Expert Insights: Navigating the Challenges of the Contracting Industry with Top Business Owners and Contractors

We are live at Rowdy's. This is the Homeowner Show with the Contractors Network. We're gonna have some fun.

Yep, we're gonna— well, you didn't get to come to this last time. I, I had a good time. You sloughed off. That's about right.

Slacking. It happens. What am I supposed to do?

It happens.

It happens. Hey, but we should probably go ahead and tell people that we're really proud to be sponsored tonight, right?

Tonight we are sponsored by Lone Star Appliance Repair. We're excited to have these guys sponsoring the episode. Great company. I actually had to call them. Oh, look at that. Look at that.

Bumpity bumps are in there.

Look at that. It wouldn't be a show without the bumpity bumps. So anyway, we— I actually had to call them recently. We had a gas leak in our dryer.

Really?

Yeah. But I gave— I gave Sarah a call. She was all over it. They're actually coming out to— I think they're coming out to fix it tomorrow.

Okay.

So we're going to get all sorted out so that my family doesn't die. So thank you, Lone Star Appliance Repair. You guys are fantastic.

Let's make sure that doesn't happen.

Well, and we've got their— we'll throw up the website and everything down there at the bottom, and we'll give you guys a phone number, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later on. But right now, we've got our good friend Christian Waldo, who's here manning and helping run everything at the event here at Rowdy's. Shout out to Rowdy's for having us. They were super nice and giving us electricity. We definitely needed it to have the show. So, but how you doing, Christian?

Doing good, man. Appreciate you guys being here again.

Yeah, absolutely.

Had a great time last time.

So yeah, and, and your boys hooked us up with some lighting tonight too.

Yeah, this is, uh, this is nice.

Yeah, Justin over at iPro is like, he's— well, I don't know that he's helping us. I mean, like, maybe you, but like, we're not much to look at. It's like, it is what it is. He put light on ugly things and accentuate the ugly.

I've seen a few museum exhibits like that.

They were well attended. Oh, wow.

It's true. People will come far and wide to see weird.

They will. Yeah. So let's hope for that.

Yeah. There we go.

Far and wide. So what all we got going on tonight?

Yeah. So we got the Contractor Networking Event, uh, 3rd Thursday, uh, every month at Rowdy's here. So, uh, tonight is, uh, it's just that contractor networking. And, uh, you know, my partner Christian Scott's gonna jump on here in just a second, but he, uh, you know, a little backstory to the Contractor Network. It's actually a Facebook group. It's got about 46,000 members all across the Houston area, North Houston, South Houston, surrounding. Christian started that from scratch. He's a contractor himself.

Yeah.

And grew it organically. Tons of great members in there. And, you know, I saw a lot of potential to do some networking events. We did some events together back in the day with Biz Connection. And so we, yeah, I reached out to Christian and said, hey man, You know, let's, let's, let's take this thing up. Yeah, let's take it to the next level. And, you know, I had a little experience with throwing some events, got the Crawfish Critic event, shout out, coming out April 14th and 15th this year. So I've thrown— this will be our 4th one of those. And, you know, between that and the Biz Connection events, I felt like we could do something. And so we had our last

event last— was it last month?

Yeah, it was last month.

Yeah, early, early, early December, I believe. And then went through the holidays and now we're here on the second one. Couldn't be happier. Um, but yeah, uh, that group has, uh, has done a lot for the people in, in, in the area, man. Contractors, GCs connecting with subs and subs connecting with homeowners to, you know, get stuff done.

Yeah.

And, uh, you know, it's been, it's been amazing. And so now to bring it full circle to a networking event, actually start meeting the people that you're networking with in the page, you know, it's a really cool thing. And, um, yeah, so that's kind of, of what we're doing here tonight.

I dig it, man.

I, I— one of the reasons I love events like this is because if you, if you've ever worked with a contractor of any sort, you know that they don't— if they've been in business for any amount of time, they don't hang out with losers, right? You know, and like, I don't, I don't mean that to be like derogatory towards anybody, but like, you're gonna find good people to work with when you hang out with people that you know and who have treated you right in the past. Uh, and so I love, I love events like this because You know, even if, if, even if somebody comes in that's kind of shady, right? I mean, my friends who I've done business with will go like, hey man, stay away from that guy, right? Or stay away from that gal. Or like, hey, that person, that person will do

a good job for you, right? That gal will get it done. And like, that's, that's why you show up, man, because you can't, you can't get that kind of information just searching Facebook.

Or Google or anything like that. Yeah, you're right. You go to Google, you know, everybody dresses their website up to be professional, you know. Um, and, and you do have the Google reviews you can go off of.

I beg to pardon?

No, not everybody dresses their website up to look great as far as putting their own client reviews on it. And there you go, you know, all that stuff. But, you know, and, and I actually, you know, I tell people, even when you meet somebody at an event like this, even when you're— you still got your due diligence that you've got to do, you know. But oh yeah, one of the most important ways of doing due diligence is recommendations and referrals. If I know that a lot of people have worked with this person before, you know, there's a really good chance that— and if he's out there and he's busting his butt every day to build a name and reputation for himself,

he doesn't want to ruin that, you know, or she. We got some women contractors here tonight as well. Yeah, we do. And, you know, and so that's a— it's just a great way to vet is word of mouth. I think it— I mean, It's before the internet even was here.

I will tell you a weird stat that we've learned in the show is overwhelmingly like our most downloaded episodes are when we have female guests.

Oh really?

Yeah, and I mean like, and we actually do have quite a few females who are contractors on the show, so I mean shout out to the ladies out there. I mean like if you want to like get some exposure, like come on the show.

Absolutely.

Your content just tends to do better on our platform for whatever reason. I think, I think part of it is most of them are better at generating activity through social media.

Yes. You know, I agree with that 100%. Coming from Biz Connection to this group, I've noticed that there's not as many females in the Contractor Network. Therefore, the Contractor Network Facebook page isn't as active. Or no, it's very active. Where the most activity comes from, and I actually started tracking this recently.

Okay.

So I have a virtual assistant that now runs the group. And these events, the sponsorships from these events is what pays them, right? We don't— the owners here don't take profits from these events. It stays in the bank account. It pays our employee. The employee makes sure all the spam stays out, but he also tracks every single deal or referral that goes through the group. So if someone posts, hey, I'm looking for someone who can build my fence, right? He grabs the link to that post, puts it in my spreadsheet and says fence, right? So I literally have data on every job that gets passed. Oh, that's cool. through the group, and I forgot I told him to do that. So, okay, so,

so I go to my spreadsheet, which, you know, I run a few different businesses and this isn't the, the primary focus for me all the time. Uh, so, you know, I'm jumping into it, I look, I open this spreadsheet and I go, holy cow, in the last 2 months we had over 800, uh, different referrals and such. Referrals.

Wow.

And it's not even necessarily referrals, it's like, hey, I need this done, I need this concrete slab poured, I need, uh, this house remodeled. Hey, I'm an investor, I'm remodeling this house, I need a good GC to come in. Hey, I need, uh, landscaping, you know, just pest control, all kinds of stuff, you know what I mean? And it's, uh, the amount was, was overwhelming. I was like, holy cow, there's millions and millions of dollars being done every week.

Yeah.

In that group. I mean, think about it, you do an $80,000 remodel with contracting. When you say— I'm not exaggerating when I'm saying millions and millions of dollars, you know? And it was really eye-opening to me. me, uh, to see that. And that's one of the biggest things that the Contractor Network is focused on right now, is trying to expose the bad actors, the people that are bidding on these jobs super cheap, running away with down payments. We have cut back on that so much by having a complaint form on our website. Anybody— so we don't— it's tough being in the situation of an admin for a group like that, for the simple fact is you have to be judge, jury, and executioner

sometimes.

Right.

Right.

And, and some— and it's really tough when you have one side of the story, you know. Oh, this guy screwed me over. Okay, well, you're not getting the whole side. So I don't allow people to blast in the group anymore. That was a big thing that people did. Oh, this guy did this. Now there's a complaint form and a due process that we go through, uh, just to eliminate that, because there's 3 sides to every story. There's their side, their side, and the truth.

Yeah.

And, and so that's what we have to do as admin is try and get as close to that truth as possible, which is not fun by any means, but it's necessary. Yeah, you know, to be able to get the bad actors out because there is so much money being done in these groups that, you know, it is our responsibility at the end of the day to try and eliminate as much bad business as possible. And we'll never get it all out of there, but if people are doing bad business, you know, they're going to get exposed at this point.

And I'm sure, I mean, because we do have a lot of like business people and contractors who listen to the show, I, I assume that's pretty reassuring to them because I, I— most, most guys, if you've been in business, you've, you've been on like a Facebook group or something like that and you've had people blast other people and like, whoa, this just got toxic really, really quick.

Right.

And I don't want to, I don't want to get— and, and then you kind of like are hesitant to even get involved because like, like, I may do everything right and he still might be mad and, and just, you know, besmirch me anyway. Right. Um, so, you know, I think it's, I think it's really healthy to like, look, we're not going to do that. Here's the process and we'll handle it.

You're talking 46,000 people, right? Like, we're not talking like a group with 1,000 people. Like, once you get to that number, you're getting to a point where like something's got to give somewhere and you got to take control somewhere. Otherwise someone else will.

Absolutely. You know, and it's, uh, it's been tough, you know, to, to try and sit there and, and think, how can we accomplish this, you know? And I think we've done a really good job at it with the complaint side, but it's an ongoing process, you know? And I think that, you know, and more bad actors will continue to pop up, you know? You'll never purge them all. But that's why networking events like this are so important. A bad actor is not going to show his face here and come network with the people he's screwing over.

No.

Right? And so like—

And if they do, they won't last long.

Exactly right, you know?

Not at a place called Rowdy's.

Right. So these networking events are amazing for that. And, you know, and we talked a lot in Biz Connection about competition— or I'm sorry, collaboration over competition. And this is a great environment to start to collaborate with other contractors. There's, you know, Montgomery County and really Houston, some of the fastest growing, you know, areas in the country, you know, booming with development and construction. And, you know, so contractors just have so much opportunity in these areas. Um, you know, there's no need to, to look at it as competition. So you have general contractors who are sharing ideas, who are helping each other out, sharing subs when needed, you know, uh, just so much collaboration also happens here to,

to level up your, your, your mindset and your network is your net worth, right? It's cliché.

Absolutely.

It's cliché, but it's true.

Yeah.

You know, and this is an amazing opportunity for people to, to come out and meet 'em. And, and I can't wait for you guys and the listeners to meet some of our sponsors. Because the guys that are paying to be put in the spotlight, you know that they're not bad actors. They want people to see them, and they're not spending their hard-earned money to, uh, do wrong. They're, they're, they're trying to get their name out there, build their reputation. And when that's really important to someone, they're going to go above and beyond, even if they have to lose money to make it right. Oftentimes they will.

Oh yeah.

So we have some amazing sponsors. So I just want to give a shout out real quick, and, and I think you know Chris Turner. We've known him since Biz Connection Days, actually, when it was called Biz Connect. Chris, actually, I'll give you a funny story about Chris Turner, and he's with Southern Lux Home Innovations, who is doing some amazing things. Um, when, uh, my, my partner and I, my old partner for Biz Connection, when we had our first networking event, we had 2 people show up. 2. The next one we had over 300, but the first one, which we ended up deciding to call it dinner, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So it's a business dinner, you still wrote it off.

Yeah, exactly.

Absolutely. Chris Turner was one of those 2 people, uh, and it was, uh, and I've known him, you know, since then. I didn't know anything about him up until that point, him and his wife Laken. And, uh, but, uh, since then, you know, great guys. Now they're actually our title sponsor here tonight, uh, doing some amazing things. They partnered up with, uh, Jared Ville and his wife as well, uh, started Southern Lux Home Innovations, uh, and have absolutely been killing it. So if you're in the market for a barndominium, those are your guys. Beautiful work too. I'm getting— that is on my bucket list in the next— I'm not even going to call a bucket list. That's my immediate goal in the next 1 to 2 years is to get Chris

Turner to build me an amazing barndominium. And I said it to him earlier, I was like, and a badass biking table for my whole family. I want that, man. And what they're doing is amazing, and the quality of work that they're doing is pretty awesome. So I appreciate you guys having me on. I've got to get out here and tend to these, to all of our guests here.

Absolutely.

But I want to bring my partner, Christian Scott on.

Sure.

Let him follow me up, and then we're gonna get Chris Turner over here. Cool. And and we've got about six or seven other sponsors that we want to bring them on, guys, to talk with. Yeah. So thank you guys so much for being here. Hey, shout out to you guys, man. See y'all later.

All right. Man, it's good. Yeah. Really good.

So far so good.

So far so good.

We're off to a good start.

That's right.

So don't blow it, Christian.

What's up, guys?

What's going on, man? The, the founder of The Feast.

Yes, sir.

Has decided to sit down.

Go ahead and make sure you pull that microphone right up to you. There you go. Is that better? That's better. Absolutely.

Yeah, that's better. So what's been going on, man?

Oh man, we've, uh, we've had the holidays. Yeah, so Merry Christmas.

Get everything you wanted, buddy? Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

My kids are good and my kids were happy and, uh, we had a good time.

All right, good time.

I was happy. Awesome. A new year, man. New New year, new opportunities. Yeah, I'm super excited for 2023. Yeah, super excited. You got some big goals, I'm sure. Yeah, I do, and, and I think everybody else does. I think everybody was kind of tired over, you know, the last couple years that we've had as a nation. Yeah, it's been difficult for everybody, and this is, uh, the first year that we don't have no BS in front of us, so we can all go make money. We can, yeah, make this, uh, put the gears in motion in America.

Again.

Yeah. You mean the government's not going to try and stop us from doing business this year? Is that— I hope not. No, you hope not. Fingers crossed, everybody.

Good luck. I never know anymore. They tried. They did not win. Here we are. They did.

I mean, man, they did their best. They did their best. They did their best. Well, dude, you were, you were telling me earlier that you're, you're kind of moving into some concrete stuff.

Yeah, I'm doing, um, I'm gonna put together a concrete company. I have some really good people that, that are hungry to work and that have really good quality of work. And so I'm going to partner that with the resources and the network that I have and see where it goes. I'm excited. I really enjoy the concrete process of like foundations. Yeah, how to build driveways and stuff like that. It's pretty simple and clear-cut. We can get in and out and get to the next project for sure.

I mean, and I think you told me you wanted to do like more foundation kind of, kind of work too, right?

Yeah, I like the foundations. There's a big— I think there's a big market for that here in Houston. You know, there's a ton of building, a ton of new building, and there's a lot of builders out there, and I have a lot of them in my network. Yeah. And so I'm excited to work with them and see what we can build together. I love building beautiful homes, so.

Oh yeah, man. Well, have you, have you seen any, any fluctuation in the price of material on concrete? Because I know for a while I mean, like, that's—

it's—

I mean, probably for the last 2 and a half years it's been pretty high, right?

Uh, yeah, yeah, I would think so. Um, I'm not 100% sure.

It still is?

Yeah, yeah.

Is it?

I think all the, all the prices, I think everything's still kind of like, what are we gonna do?

Yeah, so kind of floating in the unknown a little bit.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you, do you— and I don't know if you were involved in it at all, like, kind of pre-pandemic, but like, do you remember kind of what the going rate was for concrete?

I don't know.

Because I don't either.

What I do, um, so I do a little different. Um, I'm, I'm putting together crews that I can manage and we can go do big projects. Um, I'm, I'm getting people together that, that have been doing it, but they—

So for you, real quick, what's a big project for you? Like what?

So for example, we did a bid on an aircraft hangar.

Okay.

This earlier this week, I finished it.

Was this like on private land or at an airport?

Uh, it's in an airport in South Houston.

Okay.

Not Hobby Airport. It's like out in the— it's one of those smaller airports out in the country, and the owner is, is adding on to his airport. He's building a new aircraft hangar.

Nice.

So it's like 10-inch concrete because all the planes have to park on it and it has to be strong enough and everything. So it was really fun to put that bid together. Um, you know, hopefully I, hopefully I get it, but that'd be really cool to like market and everything.

For sure.

Yeah, it'd be interesting. Um, but I, I'm, uh, I'm, I'm putting everything together. Um, I did put— I did do a lot, and then I realized that there were some things I needed to work on. So I'm, I'm going, taking a couple steps back in my company and, and going through all my systems and, and filling in the holes where I need to fill them.

Yeah.

To have a smoother process for all parties involved in the future.

Yeah.

And then I'm always fine-tuning my crews and fine-tuning all the people in my company.

Nice.

I mean, do you have any current projects going on?

We just finished a driveway earlier this week in Richmond.

Okay.

Right now, I've been trying to final out some of my personal projects so that I can only focus on this. Okay, so I'm excited for that. I do have an upcoming project in the Heights. It's a complete, uh, it's an insurance complete, uh, remodel. Oh wow, of this house. Uh, the owners moved out and the movers left the water running on the 3rd floor.

Oh my gosh.

Oh yeah, and it leaked everywhere, all the way down to the, to the ground floor.

So are they just, I mean, just Going down to bare bones on the inside?

Yeah, all those spots, you know, all the wood floors were destroyed, so like there's no patching that, you know. Yeah, it's, it's near impossible to go in there and be like, oh, I can find that floor that you bought 10 years ago. Yeah, at Floor Decor. No, it's not. It's very hard. But, uh, we're gonna— I'm really excited for that one. My, my team's gonna go in there, replace all the floors, paint the whole house, refix the sheetrock. Yeah, redo the— excuse me, redo all the electrical areas where it was, where all the water damage was.

And so on, on that one, was it because you said the movers left the water on on the 3rd floor? So had they already sold the house?

No. Oh no, geez.

But I mean, I mean, oh no, for either way.

But yeah, no, I mean, that moving's already hard. Yeah, right. So, and it already like costs a lot of money to move, so imagine They moved from Houston to San Antonio. Okay, so imagine getting that call, like, and I wasn't there when the water was like, it was dripping. Yeah, I wish I had been. That'd have been some cool videos. No kidding. Yeah, I mean, it's amazing that, you know, how much water restoration damage winds up— water damage needs the water restoration kind of niche to come in and take care of things. It's not just during hurricanes. Nope. There's all kinds of stuff that causes that, that, and yeah, some big damage. And water does a lot of damage. Oh yeah.

And, and if you don't get it taken care of, you know, you have your mold, everyone that—

You'd almost rather have a fire.

Yeah, in some ways.

I mean, like, you know what I mean? It's like, because you could— like, that mold gets in there and then you got to tear everything up again.

I mean, yeah, dry it out, remediate, all the bleaches.

and everything.

So it's a big process. I was— I don't know if you guys remember, but we had a Labor Day flood. Do you guys remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, that— I did a lot of work in Humble during that, and it was all like just streets and streets of people's flooded houses in Humble and Kingwood and everywhere. And there's a lot of insurance stuff out there during those Yeah, what a lot—

Houston is an area that really floods frequently.

Yeah, and that's— to me, that's surprising. I haven't lived here for— I've lived here for about 7 years.

Okay.

And being so close to the coast, you would have thought that, like, you know, they thought of that.

Yeah, build houses taller or something.

Well, the thing is, is I have a— I grew up the last— or I lived the last 6 years in Fifth Ward.

Okay.

Okay, so I bought my first house there.

Okay.

And I still have it there. My wife and me and my family, we moved to Beasley, right under Rosenberg. And on my street, my house was the only one that didn't flood during Harvey.

Okay.

Like, in our front wall, in our front yard, it was like waist deep. It was, it was crazy. But my house was the only one. It's like, it's like 3 feet in the air already. But they FEMA is approving— I'm gonna have to figure out how to figure this out, but FEMA is approving these demos of these older houses that I guess got flooded. Mm-hmm. And they are like completely funding a complete new build for these people.

Yeah.

And so they have gone in there and drilled their piers and put, put the foundation, and it is like 10 feet in the air. Oh my goodness. It is a beach house. Yep. And yours is on the You know, regular slab? Yeah, no, mine's, um, mine's on bricks. I mean, it's an old house. But still, it's, you know, there's a 10-foot up in the air and yours is like right there. Yeah, yeah. So, but I'm gonna tell you, like, I'm, I'm not, I'm not tripping because I'm gonna see what those values do to our street because there's 2 of them on our street that's doing that. And if it makes sense for me to do that same thing, yeah, I'm gonna do it for sure.

Yes, man. Who was it that we talked to? Because I think it was after the last big flood that we had, there was a company that was going around actually jacking houses up.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Remember that? Was it Lisa that was—

Yeah, I think it was. Well, it was her. They—

she had it done to her house. She had it—

Lisa Agen's. Yeah, she— well, but it was, it was for a different reason that they, they were not flooded. Yeah, but they wanted to prevent it. So what they did is they literally took her entire house, like 2,800 square foot or something, like— and that's a crazy process. Right, they jacked the entire thing up.

There's a— there's like a video underneath the house to like put these jacks on it and then like did it all at the same time after they like unhooked all the plumbing. Like, it's a whole process.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, I'm really— I'm like, I'm literally surprised that FEMA is trying to like fund anything.

Yeah, well, I'm gonna keep working on it. Um, I have 2— I have 2 tenants. I built 2 apartments in the back of my house.

Okay.

So I have 2 tenants that still live there and they give me all details. There you go.

Tell you what's going on.

Yep.

So, hey, this one fell down after they tried to jack it up. Let's not do that. Do better.

Yeah.

Well, so I would, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the, the driveway, because my wife has been after me for a new driveway. Okay, I wonder why. If you've ever been on my driveway, you'd understand.

We got, we got ripped off, I guess it was 4 years ago and 6 years ago.

I don't know, who knows. Oh, guy told me—

Your 4 and 6 is like the same. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Either way, it was crap. Um, guy told me he was gonna re-asphalt it.

Okay.

And all he did was put down like recycled asphalt.

Oh man.

And didn't, and didn't even seal it, and it just floated away with the first rain. I mean, it was like, all right, come on. So anyway, we, we probably have at least 100 yards of driveway that needs to be done. So like, what, what, what should I expect with like tear-out, like square foot? I mean, do you do it by the square foot?

I'd imagine sometimes. Sometimes still working on getting my square foot numbers finalized. Um, I have a couple different, uh, crews that I can choose from depending on like if I have a job that, that needs, yeah, the most smart people, like an aircraft hangar, right? We're going to use those people. And then, and then I have other people But I would say about $6 to $8 a square foot for what they would call flatwork.

Right.

Yeah.

And is that like— is that so with driveways?

That would be concrete. Concrete, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that's what she wants.

Yeah. Well, that's about the only thing that's gonna work where you're at because I mean, there's just a lot of— there's just— I mean, it just slopes down quite a bit.

The driveway is basically a gully.

Yeah, yeah, and so it like every ounce of water from your property goes down your driveway.

Yep, yep. So that's not— I mean, that's not too bad.

Well, it's—

I mean, oh, and the price isn't too bad per square foot.

It's not bad at all.

Yeah, no, I can do that. Okay.

So yeah, the driveway that I did in Richmond, so I can break that one down. Uh, the driveway that I did in Richmond was just, um, it was, uh, just a regular 2-car garage Like probably a regular home in Katy. Yeah, you know, one of those 2-story houses. Uh, we did that one for about $7,000.

Okay.

Uh, in one day. So it was all done in one day. It was demoed out in one day. Uh, we, we laid the forms and we poured the concrete, and by the time the sun went down, we were finishing it.

Nice.

Yeah, pretty good. So I was very happy.

And so, so with— I know nothing about driveways. So do you, with, with driveways, because I know like on foundations you need rebar. Do you need rebar on driveways?

Yeah, we use rebar.

Okay, this is—

it's almost the same, uh, it's the same concept. You know how on foundations you see it and it's like— no, uh, well, there's a couple different sizes. You have like number 3, number 4, and which are the 2 main ones. Um, we normally use number 4, and then on, on, on foundations we use whatever the plans tell us. Yeah, so, uh, they tell us exactly what to use. With driveways You don't, you don't need plans for them, but sometimes we need to talk to the city for like permitting and stuff like that, right? And, and we always just ask, you know, do you guys have a suggestion of what you need us to use and stuff like that? So it's all, it's normally all the same.

Okay, cool, man. Well, anything else you want everybody at home to know about this event or about your business?

We're going to be doing this every Thursday, every 3rd Thursday. Okay, I think Christian Waldo said that too, but we're every 3rd Thursday, um, and we're just gonna stay consistent with it. I think each time, uh, each month— you guys were here for our first one, so we talked last month.

Yeah.

So this month I feel a lot more comfortable. I feel a lot more confident. Um, the marketing, the marketing this month was a little bit more difficult because we had like all the holidays and stuff.

Yeah.

So I'm really excited for this next month. Okay. Because we can immediately start hitting it. We are putting together— I'm putting together— Christian and Chris and me are all putting together processes and systems to be able to just kind of press a button and it happen. And as all get our name out there and our sponsors get our name out, get their name out there.

For sure.

It's definitely a lot of work and a lot of time, but it's— I think it's worth it. it. For sure.

Yeah, man, you guys are doing great work. Keep it up. I mean, because like, we, we love coming out to them, so I hope you keep inviting us. Definitely. Um, but yeah, I mean, well, this is your first one. What do you think so far?

That's great, man. I mean, there's already a lot of people here, and then I know it's gonna— Yeah, it grows a little bit more since I sat down. It really did. I was kind of sweating in there for a second, to be honest.

Is anybody coming?

To be— I mean, we, we did start before the event actually started. We wanted to kind of get a head start on everything. Um, but yeah, man, so we'll, we'll be here the rest of the evening. And, uh, who do I— I think, are you bringing us somebody next, or—

Yeah, I'll probably go get Chris.

Okay.

And tell him it's his turn.

Yeah, I got some things to say to him.

Oh yeah, bring him on over. I will, I will. Well, thank you guys. I'm really excited that you guys are here. Oh, thank you. I appreciate you guys.

Always, always a blast, man. We're looking forward to, to this and many, many more.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Christian.

All right, we'll talk to you guys later.

All right, bud. So I want to give a shout out again to tonight's sponsor, Lone Star Appliance. You can reach them at 936-296-3355 for all of your appliance repair needs. Great company. My good friend Sarah owns that, operates it, runs it right here in the Montgomery County area, and they are a great growing. And, um, you know, I think a lot of this is, man, people have done the math, and it's with the, the distribution of appliances, you know, like the, the supply lines on those are— have been jacked.

It's been crazy.

Yeah, you can't get stuff.

Well, you couldn't get stuff, and then they started getting them like crazy, and then they just flew off the shelves, right?

And then, yeah, whatever came in was just going, going away because people needed them because their stuff was broken.

Right.

And, and so then, you know, companies like Sarah's, like Lone Star Appliance Repair, comes in and says like, well, look, rather than like waiting for months and months and months, just get that one fixed.

Get it fixed. Which is actually better anyway. I mean, because, I mean, take a fridge for example. If you're going to get rid of a fridge, you got to drain all the Freon out.

Oh, do you really?

Yes.

You have to drain the Freon out, which means they have to do that in a sustainable way. So there's a process for that. And then you got to, you got to dump it somewhere.

Who does that? Who drains it? Do you know? Are you— do you have the inside scoop? Are you just—

no, like, you, you have to.

What are your bona fides, Kevin?

Well, it depends on where you're at, where you can drain it, to be honest. You can drain it illegally, or you can—

in South Dakota.

That's right.

All right, who do—

where do I go?

But here's the thing, like, there are places that'll take your, your refrigerator. Yeah, they'll recycle it, and I don't even know what that means. Yeah, but they won't take it if it's got Freon in it. And so I don't even know what the— I don't know what you're supposed to do.

Well, like what most people do is throw it on the side of the road. That's it, right? You won't take it? Fine.

I can tell you what I'm gonna do with mine. Bury it?

Maybe turn it into a smoker.

I've done that before. Um, I'm gonna cut the line, drain the Freon, and take it to the recycle place. Yeah, I don't know where you're supposed to take— someone tell us, where do you take— where do you go recycled Freon or To recycle.

Maybe Sarah can tell us. I'm sure she's had to dispose some of these things.

Hi, babe.

Oh, hello. Yeah, we're live.

Yeah, come on in.

You gonna come give me some sugar?

What?

Chicken potatis? No, I will.

Hello, JoJo. Hey, come on in. Come say hi. You're live. I didn't turn your camera on, although now your camera's on.

There's JoJo. There you are. We got all the pretty girls over here. Subscribe, it's free.

Take your, take your like parents and your grandma that don't know how, just subscribe. They won't even notice.

That's right.

Yeah, it's clean.

Yeah, we have a clean show.

There's a high— there's a, there's a higher chance that my wife would Swear on this show before I would. Probably. Yeah. Yeah.

I would like to see that happen.

Okay, so I got it. There's, there's a couple of news items as we wait for Turner to get over here. Okay. That I, I don't know if you've heard about them.

I don't know if I have either.

Have you heard about the stuff going on with Southern Star and Kyle Rittenhouse?

Oh, just a little bit.

Just a little bit.

But let's talk about it.

What's going on, man? If you want to come on.

Come on. We're going to talk about that in a minute.

Yeah, we'll talk about that in a minute.

Yes.

So I know your name's Chris.

My name's Chris.

I have no idea what you do. You and me both. Still trying to figure it out.

I spent a lot of time in small business management area.

Okay.

Long time ago.

Yeah. Back when you could have clubs downtown.

Back in Didn't— okay, true story.

Didn't they just close down like a really famous honky-tonk in Houston, like, because it got too close to a school or something like that?

I haven't followed that.

Okay, couldn't tell you. I'll have to— I'll ask my sister about— she should— I think I remember. Sorry, go ahead.

But, um, but my background has been, you know, working in small businesses, running them, making money for other people. And COVID, uh, Big Texas was a casualty of COVID and Is that what got it? Yeah, pretty much.

Sorry, man.

Yeah, well, if it hadn't been for that, I'd still be a W-2 employee.

There you go.

Okay.

So what I do now is I can do coaching, consulting. I can build you a digital presence. You know, all the stuff I learned doing it for a small business for other people, I can help other people do now.

Oh, that's fantastic.

So for the Contractor Network, I built out the website. Which, don't judge me by that one. That was a quick job. We're still working on it.

All right.

But build websites, you know, I've spent other people's money to the tune of probably $750,000 running digital campaigns over the past 10 years. So, okay, for small businesses, that's, you know, for like a Walmart or something, that's a month.

But—

So are you doing this under your name, or do you have a name for the business?

Well, I have Chris Chellie coaching.

Okay, yeah.

Which is, you know, to be determined if we're gonna stick with that or not.

All right.

But it's a starting point.

Yeah, for sure.

I've bounced a few other ideas around, but, you know, my job is to help people win. That's all I want to do.

Nice.

And so what all is entailed in that? I mean, like you said, building out a digital presence. I mean, what are the kind of— are there other things that you do as far as like helping people grow their business? I mean, do you sit down and do like one-on-ones with them? I guess what I'm asking is kind of what is the onboarding process for you?

It is tailor-made. There is no process because it's tailor-made to you.

Okay.

Whatever the client needs. I've got a client that has me helping him with websites, live music booking and building his company out. Leadership is one of my strong suits, something that I've read a lot about, learned a lot about, and done for a long time. I'm still in the beginning phases of finding that niche that sticks for me, but at the end of the day, I'm just here to help.

Cool. I mean, are there certain kinds of businesses that you're looking to work with more? I mean, are you kind of targeting like service businesses or—

I would say anything that's a small business.

Okay.

Anything, anyone that has employees, anyone that has challenges, and anybody that's frustrated and just feels like they don't have a partner.

Yeah.

Call me up, I'll be your partner.

I mean, that's interesting because I think a lot of businesses feel that way all the time. Yeah, like, I mean, when you own a small business, there's always something that you're going, man, if I could just figure that thing out, then I might be able to do this, that, or the other, right? Like, and even if you're not like in dire straits, like, it's like, it's like counseling, right? Like, I tell people everybody should be in counseling. It's not because you're all screwed up, or just because sometimes you need someone to talk to, right? You need someone to listen to, right?

I know you are.

You're probably screwed up anyway.

That's right.

But I mean, there's a stigma behind counselors because it's like, well, you only go to counselor whenever you're messed up. And it's like, well, if you're proactive about things, you go to a counselor in order to keep things moving and be healthy, right? So I kind of hear what you're saying with the consulting side of things. It's like, look, let's talk about your business, figure out what your weak parts are, let's get those strengthened, and, you know, something else starts going down, we'll work on that. It's just kind of a— and I know that it's not an ongoing process for most people, but I think it should be. I think if there's a way to do like an ongoing, like, retainer consulting, that would

be amazing, you know.

And with the clients I have, I do have that deal with some of them.

Awesome.

More or less.

Yeah, well, I mean, you look at like They have, um, I don't even know what, like chaplains for small businesses now. Yeah, not even small, but for big, huge, massive businesses even. Like, there are chaplains who will come in and just work with the employees. And I think that, like, consulting, if you're doing that with the leaders, like the business owners, with the administration, with whoever it is, like, that could be huge.

It all ties together. Counselors, uh, pastors, Coaches, therapists, whatever you want to call it, everybody's doing the same thing. They're helping you get from where you are to where you want to be.

Yeah.

And getting through those roadblocks that inevitably you put up yourself. You know, that's one of my things. I put a Facebook post up on my personal page a few months ago, and I said, here's a comprehensive list of all the people that have held me back, kept me from going where I want to go, and you know, done me wrong in the past. And then I did dot, dot, dot, and then it was my name at the bottom.

Yeah. Yep.

Because that's true. That's— it's about taking responsibility and knowing that you're the one that— you're the one that's going to make the difference.

So how much, how much of that, of what you do, is mindset? How much of mindset shifting do you, do you do?

That's all of it.

I mean, it's so much of it. It has to be.

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say 100% because, I mean, I'm still helping people with technical things like setting up LLCs. And, you know, I was helping a guy set up an LLC through one of those platforms. It wasn't LegalZoom, but it was like that.

Yeah.

And it gets to the part of, all right, would you like us to process your federal tax ID? It's only an extra $149. He's like, yeah, have them do that. I'm like, no. Yeah, you go to the IRS website and do that for free.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's easy.

Yeah, it's like a few buttons, right?

Yeah, but you don't, you don't know what you don't know, and if you've never done that before, that's exactly it. You know, you're scared because it's like, oh yeah, I need somebody to do that for me. Just because you just, you know, you just want to get rolling with whatever it is that you're doing. You don't want to have to worry about all that nonsense.

That's exactly it.

Yeah. I think what you're doing, man, is something that a lot of people are really hungry for. I just started reading this new book, which by the way, I have a goal of like, I can read a lot of books in the year, but I listen to them.

Yeah.

So, but like my goal this year is to actually read, like physically read through 18. I'm still going to continue to listen to books, but like physically read through. And I just started my second one, which was Think Like a Horse.

Okay.

Have you heard of this one?

I have not.

So I hadn't either. My dad actually gave it to me. And it's this cowboy, and I think he's currently— I think he's in Colorado. But he, for years and years and years, he breaks horses. That's what he's always done since he was a kid. He'd break horses, break horses, and he had somebody change the way that he thought about breaking horses. And he and his wife were running a ranch, and this— I think this was in like the—

1980s.

early to mid-'90s, they were just doing their thing at the ranch and Microsoft reached out to him and said, hey, could you— we're going to be in Colorado. Could you put on a rodeo for our team? We'd love to come and experience a real rodeo. And he goes, yeah, sure, no problem. We can do that for you. And they threw gobs and gobs of money at him to put this full production on. Big bucks.

Yeah.

He said, he goes, well, I decided that since we're going to do the rodeo, I would go ahead and do a demonstration with them with a wild mustang and show them kind of how I do my thing. He said he has never been in the horse-breaking business since because he goes thousands and thousands of CEOs and CFOs and COOs and owners and operators and all come to him to do a demonstration on how to break a horse. And he, he says, whatever it is that I'm showing people about horses is transforming the way that they think about people and management and how, how things happen in their lives. And, and he goes, they can't get enough of it.

And so I'm, I'm, I'm just in the beginning of this book, but like, he's kind of going through like, here's what it is that I think people are seeing in me watching work with these horses that they're taking away and then telling their friends, saying, hey, you've got to go see this guy. and watch what he does. And I'm very familiar with the way that he works with the horses, the system that he uses, and it's a very cool system because most people think of it as being like sort of violent and like there's a lot of bucking and, you know, gnashing of teeth and all this kind of stuff, but it's actually, it's super cool and very calm. And

just in the few chapters I've started with, he's said people walk away crying because they didn't know, they didn't know that they could influence people because they, you know, he's— they're watching him do this to the horse. They didn't know that you, you could approach people that way, right, with the way that he's doing. And so like, like what you're talking about, it's just a complete flip in mindset of how you, you know, how you have been doing things versus how you could be doing things.

And you just reminded me, God, probably about 15 years ago, I was reading a lot about dog behavior.

Okay.

And what you're saying is resonating a lot with me because dogs are black and white.

Yeah.

It's yes and no. And I think most animals are that way. Us humans have all this complicated brain and we get to think for ourselves and all this stuff other animals can't do. But when you break it down, we're all the— we all started the same. So yeah.

The—

and I don't want to say managing people is like training dogs, but it's not far off.

No, it's not. It's not. I mean, like, there's a lot of comparable skills in there.

Sure.

Absolutely. There's another book that's really good, and I don't know if you've got this on your list, but it's called Soundtracks.

Soundtracks. I haven't heard of that one.

Who wrote it?

I'm blanking on who wrote it right now, but I'll find it and I'll let you know. But it's all about— it's all about the things that you play in your head.

Right?

The things that, the things that run through your mind, uh, because I mean, for so many of us, like, we think like, I want to go do that, but it's like, but what if, what if that happens, or what if this happens? It's like, well, how do you— how would you know if that was going to happen?

Yeah, right. So is it sort of addressing self-talk?

It is in many, many ways. Yeah. And, and that kind of stuff, like, that gets to all of us. I mean, there are going to be people who wanted to be here at this networking group thing tonight, and they're going to go I don't know how to talk to people, or I don't— what if someone, you know, what if no one talks to me, right? You know, or what if I say something and I say it wrong, right? Like, there's all this stuff that goes through your mind. It's like you're playing a soundtrack in your head that is not the soundtrack that you need to be listening to. Yeah, you know, so good stuff.

So many books on that exact subject. One I'm reading now, I just looked at it, my audiobook, I usually have an audiobook, a paper book, and a Kindle book all going at the same time. Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza.

Ooh.

It's very interesting, but it's all about conquering— there's a lot of physiology. Is physiology the right word? It's—

we'll find out.

It's the first part of the book is him giving the, you know, You're talking about mindset and how— what was the title of the book you just talked about?

Soundtracks.

Soundtracks. So, the soundtracks you play in your mind, how you'll manifest whatever you keep playing in your mind.

Yeah.

And one of the books I just finished, and again, the titles aren't coming to me right now, but the quote was, I can't guarantee that positive thinking will work 100% of the time, but I will guarantee you that negative thinking will work 100% of the time.

So, that's good.

So, but this book, the one that I just said, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, he starts with the science behind how— why the brain works that way. And I haven't finished it yet, but it's going into meditations and how to change your neural pathways through meditation to— what's That's the word I'm looking for. These lights are so bright.

All thanks to iPro. That's right.

Justin. But to change your neural pathways, to erase your— not erase your past, but erase the ways you think that have got you to where you are, which are keeping you from where you want to be.

Okay.

Best way I can put it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Now I'll shut up so you guys can get to more details.

No, no, no, no. I was going to ask you, I mean, like, you're a coach, and I think books are probably a way that you kind of like feed yourself. Are there any other things that you do for yourself to kind of keep you informed, keep you inspired to help your clients?

Well, reading, obviously, podcasts.

What are you listening to these days podcast-wise? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like Rob Dial's Mindset Mentor.

Okay.

I'm not sure if you've heard of that one. He claims it's the top 100 podcast in the world, but good for him.

Sure, yeah, could be.

And then when I'm at the gym, I listen to— I think his name's Eddie Pinero. He does YouTube videos. It's just motivational the whole way through. So just, you know, remind— tells a lot of his own stories, but right, just getting you through those, getting you over those humps. I mean, because God knows I have them too.

Yeah, yeah, and sometimes you just need the kick in the pants.

That's, that's it.

But yeah, awesome.

Yeah, well, motivational videos, you know, whatever, whatever it takes to—

awesome—

to get you going.

Cool. Well, Coach Chris, thank you for sitting down with us, man.

Yeah, man, appreciate that. All right.

Yeah. Hey, real quick, if people, if people want to reach out to you, they need a coach, how do they get a hold of you?

Um, you can find me at chrischelly.com. Again, don't judge me by that website. I threw it up just so I'd have a— so you guys have a, have a place to go. Um, but yeah, that's one way to reach me and I'll I'll be working on that one.

Fantastic.

Awesome. Thanks so much.

Good talking with you, bud. All right.

Well, maybe they'll send somebody else over for us.

They will.

They will. I want to— so do you remember what we were talking about before?

Yeah. You were talking about Southern Star.

So you said you heard a little bit about it.

Yeah. I've heard just a little bit about it.

What have you heard?

Well—

This is what I'm curious about. I'm curious what people have heard. I'm not claiming to have all the facts. I'm just curious as to what people have heard.

I've mainly just heard there's a problem. And that's about it.

I mean, so you know that Rittenhouse was involved?

Yeah, but I don't really know more than that.

Okay, so here's what I know. Okay. This group that is an anti— what's the word where they cancel your speech or whatever? Oh, basically it's a free speech advocacy group. Right. Kyle Rittenhouse was going to be one of the speakers. And so, but the group that was organizing the event didn't disclose that Rittenhouse and some of the other people were going to be guests. And so when they found out, Southern Star canceled it.

Oh my goodness.

So, but what some of the, what some of the hullabaloo around it is, is that they think, uh, that some people are saying that H-E-B put the squeeze on Southern Star and said, look, you either cancel this event or we're, we're canceling you from our stores.

That's not—

Because they're one of their biggest distributors.

Well, yeah.

Um, and, and so this— the CEO of Southern Star has been making the, uh, the interview tour over the last week or so. So we can circle back around because we got, uh, A lichen.

We need to go ahead and put your— go and put some— you're ready for this?

We don't want to mess up your hair, but sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I have kids in daycare, so I've caught all the things. That's right. I'm probably immune.

I think they were sanitized back in, uh, '22, maybe '21.

Yeah, I mean, we did. Okay, well, they came out of the box about that time.

All right, so I just won't breathe in too deep. So if something happens, we can just always link it back to the company that made them.

As she said, she's not gonna breathe in too deep, as she says, sitting in a bar. That's right.

It is what it is.

Public. Well, welcome.

It's good to see you. Hi, guys.

It's good to see y'all. You too.

Are you tired of talking about Barndo's yet?

No, I'm just kidding. I just got out of a 4-hour design meeting, so, you know, it's—

Is this a new one?

This is a new one.

Okay.

Yeah, and it's It's gonna be really cool.

Awesome.

So excited about it. Yeah, so the building has already been done. I've been through— if she listens, I love her. I actually do love her. She is wonderful. She's probably one of my favorites that I've ever worked with. But we've done about 7 design meetings. They've all lasted about 6 hours apiece. But I mean, their home is gonna be phenomenal. Like, I cannot wait. How big is the house? Yeah, it is So the living space is 3,400 square feet. Wow. So it's a very— for a couple.

Is it one-story or two-story?

It's one.

Okay.

Wow.

Oh my God, that's huge.

That's gonna take up a lot of real estate. A little bit. Well, the shop's bigger.

Oh, did y'all do that too?

Yes. Well, it's— yeah, it's all one.

Oh, it's all together.

Yeah, it's attached. So no, it's gonna be really cool. But it's—

Well, so then all— so, okay, so the living space is 3,400 square feet. What's the total on this thing?

72.

Wow.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah, it's massive.

It is massive, and— but it's awesome.

Yeah, it would be. It'd have to be.

It's in Centerville, Texas. That's what I was gonna ask. Centerville? It's out in Centerville. Um, yeah, it's gonna be a really cool build. So I was excited. Today was our last one. We both like high-fived and, you know, did the dance. Like, we feel really good about it. All the plans are set, every detail's done. Yeah, you know, we've redlined everything. We're ready to go, so I'm excited. I just get to start ordering now, and that's my favorite part.

Awesome. So, I mean, so like, it's— are you guys sitting with a shell right now? I mean, are you got cabinets in?

No, they're progressively— right now I believe we're moving into drywall is what's kind of the next phase. So MEPs, drywall, MEPs, you know, electric, plumbing, that sort of thing. Yeah. And so then we'll move into all of the interior stuff. So it's coming up.

So, well, with the foundation already being in place, I imagine some of the plumbing's already there, so that kind of limits the way some things can go, right?

Yeah, so all of that stuff was basically laid in place. We just finalized— like, when I say we finalized, like, light fixtures and mirrors, you know, like, we're, we're down to the nitty-gritty, the hardware, the, you know, the little bitty details. But this house is probably one of the most intricate that I've worked on as far as, like, every room is special, every detail is special, and that's what I'm excited excited about just to showcase like something truly, you know.

Are you guys gonna get to share pictures of this one?

Oh yeah, absolutely.

Is there, is there anything in particular you're really excited about like design-wise?

Um, you know, you'll just have to be surprised.

I'll let you know.

I'll tag you. I'll tag The Homeowner Show so you can take a look at it. So, so it's 3,400 square feet. What is that? How many bedrooms, bathrooms?

What does it look like?

So it's 3 bedrooms. So there's a master, suite and closet, and their closet's probably bigger than some people's homes. Yeah, it's, you know, it's, it's big. If I'm gonna say a favorite part, the master suite is it. Okay, the bathroom and the closet. Yeah, they're gonna be good.

Okay, so something I've never asked you guys, since you said how big the, like, big master suite, um, can you guys put fireplaces in those things?

Oh yeah, yeah, there's one going in there. Nice. Yeah, it's gonna be good right in front of their standalone bathtub.

Of course.

Yeah, with their chandelier over the top.

So I've, I've seen one where they put it in front of the bathtub, but it's like a double-sided fireplace where there's like one that's for the bedroom and then one for the bathroom.

So this one's just gonna be, you know, it's gonna be gas inset. We're just building it out. We actually— but it's a good-sized bathroom, but ultimately we're having to say we need a little bit of space from the distance of the standalone And there's gonna be a tub filler that— sorry, from that, you know, it's base, it's gonna sit on the floor. Okay. And there was not very much room between the end of this to the end of the bathtub, so it's, you know, we're kind of having to condense it just a little bit in depth.

Yeah.

So, okay, there's not double-sided, it's one side.

Sure.

Yeah, yeah. And that was a last-minute add-in. I was like, that's a pretty bare wall, guys, it looks like we could put a fireplace on it. And her husband's like, You know what? Yeah. Why not?

Let's do this.

That sounds good. Why not? Yeah, absolutely.

All in. I want a fireplace in the bathroom.

Well, yeah, absolutely.

I'm there for it.

I had it. We were— so we were in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for an event, uh, one time, and we were staying at this hotel. You know, Gatlinburg is kind of a very, um, it's a very unique place.

Sure.

And this, this hotel room had, um, had a big bathroom and a big kind of a living area over here and then a bedroom over here. And in between the bedroom and the bath area was a double-sided fireplace in the hotel room. This hotel room, it was super amazing. Yeah, I'm like, I'm like, wow, I could handle this at home. I could handle this. This would be amazing. I'm like, I'm actually not leaving now.

Thank you.

That's right.

I think that's their goal. Yep, I do.

Well, it's not fair either because like you don't— I mean, like if you'd never seen one before, you wouldn't know that that's an option.

Yeah, right.

Once you know that it's an option, it's like, I need to have that.

I know, I know, 100%. Yeah, yeah. I mean, why would you not build something like that? Yeah, it's amazing. Super cool feature, especially when it's gas because it's so easy. Yeah, right. I mean, just sticking it in there, you know, easy.

Do you mind if I ask you something a little controversial?

I mean, go ahead.

You brought it up is why. Okay, so I actually— I was listening to Eric G Show the other day, and he did a whole episode on how a lot of people are still calling it the master bedroom rather than whatever else they're trying to change it to.

It's the primary.

Have you guys had anybody like put up— make a fuss about that or be like, hey, we're not gonna call it that?

No, and you know what, I have never even thought about it in that light. Oh really? No, it's actually a big deal that people are now calling it the primary master instead of the master bedroom. It's the primary primary bedroom. Instead of the master bathroom, it's a primary bathroom because master implies superiority. I'm the parent of my kids.

Yeah, you would hope so.

I'm superior in this house. That's right.

Yeah, well, and like, one of the weird things that he said that I thought was kind of weird is there's some people— like, there's some people calling it primary, and then there's some people who calling it the owner's bedroom. And I'm like, well, that seems just as bad as calling it the master. I mean, like, if you're gonna say that it's bad, I mean, like, that, that nomenclature seems just as bad.

I'm still confused. I can't believe that's even a thing. I guess, yes, I can. I just never— you can believe. I just never, like, thought that far past it. That's a big deal. I'm like, okay, I'm labeling them B1, B2, B3 from now on. Right. This is a number in numeracy. If we're talking about what the word implies. Primary implies the same thing in many ways. Sure, I'm the primo, I'm the number one, I'm, I'm the man. Even if you're the woman, whatever it is, like, you're the one, right? Like, I don't know, I did— to me it's all semantics. Well, and I'm like, I, I— that's if you're, you know, turning your bedroom into

a person. Like, it's That's— the bedroom is a bedroom. It is the primary bedroom. It's not the primary person.

Which one do you want? I want the big one.

It's not the master's— I mean, it's the master suite. The master bedroom. Yeah, I don't know. This is too much. Yeah, no, I don't want any more controversy. Take it back.

I don't want to have to defend this.

Absolutely not. For everyone else on Southern Lights, we'll be labeling everything B1, B2, B3 from now on. Not a problem. You're welcome. You're welcome, world. We have changed Southern Lux's whole standpoint.

Yeah, guys, we have to edit all the brochures. That's funny. Sorry, sorry, Southern Lux.

No problem, I'm here for it.

Gotta do what you gotta do. And by the way, I was not asking for a defense of it. Yeah, sure, like, like, no, like, I know, just an actual question. It's come up. I'm just curious if customers have been like, hey, we ain't talking like that.

Well, we do live in Montgomery County, so we have a little bit of— But I have a very— I do have a diversified clientele, you know what I mean? So no, it's never been an actual issue.

Cool. Yeah, good, good. Thank you. Let's keep it that way.

Yeah, but should it ever become one, yeah, I'll call it whatever you want. Yeah, you're gonna say, I heard that on the Homeowner Show one time. Yeah, exactly.

Well, anything else you need to, uh, bring us up to date on?

Oh guys, well, it's the beginning of the year, so for us that means, uh, Southern Lux. So we actually, we have children and our, you know, our project managers have kids, so most of them are out of school for the holidays, right? Most people are out of the holidays. We actually close, we close Southern Lux down, um, for 2 weeks, you know, basically from Christmas to close the office down, dedicated to family time, allow everybody to do the travel that they wanted to do. Our customers know that. We set that expectation with them. Our project managers sometimes do choose to just kind of keep some balls rolling that they'll check on, and if they're in a

phase that they don't feel comfortable stopping right then— But a lot of contractors are still going to be working during that time. Yeah, a lot of them will, but as far as just coming in and bringing new clients in or the meetings or getting with clients that are in active phases, unless there was like an emergency or something, which there's not. But yeah, you know, we take that time off. So really last week was kind of our first week back into the new year.

Okay.

You know, like, and so we've just been, you know, getting everything caught up for our new projects, um, getting all that stuff lined out and, you know, about to close some stuff out. So it's, yeah, good, exciting. Yeah.

Are you guys, are you guys seeing things change as far as like getting materials in?

No, no, really. Yeah, everything's been pretty easy breezy. Yeah, yeah, it's been— building's been easy lately.

So that's good. So I mean, so I mean, I guess materials have been coming in faster than they have over the last 2 years.

Yeah, it's— I— we actually have no problems. Like, I haven't ran into an issue in several months of anything taking too long. Yeah, I mean, it's incredible. They're also doing a really good job of shipping. I This is funny. So I had to special order a piece of tile for a client from a vendor I've never worked with before, but we saw this, we loved it, we had to have it, get it in. I swear to you, they spray foamed this 3 by 12 tile on both sides and sent it to me in a box this big. This tile. And we're in there like, what? Why is there closed-cell foam on this tile? What is

this? We were in there like before the client got there this morning, like trying to break the box apart. Oh my gosh. apart, and we two of us could not do it.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, we're in there with a box cutter. I'm like, I don't— we all got time on your hands now. So that's how good shipping's going.

Wow, how secure can we make this thing?

It was incredible. I was also very impressed. I was like, okay, good to know, because this is a brick-like product. It's gonna come in when I order it in bulk just fine. Okay, yeah, I'm just worried how it's gonna come in, right? Are they gonna put it on a pallet and then just like each individual piece is gonna be all the way around, and then we have to like chisel into it because that's what it was like today.

You had to like scrape stuff off of it in order to—

I'm not— I'm, I'm gonna put a video on Facebook. I'm not kidding. I took a video because I was like, this is absolutely—

I will share that because I want to see this.

I will.

Yeah, I'll put it on there.

So were you actually able to see it?

We couldn't find it. This was like— we're like, we don't want to hit it too hard. We've got a box cutter, we've got some scissors, you know, we've got the typical office tools happening.

Yeah.

And we're— she's like, are you sure You ordered. I'm checking the box to make sure like it's from the right person, right? Like, I wasn't sure if it was in there. It was, it was. I was like, there it is, way down in the middle of it. Not to mention the fact that closed-cell foam is expensive, y'all. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it probably wasn't exactly that, but that's what it was basically. It looked like it. Yeah, might as well have been. I was like, this is insane. So that's nuts. It's always something. They're like, I just want to get my tile and put it on the table so my customer can be happy.

I mean, like, is it really expensive?

No, no, no, that was just really great packing. Wow. I was impressed. Some overachiever in the mailroom, and they're like, this thing says gap sealer on it, I'll seal that gap right up. Here, hold this tile in between the two sides of the box, I'm gonna gap that thing. I honest to God don't know how they did it. It's like they laid it down and coated it on one side, flipped it, and then coated the other side. Like, it— I, I honestly don't— I've never seen anything like it in my life. So I'm still flabbergasted from it, and that was at 10 AM. Wow.

Yeah, we definitely need to see the video on this. Yep, we need the replay.

Yeah, no big deal. Nope. But that's, that's pretty much it. We're just rocking and rolling and, you know, moving in the year like everybody else. So yeah, absolutely.

Well, thank you guys for sponsoring this event. I mean, you guys are part of the reason we even get to come and do these kinds of things.

Glad to be here. You know, so we use this opportunity as a, you know, it's a contractor's network, so this isn't necessarily like a client lead prospect heavy event for us, but we are constantly working to find new, you know, contractors to work with that, you know, can fall within our parameters, you know, our level of expectation and insurance and all, you know, all the fun things that people that can, that do good work. So this is— kind of why we're here is to make those contacts with people. And we met a couple of people at the last event, so we're hoping, you know, this one too, that we run into, you know, a couple

more crews to kind of add to our team because we're just consistently just—

Yeah, well, as you grow, you need a bigger roster.

Absolutely, every time. And we've got so many projects in play, you've got to be able to move them, and you've got to be able to guarantee that each one of them can handle the same level of quality every single time. So yeah, um, yeah, so we're glad, we're glad to be here.

Awesome.

Well, and so if, if anyone's listening that wants to put a fireplace in the bathroom in their new beautiful barndominium that you would build, how would they get a hold of you?

Uh, you can reach us at southernluxhomeinnovations.com. We are also on Facebook, um, but you— that will direct you to the website, or you can call us at 936-205-1617.

Awesome, awesome. And we'll link all everything up in the show notes as As per usual, awesome. We always love having you guys on.

Absolutely.

You guys do such good work.

Coming and saying hey and seeing what's up, guys.

Yeah, that's awesome. All right, cool. Well, thank you so much for— if you don't mind, tell them to send us the next victim.

And whoever that is.

Yeah, whoever that is.

We don't know who it is. It's more fun for us if it's a surprise.

Oh, sure. Surprise walkout. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. All right, guys. See you later.

Thank you. All right. Bye. Bye.