That Time We Talked About Remodeling

Yeah, I'm, I'm here.

I'm here. How's it going?

What am I supposed to say right now?

Oh man.

That's all.

This is episode number 52 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 are Man, I'm stoked.

Yeah?

Yes, we like, we survived.

Well, it, it sure feels that way.

I mean, not— I mean, we had to go several times without you, but we, we got here.

Yeah, once without you, the full 52, all 52. That's every single week for a full year.

Yes.

That's amazing. I, I honestly didn't think we would get this far.

Yeah, and so if you're still with us, I mean, Shame on you.

And I'm gonna say thank you. Yeah, it's pretty awesome, dude.

A year.

A full year. I honestly, I, I really think that there was gonna come a point that we were gonna be like, nah, yeah, we're done.

And I would say like, you don't look like you've aged a year.

Oh, well, thank you.

2, maybe 3.

Okay, yeah, well, but like, the, the problem is I honestly, I thought we were gonna run out of Topics. The 52 topics, really?

Yeah, like we, we had the list. I don't even think we got through like half of it.

No, and we got a lot coming up.

Yes.

Yeah.

I mean, like a lot of stuff like just in the holster.

That's right.

So not, not to mention our gun safety issue.

Yeah.

Our episode.

Yeah.

Which has, I mean, like been doing really well.

Yeah, so James Taylor did a great job on that episode.

Yeah. But more interesting topics like that on the way. Next week's the one that we've been talking about doing for pretty much ever since we started the show.

How is it that we've not done that yet?

Air conditioning.

I know.

It's crazy.

I know.

Especially around here. If you have air conditioning problems in Texas, you're probably going to die.

Yeah, and I'm really upset about it, too.

You're upset about not having done the episode or just AC in general?

I'm upset that we waited until football season to do it because I won't be here next week. we reschedule. Maybe we need to reschedule because I'm really interested in this episode.

Yeah, maybe you can like call in from the field. Yeah, it's not like you're really paying attention to these junior hires. I mean, come on.

It's not junior high.

It's not junior high?

No.

What's, what's, what kind of football games are on Thursdays?

It's a varsity game on Thursday.

Yeah, what happened to Friday Night Lights?

They, they— the problem around—

they're ruining the title, dude.

We got games on Thursday, we got games on Saturday. Here's the problem, like, uh, the Klein District, for example, they all use the same stadium. And so, you know, same thing with Conroe, they all use the same stadium. And so in order to do that, if you have multiple home games in a week, the only way you can do that is to do it on Thursdays or Saturdays or whatever. I mean, that's got to be a scheduling nightmare for like the AD, you know.

I have the stadium. Yeah, I want to see that fight.

Exactly. And really, it's, it's, it's the band directors that really get upset.

Dude, I could get into like some, some Braveheart lineup between band directors and football coaches. Yes, I You know, yeah, you know, I think the football coaches would have a physical advantage. Well, you would, but you know, the— I would think that the band directors are a little more coordinated than what I've seen from some of our local football.

Yeah, you might be surprised. Yeah, well, and you know, there was a big, big problem in college football for a while where like the band can't play during the, during the down. Because if they do, it's a penalty.

I thought that was only like in certain— like, I know that's true in like the SEC. I didn't think that was true like in the Big 12.

No, that's it. That's it.

Is that like across the board now?

It's an NCAA rule, which means that we're in Texas, and Texas is one of only 2 states— I think 2, there could be 3— uh, that, that use high school rules as NCAA rules. They don't play Federation rules, they play NCAA rules. And, um, So we have the same, same rule as college does.

So you got some snarky band directors is what you're saying?

Yeah, you just got to be careful. And so you want to talk about like some, some coaches being really mad? Like, I mean, even, even little stuff like there, there's, there's a time limit for halftime that's agreed upon, and, uh, if the band goes over, technically it's a, it's a penalty.

You get to tackle them?

Well, no, this is a penalty.

No, see, that, that's— this is how we make rules fun.

So, so some of the, some of these coaches are, are like get the band off the field. And it's not because they don't like the band, it's because they don't want a penalty.

What would be the penalty?

It's a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty.

I'd take it. Let them play.

Let them play. So you get to kick off from the 25-yard line. Congratulations.

They'll all talk about it later on in their years when they're not playing nothing.

Anyway, so yeah, it's going to be interesting over the next few weeks just as football season commences, but we'll get through it.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Well, tonight, tonight we got, we got Chris from Turner Home Improvement.

Yeah.

I'm excited. In the studio with you and me in the studio at the same time.

All the same time.

The stars have aligned.

We're all here somehow.

Everyone is here.

Yes. So Chris, man, thank you for being with us. How you doing?

I'm doing great, man. Doing great. Busy, busy, busy. That's as you know.

Yeah.

Been, uh, been working my butt off past couple nights. I've been, I've been some late nights the past couple nights, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yeah, man, it's good, good problems.

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, just, just to clarify with, with all the audience out there, we're not going to have Chris go into it, but he can testify as to some of the weirdness of my home as he has been in it and looked over some stuff for me.

Uh, whoever built his house was not a very good contractor or builder, whoever it was that did it.

Fingers crossed.

that he didn't go to A&M and get his engineering degree.

He's probably one of those— these guys who, who goes into a project and it's like, oh, I'm gonna make this work. Yeah, I don't care what I have to do. Like, I'm not re— I'm not tearing this out. I'm gonna redo it even if I have to cut a 12-inch hole in these joists.

That's what it— that's what I told—

I'm gonna do it.

I told, uh, Jehu the other day that when we looked at it, it was like somebody was just like, um, and well, That's just where it goes now. You know, just that's, that's it.

We're putting the hole in forever.

Yeah, it's like, it's like we have one option. You probably have more than one, but we're not going to even talk about the others.

Yeah, this is— yeah, it's stubbornness over safety. That's what we're dealing with.

Absolutely.

Oh man.

So, but anyway, we, we— what we wanted to bring you in— let's just get us started. Tell us how you got started in your business. Where you come from, all that kind of good stuff.

So I've been in construction-related industry, uh, since I was— I actually quit school, uh, my junior year of high school.

Okay.

My parents took me outta school. Um, it was a matter of either my parents were gonna go to jail cuz I was skipping so much.

Yeah.

Or I was gonna come outta school and I was gonna go to work. So the very first job that I ever had, uh, was working for a neighbor across the street when I was 17. Um, Land floors. Um, and then from there I worked for a, uh, a water well drilling place and I worked for a remodeling company at one point. Um, went back to doing floors, went into working in the plants, uh, back to a remodeling company and then to another larger remodeling company. So I just, I've always been in that industry. Um, and then when Hurricane Harvey happened, um, I was kind of, I had like my handyman stuff going on, but it was kind of like a side hustle type deal.

Yeah.

Um, and then Hurricane Harvey happened, and I remember sitting at home and I was listening to— it was like a radio walkie-talkie app kind of thing where they were making emergency calls for people to get rescued and, you know, all this stuff. And I was, I was laying there listening to it, and it was like 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, and I'm hearing about these kids like getting swept away, and, you know, people are on their roofs and all this stuff. So I, uh, woke my wife up and I was like, look, I'm leaving in the morning. I'll be back. I'm gonna go help out wherever I can, you know, go rescue some people and stuff. And

so from getting into the rescue and stuff and then seeing the devastation firsthand and then always having that mentality, the businessman mentality in the back of my head, which is kind of why I always bounced around from this company to this company, to this company.

Yeah.

Because I always knew that I started doing something and I was always that person. I can do it better. I can do it better if I just do it myself. I can do it better. So then, you know, like I say, once, once the hurricane came and I seen that destruction firsthand, uh, you know, I talked to my wife about it and it was like, this is the perfect opportunity for me to start my own company.

Mm-hmm.

Get out there. It's gonna be, you know, they're a dime a dozen right now.

Yeah.

You know, you can, you can literally walk down any street and get work.

Yeah.

Um, So I went to work for a contractor that was subbing me work, um, that was getting the FEMA contracts. Um, and I did that for probably 3 or 4 months and then I got burned by a guy.

Yeah.

And then ever since then I've been on my own.

So, okay.

Yeah. That's pretty much how I got started.

Interesting.

Yeah. It's kind of, kind of long-winded how I got started. No, no, no.

That's good.

Yeah. That's, that's how I got started, man. I've been, like I say, Ever since I was 17, I've been doing some sort of construction. I've always been good with my hands. Never been book smart. If you ask me to write a paper, I can't do it.

Sure.

Yeah.

You know, if you ask me to, you know, any sort of, uh, school type work, I'm horrible. Math I'm good at.

Mm-hmm.

Good at numbers and that kind of thing. But, um, I've just always been good at working with my hand. I've always been a visual learner and. I would always, you know, I can watch somebody do something once and you gimme 3 or 4 times and I'm pro at it.

Yeah.

I've just, I don't know. It's, it's just one of those, I don't know if everybody has that same mentality and I assume that they don't, or everybody has that same gift, I guess you would say that I have, that I can just, you know, I can look at something and I can figure out how to fix it. I can figure out how to build it. You know, uh, one of the big things we do with our customers, we tell all our customers, Get on Pinterest, send me a bunch of pictures of what you want.

Yeah.

And we'll make it happen.

Yeah.

Just show me what you want and I'll build it. I'll, you know, whatever tile ideas you have or beam colors, paint colors, whatever you have, just send me, you know, 10 pictures of what you're going for. We'll put together a 3D model of your house, all this, you know, everything that you're thinking of and we'll build it.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's cool.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, so like when you walk into a home, like what's, what's the kind of job that like really gets you excited?

Kitchens, kitchens, kitchens and bathrooms.

Okay.

Uh, I love doing kitchens and bathrooms just because that's like the core of where you spend your time.

Sure.

When you're at home, when you first get home from work, what do you do? You go straight to the bathroom, take a shower. When you walk in and your bathroom's kind of crappy and you know, it's not really exciting to take a bath, but sure. You know, when you have a brand new bathroom, with a nice big shower and that kind of stuff. Uh, you know, just making people happy makes me happy.

Yeah.

The, the seeing— my biggest, uh, enjoyment of, of what I do is seeing the looks on people's faces when I'm finished with everything and how much they're in love with it and how much, you know, they— I was able to make their vision come to life.

Yeah.

That's, that's That's what gets me.

Yeah.

And that gets me in the feels.

Yeah, absolutely. Because I know exactly what you mean. Because, uh, we, we've done a bathroom remodel. Yeah. Um, and it's one of those deals when, when people walk in, they're like, oh my goodness. Yeah, yeah, this is awesome. Right, right. How often do people walk into a living room and they're like, this is the best living room ever? It happens.

Yeah.

But not nearly as much as with, with a kitchen or a bathroom. There's something about that that just Like you said, it gets people excited for some reason. That's the way it is.

And especially the kitchen area, you know, you spend a lot of time in the kitchen with your family.

Yeah.

You know, and when you have a nice, you know, beautiful space to bring your family over for the holidays and, and that kind of stuff, when you're in a nice newly remodeled or even, you know, a year or so old or whatever, it's, it's just having, it has a different feel. It has a different feel and it brings that smile to somebody's face. And I can say I've always been good with working with my hands and And that's what makes me feel good is making, building stuff for people and making their visions come to life. And yeah, it's, it's, um, I don't know. I don't know how, I don't know how to express it. You know, it's, it's, it's just something that really makes me feel good at the end of the day, no matter how many late nights and

how long I gotta work on bids and how many headache customers I have to deal with at the end of the day, I still feel fulfilled.

Yeah.

my core, my soul, you know, in my, in my feels. I feel good about it, you know.

Well, so like, let's, let's kind of go through the process a little bit. Cause I mean, we were talking a little bit before the show about like, even when someone like does call you and brings you out, I mean, like they have that sort of initial, here's the contractor, here's the GC or whatever, you know, like there's, there's sort of this barrier between you and them that exists, you know, because they're, I mean, for some, for whatever reason, there's a negative vibe associated with your title sometimes.

Absolutely.

You know, absolutely.

There's, I mean, there's, there's a lot of guys out there that give the good guys like me a bad name.

For sure.

For sure. There's, it's, it's hard. Like you say, there's, there's always a negative connotation that contractors are just all about getting your money.

Right.

With, with me and my business, I'm not about getting your money. I don't want, if you say that your budget is $40,000, I'll do everything I can to do that job for $30,000 and save you some money.

Yeah.

So pulling that, pulling that outta people is like pulling teeth and it's hard to, it's, it's very hard to break that, that barrier. But it's like I tell a lot of guys that ask me, you know, about getting started in the business. Um, it's about selling yourself.

Mm-hmm.

Like our motto, me and my wife, is we don't sell remodels, we don't sell repairs, we sell an experience. We want to take care of you from start To finish and make you feel special.

Right.

Like I was saying on the radio show the other day, we everybody else is McDonald's and we are Chick-fil-A.

Okay.

We are we are the Chick-fil-A of the remodel game, man.

All of a sudden, like I've got an image in my head of how good you are. There you go.

There you go.

But what everybody wants to know is have you guys tried the Popeye sandwich yet?

I haven't.

I haven't.

Okay. So we're all we're all pure still.

Yeah. So far. But um I'll just let. Everybody know, like, I called you the other day and I was like, Craig, like, I feel like we need to redo this on the show. So maybe next week. We'll be here next week.

Maybe the week after. We need to do for our guests, we need to do like a blind taste test.

Okay. Yeah.

We'll just wrap them both in tin foil and let him taste them. Okay. Which one's better? And then we can publicly shame him when he— if he picks the wrong one.

We got it. We got to find out. I'm interested.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't, I don't— I'm loyal, but I'm also interested.

We actually had Chick-fil-A for lunch today. There you go. As I was eating, I was like, man, forget Popeyes. I haven't even tried it, but I don't even want to try it.

I need you guys.

That's funny. That's funny. Well, I—

so the Lord's chicken.

That's right. That's right. Exactly. Um, but that, that brings me like to, to another conversation here because, yeah, I think one of the things that I have a frustration with, with, with contractors is I don't know whether or not what you're telling me is true or not.

Absolutely.

Because, um, you know, we had a, we had a job. It was the bathroom. It was a bathroom, kind of a living room combo that we were having done. And, you know, we got, we got bids and some of the bids came in. I mean, they were like some were double, right, what the other ones were.

Yep.

And, you know, we had a budget, and honestly, one guy said, you know, I'm gonna do all the work myself, um, and other people are gonna sub out. And those people were a little bit more expensive, and, right, uh, we liked this other guy, but turns out that, I mean, he didn't show up half the time. And what should have taken, what should have taken, you know, 3 weeks took 3 months, right? And we're living in this, you know, 3-month pile For a bathroom? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

That's a long time.

It's a long time.

3 weeks, man.

Absolutely.

Turn them out.

It should have. And what I think happened, you know, in all honesty, what I think happened was, um, I think he ran out of money.

Gotcha.

And so he was— I think what he was doing, he underbid it.

Gotcha.

And, and I didn't know that he underbid it because I don't know anything about this business, right?

Right.

Um, I just knew that I liked the guy and I felt like he had a good price, and so I'm going with him, right? Um, I, I think what, what he was doing is he was going to other jobs because he needed money.

He was bouncing.

He was bouncing jobs.

And so that's what we call job hopping.

Yeah. And so whenever I called him, I mean, he got to the point where he was like not answering my phone calls because he knew, right? He knew I, I don't have anything to tell him, so I'm not going to answer the phone.

Yeah.

And so He would show up and he'd work, you know, for a day, and then he wouldn't show up for 3 or 4 days, and then he'd come back and he'd work for a day. And I didn't know when he was coming, when he wasn't coming, uh, and it was just— it was a horrible experience for us. And so, um, you know, I, I hear you saying that you want to offer an experience, and I appreciate that on so many levels because of the experience that I've had, right, um, in the past. you know, how— maybe talk to us a little bit. How, how can we have any, uh, guarantee or assurance or feel like whenever we hire someone, and whether it's you or somebody else, right?

Um, because a lot of our listeners aren't in Houston, so, um, you know, how, how do we know what to ask to just kind of find out, are you truthful and, and honest?

So what I would encourage Everybody to do, and even if you're listening and you're one of my customers or one of my potential customers, don't just get bids and don't just meet them. Get references and call those references.

Yeah.

So if any reputable contractor will be able to provide you with a list of customers that they've done work for before and be able to contact them customers and say, "Hey, Kevin's going to call you and ask you da da da da da about the job. If you don't mind, I'm going to give him your contact information." Um, that, that's the biggest thing that I encourage anybody that's getting any work done on their home, not only to fill the contractor out, and 9 times outta 10, you can kind of tell, you know, you, everybody has that same radar, you know, that they've, you know, some people just rub you the wrong way.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I see guys on Facebook all the time and I'm just looking at their profile and I'm just like, man, I don't like that guy for any reason. You know, it's, It's the same thing when, when you have a contractor that comes into your house, you know, you can, you can feel it that, you know, and I've seen it on people's faces when I first started the company, when I was, you know, fresh and just kind of learning what I was doing and how to interact with the customers and stuff. Cuz I was always on, I was always on the labor end, you know?

Yeah.

I was always doing all the work. I was never on, on the back end of it and meeting the customers, but you, you can feel that. that tension in the room whenever you walk in and you start talking, you know? Um, and now I'm to the point to where, like I say, I, it's about selling yourself. Um, and like, I mean, the, the, again, back to the references, that would be the biggest thing that I could tell anybody to do that's thinking about getting any work done, any substantial work that's not, you know, a handyman type job, a little patch or something like anybody that's getting a remodel. or any significant amount of funds that

are going to a contractor, ask for references and not only ask for them, follow up with those references.

Yeah.

And call those people, ask 'em how their experience was, and that'll give you a better vibe. It'll take a little longer. The process is obviously gonna take a little longer cuz you're gonna have to call these people and it's not as easy as just saying, okay, I like this guy, let's hire him.

Yeah.

Uh, you know, but follow up on references is—

there's a lot of money involved here. Like, you know, your kitchen remodel. I mean, some of these things, $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 sometimes. I mean, just kind of depending on what you need done. Exactly. Um, I mean, it's probably worth another 2 hours of your time to start calling references.

Absolutely. Never, ever, ever. Again, if you're listening and I'm the first contractor that walks through the door, don't just go with me because I'm the first contractor and I'm the nicest one. Check my references, check the other guy's references. Yeah. You know, make, do your due diligence. You're about to spend a significant amount of money. A lot of my customers, especially here lately, they're taking out, you know, equity loans on their houses and spending, you know, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, $80,000 to remodel their house. If you're spending that kind of money, you need to do your homework thoroughly before you hire somebody.

Here's, here's what's crazy about what you're saying though. And I'm not saying what you're saying is crazy, but like Like, what you're saying is, is absolutely right and great advice. But like, we have in the studio someone who is in your profession that's telling people, this is what you need to go do. And probably like 1% of people will go and do it.

Absolutely.

And it's, and it's not because they don't know how, it's because it's like a few extra steps that just take time. And like, to me, it's crazy because I ask people to do the same thing in my business. They never do it.

Yep.

You know, but it just, it just works out really well cuz they got me.

Right.

But you know, what, what's crazy is it's so easy to do now. I mean, like, cuz you don't even, like, let, let's say like you give me your list of references.

Right.

I don't even have to use that. I can go on Facebook and I can see who follows you on there.

Yep.

Or I can see who's left you a review on there.

Right.

And I can reach out to that person. Absolutely. That specific person and go, hey, how was your experience with Chris?

Right. And, and even now with the world of smartphones and the internet, you don't even have to call 'em. No, you don't even, you could send them a Facebook message and just say, hey, uh, I've seen that Chris did a job for you. You know, how was your experience? Yada, yada, yada.

Yep.

A few text messages and you're done.

Mm-hmm. It's, it's, it took you 2 minutes.

Exactly. Exactly. And it's, it's that simple.

You could either, you know, be confident in your decision or go, I'm getting the heck outta here.

Right, right. And another, another good thing that I would recommend people do, if, if you are looking to have some work done, Google it.

Google it.

So if say you're looking to have the exterior of your house painted, mm-hmm, go to Google and type into Google average national average cost to paint the exterior of a 1,500 square foot house.

Right.

And it's gonna give you an idea of what to expect.

Yeah.

So if you, if you're clueless on what something should cost or what it might cost, and you think that some contractor's coming in and kind of feeding you some bull, Google it.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's that simple. Yeah. It's, it's literally that simple to just Google it. There's a, there's tons of websites out there and I use 'em for reference from time to time. Yeah. For projects that I know I'm capable of doing, you know, but I've never done it before. So I'm like, well, I don't know, really know what to charge. Yeah, I could do T&M for it.

Mm-hmm.

But in the end, I'm, I'm here to make money. You know, what, what is everybody else charging for it?

Yeah.

So I can just go onto Google and say average price to install a window. It'll give you websites like HomeWise. HomeAdvisor gives that kind of information out.

HomeownersShow.com.

HomeownersShow.com! There you go!

We actually created a DIY calculator for folks. It actually takes into account your happiness and gives that a number. to see whether or not a task is worth you doing or worth somebody else doing.

Right, right.

It's actually kind of cool because like some people— like, how did we put it in there? It's been a long time since I went and used it.

I don't know.

There's— it's like, it's basically like if you enjoy doing a project, it takes, you know, less money to do that project because you enjoy doing it.

Absolutely.

So it calculates that in there so that you know, okay, like if I enjoy this, I probably want to do it anyway, so it's gonna be worth my time. But if I don't enjoy doing this, it's gonna give me a penalty.

Right.

And be like, okay, well, you know, like, be, you know, here's a price for your unenjoyment.

Right.

Gotcha. Um, but yeah, but yeah, you're absolutely— I mean, there's tons of them out there. Right. Yeah.

And I, I think one of the things that, that is, let's say you get 3 bids on a, let's say you're doing a kitchen, get 3 bids. I think one of the things that, that people don't always recognize is, you know, let's say that there's a $10,000 difference between 2 people. Right. Follow up.

Yep.

Ask them, why are you $10,000 more? Why are you $10,000 less? Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I mean, there's gotta be a reason. There's something in there.

I literally just had that exact thing happen. Um, we bid a job for a customer that was, we came in at like $43,000 and they had 3 other bids at around $32-ish in, in that that area. So we were about 10 grand higher than everybody else.

Right.

So she calls us, we followed up with her. She called us and she said, hey, you know, can you gimme a little bit more detail? Did I tell you something else than what I told everybody else? And come to find out, we were, we had the same information. Um, but it's, for us, it's again, goes back to selling the experience. We are Dollar for dollar, we're usually a little higher than everybody else. Not, it's not a secret, not something that I'm trying to hide.

Yeah.

But for the experience that you get from what we offer, it's worth the extra 10 grand to go with somebody like us because we are completely turnkey. You don't have to go and pick out your material and you don't have to, you know, That back to that negative connotation with, with contractors is they, everybody thinks that we're just out to make a buck and put a markup on this and put a markup on that. And, but what people don't realize is the backend of it, of how long it takes. Like me and my wife have been having this conversation about bids and how long it takes for a full remodel bid. And when I, when we first started, I told my wife, I'm like, I don't understand how these guys do

bids for free.

Yeah.

Like, this has taken me 2 or 3 hours. Yeah. To, I gotta find all these materials. I gotta do all this stuff. It's, you know, sometimes it takes days cuz you gotta track down special order stuff and, you know, all sorts of stuff. And it's, I don't know. I lost, I kind of lost my train of thought there.

No, I'm, I'm with, I'm with you. Like, it, it's, it's expensive to go out and, and, and bid these jobs.

Yeah.

I mean, like, people, people see that, you know, free bids, free estimates, all these kinds of things. Well, like, you know, people don't realize that, like, that's actually taking time away from actual work that you could be doing. And not to say that, like, bids aren't work, but, like, you know, you're not necessarily guaranteed that you're going to be getting that job. Exactly.

Well, there's most of the time there's a 1 in 3 chance. Most people are getting 3, 3 bids first. So it's a 1 in 3 chance.

But for From the level, from the contractor side, it's like you don't know who you're competing against, right? Like you don't know if you're competing against a reputable company or you're competing against the weekend warrior that just happened to be off on a Tuesday and couldn't make it over there to bid it, right? You, you never know who it is that you're competing against. And I gotta say, we, we are per dollar for dollar, we're usually a little bit higher than other contractors, but there's a reason for it. Like you were saying, you know, there, there may be If you see a variance there, do your due diligence and talk to that contractor and ask them why they're more expensive. Because at the end of the day,

like I said, we had the exact same situation and we got the job. Yeah, we got the job because we sold ourselves to the customer and the experience and the customer service that we are providing is worth that extra money to them.

Okay. So let, let's talk about that for a minute, cuz it, cuz I've heard you say that multiple times. The experience. Yeah. What type of experience? You said turnkey.

Yeah.

Some people may not even know what that means. So, so explain that. And beyond that, then kind of help us understand what kind of experience are you providing beyond what someone else may provide?

Gotcha. Gotcha. So as far as experience goes, it's the, the customer service, the, the interaction, the way that we handle our customers, the way that we are on call 24/7, no matter what you need. Uh, you know, I've got customers that go out of town and we feed their animals and stuff while we're working.

Okay.

We, we offer just a totally different feel from the other contractors that I've worked for in the past. We just— it's, it's just a totally different, uh, way that we do things. We're not a, um, we're not just a— your, your everyday run-of-the-mill remodelers. We care. Like, we want your house to be beautiful. We care about your house. We— I've, I've been to, I can't tell you how many jobs this year for people who had contractors come in and they trust them, they think they're great guys, yada yada yada, and then they just end up doing crappy work and then they call me in to come fix it. You know, it happens, it happens More

often than not, especially in a place like Texas where you don't have to have a license to be a contractor.

Right.

It happens a lot. Um, but back to the, I mean, again, we just, we, we try to make our customers feel special, uh, from, from start to finish. And, uh, the, the aspect of being turnkey, Um, that basically means that we take care of everything.

We—

you don't have to pick up a finger to do anything at all. You don't need to pick out any materials. You don't need to, uh, you know, get a plumber to do this and this guy to do this or this guy to do that. We take care of absolutely everything. If you need your roof done, we got a guy. If you need, you know, whatever you need, if we're not capable of doing it, we'll take care of it. And you don't have to worry. You don't have to lift a finger. It's it's just the again it's like it it kind of is a negative connotation about you know well you're just marking it up and da da da da. But at the end of we're

scheduling everything for you. We're taking care of all the headache.

Right.

People don't realize like I said the the back end of how much goes into remodeling a kitchen. I mean there's there's electrical, there's plumbing, there's sheetrock, there's you know your cabinets. your, all your little fixings here and there. And if you were to do that yourself, it's gonna take you forever.

Yeah.

It's gonna take you a long time. And rather than, to me it's more like, how much do you value your time?

Yeah.

Would you rather spend that time with your family or going on a vacation while we're remodeling your house and spend an extra, you know, 10, 20 grand or whatever it is? Or do you wanna do it yourself and save? Yeah.

Yeah, because part of the deal there is I don't know every plumber, right? So, you know, I'm gonna have to figure out what plumber I'm gonna use, right? I got to figure out what electrician I'm gonna use. I gotta figure out what cabinetry guy I'm gonna use. And I'm not really into cabinetry. And the only place I really know to go is Home Depot, Home Depot, or Lowe's. And so, you know, you know all these people, right? And you've got relationships with them.

Absolutely.

And so So that changes your timeframe quite a bit as well. And plus, I mean, I don't know how to pull a permit, right? You gotta be permit. You gotta get a permit to do a lot of this stuff. So I assume you're pulling permits and all those types of things as well.

Yep.

So, well, when, when you're dealing with permits, especially in, in Texas, like I say, as a contractor, you don't have to have a license or anything. So if you need like a, A permit to do electrical, right? You get a master— a master electrician is gonna go pull that permit for you, or a, you know, a master plumber's gonna go pull your, your permit for you. But it's, it's really not that hard of a process.

Yeah.

It's, it's literally just going down to the courthouse and doing a little bit of paperwork.

Yeah.

Takes about 10 minutes and you can pull it off.

But you got time to do that in your day?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

If you've got a job.

Yeah.

You know? Or kids or whatever, you know.

I know for some companies that just have a guy that goes and does that for their, for their jobs, right? You know, right. They need that done. You don't have time to do that when, you know, you're at work and the court's only open till 4.

And that's not a skilled position. So, so you don't need your master plumber out there pulling a permit, right? You need him doing the work.

Right, right.

You know, well, I'll tell you some situation I've seen it a few times when people try and parse all these things out, you know, you sometimes you end up with people working in your house together that don't work together so well.

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's—

and I don't have time to break up catfights. Like, it's just not my— like, it's something— no, that my home is not the place for that. You guys can go down to the local bar and settle this there.

Right, right. It's, it's not as it The being a contractor and the business that, that I'm in, it's not all sunshine and, and rainbows at all. It's, it's very hard, first of all, to find if, if you are doing large enough projects like we do that you have to sub out, cuz you can't possibly do every— you could, but it's gonna take forever.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? Or you're a giant company that has a whole bunch of money and you know, that kind of thing.

Yeah.

Um, but it's not, it's just, it's not easy. It's, it's not easy. I promise you that we are not expensive for what we do. It's, we are really not expensive for all the stuff that we have to deal with. Like I have a customer right now. They're great customers. Don't gimme, I'm not downing them at all. Uh, but they're both engineers.

Mm-hmm.

Went to school at A&M. They're about the same age as me in their early 30s. And I can't put up a piece of sheetrock in their house without giving 'em a drawing. I can't do anything without giving 'em a drawing or something. They're very, very thorough. They're very, very thorough people, but we're doing a, we're doing a great job on their house. So no complaints, but they're very, very thorough, thorough people. And it's, it's a lot to deal with.

Yeah.

It's a lot of, a lot of stress to deal with on the, the contractors in.

Yeah, well, as a homeowner, one of the other things you really want to be thorough about is your insurance.

That's right, Craig. Maybe you need some life insurance or a mortgage protection plan. Maybe you got a funeral for a loved one coming up, you need a policy for that, or final expenses, disability income. There's lots of different reasons you might need some insurance, and if that's the case, Heritage Insurance Group has you covered. They've got a policy to help you protect your family.

That's right. You guys can reach our good friend Rochelle over there in the office at 936-228-7565. You can also reach out to them on Facebook. Give them some love, guys. Thank you for being this week's sponsor. But anyway, when you're using a quality company, you want to probably hire— like in your insurance, you want to bring somebody like Chris onto your team. Chris, what has been like one of the craziest requests you've ever gotten from a customer?

Craziest requests? I honestly, I haven't really gotten any super crazy requests.

What about crazy people?

Oh, I've had a couple of them, especially when I was doing the FEMA work. That was, uh, we had a lot of very, very, very interesting, uh, interesting characters.

So like, like right now we're like on like the anniversary pretty close to like, yeah, Harvey, right?

Well, yeah, it was the end of it. It was the end of August. So how long ago now? It was 2 years.

2 years ago. Like it doesn't feel like that long, right? I mean, especially since we were here and experiencing it, but like, I'm sure a lot of that's still pretty fresh. So like, were you actually like going out on boats?

Yes. Yes. So we, we went to down to Spring was the first place that we hit and I went down there with nothing. Like, like I say, I was just listening to this radio app and like, I, I'm not a very religious guy, but God just spoke to me and said, get up and go help.

There you go.

So I got in my truck, I put, got my waders, my duck hunting waders and that kind of, I just got in the truck and just went. I just, just went. And we, um, so we went down the spring and did, I met up with this just random group of people that was on this app, just I don't even know how we found the app. It was just on this walkie-talkie thing. And then there was an app that you could download and talk with these people that are arranging the rescues and stuff. Um, and they were like, we're meeting at some church parking lot in The Woodlands. Don't— I don't remember what it was.

Yeah.

But it was just a random group of people. And these guys were— there was like guys from Arkansas, guys from, uh, Nevada. I mean, there was— these people just, just came from nowhere. And I met up with them and I hooked up with these guys that were from somewhere up near Dallas. I can't remember, um, but the guy had a bass boat and his other 2 buddies had jet skis. So he was on the bass boat by himself and he was like, you want to ride with me? I was like, let's go, let's do it. Um, so we started out in spring and then we went from spring— there was pretty much no more rescues going on. We

jumped over to Baytown, went down to Baytown. I mean, and we drove through— we're in, you know, big jacked up trucks and stuff, so we could kind of make it through the stuff that most people couldn't make it through.

Yeah.

But we went down town to Baytown, did a couple rescues and stuff there, and then we went to Beaumont. And Beaumont was the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life. It was— we rode a bass boat. I don't know if you're familiar with Sour Lake, 105, Sour Lake.

No.

So there's, I don't know, maybe a 20-mile stretch or so between Sour Lake and Beaumont, and we rode a bass boat down Highway 105 from Sour Lake to Beaumont.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, it was crazy. The craziest thing that I've ever, ever seen. I mean, when, when we were down in Houston, we were down off of like one of the bayous, I guess Buffalo Bayou or whatever it was, and there was 2-story houses that you could only see the top. Yeah, of a 2-story house. I mean, it was at some points his depth finder— we were in the middle of the channel and he had his depth finder on and it was like 60 feet.

Oh my gosh.

Wow.

This is, this is, it was, it was crazy.

Yeah.

It was a wild—

Houston doesn't mess around when it floods, man.

No, no, it didn't take much.

No.

Yeah. Right.

No, it's crazy.

It doesn't, it doesn't take much to flood anywhere.

Well, I mean, and talking about something from like, from your, um, your business, one of the craziest things I saw in, in post-Harvey was people Being just like absolutely taken to the cleaners, man, from— for mold remediation.

Yep.

It was crazy.

Like, I would talk to people and we were, we were trying to help people with it because we knew how to do it, right? And, and we could talk people through it and, you know, here's what you got to do. And but people were like paying like $20,000 and $30,000.

Yeah.

To have like their house cleaned for mold, right?

It was.

Yep.

And they were just paying it.

Yeah. Yeah. It's that they're stuck, you know? They don't, they don't know what else to do.

They don't feel like they have any other options.

Nobody else is available. We're the only ones that can do it.

Yep.

Well, but we can do it tomorrow at this price. Yep.

That's another big thing with anytime, any of your listeners, if the guy says that he can come and do it the next day, he's probably not your guy.

He doesn't have enough jobs. Exactly. There's probably a reason.

Exactly. I was supposed to get Craig a bid like 3 weeks ago and I didn't do it.

We're still cool.

I dropped the ball. I dropped the ball. I've just been too busy. I've been too busy.

Um, I was, I was a little too hard-nosed with getting you on the show. That's what's up.

No, no, not at all.

So I'll actually tell you, man, one of the reasons I wanted to have you on is, I don't know if you remember, like one of the first conversations you and I had, uh, we were talking about some other contractors and one of the ways I gauge people sometimes is how they'll talk about other people in their business. And I remember very specifically you talking about someone else who's also a contractor and I we brought them up in conversation and you immediately started talking about what a good person they were, how they do a good job, and, and how you've tried to help. You know, they were kind of new, right? And how you were trying to help them out a little bit.

Absolutely.

And I was like, I like this guy, right? I mean, like, this, this guy's not— because I think a lot of people believe that the biggest competition that they have is everybody else out there, you know? Right. And like, and like, that's okay because like biologically we're designed to be competitive with one another, right? But like, I think the minute that you realize that, you know, the biggest competitor that I have every single day is me, right? You know, and then you, you spoke that to me when you're like telling me about this guy who's like, who's literally a competitor of yours, right? Speaking nothing but good of him. And you're like, you're focused like on how you can improve you, how you can improve your business.

Exactly.

Part of that is by how you're helping other people.

Exactly, exactly. I am, I am all about helping people in business. And it doesn't matter what your business is. Uh, I love seeing other people start their own businesses. Like, that's another thing besides the remodeling and stuff that really drives me, to see other people grow and other people start businesses. And it doesn't matter if you're a competitor of mine or not, if you're just starting out, if you've got questions, call me. I'll help you.

Yeah.

I'll help you. It doesn't— There's multiple contractors out there that are new in the game that are I talk to on a weekly basis that ask me, and they're my competitors. They they're bidding literally bidding on the same jobs that I bid on. I had a guy the other day call me. He called me and said, "Hey man, I'm gonna bid on this this job." Da da da. He starts telling me about it. I was like, "Oh yeah." So I just bid on that the other day. He was like, "Well." Well, what do you think I should bid it at? And I was like, well, I can't tell you that, but go bid it and call me and let's, let's go over what you did. So he goes and he bids it and then he calls me and he says, hey, uh,

I bid it at, I think it was like $1,300. And I said, you're right on the money. That's exactly what I bid it for. You're doing a good job. You're doing it right.

Yeah.

And I have, Again, I have no problems helping anybody that it doesn't— to me, it's about building alliances.

Yeah.

So one day that guy, if, if he sticks with it, he's gonna be able to help me. He's gonna, he's, he's not, I, I won't say that he's gonna surpass me because—

Sure.

I think I'm great at everything that I do, but one day he's gonna be able to, to help me grow.

Yeah.

You know, if, if I help him grow and help him start his business one day, I'm gonna be able to call him and say, hey, I need this, this, and this done. Can you do it for me? And he's gonna be there and I'm gonna know that he's gonna do a great job at it.

Yeah.

And I can trust him. And building relationships with people in your own industry, to me, it's, I mean, what better way to know your competition than to have conversations with 'em?

Yeah.

And talk with them and help each other.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's a no-brainer to me.

I think, I think the opposite mentality is actually more harmful to the homeowner in the long run anyway. Yeah. Because I think when you have that, you know, spiteful competitiveness amongst peers in the same business, eventually that leads to nothing but a price war.

Yep.

And a price war just leads to less service, less quality for the homeowner in the end. And it's, you know, we don't, we don't wanna like gouge people or anything, but like, right, we wanna provide the best that we can for them. And the only way we can do that is if we're in a business that actually makes money. Right. You know? Right. Which is, it's hard sometimes for homeowners to remember that is like the person who's coming in your home to help take care of things needs to feed their family too.

Absolutely.

You know, and this is how they do it.

Yep.

So like, you know, but like, you know, at the same time, be aware, right? You don't, don't be taken advantage of.

Exactly. And it happens. It happens every day. I have the job that we just did today. Older couple.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, probably late 70s. You know, they're, they're getting, getting older. Uh, the husband has Alzheimer's. Um, and she got like 3 or 4 bids from other people and she told me what these guys were pricing her at. And I was like, these guys are really trying to take advantage of this lady.

Yeah.

Like, this is a, a $3,500 job and these guys are bidding it at $7,000, $8,000.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's, you know, $1,500 worth of material and one day with 2 helpers. You shouldn't be charging somebody $7,000, $8,000 to do this. There's no way that no matter how big your company is, your overhead is not that much.

Right.

And your profit margin should not be that much. That it, it happens all the time. It happens every single day. And that's how Guys like me get a bad name. I'm not, um, I'm not out to get every last penny out of somebody. I want you to be able to save some money, and I promise—

So that you can hire me again.

Exactly, exactly. If you provide somebody with, with a good customer service and a good experience and you do quality work, they're gonna tell Everybody about you. Yeah, this guy came over and he did a great job on my bathroom.

Da da da da.

I can't tell you how many people call me and they're like, hey, my cousin John had got his bathroom remodeled, you know, 2 years ago. Da da da da. And he told me to call you. It happens all the time.

Yeah. So, you know, kind of along those lines, do you have an idea in your head or do you have a specific number where you go, okay, Okay, I think this job is gonna take me, say, 1 day. It's 8 hours, you know, let's call it an 8-hour day. Do you have an idea in your mind what that price per hour is, or, or do you do it based on job? How do you determine some of that?

So typically I do it based on the job. Um, that kind of information is our kind of backend secret information. Like, obviously we know our cost of doing business, right? We know what we're paying everybody to be There. We know exactly, you know, how many— I say exactly, but I have a good idea of how long the job is going to take and whatnot. But typically we bid it by the job. Yeah.

But you have an idea in your head, right? I'm not saying that you give that information to the customer, but, but you have an idea in your mind how much something's going to— I'm going somewhere with this. Um, but you do have an idea in your mind. I know this is going to cost this much. And so it's gonna have to be this price in order for it to be worth my time.

Absolutely.

To make it happen.

Absolutely.

Uh, I, I literally got a bid from a guy one time, and, and I asked him a similar question because, because his, his price point was, was ridiculously under some of these other people, right? And, um, and, and he, he told me, he said, well, I'm honestly, I'm giving you a different price than I would give some people. Um, he was just giving me a kind of a friend discount and also, uh, just just kind of because of what I do, he told me, you know, I'm just gonna kind of cut you a deal.

Right.

And, uh, and I said, how do you, how do you do it? Like, how do you bid that out? And he said, and this is what he said, I kid you not, he said, well, I'm gonna tell you something that I don't tell most people. So, okay, here we go.

Right.

Um, and he said, I figure out how much it's gonna cost for materials, right? And then I pray about it. and I figure out what God wants me to charge this person.

Really?

And I'm like, that is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life. And I, and I have nothing against praying, okay? I am not advocating that. But I'm like, that is the worst business model in the world.

Yes.

Like, what?

You shouldn't have told me that, right? And I didn't, I didn't go with him because I was like, this is, this is a really bad idea. Like, you're gonna fail at business, right, if you do that. So I guess That's part of what I want some of, some of our listeners to hear is that, um, the cost of doing business is the cost of doing business.

Right.

And, and some people are gonna wind up needing more than other people. Some— sometimes, like you said, it's a one— it's a one-day job with me and 2 other people working.

Right.

Um, if you're not the one doing the job, if you're just hiring other people out, you're probably gonna have to, you know, pay them more. Or it— the price of doing business When it comes to contractors, I think this is where sometimes you guys get a bad rap is they're just willy-nilly paying people. And so, you know, they're paying the plumber whatever the plumber wants, and they're not negotiating on my behalf and those sorts of things.

Right.

And so I think that one of the things that you can do as a homeowner is figure out, okay, how can I— who can I trust?

Yep.

And figure out who can I trust. And if you can trust this person, then at the end of the day, you're going to be happy with the work because you went with someone you can trust.

Yep.

These people are in your home. They are around your pets, around your kids, around your spouse, around your neighbors. You know, I mean, these people are coming into your home. Find someone that you can trust. And if you don't feel good about it, go with somebody else.

Yep. Absolutely.

That's my soapbox.

That's one of One of the things when, when I talk about the experience that we offer, so we have, we don't just stick our customers with just one guy. So if we're subbing something out, if, if we're having some plumbing done and it requires a, a permit and all that, it's not a repair. Um, if it requires, you know, anyway, if, if we go to, we win the bid, right?

Yeah.

And then we say, okay, we're gonna sub the floors out. Right. I don't just give my customers one choice of floor guy.

Okay.

I bring out multiple contractors that I've had a relationship with and that have done floor. It's usually 2. I'll usually bring out 2 guys and have both of 'em give me a price, and then I'll give those prices to the customer and say, this is, you know, this is what it is. That's another thing that nobody else does. Everybody, every other contractor out there, they know a guy and they use that guy. Every single time.

Sure.

Um, now there are certain things that I use the same guy every single time, but for it, like, obviously I can't use the same plumber if I'm doing a job in, like, right now we're doing a job in Willis, right? But if I'm doing a job in, you know, North Houston, that plumber's not gonna come down all the way down there to do a job for me. I gotta find find somebody else that's gonna do it.

It's because Elon Musk hasn't given us teleportation yet, right? Get on the stick, dude.

Yet is the, uh, right, right, key phrase.

Yeah, we like to, we like to offer, you know, not just, hey, this is my guy, this is what the price is going to be. We like to make them feel comfortable that we are trying our best to save them money and bringing you multiple Subs and say, all right, which, which one do you like? And here's the price difference from this guy to this guy. I trust both of these guys. They've both done work for me before. And it's just, that's just another thing that we do.

Sure. And that brings me to something that I was going to ask earlier and I didn't ever get around to it. And you, you mentioned that when it comes to the turnkey process, that, um, Um, that the homeowner is not having to go out and pick out materials.

Absolutely.

Those sorts of things. But that doesn't mean that they don't get to pick out the materials.

Right, right, right.

So talk about that for a minute.

So when I, when I say that you don't have to go out and pick out materials, I mean, you don't have to leave your house. We're gonna bring samples to you. You don't need to go walk around Lowe's and argue with your husband all day or your wife all day and come home grumpy, you know, cuz you're walking around all these stores trying to pick everything out. We're gonna, like I said earlier, you send us some pictures. We're gonna see your vision. Then we're gonna go to our suppliers. We're gonna pick up your flooring samples, your backsplash samples, all that stuff. And we're gonna bring it to your door like Amazon.

Mm-hmm.

We're gonna come to your house. We're gonna have a whole, you know, catalog of stuff that you can pick from, uh, paint colors, swatches, the whole 9 yards. We bring that straight to you instead of you having to go to Lowe's and Home Depot or Floor and Decor and go to Sherwin-Williams or You know, wherever you're going to get these materials from, instead of having to bounce around and spend a full day doing it, we bring them to you.

I mean, that's huge. And because, I mean, for my wife and I, that's a— I mean, that's a full day.

Yeah.

Of just one thing. That's just the backsplash.

And it's stressful. Yeah.

It's a whole day working on a fight.

Yeah. It's a whole day trying to figure it out. And, and we're You know, I think this is a big delineator whenever you're talking with contractors is what type of work are they gonna do for you. Are you— I mean, I was talking to a guy just the other day and he said, okay, here's the deal. I'll do this and I'll charge you this much money to do it per hour. This completely different type of job, but I'll charge you this much per hour. All you need to do is bring me the materials.

Mm-hmm.

So I've got to go get the materials. and then he's gonna do it for, you know, 5 hours for, for this amount, right?

Right.

There's nothing wrong with that, right? There's a lot of people out there that are gonna do that, and part of that is because it saves them a lot of time from having to go pick up the materials, right? They would, they would rather show up and the material already be there than having to go do that extra work.

I'm the complete opposite.

Yeah, and, you know, I think that that's just something that people need to be aware of. Like, are you the type of person that, that needs something to be done where you don't have to spend a Saturday just on a backsplash?

Right.

Or are you the type of person that wants to go and do that? Um, and so I, I would assume that if a, if a client just absolutely wants to go do that, you would let them.

9 times out of 10, I would try my best to steer them away.

Okay.

Just because, like I say, that we want to take care of you. And it's not because we're trying to make money.

Sure.

Because we buy from these places so much, we get a discount anyway. We're gonna sell it to you at retail, we're gonna get a little bit of a discount on it, and we're gonna make a couple bucks. But then you don't have to deal with the headache of, like you say, a full Saturday going out to get it. And one of the big reasons that I say that I don't— I personally prefer to get the materials myself is there's a lot more that goes into, for instance, a backsplash other than the tile and the grout and the mortar, right? There's— you got to get spacers, you got to have sponges, you got to have buckets. There's 100 other things besides just the tile that needs to be bought. So when somebody tells me, well,

I'm gonna buy the materials, well, are you gonna buy the buckets? Are you gonna buy the— are you gonna buy all this other stuff?

Because you're not saving yourself And you know what works and what doesn't.

Exactly.

Certain spacers are better than others.

Yep.

Certain sponges are better than others.

Yep.

Right.

Yep.

Et cetera, et cetera.

It, I find that in, in this business, 9 times outta 10, when a customer says that they want to buy the materials themselves, it's usually they're on a budget crunch or they're just a really headstrong person and they just want to feel like they're doing it themselves. They want to feel like they're the general contractor, you know, they want to feel like they're involved in the process and they don't want to let, cuz it's their house.

Yeah.

You know, this is, it's your baby, you know, and I get it. It's just, for me, it's less headache if I just go out and I get the materials, I bring 'em to you, I show you everything. I buy the right products to, you know, to install it. Um, it's just, it's just a lot less headache on a contractor.

Yeah.

So I, I guess to that point, Know yourself a little bit, right? And know what kind of buy-in you want, because if that's the type of person you, you are, right, you want to go out and get all the materials, then Turner Home Improvement is not your, is not your contractor, right? That's fine.

Yes.

Yeah. I mean, I think you would— that's really—

I agree.

I agree. I agree. I'm not your guy.

Yeah.

And that's fine. But partly know yourself so that whenever you bring a contractor in, You figure out either I don't have the time nor the inclination to go out and spend a Saturday fighting with my wife, or I actually enjoy fighting with my wife. So, you know, maybe there's some makeup time afterwards. I don't know.

But we need that fight. We need that fight.

Uh, but I think knowing a little bit about who you are can help the contractor know whether or not this is the right job for them and whether or not Right, right.

And it, not every contractor is for everybody. Like, I'm not, yeah, I'm not the right contractor for every single job that I bid.

Sure.

I mean, you just, you just don't, everybody just doesn't click and everybody just doesn't get along. And I fight with my wife about it all the time where we'll have customers and she's like, Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. And I'm just like, I don't even really wanna mess with it. Like, I'm sorry.

Yeah.

You know, I don't, yeah. I just, something about me tells something about this is just telling me we're just gonna, we're just gonna bump heads.

Yeah.

And it's like that with any business. If you, if you ask me, everybody, it, it's not for everybody. I'm not the right contractor for everybody. I'm the right contractor for somebody that I love— my favorite people are a couple down in Cypress that I do work for. I've pretty much done their entire house at this point, so I'm out of things to do for them.

But they just need—

They would literally tell me, they would literally tell me, they just give me some money, they give me a check, and they say, just do it. Just, just redo my kitchen, whatever you think is best. Just, just do it. That's my favorite My absolute favorite customers is—

can't imagine why.

Yeah, it's not that they're giving me some obscene amount of money or anything, it's just that there's a trust factor there for sure though. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And I did that, that particular customer was— I did, uh, I did a shower for them, and then from that shower, just building that relationship with them for the time that I was there, Um, from that shower, we ended up, like I say, there's not a room in their house that I haven't touched.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, but those kind of, those kind of customers are my favorite. And the kind of customers like the ones that, the big remodel that I'm working on now, that just, they kind of give me that creative, uh, freedom.

Yeah.

You know, that they say, here's 10 pictures from Pinterest. Mm-hmm. This is what I want. want, make it happen. And that's what, that's what drives my business. If it— again, if you're the, if you're the kind of customer that just wants to buy everything themselves, I'll do— I'll work with you, you know. Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna turn anything down just because you want to buy your own materials. But at the end of the day, I would much more prefer the customer that's going to come out and say, all right, here's my Here's 10 pictures of what I want. Make it happen. Here's a check.

Cool.

And you'll get it done?

Yeah, absolutely.

I think that's fair.

Yeah.

I, I like people that are unapologetic about who they are.

Yeah.

And you know who you are and, uh, this is what I can do for you and it's fine. Right.

And like I say, it's, I'm not the contractor for everybody. It just, it doesn't always work out. But we offer a totally different experience than your average everyday home remodeling company, you know, from start to finish, the design parts. My wife does all the design. We do the 3D models. We, you know, bring everything to your door, that kind of stuff. Not everybody wants that. Not everybody needs that. Yeah.

You know, I, I just have one more question and maybe we got something else.

No, I think you've reached your quota.

Okay. I don't even care, Craig. It's our 52nd episode. Do what I want.

Um, I could, I mean, I could go on.

Here's a question. Uh, biggest misconception people have whenever you come to their house. What do you, what would you say the biggest misconception is that you show up at someone's house? And this is the something, something that I almost always have to either tell people, or they just have a misunderstanding of this process?

That I'm not trying to drain your bank account. I'm not trying to get every last dollar out of your budget. If you would just trust me, and it's, it's hard to get people that you just met to trust you, obviously, um, but it's just Just trust me. Just trust that I'm a professional. Trust that I know what I'm doing, and I can make that dream that you have in your head, those pictures that you're looking at on Pinterest, that photo you've seen on Facebook that you sent to your husband and said, "I love this." Da da da da. Trust that I can make that happen, and I'm not trying to break your bank. If you just tell me your budget, I promise I will work with it,

and if it's not within. something that I think is reasonable, I'll tell you.

Yeah.

So yeah, big, biggest misconception, just every contractor is not out to get rich.

I promise.

Yeah. Not only am I trying to feed my family, but I'm trying to feed my employees' families as well. And that's all we're trying to do.

Yeah.

Yeah. Cool.

Yeah.

What else, Craig?

Man, I, it's been a good interview.

Yeah.

So, but I, I, we gotta, we got some, we got some business we need to take care of that Chris has agreed to help us with. Okay. So, uh, and, and when we get done with company business, we're gonna, we're gonna go into the final 4. So don't worry, you're not off the hook yet.

I gotcha.

Um, but we have been getting a lot of reviews in lately and we want to give a big thank you out to everybody that's been sending those to us. Um, let's see, we've, we've got one from CM Simon. We've got one from, uh, let's see, I'm, I'm using the usernames that, that people send. We don't know people's actual names. Glamour Ray, uh, Nick Mitchell, All Heat Trading, Meg, MeggieA03. Yeah, that one. BL Sabista, which was my favorite review, by the way, because her review said awesome and that's it. Nothing else needs to be said. 5 stars.

That's it.

I mean, what else could you really say?

Yeah, so thank you guys. I mean, like, there's— there's— and some of these are like paragraphs and I don't— we don't have time to read them on the air, but we have read every single one of them. We really appreciate it. The shoutouts, the love, the good vibes. We really appreciate it. But there was one And so everyone can't get mad at Kevin and me. That's going to win the t-shirt. Chris picked it, so we're going to let him announce the winner here. Chris, who did you get?

It was Brand Girl.

Yeah, Brand Girl. Let's let you know what Brand Girl said. Brand Girl said, whether you're thinking about owning a home, are new to homeownership, or have been a homeowner for many years, the content will resonate no matter which category you fall under. Craig and Kevin do an outstanding job.

Thank you.

Yes, we do.

Yes.

As do all of their guests. So thank you, Chris.

Thank you.

If you haven't already, download this podcast now.

Everybody listening has.

Yep. So you all followed instructions. Well done.

Yes. And tell other people, download.

So Brand Girl, if you would reach out to us, you can send us a message at info@homeownershow.com. You can, you know, send us a message on Facebook. We just need to get your Uh, mailing address so we can send you that free t-shirt. Send us your t-shirt size and we will get that out to you as quickly as possible. Congratulations.

Absolutely.

'Cause it's a super comfy— Kevin's wearing one right now.

I am.

Yeah.

It's awesome.

Are you comfy, Kev?

Super comfy.

Yeah. Probably safe and secure in the— behind the logo of the Homeowner Show.

Sitting next to you. Well then, other than that, I feel safe and secure.

Every day's a gun show. Um, yeah, so what—

oh, we gotta, we gotta do the, the Final Four.

The Final Four.

That's right, the 52nd time we've done this. Yeah, almost. Not really.

Did you study for this one, Chris?

Man, you know, I've, I've listened to a couple episodes and I didn't.

Oh, okay.

I didn't.

All right, this will be—

As soon as you said the Final Four and you're not off the hook yet, I'm like, oh man, I should have, I should have listened to those questions before I came in.

Good news, no one's ever the final 4.

There you go.

Yeah, so yet you're in good company, because even Kevin and I, we did pass.

There's a first time for everything.

I mean, they were flying colors, but they were— it was low to the ground.

Yeah, we kept it off the ground. Okay, here we go. 4 questions we ask every, every guest. I just, I just give a little, little shout out to you, Craig. You remembered them all last week.

I did.

I don't know how.

I don't know either.

Off the top of your head?

It was— there was a supernatural aura in the room.

He probably thought about them all day.

No, I got done with it and I was like, did I do them in the right order?

That's the most impressed I've ever been with you.

Yeah, so just everyone know, when Kevin does the questions, because I can't remember them.

That's right. All right, first question here, Chris: what's the must-have tool you won't leave your house without?

Mm, that's a tough one. I would say the— my most Most used tool that we use every single day, my impact drill.

Okay.

Every single day I'm usually using the impact.

And what brand you got in the old holster there?

Milwaukee Team Red. Team Red all the way.

Milwaukee's some good stuff.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

It's— yeah, cool.

It's pricey, but I love them.

You probably won't get more hate about anything else other than like the brand of tool that you use.

Yeah, people—

I mean, I'm not saying that you picked a bad one. I mean, just people take that very personal.

Yeah. I'm really not brand specific, but that particular one is Milwaukee. I have a— I have more Milwaukee's than I do anything else, but I've got— I've got some DeWalt's and some—

okay, some—

I got some few Ridgids and stuff. Okay, Milwaukee is my go-to.

That's a big debate too. Is it DeWalt or DeWalt? It depends on where you're from, right? That's all that matters.

Like our Schlage conversation.

Yeah, no, it is— it is Schlage.

As long as everyone knows what you're talking about, I don't care.

It's not slajé. Shka!

Shka!

All right, number 2. What's a job you walked away from? So, Craig mentioned it last week, like, I think everybody takes this question the way they wanna take it. We originally wrote it as, what's a job that you had at your house, you're like, I'm calling another contractor for, I guess in your case. But, you know, maybe a professional job too, What's a job that you've walked away from?

So as far as anything at my house, I don't hire anybody to do anything. I never hire anybody to do anything. It, I make my own shirts. We make, we make everything ourselves. Perfect. But you'll get a kick outta this one. The, an actual physical employment job that I've walked away from was, uh, selling Kirby vacuums. That was the hardest job I have ever had. And I've worked a lot of physical labor jobs.

Were you door to door?

Door to door. Dude, that's tough.

Grinding. Yes. My parents have one of those.

Oh man. Whoever sold it to 'em was a great salesman.

Well, they're, they're like $9 million, so like they're super expensive.

They're like 2 grand.

Yeah.

They're expensive. When I was selling 'em, I think they were $1,900, something like that is what we were selling 'em for.

You gotta love to vacuum your house for that much money.

I, I worked there for like 4 months and I sold 2 of 'em.

Oh my goodness.

Oh, wow. And you don't, like I said, you don't, you don't get paid if you don't sell any.

Wow.

So I worked there for 4 months and sold 2 vacuums.

Man.

That tells you a lot. I think I got Like $1,000 maybe.

Wow. Well, let me tell everybody something. Do you guys know who Francis Chan is? Yeah.

I do not.

You know, okay, so he has a vacuum— he used to be a door-to-door vacuum salesman and now he's a minister, but he has a hilarious vacuum cleaner door-to-door salesman story. Really? I encourage everyone to go look it up. It's about him pretending that he can't speak English. It's a great story. Look it up. It's on YouTube somewhere.

That's also like, that's a super weird job. Not to keep going on about it, but they just They, they put you in a van with like 10 other salesmen and they don't tell you where you're going. And you just, you're in this van with 10 on it. And then all of a sudden they just get out, start knocking on doors. Like no direction.

That sounds like a cult, man.

It was weird. It was tough. Super, super tough to knock on somebody's door and try to sell them a $2,000 vacuum cleaner.

That sounds horrible. So if you're, if you're that guy out there selling the Kirby vacuum cleaners, more power to you.

Godspeed. Absolutely.

Good luck, especially in this heat. All right.

Third question. Good vacuum cleaners though.

They're great. They're real quality machines.

Yeah.

It's, it taught me a lot. I'll tell you that. And I, I still implement some of the things that I learned from knocking on people's doors and selling vacuums in my business today on selling yourself to customers and that kind of stuff. I'll talk. That's where I learned it.

Cool.

Because you have, I mean, you have to. You're knocking on somebody's door randomly just in the middle of the day to sell them a $2,000— like, nobody's shopping for a $2,000 vacuum cleaner, right? At most, you might be looking at a $500 Dyson or, you know, something like that, but nobody's looking for that.

And even then, $500 for a vacuum, people are going, I mean, I could probably buy this Shark over here for half the price.

You would be surprised the differences though.

Yeah.

The, I could go on and on about it, but yeah.

All right. Well, let's not. Yeah. All right. Third question. How do you wind down at the end of a long day?

Oh man. So I just kind of just chill, man. I don't really have like a routine or anything. Um, I don't drink or so I don't, I don't like drink beer or wine or anything like most people do. I guess a lot of people do. Um, But I kind of just, just hang out, man. Chill with the family, you know, hanging out with the wife, playing with the, playing with the daughter. My son, he's, he's 4 months now, so he's getting to wiggling around and stuff, and that's kind of fun, you know. Just pretty much just hanging out with the family. I don't really, um, have a, a routine just because, you know, what I do. Sometimes I get home at 3 and sometimes I get home home at midnight.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

I understand. So having, having any sort of wind-down routine is tough.

It's, yeah.

Yeah. Non-existent.

I gotcha. Well, we here on the Homeowner Show encourage wind-downs, so there you go. I don't know if you can figure it out, but man, it's sometimes good to do.

So, I mean, I, I guess I, I guess I just, I kind of just go, a lot of times I'll just go into like a tunnel of YouTube. Like I'll get on YouTube, I'm constantly Just, I watch other contractors and builders and stuff. That's like what I do. My wife gets annoyed about it because I do it so much, but I just go into like these wormholes, you know, I'll get home.

That's pretty much all of YouTube. Yeah.

But that's a good thing though. I think anything that you can do that kind of decompresses the rest of your day, that's good stuff, man. That's good stuff.

The YouTube wormhole, I guess you could say, is my wind down. I'll sit there all night. Yep, I'll sit there on the couch.

That Francis Chan video may send you down a whole other one.

Yeah.

Go for it. Probably worth it. All right, last question. Here we go. What's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice that you've ever received?

Wisdom or advice? Um, we had a— I guess it wasn't— I didn't really receive it, uh, person to person, but in the locker room, in our high school locker room, there was a banner that hung right over of my locker, actually, um, that said, do not go where the path may lead. Instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail. That has stuck with me my whole life, ever since high school, that don't go with the norm of what everybody does. You know, everybody growing up, it's go to school, get a good job. Take care of the family. Da da da da. Nobody ever told me I could start a business. Nobody ever

told me I could work for myself or you know any of that stuff. So that kind of that replaying through my mind over and over and over again kind of got me to where I'm at today to not follow what everybody else does and veer off of that path, blaze a trail that ultimately I want to leave a legacy for my family, for my kids. to be able to step into Turner Home Improvement when I'm old and gray and not swinging hammers anymore, that my kids can come behind me and take it over.

Nice.

Yep.

I love it.

Yeah, I do too.

All right, so the 5th and secret question of the final 4.

I haven't heard this one yet. It doesn't have the same ring.

It doesn't have the same ring. And the final 5, it's just not the—

yeah, it's like the hidden track at the end of the CD.

Just don't play it backwards. Yeah. No, no. How do, how do people get ahold of you? They want to find you.

So you can find us on Facebook at Turner Home Improvement Remodels. On Instagram is at Turner Home Improvement. Our phone number, 936-931-8656. And our email is turnerhomeimprovement@yahoo.com.

There you go. And we will link all that up in the show notes as well as everything else we chatted about this evening.

Yep. Well, man, uh, I just want to say thanks for coming.

Absolutely.

It's been, uh, it's been fun, uh, you know, get to spend some time with you hearing about what you do and hopefully how homeowners can, uh, can benefit from understanding a little bit about what a contractor actually does.

Uh, right.

Those sorts of things are all, all really good. So, uh, thanks for being here. And, um, we want everyone to, uh, take a moment moment. Click the subscribe button there on whatever you're listening to. And, uh, thank you for downloading tonight's episode and, uh, the 1-year episode. Yeah, just thanks for sticking with us. Special episode.

Yeah, and I got to be a part of it.

Thanks, guys. I feel like we should be wearing party hats. Yeah, like the, the pointy cheap ones from the, the kids' birthday parties.

Those hurt.

You should have told me, man.

I would have, I would have, I would have picked some up.

I don't have any hair on my head, so it doesn't It's just like cardboard like smashing into your skull.

It's accessorizing, man. It's an improvement.

It's awful.

We could at least get like some kazoos or something.

Yes.

My kids are always wanting to wear those at birthdays and I'm like, I'll put it on for the picture, then it's coming off.

Yeah.

It's not because I don't want to wear it. I mean, I kind of think they look cool.

Well, I think we have some good ideas for when Chris comes back for episode 104.

There you go.

There we go.

104.

That would be awesome. Uh, but yeah, guys, thank you. Uh, thank you for sticking with us and, uh, and tell your friends about it. It's been, it's been fun for Craig and me. So yeah, thanks for downloading. And just like this last year, we're here every Tuesday.

Every Tuesday.

So until next time, we'll see you later. See ya.