Building Opportunity in the Trades with Gary Hall

In this episode of Palm Harbor Local, Donnie Hathaway sits down with Gary Hall, founder of Blue Collar Home Services, to talk about his 30-year journey in the electrical and HVAC trades. Gary shares how he turned early jobsite experience into a thriving, community-driven company that focuses on training and mentoring the next generation of skilled tradespeople.

He explains why he’s committed to staying locally owned despite multiple offers from investors, emphasizing the importance of people, integrity, and service over profit. Gary also provides practical hurricane prep tips for Florida homeowners—from installing proper surge protection to maintaining smoke detectors and backup power options.

This conversation highlights the heart behind Blue Collar Home Services and Gary’s passion for developing talent, serving customers with care, and keeping Palm Harbor powered and protected year-round.

Stroll through the laid-back streets of the Palm Harbor community with this informative podcast, proudly brought to you by Donnie Hathaway with The Hathaway Group, your trusted guide and local expert in navigating the diverse and ever-changing property landscape of Palm Harbor.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Episode Roadmap
• 1:16 Gary’s Path Into The Trades
• 5:26 Discovering Home Service And Training
• 12:58 Service Mindset Over Pure Technical Skill
• 21:58 Apprenticeships, Licensing, And Career Paths
• 30:01 Building Culture And Developing Talent
• 42:08 Consolidation And Staying Locally Owned
• 45:22 Hurricane Prep: Surge Protection First
• 55:05 Backup Power And Outdoor Safety
• 1:03:02 Smoke Alarms, EV Risks, And Upgrades

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to Palm Harbor Local, the podcast dedicated to building community and sharing inspiring stories from the heart of Palm Harbor. I'm your host, Donnie Hathaway, and today we are joined by Gary Hall, who's the owner and founder of Blue Collar Home Services. Palm Harbor Local is all about spotlighting individuals and businesses who are making a difference, overcoming challenges and fostering connections right here in our hometown. If you're passionate about growing together, getting involved, and celebrating the individuals who make Palm Harbor thrive, you're exactly where you need to be. In today's episode, we'll discover how Blue Collar Home Services is separating itself from others. We'll also talk about why it was important for Gary to remain locally owned despite multiple offers from outside investors. And then we'll finish up with some tips on preparing your home for hurricanes or severe storms, because we know we get a lot of those. Now don't forget to connect with us on Instagram at Palm Harbor Local for behind the scenes highlights and join our weekly newsletter at PalmHarborLocal.com. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Palm Harbor Local. Now we are incredibly grateful for our sponsors who make this show possible. So be sure to keep supporting these local businesses and let's keep building community together. Until next time, stay connected, stay involved, and keep making Palm Harbor an awesome place to call home. Gary, welcome to Palm Harbor Local. Thanks for having me, Don. Yeah, I'm excited to chat with you and and just learn. Obviously, I've seen your your company and brand uh in the community. So it's good to finally meet you and chat with you. Um I want to start with you, like your your background, like how long have you been um in electrical and AC? Like how long have you been working in this in this field?

SPEAKER_00: 1:39

Yeah, I started uh I started working for my first electrical company in 1996. Uh I was 16. Like I had said before, my father worked for APJ Electric, which is one of the largest electrical companies in the state of Florida. It's a large commercial company. So I spent my first 14 years doing commercial work. So high-rises, hospitals, theme parks, um, schools, large commercial build-out. So I spent my first 14 years doing that. Um, but I've been doing electrical now for without doing the math, right around 30 years. Um I uh I I I took a small leave uh uh and thought maybe there was something better out there, and and um I was probably um around 06 and started doing uh uh went to work for a mortgage broker company and was a loan officer there for oh, I want to say about a year. And then the housing, you know, had hit, and there that went, so I had to go buy all my tools again. I didn't think I'd ever go back to the trades, and I gave all my friends and gave my tools away, and about a year later I had to go buy them all again. But uh yeah, so I've been doing electric, you know, pretty much for 30 years. I've only worked for a total of four companies my whole entire life. Um so besides doing mortgages there for about a year, I've been doing electric my whole life. And yeah, the AC, um, I'm not an AC technician by trade. Uh I love the home services division. I I I I love I love the trades and also love giving people the opportunity that maybe you know weren't meant for college, uh uh an opportunity at making a good living. And if they can be as professional as, you know, some people that go to college and get professional jobs, there's there's a great opportunity there.

SPEAKER_01: 3:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:23

Uh especially with so many people not finding that to be a glamorous career. Uh you you you don't have a lot of people you know knocking on the door saying, I want to start my career here. Uh, but we we we have three people in the IEC apprenticeship program. It's the same school I went to for my apprenticeship program. And um we just hired a kid, um a gentleman Cademan, right out of high school. Um he had already started in a P Tech program. Uh now I've got him enrolled to his first year of the IEC apprenticeship program. So um I believe in training, I believe in them going to school, I believe in them, you know, becoming licensed. So they they they are credible journeyman electricians. Um and um it's just my passion.

SPEAKER_01: 4:12

Yeah. Did you is that something like you always wanted to do? Like you meant so you you mentioned before it was your dad's company. So is that just is that where that like passion came from? You just grew up around it?

SPEAKER_00: 4:22

Yeah, um, so APG Electric was where my my father was a superintendent. It wasn't his company, but got me a good end to to start working at a young age. I um, you know, I I I did that for many years and I truly enjoyed it, but I in the back of my mind I always thought there was something a little bit different for me. Um and and what I found was I enjoyed teaching. Um I I I really enjoyed taking on younger um electricians and and working with them, and and I just uh it I seemed to have a knack for uh not rushing and spending time with people and and teaching them how to do things right. And and and I seen early success of that still while doing commercial work that that that I had somewhat of a natural ability to lead. Um and um so it really became more of a passion when I got into the home services industry.

SPEAKER_02: 5:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 5:25

Um I started with Mr. Sparky Electric, I want to say in 2008. Um 2008, I believe. And it was it was doing electrical work, but there was a very different twist to it. The the work itself was very simple, um, especially from building high-rises to now installing, you know, an outlet in a house. It was a much different scope of work, but there was a customer service aspect to it where you know we had to actually, you know, quote the job, provide pricing, explain warranties and guarantees and stuff like that, that I I now found myself learning something new. And that that's where I really started gravitating because um I I enjoy learning. I I enjoy uh advancing what I believe is is my own worth. Um and um and they they offered uh many different trainings through through the franchise. And but the you know, I think there's training out there all over. It's if you're gonna dedicate yourself to it. And and I find found myself, you know, working during the day and going home and and just studying every single night. I would get up in the morning, get up early, I mean 4 a.m. and I'm back studying again. And whether it's just how to understand, you know, how to to work with customers, um, understanding choice, understanding, you know, different personality types and and stuff like that. And it so that really just piqued my um my curiosity to, you know, learn more. And and as I did that, I then I I asked the owner of the company if he'd be okay with me training the other electricians in in the business. Um and um at that point in time we really didn't have a a full-time trainer or a trainer. And this was at like Sparky. Yeah, that was at Mr. Sparky. And so I started doing that and just really, really enjoyed it. I loved, I loved preparing the the the trainings, the meetings, the content, and then and then you know, training the guys, implementing it, and then them calling to say, I never thought that would have worked. I I didn't know that that was possible. Or, you know, I I made this this um alteration uh to to the way I'm doing things and and and and I'm seeing more success. People want me to do the work for them as opposed to just, yeah, here's your price and and leave at the door. Um, you know, really uh just trying to really what it comes down to is are uh what I found was is the customer engaged in helping you create what they're looking for, or are you just showing up, asking a couple questions and writing what you think they're looking for? And so working with the customers became a a big passion of mine. And and uh that's kind of where the the the rest of my career from that point forward, you know, really pivoted was I I then be um through the franchise, my my business consultant was reaching out and asking me to reach out to other uh individual franchises, owners and general managers to you know help mentor them and tell them what you know we're doing really well, why things are working. And and really it comes down to training and and working with the team, inspecting what you expect and and just being you know thorough across the board. And um one of you know, some of the you know, it's been a long time now, but some of the the the most uh benefiting feelings I've had is when you know younger technicians, younger electricians uh come to me and thank me. Uh they just bought their first house, they never thought this would be possible, and they didn't see that opportunity in the trades. And and in a lot of trades companies, there's not that opportunity. Um and when you work for a company that um only works for general contractors, they're doing new construction, uh they're in my opinion, not even training electricians anymore. They're making it so so much like uh like not piecework, but almost like you're you're um if you're in if you're building new homes and you're not a uh an electrical company that um they're custom and you're doing these track homes, you'll have a guy that works for the electrical company, but all he does is nail on boxes.

SPEAKER_01: 9:54

The same thing.

SPEAKER_00: 9:54

And there's another guy that all he does is pull the wire. And there's another guy that, you know, so they they're not doing full scope, and it's hard to really consider yourself an electrician when you really don't do electrical work, you're just doing one piece of what needs to be done. I hired uh uh a young man from SNS Electric, which is a new uh construction company, great company, I mean they're a big company, been doing it for a long time, and uh he worked there for uh 13 months, and in 13 months, never once touched a wire. All he used was a hammer and boxes. Wow. That's it. And and when he when he came to us, that was it. He he said, you know, he he really wants to learn electric, but the way that that business is set up, they're that's not what they're there for.

SPEAKER_01: 10:43

I guess they're more efficient that way or something, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 10:45

It's you know, you gotta be competitive uh in the in the construction market. Yeah. At the end of the day, general contractors are typically looking for the lowest bidder. Um, and that doesn't mean all of them are. Um, I mean, we're seeing right now over in in Pasco County all the all the homes that were built. They're they're having, you know, with you know, a lot of subdivisions popped up in the last couple years, and now they are having a lot of issues. Um, and uh that's just a difference from I think just times are evolving. Um, right now when it comes to the IEC apprenticeship schools, and with people not staying in career jobs as long as they used to, um people aren't going into school because it's a four-year program. Two nights a week, three nights, three hours each night for four years, they just don't have that commitment to even stay at a company for that long. So the follow-through rate, people actually completing you know some of these these courses has really fallen off. Where back when I was in it, we we had full classrooms every year. Um, so to counteract some of that, we have turned to um creating training rooms uh in our in our facilities. Like for your for your employees. Yeah. So we we have large classrooms, we have tech training rooms for each division where uh should you go in there, you would you would see on the wall there's just about every box you could think of and an opportunity for them to actually cut holes in the drywall, fish wire and and do stuff like that. So again, they're they're learning to do it in our in our training facility so that when they go out to a customer's home, they're not doing it for the first time there, and they're not learning how to do it on a in the customer's home. So I'm a uh my father was an electrician, I wasn't I'm an electrician. Um I I I I now have a passion for wanting people to enter the trades and and and and make find a way to make a good living uh for the family. And as opposed to, you know, 10, 15 years ago, whereas it it there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity there. Well now the cost of doing just about anything has has risen. Yeah um and and how things are being done, they're being done differently. So when we even look at the commercial sector now, um back in the day when I I worked in the commercial side of things, we had a lot of electricians that were in school that worked for us. A lot of these companies now are using labor forces and unions and and they're getting a team of 40 guys that are not electricians to do the work. Well, that's because they can pay them less. Well, that's taking away opportunity or the rise in pay for the the electricians that want to stay in the commercial world. Yeah. So um I I I just found the passion of of teaching technical, teaching um um the trades to to younger guys that don't know what they want to do in in their life. And and um we've got a a a really good team now across the board, whether it be in our call center, AC, or electric. And and and it's a younger team. We have a lot of younger guys, and we uh we spend a lot of time teaching them the code, teaching them installation practices, and and then on the other side for our service techs that go out and are our customer facing is is is more on the side of professionalism and and you know how to how to work with customers to create solutions that they're looking for. For years when I started in the the residential side, um I enjoyed asking questions. Uh I wanted to know things. And um when I would run a service call and there was something not working, I I would ask, well, have you have you had these issues in the past? Has any have you had an electrician in the home recently or within the last couple years? And many times I was getting, yeah, we we we just had a guy out last week, he worked on this, and um, but we're still having the issue. And and I I immediately was inquisitive. Well, I would assume that'd be under warranty. How come you're not calling them back out? And it didn't take me long to identify that we, you know, we had more construction-based people running a customer service type call, and they weren't they they weren't trained, or maybe their personality type wasn't best for working with a customer to create solutions, or maybe they're so technical that they they just don't understand why you're even asking the question. And I've I've worked alongside people that had again had been in the trade for 20, 30 years, master electricians, and they can do all the work. And then I I would train them, they would get a service truck, and then I put them out to go run service calls, and I could immediately see that customers were not choosing to do work with them. And I would have someone younger that doesn't have near the experience, and customers loved them to death. And they gave quotes and they're they're doing the work. And so diving into that, what I found was sometimes, you know, people that haven't been trained and their their high technical ability, they don't want to answer some of those mundane, silly questions. I even worked alongside a guy for many years that sometimes would have a hard time not getting in arguments with customers because he didn't like their opinions. And, you know, in the customer service world where we hear that the customer's always right, yeah, you take someone that's been running construction, doing construction, they don't have that opinion. You know, when you when you go onto a construction site, uh, as my dad used to tell me, I pay you to I pay you to install it, not think. You know, and and and that's a lot of the mentality is that we don't pay you to think, we pay you to do. I got one guy that knows what needs to be done, he's the one that's got the blueprints. You just need to be on the ladder doing work, right? And he'll come and lay you out. And they're not paying you to think, they don't want everybody thinking because, well, thinking can slow things down. Yeah, um, so it it I realized that it some of it was just their that individual's demeanor, um, where they didn't like kickback from somebody that doesn't know what they're talking about. I I've had many customers that are like, oh well, my neighbor said this. And well, you can't just say your neighbor's an idiot. You gotta, you know, kind of understand, okay, is is and and and and work through that without putting people down.

SPEAKER_01: 17:32

Yeah. Um I think that's an interesting point, right? Because I think that's the the whole idea of um, you know, the the skill set itself, I think is less important. Not that it's not important, but it's definitely less important when you're a service-based industry. Like I've noticed it in real estate and other businesses as well, right? Like that that ability to connect and build rapport with with the customer is the most important piece of of your job.

SPEAKER_00: 18:02

It's trust, it's respect, right? You want to you want to get that reciprocal. Um but absolutely, you know, I I've got a lot of sayings, but I've been saying this one for a long time. I I can teach people a lecture, but I cannot teach them to care. I can talk to them about it, but that's either something you you you have or you're going to choose to adapt and mold. Right. But you know, I I think people only change so much, and they're only going to change if they want to change. Um, so when it comes to the home service sector and the industry that we're in, I think it's more about the customer, you know, knowing that they can trust the person and trust the company and and know that, you know, if there is an issue, they'll be taken care of, as opposed to an electrician going in and just having a I know it all mentality. Yeah. And like I was saying before, I I would ask them if you don't mind me asking, how why didn't you call the other company back out? I'm I'm sure it's under warranty. And I got it a lot where they said they they really just didn't trust them, or the the person that came out wasn't very friendly, wouldn't look them in the eye, didn't talk to them very much, just went straight to the problem. They assumed they fixed the problem and said, you know, thank you. No, that's all, that's it. Um, lacking some professionalism, whether it be image or or communication. Yeah. And um, and then they leave and realize that, well, actually there was something else that was causing that problem, and now it's happening again. But because of the experience they had with them, they don't even want to call them out, even though it's probably for free.

SPEAKER_01: 19:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:38

And I and and just putting, you know, connecting the dots, I was able to see that. Mr. Sparky Electric back in 07 was the first all inclusive residential service company in this tri-county area.

SPEAKER_01: 19:52

Um did you and so that was a franchise? Yes. Were you the so you bought into the franchise at that point?

SPEAKER_00: 19:58

Nope. Uh I was I was hired on as an employee. Okay. Um uh when I started there, we had one other uh full-time electrician and and an apprentice. Okay. And um we uh over time just continue continue growing and building the company. But what I can say is, you know, that was the first home service, uh, residential electrical home service, solely home service company in the area, to where all the other electrical companies in the area would do a little bit of this or a little bit of that. Or they were new construction or they worked for general contractors, so build-outs and strip centers and you know, hair salons and stuff like that are in strip centers. When someone moves out, someone moves in. We have to remodel this to get it ready for the new business that's moving in. So, but again, with that, you've got blueprints, you've got you've got a general contractor. And um, so when we when Mr. Sparky had started, um, and this is before you know Google and PPC and and this was, I mean, we were running service calls with with a map. We weren't even using GPSs at the time. And um, but um it it it it definitely shook the industry up um because it we were the first to the market doing it. And um now uh there is a ton of competition in this market, probably more so than in the construction side of things. Um now it again, a lot of these other companies may have their own niche and uh do things a little bit differently, but you know, they I I can count on two hands pretty quickly, the competitors that do a very similar style of work um in this area that we do. Like I said, back in in 07, there was there was nobody.

SPEAKER_02: 21:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:51

So it's definitely been a uh a changing in the tide. And um some of the things that I I really dislike about it though is I think a lot of these companies are just for profit and just for investment.

SPEAKER_02: 22:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 22:05

Um granted, hey, uh investments are great and and making money is as well. But when you're teaching people to um work with homeowners and the uh the goal is not the homeowner and it's more about making money and profit. Um, I get it all the time where people uh uh you know inquire to to work for us, and they have less than one year experience, and they tell me that they've been running a truck for such and such. And I can ask five questions during the interview and know that they are absolutely not ready to run a truck because they don't know enough about electrical. But a lot of these companies don't mind that so much. Here, uh just run this call and write some options, try and sell them a panel. Everybody needs a search protector, put a search protector on every option. Um, I disagree with those models. I I do not believe that uh one, we're parch salespeople. Um, if you're offering a surge protector on just every option, you're you're not truly working with the customer to see what their needs or their pain points or their wants are. Um, and and it becomes just a um, I'm gonna write options and try and sell products. Yeah. And and it's also coming from people that can't even explain the product well, let alone have the experience of why it's really needed or how to do these other tasks. Yeah. We we go behind a lot of um work that's been completed that was not completed correctly from l other local companies. And and and we're not perfect, we make mistakes too. Our our guys are not perfect, but uh, you know, we're gonna follow through and and make sure that we take care of the customer and and um correct any issue that we can.

SPEAKER_02: 23:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 23:51

Um so going back, so the to be an electrician, you what what are the qualifications? Like what what like how how long does it take to get a license? Like, do you have to have a license to be hired to be an electrician?

SPEAKER_00: 24:04

No, you don't. Um so in in the So you can use the the the head the license holder for the company. Yeah. Um it holds the license for everybody that works in the company, and and that varies by state. Every state uh has its own rules and regulations. Um that's probably a little more lenient on the electrical side here in Florida. However, the contracting licensing is actually way more strategic to become licensed in Florida than it is any other state. So um, no, we we uh the way it it it it really works and in uh perfect world, uh the way I try to suggest our younger electricians start is if they're young enough, let's get you in school. It it is a four-year program. It doesn't mean you can't test out sooner, but you also can't test for your journeyman's license until you have 8,000 OJT hours, so on-the-job training hours.

SPEAKER_02: 25:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 25:02

8,000 hours is is a good chunk of time. Uh, and that's where we also, like I had said before, having a little bit of issue because people are bouncing around trying new jobs, and and I don't hate them for it, because there might be a better opportunity for you out there. And uh I feel that we offer you know something that our company that uh other companies don't offer, and that's that's a culture and and the development side of things. It's not just sales and it's not just uh it's development. I want I want to see you in five years from now. I you know, uh not to mention you'll you'll have so much experience when you're working with customers, you will be very well-rounded at that point. So I do suggest that at uh you know, 25 or younger, that they do enroll into an apprenticeship program. There's many to choose from. They do offer, you know, like one-year P Tech courses and stuff, but that's that's more of a refresher. Um, it can go down. They you may be able to negate your first year apprenticeship if you do one of those one-year programs, but you're still gonna have to go through the second, third, and the fourth year. And each one of those years, they're teaching different skills. Okay. Um, and it's obviously a build-on, build-on type of process. So if they're 25 or younger, I'm I'm more likely to suggest, let's get you into an apprenticeship program. I pay for it. Um and they're still working at that time, right? So yeah. Yeah, because those classes are gonna be from 6 to 9 p.m. Okay, either Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday, and now they even offer online courses. Um, however, I I have someone that's in a third-year uh apprenticeship class right now, and he just did the online course, and he's choosing this next year to go back to the classroom because he realizes as good as it sounded in the beginning to do school from home, he now realizes he was very distracted. Yeah. Whether it's taking out the dog or going to the refrigerator for Coca-Cola, you got to sit down and find out where you're at again. So um, now I would say, is it required to take that route? No, you you can study on your own online. There's uh a lot of different resources uh online. Mike Holt sells just about every electrical uh you know course you could ever want.

SPEAKER_02: 27:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:21

And they prep you for the testing. So for someone that you know maybe has is a little bit older, jumping into the trades, um, I don't always push that because if you've got kids and everything else, that's a long course to to again, are you gonna be able to finish that? You know, as opposed to, you know, setting up your own study room at home, ordering the the courses, the books, and doing your own studying. There's a lot of prep, you know, week-long prep courses before you take your test. So you can study on your own, go to one of these prep courses, and then go take your test. But I mean, this is a three-day test. Oh wow. Uh oh yeah. It's and it's so it there it's a lot. Uh there's a lot to it, and you really have to study, but yeah, it's it's it's not about knowing everything, it's about how knowing how to guide yourself through the many different books that um have all your your your codes and compliance and building building codes and everything, fire alarm codes, everything that you need to understand that's going to be on that test. So you don't have to go to school. I look at it, you know, and I try to you know suggest when guys are hired based on their lifestyle, right, uh, their age. Um but um it you have to have 8,000 OJT hours. Um, and once you have that, whether you go through an apprenticeship program or not, you now have enough time in the field that you're able to take the test. Now the journeyman's license is is not going to allow you to open your own business. Uh it doesn't, it doesn't actually allow you to do your own work. Uh it gives you the knowledge and it it says says that you are a certified electrician.

SPEAKER_02: 29:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 29:03

Up until you have an adjourneyman's card, and and uh maybe some electricians hear this, they may not like it, but uh, if you don't have your journeyman's card, you're not an electrician.

SPEAKER_01: 29:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 29:12

Okay, you're you're you're an apprentice. Yeah. Uh and and then on the other side, if you're not in school, are you really an apprentice? Yeah. You know, but um past that, you you've got your master's license um to be able to see if you're qualified to become uh a Florida State contractor. Um there are different licensing within the electrical field, so you you can get just a residential license, okay, or you can get, you know, uh an unlimited license, which is your EC, which means you can do commercial or electrical, which is what we are. We can, you know, we do we do a very small amount of of commercial um work. And most of that's probably because one, the niche of the business is meant for residential and and you know, we have service techs, uh Available around the clock. We're an emergency service company. So we answer our phones 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are built around being available for when people uh come into circumstances they didn't expect. And uh whether so um on the other side of that, it kind of depends on some of the the the guys on the staff, their their their knowledge base, whether or not I'll take on some of the commercial style calls. Um, but most of those are, you know, we have a power outage, we our freezers just went down, you know, and at that point it's chicken or the egg. Is it electrical or is it freezer related? Yeah, we don't know, but you got to start somewhere. So being being service-based, it it we're gonna go out and fix things and repair things. It may need some replacement or upgrading based on the codes at that point in time when it was installed, but for the most part, we're we're not doing build-outs in commercial buildings or strip centers, and we're not doing takeoffs from blueprints. I there are a handful of contractors that um want our level of quality um that does not come at the rock bottom price. Yeah. Um, and we have a relationship there because they know the relationship that they're leaving their customers right now. Again, you're just a you know, a large builder, I'm not gonna use any names. They're not looking for someone in the medium zone of pricing. They they want to get the job done as as cheap as they can and they want it done right. They're not asking for it to be done wrong. Right. But you're gonna fall, you're gonna find a a lack in in service after the fact. You're gonna find a lack in, you know, should you have an issue after the fact, who's the guy that wired your house?

SPEAKER_01: 31:47

Yeah. And you're gonna have mistakes when you're paying the cheapest, you know, you can for someone.

SPEAKER_00: 31:53

Well, and and let's just face it, uh, you know, they they've made, you know, you you can build a home cheaply and you can you know you can build it with a more quality uh you know uh uh plan from the beginning. And and that's why, you know, after I I ran service calls for Mr. Sparky for about seven years before I started moving into management. And and I and I got to see that. Uh some homes uh just ran with the smallest gauge wire to every single receptacle. They're all backstabbed. And is it legal? Yeah, the products are are made for it, but that's also 90% of your failure rate. Yeah, it's right there. So all they had to do was wrap the wire around the screw, but what's that take? More time. Yeah, they don't want time, they want them in and out. And I mean, you you look at how fast they can wire a uh a whole home. I mean, you can wire as long as you're not being held up by other contractors. These guys are wiring homes in two to three days. Crazy. Because again, you got uh a crew that'll come through and mount all the boxes, yeah. Then a whole separate crew comes through, pulls all the wire, one guy puts the panel in, they get an inspection, and you have a completely different crew that comes and puts the lights in the switches, uh the outlets, yeah, switches, and the light fixtures. Yeah. Um, so they're not full spectrum, though those technicians, those electricians. They're they're kind of just doing one piece of the puzzle to where that's where I hire some guys from the other companies, and and I'm like, oh man, he's got two years experience. This is gonna be great. That's what I'm looking for. I I I love getting guys around the two to three year experience mark. I don't have to start them at scratch from scratch. And and and I've hired many there too, but that means I put him in the warehouse for six months. Yeah, he's gotta learn all the pieces and the parts before I can put them out in the field so that he's helpful to anybody. And that's a that's a big expense, like upfront cost for you. It's an investment, yeah. Sure. And I think that's uh just in general, what our our belief has been is we we've got to invest in in in our most valuable asset, which is our team members. And um, and and that's it's also my passion. I yeah, I I I wouldn't be where I'm at today if when I was 16 years old, the owner of you know the company that my dad worked for would allow me to go beyond job sites over on the summer. And and at that point in time, I was the youngest person to ever work for that company um in a very large company. Um, so it it I enjoy investing in people. I'm looking for character, I'm looking for attitude. Attitude over aptitude, you know, determines your altitude. And if I can get the right guy, and um just a few years back I hired someone that was actually in the insurance industry for a couple years. That's what his parents did. He kind of fell into it, and then he wasn't digging it so much, and he he he applied, he had no experience whatsoever. Now, he went from zero to six months because he really picked up on the trainings and he was self-invested. He he was listening every time he was in his vehicle, he was listening to Mike Holt podcasts. He was he was he was really uh funneling all the information that he could find online on YouTube. Yeah. Um, and he was learning at a rate to where he was there, he he he uh at a year's mark. And I had a master electrician just two years ago. I I I hired a fourth-year apprenticeship instructor to do nothing but train in our training room. Cool. And um, so at this point in time, I had a master electrician that was doing a lot of our technical trainings and stuff, and and we had you know, we had 20, 25 electricians in in the trainings, and uh when he would ask a question, it was the guy with one year experience that knew all the answers.

SPEAKER_01: 35:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:41

And but you could see he was very intrigued to develop himself and learn, and he had a passion for it. And I love finding those those guys every now and then, you know, and I mean they don't knock on the door every day, but you got to look under rocks and and to to find some of them, and some of them have no experience, and so that's really been enjoyable, you know, uh being able to help develop people throughout the years. I've developed and and helped train many people that don't work for me anymore, and they're either running their own company, working for somebody else, or they've even gone on to realizing that they have potential to do stuff outside of just this because they've they've learned a lot of the other side of just soft skills and professional and and and to to educate themselves, and now they're they're moving on doing other things, yeah. Which that doesn't bother me. I I um uh I the way I look at it and I I explain to the team if you invest in yourself that that that that professionalism, that effort is gonna be contagious to others around you. Should you choose in a few years to do something on your own or start your own company or do something else, with that mindset along the way, you're gonna help develop other people within our company. And and you know, and throughout the years, I've done many different trainings, whether it be bringing in um what's the the finance uh guru, uh pay off all your debt. Um God, I'm having a hard time with the name. But uh you know, just bringing those type of trainings in, you know, trying to get again, we're we're taking guys that you know, whether they went to college or not, and you know, when it start talking to them about investment, where you know, and yeah saving money and stuff like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 37:29

There's um I I saw something about I think it was like uh it might have been on a podcast and a quote from him on the podcast. Mark Ramsey. Yeah, Dave Ramsey. Sorry, Dave Ramsey. That's it. Um, but it would they was talking about like Gary Vee and his companies, and he's big in like investing in his his employees, right? And helping them, you know, just be better people and and grow within the company. And if they decide to go out and leave the company, then he's very supportive of that. Absolutely, right? And I think like that just speaks volumes to like leadership and like what you're doing as far as like I'm training these people to be better people for the community. And if they if they stay with us, great, then that's that's awesome. But if they go out and and do something on their own, that's that's awesome too. Investing is extremely important, but it can also be somewhat confusing with taxes, asset allocations, stocks, bonds, and funds, to know what to do with all this could be overwhelming. Jacob Wade is a financial coach and will work directly with you to put together a roadmap for your money, for life. Jacob has built a name for himself as a finance expert, and you can find his writings in places like ForbesAdvisor, Money.com, Investipedia, and Time.com. But he has a passion for helping people create a clear and simple investment roadmap to buy back their time and retire with confidence. If you could use a financial coach on your team, then simply go to palmorlocal.com backslash roadmap to book a call with Jacob today and see if hiring a financial coach could help you crush your 2025 goals. Don't wait to have that same feeling next year of not hitting your financial goals. Connect with Jacob today and let's make 2025 your best financial year yet.

SPEAKER_00: 39:08

Well, you're gonna lose, you know, team members uh for many different reasons. Yeah um, you know, there was something I and it all makes sense. Would would you prefer to not train someone and keep them or train them and potentially they go somewhere else? Well, if you don't train them and keep them and you and you keep them in the dark, well, they're probably leaving anyways, and and how productful for you are they? And what's their what's the culture like then? Right, you know, so I think that's where from uh when we first started Mr. Sparky Electric, I I worked for commercial contracting companies, and it's a rough, gruff world. I mean, it's you know, it nothing wrong with it. I loved it. Uh I got so much experience and knowledge, but you're talking hard hats, safety vests, ladders, blue jeans, boots. Uh it's it's it's construction work. Um, and that's where I got at a certain point in my career on that side of things was like, um, you know, no matter where the job site was, I had to be at that game box at 6:30, 645 in the morning to be working with my tools on at 7 a.m. And a bell rang, a whistle went off at noon, and that was everybody's lunchtime. And if you're working a normal day at 3:30, you were done. And or if you're working 10-hour days and and and there was no, oh hey, boss, I can't work 10. No, it's it's guaranteed it mandatory, you know, four tens and and two eights this week. We have to work six days, and these days you have to stay two hours late. You don't get to go, oh well, my wife has a doctor appointment. Yeah, at least not in my day. And um, so I started you thinking, like, what is going on in the rest of the world as I'm on these job sites for so much time throughout the week. And um, that's where I started getting inquisitive about other other options, other opportunities out there, ended up finding um the the home services side, and and and that's what really sparked my my my interest was working with customers. I already had the knowledge. Right now someone's asking me my opinion, as opposed to saying, you know, why is that taking you so long? You know, and I got somebody who's who who wants my knowledge. He's curious, right? And and and that really sparked a whole new, you know, you know, second career in my life, where was working with customers, now starting to work with other electricians or technicians in the other trades and teaching them how to run a service call that is developed around customer being the centric part. Um not not not sales, not not not greed, not profits. Yeah. And I think it helped me because I wasn't a business owner and and it wasn't my business for many years. I worked under somebody. So where I see some of these younger people, you know, jumping into business so quick for themselves, I'm sure it's great. But you were going to be crushed with financial obligations right out the gate before you even have a time to fully hone in on what it means to serve the community. And I think it also helped me in in building a team because I was an electrician, not an investor, not a business owner, not a manager. I was an electrician, um, and I worked with other electricians. So when I I I did make a step into leadership, all I knew was electrical work. Yeah. And and um I didn't have any kind of business degree. And I mean, that sometimes hurts me a little bit now where I gotta hire other people uh to do some of these things. But that's my forte is is is building the culture, working with the technicians, and making sure that our whole direction is customer-centric, not what I've heard and seen at a lot of the other companies. Um one of the big problems in our in our community and and in our sector of of this world now is that you've got so many um investor-owned companies, um, and the uh just the the investment side of things has now jumped in. I even seen Grant Cardone on YouTube selling HVAC sales sales material now. So now Grant Cardone's in on it. Wow, you know, and all it most of the companies in in our community in this area, I'm talking about Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas County, yeah, have been bought by investment firms. They are no longer locally owned and operated companies, they are owned by you know uh big big business out of New York, California, Texas, Apex Partners, they own 10 companies in the area. Yeah you think you're getting three quotes from three different companies, that is a bold lie. And they they keep the the name the same, or they eventually yeah, for the most part. Now, a little while back, years ago, you seen them actually rebrand the company. Right. Um now I think they kind of got a ahead of that because now they're keeping all the names the same. Yeah. And you don't realize it. But and this is probably more so in the AC side than than the electrical side, you know, you you have one big, you know, investment firm that owns six companies right here in Pinellas County. Right. And you got another investment firm that owns five of the other companies. So if you you think you're getting quotes from three different companies and you're getting competing bids, you're not. Right. You're you're getting three quotes from there's a good chance the exact same company, they just have different names.

SPEAKER_01: 44:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 44:33

Um that's interesting, yeah. Yeah, we're we're we're local family owned and operated, um, which is the way Mr. Sparky was when we worked there too. And and that was a great thing. So customers uh you know got the opportunity for a large company feel that has maybe some protection for the consumer, where hey, if you guys don't do something right, there's a number to call.

SPEAKER_02: 44:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 44:56

And we're gonna be able to get a hold of somebody, even if we have to go above you.

SPEAKER_02: 44:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 44:59

Um, so to, you know, also having that small town feel where we still were family owned and operated. Um, and you know, we were a smaller service staff, but um, you got more of a personalized touch, personalized feeling.

SPEAKER_01: 45:14

Yeah, yeah. Um like that. What I wanna I wanna ask you about like um, you know, with hurricane season coming up, right? Like what are some I think when when I typically think of like hurricane prep, like I feel like we we can we look at like the outside of the home of like trees, roofs, yeah, like you know, water protection, that sort of thing. But like, you know, I think there's a larger aspect to to focus on, right? The entirety of the home. Like what are some things like electrical and and HVAC things that you can do to just be protected, you know, be prepared for for hurricane season because we're in it.

SPEAKER_00: 45:49

First and foremost, um, it's not a new requirement by any means, and that's gonna be having the proper power surge and lightning protection on your home. And where it what's required is one at the service, whether it's on the meter base of the home or whether it's inside the main electrical panel, that's that's what's required. Um, a lot of homes still don't have it. I mean, uh, I I don't know the exact year that that became a requirement. What I can tell you is it was probably about three to four years ago that if we replaced the panel and didn't install one, we started failing the inspection for it. Now the electrical code updates every three years. So uh where right now there's a 2024 elect NEC code book out, but most municipalities are still running on the 2017. So things get adopted at different times.

SPEAKER_01: 46:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 46:41

However, um, so about three years ago, roughly, if you didn't install a surge protector on the panel when you replaced it, or there wasn't one on the home, you would fail and you would have to add that. So now it's it's it's it's a requirement, it's very standard.

SPEAKER_01: 46:55

The National Electric Code does the um so it it could be you said inside the pan inside the home, like on the panel itself or outside at the meter?

SPEAKER_00: 47:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 47:03

Well, like so like Duke Electric, will they install at the meter if they update the meter? No. No. Now that's on the home.

SPEAKER_00: 47:09

They will charge you for one monthly um and install one there, but that does not um that does not uh uh meet the needs required by the National Electric Code. You have to have a separate device that is installed. Um and yes, the power company offers it, and they charge you monthly for it. Interesting. And now here's the problem with that. And and luckily throughout the years, I've I've had a lot of opportunities to educate customers, and some are okay with, hey man, it's only$14 a month. I'm just gonna let it lie. That's fine. There's some type of protection there. But here's the problem: these devices are designed to go bad, that's how they do their job. Um, it's it inside you know, surge protectors is ultimately a series of MOPs, little type of capacitors that every time it takes a uh a harmful voltage fluctuation, it it slowly eats away at those capacitors, the MOPs inside of the surge protectors, slowly diminishing that product to where eventually it has no more protection whatsoever. And that's what I would ask customers how when's the last time you went out to your meter base to see if it's working?

SPEAKER_02: 48:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 48:22

Oh, never. I didn't even know it was there. I just pay monthly for it. Do they check it? No, they don't. You want to call them? Yeah, and and you pay monthly for it. Uh, the the devices that we would install, it's a one-time fee, you own it, and it has much better warranties that come along with it, as opposed to what the the power company is is offering. Now, where I was kind of going there though, the National Electric Code is a bare minimum requirement. This is the bare minimum requirement. We live in Florida. This is the lightning capital of the United States. Um, if you have a pool panel, it should have a device on it. If you have an AC condenser, which most people do outside of the home, that should be protected independently. You should have one which is required on the main service. You should also have point-of-use strips at your computers, at your um, you know, uh TV equipment and stuff like that. Um it's all a form of protection. Um, I have had the opportunity, whether it's uh probably good on the learning curve, especially coming from installing electrical for 14 years and not being on the service side of what happens after the fact. Yeah. So once I switched to that service side, I got to run many service calls um where there was a lightning strike issue, and they then have to call an electrical company because your insurance company is going to require a lightning loss affidavit, and you need a contractor to sign off and go through all that information. And when I ran those service calls, it I I didn't understand it in the beginning either, but it almost smells like the house caught on fire. And what happens is based on the severity of the strike or the power surge from the power company, and that's I'll talk about that in a minute, but every electronic board in your demers, your coffee pot, your Keurig, your your uh your garage door opener, your smoke detector, your GFCIs, anything with a uh microprocessor, uh a computer board in it, those are largely very susceptible to harmful voltage fluctuations, whether it's up or down. And and electrical is is is it's it's a sine wave. So, you know, what goes up must come down and it has to balance out. So if you have a spike, you're you're immediately gonna be followed with a very low drop in in voltage as well, which wasn't bad for the older stoves, right? You you see the burners and you you turn it on and it it starts lighting up red. Those were all mechanical. Now everything's all electronically driven. It's all driven by electric, you know, uh computer boards. So those are the problems. And I I I you know ran many service calls where I mean just so many things through the home were fried. And you know, insurance is not there to be your friend, unfortunately. You know, anytime we have to deal with our insurance company, I think most people can relate, it's like they try to blame you for it, or they try to get out of paying it, or they're only gonna pay a portion of it. I mean, it's pretty standard. Yeah, so when it comes to uh you know, storm season here in Florida, first and foremost is protection. Uh the peace of mind to try to protect. And so you can put those devices uh again, the AC systems are not cheap. It's probably one of the largest investments in a home outside of um, you know, it's it's right there with your roof and maybe a generator, uh, but a whole home standby generator. But outside of that, we're seeing the the rates from the um from the refrigerant changes and you know, again, tariffs and this isn't that's the the cost of AC units, what years ago was roughly$6,000 for an AC unit is is now between 10 and 15 for the very similar products, but they're doing away with the older refrigerants. So consumers don't have a choice just to fix the old one because you know the the the manufacturer and the the the the way it's working is they're they're making those units obsolete. So now you have to buy a brand new unit, they're requiring inverters in them, and and guess what? This unit is now more susceptible to damage than that older unit was. But that's the way the you know the the industry is setting it. We don't have a whole lot of control over that. So surge protection in general is is uh a good place to start because if you have an issue there, it's just a nightmare. You gotta deal with your insurance company, you gotta get a local contractor out to sign off on it. And and here's the thing the the insurance company's lightning loss affidavit states on there, and I've done them for just about every insurance company in the area. It states that I, as the contractor, need to uh it'll say, I certify that these losses were due to lightning. Well, unless there's a hole on the side of the wall, with and what they're doing is they're now making it to where you have to put your opinion. I believe, and my professional recommendation, based on the storm that was here, yeah, and everything I've seen in my past, that this was due to that. Right. But there's little loopholes there where they're they're they're making it very tough for people to be made whole, which is sad. Yeah, um so past the the the surge protection, you know, some issues we have obviously is um if we have any power loss, um not knowing the time frame that that may be, may not be. So, you know, you know, emergency backup generator, backup power, whether it be a a a portable uh generator that you you put outside of your house and plug into the home, and we have you know many uh many different options that are available for that with many different price points based on what someone's trying to accomplish. You also have whole home standby generators, it's gonna be um you know more in cost, um, but that's gonna be an automatic, you don't have to touch anything, and power loss goes out and your whole home comes back on. That's pretty sweet. Not cheap, yeah, you know, uh again, based on what some people are looking for. Some of the other things that we when we go around and we do the inspections on homes for people that want to get ready for the um storm season is you know, outside outlets, making sure that they're sealed properly because you're gonna have rain, you're gonna have rising water and stuff like that. Or if it's just a lot of rain, um, we we see that even outside of storms that you know, sprinkler systems or rain itself is getting into the outside outlets because the weatherproof cover one is not accurate, um uh not the right type, or it's not sealed properly. Uh we uh blue collar home services like to caulk around them after we install them to try and make sure that water's not gonna get in there. Throughout the years, I've seen that be a big callback. Yeah, is that hey, it's my power's out again. You guys were just here a week ago and come to find out, yep, it's that sprinkler system keeps coming around. Oh, yeah. And so we really got to do our due diligence not only to fix the problem, but find out what caused this problem to happen in the first place. Yeah. And when I was talking earlier about, you know, just different, you know, tradespeople, whether they're construction or they're more service oriented, some people are taught to install and replace, and some people are are have the wherewithal to understand that we have to diagnose and identify why did this happen in the first place. My goal is to prevent this from happening in the future. Um, but if I just go out there and go, yep, outlet's not working. Let me change that and flip the breaker back on. Well, why did the breaker turn off in the first place? Whether it be, you know, a hairdryer in the house and it's because we're we're overloaded on that circuit, or like I said, the sprinkler system every Tuesday keeps hitting that outlet. We got to identify why did this happen in the first place. So those are some other things. So um another big one is checking the uh trees around your power lines coming to the home.

SPEAKER_02: 56:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 56:35

Um, now we as electricians probably won't, you know, get up there and be cutting them for you. Uh not to say we can't, but um we we want to look out, you know, we want to, you know, provide you with information that can obviously um protect you from having any power outages. And and we have that during the storms where um you know something falls off of a tree and it doesn't only you know hit the power line, but then it pulls the riser and bends the riser and pulls the service off the side of the house. Not only do you not have power, depending on when that was installed, the codes and requirements have changed dramatically in 20 years. We now need to put outside disc emergency disconnects on every home if we replace a panel or uh a main service. Until January 1st of this year, that was not a requirement. So the cost of that scope of work has increased by 30%. And it's it's a it's a pass-through expense. It's not I would I would prefer not to have to do it, but it's a requirement, and that's what they're requiring now. And it it I hate to tell people that if we'd have done this 15 months ago, I could have saved you 2,500 bucks. Yeah, you know, but that's so again, you know, when you have certain issues, when you go to put it back together, you have to bring it up to today's local requirements, you know, and the national lecture code, you know, uh codes requirements, and that can cost people a lot of money. So if we can prevent that from happening in the first place or give them some guidance, that's what we're trying to do.

SPEAKER_01: 58:10

Yeah, I think I mean I've I've seen that a lot, right? Where people um I mean you can definitely tell a difference between homeowners that maintain their home and homeowners that don't. I mean, and in even the ones that like there it just it takes a lot to maintain a home in its entirety, right? Like just the AC and electrical stuff, like that stuff can get costly, just prepping for a storm and and making sure everything's functioning properly the way it is, right? So like maybe it's like piece by piece, and you know, every couple of months you're just you know, updating this or improving.

SPEAKER_00: 58:39

And and what I'll tell you is when we run a service call, like I said, we're we're all about creating solutions for the customer. And if that means creating something that gives you something to work on this month, next quarter, the quarter after, we we love working with customers to create a a path and a plan for them. Um one of the the the other things that we just seen in last year's uh you know, hurricanes with the rising water and floods and everything that it never had an issue with in the past was home fires. And a lot of these came from electric vehicles. So having the proper, you know, making sure your smoke detection, carbon monoxide detection is up to date. That's that's one of the things I will say as an electrician. Um a lot of people neglect and they don't think it's important, or they go, ah, that's something I'll do later. Yeah. But you haven't done it, and you're probably not gonna do it. And it's so important. Um, again, it it because of the riding waters, because of the lithium ion batteries. Um, and and lithium ion batteries are not just car batteries. You got to think about your drills now. Your drills, if you got you know, a a drill charger, you know, battery sitting on the floor and that gets salt water on it, that thing's lighting up. Yeah, it's gonna light up in flames. Interesting. So um actually. Um you know, Cycle Springs there on US 19. It was a few years back. That's uh that's why they went through that whole uh new building rebuild is because it was a cordless battery, um, lithium ion battery that caught on fire charging in the middle of the night. So we definitely recommend all batteries that are be charging, not not to be charging overnight and stuff like that. So updating the smoke you know detection in the home, making sure that it's uh working properly is very important. Um, on the other side of that, what a lot of people don't realize is that every manufacturer of a smoke detector, um, it says on if you pull it off, there's there's the year it was built on the back or manufactured. They have to be replaced no later than 10 years. Now, we run into them 30 years old, or people just remove them.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:46

Um, but the reason for that is is because, you know, under underwriter laboratories, UL listing, um, through all their testing have deemed that the smoke sensing device inside these units degrade by about 50% up around seven-year mark. So they've put a replacement requirement on these devices that most homeowners don't know about. And they think it's just something really simple. And and and it can be, but I will also tell you um for something that seems so simple, they are the peskiest things out there because they need to be interconnected so that if you have an issue in this this bedroom or in this garage, yeah, it's it's alerting everywhere throughout the home. So in the older, again, just building codes and with things updating throughout the years, it wasn't required uh all it to be interconnected. It actually only used to be required to have when it first became a requirement is to have one in a hallway. Then it went to one in each bedroom in a hallway, then it went to them being interconnected, then the carbon monoxide side of it as well. So having them interconnected, a lot of times when you install them or replace them, and we get these calls from customers, they try to do their own, and what happens is the uh device won't stop beeping once they hook it up. And it's because you got to go to each one and you have to reset them, you have to um make sure that they're working properly because if you don't get them synced properly, they will most of the time go off in the middle of the night. And they they are uh the the worst, it's always the middle of the night. It is, yeah, it is all the time. Uh and and and part of that, uh from what I've I've I've understood throughout the years is has something to do with barometric pressure and debris. Uh interesting been a while since I looked into it to study it and teach the guys, but uh yeah, so you know, smoke detection, surge protection, any any type of backup power. Um, again, on the AC side, you know, power surge and lightning protection is is one of the best things you can do. Besides that, it it you know, from what we just recently seen, we're having a lot of our customers right now that are choosing to go ahead and move their condensing unit up a couple feet. Um just for the case of if it does happen, you know, and we we hope we don't get that type of storm surge again. But yeah, nobody wants that. So hopefully that doesn't happen. But we're having people that are kind of getting out front of it and you know, moving things up a little bit higher just in case.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:18

Um that's good. That's good to see because it's um yeah, last year was was a lot for for people that that experienced any any flooding and issues and stuff.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:26

Oh, it was terrible.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:27

So where can um if people are interested in in um you know reaching out to you, learning more about the the business and the company and stuff, where what's the best way for for them to get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:35

Yeah, absolutely. Um typically, you know, looking online and and ultimately if if you're looking for us directly, it's blue collar home services. Um we are blue collar electric and blue collar heating and cooling. Um I believe our our our our uh tag number is 727-609 Blue. Um is that the correct one? 609. And um but you know, you you Google electrician near us, we should be showing up somewhere near the top of the page. Uh Google likes that that money. So um, but um yeah, uh online. We're in downtown Palm Harbor. Uh we've been here for six years. Um we have uh a total of uh about 53 team members uh right now. Like I said, about 30, 35 trucks running, uh just doing AC and electrical calls all over. We we work in Pinos, Pasco, and Hillsboro uh County. Um like to stay as close to home as we can, but we're we're here to to help help everybody. Um so yeah, that's that's how you can get a hold of us.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:41

Awesome. Well, Gary, thanks for being here, man. Thanks for sharing.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:44

Absolutely. I appreciate it.