Season 3 Episode 8 with Justin Daulman

Season 3 Episode 8-

For this week's episode our guest is none other than our Foreman Justin Daulman. 

He oversees the MVP Renovations side of the business. He has plenty of experience in the building trades and the ability to learn things he needs to in order to complete a high quality project.

He talks about his early adulthood from ROTC in high school and through college. He mentions the freedom to make his decisions regarding life after high school and not being pressured to go to college.

He discusses how he oversees his team of workers and their unique dynamic on the job.

Also stay informed and look forward to Jerry's jewels. These will be on the job videos discussing topics that are relevant to homeowners needs and experiences of owning a home.
 
See you all next week!

Transcript

0:01
foreign [Music] welcome back to this week's uh MVP real
0:07
estate podcast we're calling this one the leadership conference I'm gonna self-proclaim that one because we've got
0:14
uh Dan co-host helping on MVP rentals and then we got our foreman here for MVP
0:22
Renovations Justin Jerry Dalman
0:27
uh people get confused his real name is Justin but forever call him Jerry just
0:33
because so welcome to the show Jer es bike here how's it going Friday morning
0:39
wait what's going on season what episode is this I don't remember season three episode eight oh that's right my bad
0:45
thanks for reminding me the one and only time I'll remind you
0:51
Jerry how's it going thanks for filling in today good yeah finally we've been
0:56
talking about getting this show going for months now and it's finally here so I'm excited about that one yes and at
1:03
work timing wise worked out pretty well so I know it's great
1:09
um but yeah for everybody listening uh these are the two guys like the brains behind the operation on whatever brand
1:15
you're talking about um Jerry came from like a long history
1:22
of building uh but kind of give us uh a two minute or like a minute kind of
1:28
summary of where Jerry came from maybe like the educational background your
1:34
first job and then what progressed you to join in with MVP renovations
1:40
yeah so kind of for a short I want to basically grew up in Cedarburg uh went
1:46
to Cedarburg High School uh my first job this has nothing to do with building was
1:52
a sanitation delivery driver so I pumped out porta potties at county fairs and
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delivered porta potties all over Southwestern Wisconsin so uh that was my
2:05
first job but leading in After High School I went to UW Oshkosh got my
2:10
degree in criminal justice and Military leadership I did ROTC through college
2:16
and thought I was going to go military and then also uh thought I was going to
2:22
be a police officer and at the end of college kind of had a little change in heart saw my dad's practical skills he
2:30
was a carpenter for 15 years um and kind of figured out that hey there
2:36
is you know another total trajectory that I didn't even consider which was building so I kind of
2:44
went backwards through the normal building realm for lack of a better term
2:49
I I started by doing uh custom furniture and Cabinetry in like a
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one-off uh like Cabinetry shop we did a lot of tables kitchen cabinets built-ins accent walls
3:04
mantels all sorts of stuff like that and uh from there I went on and uh
3:11
joined into residential framing just strictly stick framing so built for a
3:17
pretty large company in Southwestern Wisconsin and did that for about four and a half years and
3:24
got to the point where the winners started to catch up to me a little bit and I started getting a little bit older
3:29
and that job was you know it's not a young man's game I can't say that
3:34
because a lot of the most metal dudes I've ever worked with were older than me but it it started uh started to take a
3:42
toll a little bit so once uh once I kind of was over with that Marcus appeared out of nowhere in
3:50
like divine intervention of realizing that I wanted to be done with Framing and uh
3:57
yeah and basically you kind of gave me a little synopsis of the company you do it
4:03
like what you guys do at breakfast and slowly started reeling me in yeah
4:10
I just had to do the breakfast hungover so you're you're a little bit lower in
4:16
your brain power and that could convince you that this is the answer but
4:21
um yeah it was one day at brunch and it was a mutual friend we got together and then all of a sudden it was like
4:28
oh you're in building I didn't actually know you were a carpenter at the time yeah so when we went to lunch it was
4:34
super cool I think you were still on crutches yeah or were you off of crutches at that
4:39
I was just off the crutches just off of crutches uh framing nail accident yeah
4:46
um but that's how we got the ball rolling of like okay you're a builder I'm in building
4:51
um and I'm sitting at this brunch like okay I just got into this like I just started
4:57
the company we've done a couple flips but I'm still learning and I'm talking to you who has years of experience on me
5:04
and I'm like man this guy's got the energy like he's he's funny yet your
5:10
military background comes out because you're discipline and I was like this is the guy that I couldn't like set free he
5:17
can just go on the job site and get everything done better than I can do it like he's a key person yeah and luckily
5:24
the timing worked out where you were kind of on your on your way out or thinking about your way out
5:29
um so I was happy with how it turned out and it was it was a small and for the record too just for anybody listen I was
5:37
never in the military never signed I just did ROTC through
5:42
college thought that that was going to be my path but uh the the small world about this whole thing though is after
5:48
we had this conversation I was literally building a house probably 10 houses down
5:55
from Marcus's house this entire time I would park on Marcus's road before I even knew Marcus
6:02
I would park on his road and see his house every day going through the renovations and stuff like that and had
6:09
obviously no idea that that was going to be my future boss so it was kind of
6:15
funny how that all came full circle because once I started we finished up building at that house then we would
6:21
slowly you know start oh I'm gonna go to Marcus's for a drink and talk about work
6:27
and yeah it turned out it worked out pretty freaking good that's for sure yeah I mean I'm still enjoying it uh and
6:35
I know that one of the things that you want to do obviously being a framing crew you guys work with a lot of systems
6:42
and I mean that's what you guys are good at is you have numbers meaning like Manpower injured systems are refined
6:48
everybody knows what they're doing you could pump through houses quickly and what I what I kind of Illustrated to
6:54
Jerry before he jumped on was uh like I I was able to take a football
7:00
and go in the backyard and throw it around with a couple guys but we didn't have systems in place we didn't have
7:06
like best practices on when we do this application this is how we do it then
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Jerry came and was like all right I'm gonna take all my background and pick up where you left off and make it way way
7:18
better um like our our warehousing has come better our tools have upgraded our
7:24
storage is upgraded we're getting quicker on jobs like everything is getting better
7:29
we just need more heads in the in the leadership area so man it's been amazing it's been a wild
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ride since you started oh man yeah because the first day was like all right I know you've done framing for six years
7:42
but we're mudding today and you're like okay well mud sounds good but I'm a firm I'm a firm believer
7:50
and if you don't if you even if you don't fully like you know mudding for
7:55
instance I came from the carpentry background that wasn't a comfortable spot for me but you can do enough research to
8:02
know what boxes you need to check throughout the building process to basically be able to do anything like I
8:08
I used to be terrified of side work and then once we built Menomonee Falls you
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know that was I've built probably on the upside of 70 houses but that was
8:20
my first house on my own and that one was like oh wow like all this critical thinking is finally coming into one
8:27
thing and it was crazy how much stuff I'd never insulated an entire house but you watched you can watch enough
8:34
informational videos figure out that it's actually pretty easy it's not fun but it's easy yep and uh we were just I
8:42
I bought miles my son a uh crunch Labs if you haven't looked into it yet
8:47
parents if you got young kids this crunch lab it's a guy who was working for NASA and then stopped and just made
8:54
this big toy factory and all he does is make interactive toys for kids and then
9:00
he'll send you a box that you build and you put this video up on the TV and it's
9:05
him building it with you but then he explains the principles behind the toy and how it works so we were building
9:12
this frisbee launcher and it comes with like the battery that you have to hook in and then tape to the bottom of the
9:18
board put all these other pieces on and the one thing that he said in the beginning was like it's more important
9:24
to learn the principles than what you're actually doing and just like with Jerry with all of your background you've
9:30
learned so many principles that you're like okay as long as I can get back to the basics I can figure out the next
9:37
step and that's kind of What's led you to evolve into all the other things we do because we've done what now
9:43
Landscaping insulation money I mean everything I I don't I don't think
9:50
they're yet has been something that we necessarily haven't done report a
9:56
driveway just because like why not let's see what we can do that's one that constantly I forget about that was
10:03
probably one of the most mental days of just like wow well we're doing flat work let's go
10:09
yeah make it work though yeah and so as you're you're growing up so
10:16
I'm going to take you out of the company let's just find out Jerry's background like were you as a kid were you a person
10:23
that would always try to like mess with things not in like I'm gonna break it but like tinkering I was always a
10:30
tinkering kid I'd pick up something I'd like take it apart and see if I could put it back together so one one big
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credit I can give uh to my parents both of them and my dad uh
10:43
when I was a kid his big thing like if an alarm clock burned out or something
10:49
like that he'd sit me at the kitchen table and I was you know anywhere between five uh I did this probably well until I
10:57
was 13 years old if something if his broke that he knew was rendered useless it couldn't be
11:03
fixed um he would let me dismantle it and see how it worked on the inside so I
11:09
specifically remember taking apart alarm clocks and Dad explaining to me like you
11:14
know kind of the basic process of this is plugged into the wall this is where the
11:20
power comes in this is what lights the screen and if if he were sitting here
11:25
today he'd tell you uh he gave me one of their old family cameras uh that broke
11:33
down whatever and he's like take it apart and I pry the housing apart and I'm
11:39
looking at the inside of this camera and it looks like two double a batteries with two wires coming out of them well
11:45
it was the The Flash capacitor it's where all the power stored for the Flash and I had a pair of uninsulated snips
11:53
that he gave me and my dad well in his iteration of this story is hilarious
11:59
because I was like six and he gives me the camera he goes and sits on his recliner is watching TV and all he just
12:07
heard was this like like this like electrical sound and he said I walked
12:12
into the living room with my hands straight out because I had never been shocked before in my life walked in like
12:18
a zombie and was like why did you scare me so bad why did you scare me so bad I had no idea what happened
12:25
but like that just that kind of stuff like even that
12:30
at a very early age I realized not to cut wires because I got like Full Tilt
12:36
Zapped by that and it scared me as a kid but most of it was you know my dad they
12:42
were they were constantly showing me stuff you know my dad is a kid as much as it
12:48
might have got under my skin you know if I was playing video games he wouldn't like he'd make me come out
12:55
during keynote points of what he's doing oil for I probably knew how to do a full
13:00
oil change on a car when I was 10 because I had watched him do it hundreds of times he did all the maintenance on
13:06
the vehicles himself and all that stuff didn't start to coalesce
13:12
until I was a little bit older I didn't appreciate it as much I think because in high school it was so driven into my
13:18
head that you couldn't be successful without college and you know there was no emphasis on the
13:26
trades and stuff like that but you know my parents just were like you choose your route we'll support you but my dad
13:33
definitely was dropping in like hey look at how functional a set of skills like
13:39
this can be so that's where a lot of it came from and you bring up your dad I mean weekly on
13:47
the job site about some little nugget of knowledge he dropped on you or no or like directly within building like he's
13:53
taught you how to do X Y or Z yeah and you know his his quote was Justin make
13:59
yourself as marketable as possible he says you are a walking resume he goes you know yes things on paper look good
14:06
but you can also have Real World skills not that stuff that's on paper per se
14:13
aren't real world skills but saying that like you know yes you can
14:18
have a degree in criminal justice but you can also know how to hang a door right and stuff like that like practical
14:25
you know around the house stuff that he had to do he learned like so yeah I'm
14:32
wondering if that is just an era mindset or if the kids nowadays are going to
14:38
grow into that because I fear like that's not a concept in people's heads like oh I'm an accountant I don't know
14:43
how to paint it's like you painted the third grade art class yeah figure out how to paint
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it's just painting what's up pancake this pancake sorry he's he didn't get an
14:54
invite to the meeting um but that thought of like okay I'm I'm
14:59
an accountant I can't do gardening or I can I can't figure out how to change a light
15:05
like the amount of knowledge that's out there on YouTube if you're an accountant you can figure that out yes it might be
15:12
difficult yes you might struggle a little bit but you can figure it out and really the biggest separator is just
15:17
access to the basic tools if you sit buy yourself a basic set of tools you can do
15:23
a lot of stuff yeah like DeWalt yeah baby until I die
15:30
we have an ongoing battle because the company is more Milwaukee tool but Jerry
15:35
will not give up the DeWalt tools you know it's the best cordless framing saw
15:41
on the market if anybody wants to challenge me on that let's go rip some boards
15:47
I'm not challenging with tools I take tool recommendations from you all the time
15:53
um so with with your background obviously you worked your way up through
15:58
the trades field uh being in like a basic labor position to now being a
16:05
person in management and I would say management within
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construction is a little bit different than like a full out office setting HR
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run kind of facility so what have you taken from your past
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either your past managers or foremans and tried to implement here because just
16:28
to give the audience a full like scope Jerry gets pretty much full autonomy to
16:34
run the crew with how he wants to so when I come on site I'm one of his laborers because it's really weird
16:41
because when I come on site I'm actually behind the eight ball like Jerry knows
16:47
what's going on I have to come in and be like hey where did we leave off where is this I don't know so what have you taken
16:52
from your past to now run and move your crew to the right position because
16:58
you've got keeping up with plans that we have keeping them on on task and finishing
17:04
your own stuff so it's a tall order yeah I I think the
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big there's really big three points for me um you know the first one is is I I want
17:17
the guys that work with me um
17:24
to basically manage themselves in a sense of like you are responsible for
17:29
the work you do you know if you turn out and some
17:36
subpar work that's not my fault part of my fault would be you know I have to
17:42
teach you properly I have to teach you the methods and my big Mantra is that everybody does it the same way
17:50
I am a hundred percent open if there's a faster better way to do something but as of now like you were talking the process
17:57
that I've I've implemented has come from years of seeing other people's processes
18:03
and basically trimming fat in certain spots figuring out what works for me what's going to work for the guys that
18:09
don't have experience and that's the big one is just as as I tell the guys and
18:15
you've heard of Marcus is uh craftsmanship should remain constant craftsmanship you should always have a
18:24
deadpan Plateau level of your bare minimum craftsmanship should always be
18:29
proud no matter what you're doing of what you're turning out because you're putting your name on it that's what that
18:35
is what you are representing is your work
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and speed comes with time and in that bell curve kind of is
18:47
the second point which I pulled from other management that I didn't
18:52
necessarily know was why they might be a little bit more
18:58
I don't know what the word is uh nervous on job site was made cautious people
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didn't get hurt that I that came Whirlwind at Menomonee
19:10
Falls because if anybody has used a framing gun um you know it's a it's an air powered
19:17
pneumatic framing nailer and it shoots a three and a quarter inch 18 gauge nail
19:23
and very fast yeah it's I mean I shot one into my five
19:29
my second week of Framing and had to have full surgery to get it removed it hangs on my Christmas tree but that
19:36
safety removed on that one no no they had both safeties trigger and pressure safety oh no we we everybody removes the
19:44
single fire shot well if most is listening that's not a thing here at MVP we don't do that
19:51
none of OSHA's listening true well no
19:56
because then they they send you the double they send you the bump fire trigger in the box like it's not like
20:04
we're manufacturing some sketchy trigger for the framing guns
20:10
hold on I just got an email from OSHA let me check see what this is a wanted yeah it's my face and a wanted
20:18
letter but um that
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that whole thing though is like basically when people are using those tools
20:29
they are also accountable for their safety you know and that's the thing I
20:35
just try to day in and day out and even if it's telling them stories that are pretty gruesome of injuries
20:42
I've seen that scares people out it gives them a whole different respect for
20:47
the tools they're using so um that was a big one is I realized why my
20:53
foremans were always pressing safety because in this line of work it is very easy to get seriously injured and or
21:01
killed and you know we take safety extremely seriously on the job site and
21:08
all the guys are very aware and you know that was a big one for me was the framing guns with the guys because a lot
21:13
of the guys hadn't used them you know two of the guys are Hunters so you know they have basic Firearms knowledge and
21:21
finger off the trigger and all that stuff but um and then really really the third one
21:27
was to I project my mood projects on how this
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site is going to be so really trying to leave stuff at the door trying to Harbor a really good work
21:39
environment for the guys it's a lot of fun there's always music going that was
21:45
a big thing I I've worked with people in the past that just yelled a yell because they can and
21:52
that doesn't that to me that doesn't invoke hard work that just that just starts to invoke you you know resenting
22:00
this person because they can never realize when you're doing good like you know being very supportive and stuff to
22:08
the guys is a big thing because like I said speed comes with time and they're right now starting to hold this
22:14
craftsmanship levels so you're you're like exactly what you're saying is
22:21
how I'm like pivoting my coaching uh a coach club soccer and
22:28
exactly what you said as far as like I'm not saying my dad was tough but it
22:34
was just like do this because I said so dude this is this is the right way this is why you should do this blah blah blah
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it led me to grow up being a questioning stuff like not in a
22:48
negative sense but just like hey why are why do we do this this way why so then when you just said like it just it
22:55
resonated really well because I think you can get more out of people or more
23:01
production out of people like with the compliments or the
23:06
encouragement or hey nice job on that can we try to do this next time yeah we
23:11
try this instead or so it's like instead of saying no that's wrong what is wrong with you blah blah blah yeah so like it
23:18
I'm going through some those coaches courses and like obviously the in the
23:24
leadership role you have to have those type of qualities too and then obviously
23:29
servant leadership is something big too like you're there for them yep no other
23:34
reason you obviously want them to be better than than you are and play soccer on any
23:42
organized level since seventh or 8th seventh or eight years old but here I am
23:48
coaching it and it's only because you know my oldest daughter who's 21 and then now my nine-year-old uh enjoyed the
23:54
game and it obviously has to have me learn some stuff to be able to coach
23:59
them in the teammates but yeah yeah sorry little tan know that leadership that leadership and coaching that
24:04
leadership on the job site parallel super well because the first thing I told Jerry is like I don't want to look
24:10
for people that have been in the field for 10 years 20 years like those may not be our guys
24:16
I want energy like I want the person to want to work like they have they can't
24:22
just be a roofer just be a cider or just be a carpenter because with our
24:28
management side like we're gonna have sinks going down and you're gonna have to step in and replace the sink and if
24:33
you don't mentally want to replace the sink or to learn how to even do that this is not going to be a good fit not
24:40
saying you aren't good at your craft yeah like you might be an amazing Carpenter better than anybody we have on
24:46
the crew but if you're not willing to learn other things and expand your knowledge pool
24:53
you don't have to be an expert at carpet yeah but like if we have one room that needs to replace carpet I don't want to
25:00
have to go wait for a sub to come in just for a place one little piece like if we know the basics of flooring we can
25:07
do carpet and we've worked on seams we've gotten better we're not a carpet company if someone called for a quote
25:13
for us to install their carpet I would pass them on to our sub that we use no because he's just better yeah well
25:20
that's what he does day in and day out you know what I mean that that whole thing though of
25:27
me projecting my mood onto the guys you know that's that's probably the single
25:34
most important thing for me is to have a sustainable work environment like they
25:41
and and you know I I don't want this to sound egotistical but you know I know the guys respect me
25:47
at a level because I treat them like adults they're not these servants that
25:53
run around you know to your point Dan I I've even in the beginning the the hard
25:59
thing for me was and I've stressed it to you Marcus is you know there are days where I'm like what did I get done today
26:05
you know I walked around with everybody else and helped them on their projects and you a couple times had to bring me
26:13
back down and were like you did your job like yeah that's you you did that where
26:18
you're basically honing four other guys to work at your level so you trained
26:25
today you know and then in the back of my head because of just how I'm wired and from the past four and a half years
26:31
of framing you know if you didn't stop if you stopped moving while you were framing you were getting yelled at
26:36
somebody was on you like it if you weren't staying busy
26:42
somebody was on you and you know what that
26:48
I think to a degree work ethic is is kind of you have it or you don't but
26:55
that taught me my work Pace I don't think my pace of work will ever change from that because
27:01
it was like classic conditioning basically I knew if I stopped moving I
27:06
was going to get yelled at and you know there were other guys that I worked with that just yelled yell and
27:12
I view that as as a tool I think I've yelled twice three times
27:19
maybe in the two and a half years we've been with you and you know that's
27:25
when it's effective because it's it's for somebody's safety or it's you know what I mean yeah it's not just the small
27:32
stuff and that's the big thing for me is that it's just I I remember I could tell how my day was
27:41
gonna go by the way my forming got out of his truck oh
27:47
like the attitude with which he put his hard hat on dictated dictated how my day
27:53
was gonna go and that was wild to me is because I was like how is this guy having a bad day going
27:59
to affect me because now I'm afraid to ask him questions so what am I'm not working at
28:05
my fullest potential like that that is so backwards on how
28:11
things should be worked I never want anybody to be afraid to be like hey Jerry can you spare not spare like it's
28:19
not like this I have this bag of time that I get to a lot to the guys like hey
28:26
can you come answer this question or look at it for me and you know the guys have gotten so much better and where
28:31
they're at now is I'll tell them is I trust your judgment when you're done let
28:36
me know and we'll we'll talk it over yeah like go you know I trust you I
28:43
trust when you're doing trim work if you come to a weird spot think about what you would put in your house that you'd
28:48
want to see every day and that also builds their confidence their problem
28:56
solving and it makes them feel more independent during the working process which makes my job easier yeah and
29:03
that's the biggest part and that's that's something I told you from like day one when we were building like when
29:09
we were doing our flips before you jumped on board and people came to me asking questions one like I'm in the
29:16
beginning of this too so I'm not gonna fake confidence like I know the answer so if
29:21
you come up on a problem and they're like hey can you come over I want to know what you want to do here the first thing when I go up there is like okay
29:28
what are our options like what do you see what are three options and they lay
29:33
out the three options I'm like okay which in your head which one is your top one and why and then they'd walk through and
29:40
they're like okay well I was gonna do this because that leads to this and then I would I don't know I would say like
29:45
okay well if you put that casing on what does it do for this this part yeah or if
29:50
you if you overlap there what would the reveal be or what would the finished product be and then you'd run into the
29:56
issue there so you got to back up but I'm not giving them an answer I'm having them think out the next steps and then
30:03
they'd be like okay well I'm gonna do it this way perfect yeah
30:10
it basically is but I wanted to teach them that like you know the answers there's three answers and you know the
30:16
three you got to figure out which one is the best one that's not for me to tell you like I'll be there helping you it's
30:23
the same thing with Miles my son's homework like okay read the word problem and you guys why is it better it doesn't
30:30
matter if I know the teacher wants to know if you know yeah um but then that helps the second time
30:36
through it they've been through it once they've figured it out themselves and then it's less and less questions and it's more and more confidence for them
30:43
like you said yeah yeah it's it's it it it invokes people wanting to come to work yes you know
30:50
that's that's the thing is is we also
30:56
reward hard work with if somebody wants a day off they've earned it you know what I mean you you can take you can
31:03
enjoy a Friday off because you were Full Throttle through the week and that once
31:09
again like it makes people want to come into work getting yelled at every day that was
31:15
probably a catalyst into me wanting to find something new because I was sick of it
31:21
but yeah it's nothing and not a knock against the dude that did it it's just that that's how I realized I didn't want
31:28
to be managed you know I'm not a parent but I've heard people say oh well my mom
31:33
and dad were like this I grew up with I don't want to do treat my kids like that
31:39
basically that my old foremans were like parents and I'm the child now with my
31:46
own kids and I'm like well no we're gonna do this a lot differently I'm gonna make this a work environment that
31:53
you guys want to come and you're laying in bed that night thinking about what you're going to do the next day excited
31:59
to get at it you got a new tool to use you're doing a new whatever it is that's where you really start building starts
32:06
to prosper when people really start to realize their full potential in that their mind is the biggest thing holding
32:12
them back yeah and I think we've cultivated a good like you said we do have some some pains we do have some
32:19
conflicts like it's not perfect but no like when we do a flip and we're turning over a rental or turning over a flipped
32:26
house we always have like one piece where like everybody gets to put some
32:31
input in like okay in the kitchen what are we gonna do for the backsplash like what are some options we can throw out
32:37
what paint colors should we put in give everybody a say of what it's going to look like you know because if they have
32:42
buy-in and they actually like it internally like they have some say in the the overall plan like there's just
32:49
more buy-in there's more incentive to want to be there the one thing that when
32:55
I was going through uh employers I'll call it when I hit my mental like I'm
33:02
just checked out and I have to go to work tomorrow like I knew it was done I'm not gonna give the extra effort I'm
33:09
not gonna go the extra foot to try and get the job done I'm gonna clock out and go home and I just don't want that here
33:15
so like the most we can do to incentivize them to want to be here you're gonna lessen those conflicts of I
33:23
just don't want to do that route because it's more work and it's more time you know then we're in it for the wrong reasons yep
33:31
so we go in with like that learning mentality plus all of the new guys that
33:36
we've hired have been relatively new uh one had done some Roofing some framing
33:42
one has done some Property Management one is completely green just in a sales role so we do have a lot of people
33:49
learning new skills and the last thing we could do is jump down their throats for doing it wrong no
33:55
no because you it's it's patience and that's one one thing that I would say if
34:00
somebody would ask me like what is your Keystone attribute I would say my patience is
34:06
but but pretty high yeah I have an ability to just like it did
34:14
not bother me stuff happens on the job stuff breaks you know we're getting ready to install
34:21
the counter and it dropped and it broke but you divide and conquer and figure
34:26
out how to overcome it me standing there and screaming that's not going to solve
34:32
it yeah but walking up to that and hey what are you going to do differently
34:37
next time we carry a counter they can police themselves their brains
34:42
can complete themselves I don't need to make you feel like a child you already have that sinking feeling in
34:49
your stomach that you screwed up that I don't need to drive that home yeah you're an adult you know what I
34:55
mean that's kind of the Mantra I have and it's it has worked out it's it really has
35:01
it's it's caused Aid like it's like a little family at work which is awesome in two years that we've come that far
35:08
yep and for me to see where it started to where it is now is like kind of crazy
35:13
to look at because like I come on site and it seems like you guys have been friends since childhood
35:25
and that's the cool part like if you can go you make money you work with your friends like talk about a good work
35:32
environment and that's what we're trying to keep going you know so we'll see what the future holds on
35:38
that one we're gearing up for uh another new build uh in Whitefish Bay which we
35:45
are it's going to be kind of a new uh I would say a new chapter for the company because usually we take it from start to
35:52
finish whatever needs to be done about what we need this one we're kind of inverting the tables and we are strictly
35:59
on finish work so all the other exteriors and rough
36:04
framing is subbed out we are going to come in and the last step and just finish the place so what are as we go into this project
36:13
what is your like Focus or where do you what are you anticipating what are you
36:18
looking forward to within that project oh well I guess it'd be you know kind of
36:25
new role for me in that sense I mean my role Remains the Same but you know
36:30
basically a little bit more project management I guess I would say yeah
36:36
foreign because yeah it I as Marcus said that
36:41
the the lot lines in Whitefish Bay it's a
36:46
very very tight build and I mean you're talking 10 feet
36:52
to the next house yeah and if anybody has ever built a house especially a
36:57
two-story house um that close to other your neighbors on each side it's
37:05
you have to make sure all the boxes are checked on the safety side because if you let a wall go over the
37:11
into somebody's driveway yeah you gotta dismantle a wall in somebody's driveway
37:18
um but that being said you know I'm I'm also excited because
37:24
working with other Pro Tradesmen makes me a better Tradesman so I also am really excited to
37:32
watch a well-oiled siding crew you know I've watched most of them I've watched
37:38
more of that stuff since I've been with you because when I was framing it was we'd hang doors and windows and we were
37:45
out onto the next one show up empty Foundation build a new house doors
37:50
Windows onto the next we rarely get to see the other guy's work and so that's what I'm excited for is to kind of get
37:57
in there and get in the know about hey why are you guys doing this what's your why are you using these materials
38:04
and you know that's also the other thing too is staying in touch with other people of
38:10
you know what material materials are we using you know where can we save time where do you guys need help from our
38:16
crew so yeah that's going to be a big one that's that's uh
38:22
you know like I said in the past two years man the upward trajectory is that's crazy but yeah it's been fun it's
38:30
crazy what you get when you get people that are motivated to do some stuff so yeah and you you just mentioned
38:36
something and I wanted to ask you because a lot of people listening to the show they may not be contractors they may not be in building but they may be
38:44
doing a bathroom remodel or they're landscaping or getting their siding redone so from you being in the industry
38:51
in just one little section of just rough Framing and now
38:57
you're I would say you're I don't know your spear has gotten bigger and now you're looking at more of
39:03
the whole picture yeah so as you watch these Crews as you talk to other subcontractors what are some like green
39:12
lights red lights questions you know like you ask or things you've learned
39:18
from these subcontractors that you if a friend would ask you like hey I'm getting my siding redone what should I
39:25
watch out for or what should I look for in a contractor what are some things you found as now your your scope has changed
39:35
I'd say a big one for me for the the Your Average
39:41
homeowner um you know prefers to sub stuff out is
39:47
how open they are to questions even if you're not incredibly knowledgeable on the subject you should be asking
39:53
questions you should be knowledgeable on what you're getting done if that makes
39:59
sense let's say you're getting a new garage door sit down for 15 minutes and read up on how a garage door opener
40:05
works the cable the tensioner just so you have a ballpark of like you know if
40:12
you were to go into a job interview a sit-down formal job interview you know I always remember it was like
40:18
ask questions about the company get to know the company how are you going to ask questions about the company when you
40:24
did no research on the company and I'm not saying the company that's going to install your garage door but it's like
40:31
if you are able to ask questions that are directly related to what they're
40:36
doing even if it's kind of filler to be honest with you you can judge somebody's
40:43
attitude very quickly on if they're there to take advantage of you or if they're there to help you and
40:49
unfortunately you know there are people out there that do take
40:54
advantage and for me my biggest number one vetting is how open they are to
40:59
questions if they feel like the information I bring to the table is a secret thing and you can't be in on it I
41:06
could go on YouTube and figure out how to hang a garage door and never have to call you back that's you know what I
41:11
mean that's not everybody but if somebody feels and are making you
41:17
feel like you are you don't need to know it's your house
41:23
it's your money you 100 need to be in the know yeah like that's a that's a
41:28
huge one for me even and we've had it in the past when people other subs come through and stuff and
41:35
it's like they almost see to get this like weird put a wall up of
41:41
like well you hired me why would I have to tell you why I'm doing this yeah well that you
41:48
you just covered it in your first sentence I hired you like this is yeah don't get this mixed up like you know I
41:55
think might have a big thing I think by having the knowledge on or like a base knowledge on what you're having done
42:01
like you said it protects you from being taken advantage of because yeah this person's
42:07
gonna be like okay they know enough where I'm not gonna be able to slip in well I had to go buy this part or I had
42:14
to I had to you know remount it this way and that's going to cost you an extra 150 because of the labor or whatever it
42:19
is like well no you didn't need to do that because you could have done this or how about we avoid that so yes you're
42:25
hiring somebody out you are essentially their boss for this job and you want it
42:31
done right you don't want to be taken advantage of so doing your due diligence before you hire somebody
42:38
I'll basically protects you from being further taken advantage of you don't just blindly hey here's 100 of the job
42:44
check yep see you in four weeks and then they never show up yeah that is that's massive that's that's and
42:51
unfortunately that is a very real thing and you know it's it's it is a it it's odd when you
43:01
it's not your realm like you know going to you know I'm pretty well versed in you know working on my car and truck and
43:08
doing that stuff but you know one thing that I was taught was if you
43:15
feel like you're being taken advantage of at the mechanic shop for instances oh well your tensioner pulley broke well
43:23
can I see the tensioner pulley you know what I mean it's like yeah well
43:28
no it's in the back what do you mean I own that tensioner pulley like yeah I want to see it uh show me where it's
43:35
defective and then we'll go from there yeah and it's that same Mantra carries over into homeownership because
43:42
there are people out there that have gotten away with
43:48
basically a customer that is unknowledgeable so they're able to do stuff that maybe normally they wouldn't
43:55
be able to do and I don't want to scare people out of hiring Subs there's a lot
44:00
a lot of awesome people out there that want to help and want to do that stuff and my number one go-to is how willing
44:08
they are to answer questions and inform you on their process everything is like
44:13
total transparency on what they're going to do yeah that's that is humongous that
44:19
is probably the biggest thing yeah right now transparency is is huge when we we
44:25
don't do many jobs for an unowned like our own properties but we have done some for clients and like my quote I base
44:33
like here's material here is labor costs you know like you know exactly what we're putting into it this is how long
44:39
it's going to be if everything goes right obviously it's not a sign like a perfect science where we know that the
44:45
minute we're going to end but I mean with what you want to put in here's your allowance for the labor it's going to
44:51
cost here is your allowance that's the quote um in when I was building
44:57
like the First new build that we did the rough framer that I hired on to do this
45:02
job got it because he gave me his quote and he's like hey this is what I can do it as
45:08
I know you're probably shopping around I would advise you to shop around like
45:13
go get three other builders to do this and for him to say that to me I was like all right this guy has nothing to hide
45:19
he's good he's not buffing up his price and think he's going to lose on price he
45:25
knows what he can do he knows what his price is going to be he got the job the other ones that were like well if you
45:31
sign right now I can do I can knock three grand off I'm like I I want to be
45:36
out of here as fast as I possibly can because like you're you're now charging me three thousand dollars if I don't
45:42
decide right now that kind of seems shitty to me sorry
45:48
um it didn't seem right and those are ones that are going to lose and I've interviewed with companies that have
45:54
they do the hard sale like you need to get the yes or no before you leave the door and if you leave the door it's not
46:01
your account anymore the next salesman in will get it and I was like this that world is just it's not real that's not
46:07
real life nope nope and you you really too when you're coming into the choice of using a contractor once again I said
46:15
it before is you know I'm the embodiment of my work if I have
46:21
a bad attitude you can picture what my work might be you know what I mean
46:28
you're in the trades your name is all you have the second the second you
46:34
don't put everything you have into a project just because it might seem you know on the micro scale that's when you
46:42
shoot yourself in the foot because then people people talk because the biggest thing in this line of work is
46:48
recommendations and yeah if you sever off one of those
46:54
connections you just potentially lost out on 30 jobs because it's just this
46:59
constant web of my aunt wants her basement done oh well that aunt wants
47:05
you know like it's endless and you know another just quick touching Point too is
47:12
realize that especially when it comes to bathrooms that when you're getting quoted they're not
47:19
trying to take advantage of you a lot of that money comes from think about when your house is built if it's Latham
47:25
plaster what you want done a lot of those High quotes when it comes to bathrooms is liability on the company
47:33
side of like that has to be high moisture environment water and it's
47:39
generally dark yeah you gotta make sure everything is good there because I've
47:44
had people hit me up and I am always open to reviewing people's quotes for work even
47:51
if I'm not doing them because they're like hey you've quoted you've been part of the quoting process
47:56
am I being taken advantage of here and a lot of the times the number that they're seeing is like technically no like that
48:04
that what what's the the corny saying uh good work ain't cheap and cheap work
48:09
ain't good yeah there are times where you just kind of
48:15
need to bite the bullet for lack of a better term and and sometimes most times the cheap option
48:22
isn't the best option yeah and it's my brother actually just got a deck quote
48:28
back they want a deck built in their house and it was like upwards of sixty thousand dollars and he called me and he
48:34
was like I think my wife was gonna have a heart attack and they were doing all this sales Tech the hard sales and all
48:39
that stuff and he was like yep we got to think about it like getting him out the door and then he called me and he's like how could it possibly be 60 Grand and I
48:48
go back to that same thing you said and there was a video on social media that said uh it was their closing line and it
48:56
was I can do it good I can do it fast or I can do it cheap you can get two of the
49:01
three you know like those are my three things when I get a quote back material cost labor cost and time because like we
49:09
were just at a job yesterday and across the street there were roofers they got the roof torn off and up in a in a day
49:17
yeah they also had what would you say 10 14
49:22
people there yeah and so you have to pay those 14 people so I'm like okay Mike
49:28
what was the material uh how many people are they gonna have on site and how long was it going to
49:34
take because all three of those would factor into it uh and it just came back that like I don't know how they came up
49:39
with their material cost or they pay themselves a very great amount was it gold-plated
49:45
decking no you and it lasted for like 40 years
49:52
their big thing is this material doesn't uh get sun damaged so they've from 15
49:57
years ago or something like that they keep adding a board every year to see that it doesn't fade and the product is
50:03
good the material is good but uh I think they they make up their cost
50:09
in the front end because you'll never have to replace it so you're pretty much buying your three Decks that you'd have
50:14
to replace over the lifetime in one shot but there's like I get their concept but
50:19
he couldn't swallow and he couldn't rationalize where the knit the numbers came from and the reason he got so
50:25
turned off is because when he started asking the questions of like okay because he was like I could use this
50:32
decking for other applications can I buy the decking and they're like no we don't do that so
50:38
they were so closed door on everything and then he was like this is getting weird and yeah there's no pass on that
50:44
vendor so that that kind of stuff pisses me off because
50:50
they're trying to gouge and have their profit margins probably 3x because they
50:58
can their selling point is well this this is going to last you 40 50 years that's fine but like
51:04
what is your obviously you don't have to share what you what your cost is on this but you're marking it up
51:12
three four five x yeah for just so you can pad your pockets I mean like
51:19
it doesn't have to be this expensive if you guys were maybe to drop this maybe even cut it in half but like
51:26
well that's the other thing they came down like 20 grand with all the incentives and if they purchase today and if they referred to a neighbor and
51:33
just like you said okay this is good about signing now or that yeah stuff about signing now and what
51:39
knockoff price like no then I'm gonna I'm gonna go get three other quotes because you guys are you're you're
51:44
padding for patience is that that makes sense like well if this person hasn't
51:49
decided today I mean it I don't know yeah and I can see it if they had 20 people there and it was done in a
51:55
weekend they could get the the deck built in a weekend unlimited maintenance on it like I get that whole part but uh
52:03
with the whole day question part kind of through for a loop I had just quick on
52:08
kind of that and you know your brother with the deck uh when we moved in we had
52:13
a lot of door-to-door salesmen and I'm sometimes too nice for my own good and
52:19
I'll let somebody go through their sales pitch and come back and give me a quote even if I don't know that I want it or
52:26
whatnot and it was it was for basically like a leaf guard company and uh
52:33
he came out and quoted me and we have 205 feet of gutter on our house and
52:38
um I just remember walking with him and being like yeah I plan on because at
52:44
this point I'm like giving him the like he's I'm gonna let him do his thing and if it's a reasonable price we can talk
52:50
about it because we do have a lot of trees in the front yard and I started talking because I've hung
52:56
gutters before and I'm like oh I want to do this shrink this one up by three inches and lift it up so I can eliminate
53:02
one of the downspouts make the high side yada yada and I just remember his face and he just
53:08
looked at me and goes have you done gutters before because that that screwed
53:15
over his sales pitch because he was like crap this guy knows that water runs
53:20
downhill everybody should know water house downhill like once again to my point of knowing what you're getting
53:27
quoted on and I looked through their brochure while he was writing out the quote and
53:35
it almost seemed criminal every picture was like of an elderly couple oh yeah
53:40
the old man on the roof and the wife on the ground and he's fallen off the ladder and they're pushing life alerts
53:47
oh yeah there's statistics of bladder related incidents and men over 65 years
53:53
old and he comes back up the driveway and at this point I'm like
53:58
this is I'm really curious to see what this number was and for 205 feet of gutter in my house it was like 17 600
54:06
and I remember he pulled the pamphlet out and I went whoa and he's like yeah
54:13
and once again to your point Dan their marketing scope their clientele is the
54:20
elderly fear-based selling that's all it is that's terrible I think once he
54:26
walked up and was like well crap this guy's like 30 years old like I get on my
54:31
roof with my blower and yeah maybe when I'm 65 I might have a change in heart but like it was it was pretty wild and
54:39
that number just seems so over inflated for what they were doing yeah yeah and I
54:44
think for a lot of the homeowners they may have the like the feeling you had in your stomach where like this isn't
54:50
lining up yeah even for those people that haven't done gutters they'll still have that feeling like my brother had
54:55
never done a deck but he had that feeling so he called me and all I would say is like trust that when you're
55:01
meeting with them if it doesn't if it doesn't pass the sniff test it probably because it doesn't pass the sniff test
55:07
yep like there's another contractor out there that you can work with and don't
55:12
discredit them like don't bash the the company that's sitting at your table because like they they have a good
55:18
product I'm not going to disk their product I'm only mad at their price right but I'll find somebody else
55:23
that'll more aligned with what I'm looking for and that's really all it is that's funny you bring up the story
55:29
about the leaf gutter people because I think they were they were that our house within
55:34
three or four months of us moving in and my wife always makes me answer the door and you know I mean I've been doing
55:41
sales uh 10 12 years however long it's been and they walk up and
55:48
I will listen to their pitch right and then I'll say you know what I'm in sales I understand like what your
55:54
tactics are and then you'll be able to just like you said poke holes in what they're trying to do when you see the
56:00
pamphlet and it's all elderly people you're like okay you're trying to scare people into this sale
56:06
right and then they'll promote well we'll give you the you'll only charge it for the leaf gutter but we'll give you
56:11
gutters for free well the gutters probably cost on 205 Pennies on the dollar right so
56:17
I mean installing it plus the hangers and then you'll be protected for x amount funny funny thing is we moved in our
56:24
house had some type of leaf filters like the the Diamond mesh that's on it yep I
56:30
had to go pull most almost half of it off because it would it would get clogged because we
56:35
have pine trees in the back so they would still fall through anyways yeah or you'd have the oak tree with the little
56:41
helicopters as the kids call them yep and I took off a bunch cleaned out the gutters I don't know how many times and
56:47
then I'm noticing like I need another downspout here and yeah it's just I listen to their pitch and even when
56:53
sometimes when they have good like um overcoming objections like okay that
57:00
was good I like obviously you're not new here you know unfortunately you're not gonna sell me you're not like you're not
57:06
gonna sell me on something I don't need you're not gonna scare me into doing this um and then their first thing is like we
57:13
were taught Marcus with SNAP oh I was just just over down the down the road talking to one of your
57:19
neighbors I don't know my neighbors like I'm not because I'm not not because I'm rude or like whatever it's just yeah we
57:25
don't engage with our neighbors like that and we are we are one of the younger families in this neighborhood
57:31
and I think they think they can go talk to them and like well we're working with this family down here and that's that's
57:37
not gonna sell me that does nothing for me no I don't need your product if I'm if I need something I will go look for
57:43
it um and I don't know and you'll do your due diligence to kind of vet some and
57:49
once again you know I'm like you said if that guy was able to answer every one of your questions and you still be like
57:57
kind of like oh crap like he he had an answer for it right right that also might give you more of like okay this
58:04
guy was open to it like I said once that guy realized that I've hung gutters before he realized it was done and he
58:11
his demeanor projected it like incredibly to where it's just like hey
58:16
man let's just save us both the heartache like you know it's like he was
58:21
embarrassed to show me the price because he knew that it wasn't going to fly and
58:27
that's that's where that whole entire thing comes into play make
58:33
yourself just more knowledgeable than you are when you make the call when they come to quote you and that will end up
58:40
either saving you from losing out on a lot of money or it'll gain you an
58:45
awesome product and awesome finished outcome because they realize that this person they they can't take advantage of
58:51
them you can cut out the awkwardness and the uncomfortableness of the situation too because here they are trying to sell you and be like you know what I'm not
58:58
please do not take this wrong or rude you're doing a great job I let's like you said save each other time I see that
59:05
you have your your whole sales tactic or pitch well-oiled you know what
59:11
you're doing not interested I like we don't have to have the uncomfortableness
59:16
of me asking you questions just to test you because I'm not even interested let's not waste each other's time yeah
59:22
thank you very much you can move on to the next one and half the time they're on some type of like Segway or scooter
59:27
anyways in this area when they roll up my driveway when did that start dude I don't know but like I have a big English
59:34
Mastiff and when our dog is outside I do not get I do not understand people's thought process where they can just roll
59:41
up to our front door and we have a 130 pound 140 pound Mastiff barking in your
59:46
face like kona's sweet she wouldn't wouldn't hurt anybody but how does that not stop you
59:52
in your tracks and keep you at the end of the driveway they need that sales God right right
59:57
if I lose an arm or a hand or a foot it doesn't I don't know jeez it'll be worth
1:00:05
it yeah the the Segway thing just started out here I'd never seen that
1:00:10
before but those are like telecommunications all those people
1:00:16
uh like uh was it Pest Control pest control that's the other one we had
1:00:22
those and then obviously when you see the True Green um or whatever the yard land or
1:00:29
fertilizer and all that stuff when they come rolling through you see them stop like ping pong balls down the road and
1:00:34
they're like okay here they come and yeah like cone outside let her out so she doesn't she's our first line of
1:00:40
defense if she stops them if they make it faster than maybe but yeah oh man
1:00:45
yeah Jared uh like you were saying and if you're gonna have somebody over and getting quotes
1:00:52
I mean put down Instagram for five minutes go to Google and put in the company and put reviews you know or five
1:00:58
questions to ask a roofing company or a gutter company or a drywall company and there'll be a five minute video or a
1:01:05
five minute read article on Google that gives you very very high level questions you know that will at least start the
1:01:11
conversation with that sales person hold on I just had an idea why don't we create that
1:01:17
so there's a show all right this was super fascinating on HGTV and if someone
1:01:23
is listening the show and actually has the right title for the show let me know but it's something like Rocco to the rescue or or Ricky to the rescue
1:01:31
something like homes on homes Maybe
1:01:36
he's uh dude if I could have him build my house my dad loves John Holmes
1:01:43
John Dalman likes John Holmes no it's Mike Holmes what are you talking about Mike Holmes Mike Holmes Mike Holmes
1:01:51
um I'm not a true fan I guess he's from it was Canada eh so it's hard to get him
1:01:56
down here his show is basically the premise of all right your homeowner you have a
1:02:02
contractor something has gone wrong either with the contractor like just
1:02:07
ghosting you or project not being done or permitting issues or money issues
1:02:13
they call this guy he comes in and he is The Negotiator between the homeowner and hopefully they can get the other GC back
1:02:20
on or they've got their own crew that they can come in and finish the project but he is there to like clean up yeah
1:02:27
but a lot of what he does is he's the intermediary between either the city and
1:02:32
the homeowner the city and the contractor the contractor and the homeowner that little love triangle he
1:02:38
is right in the middle and he like diffuses and tries to get the project back up and going I would love to be
1:02:45
that person because like what Jared was saying people call him all the time I had two people yesterday call me yet and
1:02:51
go over quotes that they had gotten and can you run over can you read this quote and tell me where I'm I'm on the hook or
1:02:59
where I'm most liable and what are the goods and what do you
1:03:04
like about it so like if we could get into that that would be awesome I don't know how venmo me 20 bucks and I'll take
1:03:11
15 minutes to look at this quote to tell you if it's good or not like I mean not that you would do that to your family yeah
1:03:17
no but like why why don't we start creating segments like hey
1:03:22
um I don't know questions questions with Jer like what you said what are what are
1:03:30
the five what are the five things you should look for when asking somebody to read redo your bathroom
1:03:38
what is what are what are five things you should worry about or look for when you're replacing a window what what is
1:03:45
the best material for siding what is you know like I like that like I mean you
1:03:50
can get like an informational Chunk on top of this as in like you know and
1:03:56
that'd probably be pretty you know clippable too if that makes sense yes I'm saying yeah do you keep it real like
1:04:01
minute and a half yeah exactly just five questions that you should ask every
1:04:06
you know contractor that is coming in your house that's the big networking thing that I
1:04:12
want to set up with the rental side obviously like sending out some of these people are tenants of houses so furnace
1:04:19
filters need to be changed gutters need to be cleaned like those type of things that if we can get information out to
1:04:25
them to get them more knowledgeable that relationship I hope builds and grows over time where then once they do buy a
1:04:32
house because I want all my tenants to own property I don't want them as tenants forever because I think
1:04:39
ultimately the best thing for them is to own property have their own thing I'm just a means to their their end goal
1:04:45
yeah so if if I can create a good living environment here when they go to buy their house hopefully they will pull us
1:04:52
into that conversation of like hey I this new house I bought the roof needs to get done I got a quote here I
1:04:58
remember you sent out a newsletter when I rented one of your buildings would you mind looking over this thing I would be
1:05:04
more willing to do that for anybody but that would be awesome those are the value ads where you don't you don't add
1:05:10
costs but you bring value right so like you're it's little nuggets of
1:05:17
that maintaining a loose relationship with them right and
1:05:24
then yeah I mean on top of just the the repairs and that other side you
1:05:30
could pivot to like hey let's talk about what does your credit look like what do you have for expenses what is your debt
1:05:38
to income what is some stuff we can eliminate and like you know services like that to help them say say we do
1:05:45
have a rental and you have a long-term tenant that's been in there five six seven eight years you'll be like okay you know you've been here this long
1:05:50
would you would you want to stay permanently let's get you on a path to basically buying this from me yeah
1:05:57
that's a seamless transition you don't have to move in or out saving your costs there I'm an agent I'll only charge you
1:06:03
x amount of percent like did you get some Equity right right yes so like I
1:06:11
I I don't want to say I've struggled with this um my wife and I have had conversations
1:06:17
about it but like when when you get into owning real estate and then renting
1:06:23
I don't want to do it as I don't want to do it to to gouge or
1:06:30
like um make people struggle right yeah people have to have a place to live and
1:06:36
if I can charge a fair amount and still be able to move on to another project or
1:06:41
invest in another property and then like I said after a few years or if they're good tenants then you
1:06:47
pivot into then giving them a sustainable path to owning
1:06:52
their own property yeah at gouging them for as long as you can because tenants can see that too just
1:06:59
like like we see with um solicitors when they come into the door like if they see that you're you're
1:07:06
trying to top you're trying to charge Top Market rent you're gonna get a very very small uh
1:07:13
clientele that qualifies for that but then they they can know that and take advantage of that right they might trash
1:07:18
your place or not take care of it as well because they're like hey I'm basically paying this guy's mortgage or and then some and you know like you know
1:07:26
I don't know what is the word the responsible I guess maybe yeah
1:07:32
with you know who you're dealing with and like you said when you I don't know who it was that we talked to earlier
1:07:38
this season but you're talking about when you have tenants coming in they're people right and you have you
1:07:44
want to know the reason why that they're in this situation let's let's leave you better than we when we first met right I
1:07:51
don't know then that that that transcends into even what we were talking about with contractors coming
1:07:57
into your home you know if if you have any inkling that they're viewing you as just a wallet
1:08:04
yeah you know yes obviously that's their livelihood they need to you know make their money and feed their family but
1:08:11
you know if you only have one bathroom and you're getting a bathroom renovation and that person doesn't realize that you
1:08:16
might have to go to the gas station to use the bathroom and that doesn't light a fire under their ass for lack of a
1:08:22
better term to get it done you know what I mean and yeah two one thing just for
1:08:30
while we're talking about contractors in your home is it sounds ridiculous but if you don't
1:08:37
want contractors using your bathroom get a porta potty yeah like pay the 50 bucks a month
1:08:46
because I'll tell you it's we've had it where people have gotten really weird about bathroom usage but it's like you
1:08:52
know you're also taking on the responsibility of having people at your house right yeah you don't want people in your bathroom you
1:08:58
you gotta also remember that these are people too that are working on your house you know what I mean and and two
1:09:05
it's basically low-level bribery but we love coffee and snacks that's for sure people people will man that's a 96 ounce
1:09:15
box of Quick Trip coffee goes a long way oh man that that is humongous if you are
1:09:22
appreciative towards the people that are working with you and letting them work
1:09:28
that's another big thing I want the homeowner to be involved through the entire process but you also got to
1:09:35
remember you know I'm not gonna stand behind an engineer while he's drawing up a set of blueprints and tell them how to
1:09:41
do his job you know it's yeah there's a fine line between
1:09:46
micromanaging when you don't know what you're micromanaging and then there's a fine line of being involved and in the
1:09:53
know and wanting to learn while you're doing this kind of stuff and you know that just comes down to kind of how you
1:09:59
compose yourself and I get it I've had people work in my house it is it's it's an interesting thing it's you know it's
1:10:06
you have people in and out in and out and you know there's messes being made and you know as long as they respect
1:10:13
your house in the area that they're working in you should have no problem you know that's that's a that's a big
1:10:19
one yeah and I mean more and more I know we harp on the responsibility of the
1:10:25
homeowner here and to educate themselves but those are nuanced things that if you
1:10:30
have not gone through the process yeah they will hit you mid project and what do you do when the crew comes the first
1:10:37
day and they're like hey we want to use the bathroom in the sales rep who didn't talk to the foreman because you may
1:10:43
never see the sales rep ever again yeah they didn't illustrate that to the crew and now the crews here expecting to go
1:10:49
to the bathroom and now it's not there like those things will get crossed and now you have this tension and the
1:10:55
tension's Gonna Last the Project's done and no one wants that the homeowner doesn't want it and the Builder does
1:11:01
want it like both sides do not want that tension if all that happens it's a it's a
1:11:07
conversation before but if both people if the sales rep and the homeowner are too scared to ask those questions
1:11:17
day one with the awkwardness yeah what do they say small holes think big ships
1:11:23
you know little things little things pile up and you know that can be on both ends big time but you know what I mean
1:11:30
it's I mean imagine having a crew of four or five people in your house and it like you said it wasn't discussed that you
1:11:36
know you didn't want them using your bathroom and then you said it creates attention but
1:11:42
if you if you don't have an option for them and you don't want them using your bathroom then you're gonna lose out on
1:11:48
your project getting done as efficiently as you want because then they have to leave the job site to go take care of business or you know like and then
1:11:55
having a place to just wash out materials even yep so and that's you know that's that's stuff that you have
1:12:02
to also consider you know what I mean and dumpsters and you know that's a big
1:12:08
one and it's I know nobody likes to look at dumpsters and have them in their
1:12:13
front yard but yeah no we've we've had it you know I've had it inside jobs where you know the
1:12:20
homeowners like you know no we're not going to get a dumpster I'm going to be responsible for all of the waste and I'm
1:12:26
like do do you comprehend how much waste we're gonna like not waste of materials
1:12:31
but like it is unbelievable how much stuff
1:12:36
you end up with building you know what I mean it's unreal especially a demo like if you're
1:12:45
willing to take that on to save yourself 200 bucks
1:12:50
I don't want to you know it's not my fault that there's a pile of garbage laying in your driveway you know what I'm saying and just also be very
1:12:57
conscious of the stuff where you're saving money as if it's just a drop in a
1:13:02
bucket if you're spending 20 grand for a bathroom renovation 200 isn't going to sink you for a
1:13:09
dumpster you know what I mean like there are also small nuances throughout
1:13:14
the building process that a lot of people that go overlooked in the sense of your responsibility as a homeowner
1:13:20
and then the responsibility of the contractor yeah yeah and I'm always open with uh we've
1:13:28
had somewhere all right we have to get a dumpster where do you want to put it these are our options and now if the
1:13:34
homeowner tell me where they're going to put it because this option comes with the fee this option comes with dead graphs this option comes with you not
1:13:41
parking your garage or potentially crutching your driveway yeah
1:13:46
yeah no and that's where it comes down to like what option do you want so we
1:13:52
can complete our side of the project there's going to be pain wherever we decide but which one do we
1:13:58
want and you know too under the quoting when we were talking about like if you're getting gouged on a quote or not
1:14:04
the more questions and the more you're able to refine for the contract or what
1:14:11
you want the more accurate of a quote you're gonna get hey I want my basement finished
1:14:18
okay like what are you talk like what are we talking the entire thing finished
1:14:23
full 1600 square feet or is it going to be a livable 800 feet you know that's tens of thousands of
1:14:30
dollars different you know yeah you might be blown away when they're like well you didn't give us anything like
1:14:36
and then that just once again [Music] contractor starts to feel like the
1:14:43
homeowner's unprepared and it's not that the homeowner has to be totally prepared
1:14:49
but once again you need to know what they're there to quote out what work you
1:14:55
need done you know have a pretty set line of what you want your expectations
1:15:01
and that's where paying for a contractor comes in because the contractor fills
1:15:07
the holes yeah like a better turn they you're like I want a bathroom with subway tile and a
1:15:14
glass door well they don't think about vanity placement the code for how far a
1:15:19
toilet needs to be off the wall you know a bath fan green board in the bathroom
1:15:24
because it's moisture resistant that's the kind that falls on the contractor but like you know Marcus we've talked
1:15:31
about in the past when we were doing client homes is making them sign a blueprint yep dang hey we're agreeing to this
1:15:39
we've sat down and talked multiple times about that we're all on the same board and changes do happen because it took me
1:15:46
a long time to be able to walk through a house where all the walls are snapped on the floor to be able to
1:15:53
Envision what it's going to look like when it's built yeah most people don't have that ability that's a trained thing
1:15:58
to imagine the finished product you know I've always called it the Pinterest paradox
1:16:04
Pinterest is a great tool to get you wanting color swatches uh materials like
1:16:13
okay I like the hardwood look like that stuff but you gotta also realize that a lot of
1:16:21
the stuff on Pinterest is the most beautiful clickbaity
1:16:26
yes not saying it's not impossible but that stuff comes with the price yeah a lot of that's the best part is like oh
1:16:33
I'm pulling up this picture they did this accent wall and can you guys do that for a thousand dollars yeah and
1:16:39
you're like that the lumber involved in that is more than a thousand dollars so like yeah like
1:16:49
like that but that's that's it and you know like I said it's a great tool but it's it's really easy
1:16:56
as a homeowner to have you know what's the saying is
1:17:01
what is it under under promise and over deliver yeah right you know yes that's a
1:17:08
big that's a big thing in this business you know that it promotes success and you know having that Mantra but there
1:17:15
are also times where it's like you have to be honest with the homeowner
1:17:20
as in your vision and my capabilities do not match up and that's where the
1:17:27
quoting process that needs to be laid out you need to show them your Pinterest picture during the quoting process
1:17:34
because I'll tell you halfway through a renovation and you're like hey it doesn't look like this Pinterest picture
1:17:40
and The Carpenter's sitting there going I never saw that picture like we could have completely avoided this and now
1:17:47
you're under delivering for their expectations yeah that's why like
1:17:54
for this whole thing to come back be prepared as the homeowner know what you
1:17:59
want lay it out make a design sheet have questions ready for the homeowner and
1:18:05
that is going to save you thousands of dollars and that is going to make the contractor's job a whole lot easier
1:18:12
which means happy contractor yeah in in that example that happens even to me
1:18:19
like I we had uh an electrician come through a property when we were going to flip it and turn it came in and his
1:18:26
electrical bid was twice as high as every other single like every other person
1:18:31
one he was a one-man shop so it's going to take him longer you found that out through questioning because I was like
1:18:37
okay when you're doing this who's gonna be doing that and he said it's just me and I said okay well that makes sense
1:18:43
because now our time is going to go longer I get it uh and then he didn't
1:18:48
have the scope of what we wanted he had taken the blueprints and he was adding things on that we didn't need him to do
1:18:55
so then it boiled back down into the reasonable part of where he was he just
1:19:00
quoted everything because like you said when we send out the bid and say hey we need this done he looks at it and he
1:19:06
goes okay all the code the missing code things I need to fix every four foot and Outlet everything you know yeah so he's
1:19:14
factoring and ripping up flooring or coming through the attic to drop a line down it's like we don't need to do that
1:19:19
for that part and then it boiled back down but if if I didn't have the knowledge of reading his quote and
1:19:26
having the background of researching the questions on Google for like the new person to know like it's not adding up
1:19:33
and why is it not adding up and asking the question of like hey I did gather bids and yours is twice as high can you
1:19:40
tell me why like it might be a shock question it might be awkward for the homeowner to
1:19:45
phrase it that way but I guarantee the contractor that's not the first time he's been asked that yeah
1:19:52
it's offensive about it like if you're saying like why is yours as high as it is and say I'm not I'm not saying you're
1:19:59
outrageous I just am curious as to why like what what makes yours two times as much like are they missing something
1:20:05
right exactly right in that way what are they miss right are they under quoting just so they can win the job and then
1:20:11
run it up later right yeah right yeah and don't don't do any change orders until I sign off on them because
1:20:18
yeah I've heard horror stories and we're gonna give that as a little teaser so
1:20:24
everybody here listening to show Google change order right for the next contractor that comes to your door so
1:20:30
you're prepared yeah yeah add this to the quote you do any type of deviation from this you're not getting paid on it
1:20:37
unless it's signed off or you know what's a lot of people have written in is any changes after the agreed
1:20:44
blueprint is a 200 an hour surcharge you
1:20:49
know what I'm saying like a lot of guys will do that like hey we've agreed to this and once again it goes back to like
1:20:57
small stuff most guys won't get caught on you know what ends up irritating me
1:21:02
as the contractor is going backwards in time to achieve the same exact thing that we could have you know
1:21:09
it's once again there's a chart and it says it's like you know just an X and Y
1:21:17
and [Music] um the X its ability to make change and on
1:21:23
the why it's time and right along the X your ability to make change is the
1:21:30
highest it'll ever be and as time goes on in a product project it drastically drops off and
1:21:38
then plateaus out right at the bottom of the line basically saying you have all the ability to make change without it
1:21:44
financially hurting you in the beginning of a product project that's why planning
1:21:49
is so crucial having all of your peas in a basket making sure you know what you
1:21:54
want once again because that's when it'll start to really cost you is when you're getting
1:22:00
baseboard installed in your basement and you realize that all the living room
1:22:07
isn't as big as it it should be or as I wanted it to be
1:22:13
that's that then is gonna cost you if there's a clause written into your contract that's saying that hey any
1:22:19
changes that are massive like that in the finishing process are going to be a surcharge you know somebody charges you 200 an
1:22:26
hour and it takes some two days to get back to the finishing Point that's that's a lot of money you
1:22:33
know what I'm saying and that's where you have to just know what you want and
1:22:39
obviously it's kind of Ebbs and flows but that's as much as you put into
1:22:45
supporting your contractors they'll give you back you know what I'm saying if you if you host
1:22:50
very well and you understand that these people are here to do their job they are
1:22:55
also going to go the extra mile for you you know if you create a hostile work
1:23:01
environment it's it doesn't make people want to come back to your house right you know what I mean and and sometimes
1:23:07
not in our case but that can affect craftsmanship because they just want to get out of it
1:23:12
yeah absolutely so my dog's just going crazy no
1:23:19
yeah no it's it is so true um and it is planning so I mean what we
1:23:26
can give as a message to a homeowner that's going to get it in is plan Google search YouTube
1:23:32
knowledgeable you know if it's it's a good way to compare it to like buying a
1:23:37
car you know that's most uh besides the house that's generally the first large Financial investment somebody makes
1:23:43
right because you know you got to be mobile to get to work and stuff like that let's say you finally save up and
1:23:50
Fork over fifteen thousand dollars for a car you do a lot of research on cars a
1:23:55
lot of research on cars you do a lot of test driving you feel out the different
1:24:01
Interiors oh do I want four-wheel drive do I want this there's nothing different about
1:24:06
hiring a contractor for fifteen thousand dollars why would you just lay over roll
1:24:11
over and let them take the wheel basically you know what I mean treat it
1:24:17
the same way do your research go on Angie's List and look at the contractors and that's huge that's it's it's
1:24:25
basically car shopping for your house you know what I mean it's a lot of money and you should be confident where your
1:24:32
money's going yeah more so I mean your house is at least an asset yeah you're
1:24:38
buying a liability with the car you should do more due diligence with your house yeah that's a good I like that
1:24:44
analogy that's good yeah that's the way I've I've kind of ran it
1:24:49
is you know and especially and my dad also had you know another saying too and I kind of pulled true is if you are
1:24:58
the type of person that has the ability to do a lot of the stuff on their own you know like me
1:25:04
my dad always says the other trades have to make money too basically saying hey
1:25:10
you know sometimes yes you can do it but like the other trades have to make a living
1:25:16
as well hire somebody to come in and set your title like yes you can do it but like if it really that finished look you
1:25:24
wanted super crisp and you're a perfectionist hi you're a pro-tiler or you know try I
1:25:31
can drywall well a lot better than I've ever been able to but I'll hire out my buddy Danny because
1:25:37
it's like I could do it but he can do it way better way faster like you know and
1:25:45
that's where it's like yes I could sit down there for days in mud and mud and mud
1:25:50
or he could just come over for two days in mud yeah
1:25:55
yeah exactly well I'm gonna I'm gonna end it here
1:26:00
we're like over an hour so I gotta cut it off at some point good leadership meeting guys yeah that
1:26:07
was a good one no I appreciate all the little nuggets you gave the viewers for like just home ownership and due
1:26:14
diligence that analogy because like I never thought about that way but like if I was gonna go buy a car the first thing
1:26:19
I do is Kelly Blue Book yeah there's no Kelly Blue Book for maybe Angie's List like you said yeah that's how about as
1:26:26
close as it gets you know I don't know I would stay away from Kelly Blue Book by the way what is it the black book now there's
1:26:33
not there's NADA Guides there's admins there's there's so much stuff to look at and I I enjoy the car buying process
1:26:41
because I don't like being taken advantage of so like my niece is looking
1:26:47
to buy a car just a really quick story she posts on Facebook hey I'm looking to to buy this car
1:26:55
um I might need some help or whatever and I messaged I message right away I said do not go back to that dealership
1:27:00
without me where are you at in the process what did what kind of car are you looking at how much is it what kind of financing blah blah went through all
1:27:07
the details she's looking at a brand new thirty thousand dollar Civic and my first question is well why does it have
1:27:13
to be an SI why can't it be a lower base like an ex maybe an LX but and then I
1:27:18
said what kind of terms did you sign financing paperwork she's like well they did run my credit I'm like okay well now
1:27:25
we now the clock started if we're looking at other options we have to either apply within x amount of days
1:27:30
because of another hard hit she's like they're offering me 687 dollars a month
1:27:36
for 84 months on a thirty thousand dollar car and I said look at the math
1:27:42
at this yeah this times this comes out to over fifty seven thousand dollars for a thirty thousand dollar car are you
1:27:48
trading anything in yeah they're giving me 500 for my trade okay well first they're basically gonna
1:27:55
jump that you could probably sell it you could you could sell it somewhere else for a thousand maybe 1500 so it's a little bit extra money are you putting
1:28:01
any other money down no okay well first we need to find out what your credit score is what the rate is that
1:28:06
they're giving you if you if you ask them for your rate they have to tell you if they don't find a different car or
1:28:12
find a different dealership first of all so I'm like don't don't do anything else let's figure this out I'm willing to
1:28:18
help you right and I just went through this last month with my wife's car I went to the dealership this is the car
1:28:24
we want this is the price I know this is what you guys blah blah blah that was a little bit of tension because the dealer
1:28:31
couldn't take advantage like he he was like kind of pissed off or irritated
1:28:38
he's like a little bit huffy and puffy and he's giving me all these reasons well if you're gonna if you want to get
1:28:43
this car from Austin we have to go get it transported and then we have to do a dealer trade so I'm just like okay but do you want to
1:28:50
sell the car or not that's what I mean and I said I'm not trying to say this rude do you want to sell me the car well you
1:28:56
know yes I do but like this is what we have to okay that's your process I'm here I'm willing to buy the car make it
1:29:04
happen like that's it yeah I just yeah I don't like people being taken up and even like my brother he went to go buy
1:29:10
furniture like where did you go well we went to Ashley and all these other places or we went to Mattress Firm for a mattress we
1:29:17
spent eleven hundred dollars I said well you're an idiot like go to Sam's Club go to Costco go to all these other options
1:29:24
you're gonna pay half as much like I just I I don't like people
1:29:30
wasting money and it's not that I'm cheap I just want their dollar to go further or not have to put out as much
1:29:37
when they don't have to so just like it's frustrating even my brother my
1:29:42
brother my other brother he would go buy cars I'm like why did you buy a GMC Acadia that's seven years old and then
1:29:49
it comes back like a month later tells me I had to put 7 500 into it I said yeah because you bought a GMC and
1:29:54
they're known for transmission issues right and so it's like dude what are you doing yeah and it's just all these
1:30:01
little things and it's only because I know from experience or like you said doing the research
1:30:07
and I had a very bad habit from the time I was 18 years old to buying a car every
1:30:13
year and a half two years and I was at a point where I was just rolling in that negative rolling it in rolling in and then I
1:30:20
finally got to a point where I was clear and I'm like okay I can buy this car zero money down hit my my uh
1:30:28
preferred monthly amount and then I was at a point where I was like you know what I'm always gonna have a car payment
1:30:33
so it doesn't matter what car it is if I want something new I'll just go get it I completely flipped that like right you
1:30:40
you read a book Rich Dad Poor Dad and it's like Yep this car is a liability if
1:30:46
you can get a solid running car it was set for life too by Scott trench but if you get a car that's reliable you find a
1:30:54
diamond in the rough and I got like an older car you guys saw it but yeah baby yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna baby that and
1:31:01
I'm gonna like I told Leighton I said this is gonna be your car in six seven years when you know starting a driver or learning to drive this will be here for
1:31:08
you because it should run that long or be able to take advantage take care of it so I don't know
1:31:14
yeah it all goes back to preparation man get them keep the money in your pocket yeah a little bit of homework up front
1:31:19
is going to save you headaches and money in the long run I do like your idea though Dan let's get uh let's all three
1:31:25
of us should talk about some uh some uh Jerry knowledge some clips yeah yeah I
1:31:32
think that'd be pretty sweet I like Jewels Jerry's juice
1:31:39
that's our new segment new segment on the podcast is Jerry's Jules Jerry's Jewels a little micro podcasts little
1:31:46
micro videos yeah let's do it that's awesome cool well Jerry I appreciate the
1:31:52
time yes finally we're able to make it happen yeah
1:31:57
obviously people want to get a hold of you it is Justin at mvprentalsloc.net
1:32:04
um if they want some of Jerry's Jewels yeah email them come on over I got a whole Treasure Chest full of them
1:32:10
[Laughter] all righty all right all right awesome that's a great way to end the show
1:32:18
we'll be back next week and Jerry we'll have you on again I'm sure let's do it we're gonna go on I want to do segments
1:32:25
while we're into Cumberland that's that new build that we were talking about earlier in the show where it's gonna be more product management role for you uh
1:32:32
as we sub out the basically the framing of this um so I I look forward to doing some
1:32:38
on-site visits maybe with subs or just like an in-field visit with the
1:32:44
contractors maybe that's where we can start Jerry's Jewels right we just walked through recording progress and say hey they're they're doing this
1:32:52
whatever this is what you look for this is good this is bad it's what you want
1:32:57
to avoid yeah Jerry's Jules starting starting soon right yeah see in a few
1:33:03
good stuff all right see you guys
1:33:10