, like, anytime you talk about your son, it's always positive, it's encouraging.
And I think as parents, we need to do that more.
They need to be told sometimes what's right and what's wrong. But there's also give that a shot of adrenaline. Give that encouragement. Hey, you're doing a good job. Keep it up. Because that puts wind in their sails.
[00:47:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: I had one of my employees, oh, man. Probably 14 years ago, and great guy.
One of the first workers I know.
[00:47:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:35] Speaker B: And I was just talking, you know, that's the thing about. You talk.
[00:47:38] Speaker A: Yeah, you talk.
[00:47:39] Speaker B: And he says, you know, what do you do? He goes, what do you do at Christmas?
[00:47:44] Speaker A: I go, whatever.
[00:47:46] Speaker B: What do you do at your birthday? Or whatever? I don't know. He goes, you get it for. You get a present.
[00:47:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:50] Speaker B: I'm like, yeah, Oh, I guess. Yeah. We get a present. He goes, what do you do with the present?
I go, I open it. Yeah, exactly. And he didn't say one more word.
[00:47:59] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:47:59] Speaker B: Said do that with your kids.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's good. I took that.
[00:48:03] Speaker A: Dude, that's awesome.
[00:48:05] Speaker B: That you got. You got to see what's inside.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: You do. You have to see what's inside.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: That's really.
[00:48:09] Speaker C: There you go. Wow. What a. What a great way to end the show.
[00:48:13] Speaker B: Yeah, but you. I mean, you can do that, too, with your business. You can do that with anything. It's a really good thing to think about.
[00:48:18] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:48:19] Speaker B: With your employees.
[00:48:21] Speaker A: Do it.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: I kind of see what you got.
[00:48:22] Speaker A: Yeah, flourish. Yeah, flourish. Let's see what's behind. Cause a lot of people will hide behind a mask. They'll do what they're told, and then they'll stop. But a lot of people, especially in this industry, you need creativity, and you need to be able to go outside the box sometimes.
[00:48:39] Speaker B: So in imagination. So we're struggling with imagination.
With new hires, we really want imagination, and we need that. So, I mean, I think we could do Legos. Give them all Legos.
[00:48:51] Speaker C: There you go. Build it up. What can you build up?
[00:48:53] Speaker B: So imagination with this youth coming up.
[00:48:55] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:48:56] Speaker B: Great.
[00:48:57] Speaker A: That's so cool.
[00:48:58] Speaker B: You got to figure out how to fix that. How am I going to fix that?
[00:49:00] Speaker C: How am I going to actually get in there and get it done?
[00:49:03] Speaker A: Big time. Call Merv. Call Mom.
[00:49:05] Speaker B: I do. I do.
[00:49:07] Speaker C: Totally. It's all good. It's all good. Hey.
[00:49:10] Speaker A: Well, that's a wrap for the Cutting Edge install podcast brought to you by Omni Cubed. These go out every other Thursday, 8aM Pacific State time. If you want to learn more about Omnicubed, go on our website. We just launched some new carts.
Go check them out. All our other tools and regardings to tile, stone and glass. And until the next time I see you all, cheerio, all, stay safe. God bless.
