Slow and Steady Wins The Roofing Race

And yeah, it's pretty awesome story. Like you work for them at one point doing, you know, general contractor type work. And I noticed something as you were talking, there was two main themes to what you're talking. I want, I want the people that are listening and the people that are watching to really hone in on that. Number one is you asked lots of questions. You're a question ask. And when you're into something you, you like, keep digging, keep digging, keep digging. For example, like the guy that was the first guy you went to work with in the insur and stuff, he noticed that you were asking lots of questions. He noticed that you were interested in what it was. And then as you got into it, you kept asking more questions, got into a little commercial stuff and like, okay, I'm asking questions about that. Like you're a big person, like gaining information and kind of a sponge for that. Is that something that's always been that way for you?

Yeah, I mean, ultimately, if I'm not getting my hands dirty, then I'm not truly going to know about it. Right. So when I got into the commercial space, excuse me, I actually did the repairs myself. I actually. The very first repair that I got awarded on that very first commercial building, I did the repairs myself. And I did have some guys that were with me that, that were going to help me do it. But I did the repairs myself because I wanted to understand and know exactly what it was going to take. Of course, I had some guidance from manufacturer reps and I asked them a lot of questions. I wanted to get more training, I wanted to know about the products. And I really jumped in and tried to not only get my hands dirty, but also educate myself because nobody was going to know more about what I'm trying to put out there and put what I'm trying to sell basically more than me, right? Because I can't go in and talk to somebody intelligently and make them feel like, you know, I like, I don't know what I'm talking about.

It's a common theme with anybody that I've ever to that's successful, that's mastered something that they have a specialty in. They are like sponges for information. They're constantly looking to get better at it. They don't ever think they've like achieved perfection and just sit back on things. They're constantly still going after it. And it's something I've always noticed about you from the very first time we ever met. You were drilling me from day one. And I don't think we started like day one, like there was a lot of, we were courting, we were dating a little bit to see if I had any value to you. And you were great at asking those questions. And I just think that's something that the people that pay attention to our show, they should see as like a common theme. As we've interviewed so many contractors and technology companies, marketing companies, the ones that are really good, man, they are into what it is that they do. They ask tons of questions. They know it from inside now. They know it from the application to the sales to the production, they know all facets of it. So whenever they're talking to somebody else, they're fully capable of talking about any part of the situation. Yeah, that's great. The other thing I noticed that whenever you were talking was, I think you said this word about 15 times, relationships and how important they are, especially in that commercial world. And you actually talked about in the residential world that you were going out, you were meeting people five, six, seven days a week, and those people were leading to other people for you. You were making great money. And then whenever you got into the commercial part of it, you were after these private investment companies that manage their own properties, which I think is a brilliant tactic, by the way. Um, and the idea that you, you knew that the relationship was the important part. And you're persistent, like, you're super persistent with sticking with like Dr. Horton. Took two years to get that. Where does that come from? Why, why, why the relate? Cause I've noticed it from the other side, like the people you're involved with. Chris Rochester, your partner, fantastic guy with numbers, knows finances good as anybody that I've met out there. But he opened over backwards for you. I mean, he's, he's ready to go to war with you, which is unbelievable. You've brought on a new vice president, Jason Laverick, and same type of thing. This guy like sold a company for a tremendous amount of money. We're talking nine figure numbers and he wants to come be a vice president of your company. That's that relationship thing with you. Why is that so important?

I don't think that you can truly give value to people if you don't have a strong relationship, you know, And I don't think you're going to get, you know, valuable business. I mean, the business will come. You have to be a real person. And I think that's what we do best is, you know, we're not trying to just make a buck, you know, we're trying to put food on the table. And I'm responsible about. For. About literally actual employees, about 40 employees. And I have to make the right decisions. And, you know, if I'm not a real, true, honest, sincere person, I wouldn't be doing those people any justice. And one of my mottos is, and I tell everybody in the company is that if you don't see opportunity here, then you need to move somewhere where you do feel that you have opportunity. So just. It's just ingrained in me for some reason that I just. I recognize that the relationship is going to be one of the strongest benefits or one of the strongest attributes or one of the strongest things that I need to do to ensure that we continue to grow the business with those clients. And now, you know, some of my clients, they're not. I just don't have a good relationship with them. They're like family. And we. Nobody touches their roofs. I have one, you know, my longest. That very first roof that I got on commercial. Well, it wasn't my first roof, but the. The very first commercial private investment company that I did work for that I was doing repairs for on my own. And now, you know, I've been doing business for them for about 11, 12 years, and they don't allow anybody to touch anything. Having to do that revolves around roofing. And. But we're like family now. It's not. It's not, you know, just, you know, we're the roofer. No, that's. That's Martin. That's. You know, we're like family. They support my family, they support my company's family, and vice versa. We take care of them, and they know that they can rely on me because we have that type of a relationship, and it's really important.

So I have a question about this relationship, because there's a few different schools of thought on it. Do you believe in having just a whole bunch of relationship, knowing everybody under the sun, or do you believe in it, like, just some key relationships that really bring value?

Yeah, like, just like I said earlier, I mean, you know, you can go and bid all the work in the world, right? What we've done is we've aligned ourselves with people that we know that do good business and work really, really hard to build those relationships with those. I'm not trying to bid for everybody. I don't want to do work for every last builder. I don't want to do work for every last gc, and I don't want to do work for every residential or commercial client, because not all good, not all business is good business. And we've learned that the hard way as well. So we try to, you know, turn away business sometimes if it just doesn't make sense. And they're not people that want that relationship. I had somebody tell me it's from a company that we're trying to do business with, because in the grand scheme of things, they're a really, really good company. I know a lot about them and they do a lot of work in Texas. And, you know, I was having a conversation with a construction vice president and he's like, well, look, man, you know, I was telling him, I was like, look, you know, my goal is to build a relationship with you. I mean, I need to be the one that you can depend on at all times. Like, look, I'm not really so big on the relationships, you know, because I just need somebody who's going to come in and do the job. I was like, well, that's exactly what I'm talking about. That is a relationship. You need somebody that you can depend on, and I recognize that and I know how to do that best. So there's nobody better than for you and your project, and this is a multimillion dollar project. There's nobody a better fit for your project than me, because I'm going to care about it because I truly value your business and I truly value the relationship. You know, I'm not just trying to give you the lowest bid. You know, if I can get, you know, to a place that, that works for the both of us, then that's where I need to be. But I probably won't be your lowest bid, and hopefully you can value that. And when you can see through our relationship that you can trust and count on me, then that little bit of that might not be the lowest bid. That little bit of a difference there. It's going to be valuable to you because at the end of the day, it might cost you more using the other guy.

So if I go over.

Yeah, we're still in talks with that while we've been bidding quite a few projects with them. But they, you know, in multi family, they. These we bid out, you know, it might be a year and a half before we actually, from the first time that we actually bid it to the time they actually break ground.

Yeah, it's one of the biggest challenges, especially when you're working with those builders that do, you know, volume houses or volume multifamily. It kind of comes down to a price thing. Their answer to a big corporation. The bottom line is important. And you hear it all the time. Like there's so many contractors that don't go after it because it just becomes a price ward. It's like who the cheapest, who they're going to get. And what you're telling me is, well, if you're persistent enough to build that relationship, they might create a little bit of value there that might actually make it worth it.

Yeah. And we've, we've honed in on, you know, where that threshold is at.

Right.

We understand that we have to be super competitive, but still be able to offer the service and still be able to be compensated to be able to offer the level of service that we provide. And you know, I can, you know, smoosh up with the best of them and I could talk to the best of them and the highest and you know, the majority of the time I'm able to get that opportunity. And once they see what we do, they're, they're okay with, you know, even if there is a little bit of a difference.

So, so just so everybody understands how important this type of thing is, the building of relationships. What kind of revenue did you guys do last year?

Last year I think we're somewhere around 10 or 11 million.

Oh, that's not bad. Eight figure company. You're welcome to the 1%. Only 1% of contractors achieve an eight figure company, so something to be proud of.