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On Tap Podcast
On Tap is the podcast that celebrates the heart and soul of blue-collar working class culture. We'll be hosting some amazing folks from the blue-collar world and beyond. Listen in as we chat with industry legends, unsung heroes, and experts in their fields. Their stories, experiences, and insights will inspire and entertain you. Comedy is our secret sauce. Kody & Sam have a knack for turning everyday work stories into side-splitting anecdotes. Prepare for laughter, hilarious work-related mishaps, and a good dose of humor to brighten your day. Whether you're clocking in for your shift or winding down after a hard day's work, "On Tap" is your go-to podcast for a dose of blue-collar pride, a taste of the finest brews, a good laugh, and a fresh take on the world's current events. Subscribe now and be part of the working-class revolution!
On Tap Podcast
From Oil Fields to Entrepreneurship: Building a Construction Business
When Dayton Rivera looked around at his colleagues in the oil and gas industry, he noticed something troubling – out of thousands of workers, only a handful maintained solid relationships with their families. That observation changed everything, propelling him from a traveling heat treatment specialist at nuclear plants to the founder of his own construction business, Leaf and Lumber.
Dayton's entrepreneurial journey breaks all the conventional rules. With no formal business education, he turned to YouTube to learn everything from creating an LLC to generating invoices. "YouTube is the number one tool I have at my disposal," he explains, highlighting how accessible knowledge has transformed career possibilities for anyone willing to learn.
His resourcefulness extends to creative business strategies – like using his ice fishing trailer (from his Two Scoops podcast) as both a construction materials storage unit and mobile office, allowing him to legitimately write off expenses. While building decks and fences throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota, he's developed a reputation for meticulous craftsmanship and clear communication with clients.
The conversation explores practical wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs in the trades: the importance of calling Diggers Hotline before excavation, navigating building permits across state lines, managing seasonal transitions from construction to snow removal, and knowing when to walk away from jobs that don't feel right. "Trust your gut, trust your judgment, trust yourself," Dayton advises, highlighting why proper insurance and business structure are non-negotiable from day one.
Whether you're considering starting your own construction business or simply appreciate authentic conversations about entrepreneurship, Dayton's story demonstrates how success comes from balancing technical expertise with smart business practices while never losing sight of what matters most – family and relationships.
Have you been thinking about starting your own business? What's holding you back? Share your thoughts or questions in the comments!
0:06 Introduction to Dayton Rivera
5:31 Tax Write-Offs and Ice Castle Uses
14:40 Diggers Hotline and Utility Safety
24:20 Starting a Construction Business
38:10 The Art of Deck Building
47:48 Working With Permits and Inspectors
54:20 Trade Rivalries and Concrete Work
Check out our sticker packs at OnTapWithTheBoiz.com
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the ONTAP podcast. Today we have a wonderful edition of Blue Collar Happy Hour. You got me, my good friend Sam and our new friend Dayton Rivera. What's going on, man?
Speaker 1:Not much, guys, thanks for having me on. So, dayton, you do a lot of stuff. You are host of the Two Scoops podcast, ice fishing podcast. You have your own videography company, vx media. You do a little bit of construction, a little bit of carpentry with leaf and lumber. Let's let's dive into the leaf and lumber man. What do you? What do you do exactly?
Speaker 2:so it's. It's just me leaf and lumber. We started doing our own thing last year, um, just navigating the business side of it, which melts my mind. But we I focus a lot on decks and fences around our area. We'll do doors, windows, some siding projects, but mostly within the scope of a one-man job, not to say I've got buddies that can come help me. But for the most part we're keeping it pretty small, taking my time between both the video production stuff and construction stuff.
Speaker 1:Totally yeah. So you're a small business owner. I want to get right into it and talk tax evasion. How are you using your right? I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, I actually I had heard on another podcast that you were on you talk about. You wrote off your ice house for that. You use for the two scoops podcast because you use it as a trailer for leaf and lumber.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I talked to my certified tax guy.
Speaker 2:This is not just me, he's like well, at first he's like I need, I need a list of all your tools, equipment, you know, truck trailer tools, batteries, whatever. I need a hard list of this. And I had my dump trailer on there. And then I'm also like you know what I use my? I use my ice castle as a trailer totally, because like I'm not gonna put trim in my dump trailer and have it all rained on and stuff totally, so slap it in there also, use it as my office. Really, like my house is pretty small, it's like 800 square feet, so like I pop out to my shack at my whole like editing studio and do all my book work and stuff in there. So he's like but you do use it for personal use. I'm like, obviously, yeah. He's like, oh, we can do half of it.
Speaker 3:I'm like perfect, awesome half is better than zero.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would have never thought about it honestly, like, yeah, the tax game is something like I'm super curious about because it is a game I'm not good at it, right now totally I will be good at it, but well.
Speaker 1:One thing that we've learned, I think, while doing these blue collar happy hours, is finding out like a lot of these really successful construction guys, or just guys in the trades, are the people that learn how to navigate those small little things really well. Like these are the guys that have these huge navigate those small little things really well. Like these are the guys that have these huge cabins. That's like this cabin also has a big shed and that's where I keep my material or whatever you know. Like there's all these little things that you can kind of play the game. You know Right, so you just got. Next you can upgrade to a full-size cabin. That's your office.
Speaker 3:Yep, do you drive the ice castle up to job site, sometimes if it's cold enough yeah used as a worm shack, motherfucker sleeping out here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's cooking, cooking in there, that's brilliant. Yeah, a job site kitchen. Yeah, dude a bathroom.
Speaker 2:I mean, if this was like if some dude brought his ice castle to like a whole construction crew, the thing would be destroyed in a week.
Speaker 3:I can't even imagine I'm sitting here thinking about I work for a masonry company On the job site. If you got to go take a piss, you just go into the trailer, lock up the doors. It's dark as fuck. It's hot as fuck in there. You feel like you're going to die.
Speaker 1:But holy fuck, if I could go sit up in the ice castle for a little bit. No one's leaving there. You got heat, you got ac. Yeah. You got a fridge, probably. Yep, oh my god that's a full rv.
Speaker 2:There's a fancy one.
Speaker 1:Does it have a fireplace in it?
Speaker 2:no, it doesn't have a fireplace.
Speaker 1:It's not that fancy okay rising bed, you hit a button. No, okay, if I did.
Speaker 2:There are things like me and my wife want to upgrade this in the future and, yes, that is like the number one thing like before, like the hydraulic lifts. It's that freaking bed in the back, like I hate making the bed.
Speaker 1:I want it to just yeah, that's the first time I ever stayed in one of those. I was like how reliable are these things? Like am I gonna crash down onto this person?
Speaker 2:sleeping on the bed below me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was a little hesitant, but yeah, they're.
Speaker 1:They're a lot more sturdy than I would have thought, honestly, but uh, so you, you store a lot of material in there. What is when you're not using it for fishing? Are you just storing material in there all the time?
Speaker 2:no, no, I'm you're like camping.
Speaker 1:It's my office like yeah, I suppose do you literally treat it like an office, like you got your laptop in there, oh, dude, I've got my laptop, I've got my external monitor up there, my speakers.
Speaker 2:So you know, I've got kind of like your setup a little bit, your main computer, hdmi to a bigger screen, whiteboards everywhere, like so I can keep my schedule right, dude that's so much.
Speaker 3:Literally it's a job trailer Like you see at the corporate. You know the union jobs, except on crack.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love it, dude it's great, you got my mind fucking twisted. Okay, listen, now that the tax guys are done listening. Do you actually use this thing as an office?
Speaker 2:I do.
Speaker 1:I'm not even kidding. I I'll send you a picture. No, I'm just kidding, and it's kind of.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I could play this, but you know, with filming Two Scoops in there, like it's kind of marketing for Leaf and Lumber, 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not only that, but like Two Scoops is its own business itself, especially if you start doing ad reads yeah, I guess.
Speaker 2:So it's sponsored a little bit. If you make any money from that, that's a business.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's a business, yep. You know, dude, you're onto something here. Right off those DGI mics, you read off the scoops already.
Speaker 2:I didn't read all the fishing gear because you're fishing $5.
Speaker 1:You're buying rods and reels on the tax man's dollar next year.
Speaker 3:And I think it's more than fair.
Speaker 1:It's all. It's all showbiz, it's all part of showbiz. So, um, it's all part of showbiz. So you say you primarily focus on decks and fences. Now I think when I think guys that do decks and fences by themselves, I think someone who's had to learn the hard way and has hit into some sort of utilities. Have you ever dug into power lines, water lines, septic, anything like that?
Speaker 2:I have line septic, anything like that I have.
Speaker 1:I have dug into a cord which I use my gas ice auger to drill.
Speaker 2:Some of them posts dude, it's fucking terrifying at times because if you do not anticipate it like catching, it'll rip your fucking arms off oh, I bet bet.
Speaker 1:So like you hit a tree root and this thing is ripping, yeah, it's violent man, it sucks.
Speaker 2:But so before I do any drilling or anything, call Digger's Hotline, you know, do the right thing and make sure you stay within their parameters, you know, because there's. Yeah, I would hate to actually hit a live wire, just you know. Know for my safety too.
Speaker 1:Like that'd be a bad day, dude, that'd be crazy especially you're using a ice auger, like you're getting every bit of that electricity ice blades on it, so usually it cuts the small roots pretty good.
Speaker 2:But I did hit this, this line, this wire, and like, immediately saw like oh, that's not a root, that thing is might be spicy. I'm looking at it, I'm like nothing's marked out over here and it just ended up being a I don't know weird telephone line or some thank god, extension cord some bullshit.
Speaker 1:You gotta like when you see that your heart's got to drop a little bit oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just an old landline, yeah I like, went to the homeowner I'm like is your internet working?
Speaker 2:is any power breakers?
Speaker 3:like no, we're good, I'm like is your internet working?
Speaker 2:Is any power breakers like no, we're good. I'm like okay, cause your car's extended warranty still intact.
Speaker 3:I'm not asking because anything happened. I'm just curious.
Speaker 2:But no, I haven't had really any like horror stories with striking like a gas line or anything.
Speaker 1:Well, dude, good on you, because I feel like there's been some people that have had to learn the hard way.
Speaker 2:I mean, just call Digger's Hotline, it's free, it's a free service.
Speaker 1:Just do it Peace of mind, save your ass, even if you're going to do this yourself at home. I just built a deck at my house last summer and I had someone come and market out themselves. What's the process of calling Digger's Hotline? You say like, hey, I'm going to be digging in this spot. Do they come out and market, or do they give you coordinates where shit is?
Speaker 2:Nope. So the process with that is, if you get some paint like they use on football fields, or normal spray paint, just roughly spray paint on your yard where you want your fence to go or anything you're digging, and then you call 8-1-1 I think it's 8-1-1, just google diggers hotline you'll get a number, then they'll. They'll ask you some questions. You know, are you a homeowner, are you a contractor? Are you blah, blah, blah? Where are you located? At what's your address? When's a good time to come out? They'll get all your information like how far are you digging down? Okay, then they'll have all this data about you. Know what utilities are in that area, and they'll be like we're gonna send a guy out there. He'll mark where those lines are. Oh, they do, okay, and you can. You can be like can you mark the safety zones within like five feet of this line? So they get out there. They mark where their lines are. They'll put flags down too.
Speaker 1:So yeah, see I, I was really bad about that. When they came out marked mine, I literally mowed the next day and didn't move a single flag, shot the flags all over my yard. So thank god they spray paint, because I would have never known where my stuff is at and it's totally free.
Speaker 2:Like you don't give them a credit card, you don't give them anything.
Speaker 1:That's insane it's so when they, when they first call you know and they ask you know, are you a contractor, are you a homeowner or whatever I mean, my first thought is like what are you a cop? Why do you need to know that? What kind of a database am I?
Speaker 2:on right now. I'm sure it goes somewhere. I mean weirdos tracks. That's why it's free they're tracking your data I think they're free because they just don't want any dipshits like swiss cheesing. That probably makes more sense. Yeah, that probably makes more sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, we have a buddy who's a lineman, who he fucks up all the time he's taking down power lines embarrassing embarrassing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's terrible. He barely made it through line school. So that's why I asked you know, he said he went through the trenches in line school. So you know it's kind of the the running joke. He's just kind of the the hack of the lineman industry. So I'm glad to hear that you do things the right way, because I've always actually really wondered about that. When I did my deck, I I don't even think I even set it up for them to come and do it I think my electrician did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes they'll take care of that too yeah okay, well, that's good.
Speaker 3:So I was just curious before you started your company, where did you get your experience? Did you pick it up growing up?
Speaker 2:Did you work for somebody else.
Speaker 3:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:So right out of high school I went and worked. This is kind of off topic, but I worked in the oil and gas industry doing heat treatment. So I'd work at, like nuclear plants and gas refineries all across the country and so I'd have the busy like turnaround seasons where they'd shut these plants down. We'd come in, we'd do our job and on like the off seasons I'd come back and work with some construction crews here, just kind of pivoted between the two, and then finally I was like I told myself, out of the thousands of dudes that I've worked with, only a couple of them had pretty solid relationships with their wives and kids, and that was super important to me.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:To to not have that. Okay, Let me preface it To not have that.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be close to my wife and kids.
Speaker 2:It was super important to me that my relationship with my wife and kids are going to be like rock solid. So I was like I can't. I can't do this being in this industry, so promised myself when I got married that's it done.
Speaker 3:So got married, quit that traveling job, started with the company out of luck, and then worked with them for one or two years and then was like I didn't do my own thing yeah, absolutely, and that's why I was hoping that that was your origin story, because that's what I love about the world we live in today is, with our access to google, anyone can start a company. You know, you get your, you go. You gotta learn the trade, don't get me wrong. Get some experience, but you gotta self-teach yourself. It's the availabilities there.
Speaker 3:You don't have to go to the fucking library yeah, dude, that's the crazy thing.
Speaker 1:People think it's a joke that, like you know, literally you can learn on YouTube. People call it YouTube University. I love YouTube University, dude. I completely agree with you I never would know how to run cameras, how to do half the things I do, if I didn't have access to something like YouTube. Absolutely, it's insane.
Speaker 3:Dude, I just bought a Traeger pellet grill the other day. I have looked up. Here we go every single thing that I've. I've looked up multiple recipes. I've watched youtube videos.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I would have been just fucking dead in the water, oh yeah well, it's a little bit different, obviously, than what you're probably used to cooking on and yeah, but like yeah, dude, it changed my life youtube is the number one tool.
Speaker 1:I would say my number one tool, like hands down, that is, the most valuable tool that I have at my disposal is youtube 100 because the thing is too like people are out there trying to make a living just teach, just showing you how to do what you want to do, and they get money by you viewing it anyway. So like it's just a full circle thing, like how could you not before that?
Speaker 2:when, when I tell you guys that I I split from my, my construction crew and was like I'm doing my own thing, it was literally like this I had no idea. No idea how to start a business, how to make an llc, how to create invoices, how to everything, and everything was like all right, I need to buckle down for like a week of straight of just like researching how to set up a business and get my insurance and everything. And it was literally on youtube. That was it. So it was like I love youtube so much dude.
Speaker 3:100 mean you know, if you're anything like me, sometimes I need to put myself in a position where it's like, if I don't figure this out, I'm fucked, and that's when I succeed, and so I can only imagine you're like fuck it, I can't do this anymore, I'm going to start my own, and it's go time from that very second, how was that received from the crew that you left?
Speaker 1:because I know this is like a very common thing that people don't do what they want to do on their own in fear of like, oh these guys are gonna hate me or I'm gonna leave on bad terms or they're gonna make fun of me, um, I think I don't think we left on the best terms, but I will say this has never been like really publicly.
Speaker 2:So I used to work with bio builders ryan bile was his name been super great to me. We left on kind of rocky terms but I will say, like that dude and him in austin I don't know if there's anybody else there they are solid carpenters like even though I branched away with them, I would, if there's something like I do not know how to do, I would send them to him every single time because they're so good.
Speaker 1:And I think that's rare. I think a lot of times what happens when people break off. They're like fuck those guys. They're dead to me Because a lot of times they don't receive it well that you're trying to do your own thing as well.
Speaker 2:I don't think it was received well or anything. It was not the best situation, but I've got a lot of respect for him and he was very, very good to me too.
Speaker 1:That's sweet. So what? What were some of the hurdles that you had to overcome? Quitting your thing Like how did you navigate? Okay, I need to do an LLC. I need to figure out how to get how to source materials. I need to figure out how to do billing. Did you go for the first steps to learn?
Speaker 2:youtube. We just went over youtube. Yeah, of course but, I didn't know.
Speaker 1:Like a lot of times there's like someone that you know that's done it in the past or that you look up to.
Speaker 2:That's like, hey, let me see if I had me on game. Yeah, if I had any like mentors or oh, let me think, killer question, yeah, no, yeah, okay, so youtube.
Speaker 2:Youtube was a big, big help with that. I mainly just was like all right, I can't just take cash jobs and just under the table everything I need to make this legitimate, yep. So the first step was creating an LLC, which in the past it was daunting thinking about going through the legal process of actually making an llc. Well then, I mean, it's just, it's just like everything it's. It's extremely like scary or whatever. Just it's only because it's unfamiliar, like once you're familiar with something like second nature. So once we just got the first steps rolling then it was like all right, this is manageable, like this is actually not that bad. And yeah, youtube helped a lot with it, with the steps and processes. But then after that, insurance was not super hard because my wife's an insurance agent.
Speaker 2:Oh, jensen sunquist, so like everything insurance is like this is your department, honey.
Speaker 3:You help me with this please Do you have the wife help you out with your business? Does she have a role that she plays, or is it mostly something you handle?
Speaker 2:No, it's mostly me Actually. No, she's like the schedule keeper. I'll be good. I love Google calendars. Yeah, I don't put like notifications on there, so she will be like hey, did you realize you have this meeting? I'll be like yes, I did, but honestly I didn't. She catches me quite a bit with that, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:No, I get that. I get that. I'm a big fan of using the calendar on my phone because if I didn't, I'd be so screwed Right. I'm so bad at keeping that in the front of mind. Also, like when you're doing actively doing a job and trying to schedule a job look, those are two totally different things. Yeah, it's like while you're doing it you almost forget about the scheduling aspect and then like to have to come in and out of that role. That's tough for a lot of people.
Speaker 2:It's. The tough part for me right now is from being on a job and then like trying to find the time to pull away for just just a little bit, pull away from it to kind of get the ball rolling for the next project. Like I always in in the first year, that was kind of my main struggle was I'm on a job, I got the bid, whatever customer likes it, I'm gonna knock this out and be done with it, then onto the next one. But that's really not super efficient because then I'm scrambling, like I got this lag time of like getting materials to the next one. So I think this year is more of like a scheduling hurdle for me is where I need I'd be on a job, take a step back, plan for the next one, get materials running for the next one and just roll, roll, which seems on paper. It's simple, like just do it, but it's not always easy. It's like running five miles. The concept is simple, like just put one foot in front of the other, but it's not easy.
Speaker 3:Especially once it starts getting hot as fuck.
Speaker 2:For sure, dude, I'd rather work in hot than cold. I hate working out in the winter, and if anybody tells you they do, they're fucking lying to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah God, I hate that, yeah 100%.
Speaker 3:Dude. Especially I always feel for the framing guys, Seeing them put their fucking car, hearts on. Yep. It's like holy fuck. The only time they get a day off is if it's fucking negative 40. They don't even get the snow off.
Speaker 1:No rain days in the winter we were talking with our buddy bode. He's a framer and or he does framing and uh, he was telling us one time about we actually had him on for blue collar happy hour. He was talking about the different layers that he'll put on if it's cold out yep, and like layering up and it's like damn I didn't realize how much thought went into just what you're wearing when you're outside all day and it's like zero degrees.
Speaker 2:That would would suck and you think you'd wear like negative or zero. Most guys don't wear below zero, I think, as like a standard.
Speaker 3:It's a good rule of thumb, yeah.
Speaker 2:But I think most people think that everyone's super bundled up but really like, once you get moving and stuff, you don't really need that. So that's why we have layers.
Speaker 3:That's how you know. He knows what he's talking about.
Speaker 2:Dude, that's exactly what bode said my, my thing was it. It's all about your outer shell like it just needs to be windproof.
Speaker 3:That's it, I'm 100 oh my god, dude, even like, I think of like my hunting gear, because that's when I bundle up the most during deer hunting, and none of my shit is waterproof. So I'm warm, I'm good. As soon as it starts raining, my day is fucked.
Speaker 2:I turn into an instant bitch when I get wet.
Speaker 3:Instantly. I can co-sign that all day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not fun. Especially you add cold to wet and then it's double F-less. I did security for a little bit for this company. That was like a contractor for security, and I did the red bull crash dice when I was a kid.
Speaker 1:Oh, that sounds fun I was right, like 16, you know, but I all I had was my hunting boots like these, just irish setter hunting boots. They're not insulated. It was like negative 20 and my feet got wet as I'd stepped in a puddle. This was when it was downtown st paul stepped in a puddle. This was when it was downtown St Paul. I stepped in a puddle. My feet are soaking wet. My boots are rock hard. There's no insulation. I started feeling like I was having hypothermia because I'm so cold and so tired. Dude, it sucked. I legitimately kept walking back to this job trailer that they had there and I was like I just got to warm up.
Speaker 2:It would have been nice if it was an ice castle. Yeah, it would have A little drop down bed, take a little snooze Dryer in there.
Speaker 3:Light a cigarette off the electric fireplace. Yeah, dude, that's cold feet, that's my kryptonite right there, I'll just call it a day. At that point, there's nothing worse, especially I used to rip like rubber, insulated boots, like 800 grams of insulate, huge rubber boots, and it got a hole in them. And so these, these motherfuckers are already heavy as fuck. And then all of a sudden, you're trudging through some bullshit, you think you're good to go, and now that boot's filled up, now you're cold and it's three times as heavy.
Speaker 1:It's not the move no, that's like uh, I don't know if you're hunting at all. Do you ever wear waders? Do you ever go duck hunting?
Speaker 2:Dude. No, I actually I think I might have an opportunity to film some guys' duck hunts and that's the one thing I was worried about. I'm like I don't know if I want my filming gear to be all in the marsh you got insurance.
Speaker 1:It's worth more damage than it is working.
Speaker 2:Yep, no, I've never been duck hunting. No, it is fun.
Speaker 1:The only reason why I ask is because the only thing that I can think of worse than getting regular work boots hunting boots wet is getting water in your waders.
Speaker 2:No, that's happened to me. I used to fly fish down at clam falls and I I got into a hole, oh, and all the water seeped in there. I thought I was gonna die yeah, I got to the bottom and did like the spring up. Thankfully got above it out of that hole. But I thought that was it for me.
Speaker 3:Oh, dude, yeah, there's nothing worse, I wonder how many people a year die by way of waiters and no, because it literally will weigh you down when it starts getting a lot of them they float. Now that's like a big selling point is that they float and it it. I don't know if it's true, but it makes people buy their shit I mean, yeah, I would hope.
Speaker 1:I guess I've never there's been. I can count on one hand how many times I've been in deeper than the waiters, but I can tell you all five times. I remember very distinctly because, dude, you do not forget that it's cold, it's wet, it's like okay, now this sucks and usually duck hunting, it's never warm.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes you're breaking ice out there to go grab a duck that's just like close enough, you guys are dedicated. So, yeah, that sucks, but anyways, back to the, back to decks and fences, right? So now, um, I've we have a couple friends that do decks that are always very particular about how level that thing gets. Yeah, like, how do you, how do you keep these things perfectly level? Like, are you very meticulous with your details?
Speaker 2:on it meticulous okay, most guys are.
Speaker 1:That's why I asked yep most deck guys are, like in my experience, a different breed of you know, maybe on the spectrum a little bit because it's like the attention to detail it's like so crazy, just just in my business too, it's like I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't want to have this broad range of things that I do. I want to be absolutely like the best at this, so that's, that's super important to me. Like, if one, if one board is like crowned or something, I will snap a line to see how it planes out and I will hand plane it out.
Speaker 1:So it's flat, I don't want to see any humps in there as a person who builds decks, what is your thoughts on getting lumber from menards?
Speaker 2:totally fine, really. Um they're, yeah, I use a lot of their cedar cedar tone yeah, cedar tone, damn. Okay, I mean so you sift through a lot of bullshit yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:So, like I said, I just built the deck last summer. I made the mistake of doing the deck builder on menardscom. Right, so I I had all the things delivered to me oh yeah, no, okay, caveat to this.
Speaker 3:I I am going to go there and pick out every single board, yeah you literally gotta hold them up, look down, you gotta really give it some time yeah, so I did not do that.
Speaker 1:I'm assuming some minimum wage 16 year old kid was probably picking out my stuff. Yeah, because I have never seen boards shaped like this in my entire life. So we put my deck together, me and my father-in-law, and dude this thing was was bad whippy. He luckily he's really good at fixing this kind of stuff and he's really handy. But we like we had to saw so much of this and sand so much of this to make it somewhat level. And then we're like compensating the boards by like screwing different parts down so it looks level what does this tree have?
Speaker 2:scoliosis?
Speaker 1:yeah, dude this thing was like whoa and it didn't help. That like from the time it got delivered to the time we put up the deck was like, let's say, two weeks and it was raining, oh, when they dropped it off and none of it was covered and so, like the sonal tubes got messed up in the rain, the lumber all was sitting there wet, and then it dried, and then it got wet and then it dried.
Speaker 2:That's bad. Yeah, dude it was really bad.
Speaker 1:Some of it was not even sitting on level ground.
Speaker 3:See, that's why you need an ice castle.
Speaker 1:I know you can put it all in there, I gotta talk to my accountant.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna get an ice castle it's a storage shed?
Speaker 1:yep, it's a storage shed with an electric fireplace I wish my mind had the drop down because, like everything like the toy hauler ramp everything that I fit into.
Speaker 2:It has to like go through the door I didn't even think about that I ripped off when I drove my ice castle down to my house like a little driveway with the woods and I I rented a tree trimming thing because I knew there's some branches that might take off the awning like oh no, and I ripped my whole awning no oh yeah
Speaker 1:boo luckily you got a good in with your insurance agent oh, I'd never even thought about the insurance claim. You should do it that's what you got insurance for, yep I might just tell her, hey after this hey, listen, this deductible better not go up.
Speaker 3:This is your thing too okay let's let's figure something out here so, when it comes to the decks, do you do just new construction decks or will you do repair work?
Speaker 2:I'll do repair work.
Speaker 3:Yeah, get all the landmines out, and yeah do you ever walk up to a deck where you they want it repaired and you're like buddy, this thing is so fucked yeah.
Speaker 2:There has been a couple where homeowners are like there's a couple landmines in here, and then I'll kind of peek in there and look at the joists and I'm like, oh, my God. I'm like, hey, man, I can fix this, but I've got to fix everything. It's easier to just go with a new deck.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's safer too, when you look at it and you almost want to tell them hey, you probably shouldn't even walk on this motherfucker until I do this work.
Speaker 2:It hasn't been that bad, but just get it taken care of the right way the first time and just be done with it.
Speaker 1:One thing I think that people don't think of when they're starting their own companies like this too is dealing with the homeowners Having to put that customer service hat on. Have you had any nightmare clients that you've built extra fences for?
Speaker 2:No, I've honestly have never had an issue with someone paying. There's never been a communication issue. I think that's that. That has been one of my, my main priorities and I'm not the best of this. Who any customers who kind of drop the ball and but like I strive to be a better communicator with my customers because I feel like that's somewhat lacking in the industry. It's like, hey, I'll get you a bid and you never get a call back, which I have, unfortunately done this, but I do try to fucking get better at this yeah you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like it's that's something you can always improve on, for sure, like communicating with these people on their expectations, and I think that's where a lot of people get caught up, you know, because they promise everything and then deliver half of that, and then that's when it gets messed up yeah it's like oh dude, you said you're gonna do a good job. These boards look like they have swoleosis.
Speaker 2:Did you get this from menards dropped off?
Speaker 1:you didn't pick these. Yeah, did cody hughes pick this deck wood out? What the hell is going on? Yeah, no, I I will say I. I'm very surprised about your answer about the menards thing, because a lot of the other deck guys that I know are like never get it from Menards.
Speaker 3:When I told them that they're like why would you do that?
Speaker 1:I'm like dude.
Speaker 2:Because it was cheap or cheaper, I guess yeah there's circumstances, I will say I primarily use ABC in Siren. I know they're a chain, but if it's any like the TimberTech Trex, the composite decking material, any of the Westbury Tuscany rails, I go with them, that's it.
Speaker 1:That's what I got also.
Speaker 2:You got.
Speaker 1:Tuscany no.
Speaker 2:Trex, trex, yeah, good stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but again it's like maybe the Menards version.
Speaker 2:But again they're like I'm holding these things up and there are so many waves in this, I'm like god damn, I will not get menards composite. I will get menards like just regular deck boards, like their green treat or their cedar tone, but I don't push for any of the composite stuff with menards yeah, I wish I would have met you a year and a half ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I really screwed myself. It looks good now. It's not actually fully finished yet either.
Speaker 2:A good, phrase we have is like I don't know, man, if something's iffy, they're like it looks good from my house.
Speaker 1:You live like 50 miles away.
Speaker 2:I'm like I know, yeah, what do they?
Speaker 1:say Good, from far good. It's a. It's a 30 foot deck, for sure. It's a 30 foot like it looks good from 30 feet away. Yeah, you know, it actually looks really nice now but it took took took some work to kind of get it to look that way and also, like I said, it's not fully finished yet either. Some stairs and some railing some railing gone, so we'll maybe have to chat afterwards about maybe having you come look at this thing and finish it up for me.
Speaker 2:But oh my God, Don't walk on this. Yeah, no, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's going to come look on it and he's like God damn dude, you said Menards, what the? This looks like some Step 2 Rainbow Playground work here.
Speaker 3:So I was just thinking about going back to YouTube University and with having the ability to use Google. One big part of my job is I'm consistently pulling permits and I'm sure that's something that you're doing a lot with your deck building and needing to get a ship permit to go get your inspections. And I've only had to do one permit old school and that's because it was a historical one so I had to go in to the off the main office in saint paul. Go get, go get the permit, fill it up, bringing it in person. But any other permit I look it up online. I find exactly where to get it. Grab it.
Speaker 3:It's a fillable pdf, send it an email, send my payment in, approved, and that has changed my life so much, yeah, and so like it's it's all the simple things that that change up small businessmen's mind and like I would have never even known where to go or how to do anything and I just it. It changed everything, yeah, and I was just wondering, with with your work, to figure out all the technicalities of it how, how did you know, like, when do you need to pull a permit for this or when do you need to get that inspected?
Speaker 2:And a lot of the cool things too is like, if the deck frame is solid, like I don't have to touch it, so I'm keeping the same footprint of the structure, like I don't need to pull a permit for that. If I do have to pull a permit with that, um, if I do, if I do have to pull a permit with it, like it's just you just go to the town hall and stuff and just fill it out. But there there are places, like by koiland, where you don't need any like building permits, which is great oh damn okay cool, it's crazy.
Speaker 3:City to city, it changed every single fucking city's never thought about that with like code wise too.
Speaker 2:Like, the only really code that I have to really deal with is your stair height, how it can't differ from three-eighths from each tread. The balusters can't be more than four inches apart. Just simple codes like that. I'm not getting into the huge home building, it's fine. No fire blocking code, nothing like that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's cold side is very minimal I would imagine too, like the guys that are issuing the permits are different in every place. When I did the permit for my deck, it was literally like the guy showed up and he's like where's it gonna be well?
Speaker 3:did you call diggers hotline? No, no, I didn't. Fucking bullshit, dude oh, they are heated because it's like what are we're paying you?
Speaker 1:just to be like yeah, you can do that well, the guy asked me he's like, do you have the plans? And I'm like the plans like what? What the blueprints? And I'm like what do you? Mean he's. He just hands me a piece of paper and a pen. Can you draw it out? Yes, drew like a top-down square, stares off the side. He's like all right, here's your permit, okay.
Speaker 3:Okay, it's fucking bullshit Sounds good, Especially like, so. A lot of the permits I have to pull are for chimneys. They're obviously up on the roof and most of the inspections you don't even have to be there for and I know this motherfucker is not bringing his ladder with his shirt and tie and going up on the roof. They just walk up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, looks good, that's awesome yeah, I mean I would say that's probably the easiest thing to go through. Then I mean, you would think that that's such like a nuanced process and it's very official. But I imagine they probably deal with so much that they just don't care. They want to like get it going as long as it doesn't seem like something's off they probably won't even dig into it.
Speaker 2:there's I know that there's a lot of trust too with some builders where, if they had a good relationship, like did you get this done? Yes, that inspector can be like all right, I trust this guy. Like that's kind of nice.
Speaker 1:So get in with the inspector.
Speaker 2:Oh for sure it did.
Speaker 3:You definitely don't want the inspectors to not like dude.
Speaker 2:I've been on a job where the inspector did not like my boss.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:It was so bad.
Speaker 1:Like he's going through everything with a fine-tooth comb. Like check this, check this, check this.
Speaker 3:It's like bad cops where they like will run through, like how can I get this motherfucker? It's the same thing. How can I ruin this?
Speaker 1:motherfucker's day. Yeah, I would imagine they got the ability to really change up the job pretty quick, oh yeah, oh yeah. By the way, this is wrong. Somebody need you to tear it all out, Yep.
Speaker 2:What happened?
Speaker 1:Did they ever find anything?
Speaker 2:So we were fastening the bottom plates to this house, to the concrete slab, and when you drill those, we had to use, like I don't know, a 5-8ths drill with these tapcons or redheads and so fasten them down, bolt them on you know what I mean the bottom plate right to the concrete. And he gets there and he goes. Did you blow out the holes before you put those bolts in? And he's like, well, I didn't see it. I'm like I I need to redo all these no way yeah, dude, he did this like three times.
Speaker 2:Then he's like did you use epoxy in them? No, you need to do that and redo the second time, like the whole house and like I was like oh my god, he really doesn't like you man. Like I'll keep doing this.
Speaker 1:I get paid by the hour yeah, just in labor alone he start. He starts adding on to that cost of that job pretty quick, I would think. But it's done. Yeah, that sucks, or?
Speaker 3:dude like osha can pull up to your job and ruin your life in one stop I've heard that, like we, we use scaffolding and you put pins in all the legs of the scaffolding. Every pin that's missing is $10,000. Sometimes you pull up to sites they've got 40 different sets of scaffolding up. They're not using pins.
Speaker 2:It's a bad day to be that guy Dude scaffold at my other job with the heat treating. They do not joke around with scaffold tags. Do you have tags on yours? Yeah, every morning shift comes in checks every single square inch of it signs off, done If there's anything wrong with it your whole crew, shut it down, fix it.
Speaker 1:Okay, if they find something, who's liable? The company or the person who signed off on it?
Speaker 3:That's a damn good question actually.
Speaker 2:I would never.
Speaker 3:That's a good way for the business to be like hey, it's that guy's fucking fault, Right.
Speaker 1:We'll take it out of your check for the next two years buddy.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I mean, I would think.
Speaker 1:Probably the company. If it's coming from OSHA, I would think it's the guy Really.
Speaker 2:I would think it'd be the guy.
Speaker 1:I suppose it would depend on the company because they could probably put it on you. I mean it's like okay in my head I know this is nothing similar, but if you're a bartender and you serve someone who's underage, the bartender's liable and the establishment, I think, is liable too.
Speaker 2:Is it kind of both yeah?
Speaker 1:Or it could I guess.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it does affect both. Oh, you had a situation you worked at a gas station so embarrassing. I young kid still in high school, I work at a gas station liquor store.
Speaker 3:Like one side liquor store, turn to the other you were the teller, yep, and I was it was like probably my third day ever working there and the owner, he's he's now like actually a friend. At the time it was just like this guy I knew that was really nice to me, gave me a good job opportunity and uh, so I I wanted to impress him. You know, I didn't want to fuck up. Third day on the job. Guy comes in big ass beard I was too scared to ask for his id, pays cash, walks out immediately.
Speaker 1:The school cop like the one that I would sit at school watching he's like hey, how's it going?
Speaker 3:sam, did you just sell this alcohol? Yeah, he sets it down. He's like well, that man right there was 20 years old and he didn't check his ID and I was like fuck, and luckily because I was young, it was my third day and it was the first strike on this place. He gave a warning, but if you get three of them, you lose your liquor license.
Speaker 2:Really that's tough. They only have a certain amount of those. That's a huge fucking deal.
Speaker 3:And so I got off easy. I thought I was going to get fired and. I did the right thing. I called my boss, shout out Red right away and told him and he's like you, fucking idiot, I never fucking messed it up again, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:I can't believe you did that.
Speaker 1:I'm mess it up again, that's for sure you did that. I'm kidding dude. I went to I live right by a speedway and I went in there the other day and I asked to buy a tin. And I I go in there at least once or twice a week. The lady knew me and, as a joke, she's like can I see your id? And I was like, oh my god, I don't have my wallet on me, like all I have is my apple pay and I was gonna pay with apple pay. She's like well, now I can't sell it to you. I was like well, you know, I'm like, I was literally just here a couple days ago.
Speaker 1:She's like no, I can't sell it to you like fuck, what if I would have been a part of a sting? I wish I was and I wouldn't.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't have felt as bad I think you'd have been an easy call. I would have sold it to you. What are? You trying to say I wouldn't have been too worried on that one.
Speaker 2:I just feel so like when I get carded. I'm 31. 29., 25. I just feel kind of good. Can I card you?
Speaker 1:You don't look 31. Would I look older, I would say you don't look a day under 42.
Speaker 2:Okay, perfect. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3:I would say upper 20s for sure. When it comes to getting carding. So I obviously still have a baby face, 25 years old. When I first turned 21, people were looking at me like, hmm, all right, motherfucker, let's see, and I didn't kick that probably until about a year ago, where I can confidently give it to them and they don't think I'm trying to pass a fake id. Yeah, it was, or forever it would be. I was, I'd be 21 for eight months. Oh, just made it fuck you bitch I'm a 99.
Speaker 1:I actually I kind of fucked myself on. The last time I got a driver's license is I I had shaved the top of my head like just kept the sides like an old man look, and I had mustache. Yeah, and so I just thought it was funny for a video that we had did.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And went to get my driver's license renewed right after we had did it and I didn't shave the rest of my head, so that was how my driver's license photo looked and it definitely it never stopped me from getting anything. But there was a few times that's like wait, hold on. Like hey, you know, they call someone else over. Like look at this, look at this guy. Like all right, you know. But there was definitely times where they're like should we even serve this guy?
Speaker 1:this looks nothing like that's hilarious, though I came in originally with like these big old guy glasses on too, and the lady was not having it at the dmv, so this was in fargo, so it's like one of the real dmvs. You pull a number and you wait. I was in there for like an hour and then I get called up and the lady's like do you wear those glasses normally? I'm like no. She's like if you don't take those off, I will put on the back that you need glasses and if you get pulled over you will be in trouble for not having glasses.
Speaker 3:I was like damn. Seems like a very friendly lady. I was like damn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was like a real DMV, Like we're spoiled at a small town DMV here because everyone here is nice as hell, dude, you get a smile.
Speaker 3:How's your morning?
Speaker 1:Everyone here is nice as hell. This lady was taking no shit.
Speaker 3:This place was packed.
Speaker 1:She was going slow, I was low, oh my god. Yeah. So anyways, I don't know how we got on. You know driver's license talk, but yeah. So anyways, back to decks and fences. Yeah, um, if you had some advice for someone who wanted to start their own carpentry company or just construction job in general, if they wanted to branch off on their own, what's some of the best advice that you could give that you wish you had known?
Speaker 2:it's like a really good question, best advice I would give someone who wants to start out go on youtube definitely youtube. Maybe you know reach out if reach out to me. If you hell, I'll try to help you out the dms are open yeah, the dms are open.
Speaker 2:um, youtube works a lot, you know, get your ducks in a row with your insurance and get your llc started up, so you know that's kind of a part of insurance too. It's where, you know, keep the liability off of you. And then I would focus so much on like trying to learn the business side, cause I'm assuming most people that start out with trying to do their own thing is like I need to be on the tools. But really that's like half the battle when you're doing your own thing. Like it's the scheduling, it's the keeping track of your money after that, like it's not just a you clock in, you clock out. You don't have a set time. Like you're, you're always figuring some problem out.
Speaker 2:So just roll, roll with the punches, be be malleable, flexible with what works and doesn't work, and like just look for the signs that this doesn't work, that something doesn't feel right. Don't do it Absolutely. If there's something, you know what. Here's a good thing too. It's like I'm a huge fan of like just trusting your gut. There's a couple jobs where I'm like something doesn't feel right with this. I'm just I'm not going to like sky this bid. I'm just not going to take it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, don't be afraid to walk away.
Speaker 2:That's a, that's a really good Yep.
Speaker 3:We at Unlimited. We say that all because we'll go to some jobs where it's like holy fuck, this is way over our head, right.
Speaker 2:And honestly so. When you're starting out you almost take everything you can get, but it might. It might fuck you. It might fuck you. If you take that job you don't feel good about. You're like something's not right here. It you might end up like low balling the bid and then you dig into something and it costs you x amount of dollars more. And now you're under like trust.
Speaker 3:Trust your gut, trust your judgment, trust yourself yeah, absolutely I agree with everything you said, and especially going off of insurance. That's one thing I tell a lot of people is. Especially if you're starting a small company, they think, oh, I'm just going to start doing a few jobs, I'll worry about the LLC and the insurance later, once I get my money built up. Insurance doesn't cost that much. And it is very, very worth having because if something happens, you just got to make a couple phone calls, your life isn't over.
Speaker 1:So I mean the other hack to it. The little cheat code is just marry your insurance agent yeah you know? Second piece of advice then you get it a little bit cheaper even yet you don't get any discounts I just thankful like that.
Speaker 2:That's her world, like she knows the ins and out of it, not my world, I don't have to deal with it. Very thankful for that.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely, Sam you should start doing insurance. Dude, there was a period in my life where I was pretty set that I was going to be an insurance salesman and didn't end up going that way, but it's not out of the question. I think I would kill.
Speaker 1:it didn't play baseball and or football at a high school or college level, so kind of takes you out of the qualifications to be an insurance agent well, according to my grandpa with dementia, I played baseball my entire life I would be damn. I didn't even realize 23.
Speaker 3:how's baseball going? Haven't played since I was eight Gramps, Damn.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's tough. Well, congrats on the extended career.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I actually just re-signed with the twins. You know it's a big contract. Took the family out, bought my mom a house Good time.
Speaker 1:You ever just run with it.
Speaker 3:Dude. Every time I'll be like going good, Thanks for asking, Hell yeah, that's why I'm hurt right now.
Speaker 1:I actually took a ball to the leg here, grant, excuse me. Yeah, dude.
Speaker 3:I don't even know, dude. It's crazy Because it's like consistently, every time I saw him up until he passed, it was baseball, awesome Does he live around here. Yeah, good, grandpa he lived in Hudson, wisconsin, over in fucking Cheeseheadville.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, sir.
Speaker 3:Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when you cross over you're a Wisconsin guy but you're really close to Minnesota. Do you do jobs in both states or no? Yes, is it tougher doing jobs across state lines? Is there any like nuance to like doing jobs in different states?
Speaker 2:no, no, I haven't really had any. The, the people that I've done jobs for, are literally friends yeah, okay yeah, well, that helps. Yeah, I don't know if this, this is illegal or something, but they're my friends. I help them with no money and a legend.
Speaker 3:All right, we got them. Boys, come on in.
Speaker 1:Ah shit the tax man's waiting outside the door yeah, um, I would say that's definitely something that I would have thought would would be a lot different, like you'd have to have different insurance or different permits, different qualifications if, if, what is it?
Speaker 2:oh man, my tax guy said this to me if your income it doesn't come out of minnesota, he obviously we're specifically talking about wisconsin, minnesota. He's like if you're, if 40 or less comes from Minnesota, you're fine. Otherwise.
Speaker 1:Oh, you probably got to pay a different tax rate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's something weird with that. I'm no expert, but I know, there's some percentage there. If you are primarily working in Minnesota, then we have to set up something different for you. But that's not the case. I don't really work in.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So basically your accountant said if it don't make dollars, it don't really work in. Yeah, so basically your accountant said if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense. Yes, he's good, I like him. He's a finesser.
Speaker 3:It sounds like so with your work does it basically shut off when the winter comes, or are you able to stay busy with different projects?
Speaker 2:So I shot myself in the foot this year because Leaf Lumber also does snow removal and I banked on quite a bit of that because this past winter I wanted to film a bunch of ice fishing content, so I wanted to keep the schedule a little clear. I doubled my plow accounts, thinking we were going to just get destroyed with snow. But not the case. Yeah, and that's kind of my business model in in the winter is I want to film a bunch of content, ice fishing wise, try to get into that scene. More snow plow. That's it. But next year we're gonna have, we're gonna try to get some construction stuff, hopefully some interior stuff on the books Hell yeah, what are you trying to get into?
Speaker 1:Are you trying to get into, like, flooring, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 2:Whatever?
Speaker 1:you can get your hands on. I'm just trying to figure out how we can send some business your way. I know, I know. I know If we got to redo the floor in the studio, we just know who to call now. Yep.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:It's definitely, definitely, definitely can help with that. It's like the hesitation in your voice makes me think you're really.
Speaker 2:Let me just watch a couple videos and I'll get back to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so back to youtube yeah, no, I, I completely understand. But you're right, though there is a fine line between wanting to take on as much work as you can to stay busy, but also maintaining that quality, maintaining that good reputation and being able to deliver a good quality project. Yes, and I definitely am guilty of that. You know, when it comes to like the photography, videography, graphic design stuff, like I feel like it's helped me now after doing it for so long, but at the beginning, like if someone hit me up, it was like, hey, I want to do this animation, I'm like, yeah, I well, I've never done that.
Speaker 1:Like I have no clue what to do, so literally how to do this and that has saved my ass a lot of times. But sometimes it's like whoa, I didn't realize how many steps I'm missing. Like, oh wait, I gotta learn this whole of the program too. Shit, yeah. So I would imagine it transfers over to that world from the standpoint of like yeah, I'll do that. And then knowing like okay, I'm gonna have to buy these new tools, but yep, I don't know how to use that. I don't know what. I don't know what the best practice is to use a floor sander. Do I rent one? Do I buy one? You know? Yeah, um, do you ever do any concrete? You ever do any concrete?
Speaker 2:I've I've worked with concrete, with a buddy, but I don't know.
Speaker 3:Dude, concrete sucks. I don't know why people like doing it so much, Because around here it's a big concrete community. People get fucking hyped up for Crete.
Speaker 1:It's fucking Crete boys.
Speaker 3:And it's hot as fuck, especially on poor day, because the concrete's hot and it just sucks dude. It can go so wrong too.
Speaker 1:That's one thing.
Speaker 3:We do a lot of chimney work. If you fuck up one of your courses of the chimney, you can just tear it down easily, rebuild it back up. If you're pouring Crete and you're, let's just say, one of your form boards busts out in the middle of the pour.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. All of a sudden also you're trying to do whatever you can to get it back. You can't. Now you got this. The only thing you can guarantee with concrete is that it'll crack and it's gonna get hard, and no one's gonna steal it.
Speaker 1:No one's gonna steal it. Yeah, I suppose it's probably not walking off with a lot of decks, but definitely easier than concrete, yeah yeah, I do fuck concrete.
Speaker 1:No, I fuck guys, I do it as as a carpenter, you know this kind of a bit that we do on the blue collar happy hours. Is there any other trades that you got beef with? That's like okay. Like if I'm on a site and I know these guys are here and it's a new builder, whatever, like what. What are your thought process, that going through your mind? What trades do you not want to see in the same place as you?
Speaker 2:okay, all right, so with me. Personally. I don't work with a lot of other trades right now, but when I was working with other crews and it was and was working with heat treating, it was always the electricians it seems like those guys get a lot of the hate these motherfuckers?
Speaker 3:did the electricians always get the stink? Yep, so we've gotten the electrician answer a lot of times, but a lot of times they have different reasonings on why they hate. What is the reason why you hate?
Speaker 2:because sometimes they're just leaving shit everywhere.
Speaker 3:That's it, and their attitudes are shit wires and they smell weird.
Speaker 1:Nah, they smell weird. I know a couple. I know a couple electricians that don't really smell normal.
Speaker 2:I was working with heat treating in Superior on a union job, which was weird because I couldn't be on the tools, I was mostly just like a supervisor. Which was really strange Because me as heat treating the company I was with was non-union, so I was on a union job so I couldn't touch any tools. But those guys were all electricians and the crew that I was working with up there. They were freaking great. I love those dudes. I miss those guys a lot.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you'll see this, but so you don't want to necessarily see electricians on the same spot you're in, you don't want to see those little cable ties, little wrappers, everywhere or when they cut those zip ties at an angle.
Speaker 2:I'm going to fight someone?
Speaker 1:Do you know what I mean when you cut?
Speaker 2:them square.
Speaker 1:Because it gets sharp as hell. Stab yourself on one of those things.
Speaker 2:God, you pricks.
Speaker 1:And you're in the thick of it.
Speaker 2:You're rubbing up against the framing. I'm not saying I hate them or anything. There's always beef. No, let's stand on business.
Speaker 1:Fuck those guys. I'm just kidding. We know a lot of electricians. Personally, we've been trying to get on the podcast, so we're trying to just make it as as much. Uh, you know beef there, that there can be so that we can finally get these guys on, because there's a couple of our friends that we've been trying to convince for a while that they just won't come on like no, eventually they're gonna have to answer they're gonna have to speak for the whole electric community and we're gonna have to find the perfect one because, like you said, not only are they speaking for the whole community, but there's a lot of heat coming on them.
Speaker 1:That's a good point. That's a really good point. So if there's any electricians that are listening, um, we need you to reach out because we need someone to represent, because we're getting a lot of give and not a lot of take.
Speaker 3:Yeah, dude, I mean, it only backs up the claims even more that electricians suck because we know, like you said, a handful of them. We can't get one of them to come up.
Speaker 1:I like that I can see the episode now.
Speaker 2:Like the most hated, I will say. When I was on Framing Cruise, everything led, shit rolled downhill. If something wasn't square, it would always land on the dudes who poured the concrete at the end. Their job. They get there, they pour the concrete. They're never coming back. Good point Even if you shit on them, they're not there to defend themselves. Everything went oh, this is not square because of this. And then it boils down Fucking concrete guys.
Speaker 1:That's what you got to respect for the concrete guys though, Because they get a lot of the flack for stuff not being level whatever, but also these guys are the ones that are 20, 30 years old, looking like they're 50.
Speaker 3:These- guys are ruining their body off cigarette hanging off, just dangling there these guys living off of caffeine and nicotine and beers in the lunch cooler nicotine and a fucking dream baby yeah, heard that you ever see like so concrete finishers? They're always bent over, like you're either on your knees or you're bent over. And you can tell when you see a guy that's had 50 years of finishing experience because they walk like all hurtled over I feel like concrete guys have the biggest johnsonville sausage fingers. They're just all muscle around their bones yeah, just calloused as fuck for sure, like all concrete dude's hands are just like catcher's mitts're huge.
Speaker 1:That's one thing I have learned about brick guys too.
Speaker 3:Lifetime brick guys have so much hand strength that it is crazy. Dude, even Bean Boy's little bitch ass. He grabs my wrist. I'm fucking done. He can make me his bitch dude.
Speaker 1:This guy's like five foot, nothing as well. It's crazy to watch a man handle Sam around.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, he knows what he's doing, Sam go over there with a smile. I like to be a little spoon sometimes. Stop it, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:I don't like it so well, dayton, while we're at the tail end of this thing here, is there any knowledge bomb that you want to drop on the listeners? Anything that you want to shout out before we head out of here?
Speaker 2:Man, just this is cliche, but it boils down to something like I really believe in is like you just treat people how you want to be treated. That's it Like be respectful, like you might not know what someone's going through. And, yeah, just treat everyone with respect, be kind, try to do something good for somebody.
Speaker 1:Except electricians.
Speaker 2:No, we'll, we'll throw them in there. All right, he's too nice. These electricians aren't getting fired up enough yet, right, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, where can people find you on socials? You got a couple of things to plug I got a couple leaf and lumber.
Speaker 2:Where can they find leaf and lumber, leaf and lumber, leaf and lumber facebook, I think it's just leaf and lumber and then youtube you got a youtube channel so youtube? My youtube is dayton rivera.
Speaker 3:My instagram is dayton rivera vx media I never mind vx media is we're growing that okay.
Speaker 1:It's in the early stages.
Speaker 2:I'd say most of the stuff I post is on my personal Instagram, dayton Rivera. All the longer form YouTube videos is on YouTube, dayton Rivera boom Dayton Rivera.
Speaker 1:Yeah, check out Dayton's pod. Oh yeah, two.
Speaker 3:Scoops Podcast.
Speaker 1:Ice Fishing Podcast cool concept the microphones are on Two Ice fishing scoops. Go listen to it. Go check it out. Dayton, thank you for coming on today.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it guys absolute pleasure.
