00:00:00:19 – 00:00:19:23
so safety is one of those things that you always have to have at the forefront of your mind. And whether you’re, you know, you have chemicals that are being mixed with other chemicals or you have, you know, sharp edges or you have knives or saw blades or all kinds of, you know, dangerous things that are going on.

00:00:19:25 – 00:00:24:23
You got to be concerned with safety, and you have to have safety at the forefront of your mind.

00:00:24:23 – 00:01:22:09
Welcome to the Builder Hacks podcast, your go to destination for cutting edge strategies, time tested systems, and invaluable insights to revolutionize your construction business and elevate your life. Join your host, Nate Piper and Keith Mills. Seasoned contractors who are not just in the trenches, but are also pioneering the future of the industry through Concord University. In each episode, we dive deep into the minds of the industry’s most accomplished building professionals, uncovering their secrets to success and sharing actionable tips to help you thrive. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just starting out, our goal is to empower you to build a brighter future for yourself and for America. Tune in. Level up and let’s build a better tomorrow together. This is the Builder Hacks podcast. Build your future. Building America.

00:01:22:09 – 00:01:34:28
And in this week or actually it’s a continuation. It’s a part two. So of the conversation that Nate and I had, last week, we were having a conversation about the rewards of the construction industry now.

00:01:35:01 – 00:01:55:03
And just like anything, there’s always two sides to any coin. and the other side is when you’ve got rewards, there’s going to be challenges, too. and we always like to give fair airtime to everything just for the fact that, hey, you might as well go into this eyes wide open. we’re not about to go ahead and say, hey, everything’s awesome in the industry and there’s there’s nothing you’ve got to worry about because that’s not the case.

00:01:55:03 – 00:02:08:05
And any choice that you make in life. So there’s always things that are good and there’s always things that may be more of a challenge for you. And that’s what we’re gonna talk about this week. we did, last time we kind of went back and forth. So as far as seeing how many of these we can get named.

00:02:08:07 – 00:02:30:25
So and I’m going to go ahead and put the same challenge out to Nate again for this week. With the challenges, how many of you think we can go ahead and get on the challenge side of things? So for the industry, well, we got 15, last week 15 rewards. Yep. 15 good things I would say we can get 16 this week.

00:02:30:28 – 00:02:50:19
I would love it more for one more. Get it one more. Yeah. All right. That will break it up. So all right that that works I’m up for that challenge. Let’s make it happen. Okay. All right. You got it. You kick it off. Yeah, I’ll kick it off. All right. so one of the biggest challenges that the industry is facing right now.

00:02:50:24 – 00:03:12:19
And the challenge is labor shortage. And so that is probably the biggest challenge in the industry today, which is only a challenge for the people that are in it, the people that are going to come in, you have free reign to come in and pick out what you want. But for the people that are in it, right? Labor shortage is what I am screaming at.

00:03:12:19 – 00:03:33:25
The top of my lungs from the top of the mountain, trying to get anybody to understand and listen to, because these are the things that are affecting everything. and I’m sure in a later episode we’ll kind of go into kind of some statistics on labor shortage, but labor shortage is the number one, you know, challenge that the entire industry is feeling.

00:03:34:00 – 00:04:03:03
And it’s not just it’s not just construction. It’s not just remodel. It’s not just plumbers, electricians or framers or carpenters or pipe players or tile guys. It’s the entire industry. And then it goes into the next layer of industries where you’re having guys that are doing or or ladies that are doing physical labor or having to transport things from one place to the other, you know, like warehouse work and things of that.

00:04:03:05 – 00:04:31:08
So my, my number one is labor shortage by far. you know, I’m right there with you. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. And it’s one of the things that Nate and I, one of the, one of the big things we connected on right away. So it was recognizing there is that shortage and recognizing that then it also becomes down to getting people trained, coming into the industry in the right way, because you start to over time, you start to lose like the people who have been in the industry and have the knowledge and the the tips and the tricks to make things easier, better, faster.

00:04:31:10 – 00:04:50:17
So across the board, and when you start to lose those people that are handing their information down to the next generation. So that information becomes lost information and that’s that’s a challenge. One of the reasons why we’ve gone ahead and created Concord University because of that fact, that’s part of that mission, is to be able to train people to a consistent level, to be able to perform, across the industry in a way that we’re all happy with.

00:04:50:17 – 00:05:26:08
So, yeah, I definitely agree. Labor shortage is huge, huge piece. Oh, no question about it. now here’s the first one that popped into my head. So on this stuff, Nate. And it’s actually it’s funny because it was one of the rewards too. So is technology advancements. So technology in this industry. And I only think that because of the fact that a lot of the people have been in the industry for a long time, like I’m someone who brings new tech in all the time, even just simple things like, we go ahead and use Trello as one of the things that we use for, job site communications and where we house our spreadsheets

00:05:26:08 – 00:05:41:28
and things like that, like we’re doing we’ve got a system where we have QR codes for the color pages or color sheets that we have, and we put the QR codes on the job site, because we can put those up in every room and makes it easy. Then whoever comes in just scanning the QR code knows what their stuff is that goes in there, and they know exactly what’s going on.

00:05:42:02 – 00:05:57:04
Like those technology pieces that you go ahead and start implementing. those are the simple ones. That’s just a hey, you’ve got to learn how to use this. So even then it’s like you scan the QR code, you have to be able to read the spreadsheet then. And a lot of the people in the industry are familiar with spreadsheets.

00:05:57:04 – 00:06:22:13
If you’ve been in if they’ve been in the industry for 30 years plus, that was never one of their strong suits. that maybe one of the reasons why they’re in the industry itself, which is fine. and it’s getting them up to speed on that. And it’s going to be the same thing like me drones coming in, which means you have to have people that know how to fly a drone so you don’t go ahead and smash it through something, whenever it’s out in the field, you know, or any new equipment that you’ve got, that’s going to be out there, you know, like we talked about even in, like the with

00:06:22:13 – 00:06:46:17
the earthmovers and things like that, for the guys to do heavy equipment, things like that, like all of that stuff anymore is so related. So you’ve got to know how to go ahead and get all those systems to work together effectively, to be able to even operate the machine in the way it’s supposed to be operated. so that’s definitely that’s one of the challenges then, is having people who are willing to accept that technology and embrace the technology even more so, because it does make the job easier overall.

00:06:46:17 – 00:07:15:13
It’s just it’s that change piece. So, a lot of people are people, so they like what they know. They like doing things that they’re comfortable with. And when you stretch them outside their comfort zone, sometimes there’s some resistance to that. Well, I will tell you that, it is a big challenge for me personally. I feel like I’m a young person with an old soul that came into this industry learning from from dinosaurs and, I used to joke all the time that you give me a laptop, I’ll figure out how to balance a table.

00:07:15:13 – 00:07:36:23
And it was great back in the day because everybody laughed laughing like, oh yeah, and they’ll say, and the people look at me like, how do you balance a table with a laptop? But I’m like, oh God, I can’t even make this joke anymore. and so it’s been it’s been a challenge for me, to be honest. I mean, I, I’m still not good at technology.

00:07:36:25 – 00:07:53:08
but I’m embracing it, and I and I take it in stride, and I find people around me, they can help me with me. like, I still haven’t figured out how to forward my own emails. but I keep trying. I get all screwed up. And that, I call it one of the guys be like, hey, come in here.

00:07:53:10 – 00:08:10:27
And he’s like, talking to you. And he comes in, he’s like, how do I fix this? And he was like, move out of the way. Click, click, click. And it’s done out the door. Exactly. Yeah. Embrace it. It’s probably the biggest challenge for me. And you know, one of the things I really like for people to come in and work for me is that they give me some slack.

00:08:10:27 – 00:08:33:11
And I understand, like, I didn’t grow up in this world, right? I didn’t grow up with an iPad and iPhone in my hand when I was a baby. And so give, give me a little grace, right? yeah. So, so. But I’m right there with you. I think, you know, technology advancements is a great thing. Yeah, but some people, it takes a while to get caught up with the technology.

00:08:33:11 – 00:08:55:15
And if we didn’t start at the same starting spot, obviously there’s some there’s some gaps that have to be filled. Yeah I agree. So, my mind is going to be, probably safety concerns. Right. Okay. because whenever you get on to a job, there’s all kinds of dangerous things kind of going on around you, right?

00:08:55:15 – 00:09:08:18
And you’ve got things that are moving and flying and and what I mean by flying, like little things that are really fiery. If you’ve got a crane and you’re lifting things and it’s moving and all these,

00:09:08:18 – 00:09:27:22
so safety is one of those things that you always have to have at the forefront of your mind. And whether you’re, you know, you have chemicals that are being mixed with other chemicals or you have, you know, sharp edges or you have knives or saw blades or all kinds of, you know, dangerous things that are going on.

00:09:27:24 – 00:09:47:11
You got to be concerned with safety, and you have to have safety at the forefront of your mind at all times. So that is a challenge. and definitely. And you’re right, it’s an inherent risk. So in the industry, there’s always no matter what position, no matter what industry or and there’s a certain amount of it. and you just have to be aware and that’s really the big thing.

00:09:47:11 – 00:10:05:22
And I think one of the big challenges that happens when it comes to that, that safety piece is that even when you’ve been in the industry for a long time, the challenge is you can become lackadaisical with it. and I always think of like me being up on a roof and that, you know, whenever I was back in my 20s run, I literally be running around on the roof and wouldn’t think twice about it.

00:10:05:24 – 00:10:25:29
now, whenever I step onto a roof. So there’s at least a little pause now and you become and literally start running through checklist of things to go ahead and keep myself safe while I’m up there, to make sure that I’m good, you know, and I pay more attention to those pieces now. And a lot of times when you hear about the accidents and stuff, it’s because people get lackadaisical with the the things that are out there for your safety.

00:10:26:01 – 00:10:41:16
And if you’re not using them so you can really down unfortunately it can lead to tragic consequences that that’s what it comes down to. But yeah I mean it just know what it is. So pay attention. have your proper safety equipment on I mean I do everything that you possibly can and you’re going to be okay.

00:10:41:18 – 00:10:59:15
That was what it comes down to. As long as you follow those procedures as much as you can. And everyone that’s on the job sites following those two, well, it’s one of the reasons why we do safety protocols and safety meetings consistently. you know, because they we want everybody to be safe and not have to go to the hospital.

00:10:59:17 – 00:11:20:25
You know, that’s what’s always bad. Yeah. No matter what. I think one of the big things now, and it popped into my head because of where we’re at right now in the economy. So in some uncertainty. So with a lot of people that are out there, well, is, something could be a challenge in the industry is economic fluctuations just the ups and the downs so of normal economies.

00:11:20:25 – 00:11:43:17
And it’s funny because we’re saying this today and we’ve had such a boom for such a long time, and there’s so many people have come into the industry like, oh no, it’s always booming. Oh, no, Nate and I have seen cycles. There’s no question about it. and you just learned that that’s part of the industry. And whenever it comes down to it, you know, whenever the economy does cycle, there’s certain trades that we always say are really good to be in.

00:11:43:19 – 00:11:58:08
you’ve got your trades like your Hvac, you got, you know, the air conditioning goes out in Florida in the middle of the summertime. It doesn’t matter what it costs or where you’re at financially, you’ll figure out a way to get it paid for. Yeah. so certain industries like that are a little, a little more resilient. So a little less sensitive to this.

00:11:58:14 – 00:12:24:11
So but I mean, for me, as a contractor, you definitely get people that are paying more attention to the money and people who will put off doing projects because of the fact that, oh, well, I just don’t have it right now, you know? And that’s so you get in this industry, you get to know that, and it’s one of the big things that I try to teach everybody is because when things are booming, you always I always love to see that business partners come rolling up in their brand new lifted up pickup trucks.

00:12:24:16 – 00:12:44:03
So every bell and whistle that they can possibly have on it. And then the usual conversation is you are going ahead and putting money away for the rainy day. Right. And that didn’t all go into this vehicle. Correct. Well, because I know whenever everything happened, 2007 2008, oh, you had people that lost. I mean, they lost everything because of the fact that they were living that way.

00:12:44:03 – 00:13:08:14
They had bought all kinds of extra equipment that they truly didn’t need, because they had money. and it’s like, hey, you got a plan for when things are going to change. So they will at some point, it’s just the it’s gone. The only thing is the degree of how much it actually changes. and but it’s definitely something it’s always better to plan for it, not ever need it than be set up the other way and be living right to the edge every day and have the typical economic fluctuation come in and you’re like, oh darn.

00:13:08:17 – 00:13:36:09
So in your whole life changes. Well, it’s one of the things that I, I don’t know, I kind of go against the grain. Right. So and the good times I squirreled away and in the bad times I spent like crazy. Well, and that’s in that part that you’re talking about. That’s the time where you can like, especially if you’re buying equipment and things like that and trucks and, you know, if you’re doing things like that, you know, grading and things like that, you go and buy bobcats and front end loaders and then you go ahead and buy the heavy equipment and you can get tremendous deals.

00:13:36:11 – 00:14:08:25
Well, but that’s why you squirrel the money away, you squirrel it away. And then I’m even taking it one step further, where I’m looking at hiring in the in the load times too, because you can get some great people that are in transition between, between industries and or between careers and really be able to pick them up and, and provide a life form where you now have instead of to be able to pay for them, whereas before they’re comfortable in whatever role and responsibility that they’re doing.

00:14:08:27 – 00:14:27:13
But then that sets you up for success, for when you come back in, you already have good, solid, successful people ready to ramp back in to the other side. So, I mean, what it’s talking about is like you’re going out and finding a players. So that’s what happens because you’ll have people that didn’t plan for they’ve got to let their players go.

00:14:27:18 – 00:14:46:03
Exactly. Ends up being an opportunity for you and the opportunity for the A player because they get a new landing spot and they can come in and still continue to have a job, continue to work and you get some great talent on that side of things. So that’s another reason why just be prepared. So know that these things can come have that money set aside because you can do an awful lot of moves.

00:14:46:08 – 00:15:02:01
That’s literally where some of the most successful companies come from. It’s always being ready whenever that opportunity shows up, when the downturn shows up, because they’re able to step into it. So hire the right people, buy the right equipment, go buy buildings and things like that that they wouldn’t have normally gone ahead and bought because the world goes on sale.

00:15:02:04 – 00:15:28:02
one of the big like what Nate’s talking about is having that contrarian viewpoint. That was whenever things are going bad, that’s whenever you should be buying the most what was what it comes down to. That’s it. All right. Let’s see. Number five. I’m gonna go with regulations. Those were always challenges. And that was probably one because I’ve got one as a thorn in my side right now.

00:15:28:06 – 00:16:02:05
And I’ll just kind of give you a brief recap and, and, because we’re gonna talk about this earlier, but, so I’ve got, I’ve got a natural home builder who’s building a home and, and they’re being held up by a city inspector on regulations because of, you know, the quality of lumber that was given to them for, you know, framing a house and I won’t go into all the specifics, but the reality of it is, is that some of the challenges that you face is that you have to go through the red tape to be able to get things accomplished.

00:16:02:07 – 00:16:17:05
And part of that, you know, is that you have building inspectors that have quite a bit of power, and then they’re being controlled by a board or city manager who’s then setting regulations in place, whether they’re.

00:16:17:05 – 00:16:26:08
Warranted or not, they have that authority to then set the regulations. And then the, you know, the inspectors have to follow regulations and then the people that are doing it.

00:16:26:08 – 00:16:58:10
So there is challenges within those regulations that, that you have to overcome. And so especially if you start getting into environmental regulations where we’re talking about before, you know, having environmental impact on communities, you know, can be high regulation kind of components. So I think regulations as a whole is a challenge. And I think if we go deeper, getting into environmental regulations, could be a another big challenge all to itself.

00:16:58:10 – 00:17:18:27
So those are yeah. But definitely agree on that side. I mean, I know for a lot of stuff that we do since we’ve got so much water down here, whether it’s the lakes and or being out on the Gulf or on the ocean, there’s a whole different set of rules. So to go with that, with the lakes, the rivers that, I mean, and those are things that you want to pay attention to, and they’re always changing is what it comes down to.

00:17:18:29 – 00:17:30:02
and that’s there’s been times where we haven’t built something on a, on a lake or done any renovations on a lake in a year or two in a certain area, and then all of a sudden you go in there and it’s like, Holy cow. So you feel like you just got left behind is what ended up happening.

00:17:30:09 – 00:17:46:29
And and you did to a certain degree. So because they change so fast and they don’t necessarily change across the board, they can change specifically in a municipality, let alone across the county or even the state. so there’s so many different moving parts, constant piece that you’ve got to stay on top.

00:17:46:29 – 00:17:51:23
Thing, even in two communities are beside each other.

00:17:51:23 – 00:18:16:20
You may have entirely different rules. Yeah. All right. so I would say one of the big things that people want to think about construction in the construction industry is a lot of the, the, a lot of this is outside or outdoors, meaning outside of conditioned working conditions, which a lot of people know. If you love working in air conditioning and heated spaces that are nice and comfortable for you, this is not the industry guaranteed.

00:18:16:22 – 00:18:30:16
in Florida, you know, we don’t get the extreme cold. Although for all of us down here, you know, you get into the 30s and 40s, that’s considered extreme cold for us. whenever it comes down to we get the heat, there’s no question about it. You’re in the 90s, you’ve got high humidity, and that’s six months of our year.

00:18:30:22 – 00:18:47:17
So not to mention the storms that come through and things like that, you’ve got to be able to go ahead and you know, and if you’re up in and I lived in the northeast, you get the cold weather. So, you know, and you get the all day rains. Whereas down here, typically the rain blows in and blows out, it’s just different working conditions is what it comes down to.

00:18:47:23 – 00:19:07:08
And that weather. So it does affect you suppose, especially if you’re in one of the outdoor trades. So you know, the framers, the concrete guys, the roofers, the exterior finishes, people know all of those people are definitely affected by that. Some of the interior trades can get away with it without as much. Even then, though, most of them set up outside as far as their workspace goes.

00:19:07:08 – 00:19:23:10
So it still goes. I had an affection. definitely something to consider. one of your components. You’ve got to be able to handle that so as long as you can. And that’s actually for me, it’s one of the things that I like as it’s being outside. that’s something that for me is a draw. for some people they don’t.

00:19:23:11 – 00:19:41:00
If you’re, if that person that you want, like I said, you want AC or you want, heat all the time and to be that perfect 7070 whatever degrees it is for you. this is not going to be the industry for you, so no question about it. Well, weather is always a challenge. And, I’m like you, I, I, I enjoy being outside.

00:19:41:00 – 00:20:02:01
I mean, it’s one of the, it’s one of the, the, the perks for me. So but with that being said, I am constantly watching the weather I have. I have got two weather apps that I watch and look at probably three times a day, right. My local weather and kind of what’s going on there, like where I’m at, specifically what’s going on with my job site.

00:20:02:04 – 00:20:24:09
Yep. But then I also have another app called My Radar, where I’m watching storms as they’re moving and coming in and like, is this going to be here in two hours? Is this going to be here in ten hours? What do I need to get covered? What I need to get protect what it what you know, because when you’re working with, you know, outside being able to look in and guide the weather and kind of be ahead of it, is a big part of the game.

00:20:24:09 – 00:20:44:17
And so, it is a challenge, but it’s a challenge. I like fighting. So and that’s and that’s right, with the tools that are out there now see Nate does it. Go ahead. And I’m telling you I’m coming along. I’m, you know, but that’s it. Having the I like I, I, I’m the same way Nate is I’ve got one that gives you the weather forecast, and I’ve got another one that’s the radar.

00:20:44:19 – 00:20:58:24
and we’re always especially as storm season comes down here because you can’t predict it. A lot of times you can see how it’s moving across and like, all right, you have another half an hour before you better go ahead and get things covered up, wrapped up. So put away whatever the kids tied down. Exactly. Well, all right, you’re up.

00:20:58:24 – 00:21:28:00
Nate. well, we’re going to go with the complexity of weather and how we interact with that. Let’s go with project complexity. You know, sometimes sometimes you have more than one project going on at a time, and sometimes you better have more than one project going on at the time, or you’re not in business doing. Good point. So you got to be able to juggle these different projects and that these at these different, stages of the project.

00:21:28:02 – 00:21:53:28
and you’re dealing with scope and scale and you’re dealing with material and labor and you’re dealing with, you know, your weather conditions, and there’s a lot of project complexity that kind of comes into each one. And when you have multiple ones, you’re going into multiple complexity issues. And so you have to be flexible and you have to be able to, absorb all of this information and make the right decisions.

00:21:53:28 – 00:22:11:16
So project complexity is another big challenge that I think everybody faces. Right. And def I agree with you when it comes to the jobs. And it’s like any nice positions, there’s a lot more that we actually take on ourselves, meaning that we’re watching what’s going on even when we have a team that’s managing that. The details on the job site in the day.

00:22:11:23 – 00:22:30:07
So we’re the ones looking at the big picture of how do all of these pieces fit together? How do we maneuver labor effectively to make everything happen? Because whenever you’re running, you know, six, seven, ten jobs, and everybody needs an electrician today. Well, and your electrician is a three man company. They’re not going to be in all those places, so it’s not possible.

00:22:30:09 – 00:22:45:20
so you start figuring out, all right, which one, which one can I get in that they can either move the fastest or which one needs to be in the house, because that one has to get done. Just because that’s that project is a higher priority for getting taken care of. it definitely takes some, some time planning.

00:22:45:23 – 00:23:03:02
and with that project complexity, a lot of times will come some stress. Well, that’s just what ends up happening. so you’ve got to be able to handle that part too. All right. one of the big things that we’ve seen, and we always see this in industry, there’s some things that that they bring out is the latest and greatest thing in the industry.

00:23:03:08 – 00:23:21:23
So and then find out that it’s not the, the greatest thing and might have been the latest thing. and like what I’m thinking up here. So it’s there’s difference is aging and infrastructure I guess is kind of aging and products. So that are involved. And I think like we just did a big renovation in an area called College Park in Orlando, older community.

00:23:21:25 – 00:23:37:12
So a lot of houses are being redone right now. And whenever you go out and redo those houses, a lot of them had cast iron pipes for the sewer lines and everything like that. And it’s like, I’ll get homeowners to look ahead and say, well, you know, they know about it because it’s been, publicized enough. So the cast iron can be a challenge.

00:23:37:20 – 00:23:53:08
And it’s one of those pieces. Where will it break down over time and guaranteed it’ll break down in time? What is that amount of time? I wonder if you look at it and we were doing a big renovation in College Park, and we were. We’re redoing the whole house. We’re reconfiguring multiple things, and it’s like, they’re like, well, do we need to worry about this?

00:23:53:08 – 00:24:09:08
And we’re like, you have the house ripped up. Now this is your chance to go ahead and do it and just be done with it. And then you go ahead instead of going ahead and leaving the cast iron pipes, we went ahead and replaced them. So with PVC because obviously that’s that’s the latest and greatest and has been for a long time now as far as that park goes.

00:24:09:10 – 00:24:28:17
and they don’t have the same deterioration challenges like the cast iron does over time. but whenever you start looking at things like that for aging infrastructure, that becomes a challenge because you know, just going ahead and redoing those pieces. I also think of worn water since we’re talking plumbing, poly butyl plumbing lines. So are the latest and greatest at one point to replace copper supposedly.

00:24:28:19 – 00:24:43:24
and copper is still here and, you know, by the insurance companies, they’re making you rip it out if you’ve got it and they know about it. So if you go to buy a new house and you’ve got Politburo Plumbing, they’ll make you rip Piper, make, make you or have you talk to the seller about the house being ripped.

00:24:43:27 – 00:24:57:12
So before they’ll go ahead and ensure the house, and those are just some of the things that end up happening that’s on the residential side. And then on commercial side, you look at things like bridges and roads and things like that. Those things are always breaking down, just because they’re out in the weather. So they’re and they’re being utilized.

00:24:57:12 – 00:25:17:07
So they’re going to break down, so that aging infrastructure, it it’s a good thing because it means there’s always things for us to do. So, but it’s it’s a challenge for the industry in itself because obviously we’re looking to make things. And I know part of our goal is to give something for my homeowners. That’s the lowest maintenance possible and last the longest in the condition that we install it originally.

00:25:17:09 – 00:25:47:03
so those are some of the big pieces that we always look at, whenever it comes out. So the aging infrastructure just creates challenges on both our end in there. And yeah, I think aging infrastructure is probably one of the biggest challenges that any, remodel or reconfiguration or renovation that’s going on. That’s one of the biggest, biggest issues that you face because you are taking something that’s been used, probably probably been abused during its, you know, its life cycle.

00:25:47:03 – 00:26:12:04
And so now you have to fit it in with the new technology because the old technology is no longer available. All right. And so I think that’s it’s a great it’s a great challenge to kind of, All right, what are we on number nine. Yeah I think at the end we’re at nine now. So that’s for, you know, workplace diversity I think is another challenge.

00:26:12:04 – 00:26:40:20
And this is isn’t, this isn’t a political kind of, component when I say diversity. But, you know, I mean, I don’t know, I’m just gonna get into the overhead, right? You know, the workplace diversity, meaning you have to work with, you know, different people. Right? And sometimes that’s a challenge. Right? And especially if you speak different languages and you don’t speak the same language or you don’t understand the same words.

00:26:40:22 – 00:27:03:02
And so, you know, plumbing is different than electrical and framing is different than drywall. And, and painting is different than, you know, concrete. Right. So you have all of these diversified people, coming together to create one project or to work on one project together. And each one has their own kind of crews and people that they work with on a regular basis.

00:27:03:02 – 00:27:35:16
And communication. And so sometimes they have to interact with one another and they might be of different nationality. They might be, you know, have different languages, they might have, you know, these different things. And so getting all of these different people to work together and to understand each other, is a challenge. I know that I’ve faced it, multiple times where, you know, and been this is kind of how I had to end up learning that different countries and different cultures, don’t really like each other.

00:27:35:16 – 00:28:07:26
Right. And so and it has nothing to do with the project that just happens to do with whatever happened previous in their lifetime. And, and being able to come and be a mediator was was the challenging part in that situation. But, you know, you get multiple people on the same project. you know there is some diversity there and you have to recognize it and just say, hey, look, we might all be different, but we’re all come together for one common goal, which is to get this project done and everybody to get paid.

00:28:07:29 – 00:28:29:23
and so being able to put aside our differences is, is, is a challenge sometimes. And you’re right. It can be I, I, I remember you, you were talking about how you act as that, intermediary. Yeah. Mediator. So either way, between that and it’s funny because, where I grew up, the majority of my, the Hispanic population came from one country.

00:28:29:26 – 00:28:48:20
Oh, when I was growing up, when I moved to Florida, you had a a multiple different, Latino communities coming together. and one of my first job sites I was on down here. Yeah. You had the painters were one, one ethnicity. So. And then the it was the painters and the stucco guys, so were the other, and they were two entirely different.

00:28:48:20 – 00:29:03:21
And it’s like they had the song, they had beef with each other because they had never even worked on the same job site together at the same time. Yeah. So yeah, they came in with that challenge of whatever happened in their their history, what they’ve learned, what’s been passed down to them. And it’s like it is it’s like, get it all working together.

00:29:03:21 – 00:29:19:18
I mean, and the same thing like I’m I’m in the South now. So you’ve got the good old boys down here, the rednecks, as we call them, in the state of Florida. So along with those rednecks. So yeah, they didn’t they didn’t like the fact that everybody else was coming in and stealing their job. They didn’t want the jobs that you could offer to them.

00:29:19:18 – 00:29:36:29
They weren’t going to do that job for that amount of money, which means they can’t do the job, because at that point, we can’t go ahead and effectively work as a company and have customers because the prices get too high, you know? And that’s one of the biggest things, is that everybody is working towards that goal. As long as everyone has that best, what’s best for the customer, what’s best for the company.

00:29:37:04 – 00:29:59:02
So in mind as they’re going ahead and doing this well, we’re all on the same team and it’s going ahead and getting everyone to realize that. So yeah, I agree that the varsity piece and and really bringing everybody together and being able to work together. So it was one of the the big challenges that can happen here. and it’s you’ve gotta it’s one of the things that you think of like, what do you think of construction managers?

00:29:59:02 – 00:30:18:00
You never think, I’ve got to also be a psychologist at times. because you do. And a babysitter. So, yeah, babysitter psychologists and a babysitter. Price. Babysitter. Yeah, exactly. And a referee. So, yeah, I mean, as long as you don’t have to become a bouncer, everything’s okay. Yeah. At least for me. At my size, it’s a bit bigger.

00:30:18:00 – 00:30:39:09
So than being the bouncer. Not that. Not the worst thing in the world. So meet me at five. Six? Yeah, it could be a challenge. All right. so let me think. I’d say, you know, one of the things we kind of talked about this a little bit already, is that the education and training which is constantly evolving.

00:30:39:12 – 00:31:00:28
So in the industry, and it’s one of the pieces where I always chuckle whenever I hear the guys that have been in the in the industry for like 30 years, what’s the way I’ve been doing it for 30 years? Well, I get it and cannot work. Yes. You think there might have been some innovation in the last 30 years that might make things a little bit better, a little bit faster, a longer lasting quality product for our homeowners?

00:31:01:01 – 00:31:22:17
and it’s definitely one of the pieces that you’ve always got to be looking and things are always changing. I mean, like they would start on whenever we were talking about the rewards on the last podcast. So he was talking about, some of the technology or not even technology is just the innovation, like shark bites. So on the plumbing side of it, well, if you don’t believe in those and you don’t realize how good, so go ahead and use those.

00:31:22:17 – 00:31:35:09
You can have a couple different challenges. I mean, part of it ends up becoming you won’t even look forward. So you’re going to do it the old way. And a lot of times it’s a lot faster and a lot better to go ahead and use something like start right. Yet at the same time, if you’re not trained on that and get the education on how to do it.

00:31:35:11 – 00:31:55:05
I literally had, yesterday on one of my job sites. The guy said, put shark bites on. I’m to go ahead and cap a couple things off, and we turned the water on before we left it. At the end of the day, I said to the homeowner, I water throughout the weekend. We turned it on and it didn’t blow off, but it was blowing a boatload of water out of that because he didn’t press the shark bite down till you hear the snap, which is one that’s actually seated.

00:31:55:12 – 00:32:06:08
And that’s whenever I walk back in, I’m like, do you put it down until you heard about. Yeah. He’s like, I don’t remember. So and I’m like, I so I put on the felt the pop one and he’s putting on. He’s like, I felt pop that time. I’m like, it’s needed now. You don’t have to worry about it again.

00:32:06:08 – 00:32:21:25
We’ll turn water on. But you know, and that’s the thing is just that education. And then on that case, it has to be one of two things. Either someone on the team. So who is the person who’s in charge of bringing the new things to the company and teaching everybody? Or if no one’s doing that, you got to take it on yourself.

00:32:21:27 – 00:32:38:27
Be capital, learn your industry, become the expert in your trade. you know, there’s so many different ways that do that now. So whether, you know, whether it’s Concord University, whether it’s YouTube, know whether it’s, you know, just going ahead and going to like we have the Southeast Builders Conference coming. and I think it’s next and actually next month, if I’m not mistaken.

00:32:39:03 – 00:33:10:00
So there’s one that’s coming to Orlando. I mean, all those little things like that, you can go and learn more on your own about what’s going on in your industry to help raise your level. Well, I think one of the other issues that hasn’t really been brought up about it, you know, the training and education piece is that we’re now at a point where the construction industry is evolving, so rapidly that, you know, this year, the next year, there could be product changes, there could be, you know, building code changes and things of that nature that you get to get caught up on.

00:33:10:02 – 00:33:28:20
And I was one of those dinosaurs. I’ve been doing this forever, blah, blah, blah. But then I started going to a bunch of different trade shows over, you know, the last decade. And I started realizing that the industry is moving at a fast rate, and there’s a lot of technology that’s coming in, and I don’t really have the time to dive into every single piece of it.

00:33:28:20 – 00:33:44:20
So you have to pick and choose, like, what are you going to learn and when and how is that going to be impactful, kind of going forward with your skills and your training and your knowledge? Because you got to fit it in and you can’t learn everything all at once. So be strategic in how you go. Yeah. Education and training.

00:33:44:22 – 00:34:06:05
Yeah. I can’t at all. One state I can’t I’m still waiting for that. for that Elon Musk like brain. A little chip in your head. Just download all the information in your head and they will make the whole matrix piece. They just put a whole matrix stuff. Can’t wait for that one. Yeah. So I think that gets us through number ten okay.

00:34:06:05 – 00:34:34:00
So off to the goal. You’ve you said at the beginning of this night we got at least six more to go ahead and pull up. Oh we could do that. That’s we could do it. another one for another challenge that that I’m facing currently is supply chain issues. you know, it’s one of those things ever since we hit, you know, Covid in 2020, supply chain issues have been at the forefront of challenges for everybody.

00:34:34:02 – 00:34:59:09
Right. And you would think by now that we’ve gotten through, I mean, what was that four years ago? Yeah. And we’re still dealing with supply chain issues. And so manufacturing companies have shut down, limited amount of companies that are providing the same materials. you know, one of them is that we don’t have enough lumber yards producing different types of lumber in different places.

00:34:59:09 – 00:35:24:13
So we’re limited on the amount of lumber that we can get and the types of lumber we get. We’re limited on, different types of poly that we can get, you know, poly plastic. Yes. We’re we’re limited on, you know, different types of, you know, cultural marvel pieces and things of that nature. so manufacturing is has dwindled and as manufacturing has dwindled, production is has ramped up.

00:35:24:13 – 00:35:53:13
And so raw materials are getting harder to get Ahold of. Supply chain issues have become just a major, you know, component. They’re still making it. It’s not like it’s going out of business, but it’s just it it’s more difficult to be able to get there. And with the innovations that are coming and the production lines and, you know, it’s like faucets, you would think that, you know, I can just go down and buy a faucet and everything’s fine, but you can’t.

00:35:53:13 – 00:36:18:19
I’ve got backlogs on faucets that are for five, six, eight weeks because they haven’t been made yet. And so, you know, it’s kind of like we’re in this weird supply chain issue. And so, that is that is a big challenge. So, it’s it’s definitely one of those things like crazy Covid started it. I know one of the things that we did is like, I got with all of my, all of my guys, all my trades, so and all the ladies and I’m like, what do we need to do?

00:36:18:22 – 00:36:34:20
So how are we going to go out and plan for this? And it’s like, you know, I use the AC guy as an example for us. So he’s like, well, they’ve got, you know, for projects that are coming up, they’ve got the air handler and condenser right now. Well, if you can, if we can buy them now, which means we need to pay for them upfront.

00:36:34:22 – 00:36:52:21
So we would typically have our draws coming in from our homeowners. But if we go ahead and buy it upfront, then we also need to have a place to keep it though. And that’s the other thing is, you know, in some of the projects we had those spaces. So but that’s it’s knowing those types of challenges and it’s I would like to say that it’s only in one industry, but that tends to roll.

00:36:52:21 – 00:37:09:12
So different industries have different challenges at different times. And it’s one of the reasons why in the industry, you’ve got to stay in close contact with your business partners or subcontractors, though, and then all of that, all of your suppliers and things like that, because they’ll start to let you know it’s happening before it becomes a full blown crisis.

00:37:09:14 – 00:37:26:03
And that’s one of the biggest things, like we actually talked about with market fluctuations and things like that, like whenever we go ahead and squirrel away money, one of the things we end up doing is whenever we see something like that happening, we go ahead and order everything that we’re going to need for multiple jobs right away, and then figure out where we house it while we’re doing that.

00:37:26:03 – 00:37:41:22
And some of the times they’ll keep it for you there. So depending on your supplier and depending on their warehouse and how much space they’ve got. But those are it’s it definitely can throw a big hiccup in because all you need is one thing that’s a key item that you’re unable to get Ahold of that can literally dead stop a job.

00:37:41:25 – 00:38:10:05
Oh, so definitely can happen. Yeah. All right. Regulatory compliance, which basically, whenever I say that type of thing means how you work with the municipalities so that you have to work with which for us as the building departments and health department, too, whenever you’re dealing with, septic and things like that, at least in the state of Florida and your water department.

00:38:10:12 – 00:38:33:08
Well, but all of those different pieces, one of, like one of the biggest challenges we have, and I would love if this would actually go because we have an international building code. Yeah, there’s, you know, a code that’s supposed to be utilized everywhere where the challenge is, each municipality goes ahead and interprets it differently. Well. And, or or they can pick what year of care I was about to say.

00:38:33:08 – 00:38:53:03
Yeah, which version they’re using. So is what it comes down to. And that ends up becoming the challenge, because then you’re playing a guessing game. Like, if we could all get on one level playing field, this is what the rules are. Everybody play by this. It would be so much easier. Like, even like the homeowners always ask me, like, whenever we’re talking to the the biggest area this hits, there’s two big areas.

00:38:53:03 – 00:39:08:07
One is in the beginning in the permitting process. And then the second one is during the inspection process in the field, and on the permitting process, like if you could all get on the same page, have the same exact thing submitted in the same way, then it becomes easy for my staff to be able to go ahead and send everything in.

00:39:08:09 – 00:39:25:05
It’s literally every county, every sometimes cities. And so out of counties that do their own inspections have different sets of rules, different ways things are being submitted. And it’s like you have to learn everyone every time, because unless you’re doing like certain counties, we’re doing consistent work. And so we’re pretty much up on what’s going on in those counties as they change.

00:39:25:12 – 00:39:43:06
So but we had one, you know, I’ve got a county down here, interior renovations. You still have to turn a site plan in. I’m not affecting the outside of the house in any way, shape or form. Not doing anything to it, not even touching a bush on the outside of the house, let alone adding on. Yet they now require a site plan whenever we go ahead and do anything.

00:39:43:09 – 00:39:57:26
And I’m like, you’ve got to be kidding me. Do they make it? Do they make it? So you have to have an architectural, stamp on it or no. They’ve thankfully said if as long as you’ve got the survey the water sketch it on there, well, of where it’s actually going, I’m like, it’s inside the house. What does it matter?

00:39:57:26 – 00:40:15:04
So it’s like I got this little square inside of the house. So of what we’re doing this, this bathroom renovation, I’m like, all right, well, it suits church. And literally what it comes down to, unfortunately, is and this goes to a bigger topic. And we’re not going to dive into this right now. So but the fact that they’ve got that on my side the way.

00:40:15:06 – 00:40:35:14
Yeah. So you’ve got that little check box that the person that the county or the city has to go ahead and check for it to pass on to the next person to be able to actually look at. And if they are unable to check that, it gets stopped there until they get whatever they feel they need. And the the lack of common sense that this is in, like in my case, an internal renovation, though as far as that goes, an interior renovation where we’re not doing anything on the outside house.

00:40:35:17 – 00:40:53:04
That’s obvious then. So to check, the boxes are put into the box either way, but it’s not applicable. Well, and that, that that creates frustration and this and homeowners will ask me all the time, how long is it gonna take to get through permitting? I would love to give you that answer. So but every time, you know, if, if, if the rules are the same, it should be this.

00:40:53:09 – 00:41:11:12
So yeah, that changes on that. And of course how busy they are, which I totally get that on there. And so how many other permits are working on. But that that whole piece of that regulatory compliance just drives me up a wall. Well, I want to say something. I know it’s going to get me in trouble in the future, but I’m gonna say it anyway.

00:41:11:15 – 00:41:40:05
Only when the county start watching us. Oh, so somebody, somebody can afford this. On to every kind of person I know. But I truly believe that in order to be able to be hired, to be able to have one of those positions, they have to they have to go into the future, into into that movie Idiocracy. Have you seen that one where they go, you know, as you get further down the road in life and, and evolve, you get stupider all the way down.

00:41:40:08 – 00:41:56:17
And it’s back to the point where, you know, there’s a point in the movie where they’re talking about, you know, trying to get plants to grow and this whole piece and, and they’re going, well, what do you put on the on the plants we built, what we put, you know, I can’t remember the name of. It’s like Gatorade or something like that.

00:41:56:18 – 00:42:14:07
It’s like, you know, and and they were like, well, why they don’t? Because it has electrolytes. Because you’re like, why don’t you just put water on it? He’s like, from the toilet, right? Like it’s all like this. This nasty thing is like, no, you just put water on the players want road. No, we put electrolytes on the plants, you know.

00:42:14:08 – 00:42:36:17
Yeah. It’s a long story short. You almost have to be like two stages ahead of, like, mentally, legally allowed to vote in order to get a job with the city on that level. Or you can’t pass or or make commonsense decisions. I know that’s gonna get me in trouble in the future, but that’s how I truly feel at this moment in time.

00:42:36:19 – 00:42:55:07
And if you talk to any builder and they’re being honest with you, every one of us will feel the same way. Yeah, there’s no question about it. I mean, they they just can’t make, you know, intelligent decisions. The check boxes, I don’t know it. That’s what it is. Which leads me into my next challenge.

00:42:55:10 – 00:43:16:16
The next challenge that that, that we face as an industry, or at least as I face as a company, is technology integration. Okay. What I mean by that is the software that we use, in order to kind of go through the project and some of that is easy. And it’s and you can do it and there’s no problems.

00:43:16:16 – 00:43:52:09
And, and others, you have to manipulate and you have to enter in and you have to kind of go through these pieces. it’s a challenge because you have to train them. And we are moving fast as an industry, and we are getting a lot of new technology and these different things. And all of these things have to communicate with one another so that technology integration that you have to bring in, like your CRM system, like your, you know, your scheduling system, like your billing system and all these different things have to come into more or not a software system today.

00:43:52:11 – 00:44:13:02
and so getting all these things connected, talking to each other and then training everybody to use it appropriately is a challenge. And so, it’s one of the ones that we face. And I had a meeting last week and guys have been doing things one way, which isn’t the way that they’re supposed to do it, but then they’re like, oh, well, I didn’t even know that that was possible.

00:44:13:04 – 00:44:37:15
And so it’s like, yeah, all right, let’s go do our education and our training class because we got to bring you up to speed. So that is that is a challenge. And Nate’s right. There’s so much now that comes in so many different software, so many different tools that you’re able to go ahead and utilize. Yet you’ve got to be able to make them all work effectively together and create the processes for your team on how to do what and what they.

00:44:37:15 – 00:44:50:16
Because if not, you’ve got literally it’s the wild, wild West. You’ve got, you know, one person doing it this way, the office person doing it that way. So you’re looking at it to be done in a third way. And it’s like everybody’s looking at it going. They don’t understand why the other person is doing it this way, because it’s like, this is the way you’re supposed to do it.

00:44:50:18 – 00:45:12:00
You know, getting those everyone on the same page is huge. So and that’s, that’s definitely, you know, that actually that leads to my next one for challenges now is because outside of the team that you’ve got in the office and using that piece like we were talking about, you also have client managing client expectations, I guess would be a good way to put it.

00:45:12:03 – 00:45:28:03
Yeah. and I think a lot of that comes down to now and this is a good thing and a challenge. Well, it’s a challenge. So as far as on the builder side of things, it’s a good thing for the homeowners is there are a lot more knowledgeable now as far as being able to research something, because there’s so many more resources out there.

00:45:28:03 – 00:45:42:23
They can find out about a lot of things, which is great. The challenges of coming on the building side of things, as you’ve got to realize that, which means you need to know. So what you’re talking about, you can’t be assured through stuff because they’re going to go ahead and check you on the back side, and then you’re going to step into a trap.

00:45:42:23 – 00:46:08:22
So it’s what it boils down to. I had one of this is this is back. This is like pre the crash of 2007, 2008. I had a homeowner there who was a doctor and I, we were building custom home for him and he came with so many questions. And it’s funny because there’s different stages in life that you look back on like this, and he’s one of the ones who really pushed it was he pushed me to go ahead and make sure that I knew what I was talking about, and actually had all the details that went with it.

00:46:08:25 – 00:46:24:06
because he was very determined he would go ahead and search me. There was no question about if I told him something, he’d go ahead and he will either he would have already searched it and then asked me a question about it. So or he would go ahead after I gave him an answer, go back and search it to make sure my answer made sense of what information he was able to go ahead and put together.

00:46:24:08 – 00:46:44:14
so that was that client expectation is raised up for you being the expert. So and the other part that really goes with that and something that we make a point of doing at our company, and it’s a challenge though, because in the industry, on a toll, the reason why we do it so well, and it’s such a high degree is because of the fact that we’re making sure everybody else is giving us the information we need.

00:46:44:14 – 00:47:03:20
Is is being able to communicate with our homeowners, our clients. because whenever you do that effectively, the worst thing that one of the worst things you can do, as in this industry or in any industry, so is not communicate with your clients so effectively and timely. and that’s one of the big things that I always tell my teams is I, you know, for my business partners and things like that.

00:47:03:20 – 00:47:19:09
It’s like, if you’re going to be late, let me know you’re going to be late. I’ll relay the information to the homeowner. And like one of my favorite sayings, so is I don’t know whether you’re going to make this the good news or the bad news, but I will deliver the news no matter what. So I’m going to give you the information, and you’re the only one that determines whether it’s good or bad.

00:47:19:09 – 00:47:34:26
So I’m going to let you know what’s going on. and that to me. So as what I do that my homeowners appreciate that. Which means that I need to be on top of my subcontractors to go ahead and get me the information I need to effectively communicate that to the homeowner and their. And then they’re in the know.

00:47:34:29 – 00:47:55:01
that communication in today’s world is huge. And I’ll say this, it’s one of the things that you just don’t in our industry. One of the pieces that people who are in our industry were never very good at, though, is communicating. And now you’re getting people who are coming in, like for Nate Nye’s generation. No, you know, we we have to communicate.

00:47:55:01 – 00:48:11:25
Like, I remember I remember the holidays when you went to the the grandparents of the great grandparents and stuff, and you had to sit down and talk to them because there was nothing else that you were able to do. You learn how to go ahead and communicate with everybody. And in today’s world, we joke around on the holidays with with my daughter and her, you know, some of her cousins.

00:48:11:25 – 00:48:37:04
That’s exactly it. The phone is there, literally sitting across the table from another, texting each other because you’ll see one text, then the other, they start giggling. Yeah. So when it comes down to it, it’s like they’re right there. Yeah. Just not. That’s right. We want to laugh too. Right. That’s exactly. Yeah. but handling those client expectations and they like I said, from the amount that they know and then they know what to expect to how what you’re communicating with them so is huge.

00:48:37:06 – 00:48:53:00
and it’s a piece that you want to sharpen that skill. So whenever you get in this because the better you are at that skill, the more successful you’re going to be. I will cross the border on the communication side of things, no ifs, ands or buts and on making sure you know what you’re talking about. If you don’t know what I know, you don’t know, ask to find out and I’ll get back to you.

00:48:53:02 – 00:49:15:17
It comes out of my mouth more often than I want it to come out of my mouth. But it’s because things are changing so often. Well, it’s one of the things that I actually measure in our company is kind of like our level of success. What a project comes down to. how well did you set up the client’s expectations and how well did you follow through with those expectations without any hiccups?

00:49:15:20 – 00:49:40:20
And those two things are what helps me minimize some of these challenges, because the client’s expectation is probably the biggest, component for successful business on the back end of it. And so that’s what makes it all great. and I definitely agree you’re right for that rework for that referral, for them, have you come back and do the next thing at their home.

00:49:40:24 – 00:49:56:07
So the more effectively you communicate, take care of them. Well, they’re a lot happier because most of them have experienced someone who hasn’t done that well. And you stand out. It’s like we always talk about the little tiny things, and no one thinks about it, or the things that make the biggest difference to our clients. So yeah, that’s one small things right there.

00:49:56:09 – 00:50:19:14
Yeah. All right. They were two away from hitting the goal that you said a 16. All right. Well yeah I think I want to have to go back to one that I said was a reward and also put it down as a challenge. And, and it’s and it’s physical demands. Right. So in reward you get an opportunity to be physical and to work out and get your exercise in.

00:50:19:17 – 00:50:41:19
Right. But also it’s also a challenge because you go through muscle fatigue, as you’re working out too much or you’re walking too much or you’re going through this whole physical aspect of it, right? You know, you keep a bottle of aspirin in the in the truck, right? And you know, it’s like, oh, okay. I well, I like, you know, ten, 12,000 steps today.

00:50:41:19 – 00:51:06:23
My, my lower hips, my back, my knees. you know, I need a little bit more, anti-inflammatory. Right then. but physical demands are, are a real thing that, that can, you know. Yes. It helps prolong your life and you’re going forward. But it also can be physically demanding and you get tired. And so but knowing that challenge on the front end will help you kind of like navigate that storm.

00:51:06:23 – 00:51:32:29
So I agree and it’s definitely it’s one of those pieces of war between when you know that that’s going to be part of this industry, no matter which trader, and you can prepare yourself by keeping yourself in better physical shape, no question about it, and keeping that as part of the focus so of your life. And then at the same time, you can also be looking at opportunities where how do I go ahead and use more of my mind as I get older and my body starts to go ahead and not respond the way they used to when I was younger?

00:51:33:02 – 00:51:49:24
well, how can I go to use my mind to be able to do more things in the industry? so it gives you those opportunities to be able to step in there, but know that there are ways to go ahead and take care of that. So you just have to be on top of those pieces. And, and, and you’re looking into the future for how you want to go ahead and make it work for you.

00:51:49:27 – 00:52:14:15
Absolutely. All right. So number 16, and this is one of the pieces that I had this conversation with. This is probably ten years ago now. Holy cow. sat down with one of my plumbers, one of my electricians and one of my Hvac guys now. And one of the conversations we had, so was and and we’ve been all of us, Nate included, have been seeing this coming for a long time with worker shortage, labor shortage coming in.

00:52:14:17 – 00:52:29:26
So and it’s like, all right, how do we go ahead and plan to make this effective still. So because as people are getting older and we talked about this before, as they get older and they start aging out a lot of that knowledge lives with them. If they’re not still involved in the industry, if it hasn’t been dispensed to the next generation of people coming up.

00:52:29:28 – 00:52:47:26
And one of the things that we looked at was, hey, it may come down to things like more remote work, meaning, hey, you’ve got a really knowledgeable person. So they may be sitting in the office and they may be the the data person or that, you know, the call center, the help person. for the guys that are out in the field or the ladies are out in the field looking to go ahead and do the work, and they may not have the experience.

00:52:47:26 – 00:53:07:18
They may be calling in on FaceTime or on zoom or something along those lines. So where someone can actually see what’s going on and they can show them the challenge and that person can go ahead and take care of guiding them. So on that side of things now, that’s going to lead back to a couple different things. Nate’s talking about on the technology side that he’s already mentioned is how they integrate those pieces like that now.

00:53:07:19 – 00:53:24:11
And it’s how do you go ahead and do enough of that. Like for me, whenever I look at that, it’s like Paige, who’s one of my project managers, can go ahead and send pictures or a video and I can usually know what I’m looking at by looking at it. So but it’s even still just coordinating that, making it effective, knowing that’s a tool there for them to go ahead and utilize.

00:53:24:14 – 00:53:44:08
So to go ahead and get the the other opinion that they may want in an area where they haven’t dealt with it before, they may already have a decision, and they may just want that that affirmation though, that yes, that’s what I would go ahead and do, that confirmation as opposed affirmation, that confirmation, that’s what I would go ahead and do also, so that they feel good about moving forward and it’s how to go ahead and bring those pieces together.

00:53:44:08 – 00:53:57:13
And like when you’re in a city, it’s usually less of a challenge. We get job sites that are out in the middle of no man’s land, but when you’re out there, that communication piece, when they’re doing a remote work like that, you may not even be able to get a hold of them through a lot of the day.

00:53:57:15 – 00:54:15:25
And that can create challenges, too, on how to get information out to them effectively. Hey, so-and-so is going to be later. They’re not coming at all. We need you to come back type of thing. You know, those types of things happen. and it’s challenges that that are involved in the industry for sure. and I think it’ll become there’ll be more solutions that come in the next ten years for sure.

00:54:16:00 – 00:54:39:03
So but I think there’s also going to be some new challenges that show up there so that we’re going to need to work there. Yeah, I mean that’s one of our biggest challenges with remote communication. is because, you know, we get into areas where we don’t have satellite and we don’t have Wi-Fi, and we don’t have internet and we don’t have phone signal, and we don’t have ways to communicate in the office.

00:54:39:05 – 00:55:01:28
And, you know, and even in the office where we’re starting to to make that transition into remote office kind of personnel. Right. And they might have issues where they’re at, which that’s also another thing. we currently have somebody that’s, you know, living in Kentucky and working for us and in Texas. Right? So, you know, they’re they’re answering phone calls.

00:55:01:28 – 00:55:24:06
They’re they’re communicating. But what happens when they have a storm that knocks out power, knocks out this. And now they can’t communicate with the guys in the tree or out the field. And you know, there’s a lot of these remote, pieces that are kind of come into a problem and it kind of comes back to how well you set up and type a project on the front end so that people can continue to work.

00:55:24:08 – 00:55:39:05
but I think it’s going to be a challenge that’s going to have to overcome here pretty soon. No question. One day we got the 16. We stopped the one. Where are you going to go ahead and hit a button I got I got one more, one more. And then you got one more. Great. But I got one more.

00:55:39:06 – 00:56:01:29
All right. You go for your one more. All right. Work life balance. What size? A challenge. And the problem that it’s a challenge is that you have more work than you have to live life. So, you know, take advantage of it when you have the time to do it. It’s what we call, make hay when the sun’s out, right?

00:56:02:01 – 00:56:33:19
Yep. Oh, so there is so many opportunities that are available, and you got to find a balance between your, your work life and your your personal private life with kids and and family and and things of that nature. you might not start off that way, but at some point in life, you’re going to get to a point where it’s more than you and and you have to spend time, quality time with the people that you love and that you’re around because that’s a whole reason why you’re going to work.

00:56:33:22 – 00:56:54:10
So it is a challenge to find that that balance. I know that I struggle with it all the time, because there is more things for me to do than there is time in the day, and I still need to sleep. And so that is a challenge. But it is like we all say, it’s a good challenge to have and so or a good problem to have.

00:56:54:13 – 00:57:19:11
And so that’s, that’s my that’s my work life balance. And you’re definitely right in this industry. And I will say this too, as labor becomes shorter and shorter, meaning there’s less and less of it, that work life balance is going to become the piece that can really be a huge issue. So for anyone in the industry, because the demand like that’s already talked about, the demand is always there, you know, for things that we can be doing on the same way.

00:57:19:11 – 00:57:32:16
Natives is like, my list is longer than the hours in the day are. That’s a given. Even if I decided not to sleep, I still wouldn’t get the list done. And that’s not a feasible thing to go ahead and do. And most of the guys and ladies that work for me in their businesses, it’s the same exact way.

00:57:32:17 – 00:57:46:23
I mean, there’s like I’ve got like I did perfect examples of people who clean our homes. So whenever we finish things up, so they’re two weeks out. That’s a given. They’re two weeks out, you know, and there’s times where I’m not able to give them two weeks because we went ahead and slammed a project out and it’s like, hey, I need you guys.

00:57:46:23 – 00:57:59:29
And it’s like, we’re two weeks, you know, how are we standing? So if I if something opens up, I’ll slide in there. But he said, this is where we’re at right now, you know. And that means that they could technically be cleaning all the time to go ahead and get caught up anywhere near where we all want them, you know?

00:57:59:29 – 00:58:15:09
And it’s just you’ve got to go ahead and take that like I the one piece that pops into my head when we’re talking about this is one, Paige, who is also my daughter outside of being a project manager, whenever she was a senior in high school, actually, when she’s a junior and senior, she was on the varsity cheer team.

00:58:15:12 – 00:58:28:09
And that was one of the things that I made a commitment that if I’m in town. So I’m at her football games. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I don’t care what else is going on. I don’t care whose house is burning down. If it’s burning down, I’ll call the fireplace on the way to the game because there’s not much I can do at that point anyways.

00:58:28:11 – 00:58:45:14
Yeah, the way I would be there and it’s you just. You have to make that commitment, to be able to go ahead and take care of the people in your life that are important to you and and realize that it is a balance piece. and now and if you don’t take care of them and they don’t help take care of you, you’re not going to take care of your customers anyways.

00:58:45:16 – 00:59:05:29
well, it’s even one of those things where I look at it from my organization side and I it’s something that I recognize and, and I’ve got a couple project managers that they’re just running nonstop. I mean, we’re working 6 or 7 days a week, and I, I have it in our company that, you know, we should only work six days a week, take off, you know, one day and enjoy that day.

00:59:06:01 – 00:59:30:02
But even so, I’ve got some of these project managers that are just trying to get caught up, and they’re working seven days a week, and I’m even having to force them to take vacation and, and it’s and it’s paid vacation because they haven’t taken off any time. And and it’s like you have and I have to look out for my people and understand, like, you guys have been pushing too hard, too long and you have to take a break.

00:59:30:05 – 00:59:49:17
You have to, because if not, you will have a mental failure and you will collapse upon yourself. And, so I always and I think it’s a, I think it’s a great piece and it’s one of those things like whenever you say that, it’s like a lot of a lot of the trades and we’ll be like, well, yeah, we’ll work Saturday.

00:59:49:17 – 01:00:04:16
We’re working on that and stuff like that. That same way like you’re talking about, and I have that same opinion that you do while you think you’re going ahead and helping yourself out if you don’t take at least a day off, if not two days off, like in my I’m a little bit different, my internal team. So they’re off on Saturday and Sunday.

01:00:04:17 – 01:00:21:03
It doesn’t matter what’s going on. So and that’s just the way it is right now. And I tell my homeowners that our hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.. So as what’s in the contracts, we’ll ask you if we have guys that want to come in and do our differently and things like that, but that I do that for that reason as they get a break and like some of them are subcontractors that don’t want to do that and keep on working.

01:00:21:03 – 01:00:36:19
I’m like, what you don’t realize is you think you’re making up ground. Actually you’re slower and your level of quality is going down because you haven’t had that chance to refresh yourself. and it’s like, I would do that same thing, like you’re talking with your project managers that don’t take the vacations, like, I can just keep on going on the Energizer Bunny.

01:00:36:19 – 01:00:54:10
I got this type of thing and it’s like, you don’t realize the difference. whenever I started taking, like, the one we have a week every year of Christmas, we literally shut down between Christmas and right after New Year’s for the whole company, whenever, every year now. And we do that for that reason is that’s time to spend time with family and enjoy them recharge.

01:00:54:10 – 01:01:17:00
And when you come back from those types of things, it’s like I’m operating on a whole different level. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. Yeah. You know, and that’s it’s you have to rejoice in the batteries, you know? I mean, let’s talk about the technology piece, right? You got a phone if you let it go all the way down to very little, and then you just plug in for ten minutes at a time, you’re constantly going to be on, you know, low battery, low battery mode.

01:01:17:02 – 01:01:36:08
And you got to get to a point where you can recharge all the way up, get the battery all the way back to the full capacity so that you have the ability to take on the storm that’s coming at you with all of the things that you have to juggle in the in the projects. And so work life balance is extremely important.

01:01:36:08 – 01:02:01:23
And it also is an extreme challenge. Yeah, definitely. All right. My final one. I’m going to say the skills gap which basically means to me and we’ve talked about this already in multiple other ways is as people are what we call aging out of the industry. They’re getting to the point where they’re getting ready to retire just because of the fact that they’re physically unable to do or they’re just there, they’re done with it.

01:02:01:23 – 01:02:22:26
They don’t care to work in industry anymore. And that’s perfectly fine. That challenges, they’re taking those skills with them whenever they leave. And if they haven’t been able to teach a more, it’s been a, you know, let’s say it’s a small person company so that you’ve got, you know, like my electrician is a two person company. So right now, well, if he decides to leave, the other guy doesn’t have the skills that the owner has.

01:02:23:01 – 01:02:39:05
There’s no way. Which means that that that skill gap that’s there, it hurts them in multiple different ways. They’re unable to be as productive in the field so as they could be. And that person’s learning, that’s part of the process now. And if he’s not there, so then that person isn’t able to get very much done at all.

01:02:39:05 – 01:03:06:08
And when that person leaves, so now there’s no one there to even guide that ship and teach them and train them to be able to move forward. And that’s becoming a bigger and bigger challenge. And in the next ten years, that’s going to become a huge and monumental challenge. without having things, without having processes set up, without having ways, whether using the technology to be able to do remote things like what we were talking about before, now there’s going to be ways we’re going to have to go ahead and figure those pieces out.

01:03:06:08 – 01:03:21:17
Things like what Nate and I are creating with Concord University, to be able to go ahead and have that training level there that’s been captured, that people are able to go ahead and and learn that and take that and implement that. So out in the field that gives them a leg up. So to take care of some of that skills gap.

01:03:21:17 – 01:03:36:26
And that’s one of the reasons why we’re going ahead and creating that piece is because we see that right now, the, the people who really knew it, like we saw it, there was a transition in 2000 between 2007 and 2010, we had a lot of people who left the industry just because everything got everything had gone down as far as the amount of work.

01:03:36:28 – 01:03:50:26
And when they left, they didn’t come back. So whenever things started to pick back up and you saw a skills gap happen there, and that’s one of the reasons, like one of Rene was talking about for is like houses just aren’t, you know, aren’t built as well as they used to be. And part of that comes down to the materials which we were talking about.

01:03:50:26 – 01:04:04:21
And part of that also comes down to the skills gap on the labor side of things. And we’re getting ready to what could be happen again in the next 10 to 15 years. That same thing happen again just because of those people who are knowledgeable are getting ready to step out. That’s why the opportunity is huge in this industry.

01:04:04:22 – 01:04:19:26
This is the time to get in and learn from the people who’ve been doing it for decades and learn the tips and tricks, implement the new technology that’s coming in. So in the new ways of doing things, and really you can establish yourself a completely different way to go about living your life as opposed to that normal college route.

01:04:19:29 – 01:04:38:24
and you can have something that, I mean, you look back, this is one of the things I always look back at, Nate. You go back and you look back over thousands of years, what are some of the industries that have been that were around at the beginning of time, so that are still around today? Now instructions number one for me, you know, it’s like everybody say it’s a place to live.

01:04:38:29 – 01:05:00:19
Yeah. And then bartering for things is number two, you know, there’s a couple other ones in there, but I, you know, you’re not going to go into the prostitution. I won’t say I don’t know what you know. Is that the one we weren’t supposed to say? Well, I don’t know. Haven’t that’s another one. But it’s hard to been around, you know, but with those pieces like that, it is.

01:05:00:19 – 01:05:21:15
It’s the it there’s certain things that have been around forever and will be around forever. And that’s one of the great things. Like Nate told his his now father in law’s future father in law at that point, yeah, I’ll always have a job. I’ll always be able to take care of your my wife. So your daughter, because there’s always people needing something, whether they’re renovating it, whether they’re building it new, whether it’s residential, commercial, industrial.

01:05:21:20 – 01:05:38:17
So, you know, infrastructure, whatever the case is. Yeah. there’s lots of different opportunities there. And that’s, that’s the way to go ahead and look at things. And that’s why I get excited about this industry. And I know, Nate, you’re pretty much the same way. So we’re so high on the industry itself. And I love not being capped.

01:05:38:23 – 01:06:03:26
And I love not having a ceiling. Yeah. You know you’re only you’re only restricted by yourself. And I think that’s a, an important huge, important piece of life is like, you know, why would I want to put myself into a hole that I can’t get out of? Yeah. And I, I agree entirely. I like having any any opportunity I get involved them.

01:06:03:29 – 01:06:19:14
I want it to be something that the only limit on on is what I make out of it is what it comes down to as opposed to, hey, here’s a ceiling. This is as good as you can possibly do. So that to me is no fun. because I always like pushing that next level. All right. Well, I, we definitely went past the 16.

01:06:19:14 – 01:06:35:09
We got the eight. Yeah. So we really went ahead and got it. So which is a positive piece. so really this is one of the things that one of the for all of you that have been listening to this. So if you got value from this, make sure to go back and listen to the rewards one if you haven’t listened to that one yet.

01:06:35:11 – 01:06:53:02
just to hear about the great things about the industry, they go with the challenges we are talking about today. So if you got value from this, so make sure to share this. So with people, you know, whether someone who’s in an industry already know, someone who might be thinking about getting in the industry just so they’ve got a clear picture of what’s going on before they make that decision.

01:06:53:08 – 01:07:10:06
So share this. Like this episode. So take 10s to give us a review on a rating. We would love that. That goes ahead and helps spread this information out to more and more people. And that’s what we’re looking for is to get this out to a broader audience. So, we’re looking to go ahead and know what other topics you might want to know about.

01:07:10:09 – 01:07:30:23
And if there’s other things like what we did with the rewards and what we did with the challenges, other topics in the industry, even if it’s a specific industry. So you’ve got questions. Go ahead and send those in. They are happy to go ahead and answer. Those might even do it in the future, like a Q&A type of thing where we get a bunch of those one off questions and we just go ahead and do an FAQ type of podcast, to get an answer of what you’ve been asking about.

01:07:30:25 – 01:07:46:01
So, but put those in the comments, let us know what those are. Oh, and also, you know what one of the other big ways to help us out would be? Go ahead and take like a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your social media, whatever, wherever you go ahead and hang out, whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.

01:07:46:01 – 01:07:59:22
So wherever it might be, share that on there. Guide people here. You never know. Someone else may go ahead and get some huge value just from you putting it out there. So, and it may have been the way you found out about it in the first place. So go ahead and share the Builder Hacks podcast. We would appreciate that to bring more people in, to be able to create a different world.

01:07:59:27 – 01:08:05:28
So and as we always end out, so keep building our future, building America until the next time.