Mr. Welds - Live Networking Event at Baker Street Pub Part 1

Welcome to The Homeowner Show, live from The Woodlands, Baker Street Pub. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to bring you the best information and options for you and your home. I am Greg Williams. Thank you very much for that. I'm the only host tonight. Kevin's not here, so we're just gonna have to make this thing work. We are here live with the NET Networking Group, and I got a good buddy of mine, Mr. Welds.

Good afternoon.

How you doing?

Doing good.

Yeah, you doing all right?

Yes.

So for, for those that don't know, I mean, so we're, we're part of a business group. Our, our small businesses network together here in the area, and this has just been a great live event that we've done here on the waterway at the Baker Street Pub Just getting to know other business owners and operators. Um, have you had a good time tonight?

Uh, yes sir, I have.

Yeah, you have. We— and we just gave away a cruise.

I wish I had that.

I wish I had the cruise too. Uh, that would have been a— that would have been a good trip to be able to take. Um, but could you— could you let kind of the people that might be tuning in— because we're actually live broadcasting this from our group page, and then we're also broadcasting it live over on our YouTube page. If you haven't had the chance yet, go over and follow The Homeowner Show on YouTube, on Facebook, Instagram, all that kind of good stuff. Um, and but tell everybody about this group and, and why we get together like this.

About The Net?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Well, you got, you got to promote somebody else before we talk about you. That's— I think that's fair.

Oh, for sure, for sure.

Uh, so scoot up a little bit on that thing.

So then The Net, uh, it's— I've been in The Net for about 2 and a half, 3 years, and they're wonderful, wonderful people. They've been family. We network every 2— every once a month.

Yeah, we get together once a month.

Once a month, talk about each other's businesses and how we can help each and every business in the group.

Yeah, and for those— I mean, most of the time we talk about stuff on The Homeowner Show to advocate for the homeowner. Um, but, but tonight I kind of want to— I was— I wanted to take just a little bit of time to talk about like how it is that businesses even like help each other out. Because this, this is a— a lot of people don't realize that it— one, that it's difficult to own a business. Two, it's difficult to operate a business. And, and three, it's difficult to even get support for your business. And so like for, for me, and I know for you, this is kind of our family.

For sure.

In a lot of ways. I mean, we, we all have our own families that, you know, are our actual families, but like this is, this is our second family that really supports us. us, that really celebrates us, that, you know, lifts us up when we're feeling down, that, you know, refers us out to people and helps bring business to us. And organic referrals is—

Organic.

It's the number one way businesses grow. And if I could tell homeowners anything, it's that if you get good service from somebody, one of the best ways that you— other than paying that person, because that's always the best way to support that person, is to pay them— but one of the best ways that you can support them is to refer them. Like, share them with your friends. Let them know, like, hey, I had a plumbing issue and it was really awful, and just call Paul because he did a great job. Yeah, and he's like everyone we got. I think you can actually see it behind you right there. You know, he's one of the sponsors of this event. So a lot, a lot of the, a lot of the people

that you guys meet on the show from time to time are actually, you know, people that are from our networking group. So, and we actually met, uh, because I had some trailer issues. Do you remember that?

Oh yeah, I fixed your trailer.

Yeah, he did. And I'm still working on that trailer, by the way.

That's good.

Well, you know, it needs to be— it's an old trailer, but I couldn't even, I couldn't even pull it out of the pasture till you came by.

Yeah, the whole thing was rusted out and we—

yeah, bro. Yeah, basically, what do you call that thing that cranks it up and down?

The jack.

The jack. The jack basically broke off.

The jack holder.

Yeah, and so we— you came out and fixed it for me.

That day?

Yeah, that day. And it was, it was super reasonable. And I mean, like On-site. It's still there.

Yeah, I did it on-site.

Yeah, absolutely. But like, one of the reasons I wanted to, to have you on to even talk is because I— when you're Mr. Welds, for those people who don't know, you can't— I don't know if they can read your shirt. If you're not watching the video, you can't see his shirt. It's got the lovely logo right there. This is Mr. Welds, my friend Randolph, and you're a welder.

Yes, sir.

So what's— what you're— I mean, like, I know you had a previous career in welding. What was that?

So I've been welding for 19 years in the oil and gas industry.

Okay.

And I've been in the plants, never on the field.

What do you mean in the plants? What's that?

Just in shop work.

Okay.

Doing fabricating, just mainly fabricate. Okay.

For those that don't know, what is fabricating?

Well, fabrication is mainly taking a blank piece of material.

Scoot up a little bit.

taking a blank piece of material and then cut it into pieces and make it a beautiful piece.

Okay.

Fabrication.

So everything's custom?

Custom made.

Custom made?

Yes, sir.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. And so how long were you doing that before you kind of broke out on your own?

Well, I've been welding for 19 years in the industry, um, until COVID, got laid off.

Okay.

And then, um, started networking. And believe me, networking is the way to be.

Yeah, I mean, that probably built your business, I would imagine. For sure.

Yeah, it's built that trust. Yeah, the trust factor.

Yeah, dude. And you, I mean, like, dude, you hustle with this stuff. I mean, like, I, I see you, I, I see what you do. I mean, like, you, you go to as many networking meetings as I— like, you make me tired.

Yeah, so yeah, networking is, um, in my, my top first thing to do. It's all about building that trust.

I mean, is it for you, is it, is it almost equally networking as it is actually doing like the welding?

Yeah, it's business. Yeah, all day, every day. Yeah, you know, uh, non-stop networking, non-stop business.

Yeah, well, and so with, with welding, I mean, like, I imagine some people might be listening to this going, okay, Craig, this is the Homeowner Show, why are we talking to a welder? But like, I see you doing projects on people's homes all the time.

Yeah, fix the gates, fix the, um, repair the gates, repair their fencing. If they need handrails, uh, replace the handrails. you know, balcony handrails, stair handrails. If they have issues with the foundation of the actual metal frame, then I can repair that as well.

Right. And like, why would someone need you to come repair them? I mean, I would imagine there's a bunch of different reasons.

Well, it's a little better than buying new because therefore you save thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, right, to repair it. And then repairing it will save you that money.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, because like, you— if you see like a, like a giant metal gate, like a custom metal gate that someone had made for their home, I mean, like, let's say it's like a 12-foot gate. Just like, so what, what would someone expect to pay for something like that, to have a custom 12-foot gate?

Oh, we're talking about $15,000, $30,000, right?

I mean, like, it's, it's a sizable investment. And so if that breaks So rather than spending like another, you know, $12,000, $15,000, $20,000 to replace that gate, you can come out and fabricate the piece that's broken for a fraction of the cost, right? Yep.

I mean, make it look back new.

Yeah, that's crazy. And I don't— I think most people don't even think about that. They just think, oh, my gate's broken, I just need to replace it.

A lot of people don't know how to utilize a welder in their own yard.

Yeah, I don't. They scare the bejesus out of me.

It can be anything from a gate, can be anything from an actual art piece in the back of the yard.

Okay, well, and then you also do like, I mean, like you do like some custom art pieces. I mean, like I've seen you do roses, right?

Yeah, that's how it began. Yeah, that's how I started out.

Started out doing roses?

Yeah.

Was it just like metal, metal roses that you could Yeah, so I used to make, uh— How big were they?

Uh, about, about 8 inches high, about 2 inches wide.

Okay.

Yeah, just a basic rose. Um, did that for the first 2 years of Mr. Welds.

Okay. And then just pumping them out and getting your name out there.

It's funny how, um, I made roses to welders, for welders, because they didn't— they just weld. They're not a fabricator, they're not an artist. So I'm the artist.

So is— I mean, for you, is some of the, like, the horseshoe stuff that you see—

Oh, the horseshoe art?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, for you, I would imagine that's really like rudimentary, simple.

Yeah, it's quick money.

Is it?

Yeah.

Yeah? And horseshoes are cheap.

Horseshoes are not that cheap.

Not anymore?

Yeah, it's about $2, maybe $2.50.

A piece?

Yeah.

Really? Even used?

Used is $100 for 100.

$100 for 100 horseshoes?

Used, beat up.

Dang.

Rusted.

Is that— I mean, that's just what they're— that's just the rate now?

And then you got to get them sandblasted.

It's better to have like— what?

It's better to buy new. Better.

Less work?

Yes.

Unless you got one of those little boxes with the gloves, I guess. Yeah, is that what that is? Sandblasting?

Sandblasting.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so what are some of the other— I know you do like, you do railings, you do, uh, fencing, you do gate repairs. What are some other things that you do?

So, um, I'm a service, um, I do a lot of service calls, like, uh, trailer repairs, trailer add-ons, uh, boat repairs, like aluminum pontoon boats, um, even add-on to pontoon boats, whatever.

What do you mean by add-on to pontoons?

So the Benami, the benami of the, of the actual, uh—

You're using big words, man. I don't know what that is.

The canopy that goes on the—

Okay, that's called a benami?

Yeah, benami.

Okay, learn something new.

And I repaired those as well.

All right.

So I had to add on to, um, a pontoon that needed, uh, supports to support it because or else they had to take it all down.

All right.

Every use they use, they have to take the whole thing down. So I made a custom piece that they didn't have to take it down. All they had to do is strap it down.

Oh, okay.

So it was easy, easy fix for them. Less time getting on the trailer, less time getting on the water.

Absolutely. And you want to spend more time on the water, not—

Yeah, you want to spend more time, but it gives you the time, right, get you back on the water. Nice.

Anything else?

What else? So I've been doing a lot of— I've been working at the airport lately.

Working at the air— like the Conroe Airport?

No, Bush.

Really?

I've been doing contracts for Bush Continental.

Okay.

I was pretty excited about it.

That's nice.

I've been doing a lot of work for home designers. Okay, so Home Designers is another good client of mine.

What— so what have you been doing for them?

I've been making custom, um, shelves, uh, wine cellaries, wine, uh, rack holders.

Um, you say like wine rack, are you just saying like the actual things that the, the bottles of wine sit in, or like the rack, the like the braces that hold both of them?

Okay, it could be a, uh, a wine cellar holder, or it can be a liquor shelf. And also I've made a spinning 360 wine glass holder.

Oh, really?

36 wine glasses.

Have you posted that?

Yeah.

Okay, I think I remember seeing something like that.

Something easy and elegant.

Yeah, that's cool, man. So if you— what's something in the home that you could do that would be a little bit different that maybe most people don't realize that you're capable of taking care of for them? I mean, obviously the wine rack would be one of them.

I can make a whole dining set.

Oh, you can make a whole dining set?

I made— yes, I made my girl a whole dining set for Valentine's Day.

Did you really?

Oh yeah.

Why have I not seen this? Did you put a picture up of that?

Everything's up.

Yeah? Where's that?

Well, come to the house.

So I need to be invited over for tacos. That's what—

Your church is right there.

Well, yeah. Well, Kevin, that's where he works, so we just need to pop on over.

Exactly.

See this table. All right, man. So if people have any questions about— well, let me ask you this because I know you've mentioned this before. There's different kinds of welds. I know you've talked about— I've seen you post online about this, that like people doing shoddy work because they don't know what kind of weld to do for like different situations. Like, I know there's a difference between like welding like aluminum versus like steel or others. Could you talk a little bit about it? So what is the difference that's actually happening there?

So the difference between like steel and aluminum?

Sure, yeah.

Well, definitely steel is magnetic and it has a little more tensile strength, as aluminum is a light-grade material but still can hold a good amount of material weight. So a lot of, uh, a lot of people use aluminum for a light material but still has good structural, uh, still structural, uh, purpose.

Okay.

But the thing is, is, um, aluminum can, um, be on the, on the, uh, should I say expensive side.

Okay.

So you have—

So aluminum can be more expensive than steel?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Steel is more of a You know, it's steel prices still going up, you know, right? Of course.

But is that just because of material?

It's just how things are running right now.

Okay.

The material, everything's gone up, right? Yeah. So, but still, aluminum is a more tedious type of work. So it's more tedious.

All right.

A lot of welders can't do aluminum.

So from your perspective, how, how do you spot kind of like Shoddy welding work?

How do I spot it?

Yeah, I mean, like, for me, like, years of training. I mean, like, but are there, are there like very, like, are there very specific things, or can you— is it just like you see an overall picture and you're like, oh yeah, that's, that's crap?

Well, you see a big blob. You see, uh—

What do you mean like a big blob? Like if, like, you're doing like, like on the beading or whatever?

Looks like bird poop.

Looks like bird poop.

Okay.

So it's basically like uneven.

It's uneven, has undercut, underfill, lack of fusion, and just all kinds of stuff that doesn't look right.

Right.

So you got— you want a clean, smooth look.

Yeah. And when you see that, I mean, it's probably because it's like some weekend warrior that's like, well, you got a quote for $500, I could do it for $100, that kind of a deal.

The weekend warriors.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, all those happens every time, man. All right, man. Well, if people have any questions, they want to get a hold of you, what's, what's the best way for them to do that?

So I am on social, um, Mr. Welds Custom Fabrication on Facebook.

Okay.

I do have a website, uh, www.mrwelds.com.

Is there like a dot after the Mr.? No, it's just MR Welds. Okay.

Yep.

.com.

Yep.

All right.

Uh, Instagram is same thing, uh, Mr. underscore, uh, Custom Fabrication. And, uh, that's pretty much all the platforms I have.

Okay. Is there a phone number to reach you at?

Yes, uh, 936-443-4551.

Awesome, dude. We'll, we'll link all that up in the, uh, in the show notes here. Um, and you're gonna be hanging out here at the, uh, the event for a little bit?

Oh yes, sir.

Did, uh, did Heidi ever show up?

She's on her way.

She's on her way. All right, good girl. And anything else you want everybody to know at home?

Well, um, I do have one thing, um, one request. Uh, it's, it's about that, that time for, um, cold, cool weather. Uh-huh. Uh, if you need any type of, um, fire pit, custom fire pit with a special name on it or even your logo on it, I would love to provide that, uh, if I could. And also I can make a, um, grill on top so, uh, you and your husband or whoever likes to grill.

Okay, so fantastic. Cool. Well, could you do me a favor? I mean, thank you. One, thank you so much for jumping on. I really appreciate it.

Very scary.

Could you— it wasn't that bad, right?

No, it's still scary.

Good. Could you run inside and send me somebody out?

Who do you want?

I don't care. I just want to talk to somebody. Somebody good.

Well, Adrian's been on this thing many times.

He's been on a couple of times. I don't want to talk to him again.

Yeah, no, he's good people, dude.

Speaking of him, so we're actually fixing to release some video footage of Adrian. Do you know about this?

The last meeting?

No, no, this is like a whole separate side project that he and I did.

Oh wow.

So we, uh, we spent some time at the gun range. Uh, we got about 2 hours of footage.

Nice.

Of, uh, us doing some pew pew.

Man stuff.

I'm not gonna say what because we haven't released it yet, but like We, we've got some stuff. We got some stuff. We got some stuff we're fixing to release.

Was whiskey involved?

No.

That's good.

No, because there was firearms involved.

I'm just making sure.

Making sure we're being responsible. I appreciate that.

Yeah.

You don't want to turn me over to the—

So who should I get?

I don't know. You know what? I tell you who would be difficult to get would be Nicole. Nicole from Creasy Cleaning. Um, but I also, I haven't ever talked to, um, where is he? I haven't ever talked to Reeves.

Oh, oh, Reeves.

Oh dude, go grab him if you want to.

Yeah, he's, he's a killer.

I mean, just—

he's a game closer. So I think you got the good guy right there.

All right, if you want to, if you want to grab him.

Yeah, I'm about to grab him. Well, thank you, thank you again, dude.

Thank you for jumping on. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try and keep the, uh, the boat rolling. If you would, uh, jump on the, uh, On the page and see if— see how that live is going.

All right. So, I'm good?

Yeah, you're good, man. Thank you.

I'm gonna go get him.

Go get him. All right. If you, if you have not yet, go ahead and subscribe to The Homeowner Show. You can do that over on YouTube. You can do it on Facebook. You can also follow us on Instagram, although we don't post any videos over on Instagram. Well, we post reels and different fun things like that. Uh, Kev is not with me tonight, but I'm sure he's going to be interested in checking this out. Uh, he's— he was super sorry to have missed this episode tonight, but we are here with The Net and the group of businesses that have put this networking event together here on The Woodlands Waterway at Baker Street Pub. I am currently enjoying a Yellow Rose made right here in

the Houston area. It's quite delicious. And so I am working my way closer and closer to being Two Bourbon Craig, which is the funnest host of the Homeowners Show. Um, si.