How to Buy Appliances with Megan Anderson

This is episode number 141 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're glad that you could join us today for this fantastic episode coming at you live from Homeowner Show Studios.

Yeah, man, it feels good in here.

It does.

Nice and cool.

It's crisp.

Well, even in Houston it feels really good. Yeah, yeah.

Well, that's because J-Hughes has been taking care of my AC.

Dude, oh, I will tell you, I don't know—

We just talked about this. Look at this, I turned it off.

Oh, good for you.

We only got half a bumpity.

I literally just asked if you were gonna—

You can't even tease me because now you gotta say bumpity.

Bumpity, yep.

And then you're done.

Yeah, so, um, I will tell you this, so J-Hugh came over and did, you know, serviced my AC too. And like, when it's on, it's freaking cold in my house. Really, really cold.

Do you just have the one system?

No, we've got 2.

You got 2?

Okay.

Yeah, so like 2 separate thermostats?

Yes.

Is one older than the other?

Yeah, dude. J-Hugh, he, he tells me all the time, he's like, dude, this needs to be replaced because Um, it is, um, 2002. Yeah, so it's not, uh, new by any stretch of the imagination. So, dude, yeah, it's—

I mean, you basically have like a sort of a— that, well, that, that, that child is about to graduate and leave the house. Oh yeah, yeah.

I mean, the fact—

And not in a good way.

No, no, no. The fact that that thing is even still running And and he tells me that it's you know it's probably on its last leg, but it's still kicking. So I'm like let it ride exactly. Like let's let I know it's coming at some point, but until that point Kevin's putting it all on black. That's exactly right. So dude, what's up dude?

We uh so we're getting started a little bit late tonight because I had to go to my kids' choir concert tonight.

Yeah.

And so it's my my oldest. daughter and my son were in this, this concert. And apparently, there was choreography for this particular show that only my son knew.

Oh, okay. Which means—

There was no choreography.

No, that, that just means that he was dancing in a—

There was a solo dance the whole show. Yeah. And completely unashamed. I think he could have been naked up there and he'd have been fine. Dancing his little rear off. Like full arm gestures.

Yeah.

Long arm. I mean, like, it's like I've never taken this kid to a show.

Well, I— What the heck? Where is he coming up with this?

I don't know.

So I've, I've seen him, um, you know, singing loudly before because he does not sing quietly.

He needs no microphone.

No, no, no. Well, I think it's a, it's a product of your house.

Probably.

All of your house sings loudly. Except for your wife, but the rest of you sing loudly. And I've seen him with the movements, and they're fun. Yeah, they're very—they're very dude-ish.

He's got some—he's got some hip gyration going. Does he?

Does he?

He does.

I've seen that. A little Elvis in him, man. I was like, it's impressive. Well, and like some of them actually like made sense with the songs that they were singing, and I was like, oh, maybe they talked about this. And it's like all the other kids are like looking at him like, what is that? What's this guy doing? He's doing it again. At one point, the girl next to him is like, stop it.

He didn't stop.

And he's just smiling. He's just like—

He's happy. That's fantastic.

I don't know what to do with that kid, man.

Well, you know what? You don't have to worry about him being shy.

No. But I wouldn't have been caught dead doing any sort of hand motions. No, no, no, no emotion in front of people.

And, and I really don't think that your wife was that person either.

I, I don't know. I mean, who knows? Who knows? Who knows? You know what I think it is? I think it had to do with the— there were girls. Oh, there were girls. And anytime there were girls around, especially older girls, and I don't know what it is, but anytime there's older girls around, the boy turns into a performer. Interesting. Yeah. Well, and he gets him to talk to him.

Hey, if it works.

I mean, hey, it's not gonna work when he's like 17, man. That is, that is a dangerous game to play. Get it out now, buddy.

Get it all.

I need, I need someone to give him like some hardcore rejection, like right now. But it's not coming.

Oh, I didn't even tell you about that. So we my son, who is a kindergartner, he, uh, early, early on in school, he came home telling us about this girl. And, um, that— and, and it was so funny. He would say, I, I think— I don't know why, but I think I'm— I want to marry her.

I don't know why.

No, I don't know. So here's— so like, he continues talking about her all the time. I think I'm gonna marry her. And, and, and that you know, she's so pretty and these sorts of things, right? And he's 6, y'all, 6. So, uh, we had field day the other day, which we got to go to, which is kind of a big deal.

That's a big deal.

A big deal during COVID We got to go to field day. So we went.

They have like individual parent bubbles?

No, actually, it was, it was quite wonderful, actually. But we met this girl's parents. She was there. And, uh, I was like, hey, I have to tell you, like, He tells me that he wants to marry your daughter. She's like, our daughter tells us the same thing about him.

And I'm like, oh, it's mutual. There have been conversations. Yeah.

Yeah. So I was like, this is, this is interesting.

So this is, this is, this is different though for like boy parents than it is for girl parents because my youngest came home telling me about some boy named Callum. And let me tell you, there's a special spot on the wall for him.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'm ready to meet this Callum. I was at the concert tonight. Anyone who's seen Callum? Or there's a boy here named Callum.

Yeah, point him out to me. Where is he? Which— oh, that one? Oh yeah, yeah, it would be him.

Come here, I have a cookie for you.

Honey, get the special cookie.

That's right.

Oh man, that's good.

All right, we gotta—

we got a cool episode for you guys tonight. We have our friend Megan Anderson And from— do we say— how do we, how do we pronounce this?

It's Renova Appliances.

Renova. Renova Appliances. Um, how you doing?

Good.

Yeah, we've been talking about doing this for a while now.

I know.

And, and Kevin and I, like, as soon as, as soon as you reached out, we were like, man, we haven't done an episode on appliances.

I know, it's weird.

So it's like she was reading our mail.

Yeah, I mean, we— I'm not kidding, we literally were talking about it, and the next day Craig said, you're not going to believe this.

That's awesome.

That's exactly how that happened.

I'm very intuitive.

Well, you know, part of the, part of the problem is, is we haven't done an appliance episode because we're idiots.

Well, that's, that's the main reason.

We don't, we don't know anything about them.

Nope.

I mean, we know how to turn them on.

Yep.

I've plugged one in.

Yep. But the problem is they're heavy. I don't really like to move them, so I don't really want to get too involved with them. That's why you call us.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's right. So, well, thank you for, for coming And, uh, we're, we're excited that you're here. So, so do us this favor, tell us about you, how you got into this business, and whatever else you want us to know.

Okay, well, I started working for Renova Appliance Center in 2014, but for 9 years before that, I was their banker.

Oh!

So I knew the family very well.

So you were checking out the, the ledger and making sure this was a good company to go work for?

No, can they afford me? No, he— and the answer is no. We just heard it right here.

No, that's not what I meant.

He's probably watching now, hopefully laughing.

Oh yes, he—

yes, he laughs at me often. Um, but it was— I actually was hired to do their marketing And then very quickly their accounts payable, accounts receivable person left and here I am.

Oh, okay.

I do, I really do more than the accounts payable, accounts receivable. I do the outreach, I do networking, and I am pretty much the right-hand person to the owner and leadership. I've just, I enjoy them. I enjoy the people I work with.

Yeah.

It's a small family-owned and operated company. So we stand behind everything that we do. And unlike big box stores, we actually take the time to meet with the individual and actually take the time to just discuss budgets, what that looks like. We deal, we're a builder distributor. So we not only deal with the builders and remodeling companies and things like that, but we also deal with the general public. So a lot of people think— we used to be called Built-in Appliance Center.

Okay.

And it was owned by Gary Pyles, which is actually Kevin's dad. And then Kevin took over the business. Gary sold it to him and he changed it to Renova. Same people.

Okay.

Same people, but you think renovate, and that's where Renova came from.

Okay.

So we've been serving the Houston area since 1988, but people don't generally know about independent appliance companies. So there's, there's some of us in the Houston area. We all get along pretty well.

Mm-hmm.

We all know one another. And some of us sell different brands so that we work with one another too. So if we can't get something, we'll be like, hey, we know someone down the street who can get it. if it's like a really big name brand.

Okay.

For the higher, higher end. Not saying that we couldn't get it, but there's just a lot of logistics in the big, big, like Wolf type.

Like Wolf and Viking and stuff like that? Mm-hmm.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah, and do you think part of that is, you know, people are looking at you guys and potentially comparing you to big box stores, but then it seems like there's a lot of these, you know, like used appliance and resale appliance Scratch and Dents. Yeah.

And even like the outlet stores and stuff like that. Because I mean, we were talking about there's even one up here in Conroe. There's an appliance outlet store. Yeah.

And it's like not to throw shade at any of those kind of people that have this. I mean, like they serve a particular market and they probably do a great job at it. But like that's probably more visible because there's so many of them compared to what you guys do.

Right. And when people don't know about the smaller independents, they think the only option is to go to a big box store for a brand new appliance, and that's just not the case. And when you go to a big box store, you could be getting someone from the age of 16 to 24 who's just going to try to sell you a refrigerator off the showroom floor.

Right.

And as where you come in and tell us what features you want, you may not even know what type of features you want. We have several that are available for you to look at. Um, you know, some, some of them are plugged in so you can actually see what they look like on the inside with their lighting. And, and to some people that really matters.

Sure. Yeah.

And to a lot of people it doesn't, but to some people it really does.

And they want to know what their pimento cheese is going to look like on the shelf.

That's right. Yeah. Maybe they even bring their pimento cheese in.

Could be. Put it in.

Yeah. And then they open it like, oh, they could—

there it is.

That would be weird.

Does it fit 2 gallons of milk?

That's right, because we're a 2-gallon-of-milk family. But yeah, I can see, I can really see how—

My son the choreographer is a 2-gallon milk kid.

By himself. By him. By himself. Yeah, that's right.

So, so you guys, do you guys have a showroom?

We do. We have a showroom, and there's a company that works with us in our showroom, um, They partner with us. They're called the Kitchen and Bath Showroom, and they do cabinets, floorings, they do bathrooms. So our showroom is unique because they have all of these cabinets that are built, and our appliances are actually in these kitchen vignettes. So it's like it's an actual kitchen. So it's not just a bunch of refrigerators stacked up next to one another. It's actually appliances in vignettes so you could see what they would look like in a kitchen.

Are there sinks in there?

There are some sinks.

Ah, that's— we don't— you shouldn't have said that. No.

Okay, why?

Well, this is, uh—

Kevin doesn't like to lose arguments.

No, no, I don't like— it's not that— well, yes, I don't like to lose arguments. However, however, um, I really don't like to lose arguments over things that are not legitimate, legitimate things to argument about.

There are sinks in the appliance showroom.

Yeah, but there's also cabinets in the appliance showroom.

Sure, well, something has to be holding the appliances up.

Oh, no. I assume there's, I assume there's handles on these cabinets as well.

And there's also countertops.

Okay, countertops.

It's a whole kitchen.

We had, we had a debate in the show and online. It got kind of heated, um, as to whether or not sinks are appliances.

So I— not the faucet, mind you, just the sink.

To be fair.

Wait, is— are you saying the sink is an appliance? Yes.

Yes.

I was, I was arguing that the sink is an appliance, and he was arguing that it was not.

Because I'm right.

It's not.

Thank you. So do you guys sell sinks?

We do not, but the kitchen and bath showroom does.

So it's a kitchen and bath. That's what it is.

Yes, that's their part of it.

What, there's, there's no appliances in the bathroom?

Not generally. I mean, I mean, if you, if you choose to put, uh, like a washer and dryer in there, maybe.

Sure.

Then there are appliances in a bathroom. But unless you do that, then no.

I've just, I've never, I've never heard a good argument to this day as to sinks not being an appliance. Well, we don't—

but the thing is, I did.

That's what I said. Don't plug in.

That's what I said. I actually— is that not an argument I made?

That is an argument made. It's just not a valid argument.

Yeah, he— but I work for an appliance company.

Oh, okay.

A water pump is an appliance. It doesn't plug in.

Uh, some of them do.

And I know, but old water pumps were an appliance that didn't plug in.

Okay. I wouldn't have considered it an appliance. I guess I'm wrong.

Oh man, see, I told you you shouldn't have said that. And since you said that, here we are.

But, um, Zach Nealon wants us to know that he is a 4-gallon-of-milk family.

If— hey, Zach Nealon is a good friend of mine, and I know that's true. I know for a fact.

Buy a cow.

Yeah, well, it's, it's, it's directly related to the number of people in your house too. He's got more than a couple in his house. Yeah.

So time for some eviction notices. No, I don't. Yeah.

Anyway, they're all good people.

Are they kids? Yes. Most of them. You get good prices for kids.

Yeah, don't tell him that. He's an actuary. He can figure all of the—

But then he knows what I'm talking about.

Yeah, he knows all this stuff. So now where were we? Sinks. Okay.

We're not staying there. And Megan and I ended our friendship.

If it makes you feel any better, we ended ours a long time ago, and here we are still. Wow, we are way off the rails. Uh, I really don't know.

That's not true, we're still talking about appliances.

No, we're not.

You didn't know you were gonna get into the middle of this, did you?

Oh, I did.

Yeah.

Okay, uh, where, where are we going here? I don't know. I'm totally—

I told you we're doing a show about appliances.

It sounds like a show like Seinfeld about nothing.

This is a show about nothing right now.

That and Zach potentially selling his children.

Yeah, maybe. We'll see. Okay, we'll see.

Pick your favorite. Yeah, yeah, don't— who's got the most potential?

Get rid of the other one. Yeah. Pick your favorite.

This is important.

So, all right, so let's go this way. Um, I think that one of the things that most people do when they're looking for appliances is they just go to a big box store, right?

Right.

And part of the reason they do that is, I would assume, that's just where they think they're supposed to go, right? Right. So So how would you respond to me if I were saying, hey, I'm looking for some appliances and I gotta go over here to Home Depot 'cause they got a sale right now?

Don't.

Okay, why? But why?

So I would say, first I would be like, well, I work for Renovo Appliance Center and depending on, you know, what you're needing, I may be able to fit that need better than a big box store would. And then I would ask you several questions. I would ask, okay, well, what are you looking for? What features are you looking for? Are you looking for stainless? Are you looking for something a little bit more upgraded? Because they do come in different colors now.

Right.

But I would take the time to ask you the questions about what you're looking for. And maybe you're just looking for a generic fridge. I got those too.

Okay.

So we sell everything from the basic apartment package because we also do apartment flips. all the way up to multi-million dollar homes. Whatever you're looking for, we, we carry most major brands, so we can fit those needs. And a lot of times— not every time, but a lot of times— we can come in under budget for whatever your budget is. So that also saves you some time, um, from going to the big box store and maybe getting some headaches.

Yeah, well, and we were talking offline earlier that there are, there are some brands that you don't carry Right. So, and we're not going to talk about those, right? Right. But there are particular brands that you carry, and you guys carry those because you feel like you can stand behind those brands?

Correct.

Okay, so what— when we're talking about, like, which I think is interesting when you start talking about, like, apartment flips. So you guys have products that, you know, you feel like you can stand behind it, and, like, you know, not to— again, not to throw shade at anybody living in an apartment, but those aren't going to be typically top-of-the-line appliances.

Correct, depending on where the apartment is, right? Is gonna be—

Depends on the apartment and all that. Yeah, so all those kind of different things. So what are some of the top-of-the-line brands that you guys work with?

So the top-of-the-line brand that we really are getting more notoriety for right now is the Ilve range.

How do you say that?

Ilve.

Ilve. Have you heard of that, Kev? No.

Okay, it is a— it's a range that's made in Italy. Okay. Now when people come in and look for those, they are specifically looking for those ranges.

Yeah, they have like a specific look to them or something? Do they— it's like, looks like an older kind of a style? Is that kind of—

They come, they have brass handles. Okay. Um, but they also can be customized. Oh, so you can change the colors. You can have— we have one that's on our showroom that is a beautiful like graphite blue, and it's a really, really pretty range. Um, but some people are really, really looking for that right now with backorder issues. We're like, those are like special order items.

Are you guys experiencing a lot of that right now?

A ton.

Really?

We have some people who are just now getting refrigerators that have been waiting on them since May of last year.

Oh my goodness.

Oh my.

What? Okay, okay. I, I— so we spent a good deal of time— I spent a good deal of time talking to Eric G about this today, and then we were talking about like all different things that are being backordered right now. What What is the holdup with— is this— are you experiencing this with all appliance lines or most?

Most.

And it's generally because when the pandemic hit and factories shut down, of course there was delays on production.

So they just burned their inventory.

And yes. Yeah. And then they would open back up, someone would get COVID, they'd have to shut down for 2 weeks.

And how much of that is, um, import issues as well? I mean, because a lot of it is— I mean, you're talking about this one's from Italy, is that what you said?

Yes.

So we're talking about import issues as well. They're not allowing that, right?

For example, Speed Queen, we have probably— I can't even tell you how many sets of laundry we have on order that are sitting out in ships that cannot dock to get unloaded.

Seriously? Like they're just floating out there?

Yeah. And Speed Queen, um, man, Speed Queen is a really, really good brand.

Top.

Yeah, top. And, and they're just, they're just generic Like they just look normal, like your normal top load, but they're like commercial grade.

So basically mechanical sinks.

I don't even know what you just said. Like you just said words. There were just words. They had no—

I can get you a dictionary. You need a thesaurus? I mean, I got 2 of them in there.

I think, I think you understood the words. I don't think you understood the meaning of the words. Those are 2 different things.

Water just runs through them, right?

Water, water is going to be On—

anyway, anyway, so I'm gonna be trolling you guys the rest of this episode. Speed Queen is a really good brand.

It is, it is, it is the— it is one of the top of the line. And there are— now there are some manufacturers that are coming to try to compete with Speed Queen. I don't know that they quite measure up. I know GE is really, really trying to come in and compete, um, but Speed Queen makes a really good product.

That lasts forever.

That lasts typically forever.

Yeah.

Is that really their, like, their big claim to fame is like, you buy one, it just lasts a really long time?

They come with the best warranty.

Okay.

And so they, I mean, you pay for what you get with Speed Queen.

But it's really just a generic top loader washing machine and like an open, I mean, there's nothing, there's nothing spectacular about it. Like, for example, I, I just went to—

To get your clothes clean?

It does. Okay. Really, really well. And so So like, I just, um, I was in the market for a washer and dryer. We ultimately didn't buy one. Um, I just ordered a part anyway. Um, but—

I don't blame you.

Yeah, so, uh, I, I didn't buy one, but like the one of the ones that I was looking at was a GE and it had a really, uh, cool feature on it to where it, whenever it's done, it will Uh, it's— it like sucks air in from the outside and dries the drum so that you don't—

Don't get the stinky.

Yeah, you don't have the stinky mildew and all it— and all the issues that that creates. And they're expensive too. Speed Queen doesn't have that feature, but they don't need it because they're not a front-loading washing machine.

They do make— they do make front-load washers, but they are not nearly as popular.

Yeah.

Um, most of it is top load because most of the people are going back to, I just want laundry that will clean my clothes and I don't want all the bells and whistles. I don't want all the electronics. The only issue is that now even Speed Queen is being hit with regulations from the government that is causing them to have to put certain protocols into place that they lose some of the features that their customers love. What?

What?

That's dumb. Like, if you've got a product that works, don't tell me how to make it better if you don't— this drives me up the wall. Like, this is like, honestly, it's stuff like— it's stuff like whenever you have a school board that comes in and tells a teacher how she has to teach or he has to teach whenever they've never been in the classroom. It drives me up the wall. So I'm— now I'm on a soapbox. Now I'm mad. Yeah.

Is there any sort of justification for like, I mean, like, I mean, because there's something like environmentally like hazardous about some of these features, or I mean, is there, is there really anything that like, I'm trying to look for like, why would they do this?

I would have the same questions because as far as I know, it's not— they're wanting to conserve water, so they want to regulate how much the tub fills up. They want to, you know, do this and that and the other to try to regulate the appliances. And unfortunately, that also causes more setbacks because then production has to stop until something can get fixed. Or in which we're going to have a lot of those issues because come January, from what I hear, January next year, refrigerators are going to have the same type of issue where there's going to be some more regulations put in place, which is going to cause them To be delayed, which of course puts everybody in—

So buy your refrigerator now, people. Yeah, well, go to Renova, buy your refrigerator now.

Do you know, do you know what some of the changes they're making to the refrigerators are?

I don't. I'm actually sitting, um, we're— Kevin and I are going to a—

Not, not this Kevin.

Not this Kevin.

Okay, I was making sure there wasn't a party I wasn't invited to.

All right.

Kevin Pyles, um, and I are going to a conference type thing in Dallas in a couple of weeks, and one of the things is we can sit at a roundtable and actually meet with the manufacturers and kind of get some more information. I sat in one from Frigidaire, and that's where I heard about it a couple months ago. And so he said, he goes, just be aware that coming, you know, towards the end of the year, there's going to be some delays in production, and it's all due to them having to make the regulatory adjustments.

So, and do you know, uh, what department these, these regulations are? Are these EPA things, or do you even know?

I don't.

You don't?

Okay.

And I want to say it, it has to do with energy standards, um, but I mean—

Kevin, we'll have to put the research department on this.

Yes, um, we will get research department. Come on, research. Well, hold on, hold on. Done. Okay, okay. Um, we'll find out in 2 weeks. That's right. All right, continue.

Well, another, another thing that's holding up production is because not all the appliances are made in the same manufacturing plant, right? And they're not all made at the same time. Yeah. So if you've got a manufacturer that makes 8 different dishwashers Not all 8 dishwashers are made at the same time. So they make a certain model, then they change out the parts at the plant. They do, you know, another set. But just because appliances are manufactured in the United States, their components are not. So the screws, the metal, the things that they need to make the appliances are made overseas.

Sure.

So then now we're having issues with getting the stuff that needs to go into making the appliances. And we've had several customers be upset and frustrated. And we've had some who have gone to a big box store and said, you know, they ordered something because online it says they have it in stock.

Yeah.

They're supposed to get it. They call and say, hey, I'm supposed to have my appliance today. And they're like, oh yeah, well, we don't have it. It's on backorder. And they're like, well, I was never told. Well, yeah, all appliances are on backorder. And that's like all they tell them.

Yeah.

So then they call us and we will actually look up from the manufacturer and try to find out what the ETA is. And then we'll also say, we also don't think this is necessarily true. Like we've seen the trend and this will probably push back even further just to let you know in advance. If you still want that, we'll absolutely sell it to you, but just know that you could be waiting.

Yeah, so we, we actually were— our— probably 2 months into the pandemic, our upright freezer went out, which was fantastic, by the way. Thank you, thank you, freezer. Um, luckily we had a backup.

You had a backup freezer?

We had a backup freezer.

Oh, because you've got the little chest freezer.

Yes.

Okay, I got you.

When we moved into our home the previous owners had like a, like an ice cream freezer, and they were like, do you want this? And we're like, sure, why not? We got kids, we'll fill it up with ice cream. And, uh, it happened to be empty because we don't buy lots of ice cream in my house, even though we said we were going to. Anyway, so we were able to use that, but we were just gonna go buy another freezer, right? And, um, well, those were unavailable.

They were gone.

Yeah, they were gone.

And, and here's, from what I understand, you tell me if I'm wrong, What I understand is a couple of things happened. Supply, right? Gone. The supply is gone. Part of the reason supply is gone was the demand was up. Part of the reason the demand was up is because people were buying all the food.

That's exactly what happened.

Oh, down—

Everybody went to H-E-B, to Kroger.

Yeah.

Bought all of the meat.

Yes.

Out of everything.

Mm-hmm.

And I, I went to the store the day before the 2-week mandatory shutdown happened, and I was there on a Friday. again, I was essential the whole time, so I didn't know any of this was really happening. I wasn't paying attention. Shame on me. But I was at the store and all the lines, and I sent a picture to my husband and I was like, I'm having an anxiety attack. Yeah, what is going on?

Yeah, because people were buying, you know, hoarding all of this meat, specifically meat. Um, and it's like, look, people, I mean, H-E-B was even saying, guys, we've got plenty of food. We are not running out of food. Please stop buying it all because then we won't have plenty of food. Right? So, you know, it— but, and, and, and that did level out, obviously. But there are probably people that are listening to this right now in this area who still have food in their freezer that they bought. Well, I mean, like, when all this happened.

Real quick though. I mean, like, you say it's leveled out. there are pork shortages in the country, like legitimate pork. Like, people can't buy bacon.

Yep.

Which is a tragedy.

I agree.

And, and so, like, and, like, I, I'm, I'm being funny, but, like, at the same time, like, there are legitimate shortages of things that are happening right now. And it's, it's part of, part of what needs to happen is people— it's the same thing with lumber.

Yep.

Like, if everyone would just, like, calm down.

Yes.

And say like, look, I can wait 3 months to do my patio because I know you want to do it because you're bored sitting at your house and you just want—

No pun intended.

You know, but like, like, look, just wait. Wait for the prices to come down.

Yeah.

Everyone would just wait. There would be a supply. They'd have a chance to catch up. And then builders would be happy again because their prices would come back to normal. They can actually start being more competitive on their prices. And I'm getting on a soapbox and I don't want to do it anymore, so let's get back to appliances.

Okay, deal. No, but you're right. And, and so getting back to what I was saying, like, we couldn't find up until probably 2 or 3 months ago, and even then there was, yeah, you can buy this one, like this one model. Yeah, there was one model available because they had it in stock and they had it in stock. They had one model and they had one of that model.

And if you didn't come and get it right now, you weren't getting it.

That's exactly right. And you were in good— I mean, for my entire life, I remember appliances being on sale, right? They're always on sale, constant sale. Um, it's like going to like, I don't know, Hobby Lobby, right? Everything's on sale all the time, right? But it's one of those deals where they're not on sale either. So you're paying full price for something you really don't even want. That's not the one I want, it's just the one that's here, you know? Yeah. And, and that's exactly what was happening specifically with freezers. But I'm sure that over time, that's just like what you're saying, the supply and the demands.

Yeah, we had— we were getting probably between 30 to 45 calls a day just looking for freezers, and we're like We don't have any. When are you getting your next shipment in? We don't just order freezers, right? We don't just have them coming in regularly, right? So it was, it was rough. And last year we thought for sure with the pandemic that we were just going to be hit so hard in that because people weren't going to be working, they weren't going to be wanting— that is the opposite of what happened, right? Everybody stayed home and everybody remodeled their kitchen.

Yes.

And I was like Yeah, contractors across the board, we were, we were finding out, um, they were slammed with work. They couldn't keep up. I mean, everybody— I mean, Craig can tell you, I mean, people were staying home and calling him all the time. And, and, you know, early on, if you remember, Craig, I came to you and I was like, dude, y'all okay?

Yeah.

Like, your business gonna be okay? Because I'm hearing all these things. Of course, we didn't know anything at that point. You were like, yeah, dude, we're good for this amount of time.

And like, well, I mean, like, and, and like healthy businesses have cash reserves. Yes. You know, and so like we were like, we looked at 2020 and we were like, okay, like we're gonna be good for at least 12 months, right? Like we can, we can hang on. Um, but, and, and so we didn't know what was gonna happen. Very similar to you. We didn't know what was gonna happen.

But like 2020 was one of our best years. Yeah. Ever. It's crazy. Ever.

Same.

Yeah. And so you're, I think you, you bring up a good point. Like people are home, they're there, they have the time. Not only do they have the time, like before when, when, you know, the appliance delivery people were like, we'll come between Tuesday and Saturday from this time and this time. And you're like, oh, so I gotta take a week off from work, huh? And they're like, now they're like, okay, fine, I'll be here.

Yeah, if you got it, I'm gonna be here.

That's right. Exactly.

Well, I mean, I imagine that has changed things quite bit with people being home. I mean, like home delivery, home install.

We had, um, for a while there were several people who were very, you need to come in, you need to put foot coverings over your feet, which in appliances it's a liability for us to do that because you have to have that traction. Anything you're carrying, heavy appliances, that's not— it's a liability for our guys if, if they But they were very, well, you have to wear masks, of course we'll wear masks. Like, there's going to be 6 feet apart. Well, some people, when you go and install their appliances, they stand right over you.

Yeah.

And so our guys are like, you know, ma'am or sir, I'm sorry, but we need at least 6 feet, you know. And there was a little bit of that, but honestly, knock on wood, we didn't have too many. We would have some people who would thankfully call us and say, we were exposed, we need to push our appliance installation or delivery. And we're like, thank you for letting us know. As soon as you're better, please let us know. Yeah, we'll come back out there. But I mean, yeah, a lot of people were home and a lot of people wanted their appliances ASAP. Yeah, we're doing the best we can.

But were you seeing a, uh, a tilt in the, in the appliance market as far as like what more people— I mean, like obviously freezers were, was a big one. But were you seeing a trend with, with most people in one direction with a lot of these different appliances, or was it just across the board like, hey, washer and dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, stove, microwave, sink?

I highly doubt that was on the list.

Most of it was, to be honest, I think most of it was laundry. Okay. But then they also wanted Speed Queen, which we couldn't get, and we're still having issues getting. Um, our rep just came in today and said he has no trucks coming, which means that we're 180 days out from even getting another truckload.

Oh my gosh. Wow.

And we're— and there are people who are like, no, keep— we have a long waiting list. And they're like, keep me on that list.

So people are looking at like 4 to 5 months to getting their appliances that they've ordered and paid for.

We stopped accepting full payment.

Okay.

Because we don't want to sit there and have them— we don't want to take their money and tie up their money on something that we know we don't know when we're going to be able to fulfill that, right? So it also helps us if they find something, less coming back out of our pay— our pocketbook to give back to the customer. Because if they find it and we don't have it and they find it somewhere, of course we have to do the ethical thing give them their money back. Um, but that just kind of also, it saves us from the long— in the long run from having to do too much of that overturn. Yeah.

So, but it's washers and dryers I think are the, are the biggest thing that people at home were like, because they were at home doing more laundry and having to keep up with it more. So, well, yeah.

So when, when they're making like that, that value proposition, we're like, okay, like I understand that Speed Queen's not going to be here for, you know, 4 months. Are they, are they stepping down to another brand, or is there— are they moving laterally to something else? Or—

It depends, because unfortunately all laundry took a hit. So it's not just Speed Queen. All laundry took a hit. There were— there are a lot of the lesser expensive, such as Hotpoint or Amana, like those type of laundry. They could—

I've been buying all the wrong laundry machines, man. I don't know any of these brands.

Well, I— from what I understand, Hotpoint is, is kind of like an entry-level.

It is.

Okay.

It's an entry-level, um, and so it's, it's just a— it's a top load. It's a basic of basic, um, but you get what you pay for, right, type thing. Um, some people opt to go that route and then they're like, we'll donate this. whenever we get the Speed Queen, we'll donate it to somebody who needs it, or we'll resell it to somebody else, you know, on Facebook Marketplace or something like that. So they make that decision. But a lot of people are like, I've got one that's— it's hanging on.

I'll buy a part.

I'll buy a part. Yeah, I'll tweak it. Which— and that's— I'm glad you could find a part because parts are—

Well, and not only that. Oh, so, so we've got a Maytag, and it— the, the part I mean, we've probably had this for like 12 years, and so it's not a newer part, um, which might have been a good thing. That might have been one of the reasons that we actually could find the part was because it was an old part and someone was going, oh yeah, we got that on the shelf. Okay, here you go. You know, like dust it off.

They dug back in the archives to try to find it.

That's right. That's right. I got your pull-start dryer right here.

Right, exactly. Yeah. So I would assume that, that, that's even an issue. So, um, like, talk to us for a minute about— I mean, certain appliances I know have better warranties. Um, how is that working? I mean, if, if a, if a company is providing a warranty but they can't get the parts. What does that look like?

That's hard because every, most appliances, I will say, besides Speed Queen who has the extended warranty and some GE models, I think laundry have a longer warranty, but for general purposes, it's a 12-month manufacturer's warranty. So if something happens within that 12 months, a lot of times they'll call us. We don't have a service department. All the warranty is through the manufacturer. So the manufacturer has to be the one to go out diagnose, tell them what they're gonna do, and then rectify the situation. Most of the time, if it's a microwave, they're just gonna replace the microwave.

Right, right, right.

Because it's not worth them fixing.

That's how I feel about all microwaves.

Now you did it again. You put him on a whole nother thing. I'm gonna tell Kevin about this.

Oh, go ahead. Okay.

He knows. He knows. Craig, just, just for the record, Craig hates microwaves. So there you go.

I'm just being me.

I own an Advantium.

You what?

I own an Advantium.

What's that?

It's a, it's a speed cook.

Okay.

So it does microwave, but it also— you can cook like pork chops in it and they cook in like 7 minutes.

Okay.

The thick pork chops. Like, you can use it like a speed cook conventional, like Like a convection oven? Convection oven.

Okay.

So, um, but yeah, that— I, I'm not a huge microwave fan myself either.

Yeah, well, he just thinks they're gonna kill you, so—

No, that's not, that's not my only issue with them.

Because, because what else could be worse than that?

So here, my biggest issue with microwaves in general—

Yes.

Is—

Nope, I know what it is.

What?

Nobody can tell you what they're going to do to you.

Well, no, no, no, no. My biggest issue with them has always been I've never put anything in my mouth that came out of a microwave that said, this is the best thing I've ever tasted. Never, ever.

No.

And, and in, in response to that, neither have I.

I agree.

I agree.

And it's like, I'm not gonna like You can't, you can't, you can't convince me that convenience is worth my taste buds.

No, I'm fine with that. I'm totally— you and I will agree on this, no problem.

There you go.

I got you to agree on something.

Yes. So, and then number 2 on, on microwaves, like, just in my industry, it's the first place I look for roaches.

Yeah.

Oh, like, if you, if you have an infestation, I'm looking at the microwave.

Yeah.

Particularly if you have— I'm sorry if your home is like this way, but if it's a, uh, a venting microwave above the stove microwave, like, it's a grease trap. Yeah, it's gonna have roaches in it. Sorry. Over time, you're just— you're asking for trouble.

Yeah, they, they love that environment. Yeah. So you're providing a safe environment.

And I'm sorry, sweet Susie and Johnny ain't cleaning up themselves after sloshing spaghetti sauce all over the inside of the microwave, it's just going to have roaches.

Yep.

So I just choose not to.

Yeah.

And I've been fine.

Yeah.

We do the appliances for American Homes for Rent.

American— sorry.

American Homes for Rent.

Okay.

So we do their appliances. And we went to one house and the whole control board of the oven, you couldn't even see.

Because it was full of roach stuff.

Yeah. Oh, that's disgusting.

It's really creepy, like, when you go into a house and like you see like the LED-lit stove and like all of a sudden like it like kind of shadows because like there's stuff crawling in front of the light.

I'm literally scratching myself right now.

I feel the heebie-jeebies.

Yeah.

Yes, yes. So we have, we have seen some things.

Um, we, we, we know some things because we've seen some things.

Well, let me, let me plug you real quick, guys.

A lot of times it's way cheaper to call Megan and just replace the appliance than it is to call someone like me.

That's true.

It just is. Yeah. I tell people that all the time. I'm like, look, just replace every appliance in here and you'll be fine. Yeah. Not fine. Learn how to clean your kitchen.

Yeah. Yeah. It'll be cheaper.

It'll be cheaper.

Yeah. But it's not cheaper to continually buy new appliances. Yeah, than it is to buy some, you know, Fabuloso or something. Just go buy some Fabuloso.

Yes, but the—

I mean, we can fit whatever somebody's budget is. So if you've got, for example, if you, if you've got a house flipper who's flipping houses or doing remodels and they want just a basic package, what they can do is they can just email me what they want because we'll send them a package pricing list.

Okay.

Just tell them, okay, these are the models, this is your price, this is the supplies, the installation, this is everything you know. So you can just email me, say, hey, I need this appliance package delivered and installed to this address, can you do it? I respond back, yes, of course I can do it.

Sure, sure.

And you say appliance package, and this is, this is actually something that for, for whatever reason matters to me. Like, my, my wife doesn't understand it. But like, when we started going down the appliance path, I was like, I want all the brands to match in my kitchen. Yeah, because they— I want them to look similar. I, I like uniformity in my kitchen. I, I like sort of like, I want it to look sort of the same.

It's a cohesiveness.

Like, like we thought about this. Yeah, before we did it.

Right, you know, it's not a hodgepodge.

Right, you know, he needs something in his house that looks like it was meant to be there.

That's right, some one thing one thing and I need to control one thing. And if it's the appliances, great, so be it.

So be it.

Well, that is valid because with every manufacturer, the stainless is not the same. The stainless is different. There can be a different coating on it that can make it change slightly in color. The grain isn't going to be the same. So you're right, a lot of people, they want that uniformity and I personally wanted that uniformity. Yeah, I mean, we built our house in 2015, and when we built it, the builder wanted to give me the upgrade because I got an upgraded kitchen, but they wanted me to have the upgraded kitchen appliances. And I was like, no, put the black appliances in there. Yeah. And they were like, but you're getting the gourmet kitchen. I said, I work at a place.

Yeah, I know, I know a guy.

And I know how much you're charging for this. I'm not paying Just give me the black.

Yeah.

And then I will put in what I want.

Okay, give me the cheapo. What— so, okay, so in your kitchen, what did you end up putting in?

I put in GE Profile, and I have slate, so it's not stainless.

Oh yeah, so talk to me about that.

It's a slate color, so I knew eventually I was gonna have kids running around, and plus I have a husband who probably doesn't have the cleanest hands all the time, and fingerprints on everything just drive me He's a good man though. Yeah. Okay. Oh yes, yes, he's— yeah, he just— he's, you know, just in case he tunes in.

I don't want to get— I want Kevin to get punched in the nose.

Right, exactly. And it won't matter if I get punched in the nose because look, he's got the mustache to cover it up. That's right, no one will know.

So I knew, and my cabinets are all like a dark, dark espresso stain, and I didn't want stainless necessarily So I wanted something that was gonna give a pop of color but be different and unique. And so I went with the slate and it really looks good in my kitchen. So it's a—

Is it kind of like a matte?

It is matte.

Okay, I like that.

It's matte.

And it's like a darker color, right?

Kind of. It's— I don't, I don't like gold, but it's almost like a goldish mix between gold and bronze. Like it's a— but it's, it's a really nice finish. And so it just makes everything look clean. And like I said, no fingerprints.

Well, yeah, like, because stainless has the fingerprints, but you can also, like, you can also see scratches on it really well. Is that something that it, it helps with?

Yes. I have— now I have a Whirlpool refrigerator because at the time the refrigerator that was slate wasn't the one that I wanted. So I was like, well, if I have a working refrigerator, I'm just gonna work with what I have, right? Well, the refrigerator is super— I mean, it has taken a licking and kept on ticking. Lasted me like 3 moves.

Shout out to Whirlpool.

Right. But the stainless at the bottom, you can see rust spots. And so that's something that, I mean, you can probably work to get out, but I don't have the time to work to get it out.

Right.

So when the light hits it just right, you can see it. Okay, like, just don't look at it during that time of the day. It's fine.

There you go. Well, and like a really super popular thing right now is like the, the dark stainless, right?

The black stainless.

The black stainless.

Yeah. And what— tell us what's different about that.

It's a darker color and the finish does— now black stainless is still stainless, so it still has a shiny coating on it. But if you go to like a GE brand, like the GE Profile black stainless is a matte. So it just depends on which one you go with. And actually, the GE Profile, their black stainless actually almost looks like a blue hue to it.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

It is beautiful. We have a, we have a double oven on our showroom and it, it's really, really pretty. But it's just one of those things that's, it's, people want to customize.

It's ridiculously expensive though. Can we talk about that for a minute? Like, why do they charge so much? Is it just because it's, uh, like more desirable or because it's unique, because it's actually not super unique. It's all over the place.

They only have 2 of them. That's the—

No doubt. Just, sorry, this is the only one we've got today.

You know, it is, it is a— when they come out with something that they're super proud of, which they should be, it is, it is beautiful. And it is, I mean, now all of their ovens— I tried to sell a Profile oven that was just a normal— no, it's all— they're all Wi-Fi now.

Oh gosh.

all—

and they're all—

which can be a good thing for people, but it also can be a really bad thing because people are like, I don't want all of those bells and whistles.

And it's too much. Like, not— I mean, like, forget the cost. I don't— I don't want— I can't— I can't. It's too much.

I don't need an iPad on my refrigerator.

Right.

I don't need my refrigerator to tell me what I've got in it. I mean, don't get me wrong, that would probably be nice, but I don't need it to scan my groceries and tell me what I've got in there and what's not.

That would be kind of cool.

I'm not gonna lie.

If it could throw away the old produce, then we would talk.

Then we would talk.

And this model has a trash compactor in the back.

Dude, that would be an amazing feature.

Yeah. And so—

Just eject that relish out the back of the fridge.

Well, I will tell you—

You haven't opened this in 8 months, dude. It's not gonna be any good. Look, you haven't even bought any hot dogs.

Obviously. Well, and so I actually had a a genius idea about 15 years ago, and it was this: on Sunday mornings, I want to be able to put something in my oven, and when I get home, I want it to be cooked. But the thing is, like, it only needs like maybe an hour to cook. I'm gonna be gone for maybe 3 hours, so I want my oven to be refrigerated. so that I could put it in there cold. And then eventually, about a year later, they came out with— they came out with one that did that. Now, it didn't catch on, obviously, because they're not still really manufacturing those that I know of. And maybe they are, but I don't really know of them. But like, I was like, someone stole my idea.

Most ovens now come with a delay start.

Yeah, no, no, this wasn't just a delay start. I was one that was refrigerated.

I have never heard of it.

Yeah, they came out with one. It did not last. It was like nobody wanted that except me, and I wasn't gonna pay for it. So, but I'm like—

So someone read your mind.

They did. Now the trash compactor thing, that, that might work.

That's a good idea.

Yes, it is.

And I just— compost.

I mean, we could really—

Okay, see, okay, so what I need, so You listen to the show. You know that my kitchen— you know where my kitchen is? No. Okay, so you haven't gone back that far. I probably guess my kitchen is on the second and a half floor.

I cannot laugh.

It's true, y'all. She just, she just kind of like— she just—

it was— look at her.

It looked kind of like when you got smacked in the face with that rubber band that you showed us.

Yep, my fail video.

Yeah, so like if I could like— because Because we cook with a lot of fresh food. And like, if I could figure out a way to get the compost from the kitchen out to the compost pile without irritating my 6-year-old, because that's her only chore, um, that would be great.

Yes, it would be.

Maybe like some sort of like catapult feature. That would be fun.

Yes. And on top of that, you put a camera near where it's going.

Yes.

So that you can watch the whole thing.

That I can install. I know how to do that.

Oh, my boss came in and said Whirlpool made that oven range, and yes, it flopped.

Okay. Yes. Thank you, Kevin. I knew. I, I promise you, I was like, this is the best idea ever. And then it was a flop. And, and the thing is, I'm like, why would this not be— I mean, for— you know why?

It's because people were putting frozen tenderloins in there and like, then they were wondering why it wasn't done when they got home. Yeah, because— well, because you moron didn't thaw it out before you stuck it in there.

It's a great idea though.

Like, forget church. All right, let's talk about just leaving at, you know, 6 o'clock in the morning and not coming home until 6 o'clock in the evening. And you got a cooked meal, but you can't leave something in the oven for that long if it's supposed to be refrigerated. That's not healthy.

So he just commented refrigerator range. Oh, is that like a combo unit? I don't know. Right, Kevin, just come in the studio next time.

Right, right, right. Yeah, stop racing, come on in. We want, we want to see you. But I, I thought it was a great idea. Whirlpool obviously thought it was a great idea, and then they went, uh, yeah, we're idiots. And it never worked out.

For anyone.

For anyone, especially me, the one person in the world that wanted it.

But you didn't even buy it.

That's right.

No, I didn't.

I won't because— The proof is in the pudding.

I didn't buy it because it was long enough ago that I didn't have the money. I couldn't afford it. I just thought it was a great idea.

How much was it?

I don't know, it's like $9 million. I don't know, it's— according to me, it was so overpriced.

That might be an exaggeration.

Legitimately though, legitimately though, I think it was like $3,000 or something.

It could have been.

And I was like, that doesn't sound unreasonable.

Dude, I was like freshly out of college. It was ridiculously expensive back then.

That's nothing compared to like, you know, just that, that's like 3 2x4s right now.

No doubt.

I love all of those memes right now.

It's like, don't lowball me, I know what I got here.

It's like, that's a toothpick, dude.

Yeah, like, I know, it's like gold.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, so one of the things I wanted to circle back around to with you, because like I know we were talking about like like what you guys do versus like big box stores. Like, talk to us about financing, because I think that's, I think that's a trap that a lot of people fall into with, with some of these stores.

We do not offer financing.

There you go.

Um, we used to a long time ago, and it just is not, it's not something that we offer. Um, we do, and again, we genuinely try to work with everybody in their budget, right? Um, which there are some people who come in and have high expectations, and what they're wanting is just not within the range that we can get them.

Not reasonable.

Right. And but we do everything we can to meet those needs. Um, but it's, it's one of those things where we tried it, it just was not—

we were getting—

we were having to pay more for that service Because it's not like there's a lot of profit to be made in appliances, especially when you're doing it the honest way.

Right, yeah.

So it's not in—

Which is true of most businesses.

Right.

Yeah.

So we're not trying to make our prices exceed so that we can offer financing, because then we have to put that back onto the customer and we just, we wanna keep our prices low. No financing.

Yeah, no, I appreciate that.

Yeah, and I think that it's smart in other ways. I mean, I, I mean, look, people, I, I know, I get it. Like, if you need something, you need it. Like, if you need a, if you need a washer and dryer, I mean, that's important. I get it. Um, I also understand that when you open a new line of credit, you're not necessarily helping yourself either. So You know, that doesn't mean that you don't have another line of credit somewhere else you couldn't put it on if you need to. Um, but it's one of those deals where I'm like, I mean, be smart with your money. Don't go spend $5,000 on something that you really don't— you don't need it.

You don't need something that costs $5,000 because this, this other Hotpoint— is that the name? Hotpoint? Hotpoint. I mean, you can get one of those. It'll, it'll clean your laundry. It actually does a pretty good job, um, until it dies, but does a pretty good job.

And so, but, um, you know, we're intentionally not showing the video on our face right now.

That's right.

So as to negate any potential legal entanglements with Off-White.

That's right. She was smiling. That's all I saw.

That's right.

I don't know what you're talking about. Um, but I, I, I I think there's multiple reasons why that's not a bad idea. I mean, because what you, what you have the opportunity at that point to do is tell someone, look, maybe you don't need that. Because I mean, the bells and whistles are nice.

Mm-hmm.

But, but maybe you don't need it. I mean, one of the, one of the ones I was looking at, the GE, um, washer and dryer, it, it does like this weird like connecting thing between the two where it tells the other thing what it's washing and knows what it's drying. So all you have to And I'm like, why doesn't it just like open a portal and shove it in there then? Like, oh, another good idea. That's right, I'm coming up with all the ideas.

Yeah, Kevin, a portal, that's a great idea for a science fiction book also called laundry.

It would be awesome if I didn't have to do any— well, they do make combo units.

They do, but, but they're the Most of the combo units are used in like RVs or somewhere where they have to have a self-condensing, yeah, a self-condensing type washer and dryer. And those, I mean, unless you're gonna just wash a pair of socks, you're— it's gonna be a long time before—

Are those pretty inefficient? I mean, because there, there is a pretty big trend amongst the smaller space, tiny house, community and like, you know, like reducing your laundry down to 1 unit versus 2. I mean, that saves a lot of space.

It could save a lot of space, but when it comes down to the amount of time, if you're, if you're gonna do a load twice a day and wash like what you wore that morning and then wash what you wore that evening, like if you're doing okay, if you're doing like a really small load, but for most people that's not That's not a thing. So you're going to be doing more than that, and it's just, it takes a really long time to dry. Um, and a lot of those self-condensing, because they're usually not vented, so if they're not vented out, you're not getting any airflow.

Oh really? They're not vented at all?

Not usually. The self-condensing ones are not.

That's interesting.

That is.

So like, if you're not getting that airflow, then you're not getting enough to, to really dry your clothes.

Interesting.

Wow. Yeah, and I mean, it's even worse whenever you just had a load of laundry in the washer and you're not moving the air around, and so it's just wet.

Yeah.

So it's very inefficient, right?

You've got a— so you've got your washer that still has all of the moisture in it and you're trying to dry it, which is just turning into steam, right? Which is just keeping your clothes wet. I mean, it's just—

So there was this thing, I don't know if you've heard it before, it's called a clothesline.

I was just about to go there.

And people, people, what people would do is they would go outside and hang their wet clothes.

Hang on. On a clothesline. Outside?

Outside.

There's a virus out there, Kevin.

I'm less worried about the virus outside.

How many masks are you wearing when you go out there?

I'm just saying, like, come on, people. There's a better way to dry your clothes if that's really what you're needing to do. So ultimately, if you don't have enough money to do the financing, just buy a washer, right?

Yes.

There you go.

Well, and like, like, let's, let's be frank. I mean, like, at the end of the day, cash is king.

It is.

You know, and, and so like, if you're, if you're un— like, the, the market in which we are existing in right now tells everyone exactly how they should have been preparing for like the last 5 years. Because, you know, having the cash on hand allows you for when you're washer breaks down, when your dishwasher goes down, when your refrigerator goes down, like you're gonna have access to more inventory than you would otherwise.

Yeah.

So yeah, I'm, I'm also interested in these, uh, compartment dishwashers. Have you guys— you guys have those as well?

When you say compartment, are you talking about like the 2-drawer dishwasher?

Yeah, yeah.

We rarely sell them.

Okay.

We do have them. We can get them. They're just, again, when it comes to efficiency, it's just not, it's not as efficient as just one cohesive unit.

Okay. Have you seen these ones that are just like the single drawer unit that— Kevin also wants us to know that they can sell clotheslines.

Yes, we can.

There's got to be some profit margins in that.

Do you install as well?

I'm sure it's As long as they have a couple of trees or a playhouse, we can—

That's right. Yeah, it's pretty cheap to buy a pair of post hole diggers.

It's really expensive to get me to dig the hole. That's right. That's right. Well, so like, going back to this, have you seen— they're like, they're essentially like drawers that you pull out, and like sometimes it's just a single drawer, and they're like smaller dishwashers.

Yes. Um, again, I don't know if We have not sold very many. It would probably come from one of those, a higher-end home that has either like a butler's kitchen or something like that.

Right, yeah.

But generally, that's not, it's not something that's a high inquired about item.

Really? Interesting. Again, I'm thinking like, okay, if you have a tiny home, like that's something that takes up less space. that you can incorporate into the kitchen a little bit more efficiently, um, which is—

They do make a, a more narrow— I want to say it's an 18-inch, um, and I might be thinking ice makers, which I'll probably get. You'll probably correct me. Um, but they do make smaller dishwashers, but generally, I— we don't have that many people who build tiny homes come in Really? We don't, not so far.

Right. That would be awesome. If you own a tiny home, contact them, get a new line in their store. That would be cool.

Yeah. Yeah.

Because that's a, that's a really growing movement.

It is.

So look, I'm gonna tell you a little story real quick.

Here we go, story time with Craig.

So we, we bought a rather, uh, what is this, Kevin?

He said 18-inch, yes.

18-inch.

Congratulations.

Oh, there you go.

were fact-checked. That's right.

In the comments. We bought a relatively expensive dishwasher. Right? And at one point, something went south with it, and it took 10 trips to get it repaired. Now, this was obviously before the pandemic and all this kinda stuff, and we were rather frustrated. We're like, look, we spent a lot of money on this thing. It's ridiculous that this doesn't work. Talk to me about What you guys have as far as like the best top-of-the-line dishwasher and why it is that way.

KitchenAid is going to be— from what we get normally, KitchenAid is going to be the, the top of what we normally carry. Okay. Um, Bosch would be above that, but we generally don't get a lot of requests for Bosch.

Is there a reason, or is it just like not that popular of a brand?

Um, KitchenAid makes a comparable model.

Okay.

So not maybe aesthetically, but from a, um, from a standpoint of how it works.

Right.

Um, KitchenAid is a, is a very popular brand.

I will tell you, I built my entire kitchen around my KitchenAid mixer.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So.

Well, that's because those things are awesome.

They are awesome.

I mean, And I mean, plus there's attachments.

Like, you can do anything with that thing.

I know. I got one a couple Christmases ago, and I, I don't use it as much as I should. But yeah, I definitely— my mom got me one for Christmas, and they're fantastic.

Yeah, I mean, you want to—

do you have any attachments?

Um, I have the whisk attachment, and I have the hook attachment.

Well, so no, not the, not the things that attach to the bottom, the things that attach to the front.

No, I want the pasta Yes.

Yeah, I tell you, I tell you, the meat grinder is actually really fun.

It's fun?

Yes, you can make a lot.

You can use it for a lot of different things.

It's not just for grinding meat.

Now that's an appliance.

Well, it does plug into the wall.

Exactly. Yeah, I think we can all agree.

And we're back.

That's right, it's 2 on 1.

It's fine, I'll still win.

In his own mind. He's already there.

So generally with, with dishwashers, the best bang for your buck, you're gonna want a stainless interior dishwasher.

Yeah, okay.

And a tip I'll give you on dishwashing is that if you're having a hard time with your dishes getting dry, it's probably because the water isn't getting hot enough before you start your dishwasher. So depending on where your water heaters are, if they're on the other end of the house And you're starting your dishwasher with the sink running cold, your dishes aren't gonna get the heat.

Oh, okay, too far away.

Yeah, and some, some of those really nicer dishwashers like the stainless ones— not all of them have to be stainless to get this feature, but many of them have a sensor and they will wait until the water heats up, or they'll heat it up itself, right? Right.

In order to get there, some of them, a lot of models got away from putting in the heating element in the bottom. Um, so if you don't have a heating element in the bottom of your dishwasher and your water is not getting heated up by the dishwasher, then it's not— again, it's not getting that heat to really steam and dry the dishes once the cycle has been finished.

Right.

So you turn on your sink as hot as it can get before you run your dishwasher.

Okay.

And then you should It may not fix it completely, but you should see a difference.

Yeah. Is there a difference when people have the, uh, tankless? Do you know?

I have not. I haven't heard that there's a difference.

Okay.

The only, the only difference I would think is that you get a, um, instant—

that's what I was gonna say, depending on if it's a—

what do they call it— a, uh, where it, where it, um, is constantly circulating, recirculating, recirculating, uh, system, uh, it heats faster. Um, in, in some, some places you can put like an instant-on, you know, instant heat. Yeah. Um, but if you don't have a recirculating, uh, water heater with the tankless, I mean, you still could deal with the same problem.

I've been in some homes recently that, uh, that have like 3 tankless water heaters, and they're independent water heaters for Yeah, it's smart. So, and just because they can get the hot water there quicker. Yep, it's more instant. Oh, it's more instant.

It just seems like such a weird phrase. When I say more instant, I mean immediately, perfectly the same.

The ramen comes limp.

That's right.

Don't eat that ramen. All right, so here's my last question. question that I can think of for the moment. Um, you love all those caveats.

I do. Um, I'm gonna call you on them later.

What have we— what, what would you say we should probably talk about this before we're done? Like, did— is there anything that we haven't touched on that you would think we wouldn't— we should?

So the thing that sets us apart from big box stores— so for example, for house flippers or for general contractors that are doing work in unoccupied homes or home builders that are doing, you know, work and renovating kitchens or building kitchens. We will go into unoccupied homes if they have a lockbox. We'll go in, uninstall the old appliances, reinstall the new ones, and then we'll take pictures, lock up when we leave to let you know, hey, they've been done. So that way it frees up general contractors from having to sit and wait.

Hmm.

for appliance appointments because we may have a guy who, yeah, we thought it was only going to take an hour to do a job. He runs into all kinds of problems. It takes him 2 and a half, and that general contractor doesn't have to sit and wait for that appliance appointment, which is a huge— it's a huge selling point for us because a lot of people don't want to sit and wait. Time is money. Yeah. And so it frees them up to do all kinds of different things.

Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, that's One, I mean, like, if anybody's COVID cautious, I mean, like, they don't want you in there while, while you're there either.

Well, and plus, on top of that, I mean, it's just one of those deals where nobody likes to wait on people, like, especially whenever you give me a window. I mean, I, I get it, you have to have a window, I get it. But like, I was joking earlier whenever I was like, you know, Monday through Thursday or whatever it is, that's my window. Um, but sometimes it feels that way. And so if I don't have to wait on you And all I know is that by the time I come back tomorrow, it's going to be done. Thank you.

And with our occupied homes, we try really hard to meet the expectations of whatever window we give. Sometimes it's a little difficult, um, but we always say, you know, it's either going to be morning, so it's either going to be 9 to noon, or it's going to be noon to 4. So that way at least they can block out some of their time and they can at least have some time that they can go and do other things.

Right.

Our guys are also really good about calling and saying, hey, I'm running a little bit late, I just wanted to let you know, give you a heads up. And most of the time our customers are really understanding, they don't have an issue.

So I'm actually curious about the, the lockbox situation. You're talking about like the real estate lockboxes, right? How do you guys get access to that?

They will give us access.

Like the real estate agent?

Either the real estate agent, a lot of times it's The person who is doing the flipping. So if they own the home in the interim, they'll say, okay, this is the lockbox code. And then we'll go over there.

So you're talking about like a rotary lockbox, not one of these like electronic ones?

Well, like American Homespring, it's an electronic. So they'll actually give us that code. It'll be over the phone for like a few minutes. So we'll have access to get into the property. And then when we leave, we lock up.

So this is probably aging my last home buy. So like you can unlock these boxes with your phone?

No, they give us a code over the phone. Okay. So they'll, they'll like we can call a number. They'll approve.

Is it like a fob or something that you like? I'm thinking about these blue lock boxes on the door.

I'm, I'm thinking more.

Oh, you're thinking like electronic lock, like the keypad on the door. Oh, okay. I got you. Right, right. I was thinking something. Totally different.

Yeah, yeah, you were thinking lockbox. You're thinking lockbox and she's thinking—

Like real estate lockboxes.

And they— we do, we get access to both depending. Now it's not, it's not the one like that has the key that you have to open it, like the master key or whatever. Right, right. I don't have that, but we, um, but it's the either the number or the letters or whatever. Yeah, lockbox.

Like I go wander around Kevin's house all the time. Just, yeah, he's giving me access. Yeah, I go through his underwear drawer.

Yeah, whatever tickles your fancy.

That's weird. Leave him a note, let him know I was there.

I do, I do like those notes.

They're usually something encouraging, inspirational.

That's right.

Yeah, so, uh, those, those are really handy though. I mean, the, uh, the locks that you can just Like, for me right now, if someone was at my house right now, I could let them in. That's super awesome. Yeah, it's really easy.

Well, like, like what you talked about with the electronic, you can set those— that code up for like 24 hours.

Yeah, I can give— so I can give anybody a temporary code, and I can change the codes whenever I want to, and they're, they're great.

Now, if the house is lived in, we won't do that. Okay, just from a liability standpoint, we don't want anybody saying, oh well, someone something went missing or this or that. So, and we have— we just reinstalled a refrigerator today from a contractor who was like, hey, it's really good that you take pictures because a refrigerator walked off the property. And we're like, what? Wow. Luckily we had another one in stock.

That's no good. Like somebody stole it? Good grief.

Wow. That's, that's going to start happening a lot more now. because refrigerators and microwaves, because of the chip problem. Oh my goodness.

Chip shortage.

Yes.

What's the chip? You haven't heard about this? No.

Craig, like, you're—

Dude, I don't watch the news.

No, no, but you, you still know about a lot of things like computer chips.

I know about some things.

You know, you— well, like, there's a lot of things that I'm like, oh, I don't know what you're talking about, uh, because you listen.

That's usually because I'm talking about nonsense.

That's probably true. But like, there's a huge computer chip shortage right now, and there are like, I was reading something just the other day. There are like, I don't remember what they were saying. There's like acres and acres and acres of Ford trucks that are just sitting on lots, like warehouse types of lots right now, completely built out, waiting on a chip. They just can't sell them yet because they have no chip in them.

Is, is this because the chips, I mean, like, they're not manufactured in the US, I'm guessing.

Well, there's components of those chips, right, that are, are just— they're backordered. I mean, you just— they, they cannot produce them fast enough because, again, um, COVID, you know, different, different manufacturing plants have been shut down. And they're— I mean, the components are there. They're, again, like she was saying, like, maybe something's assembled somewhere, but you got to get the components from somewhere else in order for that to happen. Like, that's just Yeah, they aren't available.

Well, I mean, the reason I asked is I did read a story about how China is refusing to ship certain things and components right now, and it has more to do with like political reasons than it does like— it's kind of like, hey, we're gonna flex just to kind of show you guys that.

I have a feeling there's gonna be a lot more of that.

I think so too.

Yeah, that's why I think that these issues are gonna go probably well into 2022 and possibly 2023. Yeah. Just because it's just not— it's— everybody knows it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Well, and like, here's where I think, I think it's going to be really bad for, like, excuse me, the American consumer is like, you're talking about appliances that have really good warranties on them. Well, what happens when those companies can't get the parts to fulfill those warranties? Yeah. You know, as much as they want to, you know, like, they've been relying on cheap parts from, you know, other places that now are refusing to send said parts and they're having to figure out new, you know, or like, or communicating to customers when they have issues like, hey, we can't fix this.

And then it falls back on us too, right?

I mean, like, you guys are probably taking it on the chin when that happens.