The Huddle - Episode 210. Your Name on the Door: Reputation, Legacy & Craftsmanship
Over time, each moment in your career become your reputation—and eventually, your legacy.
This week on The Huddle, Daniel and Jose have an honest conversation about what it means to build a name people trust. They discuss how craftsmanship extends beyond technical skill, why professionalism matters even when no one is watching, and how every interaction contributes to the reputation you carry throughout your career.
In an industry built on referrals and relationships, your work may open the door, but your character is what keeps it open. Whether you're just beginning your career or have decades of experience behind you, this episode is a reminder that the most valuable thing you build isn't always the floor—it's the name attached to it.
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Hey guys, how's it going? Welcome to the Huddle, your weekly playbook where uh we
help you maintain forward progress in your career.
Paul is not with us today, so he can't introduce us, but uh we're coming
straight out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Out of Grand Ragy
and uh had a hope you guys had a good weekend. We had a both of us had a
weekend full of baseball. Yeah, mine was a week full of baseball starting last week Wednesday
and then uh getting back really super late Sunday and then trying to make the
most of it. But playing catchup as always.
You don't you don't need to go out of town for a week to do that. No to fall behind. No. No. You just need
to just need to set work aside for for a day and then then I'm a week behind.
It's all it takes. That's what it seems like anyway. Is it It's one of those things where you
It's like um a tangent, right? Someone, hey, can you
do this for me real quick? And then it leads into, all right, and then half your day is gone.
Yeah. Well, that's typically what happens here dayto-day anyway. get a lot of
lot of help me with this phone calls and then that just keeps backing me up. But that's
life. I got to learn how to ignore my phone like like others do
and just be like, "Oh, I didn't know. So sad." He did not know.
What's today's topic? today is uh um your name on the door, reputation,
legacy, and craftsmanship. I mean, I think we we
like any topic, we touch on this quite a bit. And and I I think we should uh shout out
some sponsors real quick before we we go along. So, uh Divergent Adhesives,
amazing adhesives. We uh we've used them. They're in our office.
We take them on job sites. One day I'm gonna be ready for that. I might have his sticker right here.
I had it somewhere, too. Uh NFCT,
National Association of Floor Covering Technicians. And I really like the way that the NACT
went from uh you know installers to technicians and really kind of sets you apart when
you're at a higher level. Yeah, it was right there. I don't know
where it is. And then uh make sure that you're going to check out Pro Installer Magazine. I I
know a lot of people we were talking about if they still do print or not, but we still do see it at like all surfaces
and stuff, right? So, they've got to do at least a little bit. And uh I don't
know, that's kind of where I got my jump into just reading the magazines and then realizing, hey, I don't know as much as
I thought I did. So, great resource out there. It is. There's a lot of information in
that in that magazine and and we've always gotten it for free, right?
Yeah. I think they just set them out there. Yeah.
And plus, you know, it's As much as we we love technology and embrace technology, I I don't think like
the written or printed word is going to go anywhere anytime soon. Um
at least at least for the next decade or so. I don't see that going anywhere.
I don't know. It's becoming less and less, but it's still there for the people that
love it. Nick asks if we have a showroom, and we
are a commercial contractor, so we do not have a showroom. We have an office that you can come and
take a look at the sample books, but we don't have a legit showroom.
Not. And then Mario is on Instagram. He says, "Uh, I have no name in this trade." And
coming from the guy that name is floor god, which I actually took a picture
with this and I forgot to post it, but I was gifted with this guy right here
at surfaces. So, shout out to floor guy. Appreciate you, bro.
But we do want to organizing.
What's that? Organizing your windows. I am. I am. Yeah. Because I don't want the volume to start popping through. I'm
used to being on the computer right now. I'm on the the tablet, the iPad. So I can actually use my screen instead of uh
instead of just watching the little bitty screen. You know what I mean? I'm learning. I'm learning.
Many small time make big time. Many.
So, I did put this little uh this ticker up here and I asked the same questions
on, you know, the social channels um where I was sharing it, but
it's like, you know, your name on the door. When
people hear your company's name, what do they think of?
And I think we've been pretty
I don't want to say lucky, right? Because we've worked hard at getting our name to where it's at. But um
we've been fortunate. Yeah. And you know that
that job kickoff that I went to last week, um he was gone, so it was actually
one of his projects. But, you know, I went went over there and that's one of the things that they were pushing out
was, you know, you guys are here because of the quality that you guys produce and
not necessarily because you're the lowest price, right? And I don't know if
they would share actually share if we were the lowest price or not, but it's one of those things where it's a
high-profile project and they can't have things going wrong. It just it sucks to
say that we've been on projects where especially lately where it's happened
like that and um not with us but just in general.
Yeah. And you know it's um
if you if you look back at all the years it took to to even build the trust up
to be entertained at the door right at their door. Um I mean 20 plus years dude
20 plus years of uh of shaking a hand and saying yes and and
trying to always do the right thing. Uh and and because of where we started to
where we're at now, right, we weren't always in in sales, we didn't always provide. Um but
20 plus years of of of labor and install and then transitioning over, I can see
where they would be a little reluctant at first, right? But
over what past year and a half, two years, we've helped out.
We've helped other companies out. Um, and it and it didn't go unnoticed.
Yep. Rollins says that uh to him his name is everything.
You want I feel that you want people to to bring you up and um
always be that person that they're referring because I mean in business itself that referral is worth its weight
and gold and that's why networking is so important
to actually and it
It sucks sometimes because it's like you said earlier, we always it
takes one hour to fall [snorts] behind on something that you were already doing and then can literally hear your fart,
dude.
I hear what you said.
You didn't hear what I said? No. I said we could literally hear your fart. [laughter]
I wasn't pardon. Clean that off
to to take uh your time out of your day and go to some of these networking events. But the more and more that you
show up, the better it solidifies your name and it gets people at least that
I've seen where they see you and they're like, I really want to work with you
because this person says you're great and this person says you're great and you keep on showing up to these things
and it's just something that you got to do sometimes in order to uh to build that name,
you know. So, let's let's start at the beginning like when when um when we started working and and there was
something that was said to me a very very long time ago and it was it was by Ray, you know, the first guy I ever
worked with. Um you know, we were I was still fairly new and we were doing we
were getting a lot of work done, a lot of carpet, right? And I think we were I forget exactly where we were working,
but then the base started going up. And um I wasn't trusted with the base
yet. I was still, you know, fairly new. And uh it didn't it didn't look good, but I didn't notice it because I was
still new. And he said, "We're gonna have to fix all that base." And then the ride home, he was like so
mad about it. He and he he just said we can have perfect floors and do
everything perfect on the floor and as soon as as soon as we put up the base
and if the base looks like crap then the job looks like crap, right? Because that's the finishing touch. If your
finishing touch looks less than acceptable or subpar, then
then the project's going to get picked apart. And that's
I I guess that where I was going with that is that's the same thing as the reputation. Um you know and I put a note
down um 20 years of hard work lost by
compounding mistakes right not necessarily us but it could happen and I've seen it happen. Um,
and um, that's where putting your brand and your and your name. Uh, well, let's I'm not
saying your brand, right? Let's just say your name. Uh, your hard work and what you've been striving for. You put all
that effort into um,
not necessarily building a reputation, but but earning trust across the board, right? Earning trust through the trade
partners. and and it doesn't really take much to lose that trust, right? It doesn't take much.
And then then then you're on uh putting out fires for for a little bit to try to to maintain that trust, right? But now
but now it's one of those things where they're always
going to be looking over the shoulder making sure that everything's going well until they can legitimately trust you
without feeling like they're babysitting. Right. And that's one of the the notes that I had too was the the trust factor,
right? It's uh can I trust them? And
it's it's not just in business, right? Because it's
it's everything. It's if I can't trust you, why do I even want you here?
Well, and and um the other thing is uh you want me to trust you
with more, but I can't even trust you with what little I'm already asking of you.
So, I mean, people help build their name. We didn't do it by ourselves, Daniel, right? I don't think anybody
does it by themselves. Um, and you know, thankful for everyone who's who's helped us get who's helped us earn trust
because we've had to lean on um, you know, our crews, our people um, more
often than not to to help maintain a project or or
our reputation or to help remedy situations. So thankful for everyone
that that's definitely helped us. Um, my apologies for being an [ __ ]
sometimes. about it. But um when we start veering from what the
expectations that we've built for um for ourselves um definitely got to address it.
Sometimes it's not always the nicest way. Um but
it's pretty consistent. I would say pretty consistent as far as stepping in and and intervening and making
corrections and saying this was unacceptable. just sometimes is a little like you said high-profile, right? Sometimes we're on
a high-profile project, what we call high-profile or consider that we don't have that that type of flexibility, man.
Um, I don't know how else to explain that besides
got to be on top of your game almost all the time. And if you're not, hopefully the crew that that you're with
is is helping you stay stay up and and holding you accountable and making sure that those standards are are are
maintained, right? Yeah. Rollins says he does every job as if his wife's going to come look
at it cuz uh believe him, she will. That doesn't she doesn't think looks right.
And that's awesome, right? Like maybe maybe that's what we
all got to do is we all got to got to put ourselves in in those type of shoes
where if so and so was coming behind me, what would they find?
Um I was always that person. I tried not to
be, but I guess it's easy to spot it.
Yeah. No shortcuts. You know, we're those that's why one of our core values is integrity, right? You got to do the
right thing all the time. And if you look at something and there there's a a
line, right, where it's like um you can say, "Yeah, that'll pass, but then at the same time, is it to our
standard?" And if the answer is no, then guess what? That isn't going to pass. Do
it again. Right. It's uh Yeah, that should pass.
I don't like that. I like that. Of course, that's going to pass. Right. And that kind of brings us to
Nick's question right here is he where does most of the margin loss stem
from in your business? And I think that what we're talking
about now is kind of where where that is is uh the rework
is you know, um, stupid decisions to leave stuff that
doesn't look like it should, thinking that it's going to pass and then having to go back on
either punch list or you're already off the job and you have to go back and
people don't realize that, man, it's not just, hey, I'm going to go take care of this real quick. It's, hey, you got to
come here and then you got to grab the stuff and then you got to load it up. Then you got to drive the vehicle over
to the job, unload everything, go in there, do the work, load everything back
up, drive back over here, unload everything again. It's like it's not just a quick 10 minute in and out type
of type of deal. And that that kind of uh
that kind of rework just eats that bottom dollar so fast.
It does. It It sure does. And it's And it's funny. That's actually one of my
one of my lines. One of my notes is uh does anyone really care like the owner?
Right. I'm just going to have to say no. I'm just going to have to say no. And And
the reason is is that we owner. [laughter] Well, yeah. Well, they're not the owner,
but but he How do I put this? When I wasn't
an owner, when I wasn't uh the person who paid all the bills, I still felt like it was my
responsibility to make sure that whomever I worked for
was profitable, right? because I felt like if they were profitable and
if I made sure that they were profitable, I made it harder for them to say no when the time came for, you know,
a bump, a review, a raise, or asking for a vacation, you know, like like stuff
like that that like I tell my son all the time and, you know, why don't you just make it hard for me to say no to
things? So, but that's that that's always been been my mindset,
right? I was a what they call it inter entrepreneur, right? Not an entrepreneur, an entrepreneur. I always
knew that I represented myself at the end of the day and and I wanted to make sure that I wanted to make sure that I
was an asset. Um, and
unfortunately with all the freebies that that the government tries to give everyone and the way that they make it seem and then all the inflation,
um, the sad truth is is that it's getting harder and harder to find people like that. Um, we're not we're not
creating um a mindset of of earn what you want. We're creating a mindset of,
you know, take what you want and if you don't like it, then go somewhere else and take it. Um, and that's where the bottom dollars
escaping is like, ah, I'll get that later. Right.
Well, I think some of it stems from um, so I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about, you know, there are
people seeing the pricing that they're giving out and then automatically they
come back and like, I'm not getting paid enough. And it's like, well, why don't you think you're getting paid enough when
yesterday you were fine? And they're like, "Well, now that I've seen the
numbers," it's like, "Well, yeah, you've seen the numbers, but do you also see these expenses?" And then not only that,
it's, you know, we told you that we were going to invest in this and this and this and this, and you were like, "Yeah,
this is what I want." And now if we give you that money, there is nothing left to
invest into anything else. like they they look at that that dollar
figure and then want more and then don't realize, all right, well, okay, well, if
I pay you everything and then the the van breaks down and I have no money to to fix the van, you're not going to pay
for it, where's that money going to come from, right?
But those things I mean the the and we can probably do another episode
on Gen Z and how they their mindset is too, right? Where it's not uh I'm going
to prove myself to so that way you think that I'm worth what uh what I'm worth.
They're they come in to pay me what I think I'm worth and then I'll work up to that.
Well, I think that's what where society is just kind of developing that mindset,
right? And and it's going to it works good for for large companies, uh, you know, who employ many people and and,
um, operate off of volume. I would say it might be easier to accommodate that
if if you operate off of volume. Um, but you know, we're still fairly small, so
it's hard to it's hard to see past uh
the backlog doesn't reflect that of a company that operates off of volume. I'll just say that
Jimmy kicking and scratching for for what we had. He says that that's what sets us apart.
Not everyone thinks of making sure the owner is profitable. I always thought
that when working for someone else, um, not all have that mentality,
we are where we are because of that mentality.
It's honestly, it's hard to think any other way, brother. But Jimmy, I don't
I just can't ever imagine that, dude. I worked at fast food restaurants and I still had that mindset. I always felt I
wasn't working hard enough. I was always like the youngest person, the manager
who was too young, right? That's what they called me everywhere I worked. Well, and you look at it from a sports
perspective, right? And that's um when I tell people they're like putting your kids in sports
is worthless and stuff and I'm like, man, when you see someone that comes from a sports background working
compared to someone that's not from a sports background, it's like crazy different, right? where it's like
they're there to to get the stuff done. Okay, I'm done. What do you need me to do next? Nothing. All right, I'm going
to take off then. When the other mentality is, oh, this is what you want me to do? I can for sure take eight
hours to do these three things.
But that's I mean that's a reputation that you give yourself. you know, business aside, it's a personal
reputation that you're going to have. I mean, just look at social medias, right? There's on
Facebook plenty of people that will come on and be like, "I'm looking for a
job. Is anyone hiring?" And then two weeks later, I mean, first they'll announce that they got a job. And then
two weeks later, hey, I'm looking for a job. Who's hiring? And it's like, bro, after so many times, you think that I
would actually stick my neck out for you and be like, "Yeah, you should hire this person that's had 42 jobs in the past 18
months." Yeah. So, he just uh I wanted to to Google this real quick while you're
talking about it. It says uh 94% of sweet of sea suite positions of
women 94% of women in seuite positions um
were they competed at a collegiate level in in in sports
like I don't think that happens on accident. 80% of female Fortune 500 CEOs
um were also uh former athletes. um 68% of the top CEOs, not limited to
women, participated in collegiate sports with track and field being one of the
most common, right? So, so track and field, they're they're not only healthy, but their mental is very strong, too.
They have to have a a long-term mindset. Um, so I mean
that information is readily available for anyone with with Google and I don't
think that that's uh that happens on accident and
and maybe that's what it is for for for me dude like you know I know that you didn't do sports like through through
school right you did but you still competed right just not necessarily in a sport
but and maybe Maybe it's just the the the competition is what it should fall back on. People who are more competitive
by nature, that's going to carry into their career. Um
well, I think when you're when you're talking about that competitiveness, it's
not really uh competing against other people either. It's competing against yourself, right? And like
when people ask me about band and they're I'm like, "Yeah, you know, they went to festival and got a first
division." They were like, "Oh, who are they competing against?" I'm like, "No one. It's them against the music."
Yeah. Yep. Can how how well can you execute
right the these sheets, right? How well And you don't even get sheets, right? Is that See, I I didn't go that far. I stopped
like messed up because I got kicked out of school. There's a there's a site reading portion where they give you a
piece of music that you've never seen before and then you get five minutes to prepare and then you got to play it.
It's go time. And so Rin Rollin asks, um, when we started,
what was the one thing we did to enhance your company and name?
We put the color blue in it.
I mean that is one of the first things I mean because before we even started anything when we were having our logo
designed. Um our cousin did our logo and he designed a bunch of different colors
and then I just went back to him and I said we got to do something with blue man. Like all these reds and stuff just
ain't I just ain't feeling it. Yeah. Everything was red and black um and orange.
Um, we went royal blue. Um, you know what? And and it's it's
funny you asked that, Robin. So, like our first logo was preferred flooring and it was it was Saturn,
right? Like it was and I don't know, Daniel, you can pull it up and share it, but and somebody asked me, "Oh, that's a
pretty cool logo, right?" And looking at it now, I was like, "Man, that was a little rough around the edges, right?"
But, you know, whatever 15, 16 years ago, it wasn't. those still it was it
was different and I remember somebody asking me oh why' you choose that
and I I didn't really have an answer so I just shot from the hip I was like oh man because that's Saturn dude sometimes
uh sometimes in life you got to shoot for the stars um and I know that in that
process we have to shoot past Saturn so he came up with a line of something like
that right like that's the OG right there.
I tell you what, our first uniform shirts, bro.
But I think one of the the biggest things that we did to set ourselves apart was um
just reinvest everything that we had. We had no choice because we didn't want to
keep on looking like the people that we started out as. It was always a a growth factor to things. So, all right. Well,
it was early on. It was as little as we need a new shop back. Shop back's only
$2 $300, right? But that's a it's a huge expense when you're first starting out.
Yeah. I think um well that was the thing too is uh you
know if we're looking at what we were trying to build is
we looked at all the the companies that were finding success that that were around us and it it was the companies
that looked like they were investing in their equipment, their tools, right
themselves. Um, so we tried to I don't want to say, you
know, copy that, but we wanted to make sure that we were
making it easy for us to get projects done. Making it easier for us as as a two or three man crew um
to get larger projects done. Um, and that's a small scale volume is that we
were very small, only a few people, but we we were doing very large scale projects.
Um, so we didn't have a lot of time to waste. We didn't have a lot of cushion.
So yeah, we had to reinvest into better equipment, better tools um to get the job done. I don't want to
say faster, right? But to make it easier for less people to get it done. So essentially, yes, it did make it go faster for the amount of people. Um and
then as we the crews got bigger um you know we acquired more tools that worked
and yeah that's and we became more uh proficient. I think that that's what we
did is is we did our best to become more proficient. I was say efficient but
that didn't come until we got experience. Your name is doing pretty good when uh
one of the another local company comes out with a logo that looks almost like yours.
I remember people seeing these vans around. They were like, "Man, we thought that was you guys." And I had to take a
double look at the name. Yeah.
Jimmy says, "Blue Crew Installation." So, Jimmy's from Michigan, is a Michigan
fan. So, I do have your the hoodie that you gave me hanging up right there.
I know. I should have should have took it. It's all good. No, bro. That's not what we do.
So, Nick asks, uh, since we're working in commercial and we get the specs directly, how often do we see them
provide a full scope with all the details needed for an accurate flooring
estimate? And I think I mean, I'd say most of the time it's
not bad. Are you talking about for like in the specifications off of the
drawings and stuff like that? Yeah, like the the entire package. I'm guessing Nick, unless I'm
wrong, but so they're pretty close and I think it's is
generalized, right? But if you're looking at it, I like we know that they drag and drop from a database and
sometimes it is outdated and you got to catch and correct. But if you're talking
about like if we were doing the install and and we that way like we are the the
ones that provide that information um for for our employees and um and
sometimes we have to I don't want to say sometimes all the time I have to reread
specs because I if something changes I I need to know. Same thing Daniel does like if Daniel
finds something out, hey dude, did you know that this changed? Did you know that they're no longer making this adhesive?
It's not just that. It's just the specs in general, right? Because you'll get um
I got one right now where
it's very vague on everything that they want and then all they do is put make sure you got all the transitions
and everything needed to complete the project.
Yeah. I mean that's they put that note in there, right?
Yeah. Or or like uh what do they have? Uh be sure to use
Schlutoter transition. Okay. Okay. Like I'm just choosing the one then like
you want DK like what like what do you want me to use it? Right.
You want me to to ramp it? You want me just use machine? But I like you just got to guess at that point and I hope and hope you guess right.
functionality is what what I typ I typically choose function over
aesthetics and I'm wrong most of the time on that but I
want to make sure that our edges are protected
and just I think um going back to to Rollins question too is one thing that we always
offered was a little bit extra right where you Got guys that will go into places and then
they won't clean up. Like that's that's not my job. Well, it becomes your job,
right? Like I'm not the the construction cleaners. Yeah, but you just made a mess. So,
wipe that down real quick. Um, I mean, we were on a project where
uh a commercial project and we brought our own air scrubbers and stuff and
uh they were walking through and they were like like looking like are these your air scrubbers? I was like, "Yeah."
They were like, "Oh, like I was like, "Yeah, I I don't care about
your project that much, but I do care about the health of my guys." So, like I know it looks like a a really good thing
that I'm trying to help you guys out when really we're doing it for us, right? And not only that, right? Like,
uh, you know, what goes up must come down. Um, you know, we we start eliminating X
percentage of the dust that that's in the air and that's less dust that settles and some of the adhesives that that we have to have open time on. Um,
and also I want to go back to what Ran said and you know, you just made me think of something else. Ron, the thing that I that Daniel and I
both consciously did to set us apart from the beginning, it didn't have anything to do with logos or tools or
vans. We were straight up honest with everybody and with ourselves.
Can we can we comfortably say yes to this deadline? Can we comfortably say yes to
this install? Is this even feasible? Is it doable? Well, and if we did agree to something,
if we were like, "Yes, we can make that happen." Guess what? We were working 20
hours a day until we made it happen sometimes. Yep. Yeah. And that that we were
we were men of our word. Regardless of how much sleep we didn't get, regardless
of hours would we if if we said yes and and we had setbacks, our yes
was was our bond. Like we we did we didn't let anybody down, Ran. We we
we did let people down, but it was our family. We didn't let any clients down. I would say we let our family down as
far as time uh being spent. We said no to a lot of family events. We we
made the decision uh to put work first for a few years
and yeah it was shitty. It was and sometimes work still comes
first for a lot of things to be honest with you. But it's easier these days though with the
the way that you can work remote and stuff right where Yeah. I mean, one of the bigger projects
that we got when we were trying, you know, trying to sell more
beef full of service, I won when I was in the Bahamas. And then this last go in
during this spring break, I was down there and doing post bids from Florida.
And they're like, "You sure you wanna you sure you want to do this right now?" And it's like, yeah, man. My my kids are
asleep. Let's [laughter]
And Daniel subbed in for me because I was going to do my best, but I would had
to try to find parking with the the camper and my son would have been with me. I mean, it would have been very
professional. Probably not. But they moved the meeting and uh
I was I was in the clear for the other one. And then I started got closer and I'm like I didn't realize I'm supposed
to be leaving that morning. Like it didn't dawn on me until the Sunday before. It's like dang.
And I I think like going back to to that was a good question, Ryan, because we can talk about this, right? That's what
a lot of people need to know anyways. It's um
doing more than we were billing for
because we already had relationships with the guys that we were doing the work for. So, it was like, I know you
don't have that much into this, but if I skip this one hour or two hours of prep right here, it's not going to be right.
So, I'm just going to do it. That way, we can keep it moving. All right. We we all look bad. We all
look bad if if it doesn't pass, right? It's it's not not just
us looking bad to whom we're doing the work for or them looking bad to uh the
general contractors. We all look bad. And um
I don't like to look mad. I don't like I don't I didn't not like that. And I remember when we worked at Superior,
Dave uh Baron had asked me, "When you're out there, you know, you
you represent us, blah, blah, blah." I'm like, "You're absolutely right. I I do 100%." He said, "But I also represent
myself." And he's like, "Well, you can't be like that." I'm like, "No, I have to be like that because if I'm just going to go out
there and believe that I only represent your company, right? That means that I don't take pride in what I do on a
personal level. I don't take pride in my work. I want to take pride in my work because of what it represents for me and
then I'll go out there and work and do it for you and because because it means
more to me personally, it's going to reflect on you and your business as well, right? He just kind of looked at
me like but I was I was like really speaking from the
heart trying to like like dude like it means a lot to me to do a great job. I
want it to to keep meaning a lot to me, right? And if if it always means a lot to me, guess what? I work for you. You
will benefit from that, brother. Like, yeah. That's why, you know, looking back on it, we parted
ways from working with some of the other flooring companies because uh they came in and said, "Just do it.
We don't care what's going to happen. They just need it done." And it's like
this is when we were doing a lot of school work and it's like I can't do that
to the school because to just try and make them think that everything's going to be okay until that year warranty is
up. Then it's going to be like, "Oh, now we got to charge to come fix whatever should have been done right in the first
place." Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we just got a a phone call from a project we did three
almost four years ago, right? We just had a very quick conversation three years ago, wasn't it?
No, 2023. Yeah. Three years. Well, it was going to
be almost four years ago, but very quick conversation and he's like, "What' you
say? Let's just take care of it." Like, "We're just going to do it. Just fix it.
Let's just fix it." So, we're going to fix it, right? Are we
past our our labor warranty? Yeah. Do we know what's going on? Nope. I can
speculate by pictures, but I haven't visited the site yet. Can almost tell you what's going on just
by the pictures, but it don't matter. We we want to build
we want to build a lasting and maintain lasting relationship. So, we'll just take care of it. And that's that
integrity thing, Ran. That uh being honest, right? being honest with ourselves and
I can try to nickel and dime everybody if they call me back for repairs and stuff that that we've done. Um even if
it's their fault that things have failed, but you know I I'm in a different position
now than I was when I might have done the install through another company years ago or um we're trying to maintain
because we do have a lasting relationship. Um,
and that that's where all of that stems from. I just
tell people all the time, if I wouldn't put it in my mom's house, I'm not going to put it in yours. Right.
The stuff I put we put in my mom's house is still there, still lasted.
Would I do things different now? Yeah, I sure would. Technologies changed since we've done it.
You already learned a couple more things. We learned a couple more things. We
learned pressure sensitive is going to let the LBT shrink when it's by the windows.
[laughter] Yeah. At a much faster rate.
Yeah. It's all good.
But I think I mean the one of the the bigger things is
when we were going into these projects and um you know one that really stands
out and you got to remember we were labor only for a long time. Um and these
companies are you know now calling us to do these projects. And there was
one of, you know, one of our first projects was I was doing a bunch of herring bone LBT
and the, you know, the the guy on site, the GC came up to me
and he's like, "Hey, I need you to do half of this at a time." I said, "I can't." He's like, "Oh, no. You're going
to do half of this at a time." And I said, "Okay." And then he walked away. And then I
caution taped everything off and did everything at the same time. And by the time he came back to check on
everything, it was already done. And he was like, "You really just did all that?" I was like, "Yeah, I told you I
couldn't do it half at a time."
Yep. I I already know what project and everything, too, because
you talking about the hallway. Mhm.
And some of that is because people don't understand the process, right? They don't understand that like if we start and we stop uh on something like that,
especially when when the floor is doing this and we have a lot of cuts, it's it's not a
let me just slap some glue down and plug these pieces in. It's
there's a lot more to it, right? You got to lay it, you got to space it, you got to scrape the adhesive off or straight
and dry lay everything, trace it, and then glue to it. like there's a lot more work involved,
especially when you're doing long runs like that. Every time I I I hear think of that, I
think of him, I think of O'Shea Hennessy, the skip from Oshak Hennessy.
Yeah. Oshak Hennessy. But yeah, I mean then on another project
we were on um it wasn't anything that we did, but it was the concrete was pretty out of
whack. And I'm helping him troubleshoot things that's not even in our scope. And
he's like he's like, "Do you think that this concrete's ready?" And I said, "No." "Well, how do you know?" I said,
"It's half inch different from where I'm standing and where you're standing." This dude went and got a straight edge
and measured and it was exactly a half inch. I probably couldn't do that again if I wanted to. And he just was like,
"How the hell did you do that?" I was like, "Dude, it's just And there's no other way to explain it than I can just
feel it with my feet." Dude, so remember when I tell people they're like, "Why do you keep dragging
your feet?" And I was like, "I wasn't not dragging my feet when I walk a job for the first time." I I do. I I I drag
my heels when I'm walking and and I don't know, I'm [clears throat] weird
like that, I guess, but I drag my heels and and you can when you do that, you can feel everything, right? And you tell
people like, "All right, well, that's the low side, that's the high side." And sometimes you can visually see it depending on who's doing the uh um
like the mill work and stuff like that or the carpentry, right? because they're going to go straight or level like and
scribe. But yeah, that's a that's that experience
there, right? That long-term experience where walk around like an old man, shuffle a
little bit, trip over some high spots mentally uh or make those mental notes
so you can remedy it. Hey, check that out right there. It felt a little high to me. Or check check those control
joints out. Um, we might have to get the grinder or for sure go get the grinder.
Yeah, for sure go get the grinder. Don't bring Jeremy. And if Jeremy was listening to this, he probably already
been like, "Hey, go grab the grinder."
But those are the things that you practice when you're um when you're putting your label on it,
right? Your your name on it. And sometimes your name is just your name.
Um, you know, not everyone refers to every single uh installer as the floor
guy, right? Oh, those are the floor guys, right? I don't want to be called the floor guy. I wanted I wanted them to
know my first name. Hey, you know, my name's Jose. We're here with, you know, so and so that we're doing the work for.
Um, that's who I represent. Oh, but it doesn't say that on your shirt. Yeah, I know it doesn't say that on my shirt,
but that's who we represent, right? But I didn't leave with hey I'm from
whatever. My name is Jose from Right. That's intentional.
You know what else we did in the beginning? We wouldn't wear other people's shirts.
Correct. And man, we were asked so much and it's
just like no. It's like my van's pulling up. It's my
people out there. We're going to wear our stuff if any questions are asked. Yes, we're here
as your partner, right? I'm not gonna, like you were saying before, I'm not
going to come in and say, "Hey, I'm with Preferred Floring." It's, "Hey, I'm with this company." Cuz that's who you work
you're doing the job for. And if any questions come up, it's, yeah, we're partners. They're hiring us to do this.
And that's the thing is with um us being one of those industries that is ran on
1099s anyways and everyone's a contractor, it it's going to happen more often than not.
It is. And hey Denise, stay safe with the the storms over there.
Jorge does say hose with an H. Is that Jose? Jose.
Somebody's name starts with letter H. Jose. Good answer. [laughter] Good answer. Good answer.
Couldn't even look at the board. Good answer. Um
is is just making those introductions like that and and making sure that you're representing everybody the right
way. Um because they have a reputation too. And and it wasn't that uh you said something
that made me think about the way I word it. It's like we do we don't I've never
I did used to say we do all of their work, right? We do you know x% of their commercial work. Um and then another way
to look at it is uh is like you said the partner like um we are trusted to take care of this
work for them. We are trusted to do this type of work. You know that's that's a relationship. It's not we do the work.
It's we trust one another. Right. And even now there's plenty of
times where we talk to other companies and they're like, "Man, I really wanted this project." And we've been on that side too, right? And then you talk to
the people and then it's not like, "Man, I really wanted that project." It it's always now it's a, you know, thanks for
the opportunity for that one. I really wanted it but didn't get it, but let me know when you got something else.
Yeah. Hey, every every um every success
is an opportunity. Every every failure is an opportunity. Every mistake, anytime when you get an opportunity to
go and help uh a fellow installer or another trade partner is an opportunity,
right? It might not necessarily be an opportunity for you or your company, but it's an opportunity for you to help
someone else look good. uh to help someone else uh remedy something. Um
which in turn makes the team look good. And when the team looks good, they start trusting that team. And you'll likely
get called upon again um either by the general contractor, the person who hired
you, a homeowner, business owner, another flooring company. um just hold yourself to to if you
[clears throat] hold yourself to a higher standard and you consistently do your best to reach and meet those
standards, it gets a lot easier and people will recognize that. And
that's the end of that rant for you guys. That's that's where I'm coming. That's
coming from a good place. That's coming from my heart. is coming from the thought process
uh from from day one as as an employee and to an owner. That's coming from that
thought process. I don't think I've ever once thought of
how much can I squeeze out of these people? How much can I get? What am I worth to doubt?
Never. Well, I mean, we talk about it all the time where I had that mindset and you set me straight pretty quick, right? And
but that goes back to the whole we can have a whole podcast episode on why
people think the way they do. Take it easy, Ran. Appreciate you, man.
Thank you for joining. And uh Ryan, we missed the meeting the other day, brother. I I didn't I was on the
meeting. Oh, were you? Yeah. I got yelled at for having my AI noteaker on there.
Rod. Actually, it wasn't Rod. It was uh Did you have the notes?
Yeah, I got them. Yes. Can you send them to me so I can review that? Let it play in the background while the market
we had. We were actually It's not recorded. I just have the notes. That's fine. Yeah, but I can push read
and speak. We were actually in a game during that meeting. I forgot about the hour
difference.
Yeah, I'll send that over to you. But it's like, so when you were
saying that, it just reminds me of, and I always go back to Simon Synynic, right, where he's like, there's always all these books on self-help, but
there's no books on help other people. And when you start looking at that and
it's like especially on on jobs and we took a long time to get there too right where before
it's what I need what I need what I need and then once you start looking at it as
everyone on that job site is there for the same reason you all got to get the
same stuff done then it's like all right electrician guy let me get this area
right now and you can have this whole area tomorrow and then I mean sometimes we do spin it in way where it makes it
seem like um we're helping them out more, but in reality it's like but then I get this
whole area right now and then I don't have to worry about it later. Yeah. Patience, man.
He said I Rollins said I didn't get get yelled at. Don picked on me. Don always
picks on me.
But it is man. And you got to look out for everyone. We're all here for the same things. You're all on the jobs to
to do the same same thing. You got to give the officials Sometimes
you got to offer the officials water, right? On these hot summer days, right? Maybe maybe they'll they'll give you a a
close call in your favor. Well, that's why you need an Erica. You need an Erica on every team where
there's a close call and she'll be the loudest one out there. Safe. And then they'll be like like they were about to
go like this and they're like like yeah Erica keeping up. Yeah. Suggestive Sy. Yeah dude.
Just so you know like I think it's funny to do that but like on every every play
it gets gets a little annoying.
No Erica and Tanya are great umpires.
great parent umpires. Someone's got to do it.
Someone's got to be the voice of reason and that's gonna be me right now because I know that we've coming up to that hour.
Yeah, [laughter] Ashlin.
Oh, what's up? Okay, dude. I don't even know what a liver stone is, but I'm so sorry that your
wife is going through that cuz it sounds horrible. It's like a kidney stone but in the
liver. Calcium build [clears throat] up. How do you even pass that?
Like at least the kidney stone is going to hurt it. Hurt you all the way out.
I'm going have to Sorry, man. I hope she uh she gets through that.
Yeah, for sure. Now I'm going to have to Google it cuz I've never heard of that. So, I'm going have to check it out.
Right. Again, thank you guys for uh always joining in.
Gotta give give the shout out to the NFCT.
Um just was talking to Scott. I think he was texting me yesterday about um trying
to get a class going. So, we got to still set that up. And then divergent
adhesives. Thank you guys for for always supporting. and then Pro Installer
Magazine in. And this is one thing where it's like it's a they're they're a partner with
us. We want to to get people over there so that you guys can learn some stuff, you know, if you want to write some
articles. I used to be on that side, too. And then I wrote a few and um then I got too busy
and same. I I need I do need to start taking some more time out to uh put more out in the
industry. But I mean, they're they're a great resource. And if you have that
that knowledge, share it there, share it here. That's why we appreciate everyone that's uh listening.
Yep. So, hit that like button, subscribe if you haven't already, share. If you don't like it, give us a thumbs down
and share it. And tell everybody to give us a thumbs down after you share it.
Oh, wait. My my tablet. Does it work on here? No.
All right, guys. We'll see you guys next week. Thank you, everyone.
