Take it off there. We are live from the Thistle. This is the Homeowner Show. My name is Kevin Hackett. I don't even know my name. Oh yeah, you did this the other night. My name is Kevin Hackett. Here with me is Craig Williams. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Homeowner Show. We are so glad that you guys could join us on election night 2024. Here we go, y'all. It's already rolling in. We got results coming in. Down the pipeline, it's— guys, it's gonna be an interesting night. Stuff is already happening. It's gonna be a frickin' nightmare. That's just— I don't know what's gonna happen, honestly. I do not know what's gonna happen. So we've already been having a good time. We've been rolling out the good treats. Chef Trennis made us these incredible chicken goat cheese biscuits with like a blueberry
thing on there. These are amazing. I know. Are y'all enjoying this food? Y'all having some biscuits out there? Okay, good. Yeah, okay. They're having beer.
They don't want to talk to us.
Starting early. Awesome. So we got, we got special guest Sean Breeden sitting down in the, in the very appropriate patriotic onesie. I feel like you need to be able to do like an eagle call. I didn't expect it. I'm just saying, when he walked in, I didn't expect it.
Your eyes up to the focus.
I couldn't, I couldn't look away. I'm up here. I couldn't look away.
I get it. I get it. Well, let's, let's, let's go ahead and start rolling through it. We, we have some states already reporting. Yeah, go ahead and let's, let's report. Yeah, so we, we've got, uh, let's see, already called for Trump is Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia. So he's already up to 95. And then for Harris, Let's see, what are they calling for Harris? Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maryland. Yeah, I've actually got a different number. I'm already up at 105. 105 and 7. Oh, you got 72 for Harris on that one. Harris. Yes, we were getting differing reports. Yeah, she's jumped on my list. So yeah, she's already gotten Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee. I don't think you've got those yet.
No, I did not. What, Tennessee for Trump? Oh yeah, those are Trump. Let's see, for her, I don't know. She's got 72. 72, is that what we're— yours says 105, 72. Mine's a more conservative list. Yes. So, we'll see what happens. All right. There we go. But anyway, so any— yeah, see, he's got the same one I do. Damn. Y'all just went straight to people. This is wild. Let me ask both you guys, any wild predictions for the night? You think we're going to actually find out tonight?
Oh yeah, not at all. All I know is that I wrote in Kanye.
Oh, so I'm, I'm ready for it.
You just want to see it on the board. That's right. Show me Kanye. You're probably not the only one. Ding, ding, ding. Well, here's, here's, uh, the thing. I, I will say that a lot of the states that have in the past have said that they were going to report, uh, that have, well, historically reported late are saying we've got systems in place to report tonight. Right. So we'll see. Florida is the one that's really, like, upped their game. Like, they, they count the early ballots ahead of time. They have them all tabulated, and then it's all electronic day of. And so, like, that's why— that's like, we already have Florida. And I mean, for, for those that remember the debacle of 2000, you know, the dimpled chad. Oh, man, it took forever. Yeah. So, like,
they just abandoned that system altogether, which, you know, good on them. they should have.
Can we actually call that a system? I don't know. It wasn't a system.
That was definitely a Chad system.
It was. 100%. So, well, let's go ahead. We got— we have several sponsors we need to be getting through tonight. That's right. Um, let me— where's my list? I want to make sure— you got it? Yep. We're going to start off, uh, well, we're going to start off with our every month sponsor. All right. Right. We're going to start off with Lone Star Appliance Repair. Which, sad story, they ended up not being able to make it tonight.
I know, but they have a really cool special going on right now because of the holiday season. Uh, it's 3 appliances you can get checked out. I think it's like $175.
Yeah, just get all 3 of them inspected. Like, you know, and like the families like we were talking about before that like maybe you don't use your stove every week, maybe like, you know, I don't know, whatever it is, your dishwasher is making a funny noise, you hadn't used the stove in a while. and the refrigerator isn't as cold as it used to be. You can get all 3 of them checked out for like $175. See, normally, isn't it like a— I don't know exactly. I don't know their pricing exactly, but it's a deal is what it is. It's around $100 to have them come out. So 3 for $175, that's a pretty good deal.
Oh yeah, sure. Plus, now do they have a subscription?
They do have a subscription. They do have a subscription for like maintenance and, you know, and things like that. You can sign up to get your dishwasher cleaned on a regular basis. You can sign up for different things like that. But anyway, it's an incredible business. Guys, they're running specials for the holiday season. You can give them a call at 936-647-2364. And then we do have our good friends from True Texas Solar here tonight.
Representing en masse. There's one of them. Guys, look.
He's my most favorite— I haven't told you this before. You're my most favorite member of the entire team. That's true. What other solar company has a meteorologist on their team? Yeah. Fantastic. And I think when we run the ad for this on a regular basis, we talk about that a lot, and I don't think people believe us, so we'll have to bring him up so people understand. We know this guy. He's a real person. Yeah. And he knows weather. He knows what's going on. That's right. He doesn't know whether or not someone's going to win tonight, but he knows the weather.
Yeah, what's a pro's forecast look like?
Yeah, I don't know. You can read the tea leaves. That's right. But anyway, you can give them a call at 936-286-6325. That's 8325. 8325, I'm so sorry. Let Kevin read it. You might need some glasses. Let's get my old man spectacles on. 936-8325. Here's the other thing I know. I will make a bold prediction. One of these things is not like the other up here, y'all. I did feel— yeah, we did do it in a stage progression.
Yeah, it's a progression.
Yeah, it's definitely a progression of beard. Yeah, you were getting a little too uppity for me. That's why I brought Sean in. He's like, let me show you what a real beard looks like. You give me so much sass about mustache. I was like, that's fine. You got to do something. Yeah, there's always somebody better. There's no doubt. No doubt. I'm trying, man.
That's fair. I saw an Armenian woman out there that had a full beard.
He has 3 braids that he braided together.
Is that the— Had a soup in it that he should have deep-fried.
Yeah, you gotta like sort of part the Red Sea in order to get a spoon in there. Is that the—
You joke. Yeah, no, there's nothing worse than getting soup on the, on the 'stache or the beard. Yeah, it's hard to get out. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you guys a— there's a nightmare scenario for tonight. that I think is a real possibility. All right, bring it. So, here's the way it goes, is there's a good chance that Trump can sweep kind of the Sun Belt. You know, he can get the ones that are not going— I mean, like all the swing states in the South essentially, right? So, if you— like if he gets Georgia and North Carolina, and then Arizona and Nevada, right? And then Kamala gets Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin.
If she takes those, she'll win 270 to 268. Here's the problem is the Census Bureau has already made it be known that they made a big mistake in 2020 and didn't reallocate Electoral College points.
To states like Florida. Okay. Which would have given them 2 additional points.
So if it goes down that way, you have precedent, and he has a court case ready and loaded in the gun to fire if it goes down that way.
That he can— then he can send that to the Supreme Court and go, hey, Census Bureau messed up in 2020. We didn't count the people right. And then we're in full chaos.
it may be, it may be like a January thing where you still don't even know because it's all tied up in court, right? Because of 2 points.
Because then that's people unrepresented. So if they're unrepresented, it's unconstitutional, right?
And that's— that, that'll be his whole point. And they've already, they've already said, yeah, we can't turn it up anymore, then it'll start feeding back. Sorry. We'll talk loud. I'll tell you, if you guys are having trouble hearing us in the room, you can pull up— pull it up on YouTube. It will give you subtitles on there. It'll be delayed by about—
Yeah. But, you know, you'll get it in context. It's fine. We try and speak up as much as we can. Yeah. So, but anyway, that's sort of the nightmare scenario, right? Is it could be tied up in court for months and like, and sort of rightfully so. Right. You know, because if— and if he wins all those and he takes Florida, Florida was the one that was supposed to get 2 Electoral College points. Right. And they didn't because the Census Bureau counted wrong.
And it wouldn't be something like Al Gore in 2000.
This is exactly what we need. That's right. Just put the cherry on top of this whole election Sunday. You know, but anyway, here's some breaking news.
Jill Stein from the Green Party, 0 electoral votes.
Oh, man. I really didn't see that coming. Yeah, weird and exciting stuff there, Sean.
Yeah, take, take that, world. You weren't ready for it.
Nobody was. Well, and just, I mean, just to, you know, come up behind that is Chase Oliver. I mean, he's chasing her.
Oh, they're neck and neck.
I mean, he's, he's down by about 3,000 votes.
Nationwide, they're bumping up to 100,000 each, y'all. I know. Yeah, I think Robert Kennedy is still on the ballot of 3 states? Oh, he's not— I think he's in more than that.
Well, yeah, they— I mean, like, they sued him to stay on in other ones.
Yeah, I forget what it was. There was a big one where he was— he had been doing really well, and they sued him to stay on the ballot. So, I don't— who knows if— All right, we got to be careful now. That's right. Craig's parents have walked in. The Williamses have entered the building. Basically, all that means is it's about to break loose. That's all. That's all that means. Well, listen, who do you guys— who do you guys want to bring up first? Well, uh, we do have— we do have a list, so let's go by the list. We don't have a list of people, but we do have like— Oh, sponsors? Well, I don't care.
Who wants to come up first?
Who wants to break the ice? To cross the veil?
Anybody? Come on, Cory. No, he's leaving the room. He's out. He's like, I've had enough of this. I've had enough of this. That's fine. All right, well, I tell you what, I'll go, I'll go get you guys somebody. Okay, cool. And I'll let them sit down there. Yeah, that's probably where they're gonna have to sit.
That's fine. No, you stay where you're at.
No, I'm gonna stare him right in the face.
Oh, okay. That's what you should do.
Yeah, I want him to know that I care. A lot of eye contact comes Yeah, yeah.
Well, it's it's it doesn't feel personal if you're not staring like this into their soul, into their soul, straight into their nefesh. All right. Sorry, that that is as yeah, that is as far as we can make that come.
So, all right, then I'll have to scoot up.
There we go. Maybe that's helpful. All right, well, welcome. How you doing, man?
I am doing great. How are you?
I'm doing great. Go ahead and introduce yourself. Let everybody know who you are.
So I'm Mickey with True Texas Solar and Roofing. We're a Conroe-based, family-owned, faith-based business, and we're out to help the homeowner work through all of the equation around whether solar is right for them. And to, uh, we're also a roofing company now, and with all the storms and everything we've had recently, there's a lot of people, including myself, getting a new roof in the next few days.
All right, yeah, there's, there's a lot of that going around. So, so tell me a little bit about the transition to include roofs. What was the impetus behind that?
Well, the solar installer world is mostly made up of people that used to do roofing.
And, you know, it's not everybody that can get up on a roof in the middle of July in Texas and install solar panels. So that, and a lot of the people in our company were, you know, came out of the roofing business and had experience with the roofing business. And it's a great segue for us because there's a seasonal Seasonality to solar. It really picks up the latter part of the year as people are wanting to get it done before the end of the year so they get the tax credit immediately the next year, as well as you're coming out of the hot summer and the high electric bills in the middle of summer, and you're looking at
a lot of people that get incentivized at that point to do solar. And then we kind of go through a light period. in the spring-winter time period where there's not as much interest in solar because the sun's not baking your skin and baking your roof. And so we're kind of filling in with, you know, keeping our crews busy, keeping revenue flowing, and it works out very nicely.
And I mean, it makes sense too because you're installing solar on a roof And many times those roofs need to be replaced anyway. I mean, you don't want to put a— you don't want to put a 25-year panel up on a 17-year-old roof, right? Exactly.
And that's what I did last year. I installed solar on my roof in December, and we re-roofed that section so that I wouldn't have to take the panels off when I did eventually re-roof. And then we had a hailstorm in May.
And here you are. And here I am re-roofing the whole roof.
Okay, well, all right. Well, so I, I do have a question. Can you— let's talk about solar, like solar roofs, like a solar shingle. Talk to me about that a little bit because it's, it's a new thing and I don't think a lot of people are aware of it, but I want to know kind of the pros and cons and a little bit about it, because I'm a little bit naive about it at this point.
Yeah, it sounds like a great, a great system.
But like so many things when they're new, they're more expensive when they're new.
And you don't have as much experience as far as people that install it. And frankly, I've not done a solar shingle roof.
In most cases, it comes out to about twice twice as expensive.
At least that's what I understand.
I would say even more. I, um, so I did a lot of research on the tiles because I was getting my whole roof done when we built. And when I signed up before they were even in the market, for our entire roof, it was a 3,500-square-foot home, we would do half of the roof. Uh, so it was supposed to come in about, um, $30,000. Uh, then they come on market and then they requoted me to $280,000.
And these are the Tesla, the Tesla shingles.
Yeah, exponentially more.
Yeah. And your return, uh, is not as good as the panels as That's about the extent of my knowledge of it, but yeah, I've heard those kind of horror stories. And, uh, you know, unless you want to be a pioneer and be the first adopter of something new like that, uh, yeah, there's a lot— there's probably a lot of them have been done in California, and there's probably some installers there that are very experienced at it. But, uh, I would, I would wait and let them become more mainstream. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Like so many things with the new technology that's coming, like the Cybertruck and its ability to power your house now, that
there's some expenses that people aren't being told when they bought them to begin with.
So you want to get something that's more mainstream, and the panels, the efficiencies of the panels have really gotten good, and it's a tried and proved technology. And yeah, the hailstones that hit my house back in May, they did not damage the panels.
Yeah, that's awesome. That's great.
The panels are much more resilient than the shingles on your house.
Okay. Yeah, yeah. So, uh, tell me this too, because we do talk about it a lot, about the fact that you're a meteorologist by trade. You kind of came out of that, um, into doing this. Tell me a little bit about how you fit into the whole scope of True Texas Solar and, and what kind of your responsibilities are. I know you sell just like anybody else would on the team, but, but how do you contribute to the overall understanding of how to make sure that people get into solar the right way if they're going to?
Yeah, so in my career, most of the time I spent selling commercial weather services to major industries. that needed to know about in detail what the impact was going to be from a hurricane, what was going to be the impact from a hard freeze down here on the Gulf Coast, those sort of industries. And so I'm very familiar with how the, the, the weather is going to affect our— the grid, the electric industry. And so that's really my impetus for getting in the business. Now, as far as day-to-day, whether True Texas Solar really needs a meteorologist or not, well, I do help them with the forecast when we're trying to decide, you know, should we do this roof on Tuesday or Wednesday?
And it really does help when I can, you know, help a homeowner understand, you know, what really are their risks of their power outages in coming days, weeks, years. And to really kind of work to relate what they've experienced as far as weather, like the Valentine freeze from 2021, and how that— what that's going to mean to them. And because everybody has their own experience with their own home, with their own power, with their own outages, with their electric utility. And so that's probably what, what my experience brings more than anything, is to really help people sort through what really is the risk that I'm looking at. What really are the threats that could impact me, and how might my situation be different from someone down the street or someone in another utility? Or,
you know, what might be the best if you're in the deregulated part of the Houston area with electric? You know, what might be the best program given, you know, the preponderance of heat that we're having in the summertime? You know, what might be the best program to select for your solar buyback and that sort of thing.
Now, is your roofing company, uh, True Texas Solar?
All right, the company is now True Texas Solar and Roofing.
Yeah, and you're actually located out of Willis now.
Yes, we moved our office from Conroe, um, just east of 45 to, uh, up along 1097 in Willis.
Yeah, and but You've also got locations in Katy and Dallas. And so that's great.
Yeah, we're doing a lot of roofing in the Dallas area. There's a lot of roofs that need help in the Dallas area.
Well, Dallas gets more hail than we do here.
They get larger hail than we do.
Right. Yes. More damaging hail. Yeah. Okay. Well, let me ask this. What is the biggest objection that you hear most often to people not interested in solar? What's the biggest objection?
The biggest objection— well, one of the most common is that, well, I plan on moving.
so I'm, I'm planning on moving, I'm not going to stay in this house forever, so why would I put solar on it? And your response to that is?
So if, if you're going to move in the next 5 years, let's say, then, um, or less than 5 years, then it probably may not be a good fit for you.
Because you're going to have to deal with selling that house with solar, and you're going to want to realize the value of those panels that you put on the roof, and you've spent thousands and thousands of dollars on it, and you're going to be left at the whims of the Texas real estate market. In other words, whatever buyers show up to buy your house, whether they're willing to pay that extra increment over the house down the street or next door that, that is a similar price but doesn't have solar on it. And my belief is that over the next 2, 3, 4 years, that the real estate, the real estate salespeople, the realtors in Texas
are gonna have to understand what that value is and how to sell it. Because if you've listed a house that has solar on it, You want to be able to— for that homeowner to realize, and you want the buyer to understand what the value is. And so they're gonna have to be as— maybe not quite as adept, but almost as adept as I am at creating what that value is and having them understand over time. Because that buyer is not going to buy the house for 1 or 2 years. That buyer's buying in that house for 10 or 20 years.
And that's where the payoff really is.
But if you're only going to be in the house 2 or 3 years, um, you probably want to hold off.
That makes sense. And honestly, it's one of the things I like about True Texas Solar is they're not out just to get people's money. I mean, it's not about just putting more solar on more roofs. And that— now, for the grid, that's a really good thing, uh, and we realize that, but it truly is about what makes sense What's the best way to make sure that you're getting the value that you need? And it's a whole home solution. I mean, that's, that's the other thing. It's not just about, it's not just about getting solar. It's about getting the batteries, the generator, making sure that you can truly survive if there is an outage.
Yeah. In today's world, the backup power combined with the solar savings from your electric rates, from your electric bill, The combination of those 2 is really hard to beat. You look at the cost of putting a natural gas generator, a whole house standby generator on your house, it's going to cost you $13,000, $14,000, maybe $15,000 even in today's world.
And over 10 years, when you add up the fuel costs and the maintenance costs and the monitoring costs, if you want to have the extended warranty, you're going to be paying $21,000, $22,000, $23,000 over 10 years.
If you took that $22,000 and put it into a solar and battery system that pays you back every month $100, $150, $200, at the end of 10 or 12 years you've paid off your system. Whereas if you bought that generator, you plunk $20,000 to $22,000 into that generator and you've gotten nothing back. In fact, you're gonna be buying a new generator in 3 or 4 or 5 years.
You're gonna be paying that $20,000 again for the next 10 years after that.
So it's, it's a, it's a hole that you're pouring money into with a generator. And a lot of people understand that and they're willing to have that. But my incentive when I put solar on my roof is I know that come hell or high water, whatever happens with electric rates over the next 10, 15, 20 years, I've locked in my rate.
Now, my, my electric bill is not zero, but it's pretty close.
So I've locked that in. I don't have to worry about natural gas prices going back to $10. and our electric rates doubling because the state of Texas is bringing so many new people and new industries and AI data farms and everything else that is going to put strain on the grid. I don't have to worry about that.
Yeah, yeah, you're, you're—
it's like an insurance policy.
Yeah, and you, and, and you're able to budget. You know exactly how much your energy bill is going to be every month from now until whenever. Yeah, it's really good, man. Well, I think we're, uh, we're, we're gonna have to motor through some people here, aren't we? Yeah, I mean, it— yes. All right, well, Nicky, thank you for, uh, the time you've given us. We appreciate it. Thanks for being a long-term, a long-time sponsor of the show. And yeah, I appreciate you guys. Good to have you here. Thank you. All right, welcome, Craig. We're having a podcast up here. Well, y'all are. I was—
And doing a dang good job.
We are. Oh no, we're fine. Oh yeah, we've learned something. We don't really need him. Never did. Never did. No, we did. We did at one point. At one point he had all the equipment. We needed him for that. We were using you for your equipment. Well, thank you.
So, well, let's, let's see. if we've got any updates. Well, I mean, mine's updated some. Mine has too, a little bit. I gotta tell you, the Texas was blue there for a little bit. It's starting to turn red on my map. It was a little—
well, we have split reporting. Us and Florida are the 2 biggest split reporters we're going to have. Yeah, because we have different closing times in the market.
Yeah, so we're at— right now we got Trump at 101 and Kamala at 35. Okay, I don't think, I don't think she's taken any new ones. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, this one's— we just had New Jersey.
New Jersey. Oh, you know, you know, Kevin has a massive fan base in Camden. Yeah, they love him over there.
Is it because of his cabs or like—
No, he relentlessly trashes them online. No, they trash themselves. Literally, their streets are littered with trash because they have no trash service there, or police department, or fire department, or any other city services. We have a clip, and it's like 3 or 4 years old, and it's Kevin just dogging on Camden for like 2 minutes straight.
And people are still commenting on it. It's like, who do you think you are? They're like, you've never been here. I'm like, I— but I have.
And I have driven through the streets of Camden, and I locked my doors. Well, and like, what's— and I wore my vest. The funny part about it, man, is Like, people, people are getting on there and arguing about it until people are like, I live here, he's absolutely right. It's a giant smoldering crater. It is, it is. And other people are like, you don't live here, why don't you just come here and set a trash in it, just make it better? And it's like, why? Why would I do that? Why would I do that? Look, it's just a— it's a, it's a segue between Philadelphia and the better parts of New Jersey. I mean, really, the, the The ask there is like, hey, my
dog just took a dump in that lawn. You know what'd be great? Why don't you go step in it?
I think that would make your life a little bit better. Yeah, I don't think the dogs even like living there. They're like, why did I get born here? Yep, so— I couldn't have been born in Philadelphia? 'Cause that would have been better. But we love you, Camden. We love you, Camden. For all the hate, we love you. Yeah, I don't think they have internet there, so they're not watching this. But they voted, so they all voted tonight. I guarantee it. They probably brought ballots to them.
Well, here's, here's what I can tell you guys is the nightmare scenario that I laid out earlier. Yeah, still totally possible. Still out there. All right, well, yeah, people might have just been joining us. What is the nightmare scenario? Well, the nightmare scenario is if Kamala keeps the blue wall, which is Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, and then Trump takes North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada. Yes, mini swing states. The mini swing states. And like, if that sets up a scenario where Kamala has 270 and Trump has 268, the issue being that the Census Bureau has come out and said that they made a massive mistake. in the 2020 census, and that I think it's Florida should have been given 2 more Electoral College
votes that are now attributed, I think, to Pennsylvania, I think is the one that they were supposed to take it away from.
Did that ever get switched? No, no, no, no. It's still— that's still there. That's the problem. They never— they had 4 years. You literally had 4 years. You could campaign for Trump. I'm just saying. That's really all he had to say, y'all. Yeah, you had 4 years.
But anyway, yeah, it's— so right now Trump's in the lead, 101 to 49 on the official reporting. We will update you as that changes. But it will, it will, it will absolutely change. But right now—
Have you all talked about California at all?
Have we talked about California?
About how you're— it's actually illegal to show your ID for any of the voting that they do.
I thought you couldn't show your ID.
could not. Yeah, you can't.
Yeah, they show it to you like, no, you can't see this.
Yeah, that's crazy. Isn't that crazy? It is. That shouldn't even be like a partisan issue. I don't understand why. I've heard the arguments and I understand the reasoning. I just, I don't get, I don't know how you arrive there. It's like you need an ID to get alcohol. You need an ID to get into certain, like you can't go to a rated R movie without an ID. I mean, like, There's so many things that you have to have an ID for, and like, for some reason we get hung up on voting, and I don't know why. I tried once to get in a rated R movie when I was 17. Uh-huh, pretty much anytime you didn't have the beard. I did. No, they didn't.
yeah, but I was like, look, I have sideburns.
They didn't— that did not count as legal ID. friends got in. I knew some mini gorillas when I was in 7th grade, man. Those guys had like gray hair on their back. That was not me. Nope, but I could grow sideburns.
And back in the '90s, sideburns were a thing. Oh, yes. As long as you could grow them down to your earlobe, you were happy. Well, on that lovely note, let's, let's thank our other sponsors. We got the Walkie Wilson, uh, law firm. Guys, uh, if you— any family issues that you need to— divorce, child custody, these are the Like, the way my dad always described it when I was growing up is like, look, if you get in a situation like that, you need an absolute bulldog on your side.
And these guys are those people to fight for you when you get into a sticky situation. A marriage dissolves, you have a child custody case going on, like, you need— you can't represent yourself. Like, you need someone to advocate for you in these sorts of situations, and these guys are the absolute best when it comes to dealing with families. And one of the things they were telling me recently is like there's a— there's sort of a stigma around divorce now where men think that women end up with the children most of the time. And here in Texas, apparently, that's just not the case anymore. It's like, you know, if you have good representation, you can actually get a fair judgment in these situations. And it's a difficult and, you know, often a
horrible situation, but you want to make sure that you're represented fairly and properly. Yeah, you need to be. If you come at those scenarios with, with some sort of equal representation like you're talking about, then, then it's more likely you're going to get some sort of split custody, right? Those sorts of things. But you're gonna have to come to the table with that. And the only way you come to the table with those types of things, especially as a man, is to have a good lawyer behind you, uh, that can help you understand what to do with that. So, um, yeah, give them a call.
I was actually, uh, you know, 50% of marriages end Uh-huh. That's a lot. Well, at least mine did. So I got divorced at a really young age because I got married at a really young age. And because I had a good lawyer, uh, in the state of Texas also, I have custody of my son.
There you go. So 50% of your marriages have failed.
Yeah, and sometimes, sometimes, uh, it looks like, uh, 2/3. It depends on—
Depends on how you look at it.
Depends on how I'm doing with, uh, my current bride. Sasha, I love you.
These are all jokes. Do you— I mean, if you regard them as having a soul, I mean, like, that's— Oh yeah, exactly.
We're back to the nefesh, y'all. Okay. Well, if you want to get a hold of them—
Yeah, I got them. Which one's them?
Yeah, right over here. Oh, that's it. And it's 281-942-4052. And that's 281-942-4052. to give them a call, let them help. Oh, they don't, they don't want to come. No, but, but Ron right there does. Ron's ready. Ron, you ready to get up here? Oh, he's getting food. Oh, is he eating right now? I think so. Maybe. You ready, Ron? If he wants to. I don't want to— Marianne, come on! Okay, come on, Marianne. All right. There she comes. Bring it on. Marion's ready to talk because she's upset that there's no bourbon in here. Oh well.
Oh, you're bringing him too?
I'm absolutely bringing him.
Come on, Ron. He should be up here with that shirt. That shirt is awesome.
I know, he needed to trade with me, didn't he?
So just so y'all know, you gotta be right up on the microphone, which means you're gonna have to get close.
Okay. All right. We got the dynamic duo up here. Let everybody know what you guys do. I mean, you guys are sponsoring tonight. That's it. Well, and you— part of the reason we're bringing you up is you're actually the next sponsor. You want to go ahead and bring it up? Yeah, let's go ahead and talk about them. Yeah, so we got Memory Making Vacations, and we actually have them up on the, the platform with us tonight. Uh, guys, I actually just took a vacation that Marianne, uh, planned for me. We went to Universal, but we're not, we're not going to be talking about Universal tonight. Of course, but she did plan my family an amazing trip to Universal. I think we did a whole episode on it. We did. And we had the absolute— we, you know, she put us in a
good hotel, a good resort that weathered the hurricane while we were there. So we were happy she made some good decisions for us. That is a benefit. But look, if you're needing vacation planning, whether it be a cruise Disney, you know, an all-inclusive, this is the team to get. Kevin, what's the phone number we got for them there? Number's 936-689-9879, and she's heard that a lot of times, but it's 936-689-9879. So, tell— are you guys— did you guys just get back from a trip, or you guys got one coming up soon? That's a yes all the time. All the time. They're either just getting back or leaving for another one. We've been home about 4 weeks now.
Yeah, we've been home about, yeah. Yeah, what is wrong? I know, right? We just got off.
Um, kind of have an itchy passport at this point, I guess.
We have taken, um, 8 cruises this year. Wow. Already. We were on, uh, Carnival. We were on Royal 3 times. One of them, we were fortunate enough to get an invitation to the naming ceremony for the Utopia, which is their newest ship.
Um, so that was kind of fun.
It goes out of Port Canaveral. It does.
3 nights. So it's kind of a—
well, they alternate 3 and 4, don't they?
They do a, um, yeah, but it's like your ultimate weekend getaway kind of a ship. So it's, it's basically, it's an Oasis class, so it falls in line with like the Harmony, which goes out of Galveston. Uh, the Allure is also over there. The Allure is actually fixing to head to Europe and get a refurb, so it's going to be refurbished and then it's going to stay in Europe and It's gonna do 2 months in the Mediterranean. Oh wow. And then it'll come back to Galveston actually to replace the Harmony.
So that'll be fun, that'll be nice.
So the Harmony, it feels like that just came out, but it's been out for a while.
It's a sister ship to the Allure. It is one of the Oasis class.
They are. The Wonder was the one that was released right before the Utopia, and so the Wonder and the Utopia are the same size.
Um, and they're pretty good ships. So we did, um, we did the Allure twice, we did the Utopia, we did Disney Dream.
You did the Allure twice?
Okay, well, hello, Marriage Counseling 101.
Yeah, we don't have time for that, Ron. No, it's cool. I mean, she took me, she took me for my birthday this year. Oh, well, good. Yeah, you got that. You deserved that. Sent you pictures of the other one, right? Yeah, it was like you were there. It was a work trip for her. She said she wished you were there. were there. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, and then we did, um, we did a Virgin sailing, the Valiant Lady.
Yeah, how was that? Here we go.
You were there on that one, so let's not—
No, we're not talking about the drink package right now.
That's another conversation for another day.
But I think that, um, I liked Virgin a lot. It's got, uh, some really good— it's got a good energy, it's got a good vibe. Um, I do think that personally for me, I enjoyed the opportunity to only do a 4-night sailing instead of a 7 on it.
Um, but again, like, you know, we did have Carnival and we've had Royal and we've had Disney and we had Virgin and we did— I did an MSC cruise, which I'm kind of excited about.
MSC is a cruise line that— it's Mediterranean Shipping Company. They've been in the, um, industry for a really— for a long time.
Okay, you got to drop euros off somewhere, right? I'm just curious what that means. Mediterranean Shipping Company.
Yeah, they're, they're, they're cargo right along with you. Yeah, like tow the whole thing. No, they actually, um, they're actually— I think they firmly sit somewhere between Carnival and Royal. They have a really good price point, which is more in line of what people are accustomed to Carnival being. I think their entertainment is a little bit closer to Royal.
And their ship feel is a lot closer to Royal than it is to Carnival, I feel like. Um, good entertainment, the food was pretty decent in the main dining, um, but their Seaside is coming to— is it Seaside or Seascape?
No, the Seashore is the one I was on. Look, we're having a marital conversation. Y'all are having—
it's one of the sea ships.
It's a sea— I think it's a Seaside, um, is coming to Galveston in 2025. Okay, so that's going to be— it's going to be a lot of fun because it will give Carnival—
and there'll be a permanent sailing out of Galveston.
So I really, I really think so. It starts November, um, so that's exciting.
And then we were on the Norwegian Joy, uh, did a New England cruise last month.
That looks— that sounds like fun.
it's one that I would always like to do.
It's, um, okay, we did Alaska last year on Princess, and I just don't think that you can compare New England to Alaska. Well, I don't know. They don't know.
My problem is the only cruise I've ever gone on was to Alaska, and we did it on a Celebrity ship. Yeah, and it was I think we screwed up.
Probably, because now you're never gonna— Disney, you need to do a Disney cruise.
When are we doing that? Let's get that booked. I'm gonna pull out my tablet here. I'm ready.
It's cheaper than going to Disney World.
So like, with the Disney cruises, is it really like— should adults go by themselves, or is it really only fun if you take kids?
So I was on the Disney Dream earlier, and a travel agent trip in April, and I will tell you, there was another travel agent on that ship. She has been on 35 Disney cruises.
Oh my goodness, is that like Diamond?
She doesn't take her kids and she doesn't take her grandkids.
Our very first trip on a Disney cruise ship was just the two of us, and it was the funniest thing because they sat us in the main dining room, which they do rotational dining every night, but they sat us at a table with 2 other couples, and we became such close friends with these people. Every night we were the last people to leave the dining room. We were having such a good time, and people around us by the 3rd night were like, we want to sit at their table, right?
I mean, we had a good time. We got off the ship with one of the couples in, uh, Nassau, and they were like, hey, we're gonna go, you know, catch a cab and go see the, the area. Y'all want to come with us? And so, like, sure. But I mean, so as Yes, adults, yes.
they've got a lot of entertainment. They've got separate areas just for adults that— and they're very strict about— they'll have, you know, cast members set up at the areas into the adult areas, right, checking for ID. If you're not 18, they're like, go away, you know, there's a kids area down one lake. Oh, that's lovely. So it's like they are very— they are very enforcing on it, on the— in the bars and lounges as well as in the pool areas too. You know, they've got a separate area just for the adults.
Well, one thing that people don't think about is that Disney, um, actually has a third of their ships are adult only, and a lot of people don't realize that. And they are very good about controlling that.
Like the whole ship? I had no idea. A third of the whole ship or a third of their ships?
The entertainment areas, the lounges, the entertainment, the lounges, the bars, the The Solarium, the, um, the pool. They've got an adult-only section. So they have 2 specialty restaurants that are adult-only.
Those are the only specialty restaurants they have. And the other thing they do that's a little different is rotational dining. So whereas on another ship you might have a main dining room and you go at a set time, you still go at a set time, but you move dining rooms every night to a different theme. And your server goes with you.
So they know all about you. So they know by the second night, like, they know what your drink choice is. They know if you've got kids, they know what they like, they know what they want. So that's pretty cool. And then we did watch them a couple of times. We've taken the late dining and we've watched the kids, the education program, the children's program come in and literally take kids. The waitstaff serves the kids first.
and then the kids program people come in and take the kids from the table and leave the adults to eat by themselves.
That sounds amazing. So talking about the kids area, I will tell you, both of you guys will appreciate this. If you, if you do a Disney cruise, you've got to go on the opening or the embarkation day, go down to the kids areas. They've got Marvel, Star Wars. I mean, it's like you're wishing as an adult, you're going, hey, I'm only 13, I can get in here, right? It's like, dude, you got a beard. That's— you're You're not getting here, but Kevin would say that. Yeah, but I mean, really, the kids areas they have on are amazing. And unlike— I mean, Disney does it like nobody else.
And their price point is a little bit higher, but like, you don't have the beverage packages. They don't do beverage packages. There's not a casino. Uh, your sodas are all like freestyle type. They're included in your fare, so you're not paying for a soda package. And honestly, the drink prices were so reasonable. I had like an Old Fashioned. They have a Skyline Bar where the, um—
Right, so on the Skyline Bar, it's, it's really amazing. The scenery changes from different skylines. You know, you've got Tokyo and you've got San Francisco and you've got different ones that it kind of rotates through the night. But, um, their drinks— I think I paid like $9 for an Old Fashioned, and they did the whole thing where like you could pick your bourbon and then filter it through the little coffee things and then into the bottom, and they put it in a little humidor and smoke it. I mean, it was like amazing, and it was like $9. I couldn't have done that on Royal or Carnival.
That's not bad at all. That's reasonable. Yeah, so she called me from that ship and she was telling me about this. I'm like, wait a minute, I've never seen you order anything like this.
Who is this? What's going on over here? So because I know you're an old-fashioned drinker, have you— do you— have you tried the smoked one They did that. That's what they did. Is that what they did? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you like it? I did. It's really good.
I like it when they, they bring them out sometimes in like, um, it's like a pocket watch display, you know? It's like a wooden base but then it's got the glass top.
Yeah, that's what they put it in. You can watch them do it.
It was the coolest thing.
It was the coolest thing. And speaking of that, I do have an invitation to go. I'm kind of excited. I got a Disney Treasure Preview. I'll be in New York later this month.
Oh, that's what you were telling me about.
Yeah, on the 20th I go to preview the new ship, and it's got several adult-only lounges and bars. One of them's Haunted Mansion.
I can't wait to see that one.
This is the story of my life. A theme is happening. It's another work trip.
I do, I do. I'll get photos shared. Yeah, yeah. Well, let me ask you this. Have you, uh, had a chance to look at the new Polynesian?
Uh, we've been on the monorail and looked at it being built. I have not been in it yet.
I got, I got some, uh, some mail from them the other day inviting me to like buy one of the DVC packages for the new Polynesian.
Oh, absolutely, you should do it and invite me.
Well, the— yeah, right. No, the, the pool The pool looks amazing. I was not as— I was not blown away by the rooms, at least what they looked like in the brochure. But like, they didn't look— they didn't look like the Poly to me. They looked like a stale hotel room. Yeah, it's nice, but they're just— they're not theming them out like they have in the past. Yeah, I like the vintage look of the Poly.
Yeah, most of their remodels, they've kind of taken more of a contemporary type look to them. More of a streamlined— and I mean, they've done some really good things and they look really clean and nice, but you know.
Yeah, I, I don't want to say that they look bad or anything like that. It was just like, it wasn't what I was expecting. Yeah, but like, again, the pool looks amazing.
Absolutely. We're going to be down there, um, the 19th through the 21st of December, and I'm hoping to just catch a good glimpse of some things when we're down there then.
Yeah, so it should be good. Let's take a real quick second. I told William Hall, I told him if he commented on there, I'd shout him out. So from All Pro Asphalt, he's, he's saying Trump 2024. So yeah, good luck, buddy. Yeah, we'll see what happens.
Well, you know, I did, I did tell you that tonight was an important night for me as well because—
Yeah, some important, some important polls are coming out.
Important polls. And, you know, we were all about the elephant mascot and the color red and Looks like we ended up at number 11.
Oh really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hey, I think y'all are 14.
Hey, I'll take it. I will. After last week, I will take it.
I bet last week was pretty rough.
Look, 11 sounds generous for us this year, so we're not gonna get there. We're not going there. We're not going there. There's no reason to travel so much.
Is this a networking thing? No, this is college football. Oh, college football. Okay. Yeah, I forget you're, uh, one of those Roll Tide people.
You know what, it is stamped on my birth certificate. You know, when you're born in the States, you have 2 choices.
yeah, no, I feel that way even living in Texas.
Well, I think with Alabama, I think one thing that Adrian and I actually were talking about this Saturday, people forget is that we don't have pro sports teams. So we had no baseball, no football, no nothing.
So you have to choose. You have to choose.
You literally have to choose.
Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's like in Arkansas, they don't have any pro either. But so you're—
Yeah, well, yeah, but, but again, you know, you have to be a Hogs fan.
In Arkansas, you just have to be. So here's, here's the crazy one that I think we all just need to take a second and acknowledge.
So because if you didn't believe in resurrection until now, you should, because at number 13 is SMU. Yeah, well, yeah, they— this is their opportunity. I mean, like, they have Literally revived themselves from the death penalty, but it's been what, 40 years? I don't know how long it's been.
Oh my gosh! Vandy is coming out of nowhere. They're coming in. They're like, "Oh yeah, you want to say we're just a baseball school? Let me show you something." Well, they're they're still not in the top 25. It doesn't matter. No, they're 24.
They've been keeping our GPA for a real long time.
In the AP, they're in the top 24, but not not in the college football rankings.
But you know what? They've worked hard for that.
That hey, I think they'd be. some— look, they beat Alabama.
I know, I'm just saying. And Auburn. Well, yeah, yeah.
Can you even say that? Look, I mean, like, the college football playoff rankings— I mean, I'm sorry, I don't care that Army's 8-0. I think Vandy's better.
Yeah, for sure, for sure. You got to look at strength of schedule too, which, you know, it does matter.
Army is 8-0. I mean, I mean, like, who they're playing high school I did too.
Well, I mean, you know, there's that. That's okay.
Yeah, I'm not— they're not bad, but I mean, like, come on, really?
I like how we digressed from travel to football.
Ah, it's better than talking politics, right? It's easy to do.
So do you guys have any wild predictions for the night as far— do you think we're gonna be able to find out tonight, like, who actually won?
See, you got me on football. I don't know. Um, I don't know.
We could crossover. Who do you think Saban voted for?
Oh, you know what? I'm keeping my mouth shut.
He would never tell. He would not tell. No, he's learned how to play that game too well.
But do you guys think that's what we need?
We need Miss Terry to pitch.
His wife. I don't know if y'all seen like a lot of the.
Occasionally, yeah. Depends on depends on. It's gonna be in Lubbock this week, so we'll see what happens.
His um his wife Miss Terry, she was on like a couple of weeks ago and she like did the picks for what she thought and she picked better than he did. And so he hasn't been able to live that down yet.
Oh no, she's gotta. Yeah, you can't live that down.
We always keep saying every time they're struggling, we're like, we just need Miss Terry to get out there and like tell them what's up. Can we let Miss— can we just collectively as a state vote that Miss Terry coaches next week?
Kind of thing, you know, like, why not?
I mean, she's got a good record. Let her pick. Let her say what she thinks is tonight.
I don't know what's the worst that could happen.
I mean, she's got a 50% chance of being right.
Exactly. I mean, if it depends on if you count the other 2 candidates. Which have now crossed the 100,000. See, look, they're getting votes. They're getting votes. I mean, not a lot. Well, depends on what you consider a lot. 0.4%, it's not a lot. It's not a lot. It's too early.
I think I got a better chance.
Like, really, what do you tell yourself if you're, if you're Jill Stein or Chase Oliver at this point? Like, what is the internal conversation of like, you know what, I think we still got a shot at this. Right, are they having a watch party? Maybe we could bring them on. I'm sure they're available.
That's right. I have an unpopular opinion. Let's hear it. And I may lose. Nobody's ever gonna call me for a vacation if I share this, but that's okay. We all have our people, right?
You ready for some downtime?
All have our people, right?
All have our people. Not every client is your client. That's my tip of the day.
I remember the last election. I, I have this thing where I'm not gonna vote for somebody just because I don't— I like them less or more than I like the other candidate. Like, I'm very much a, I'm gonna, I'm gonna vote my, my conscience. Yeah. So I'm not just gonna vote for somebody because I hate their opponent more than I hate them.
Yeah, I think that's a silly way to vote.
Yeah, but majority— but a lot of people do. And they, you know, I got a lot of flack because they were like, oh, well, you're throwing away your vote if you don't vote for one of the top 2 candidates. Well, my philosophy is maybe, but I can sleep at night, right? I'm going to vote for who carries the most of my morals and my values and my concerns and who I feel like represents them the best. Are they always the most popular? No. But at the end of the day, what is the most important thing to me is that I walk in integrity in what I do. And so I'm not— I don't feel like I'm throwing away a vote because
honestly, I'm just— I can't— I couldn't sleep if I voted for somebody that didn't uphold the things that I hold dear.
Yeah, no, I think, I mean, how could you possibly like even But, you know, I mean, it is—
we live in such a culture right now where it's, well, I'm going to vote for them because they're better. They're the, you know, they're the better of the evils.
Yeah, the lesser of two evils.
The lesser of two evils are, well, you know, I'm going to vote for them because a vote for them is a vote against this one. And it's just— I think that that's just such a toxic environment to create. And I think that's why we are where we are. Obviously, those people that just have that mentality of it's got to be this way or that are—
I don't know. So in the— I mean, like, because you— I mean, you talk to a lot of people every single week. I mean, was there like a— and I know in business it's not real popular to talk about politics or anything like that, but like, did you perceive like there being like one issue that you thought stood out as like where most people were pulling their opinions on how they were going to vote?
You know, it's interesting. I think that, you know, as well as I do, the algorithm of social media will show you what you want to see, what you want to see for sure. And so it's really hard. And honestly, I don't have a lot of conversations with my clients about politics or maybe a little more religion than even politics. But it's just not something that I I discuss a lot. Yeah, I do have opinions.
But I don't think that everyone is entitled to them.
Okay, you heard it here, folks. You are not entitled to your opinion all the time.
Not— no, other people are not always entitled to your opinion. You can have them all day long.
You can have them all day long.
I'll take But you know what, I think that, that there are just some things that in a civil conversation, I think that communication is extremely important and healthy debate and healthy conversations are important on both sides.
And I think that a lot of times we have a lot of heated conversations with people that are just unnecessary.
So a lot of times I just My philosophy is that, you know, I can have an opinion, but I'm going to keep it to myself unless you specifically want to have a conversation about it. If you're going to ask just to have a response, then we're not having a conversation. That's true.
Yeah, I agree with that. I'm never interested in just having a fight. I did that in my 20s. I'm kind of tired of it.
Right? Some battles you just don't need to pick.
They're not worth it. They're not worth it. That's true. Yeah. Well, did you guys tell us if you had trips coming up?
I do have that New York trip.
The New York trip coming up.
And the treasure. And then we're actually headed back to New York with the girls, our daughter and our son's fiancée. We're taking them to New York in December, and then we're going to Disney after that.
All right, so just have a cruise in January.
This is one for both of you. What's someplace that you guys have not been yet that you really want to go? Um, where do you want to go, babe? New Zealand.
I want to go to New Zealand.
Okay, that would be a good one.
Well, we, we had a 25th anniversary trip planned, um, 4 years ago now, right? Um, right about the time COVID hit.
And we were planning a 10 days in Europe that got canceled that we still haven't—
I would like to get that back on at some point, maybe next year.
Yeah, no, we've already got plans. I know, we've already got plans.
Yeah, yeah, we want to know where you're going to go. We got New Zealand, Iran, you know. here?
I don't know, that's a hard question to answer because I, I don't know, I just love to travel.
Okay, something, something I'm going to tell about her. She doesn't do favorites or preferences.
Oh really? She doesn't like to limit herself to one particular thing.
I mean, there's only— I mean, like, he's—
Except for me. Except for him.
Even in that shirt, it's good. You're the only exception.
I do know, and I do like the orange bird.
Yeah, I'm not a favorites kind of a person. I don't really have a favorite music or a favorite color or a favorite vacation.
Well, it's not a favorite, it's just someplace you hadn't been yet.
Um, I think I'll go to New Zealand with him. Yeah, I could do that.
That's a good one. Yeah, I think so too. Yeah, yeah, cool.
All right, well, so have we bored y'all enough?
No, not at all, not at all. But we do, we do have some new reporting to go. We can get somebody else up here. So you guys talked out? You want to go back and eat your dinner, or—
I don't know, I think his sandwich just showed up.
All right, well, it's time for— oh, there you go. It's a good time to get down. That's right. Thank you guys so much for sponsoring tonight and for jumping up here and having a good conversation with us.
It's always enjoyable. Do you guys want to hear the latest results?
Sure. So, we have Trump up to 120 now with Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska reporting, with Louisiana and Arkansas. So, they're already calling those states? Yeah, they're already calling those states.
So, he's at 120, and Kamala is at 99. She has added, I think, Illinois and Delaware and Connecticut.
Okay. So what do y'all feel? You asked us, what are your thoughts?
Will we get the results tonight? So I think if— here's been my philosophy. I was telling Kevin this yesterday. I think if we get Pennsylvania reported tonight, I think whoever takes that is going to take the show. I think that's the linchpin for this whole— the whole enchilada rests sort of on— because Like, let's say Trump takes Pennsylvania. He only needs 1 out of the 4 other swing states in the South to take it home. And like, that means like Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina. If he takes 1 of those and Pennsylvania, he's pretty much got it in the bag. If she takes Pennsylvania, you know, typically Pennsylvania goes Michigan, Wisconsin. It's only been split up once in
like the last 40 years or something like that. Like, if she gets— if she gets Pennsylvania, it's pretty much over. But what I was telling Kevin earlier is there's like a weird thing where if she gets Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and he wins everything else, she wins 270 to 268.
And there's a court case already set up where he's probably gonna sue because of the Electoral College being misrepresented in the 2020 census. And so, if that happens, it's like the worst-case scenario. I'm really hoping we don't have the worst-case scenario. I'm hoping— honestly, what I hope is that we have a windfall one way or the other, so that there's not any question as to what happened. But I do kind of think that the way Pennsylvania goes is the way this thing's going to get decided. Yeah, that's, that's my gut feeling about it. I don't know. When are you pulling out the whiteboard? I need a whiteboard. I, you know, I don't know. I don't know how I feel about all of it. What I, what I do know is this, is that
there's a lot of high emotions.
I, I don't think that we're gonna know tonight. I think it'll be— I think it's highly unlikely that we will. Yeah, I think that it'll be tomorrow evening at the earliest, whenever anything is definitive. And, um, I think we'll have an idea tonight. I will say that if Pennsylvania reports tonight, which they are saying currently— It won't. They are saying that they will. I doubt it. But I don't see that they will. They never have.
So, you know, we'll see. They've got new— it's like, well, it's not that big of a state. They ought to be able to figure this out. But I mean, if Texas and California and Florida can figure it out, you'd think that smaller states could, but it doesn't work that way. So, I don't know. It's going to be interesting. That's all I know. Yeah. So, but anyway, we got to get our next sponsors up. Thank y'all so much for sitting down. Always, always good to visit with you guys. Hey, whatever happens, you know, it's always a good time to plan your next trip. That's right.
You might just need— we all need to get away after tonight. This is— all right. Hopefully we'll see you guys in the playoffs. That's what— guys, tonight is also brought to you by Senko Services. If you need land cleared, if you need a home built, I was talking to Corey, the owner of the business. He's like, look, if you need a sink replaced, give me a call. But the guy, the company can do anything, whether it be Louisiana or Texas, land clearing, pad built, home remodel, bathroom remodel, kitchen remodel. Dude, just, he just sold his home that he built here. It was a freaking gorgeous home that he built for him and and his wife. Yeah, uh, and they, they're just ready to move on to something different. But like, they do absolutely
fantastic work. He's a good buddy. Uh, give him a call. What's the number, Kevin? Number is 936-276-9188. 936-276-9188. Yeah, and the broadcast tonight is also brought to you by Fisher Family Plumbing. We actually had the whole crew on the show not too long ago. You missed that one. I did. I just happened to be out of town that day. So this This is a great family business that does incredible plumbing work, guys, you know, and, you know, right here before the holidays, you don't want to have your house having any plumbing issues, and you need, you need somebody that you can trust, and plumbing can be a very personal issue. Yeah, and especially whenever it gets to the colder weather. We will get there. Oh yeah, and
man, the sooner the better. Yeah, no doubt, but, but it could cause massive issues if your plumbing is not up to code. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, you just, you You know, it's one of those deals like you don't, you don't feel like you need to know your plumber until you need to know your plumber. Yeah, you know, and it's like the stuff is literally hitting the fan and that's when you need them the most. And so it's good to have a relationship with a local person, you know, because sometimes these bigger companies, they do good, they do good work, but they, they can't get you in the schedule. That's the tough thing, you know, they're busy. And these, these smaller local family companies can, you know, adapt and move their schedules around to fit your needs, right? And they're local, they're going to be
close by and can get to you a little bit quicker.
And you know, these guys really just want to take care of families and, uh, and, and take care of you. And so any of your plumbing needs, give Fisher Family Plumbing a call. What's the number, Kev? 832-844-7200. That's 832-844-7200. Awesome. And, uh, who do you want to try and bring up next? You want to do Well, is Cory going to come up? He could. You want to go ask him real quick? I got some numbers I can report here. So we have some states starting to report, and it's actually looking like Minnesota, which is weird, is leaning red, but it It's not— they haven't called it yet. But we have Wyoming. They've called Wyoming for Trump. And that puts him up at 137. And let's see here.
They've— Kamala is still at 99 points. But Trump is now at 137. 137, huh? 137 for Trump, 99 for Kamala. They just called Wyoming. So you did it again. I don't care. He has no idea how to say her name. Yeah, neither does she. So here— so I don't know if you guys— welcome to the show, Corey. Yeah, but you could like jump on, man.
Oh man, it's my first time, so I'm excited.
Yeah, it's gonna be good. So we just did your ad, so we said lots of nice things about you, so you know, they're ready for you. We primed the pump.
So here's— but here's what we got is Iowa is leaning red, which is surprising because they had that big poll come out where it said that Iowa was leaning 3 points towards Harris. That would be a big move. If she took Iowa. Iowa is almost solidly Republican. It is. But they're also saying right now the map is showing that Kansas and Missouri are leaning blue. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Yeah, so we'll see what happens there. But right now we've got Trump at 137 and Harris at 99. We've got a long ways to go. I mean, we haven't even— they haven't even called Texas yet. And like, you know, I think the polls are closed here now. Oh yeah, we all know what's going to happen in Texas.
So really, the one in Texas that everyone's a little jumpy about is the Senate race. Oh yeah, for sure. Cruz is vulnerable. Yes, he is. So we'll see what happens. Rightfully so. We'll see what happens, you know. Um, but anyway, Corey, tell us a little about— go ahead, sorry, what are you gonna say?
Oh, go ahead. I'm enjoying, uh, just listening about the election.
Well, no, we want to— we want to tell us a little bit about your business. I mean, I know about it, but like the people out there don't know. I mean, tell everybody what you do.
I'm a general contractor. I have 2 divisions. Uh, one's a land division and the other's a new construction repair and remodel, which my land division involves anything from site clearing, site pads, just right-of-ways, underbrushing, and I include my concrete, concrete flatwork, brick and stone in that as well.
Okay, so you kind of do a little bit of everything.
Oh yeah, and then new construction, repair and remodel.
No asphalt. I'm just trying to figure out something you don't do.
Yeah, I get, I get calls all the time and I'll just For that to, uh, to sell my contractors. Yes.
Well, what is your— if you could do one thing forever and ever and ever, what would it be? One thing.
Um, I'd say any type of land work to involve any type of aggregate.
Uh, limestone, any type of gravel, any type of dirt.
Okay, so like with land work, I mean, are you digging like retention ponds? Are you digging like what kind of different stuff?
Yeah, we do, uh, detention, uh, ponds. We do retention. Uh, we just did 2 in North Texas.
Which was, uh, actually we stayed on that job for about 30 days.
So, uh, oh wow, that's a, that's a big job.
Yeah, one was 2 acres and the other was, uh, 1.5 acres.
Okay. Land work can be tough, man, because like, I mean, like you're typically coming along, especially if you're working like neighborhoods and everything, you have to have the grading right. You gotta— I mean, there's engineers involved, and if you get it wrong, I mean, like you can really mess up somebody's structure.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, yeah, I mean, you don't want to flood out anyone, right?
Yeah, no, because that's liability. But you know who they're going to point at. That's the problem is, you know, you do, you do that wrong and they're going to come find you.
Yeah, it's crazy because we do get a lot of calls that involve, uh, you know, someone will call you, say, I want to get this done. Well, did you get any plans, uh, engineering? Right. And they're like, oh no, like, I just want to do this. I say, yeah, but I mean, do you have any type of plans, engineering plans, or anything in writing? You know, because you have neighbors, right?
I mean, you definitely don't want to you know, make your neighbors mad, right? So a lot of engineering involved and, you know, just a lot of quality control and making sure that you follow the right, you know, steps and procedures. And different counties have different requirements. And yeah, so you have to be aware of that for sure.
Yeah, I mean, I think that I think that's the truth with a lot of people. Like, I was talking to someone the other day and they were like, hey, we're actually interested in buying, you know, building a barndominium. I was like, all right, cool.
Why a barndominium? And they're like, well, it's just so much cheaper than a traditional home. And I was like, well, I actually know some home builders and that's actually not true. Oh yeah, it's, it's really true. They're a lot cheaper. Okay, what do you think? What are you wanting? Well, we're wanting, we're wanting, you know, nice, you know, 2,800 square foot, you know, 4-bedroom, 3-bath home. I'm like, all right, what are you expecting to spend? Well, we're thinking about $250,000. I was like, you're— you might get a slab and some framing for that. He's laughing at you. And I'm just like, you, you don't understand that metal has gone up so much. It's, it's as much as wood is. And so, you know, you're, you're— there's this misconception out there about a
lot of things. And I think it's— I think, you know, the last 5 years has changed a lot, right?
The pricing and how much things cost and the price of materials, the price of labor, you know, people, you know, you, you retaining your own employees and all that kind of stuff. I mean, it's, it's very common for employees to jump to, to another job because it's, it's, they, they're going to pay more. And, um, it's just a, it's a tough deal. So I, I assume you do a lot of education.
Yes, actually, uh, before I started my business in 2010, I come from the safety and compliance world, so I have a professional safety certification, did a lot of Education, training, uh, which can— it helps me when I do stuff like this because I— yeah, although I'm a little nervous. It's all right. I know you guys. It's my first time ever doing a podcast or anything. I'm— I can talk in front of thousands of people. It, it doesn't affect me. But I love training. I love mentoring my guys. I still get You know, my hands dirty. I still love running equipment, but I do have a business to run, and I, you know, you have to separate that. Yeah, it's sometimes it's hard because you want to do it all, but you can't.
Yeah, you got to delegate. Yeah, but especially if you start believing you can do it all, that's when you get in trouble.
But get back to the, uh, I kind of like to put this in the same scenario when you're talking about, uh, the building aspect of whether it be a custom-built home, a cookie-cutter home, so to speak, a born-aminium, whatever. It's all about what you put in it. You know, you want to build something like you're buying a Ford Escape, or you want to build an Escalade, right? Yeah, it's all about aesthetics.
It's a similar size vehicle or whatever, you know, just what's inside.
Yes, and you know, I tell everybody, it's It is somewhat on the more cheaper side, uh, born-to-miniums. Depends on, you know, what you, what you use for your, uh, your framing and so forth.
But also, like, are you just gonna do a concrete floor? You can actually put flooring down. That matters, right?
Correct. It's all about the aesthetics. Absolutely. Uh, and my wife and I talk about this all the time. We're about to Build, build a new home here, another one. We, we just signed a contract closing on our custom-built home we built 2 years ago.
And we talk about that. She's like, oh, I want this and this, and I'm like, okay, we're getting back to where we were, right? So yeah, it's all about the aesthetics, what you want in it, and that's where the cost goes up. You know, what's your budget? And, you know, we do a lot of cost-saving projects, which I like to do bundled services.
Give me an example of that.
If you call us in to do some land clearing to build your house, I like to do the land clearing, the culvert work, the site pad, the concrete flatwork. You know, that's my kind of wheelhouse because I built my company on quality, not quantity, and I love giving back. Yeah, although we still need to make money. I mean, we're all in business, right?
But when you do bundled services, you have an opportunity to, to kind of give the— give your client the cost savings they need to meet their budget. So I really shoot for that on every project. Sometimes you can't. But most of the time you can make it work. So it's kind of, kind of how we like to do things.
So on land clearing, is there— I mean, is it worthwhile for people to try and recover any of the expense through the timber?
There is. It's all about the market. Yeah, I did a 28-acre land clearing in Crosby a while back, and we could not even get our timber to the mill.
Yeah, so we, we had to basically just eat it. I mean, we were relying on, you know, getting a little bit money back, but yeah, you know, sending it to the mill.
But is that something that typically the client will let you recover if you want to?
Yeah, really, they don't want anything to do with— they just want it gone, right? But we ended up having to burn Probably 85% of it.
Yeah, because you don't have time to like dry it out and mill it yourself or anything.
No, no. And then it rained. It was a rainy season. It was, it was a headache. But hey, you gotta, you gotta just do what you gotta do to get it done, and that's what we did. Yeah, you know, it happens.
Yeah. So I mean, is it one of those like you probably need like 50, 60 acres to try and recover anything if you got timber.
And it's all about the size, what the, what the mill's looking for. You got certain mills that'll only take certain sizes, and then, you know, it all depends on, on, on the, uh, the needs.
Yeah, I've heard that it's kind of a nightmare to even get like the, the mill's trucks out there. I mean, like, they'll just kind of tear stuff up and don't care. And I mean, it's not— I'm not like trying to speak ill of them. I mean, like, they're just trying to run their business.
Oh, absolutely. You know, it's, uh, Especially after a hard rain or even any type of precipitation, it gets pretty, pretty messy out there. Sometimes you have to let it dry out for days before you can even, you know, do any work again. So yeah, it's kind of a hit and miss. Yeah, at times.
Well, I've seen a lot of your work, man. I'm super impressed by it, and we gotta— we probably gotta bring another guest up. But do you have any, do you have any wild predictions for the political landscape tonight?
Well, you already know my take on it. I'm a Republican. I grew up in a Democratic environment.
But growing up over the years, I just kind of, you know, been drawn to the Republican side and I just believe in their values and I'm not against Democratic, you know, the party or anything. I have friends that vote Democrat, but—
I'm red all the way, bud.
That's all I'm gonna tell you.
Well, to me, like, you're sort of the epitome of like the gentlemanly, you know, I don't even know, like the gentlemanly Republican. I mean, like, that's how I am, but like I also love and accept the people who don't think the way that I do.
Yeah, exactly. And I, and I kind of like the way the direction it's going. Maybe other people don't think, but, uh, Trump bringing in JD Vance, kind of letting him, you know, kind of mold him for the future. And that's kind of what I'm hoping for.
Like, man, he really impressed me.
Oh my goodness, he was. I even told my wife after, uh, one of his speeches, I'm like, Oh, I'm sold. This guy is legit. And he's a Marine.
I think he, I think he won a lot of people over in the debate.
Just the way that he treated his opponent with respect and dignity and kindness. And just spoke well of him. Like, was able to disagree with him without demeaning him. You know, I thought it was just an impressive performance.
He was just a gentleman. He was very respectful to the other side, even though they had their different views. He showed that he was a true gentleman and that won over a lot of people, I believe. So you're absolutely right.
So that debate really did him good.
Yeah. If nothing else, I'm interested to watch his career. Yeah.
I'm right there with you on that. So cool, man. Like, we'll do some updates. Just, you'd be interested to know Texas has already been called. Yeah. They just called Texas for Trump.
Yeah, we knew that was gonna happen. Yeah, nothing new there, right? Yeah, so we're sitting at 177 for Trump, so he really only needs 93 more to take this thing. We'll see if he gets there, but right now Harris is sitting at 99. There's some big— there's some chunks to— you know, we like— I don't think California's polls are even closed yet. No, no, they're 2 hours behind us. I'm actually kind of— I may send Eric Giotech and just to see how things are going out there in Oregon. They're gonna go blue. I know they're gonna go blue. I wanna get his pulse on things. Yeah. But anyway, let's— well, let's get Corey down and
get you a break. We can bring Sean back up. Okay, yeah, let's do it. And see what's happening. And while you're doing that, I will handle our sponsors.
I appreciate you guys for having me.
Enjoy it. Dude, enjoy your evening. We're so glad that you guys could join us.
Um, yeah, I hope you're having a good time, and I hope your wife's having a good time. Are you having fun? Good. She's just— she's not listening to us, she's watching us on her phone because we can't hear in here. It's hard.
It's kind of hard to hear.
She can't filter out multiple conversations.
Listen, I can't either. I don't blame her. So I'll see if, uh, we can get somebody else up here. I think we need to get Fisher Family Plumbing up here. So I think Sean's sitting back in back there with him.
So, okay, thank you guys again. I appreciate it.
Thank you, Court. All right, guys, tonight is also brought to you by Faust Landscaping. Guys, let me tell you guys something. He just did a rock wall at my house. I was blown away. In fact, my wife's quote on it as we drove up the driveway was like, that is stunning. And so listen, I've actually used them on multiple projects. over the years. They do incredible work, lots of integrity. Hey, this is yours right here. This is yours. Oh, thank you. Whether it be a big, big project, putting in a rock wall like at my house, or just doing general maintenance on the lawn, you can give them a call at 936-207-3238. That's 936-207-3238. And we're super thankful for their sponsorship tonight. We also
have Lone Star Appliance Repair. Tonight, we are so sad that Sarah couldn't be here. We wish her the best. She knows she's not feeling good and wishes she could be here with us tonight. But guys, they are running an incredible special right now. I don't know the exact price, but it's a bundle price where you can get 3 appliances checked out for the price of 1. If you give Darlene a call in the office, she can get you all set up on the schedule. And this is the prime time. I've told you guys this, you know, if I've told you this once, I've told you it 100 times. You know, get your appliances is checked out before the week of
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Fry all day. All right, I'm there with— my only problem with frying is you can't make gravy. You know, and like, come on, you need like— so if I'm gonna fry, I'm gonna put another one in the oven just so I can get the gravy. Just for the Jimbo. That's right. I knew I loved you. So anyway, Give Lone Star Appliance Repair, get your appliances checked out before Thanksgiving. 936-647-2364. All right, and now we have returning guests. How you doing?
All right, we got, we got Fisher Family Plumbing sitting with us. Tell everybody your name and what you do. Yeah, here, look.
Hi, I'm Laura Fisher, and my— I own Fisher Family Plumbing along with my husband Zachary Fisher.
Awesome. How have things been for you guys?
We are blessed. Yeah, we've been blessed more times than I think we've— we deserve. Just with— we found a great crew, we've grown.
Yeah, scoot up just a little bit to that.
I hardly ever complain about not being loud enough.
I'm trying to contain myself because usually I'm a shouter. Yeah, no, business has been amazing. You know, it— and we've Been blessed with great employees. And I honestly, it just as a business owner, I don't know, like, I don't know what the secret sauce is, but I think we just tripped and landed in it. Hey, nothing wrong with that. Amazing.
Because I don't know, commercial, residential, what's your bread and butter?
So we do residential service is our bread and butter. You know, we love being in the homes. We love working with homeowners. We do commercial. Actually, 2 of my journeymen specialize in commercial, are master, and then my husband Zachary, he's also a journeyman, they specialize in residential. And then we also do custom home building plumbing for that. And we recently picked up a new custom home builder that we're really excited to work with, Morningstar Builders. Shout out to Wes out there. They are an incredible builder. We're Really looking forward to our project coming up with them. And yeah, no, so we do a little bit of all. The only thing that we really kind of stay away from is, you know, your industrial. It's just, it's a lot. And the net 30, 60,
90. Yeah, we're a small business, you know, it's just not in the cards for us. And so we, but we like working with the people.
So for people that don't know, what's industrial like?
I mean, working at the plants and stuff like that.
Processing plants and everything.
Yeah, I mean, there's, there's plenty of stuff to do out there. There's a lot.
Yeah, it's just, it's just not in the cards.
Sounds like there's probably a lot of anger out there. Yeah, I don't know.
We'll stay away from that. No, it's— there's a lot of opportunity, but, um, you know, we do have, um, we have a new guy that we're looking at to bring on. I am so excited. Um, he's best friends with one of our newest employees, is a 17-year Marine veteran, and he's been incredible. His best friend, they met in the Marines, and he was the youngest— the guy that we're about to bring on is a master plumber. He was the youngest person in the state of Texas to get his master's license.
Yeah, we're really excited, and we're just, you know, we're growing, and we're just happy. I mean, I don't know what else to say. We're just happy. Life's good at Fisher Family Plumbing right now, and it's because we've got great people, support and we love our clients, things are good.
So with the builder that you're working with, are you— is this like new builds, you guys putting PEX in? Like, what all is that?
So we, I mean, we always recommend PEX. I mean, it just is the most flexible.
I mean, is there anybody like this just asking for copper? I mean, like, what's that?
I mean, a little bit. I mean, we're getting into the nitty-gritty of the actual licensed plumbing, you know, stuff. I mean, Zachary made me promise not to make him get on camera tonight, but maybe I should have made him. I'm talking about you, bud.
But, you know, so PEX is always, you know, gonna be the preferred lines. Copper, yeah, we, I mean, we see copper out there and it's not a bad choice.
I mean, no, people want Copper because they plan on stealing it later.
Yeah, we, yeah, so we, we just were trying, we run into so much galvanized and CPVC, and I mean, that stuff is just, we're trying to get people away from it. I mean, new home builders, I would, if I could encourage anything in the home building industry, it's like, please go with PEX. Please don't, I mean, don't skate on that cost. Get PEX in there.
It's gonna, it's gonna take care of the home I had a client not too long ago had a nightmare situation pop up when he realized he had some underground piping that was cast iron.
And it was like he didn't even know. And like once he got into it, he was like, what did I buy?
Like it was like I bought a time bomb.
So we, okay, we talked about this when we came on the podcast a while back about, if I could change anything about the home buying process, during the inspection, for homes that are 10 years old or older, a camera inspection of the plumbing. Because one of the biggest nightmares that new homeowners, they buy the older home because it has the character and the charm, and you don't see that in new construction anymore. But getting underneath and seeing what's going on.
We're in Texas, we've got clay, we've got shifting, we've got roots like crazy. We just saved a client a nightmare. We just repiped, did a reroute for her new house that she bought, but she was buying another house and we advocated for her to get an inspection. It was one of my old softball coaches from high school. I said, you got to get this inspected. And we did. We ran a camera and I mean, we're talking $15,000 worth of work that she would have needed.
And so just get a camera inspection if you're buying an older home. Get a camera inspection of your lines, your sewer lines underneath, and just so you know for sure.
I mean, absolutely. It is a huge undertaking, a huge project.
Well, and just so people know, I mean, that's— I'm guessing that's not something your home inspector offers.
No, no, no. They'll go in and they check the water heaters and make sure those are safe. I mean, there's gas lines up there and stuff like that, obviously.
Well, no, I just don't want people to be frustrated, like, when they get their home inspection report and they're like, well, why didn't you put a camera down these pipes? And now I'm having to spend $15,000 on something that could have been like— I could have known about, I could have negotiated, you know, all these kinds of things. And they're like, but that's not what your home inspector does.
No, it's not. I mean, getting a camera inspection, it's— we have special pricing for our realtors for camera inspections, you know, kind of like your contractor pricing and stuff like that, because you're getting residual business and stuff. But even for the homeowner, I mean, it is the best money you can spend when you're getting your home inspected outside of the normal, like, let's check up on all the appliances.
I'm going to ask this, and like, just understand the Homeowner Show community is very understanding in general. Like, what would I be looking at to get like a camera inspection?
Ballpark, you're looking about $300,000 to $350,000. The camera system that we actually have is, I mean, it's the top of the line.
I think being a brand new company, the day that we just, we said, hey, we can, we can go for it, we can afford this camera system now. I mean, this camera system itself, I'll just be really honest, it's $15,000. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, but it has a locator, we can pinpoint exactly exactly where the break in the line is. We have video that we can send the clients so they can, they can see with their own eyes, like, this is what we need to fix. You can see roots here, you can see the break here or the belly in it. And so it is the best. We got the top of the line of all the things because I, as an insurance person, because I'm in my—
Yeah, my other world, I'm an insurance agent. And to be able to show people, like, hey, we're not just telling you this, because we want you to sign this $12,000 ticket.
No, this is going to be a massive problem for you.
And on the insurance side of it, I can tell you that not fixing this now is going to cost you thousands and thousands and thousands if it backs up into your home.
And then you're going to have a whole lot of fun spending money on homeowner's insurance for the next 3 to 5 years because you're going to have a claim history now. And so, um, so yeah, I mean, for a camera, you can expect to spend anywhere from, you know, $300 to $364. And now, and that's going through an outside clean-out. If we had to pull and reset the toilet, it's a little bit more, just because every plumber's favorite thing to do is to pull and reset toilets. It's her favorite thing. Like, let me just put— let me go face down in this thing and get it off the floor for you.
Just wake up slobbering in the morning. I want 5 of them.
So passionate. Yes, face first in a toilet. That's, that's her favorite chore. Yeah, the pool and resets, if we have to take a camera that way, it's a little bit more. But yeah, I mean, but it is money well spent in older homes. Get a camera.
Are you still in the insurance business?
Are you doing homeowners policies?
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I got out of the personal lines game about 10 years ago.
I do commercial. I do businesses and primarily, you know, contractors, construction, industrial property, things like that. And so You know, when Zach and I got married and I married a plumber, it was just— I've spent so much time with contractors. I'm like, I think we can do this.
Between my skills and your skills and, you know, the community that we've worked to build and, you know, networked in for so many hours, like, I think we got this.
So, well, I know that there's massive changes coming very, very soon for like homeowners policies, you know, that people like— and people don't want to believe me when I tell them. You know, like, look, your roof is not going to be covered anymore under your general homeowner's policy. They've already taken away fire. They've already taken away flood. I mean, they're just going to continue to take things away. So from— and you may have some insight on that, I don't know, but I'm curious to know, do you know any big changes coming on commercial lines that people need to be aware of?
Commercial lines? No, just— I mean, just expect those property insurance rates for commercial buildings and things like that to continue to go up. I mean, specific to Texas, Texas is the number one catastrophe state in the union. We have everything here— the hurricanes, tornadoes. Texas typically, on a yearly average, has more tornadoes that touch down in Texas than in any other state.
Yeah, but we don't have— we don't have the big bad ones, you know, like the fun ones you see on the news. Not that they're fun, but we don't have like the— we don't have the sexy tornadoes that are gigantic that you see in movies, but we have more per capita here in Texas because we're just huge.
Yes, we have like— we have the little guys that are like, hey, what's up? You like your fence? I don't. Boom, you know, and they take it out. So, so, but we have the tornadoes. The hail in North Texas is just outrageous. So I haven't seen— again, I'm not so much in the personal lines world as much, but I haven't heard any definite decisions being made. But as far as like roof coverages, it would not surprise me, especially in Texas, North Texas, if they— if people— if the carriers just started saying, yeah, sorry, we're not doing roof coverage anymore. It wouldn't surprise me.
What's the best company to start right now? now based on insurance coverage?
Oh, I mean, like, what type of entrepreneurial—
I mean, that's a broad spectrum. I mean, we're all going to believe you.
You can say whatever you want.
Well, here's what I can tell you. Okay. Artisan contracting other than plumbing is really affordable. If you specialize in one specific skill, it's pretty affordable. Plumbing rates are not fun. You know, they are up there because water—
Yeah, because water, water, I mean, water is an angry little being, you know, and it's going to go damage anything it touches, and there is no containing it once it's spilled. Like, it's going to go. You know, we have the brilliant, you know, architects that decided, hey, you know what would be a really great idea? Let's start putting water heaters, you know, 50 gallons worth of water and water lines in attics. That sounds fun.
Yeah, the highest point possible.
The smallest corner in the whole house.
Who cares about gravity and, you know, how much damage water can do?
I think we talked about this last time you were on the show, but I've had 3 clients that have gone out of town on vacation and come back home to their homes soaking wet. From water heaters in the attic?
It's water heaters in the attic and then AC condensation lines that get clogged.
Why do they wait till you go on vacation?
Why do they wait? Do you ever ask the water heater, like—
Well, because whenever you're— you just went on vacation and it's the world's way of reminding you that life's not a vacation, you know?
When you come home, you thought you were gonna relax.
So, true story, I was in my 20s, so I wasn't married yet, had no kids. And so every Thanksgiving— I was the last one of the 4 girls in my family to get married. So every Thanksgiving, me and Daddy were going to the Dearleys. And I came home to my townhome after a Thanksgiving hunting trip, and in my bedroom, my entire AC unit that was in the attic was hanging by cables right over my bed.
And I was like, oh my God, what happened? And it was the AC condensation line had clogged and the pan had overflowed and so much damage that it just shattered through. And so to this day, when I hear AC condensation, 2 things people can do to prevent AC condensation lines disasters like that, and then water heater disasters. On the water heaters, get a flood stop. It's like $400.
It's like a little sensor you put in the drip pan, right?
Yeah, yeah, we have to solder it on, so there's a little bit of work to go on to it. So It's not like the cheapest little, you know, stick-on item, but it's absolutely worth it for the protection of your home. Honestly, if homeowners would do something, they should give discounts for that.
Yeah, over like homeowners insurance.
I'll go tell the companies, maybe they'll listen to me.
But the— and then on the AC condensation, they tie those into sinks, usually like a guest sink or whatever. That's also another brilliant engineering— no, they those can be rerouted into where they drain just outside the home, like through the wall and out. And that way you don't have any of that because it's a biofilm that builds up in there. And, you know, it's cold, it's wet, it's dark. It's more like a fungus.
Yeah, it's tasty. It's really good. Speaking of gravy, that's pretty much what builds up in there. A little turkey treat in your AC condensation line.
This biofilm It's so yummy. A little salt, a little garlic.
Yeah, you know, you can make anything taste good. Yeah, Craig is the chef of chefs.
Throw some truffle oil in there.
Yeah, it works. But yeah, those would be the 2 things. I mean, 2 things for the geniuses who put water, you know, apparatuses up in the ceiling or in the attic. That's what you can do. Let's stop and reroute.
I got you. Yeah, super fun. But yeah, the insurance one is an interesting one to me. Like, it's like, I know there's certain companies that have already said they're gonna stop selling policies in California. They're gonna stop selling policies in Florida.
I think State Farm, actually, they're the number one homeowner insurance company in the country, and they pulled out of California.
I think what's going on is they're looking at their margins And they're going like, look, we can actually increase our profits if we just pull out of these 2 or 3 states and just focus on selling there. Because they know that they can sell, they know that they can produce agents, they know that they can get agencies up and running, and they can dominate in those areas. And if they pull out of those 3 states, they can then probably lower their prices in the other ones where there's not as much risk.
And then they can really dominate, right? You know, because they don't have the risk like they do in states like ours. So it's not— look, I don't I don't begrudge them their intelligence, you know, for those. But like, you know, what it does is it reduces the options that we have.
In states like Texas. And so what do we get left with? I mean, we get left with, you know, second-class garbage.
Garbage. And what happens whenever you reduce the amount of competition in a market? The prices go up. I mean, it's basic economics. Yeah. I know that's 10% of people would drive. The economics are different depending on, you know, side of the aisle you're on. But yeah, you reduce the competition, you increase prices.
So, yeah, you know, and well, I mean, to that point, I mean, one of the reasons we wanted to do an election night show is we sort of figured out early on that for millennials in particular, the number one voting issue for millennials this voting season was homeowner affordability. You know, there's, there's other issues I think that are going to drag the election for sure, you know, economics and, you know, other, other issues that are more broad for the country. But for like that specific voting bloc, which, you know, is the largest generation that we have since the Greatest Generation—
Like, these, these guys are going to be making decisions for a long time when it comes to our country. this was their issue, you know. And so like we started talking about it pretty early on, you know. And, you know, I, I don't know that anybody— the only person who really said anything about it— there was 2 people— was Kamala said something about it, and she just wanted to give people $25 grand, you know. That's not how that works.
Fixed rates, which is a nightmare. Like, yeah, why? And then the other, RFK said something stuff about it before he dropped out and started supporting Trump. But like, really, it was— to me, it was a very narrow-sighted thing for neither candidate to really address it, you know? And I don't know why it wasn't brought up that much. I mean, and I say not brought up because Kamala's was just a dumb, like, throwaway. Like, really, you're gonna give everybody $25,000 and just inflate the prices?
Hey, so you know what you just did to the housing market? You just increased it by $25,000 immediately.
qualify for it or thought they would qualify for it wouldn't, right?
if your parents bought a house, then you wouldn't qualify.
So you'd be 2 generations removed. And who's that really helping?
Yeah, it was just a really— it was a really cute bumper sticker that amounts to nothing. And if anything, it actually would, would hurt the market even worse. It's, it's, it's so backwards.
I tell you guys what's crazy is we did it. We actually did an episode last night on the 12 most affordable metropolitan areas in the United States to buy a home. And what qualifies as affordable is staggeringly different from city to city.
You know, you look at— I'm gonna pull it up because I have it here on my phone, the numbers. Here we go. So what qualifies as an affordable home in Pittsburgh right now, right? Affordable is $215,000, and right now 73% of the listings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are at the affordable rate. Okay, so you contrast that with number 10 on the list, which is Philadelphia in the same state, right? In Philadelphia, an affordable home in that city is $363,000, of which 51% of the listings are at the affordable rate, what's considered affordable for that city. And so like, you, you have well over a $150,000 disparity between 2 cities in the same state that's considered affordable.
You know, and like, so $25 grand, really?
you can take $25 grand to Pittsburgh and it's gonna feel a lot different than in Philadelphia, right? You know, and so like, it's, it's just a nothing burger.
Yeah, I mean, I want to know how long those lasted on market.
Well, that's the thing is like, that's part— that's why these cities are considered the most affordable ones because they have so many of their listings at the affordable price. Yeah, yeah. But like, you start looking at, um, let's see here. Yeah, so These are metropolitan cities with fewer than 15% of the homes at affordable rates, right? We don't know what those rates are, but like 2/3 of the entire list is the state of California. So you have San Francisco, Riverside, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, and Los Angeles. That's 6 out of the top 10.
Oh, no, no, no, no, of the least affordable.
Oh, okay. I was like, hold on, what happened here? I'm in a Twilight Zone. That's completely backwards if it's the most affordable.
California has 6 cities that top the top 10 in the United States as the least affordable cities, and that's mostly based off of availability.
We were literally just having this conversation. I was sitting with my Zach and this Zach, and we were talking, you know. I remember being in my 20s. Yeah, I was talking with the Zacks, and like, I remember being in my 20s, and I'm 41 now, but being in my 20s and thinking, man, if I just— once I get to that $100,000 income range, I will have made it. $150,000, I'm living big. I'm buying a boat, I'm buying a camper, you know.
You were living large at $100 grand.
Yes, you were. And now you have an income like a 2-income household. that's bringing in $100K, $150K. $100K, you're barely getting by. You're paying your bills, you're, you're getting your kids, you know, they're getting into soccer. That's it. $150K, like, you may go on one vacation. Like, the value— like, what a dollar gets you now with the housing market and everything else, all the inflation, everything there is. It is— it's maniacal what has happened.
Well, do you have any interesting predictions for the night? Do you think we're gonna— do you think we're gonna know tonight?
Absolutely not. No, no, I do not think that they're going to officially call it. I think you have way too— and it just strikes me as odd to even to our friends out there that are of the left-leaning. I want to— I want to know Do you not find it odd that the only states that have these problems, the only counties that have these problems, are the blue counties in the swing states that basically decide who is going to— they are the— who's going to be president?
Which problems are you talking about?
I'm talking about like counting the votes and getting votes done and, you know, having You know, I can't remember which one it was. I think it was Pennsylvania, maybe. I'll probably get it wrong. I've been looking at 80, 100 different reports tonight. But like, there were 400,000 mail-in ballots that still had to be counted, and they weren't going to do it until— start doing it until tonight.
Today is our Election Day. We should know by the end of the night who has won our presidency. It is insane. It's insane that this has become the standard, that we're not going to know for 2 to 3 weeks.
Yeah, I mean, I think Florida is probably a really good example. We were talking about that earlier in the show, you know, like they really screwed the pooch back in 2000. I mean, like, it revealed a lot that was wrong with our system, but they fixed it.
They fixed it. You know, there was a problem and no longer— now they're one of the best at reporting on-time results because they fixed the problem. So, do I think we'll know tonight? No, I don't. I honestly think that in the end, I do think that the country's gonna pick Donald Trump to be the new president. I think there's too many factors. You know, economics is really the driving factor in all of that, and economics is the center of it, but it's all like the immigration issues affect our economics. It affects our housing markets.
All the other sub-issues affect our economy, and the economy is the one thing that's not going to discriminate. It is going to hurt everybody or help everybody equally.
So I just— I don't see that. I've seen the swings and the changes in our urban communities. and being upset that they're not getting the dollar support from our federal government anymore. Instead of building them community centers, you know, the illegal immigrants that have been coming here are now getting that support. You know, the billions and billions of dollars that aren't going into our American communities for the American citizens. And I think that really hurt the Democrats this time around.
Yeah, our underserved communities that seen, one of the most frustrating things is to see report and report of the funds that come in to help those communities, and then still nothing changes.
They don't see the money in the community. They don't see the representation in the community. But the funds come in, but we just never see them.
Well, it's kind of like what happened to the— what was it, $8 billion, or for— or it was It was billions of dollars for 8 charging stations that never got built. I've got the numbers backwards. I think it was 8 charging stations and however many billions of dollars that went to it to build. And I can't remember who was in charge of that project. Do you remember? I think her name starts with a K. I don't know.
Amala something. I don't know.
Mama La something. I think people are tired of being told, don't believe your lying eyes, and they're being told— they're tired of being told everything's gonna be fine. Well, it's not. Yeah, it's not. So I think that's, that's what's gonna really make the change this election. I don't know, I could be wrong.
Well, in the age of, you know, the celebrity endorsement, you know, which I think is rather vapid, to be honest. I mean, I don't put too much stock in it. I'm curious to know, I mean, really from both of you guys, like, how significant do you think the Rogan endorsement is gonna be?
Rogan was huge. Yeah, I think Rogan was huge.
Do you think it's actually gonna like get people to the polls and get them to vote a particular way, or—
I mean, his endorsement I think was huge. It was on the eve of the election, but I think an even bigger driver was doing, you know, Donald and JD going on the show and doing his podcast. Can you imagine a 3-hour podcast on Joe Rogan with Kamala?
I can now because, I mean, not with Kamala.
I mean, like, she might have to answer a question.
That would be weird. It'd be difficult to talk in circles for a long time.
You know, I mean, like, and like, again, like, I don't, I don't think people talk about that, like, and make fun of her, and I understand why. I heard her talk about it one time. Someone— there was like a reporter that said, you know, what do you say to critics that say that you just keep repeating the same thing over and over and over again? And she said, oh, that's called discipline. And like, to a certain degree, I understand that. Like, to stay on message.
To, you know, keep repeating the same— you know, it's sort of like a preaching strategy. Like, you keep saying the same thing over and over again until they hear you, right? I get that. But like, it just wasn't resonating with anybody. It doesn't— it doesn't seem like it was. Like, at least the things that she was saying doesn't seem to resonate with people as much as it was just like, you're not Trump.
Or did the Diddy endorsement list hurt her or help her?
I think that people love celebrities. They love entertainment. They love musicians. They love actors. I think people have become extremely tired of being told how, you know, what to do with our lives when they have no idea what it's like to live in our world. And when that's the only endorsement that you're getting, I think— I don't think that it hits home like it will with like a Joe Rogan, who's also a celebrity.
But yeah, yeah, for sure. And it's a different, different vein for sure.
Honestly, me personally, the biggest endorsement that I think made like just through shockwaves was RFK. You know, he's a Democrat. He's a lifelong Democrat and one who does not agree with a lot of things. But I think what they— what the DNC did to him him during the democratic process of basically saying, yeah, get out of here. We're not even going to let you run in the primaries as a Democrat. I mean, what they did to him and how that was handled, I think fundamentally changed this entire election. I really do. I mean, starting from that point, and I think he would've won. Honestly, he would've obviously beat out Biden. You mean if he'd been able to get If he had been primary, he would have beat Biden. And I
think tonight we would be getting the announcement that RFK won the election.
I don't think that you're wrong, honestly.
Because I could have gotten excited about an RFK. I can too.
The health aspect of all of it, you know, getting— it's horrifying that I feel like we're all just a bunch of farm animals on the pharma medicine. Anyways, I'm getting into all the fun things, but I really do. I feel like we're just here to, you know, eat the poison so that they can pop us full of pills and keep us as unhealthy so that we just keep cranking out the money.
Yes, exactly. I think it's terrible. But yeah, no, I think if they had allowed the democratic process, the democracy that they say they want to protect, if they had actually let democracy do its thing, then we would be getting an announcement that RFK is the next president of this country tonight.
I don't doubt it. But, you know, I think, I think with— I think if Trump wins, I think he's going to be around for a while. I don't know in what capacity, but I think he's going to be around for a while.
I hope so. I really do. I think it'd be great for the country because, you know, fiscally, I'm conservative. I'm a business owner. You know, I have employees that I'm responsible for. So I think it's natural that I lean to the conservative fiscal stuff. But as far as social issues and things like that, I'm very centric. I think everybody should just be able to do what they want in their own homes and the government should stay the hell out of it.
But with RFK, I hope he's around. I hope they really put him to use. I really, really truly hope that we do something about our health in this country and take it to Big Pharma. If you ever see me on Twitter, like, I basically go around on Twitter and I just— I tag the USDA and the FDA and I'm like, you guys are committing the biggest genocide on this planet. Like, I'm not nice.
I read the FDA approval as a warning label.
Yes. Yeah. Oh, it's approved? Great. I'm gonna stay away from that one. Yeah.
What's weird about it is how RFK is talking about food, right? And like, because I think one of the things that people were just tired of is they're like, okay, well, let's just publicly fund sick care.
That's what we were talking about. I mean, you know, and I think that's what frustrated a lot of people is like, okay, you want me to pay for your healthcare, but you're gonna eat 3 bags of Cheetos a day. That doesn't seem fair to the rest of us. Yeah, you know, and but like with RFK, it's like, okay, like we think there are things in our food, there are things in our medicine that are clearly not good for us. Yes, that other countries have already banned. Yes, like let's, let's start there and see if we can't just get everybody to like a stasis.
And then on that point, we've had I think 3 to 4 chemicals that have been outlawed in the food industry. They are no longer allowed to add it to foods. And I saw this video on Twitter, and do you know what administration outlawed those chemicals in our foods? I'll give you one guess.
No, what administration? What administration outlawed those chemicals in the food in the most recent— in the last 10 years? The only administration to outlaw—
—poisonings in food. Yes, it was.
Yeah. I mean, he's really the only— one of the few that's actually talked about that kind of stuff.
Yeah, so I know it's like it's election night and I feel like I got a little too much into politics. No, no, no, it's part of what we're here to talk about. Yeah, I mean, trying to, but it's— I think there's common sense and then common help to people. We like, we have to protect, protect our kids, our families. That's what we work for. You know, we're all business, we're all in business, we're all business owners. And why do we do it? We do it for our families. So, if we're not making decisions based on the health and the future of our children, then what are we doing? Why do we wake up and grind every day?
Yeah, well, I mean, on that note, it's 9 o'clock, so we're into the homestretch of this thing. We got one more hour to go, and we got some updates here. Trump is now at 198. So, they have called Utah and Montana, and I think that's it. Am I missing one there, Sean?
I don't think so. I think you're spot on.
Yeah, I think Montana and Utah. So we're at 198 with Trump and Harris is at 99. So no new ones called for her, but we have some that are looking close. It's looking close, like for Colorado.
Oregon leaning red right now.
So I'm actually going to take a screenshot of that and send it to my buddy Eric.
I figured there was going to be a few, a few predominantly blue that everyone's watching right now.
And Iowa is still leaning blue. Yeah, so we'll see what happens there. But yeah, anything else in the plumbing world that we need to be aware of?
Yeah, you know, your garbage disposal is not a trash can. It is not. I mean, you can use it like one and just have my number on speed dial. And because people do that, we're running a special through the end of the year to get people through the holidays, 10% off garbage disposal repairs and replacements, and then water heaters are 10% off through the end of the year.
Now, you may not know this, but I do have a legit question. I saw a commercial the other day for dishwashers, and it wasn't a commercial, it was some type of announcement. It said what you need to do is actually leave food on the dishes so that the cleaning pods have something to attach to. Is that true, or are they just trying to get those lines clogged up as much as possible?
I think that's a great way to need a plumber, because that food has got to go somewhere. And you know where it goes? Over to that disposal line to be dumped into that so that your disposal can eat it up, and then it's gonna end up in your lines. And you're— no, no, bad idea. Food goes in the garbage, not down drains. Drains are for water.
Chicken bones, rice, and coffee all down the garbage disposal is what I'm hearing.
That's— yeah. And here, let me get you my card, you know.
And give it to all your friends.
Yes, give it to all your friends. Tell them the same. No, like, water lines, drain lines are for liquids, and that's it. And flushable wipes, not flushable. Do not flush them. Yeah, no, things— I mean, they're advertised as such because, I don't know, maybe in like however many years they break down. No, they— I mean, we appreciate the job security, but please don't do it. I'd rather you spend your money on Christmas presents and not us. So.
Best Christmas plant— I'm gonna talk eventually. Best Christmas present for a plumber?
I don't know. Best Christmas present for a plumber? Oh my gosh, a Home Depot gift card so they can get more Milwaukee tools. I'll tell you, my guys tell me all the time, you know, they call me, you know, boss mom or mom boss or whatever. And I bought them— the summers suck, right, for them because they're in attics and it's 100 billion degrees up there and they're up there for hours. I bought them On TikTok Shop because, you know, like I wasn't spending enough money on Amazon. Now TikTok sells me crap, but I bought them the little fans that either clip on their hat or on their belt, and they went nuts over those.
Yes, they loved them. So if you know a plumber, buy them a little clip-on fan. They will appreciate it because those attics are insane.
Yeah, that's done and done.
Oh yeah, do it. They'll appreciate that. Other than that, I don't know. Just give them a hug. They deserve it. They work hard.
Sure. You know, and I'll tell you this, I, um, I saw an electrician with their butt crack out the other day, and I was like, that's a plumber thing.
Listen, stay in your lane, electricians. The butt cracks are ours. Yeah, we own that.
Thank you. Yeah, save a plumber. Tell an electrician to pull up their pants.
I feel like I came in at the wrong time on the conversation.
Well, listen, the market's enjoying what's going right now. Bitcoin is up 8.5% right now.
That's a good indication.
I'll tell you, hang on. It is up— oh, 28%.
So, right, you scoff, but I got quite a bit of that.
Yeah, I must say I'm probably up to $7 now.
Dang, I'm living large right now. Come on. Oh, oh, so this is, this is the one that's interesting. So you like, you know, you got the betting markets. So earlier today you could buy shares of Kamala at, I think it was like $49. cents, 46 cents. She's down to 14 cents right now. They're not liking, they're not liking that. But like, look, if you think that she's gonna win, that's a good price to buy that.
That's a wonderful price to pay.
Okay, let's see if you buy Harris at— okay, right now it's at 19 cents. They just jacked it back up. Let's buy $100. So at $100, I'd buy 100 shares at 19 cents. It costs me $20. If she wins, I'd get $100. That'd be my payout. That's not a bad wager.
I mean, yeah, that's nice. What does $100 for Trump get you?
Oh, not much because he's up so much right now.
Yeah, well, so just like 2 weeks ago.
If I buy 100 shares of Trump, it would be at 90 cents. It would cost me $91 and I'd get $100, so I'd make $9. Yeah, so not much.
Yeah, but you take your nine dollars.
I know, John. Take the nine bucks and look. A win's a win.
It is. I mean, like, but if you're looking for return, but like it's it's it's a strong. The betting the betting market thing is an interesting one to watch. Yeah.
Well, it was two weeks ago. I think it was like I think Trump. Trump's were— was that like, what, 61 cents? Yeah, 56 cents or something. And I mean, it was pretty even.
Definitely. It's leaning towards Trump at this point.
But I'd buy Kamala now because at 3 AM we'll get all those, um, mail-ins.
You'll get the, uh, buy now and then sleep well, right?
What do they call it? They call it the, the straight up dump, the, the straight curve, like the mathematically impossible Yeah, I can't wait to get there. Yeah, buy your— take that bet.
Okay, so some more got called for her. So Colorado got called for her and Illinois was called for her. So she's at 109. So she just crossed the 100 electoral mark and Trump's still at 198. But I imagine we're gonna have some called for him soon. New Mexico is leaning towards him right now, which is Really weird. But all of the— now it's still early, but the blue wall is leaning red right now. Yeah, we'll see what happens there.
Arizona's gonna be interesting.
Arizona will be interesting. I sent my buddy in Oregon a message and said like, hey, like, because Oregon's leaning red right now. Yeah, and I was like, what's going on over there? And he was like, look, there's a lot of people pissed. Yes. He goes, so early voting's gonna show it. He goes, it's always blue, but like there's just a lot of people who are pissed.
Yeah, it's, it's a lot of things have changed.
I'm not saying his name because I don't want him to like be—
Don't call out your buddy.
Well, like, look, he lives, he lives in a, in a very liberal state, and like I don't want like people to be mad at him, and he's, he's a pretty well-known guy. Um, but anyway—
I'm sure he appreciates that.
So anyway, let— we need to, we need to thank the rest of our— thank you so much for for sitting down with us.
Always good to see you. Yeah, yeah, thanks for having me.
So glad you guys could come tonight.
I mean, it's, it's an absolute blast to get to do this, and thank you guys for helping us make it happen.
Of course, anytime. Anytime Alicia brings something from Craig to sponsor on my table, I'm like, sign it up, no question, we're in.
By the way, have you been here before?
Oh yeah? Okay, this is one of my favorite hangouts.
I— so I used to be a big, big, big big-time beer drinker. And I mean, and I used to live in this area, and this place had been open when I lived in this area, when I was playing my slow-pitch softball and drinking my cerveza for breakfast on Saturdays.
On Saturdays before softball exclusively.
Mom, yeah, it was before softball.
Mom, have you been next door?
Oh, I've heard a lot about it.
I don't leave my house anymore, Craig. I'm— listen, 3 kids to businesses.
You gotta, you gotta check Next Door out before you— it's the secret speakeasy.
Yeah, there's no sign, you just got to know where to walk in. And yeah, it's super cool. Okay, so all right, you can't bring stuff back and forth. So like, if you're going, go sit down and enjoy yourself. But like, you know, it's— you got to kind of wind into it too. It's— yeah, it's cool.
All right, well, I'm gonna go sneak over there and check it out. Thanks for having me.
Of course, thank you so much for coming.
Yeah, hope everyone has a great night. Go to bed. We'll, we'll know what happens in 3 weeks.
Oh, absolutely. So guys, again, thank you tonight for our sponsors. We've got True Texas Solar again. Uh, let me see this here, Sean, so I can get these guys. There we go. We got True Texas Solar as a sponsor for the show. Uh, thank you to them for being one of our longtime sponsors here on the show. Um, they are absolutely fantastic. One of the things that we love about these guys is they are one of the companies that's out there rooting out scams. They want to make sure that you're getting treated right. I remember to this day Kevin called me and said like, look, my brother-in-law was having some issues with the solar company he was working with, and we had just started working with Josh and his company. And Josh just looked at Kev and said, put him on the phone. And so he can walk me through
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anything from talking to Mickey over there tonight?
Yeah, I'll tell you what I did learn is that there's honest people out there because he said, let me tell you if it's right for you. Then he gave me options of why it wouldn't be right. When's the last time you heard a salesman say you don't want this?
Yeah, that's beautiful. If you can, if you can trust him to say this isn't for you, you can trust him when he says it is for you.
Yeah, absolutely. So give him a call, 936-286-8325. Another sponsor that we have for tonight, making tonight happen so we can bring you guys all the election results and make sure that, you know, you get to hear all of our very educated and informed opinions, is the Walk Wilson Law Firm, uh, dealing in family law. Look, listen guys, one of the most stressful times times that you can have in your life is if you're going through a divorce or a child custody route. Here, I'm going to step off here in a minute. She can have this one.
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as Sean pointed out, like so many marriages are ending in divorce, it's likely that you're going to need services like this. And so go ahead and have this in your back pocket. Not that we want anyone's marriage to go south or to go through that time in life, because we all understand how horrible that can be for you. But be prepared. Call Walk Wilson, 281-942-4052. And with that, I'm gonna hand it over to the dynamic duo of the evening. All right. Kev and Sean. The good guys. And our buddy Mike over there at Faust. Dude, thank you so much for our wall. I think my wife's love for me went up a certain amount of percentage points, the amount of points that
we're hoping that the election gets won by tonight. Well, I'll say this.
Wait, hold on, wait. I increased your love life?
Yeah, absolutely. I think— It looks beautiful. With moss rock.
What better— Like what happened? I had to come back and redo some stuff. So like, how was it before that?
Well, look, it was rough. No, it was. There was some rotten wood out there, man.
You said get over here now. It's like I need Faust.
Wow. It was a pleasure, dude. Thank you.
You know, dude, it dramatically perfect this first time.
No, but like, and it sucks that it is like I can say. as friends, you know. I've been on the show multiple times.
And that just shows that nothing in this life is perfect. And, you know, sometimes you have to come back, and it's, it's if you do the right thing, right, is what makes the most sense, right?
Yeah. No, and like, look, we can talk honestly about this thing because we're buddies. Like, yeah, absolutely, it didn't come out right the first time. No. And like, I didn't even have to say anything.
He was like, hey, I'll meet you at my house. He was really nice.
He didn't want to like hurt my feelings. No, that's what he told me. I got there before he did. did.
This is the story I got too.
Yeah, I was like, dude, you don't even have to come over here. I slapped him.
I was like, this will be the last time I did something like that.
So yeah, we have a different relationship.
No, I mean, I liked it. I only offer things that I know how to do personally, and whenever I saw it, it was immediate like, no, I can't take someone that I consider a friend's money from this, you know? Um, so You know, the way you handled it was ideal.
It wasn't like— I take it bad whenever I get like the aggressive side, right, people. I'm like, I don't want to help this guy. Yeah, I don't want to help this woman. But if it's like a nice way about it, fuck it, the job's for free. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, let's, let's get this right. Yeah, we'll bring in total different material, whatever the case is, you know what I mean? But so you did it perfectly.
Well, I mean, but that— I mean, like, I Part of that is because I'm in a similar business, and like, I hate it when people treat me with distrust and suspicion. You know what I mean?
And so like, I try and give, and I wasn't giving you the benefit of the doubt. I knew, I was like, Mike's gonna take care of this. And it wasn't even bad. It was just like, it was like just not what we—
It wasn't like, oh my God, I can't wait to hire Faust, and this is what we get. Yeah, I get it.
Yeah, and so like, but like it was so easy to just kind of go, yeah, like no problem. Yeah, we're gonna get, we're gonna get the square, and I didn't even mind paying for it like then, right? You know, it was like there were people there.
But no, dude, any, any case, as long as it's level-headed, can be brought up if it's negative or positive. It's really just how it's delivered. You know?
I mean, you have to read the room and you have to read the people, how you deliver those messages. Some people take it like you have to talk to them aggressively to get the point across.
You know, and then some people don't, you know, and I've had to learn that managing the amount of people that I manage on a day-to-day basis. You know, there's some people I'm like, hey, now, you know what I mean?
Or else. Or there's some people it's like, hey bud, But I've got to do it this way.
I think it's a good message for people listening to that, like, hire people like us, you know, is like, you're going to get so much more out of us just by treating us with respect.
Yeah. And like treating someone with dignity and like, and not suspicion, you know, and giving them the benefit of the doubt. Like, even though it may not have gone the way that you think, but like if you explain to them, like, hey, this didn't meet my expectations. Yeah, you know, like, they're most likely going to go above and beyond to try and make you happy.
No, absolutely. I mean, we have those conversations all the time, actually. It's not like something that just is a one-off, you know. I mean, if someone talks to me calmly, I literally tell my management team, I'm like, dude, I'll do anything for those people. Yeah, you know, I mean—
Well, let people establish their integrity. Don't assume it.
Exactly. And there's a lot of assumptions, especially you know, for the things that I offer, they're thousands of dollars, you know what I mean? So it's like you have to put yourself in those people's shoes where it's like, I'm about to give this person $10,000, right? I mean, be theoretical. I mean, like, if you're hiring me for something, it's not a must, it's a want. And if you're gonna want to spend $10,000 and not get— and it's not like, you know, it's extra money.
Yeah, but there's a big difference spending $10,000 and at the end having a less than expected outcome and be like, I can't believe y'all did such crappy work out here. Yeah. Versus, you know what? Like, I really was hoping for something a little different. Right. Like those 2 conversations, not only are they heard different. Yeah. But they're also felt different. Yeah. You know, like you, if you come at me, my natural instinct is this to bow up a little bit. Exactly. It just is.
And if you're a man, if you're a man, I mean, there's women business owners.
Sure. But even then, like, your natural reaction is to be like, wait a minute, that was my work.
It's defense. It's like, my bride will cut you.
Yeah. You pop off on her.
Oh, good luck already. Good luck. All right, listen, I'm gonna go grab a bite. You guys, you guys talk it out. Yeah. But I think the opposite of that is true though. It's like, man, if I come to you and I'm just like, hey, look, man, like, I'm just, I'm having some concerns. That's a different conversation, right? And I think it's, it's everybody. If you're gonna spend $10,000, you should have an expectation. Yeah. Of what that should look like.
A little research, you know?
And because let's say Craig's job was done correctly, but he didn't like it. I could say, hey, this is what this material looks like But on the visit, this is what you picked, right? You know what I mean? And yeah, you know, I— you said you wanted a country look. This is what country looks like.
You got it. You know what I mean?
So it goes both ways. But no, in his— in, in his job, it needed some touch-up and some love, but it took us 3 hours to make it right, you know? I mean, it wasn't like it was a, a whole catastrophe.
Yeah, well, it does look great. I've seen it. Oh, you've seen it? Yeah, I've seen it. And it's the thing, the thing about what y'all did is like right as you enter the property, like you can't, you can't miss it. It's right there.
So majority of our work is right there.
Oh yeah. It's on the front, you know what I mean?
And it's, uh, it's got to look right, you know? Yeah. Um, so whenever, yeah, whenever I pulled up, I was like, Craig, don't even show up. He was like, well, I'm pulling in. And I was like, all right.
That's exactly what he told me. He wasn't even lying.
Yeah, I was like, all right, come on, let's do this. Yeah. Uh, but you know, as a business owner, you got to be able to, you got to be able to take big wins and, and delegate it properly. And then you got to be able to take little and big losses too.
Yeah. And I, I don't know, I don't know exactly how to do that well, but what I do know is that having, like, tell me about how you set expectations at, like, if, if I'm a homeowner and I'm talking Working with you. Yeah. How do I manage expectations on a job? What are your thoughts?
Very good question. So this last year, we— I hired this kid. He's like 25 years old. I say that's young because I'm getting older. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? But this kid knows way more than me. Okay. I'll say that on the homeowner show.
I thought I knew everything. I hired someone younger than me and he's a monster.
I love it. And I'm proud to have this guy on my team, but the way we set these expectations, to answer your question, is everything isn't about the person, it's all about the project. It's not about where you live, it's not about how big your house is, how many square foot you have, what your bankroll looks like. It's all about the way Faust Landscaping operates today. It's not off the whim, it's off of the square foot, the linear foot, the cubic yard. It's all about how many zones on the irrigation, the material that goes in. It's all— everything that we offer now is going to be on a profit margin percentage. Everything has its set price.
So it's not, it's not a, I think I'll bid this one at this price because you're a difficult person to work with, or because you sound annoying.
so we're gonna charge you 15% more, right? It's not like that.
Or, or you live in Bentwater, so your house is obviously worth more, so you can afford it.
You got it. Yeah, no, that's not the case. And that's gonna help us go on to be better this next year. So what we really do now, and I'm proud of it, is we try to get a survey from every client.
Oh, survey, literal survey. I mean, you have to have one of those to—
Yeah, so like things that customers of ours may not know is that we pay for multiple programs, and these programs are landscaping-based, and we can take your survey and scale the property off of one measurement off your survey.
So we take one measurement off the— if your house says it's 27 foot long, we can input that measurement on our program, and then it scales the entire project to scale. So if we build your flower bed out 5 foot, so essentially Whenever we come and sell you a new flower bed or a walkway, everything's to scale and it's in this program and it tells us the cubic yard. And with experience, we know that this material requires 5 inches, this mulch requires this much yards, you know what I mean? So we input everything into this computer and not only are we submitting the price, but we're submitting a survey with a plan.
So that's gonna give you your expectations. So you know everything that's gonna happen. And then if you hire us, whenever we come to do your project, we print out a tabloid— is what it's called— is a large piece of paper, and we give it to our crew lead. And our crew lead has been trained to read these blueprints to execute the job properly. The goal is to get me out of the scenario as much as possible.
And put everything I know on paper.
And within training and stages of the people under Yeah, I think that's how we do that.
And that's the goal for every business.
It is. Well, if you want to scale.
If you're trying to scale, if you're trying to be efficient, is where we're trying to be. So everything from—
That goes everywhere from the amount of hours it's going to take to do a job, the amount of dollars I need to charge for it, the amount of dollars I'm going to spend on it, the amount of everything.
And this kid that's 25 years old put me on this, on Really? He's 25 years old. He's only worked in big landscaping companies, so he brought a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of him, and this is, uh, this is where we're going. So I mean, he, he'll see me do something and he's not afraid to be like, hey Mike, you're messing up here.
And it was something I didn't see an issue that cost me $450 a day.
And you know, it was as simple as getting fuel tanks at my, at my yard.
And I was like, damn, a fuel tank's expensive. He said, well, here, let me break this down for you. A year, what you're doing now. And it's all numbers, you know. And, uh, so everything from getting to the job site faster with a fuel tank of gas all the way to having the material ordered a week ahead, you know what I mean? So that's, that's, that's kind of where we're at right now.
Fast landscaping. And for your leadership to be, um, to be okay with that, that's huge, right? You know, because so many leaders are like, I know how to do this. You, you know, you're what, you're 7?
Get out of here. I know, I know.
You know, and for you to have that leadership, that's good on you. That's great.
I appreciate that a lot. I mean, I feel like you have to adapt with like what's going on with technology and just be, you know, like if he worked at other big landscaping companies that I— and I never did. Yeah.
Take his experience. Run with it, try it out. Hey dude, that sucked and that didn't work, but this was amazing and we're gonna stick with that.
I have a 19-year-old guy that works with me and probably one of the smartest guys I've ever met. Intuitive, has processes, procedures, and he— you know the guy who says, I can do anything, and you never believe that guy? I believe it when this guy says it. Like, I don't know how many deals that we've had come through that when I put the numbers together and it costs us $12,000, he comes back and goes, nah, I can do it at $3,500 and it'd be better than you ever touched it.
Right. Wow. So, I mean, you know, there's still some differences. I mean, this kid's only worked for me for like 3 months. Um, I think it's gonna go on for a long time, but, you know, there's been a couple scenarios where I was like, I don't even want to try that.
You know, I've been doing this for a little bit longer.
Like half the time you've been alive, you know what I mean? But so I do ride that line still, but I mean, I'm open ears, you know.
Um, and that comes with anything. I mean, in these networking groups on the Homeowner Show, I'm all ears to other business owners and trying to, you know, learn. And, um, sometimes I'm the quiet guy in the back of the room. I'm just trying to listen, you know. And, and I'll take what I can, you know.
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that— I think that's smart because there's a lot of people out there that have been doing a lot longer than you have, right? But at the same time, it doesn't make it better. And but, but you take— it's like, it's like any book that you read, right? Especially like, you know, if it's a nonfiction book, you read it and you kind of got to take what you like and get rid of the stuff you really don't.
And, and, and just kind of learning. But that's, that's pretty impressive to have a kid. He's a kid coming in.
And so I, I've been with my wife for 7 years.
And it still feels fresh.
Yeah. I feel like this is the same relationship with this kid. Like, I feel like he can work with me for a long time and it still feels fresh. Yeah. And, you know, those relationships are rare. You know, out of the 35 to 40 people that work for me, There's 2 of those people under that umbrella, and I'm constantly going, hey, you're not gonna make it, after seeing them work, or, you know, this is a good fit.
And out of the 35 to 40 people that work for me, there's 2 people that are— I got one guy that could just do anything.
And then, you know, this kid, the brains. So if it were to go down to the last 3 people, it'd be me and those 2 guys.
Well, let me ask you this. I asked someone else this earlier. If you could do any one type of job, that's the only thing you ever did forever and ever and ever, what would it be?
Do you mean like within my industry that I'm in?
Yes, within your industry.
I'm a fan of hardscaping.
So hardscaping is landscaping but non-living things. So it's like things that don't die. Yep. So pavers. So we do a lot of deck pavers. So it's not like the stuff, like the pavers that you see at Home Depot.
It's, um, you really have to, like, if you don't know about it, you have to do some research on it. But it's real decorative and it's pretty. Like, it's more expensive than concrete if you do it properly.
Um, so retaining walls and pavers would be my niche.
Um, but the name of the company just is Landscaping. So I mean, of course you can— we could be sitting here, you guys could be Master Gardeners and I never took the course, right? But I know all the plants, right? You know what I mean?
So call me a Master Gardener, that's fine. I mean, I don't have this certificate from taking that course, but, um, it's just not like my crazy passion. But it is my part— my— not even a partner, my general manager's Um, Alex, the 25-year-old kid, he's all about staying in your lane and growing that. He's like, dude, you don't need to open up a pool business, you don't need to go start another business, you just need to scale the one you're at.
Wow, that's, that's wise. Yeah. How did— does he have—
I'm telling you, this kid is something different.
Did he, did he have family that worked in a business that helped him learn this, or did he just like— Gary Vee.
He's just watching Gary Vee.
I don't know. It might be. Like, if you asked him right now, people, like, whenever he's with me, uh, from other networking groups, we have lunches and stuff, and he's been with me to those, and they're like, hey, how's Faust doing? And he's like, we closed 73%, um, you know what I mean? Like, it's all numbers. It's not like— and me, ask me that question, I'm like, yeah, we're doing good. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, whatever, man. Yeah, but like, he's real analytical with it, and And yeah, he's been a blessing for sure.
That's awesome. That's really good. So let me ask you this with regard to this election. Like, how do you— have you noticed— I've heard a lot of people that said like the beginning of October was pretty good. Yeah, been kind of weird the last couple of weeks. Have you noticed any difference? And second question that I want you to answer. answer is like, do you think business-wise one party or the other is going to make a difference in the way you see your business moving forward?
I will be upfront and say that I'm not so much of a political man.
So that's okay. I don't want to sound like, like not intelligent whenever I talk about this, but I will say that whenever Donald Trump was president, things seemed good. Um, I will say that business did slow down, but again, we closed 73%, so that's pretty good closing ratio.
Um, and it comes back to those designs and the presentation that we deliver. Um, so I wouldn't give like a president the, the satisfaction for us closing jobs.
You still have to do your job.
Yeah, we're still doing ours.
But, um, I will say that people are holding on tight right now because oil and gas is down. We had that scare with the port, you know, everyone was kind of freaking out. Oh yeah. And then the strike. Yeah, the strike that was going on. And then of course, the presidential election. I'm a trade, so I'm doing a lot of stuff outside. So there's, you know, a lot of people are just holding on to their money right now. Yeah, yeah. Well, so thank God over the years I've built relationships with people that are doing, you know, must-do landscaping jobs like new home builds, and they have to put their grass— like, home builders are hiring us, you know what I mean?
It's unfortunate for the people that are just wanting to get into the industry with a time like this, but, you know, God's always been on our side. We've always had work. You know, I don't let go of the ball. I mean, every morning me and my team, we wake up and we're ready to landscape and we're showing up to our appointments on time. So I feel like I did feel something with this whole scenario that's been going on, but it wasn't like it didn't stop business.
Good. Yeah, no, that's really good because I do think that, like you said, landscaping for most people isn't a have-to-have. Unless, unless it's tree work. Sometimes tree— do you do tree work?
So we pretty much do everything outside.
Okay, because like, you know, if a tree falls, you gotta do something about it. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's something, you know. If, if your plumbing breaks, you gotta do something about it. Um, if my flower beds don't look very good, Unless my HOA tells me I have to, right? So I'm probably gonna be okay.
Yeah, I mean, you're looking at more of like the, the maintenance side stuff.
So like, you don't know a lot about an industry unless you're really in it.
We do a lot of new build stuff, so we're quoting on a lot of commercial stuff before it's even in, in the phase of getting built, right? And then, you know, we have a whole bunch of pool builders that we work for that must put back the customer's grass, you know, must fix the irrigation. And, um, we work with multiple home builders that need the landscaping done to sell the house. So these are recurring work for us.
Yeah. So that's, that's always been a good thing.
That's a pain in the shoulder.
On the commercial side, that's where it's been slowing down a bit.
Is where it's like, oh, my flower bed looks not great.
Yeah, residential is one thing. Commercial—
yeah, we're not getting those calls as much right now.
I can see that. But yeah, makes sense.
They have a commercial construction company, and so I know exactly what you're talking about. And these are months and months before ground's broken or leases are signed. Yeah, I have like— our clients are IBM and Coca-Cola, a lot of other medical facilities, stuff like that. And this is all over Texas, but one of the most highest paid and appreciated has been landscaping. Landscaping, 100%, because even though you have sheetrock and framing and all that stuff, what they care about is what the client walks in and sees, right? So you have— you create the feeling before they ever enter in the room.
Exactly. And I mean, that just comes with the style of land. There's so many different styles of landscape, but like take a model home for an example where they don't even pour the driveway and they just have like that crazy landscaped entrance. It makes you feel like as soon as you hit the— like as soon as you open your door, it's like, oh my God, I have to have this. Yeah, like that's what we're trying to give all of our clients. Yeah, at their personal house.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, I think that What's bizarre about where we live is that it is so much about, I have to have that.
Not keep up with the next guy.
That's it. But, you know, if you can create raving fans with your, you know, the work that you do, then they're going to tell everybody, right? And that's just the way it is. I mean, if you create a raving fan, their only option is to tell everybody. And so they're going to show pictures. Oh, tell me about your guy, you know? Yeah. And that's— man, a lot of good business happens just by doing good business.
Do y'all do those, um, um, TikTok cuts? You know, there's this one guy I follow, man. Yeah, he's the SB something, and he's always cleaning up somebody's yard and shows the whole breakdown of it. And, uh, man, I will— I'll watch like 10 of them in a row.
Yeah, I mean, I like TikTok as well, um, but no, I'm not the guy to do like the cell phone and be like, hey, I'm Michael Phelps and this is what we're doing today. Yeah, that's not me, you know.
Um, give it to your 25-year-old.
I mean, that's not him either though. No, I mean, I can just tell that's not him. Um, and before him, I was really improvising a lot. You know, it sucks to say that, but it was just my skill right then and there. Because, you know, whenever we're a month out, it was like, damn, I forgot what we were doing here sometimes. So it was like I was improvising, and I'm like, well, I'm good at this. The variegated privet needs to go there, you know what I mean? Yeah. And now with him, we're able to landscape prior in full before the job's done and print it out, and then it's done.
You know what I mean? So there's just less improvising, and it's, it's more processes and procedures, and I think that benefits us and the client.
Sure. Well, I mean, you were— without getting into too much— but you were at a point where you were kind of burned out.
I was, and I'm excited again.
Yeah, I can tell. Yeah, I can tell the difference. I mean, we haven't talked about that. I just knew.
No, you can feel it. Yeah, I had a bad general manager, and I'm not gonna name anyone names on here or anything, um, but like, I was just burned out of putting out fires all the time. Yeah. And it was just like, this isn't enjoyable. I know I'm a hard worker. I can go get a good job. Yeah. You know, um, if I can run a business, I could definitely help someone else, right?
You know, and you were ready to do that.
Yeah, I mean, absolutely. Yeah. For one, everything for sale, you know what I mean?
Absolutely. You know, I had someone come up to me one time and they were like, hey, is your truck for sale? I'm like, yeah, it is, it absolutely is. Everything I own is for sale.
Yeah, I mean, everything besides my wife and kids.
Yeah, well, that depends on the day.
No, you go, you go good with the bad and end with the good, you know. Um, but no, I was burned out and I know I'm heading In the right direction, so it feels good. And when you can remove yourself, yeah, that's it.
Yeah, the relationships, hiring the right people, bringing the right people in, and you being able to remove yourself from the stuff you don't want to do. Yeah, that's huge.
Yeah, I mean, literally, guys, I was working till sunup to sundown, before sunup to sundown, well after sundown. Yeah, and now I get off at I get off at like two. Or 3, I'm making more money. Yeah. And it's just— it was because I hired a 25-year-old guy. Yeah. That knew what the hell he was doing. Yeah. And it was rough at first. He was like, dude, yeah. Uh, he was like, yeah. And, and you don't want to admit that while you're in the rut, you know what I mean? But when you come out, it's easier to talk about.
And, uh, so no, we're in the right direction. I mean, our— even like something that normal landscaping companies don't look at, right? He'll even pull up a graph sheet and be like, look, and this is like where we're supposed to be, but there's another line right above it, right? The entire year, you know what I mean? Since he's been here. Yeah. And it's not him showboating, it's all facts.
Yeah, that's great. That's really cool.
So I encourage any business owner to find that guy.
And even if you have a bad experience, keep looking.
Yeah, because they're out there, and there are people— there's still good people out there that are hard workers that want to do right, do right. Yeah, they want to take care of their family, and they're okay taking care of your family. Yeah, you know, they really are.
I mean, whenever he told me what he wanted, I was a little taken aback at first. I was like, I'm already in the rut. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, you're asking for a lot, bro. Yeah, but as soon as— like, I don't even feel his money. Yeah, it's worth it. I don't even feel it.
Yeah, but he knew what he was—
Yeah, he knew what he was worth.
He knew it. Yeah, yeah. No, he was like, sign this contract and everything. Like, it was like $25,000.
Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's awesome, dude.
Yeah, I know, everything's on the up That's good.
Well, I'll tell you this, um, first of all, thank you for sponsoring tonight. I'll tell you this, um, if you want a guy that's actually gonna, you know, do really, really good work for you whenever it comes to your landscaping, give Faust a call. They will take care of you. A 25-year-old is probably gonna show up at your house and get it done right. Looks good, man.
Yeah, we've been, uh, in the offseason we've been riding together, so you'll probably get both of us.
That's all right, man. Why not?
We come and attack you in a nice way.
And we, we're all ears at first, and then we tell you what's realistic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's really cool. So here's a question.
I asked somebody else this. What Christmas gift do you get your landscaper?
Oh, great question. Are you asking like what I'm giving them?
for— yeah, what do you want? Cash. Okay, all right, all right.
So like a teenager, like literally just give them a tip. Yeah, yeah. I mean, what I'm doing for them this year is new. Um, we're going to take the entire week off all the way to January 2nd, and I'm paying them. Awesome. To not work. Yeah, I love that.
That's beautiful. Yeah, I mean, especially is one, you can, right? I mean, yeah, but even if you couldn't, that you're committing to doing that.
No, I am gonna do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's just a reset, and I think it's gonna be good for the company just to let them spend time with their families and, you know, just to reset. I mean, these guys— if you think I work hard, I mean, these guys are really working hard in the hot summers, in the hot summer, in the cold winters in the rain. I mean, guys, they were working today. I don't know if you live in Texas, but it was downpouring this morning and they're standing in the rain waiting for me to say load up.
Yeah, yeah. So when, like, once the rain stops, it's just muggy and nasty.
Yeah. And I stopped by all their job sites today and they were making progress. So I mean, if you got good guys, take care of them. Yeah. If you're a homeowner and you want to do something nice for your guys, a drink, a tip, It all goes hand in hand.
That was a good question though.
Cool. So you can, you can, we're in the last, we're in the home stretch of this thing. We're supposed to end here at 10 o'clock. Yeah. We got, we got a few more sponsors to get through, but we got, we have some new reporting to do. Sean's just watching things. He's learning. Dude, I don't, what When was the last time— no, don't do that one. Don't do that one.
Yeah, you did. Here, I'll fix it.
What are you gonna say, Craig?
That's gotta go. Well, no, I was gonna say, we got the last like 20 minutes here. We gotta— you're welcome to stay. I mean, like, we got some election data we gotta report for sure.
Oh man, she won't even know you're not there. Yeah, no, but somebody— But your wife would mean— I was gonna say another girl in his house will.
Yeah, so, um, and I brought my assistant. I brought my assistant with me. It's only—
I'm so glad she came, man.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So that's the landscaping assistant at Foust Landscaping. If— I know y'all can see her, but homeowners can't. She's been a good addition as well. So if you get an invoice from me, that's where it's coming from.
From her. Awesome. She— we were, we were actually just talking. We, we met at another networking group before she started working for you. Yeah. Um, so like, we, we've known her for a while. She's fantastic.
Yeah, so she's bilingual. Um, she's ready to learn. You know, if you're at a landscaping company employed, you have to have the Spanish tongue.
I actually speak Spanish as well. I'm not going to show off on the Homeowner Show, but if you hire me or and give me an opportunity to come out and bid at your property, I'll, uh, I'll show a little bit of the, uh, I'll show a little bit of the Spanish.
Awesome. I mean, not to brag, but I read biblical Greek.
That's bragging. I— oh, because I was bragging?
Yeah, I speak Spanish. All right, well, look, I can't—
look, I can understand a lot of Spanish. I did, I did 2 summers in Mexico. Yeah. And so like I learned how to like hear the language. I still can't speak it.
Well, here's the thing, you know, you— but like, whenever, like, in that— and whenever you're like, whenever you say that, they know how to say words around what you know to make you not know.
Yes, yes, they do. Absolutely. Or they know how to do it really fast.
Even with the Spanish I know, you can, you can twist the word a little and you can, you know what I mean? Like, oh yeah, it can be like mumbled in Spanish.
And they understand. Yeah, because they pick up on that pretty quick, that like, oh, he knows what's going on. Yeah. And then they'll—
and then they'll change the verbiage up to where it's like, he definitely doesn't know this one.
I know restaurant kitchen Spanish.
That's a good start. That's good. Yeah, I know schoolyard Spanish.
Kevin knows all the swear words. Yeah, that's pretty much it.
That's good Spanish. Yeah. Well, hey, y'all enjoy the election.
Dude, thank you. Hasta luego. Appreciate you. Adios.
All right, guys, uh, 2 sponsors, 2 sponsors for tonight. Love you, Mike. Uh, 2 sponsors for tonight. Memory Making Vacations. We had, we had, uh, Marianne up earlier, and listen, guys, she, she planned my Universal family vacation, and she did it for me and my, my kids, and then my sister and our friends. And we had a complicated trip, and she made it happen. Yeah, y'all had a lot going on. We had a lot going on that trip. And it was a hurricane. Yep, that's right. Listen, it was a complicated trip because we weren't flying back when we were done with our time at the parks. We were staying at the beach for a few more days, and so like we had flights to work
around. We had, you know, car rentals that we needed worked around. I mean, it was a complicated trip. this. Memory Making Vacations can make it happen for you guys. She's fantastic to work with. Give her a call. Cruises, Disney, Universal, even when they open the new Epic Park, she's going to be able to get it scheduled. Ah, you got it in there. Got it in there. She wants to make it happen. Kevin, what's the phone number? Oh, the phone number is 936-689-9879. And also, one of our other sponsors tonight, the first one to sign up for a night 2024 is Senko Services. We got to visit with Corey earlier. Uh, listen, the, the dude knows what he's doing, whether it's clearing land,
retention ponds, building a pad, building a house, building a barn, building a— like, whatever it is, the dude can make it happen here in Texas or Louisiana. Uh, just, just fantastic company. Um, listen, I mean, like, I've seen the house that he built for his wife. And they just sold. And she's here and she's still happy. Yeah, she is. And she's moving on to the next house and I imagine he's gonna build the next one. You have no, no doubt that he is. Yeah, and like, look, I can show you the listing. It was a freaking gorgeous house.
Awesome. I was, I was, I gotta tell you, I was a little jealous. Ah, I bet. A little jealous. I bet. So dude knows how to build, build a house. Dude knows how to clear some land. Hey, uh, that's awesome. He can make it happen.
So yeah, Senko Services. What's the number, Kevin? The number is 936-276-9188. Awesome. All right, so it's just us. It's just us. It's just us now at the end of the night. We got it. We got to— we're going to wrap it up here at 10. We got— we got 2 more sponsors to get through. But like, big takeaways from tonight, gentlemen? Well, the biggest takeaway right now is that Trump is running away. Chicken goes on a biscuit? No, that's not it. Chicken is always. Have we talked about the? We should. We should. I, I think we should start there. Did you have it, Sean?
The chicken on a biscuit? Yeah, yeah. The thing when I first got here.
Yeah, the thing in the. Yeah, yeah, uh huh. Blueberry. It was chicken. Holy cow! Did you make that? No, no, no, no. That's that's Chef Trennis. I know. Wow. Is there more? Yeah, there's. They packed some up for us because. foolishly they didn't finish them. Now he made 40 of them. What time do they close? Yeah, they're cleaning up, but they packed up. Listen, I'll send you guys home with some. But like, they are freaking delicious. Yeah, they're so good. Let me tell you guys, like, there is a special menu put out every week by Chef Trennis. He does Taco Tuesday. He does 3 different tacos every Tuesday. So there's 3 different tacos he made
tonight. So like this, this week's theme was America, so you were dressed for the occasion. Yes, believe it or not. But like every Friday he does a special fry, like a themed fry. Okay. And it's usually like, there's usually like a theme around like an ethnic food or, you know, something. Okay. Yeah, but like dude, He absolutely kills it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's so creative. But anyway, sorry, big takeaway from tonight? Well, I don't know. I mean, we're— it's still gonna take a while before we figure some of this stuff out. But one of the things that's a little bit bizarre right now, we'll see how it all shakes out. But right now, Trump is at 210.
Kamala is at 113. Yeah. So what, like, here's what's interesting is The blue wall is looking red. It is. In fact, right now, and again, we still got a long way to go, but right now you've got Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina all leaning red. Yeah. And none of the swing states have been called, which I think is important for people to know. It is. But you've even got Michigan and Wisconsin up there leaning red, which is crazy. It is crazy. And again, I— who knows what's gonna happen.
Um, and Trump's going leaning by 1%, uh, in Wisconsin, 2% in, uh, Pennsylvania.
3, 3 points. I'm sorry, 3 points in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, who knows what's gonna happen with this, but, uh, so, and we haven't We haven't called— we've called Texas for Trump, but we haven't called Texas for Cruz. No, it's still hanging out there. 73% reporting and he's at 53.7%. Yeah, it's— there's still a lot hanging out there, which is truly bizarre.
Him going to Cancun has definitely followed.
And that was a while back now. So, so here's something that's a little interesting. We do have a Libertarian kind of taken up 2% of the vote in that race, and it doesn't seem to be favoring Allred. Like, he's only at 44. Yeah. So, Cruz is almost up by a good 10%. That's a good point. In that race. So, I mean, but we also don't have a lot of the metropolitan areas reporting yet. No, fully, no, for sure. But 73% reporting, I mean, that's, that seems to be pretty favorable towards Sammy. I mean, to have a 10-point swing over less than 25%, yeah, that seems unlikely, but they haven't, they don't feel comfortable calling it yet, no. So there's still a lot to be determined, and of course the West Coast I mean, they're still eating dinner
out there. So there's still, still a lot going on out there. Yeah. And we— I mean, there's, there's a lot of Senate seats up for grabs. I mean, right now we're sitting at 37 Democrats and 48 Republicans. So really, the Republicans really only need to take 3 more seats in order to keep the majority. Yeah. Which seems pretty likely. It does, because we haven't called Texas. Nebraska is still up for grabs. Montana is actually in play. Yeah. I mean, you, like, some of these swing states, again, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, are leaning red.
In the Senate races, which seems to be favorable towards Trump. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Again, still a lot to go. I don't know. I will say that if some of these states wind up reporting tonight, we might have an answer tonight. So here's an interesting one. Right now you have Georgia at 90% reporting. Yeah. And he's at 51%. Yeah. So they still don't— and I think it's because Georgia was so contestable last time. They were going all out to make sure. In fact, they were talking about, they bought and brought in new machines for all of these absentee ballots.
On being able to cut them open. There's 2 different envelopes that they have to cut open in order to then verify that the signature is there, and something else was there before they even counted it. So, they had a lot to do, but they invested in the equipment to be able to do that faster. And it seems at this point at 90% to have been working. Wow, so many of them are so close. Yeah, still. I mean, you look at Michigan, only has like 26% reporting. That's a, that's a low, low, low. Yeah. Now he's, he's leading by 4 points almost. Yeah, I mean, but we'll, we'll see what happens. Sorry, I interrupted my question. Big takeaways from tonight. Kevin, you were kind
of— Yeah, no, I'm just thinking, first of all, I'll just talk about the race as far as that goes. But I'll tell you one of the big things that I took away after talking to a bunch of the people that were on our panel tonight was that, look, it doesn't really matter what happens in this race. People still have to live their lives. And people still have to earn a living, and people still have to, you know, to wake up and work hard and, you know, run a business or work for a business, feed their families. All of these things have to happen. So whatever happens, one of my big key takeaways is, you know, the more we can, we can be kind to one another, and help one another and
be good people to one another, then this world will still be good. We can still work this out no matter what happens. That's one of my key takeaways. How about you, Sean?
Yeah, same. I was actually thinking like the entrepreneurial spirit of these owners, you know, they're not— these aren't major corporations. Right. You know, people—
And they'll always be the backbone of this country.
Our economic system will rise and fall on the small business owner.
Yeah. Yeah. What about you? You know, I don't know one significant takeaway. I was encouraged just by everyone's demeanor, you know? Yeah, it could have been. It could have been something tonight. Yeah, it really could. And like, you know, it wasn't anything. It wasn't anything. No, I mean, like, you know, like we could have had a— it could have gotten a little rowdy. It could have. It didn't. You know, even in the next room. Well, we still have 2 minutes, buddy. Yeah, that's true.
Well, look, I mean, like, they're trying to make a scene. When, when we booked this event, I, I had a conversation with, with the owner and some of the people that help manage the restaurant, and they're like, are you guys going to be like, you know, obnoxious and rude? And, and like, and like, I appreciated the question because I feel like it's an honest one. And I, I also feel like that's a sad question. Yeah. Yeah. That you have to ask people that now about their political affiliation. Unfortunately. Are you going to be rude and obnoxious? Yeah. You know, and, you know, they prefaced it by saying like, look, we know you.
And we trust you. Yeah. But like, we don't know the people that you associate with. Like, what's it gonna be like in here? Right. And I said, look, you know, we're here to have fun. We're here to have a good time, which it seems like everyone had a great time. Oh, I believe so. Like, I would do this again in a heartbeat.
It seemed like a lot of fun, and there was a lot of people that didn't get to make it just because they were sick. Right. Like, there's a weird strain of stuff going, going through the community.
It's like COVID 2, you know. And but, you know, what I, what I felt in the room tonight was just like genuine affection for one another. And no one was like, who are you voting for? Right. None of that was happening tonight. It was like, but like, everyone was like, And I think that's fair.
I think that's fair for the most part. I mean, like, look, I, like, I know that there are some quiet Democrat voters in this area. Sure.
Some of them are my clients, and I would never want to, like, make them feel bad about voting their conscience.
But, you know, this room just felt genuine. It felt kind, respectful, polite. And I think the country could use a little more of what was happening in this room tonight. I agree.
You know, even the people that came up and spoke their mind and said, well, I'm this way, never spoke condemnation down on anybody else that would think differently. Right. You know, and I think people are beginning to realize that a certain amount of tolerance is far more desirable than war. You know, because there's been a lot of talk about like civil war. There has. Here. And we've had a lot of crazy things happen over the last few months. Well, I mean, like, look, the White House is boarded up right now. Right.
You know, and that's because people in the past have behaved foolishly. Yep.
Yeah, there's a fence that comes up every major election or any major call around the White House. That was built in 2020, right, because of the Civil War effects or because of the rioting and stuff that's going on, that it was never erected before then, right? And now it's erected every single time something hits their airwaves.
Yeah. So, and we do, we do have some new data coming in. Trump just jumped to 214 because Idaho was called as well as Utah. Kamala also jumped to 179.
California. California. Anytime you throw California in the mix, man, you're going to get a bunch of points. Washington. I don't know if Colorado was called earlier, but that was— that has been called.
So Colorado has been called for her. So she made a significant jump right there with those 3 states. So anyway, we have 2 more sponsors we need to get through for the night. We're a little bit over 10 o'clock, but that's okay. Fisher Perry Plumbing, we got to sit down with them for a little bit tonight. Love them. Yeah. I mean, just a great family business. I loved her suggestion to homeowners to, you know, pay a little bit more to get that camera inspection for your pipes, especially on older homes when you start dealing with like roots and and things like that that can get into the pipes underneath the foundation. Like, if you're uncertain, like, and you don't know, yeah, it's not something that a regular inspector does. It's one of those additional things that you have to pay for, but like could save you gobs of
money in the long run in order to, you know, make sure that you're not buying a lemon.
You know, and I mean, I know you're in the construction business. I mean, like, pipes underneath the foundation could be a nightmare.
Oh, absolutely. You know, it's not just plumbing because you'd have to, you'd have to get land in there, you'd have to get foundation because you have to get certain piers and beams to put underneath there to support as you dig and root around. Yeah. And there's— and leaks happen in such a way where they, they just sit there for years Mm-hmm. And you don't realize it because your bill kind of steadily goes up, but as it softens the ground around your foundation, you have huge foundation issues.
All because you didn't scope it for that $350.
Yeah, which is nothing compared to the, you know, what she was talking about, like what could have been like a $15,000 bill.
On getting that thing fixed. And I've seen, I've seen some of these jobs where these guys have to like dig like basically a gopher hole.
Under the foundation in order to get things made right. And like, that's a— no one wants to dig that hole. No. So anyway, look, for all your plumbing needs, give Fisher Family Plumbing a call. Kev, what's their phone number? Phone number is 832-844-7200. Fantastic. And then we got Faust Landscaping to bring up the, the caboose. Yeah, on this 3-hour podcast. Yeah, it's been fun. You guys got to visit with him. I mean, like, I, I just used him for like a pretty big project on my place. Super happy with the integrity he brought to that thing. I mean, they've been doing an amazing job just listening to him talking about like increasing their systems and doing things in a much more
strategic way, which benefits everybody. Whenever things are done in a, in a process-driven way, uh-huh, you, you can just make sure that things are being done in a quality That without that you can't inspect. And so, you know, I, if you want, if you want your landscaping done well, and if you want someone who's gonna care about it and make sure that it, that you're taken care of, give Faust a call. Their number is 936-207-3238. Fantastic, guys. This is, I mean, I don't know if their numbers have changed, but it's now 10 o'clock. We told everybody we're gonna shut it down and like, let's be honest, This is not The Daily Wire. No, it's not. Sean did not bring his yarmulke.
No, actually, I like to talk about it. You're right. Okay. Nope. That was by Ben Shapiro.
Yeah, that's right. Well, guys, thank you so much. We're gonna sign off. It's been fun. You know, we'd love to hear from you. If you have not already, please go out and subscribe to all of our channels on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, if that's a thing. Anyway, it is a thing. It is. Uh, please, thank you, uh, for all of the support you've given us. Until next time, we'll see you later. See ya.
