Hey, folks, welcome to Good News York. As always,
I am your host, Matt Major from Growth Mode Tech,
and joined by my goofy friend here. I'm not even
going to make fun of you today, because we got
something. Yeah, that's why I'm excited. Special.
That's why I'm dancing. You see the balloons.
I am not 50, by the way. You're not? No, I feel
like that's, as I was leading those in, I'm like,
I thought this was supposed to be. People are
going to think I'm older than I am. No, it's
our 50th episode. That's awesome. We don't, maybe
at the 100th episode we'll get actual sound effects
for that. I can't believe this. Yeah. And also
that's a funny premise. I didn't realize you
walk through the store with a 50 blow and they're
gonna be like, oh, that guy just turned 50. I
mean, my wife did pick him up for us. They're
gonna be like, oh, here's her husband turned
50. That's exciting, man. We made it 50 episode
you have and you know as we talked about yesterday.
We got half a million views Yeah, not long ago
impressions on all of our content that came straight
from here, so and our strategy is working Yeah,
our strategy is working, and we have a special
guest here today We do who probably didn't know
he was coming on the 50th episode mr.. Rick Austin
from Butler fence Thanks for having me guys.
How are you coming man? He's like, you remember
the old commercial at the drug store? You're
the 100th customer. Yeah, yeah. We should have
planned that. Yeah, we're not rich enough for
that yet. We are very happy to have you. Yeah,
we're very happy to have you and that you get
to share the 50th episode with us. I feel honestly
blessed. And I was hoping it was my 50th birthday.
Because I wouldn't go in the time warp and go
back 13 years. I get you. I've been 28 for like
10 years, man. It's great. You could actually
pass for it. Oh, stop it. Oil of Olay. Rick is
from Butler Fence, and he's going to tell us
a little bit about what they do. But I'm going
to tell you what, you've seen what they do because
they have been in business for so long that I
think everything in Syracuse has been surrounded
by Rick. Over 50 years. That's incredible. See?
50 years. That's actually what the balloons were
for. There you go. We knew is what it was. That's
what it was. Rick, tell us your story. How did
Butler Fence come to be and how are we get here
today? So back in the day, my father had a nice
job over at Bristol at the time and had some
side businesses, side hustles. He owned some
property. So a lot of his buddies would come
to him for certain loans. One of his buddies
could put up fence. And my father kind of found
out if I loaned this guy the money for the material,
he would do these jobs on his off time. and I
was making a profit off him working and doing
this for me. So he kind of got into it kind of
as a side hustle. Burnett Park Zoo was being
built in like 71 and he went out to the bid and
thought, hey, this would be a pretty big job
for me at the time. He met a man at the time
named Larry Butler who had just started his own
little business. They realized that the job's
a little big for both of us. They bit it together.
And honestly, voila, they got the job. My father
retired within a year or two from Bristol. And
honestly, basically was the chief person. He
kind of bought Larry out fairly quickly. Wow.
But he kept the name. Sure. He kept the name
because kind of had a good little slogan. Why
not say the butler did it? I love that. That's
my kind of my kind of tagline there. That's great.
And my dad was very much into being one of these
incognito. Oh, I mean, he used to drive. I mean,
he had a Cadillac in the garage. He drove like
a beat up Chevy Impala because he didn't want
he he was the king of Burnett Ave, as I used
to call a lot of little pubs in Burnett Ave.
And he was the king. Sure. And didn't want really
his buddies to know he'd really hit the big time.
whatever, big time. Yeah, yeah. Big time for
sure. But so that's kind of how it started. So
I've been doing this since I was old enough to
go in the warehouse, probably too young to be
in the warehouse, like 10, 11 years old, picking
parts, sweeping floors, cutting boards. And that's
kind of all I've done. I did go away to college.
And honestly, inspired to do what you guys do.
I mean, I really I went to school out in New
Mexico and majored in broadcasting. We used to
have a live broadcast with we were like a PBS
station. Nice. If you've seen what the movie
was a landman, the old series out there in West
Texas. Yeah, we're about an hour from that in
a while in the eastern New Mexico Plains really
down there, down there Clovis. And so it was
farm country. So our little college had like
a 90 -mile radius of PBS. It was where those
people got their news back in the, I'm going
to date myself, late 70s. I was in college a
long, long, long time ago. Unfortunately, I mean,
I had a face made for whatever. I really didn't
go as far as I thought I would do in that, you
know? And honestly, I always knew my family had
the business. And so I came right back from college
and just kind of took over the business. Well,
the good news is, though, now you can, you know,
you can start your own. podcast there or your
own production of any sort you know the the the
technologies in all of our hands now so and you've
made a great living doing butler we could not
do what you do i can tell you that um and you
know i mentioned you've probably seen their stuff
around you've probably also even seen Kind of
their headquarters as well without maybe realizing
it They are on the end of State Fair Boulevard
right before you get on the highway You're like
what's what's over there if I were to keep going?
That's where Rick is but also right along 690
right by the water They have a beautiful display
of a bunch of their different fences and a huge
side We do the billboard guys would kill you
for that that's seen that yeah, okay, okay? Incredible
spot there that I can't imagine doesn't drive
some business for you from time to time I literally
have not spent a dollar on I've been back in
the day was yellow pages or whatever phone books
all that stuff Radio I don't spend a dollar.
I mean, I've got a whatever you guys helped me
with got a little place to get a We kind of do
very well out in the Fairmount Camillus if you're
coming in from Fulton a suigo Yeah, a lot of
people come by one of my daughters majored in
marketing and she was showing me this video and
she was like do you realize the subliminal people
might not know they need a fence but they pass
you a hundred times a month yeah and eventually
when when it comes up and so we do we do very
well and I'm not gonna lie well and you also
got those and I mean we got one right on the
the property right next here that I look at every
day when we come in you got those nice little
signs on a lot of the fences that say Butler
right there and that that branding is all over
town which is I if my if my Nick my middle name
wasn't put a sign on it I don't know what it
is because every job that goes out I tell the
guys I don't care if it's repair I don't care
if it's a gate I don't care if it's a corner
post sure once we do that fence that's our fence
I don't care who did it before get our name I
mean, you guys owe me. I don't have to spend
the money so I can pay you guys the money. Sure.
I mean, I think the biggest thing for me are
and my brother's involved, too. I don't want
to despair. My brother, my brother and I are
our partners in this. But I think our guys kind
of like I mean, it's a tough job. Sure. I mean,
not everyone wants to dig holes for a living,
right? But we have a really good relationship
with the guys. I mean, we are not of the you
know, whip you got to get this done. We are of
the compassion like do your best. you know, make
some progress. Yeah. And if it takes an extra
day, I want it done the right way. Sure. Do it
like it's at your house. You know, don't you
don't have to ask me how to do it. I'm right
on the site. Make it look like you would want
to at your house. That's right. Do the best you
can. And then and honestly, we, we do a lot.
I mean, we do 600 fences a year. So for so over
50 years, we got, you know, quite a few things
out there. And You know, whatever I don't get
a lot of callbacks. Yeah, I've got a good rating
with the BBB and That's one of those things that
I love to just as a business guy to look at,
you know, you talk about a niche Yeah, everybody's
got buildings, you know, you're putting up a
house You're putting up whatever and these are
all different pieces and in the fact that they
can take just one piece of that massive puzzle
and build a great business for for half a century
is Incredible yeah, and I'll tell you what I
you have an incredible reputation around town
so Thank you. I think we passed this on to Victoria
in your office at one time, but I'm in a Group
for business professionals locally and we got
sign of a forum on Facebook where they ask questions
and things and somebody one day says Hey, I bought
this new commercial property. I got to put some
stuff around my parking lot. Who do you recommend?
And I was going to jump into the comments and
say Butler. And before I got there, every comment,
Butler, Butler, Butler, Butler. And it was incredibly
impressive because you can just tell just the
reputation around town. And there are other companies
that do it. And usually in those interactions,
you see somebody dominates, but there's a couple
call outs to the rant. 100 % that's huge and
love to hear and it was like you know what these
guys definitely have the reputation that Is great,
and we're happy to work with you as we have for
a while I give you a lot of credit for that because
we live in an age now where it's hard to maintain
a perfect reputation because there's social media
and people embellish and people can say what
they want and he's right when I was looking you
up because I knew you were coming on the show
me everything was aces man and I wanted to tell
you, you are a real man because let me tell you,
I had a neighbor who decided he was going to
put in his own fence, okay? We, collectively,
there's like five or six of us that are friends
on the block, guys, and we have our own text
group. We all individually got invited throughout
the days. He was like, I need help. This was
no joke. We're talking digging and then putting,
Rocky, when he was training for Ivan Drago, just
putting in these wooden posts and pillars into
the ground. That is real deal grunt work. Did
he do it the old school way or do you guys still
do it that way? Are there now machines? I mean
I'll touch from so from the 70s to I mean look
I mean We still do it that way on occasion. There's
there's certainly job sites that you cannot get
machinery into I mean nowadays we do have small
hydraulic equipment and we've got bigger hydraulic
equipment Yeah, and we can get to more jobs and
then you just end up going back and seeding out
yards and stuff, but But if there's an existing
fence, and I only have to replace two posts,
I'm not bringing equipment in. You're doing it
the old fashioned way. You're bringing a hard
bar. And the funny thing is I look at you guys,
and I shook both your hands. And you could certainly
do the work. But believe it or not, I've got
guys half your size, like little toothpick guys,
that they weigh 150 pounds. One of my guys, he's
like 6 '1", 135 pounds. I mean, I don't know
what he'd. But he can put up a stinking fence.
Yeah. I mean, and he will work his butt off,
you know, whatever he's got to do to get it in.
And it's it's to listen. I'm amazed. It's I'm
amazed. My neighbor said and he's an immigrant
from China. OK. And I as a professor at Ithaca
College, I think he said it was the hardest work
he's ever done in his life. He's like I had no
idea why you hire professionals right all the
more reason to call Butler fence a hundred percent
You said you had five five kids five Is this,
are you passing it down? Are they in the business
yet or are they going to be? So my middle son,
my oldest son was for a few years. His girlfriends
got a great job and they've moved a few times.
And so he did it for a while. He did it for like
10 years. And I thought, you know, he was the
lead horse to do it. But, you know, his new Girlfriend
who we love it'll happen. Yeah, so they're relocating
down near Poughkeepsie as we speak and But she's
got a great job and he's he found something different
and a different field and you know But my middle
son is my really my number one salesman now Wow,
and he's been doing it for about five years He's
he'll be 30 this year He's just a natural. I
mean he's honestly I feel like he's my mini me
he just But he's twice as good as I I mean it's
like dude you are kept. I don't think he knows
how good he's killing it That's great as far
as sales go But I don't pay him enough to make
them. I believe that doing like my father did
the carrot, you know, in front of the horse type
thing. Sure. He does. You do that. And then my
youngest son is still in the trenches. So he's
working and he's he's out in the field. He has
his own truck and he runs his own crew. Wow.
But we kind of teach all the boys, you know,
this is before you get in the office, you're
doing this for X number of years. Yeah. And I
have plans in one or two years he'll be ready
to move on in. That's great. And then both my
daughters were smart. Honestly, I really wanted
my youngest daughter to really run the business.
Gotcha. The other one got her doc. She was going
to be in the medical field and then she's incredible.
But the other one who was into marketing, I'm
like, Brent, you should you you run these boys,
let them just do the sales. You I mean, sure.
But She moved to Brooklyn as well to be near
her sister and they you know, you know if she's
into marketing though I'll tell you what there's
she's huge value gonna have no shortage opportunities
there She was home a couple days ago and she
showed me her computer what she manages like
some Wow. I'm like I can't even Yeah, you know
you said your son is like world's better at it
than you are. And I just was talking about how,
you know, I have a daughter, an older daughter,
and then our second kid is my son, we have a
boy. And he just turned, he's about to turn six,
and I'm going through this thing that, you know,
you prepare for different things when you're
a dad, you know, like, you're like, I know this
is coming. What I didn't. Expect to come was
he is so much fucking cooler than I was already
at six years old Yeah, and he's already more
athletic, and it's like this this mix of pride
and joy and then just sadness and jealousy and
So I know what you're going through when you're
like look at my boy. He's better at this than
I am I don't know how to handle it, but you'll
you'll be happy, but make sure it does make you
proud for sure that's for sure Rick, let's talk
a little bit about fences. So, obviously there's
a bunch of different types. What's kind of common?
What's in trend? Are we still doing the wooden
with the curve? Are we doing all vinyl? You know,
what's people doing? Vinyl is about 50 -50 now
with wood. You know, some people love vinyl some
people, you know don't but it is definitely it's
it's more mainstream the Listen, I mean not to
talk politics or anything, but with the tariffs
and my cedar comes out of Canada I mean valid
it my cedar just went up 17 % Wow And that's
a real number. I hate to, you know, you know,
even be. But that's what's going on. I'm a small
business. And, you know, so so now. And it's
funny because vinyl really so so far has withheld,
you know, all those. you know, price increases.
Aluminum's up quite honestly 14%, steel's up
22%. And so those are all, but vinyl has held
steady. So now all of a sudden my cedar and my
vinyl are, if it wasn't for gates, they would
be dollar for dollar at this point. At least
for the basic, like a dog ear cedar fence. With
the vinyl, you still put sort of a wooden...
No wood. There is no wood. It's a hollow vinyl
5x5 post and it's actually made to go a little
bit with a high wind, but ours is very heavy
duty. Listen, I'm not going to get into what
I sell to the competition, but mine's better
people. Clearly. I want something good. I don't
want callbacks. I'll pay a little more for it,
but it's a good wall thickness. On the gates,
they do get an aluminum insert. So that whole
five inch is actually an aluminum post, which
gets sleeved with vinyl, but no wood. So now
you don't have to worry about your wood warping.
You don't have to worry about it deteriorating.
That fence, if done right, should last 50 plus
years. For the installer side, is it any quicker
or longer to install that versus wood? The post
installation, because these are big holes and
there's no cheating on the vinyl. So the installation
typically of the post takes definitely longer
than it does on wood. I see. But now the vice
versa, the finish, the vinyl pops in kind of
like a Lego. you know, game at the end. So that
if you set it correctly and take that a little
extra time, the finish is much easier. The wood,
you're carrying out the wood and we do it all
stick built. Yeah, very little panels. So that
way we can follow nothing in Syracuse or central
New York's flat. So this way you can follow grades
better, you know, make a nicer looking fence.
I wasn't even thinking about that. That's got
to be an interesting challenge, right? They keep
the top at the same point. But you're trying
to write at least flow with the. and if a yard
dips, you kind of have to dip with it a little
bit, but you try to take that out and it's, listen,
it's kind of artwork. And I've got like, again,
we've been doing this a long time, but my average,
I run 10 trucks right now, except for my one
son who's 25. My other nine guys that are running
my crews have been doing this 20 plus, I mean,
I've got a couple of guys that are over 30 years
with me. You know, you know, I mean that says
so they they really do some beautiful work and
they know the terrain They know how to lay it
out ahead of time. They've seen every you know
challenge Not that there's not always you know,
there's challenges again. I always do a job I
defer to them and just always say yeah however,
whatever is the the best way, and best way's
not always the quickest way, you know? But it's...
Well, that goes back to your neighbor's story
of why you use professionals. He was on a hill,
too. Yeah, and he was on a hill. And I've got
one of my foremen, Mark, who just loves to come
in, and I love him. I mean, he's just very in
tune with, you know, I mean, he's a piece. but
he'll come in and he'll just start giving me
these waving and arm motions. I had to do this.
Yes, he's into it. And so, yeah, people under
appreciate what they do. Not us. You know, and
and then we do a lot of chain link to commercially.
So the way my brother and I split up our business,
he's more blue. However, it turned out, you know,
he's kind of more blue collar. He's more into
the. putting the fence together. I was always
more into the bookworm part and sure, taking
care of the numbers for the company. So we split
the business up. Similarly, I run the residential
and he runs the commercial. Gotcha. So commercially,
which is, you know, roughly 50 per, you know,
at least 50 percent. Ninety percent of that or
80 percent is chain link. Gotcha. Eight foot
chain link, six foot chain link barbed wires,
big slide gates. prison work, highway work, all
sorts of stuff. So he and my, and we're really
truly a family business. Our cousin is our other
main estimator. I mean, our moms, I mean. Him
and his sister are like my brother, you know
pseudo brother and sister, you know, because
the four of us all Grew up really close together.
So so he's worked for us for 20 -plus years So
it's it's my brother and him run our commercial
me and my son Nick run the residential Is there
is there a So let's say you're talking to a client
I gotta ask this is there is there a type of
fence where you go They say I want this type
of fence and you're like, yes, that's the easiest
or they're like I want this type of fence You're
like, oh boy. What what? Yeah, so what's what's
the hardest and what's the well chain link is
the easiest? Okay, so I had my money. You could
only do chain link And just run the business
on a hundred percent chain link I would because
there's really It goes up really quick and generally
speaking the margins on it or you know, you know
are pretty good But all that said I mean Certain
it's not so much the type of fence because I
can do a fence on a hill or whatever, right?
But it's it's the hill. It's like you want me
to put the fence there, right? It's not even
the type of fence. It's more where you want the
site itself. Yeah. I mean, we, we just did. I
mean, I love these street names. Old quarry road.
It's like, what do you think you're gonna hit
when you get told? Right? And this is that it's
a real street up there in the DeWitt Fayetteville
area. But a lot of big shots live. I mean, it's
very nice, very prestigious. But they literally
have, I mean, because I've done some fences,
a sheer wall. I mean, where There's a cliff there.
Yeah. And certain people are buying homes, realizing,
holy crap, for 40 years, Mr. and Mrs. Smith never
put a fence there. And I'm putting a fence there.
So I just did something like that, just like
last week. I sent an extra crew on it. I'm going,
guys, you're going to have to. And first of all,
it's way back in this property. Yeah, it's way,
way in the back. So you got to do a lot of walking.
Could not bring literally any equipment. So we
we do have handheld jackhammers like battery
-driven So so we brought, you know, let's get
brought a few of those out And I heard we had
a jackhammer roughly half the holes. Otherwise
these guys I'm telling you I've really got Stay
with me guy. I've got the greatest guys. That's
I mean, I mean they didn't quit on me on that
job In fact, they were there at day because I
gave them a cut even an extra day. They're like
one day Do you guys do strictly just installation
or do you do any sort of repair at all? We do
tons of repairs. Do you? Okay, good to know.
And a lot of what we do in wood in particular,
listen, I love wood because wood as a light,
you know, chain link will last, if you really
want it, it's gonna last 50 plus years. Wow.
I mean, you know, same with the vinyl, same with
the ornamental aluminum. Wood as a shelf life.
I love wood. It means business. That's like keep
on buying wood because So I I mean again, we've
been doing this 50 odd years I myself been doing
almost 40 I've seen certain customers six seven
times or I mean it's like I my phone Yeah, my
wife's like why don't you delete those people?
I'm like I said you never know when they call
right and I get calls to this day You know hey
Rick you still doing fence and it's like yeah,
you kidding me like I'm doing it till I drop
we had it we had a wooden the old classic wooden
picket fence at our last house that we lived
in and we were right off of a kind of a highway.
And every two seats, it was a great fence, but
every two seasons, you know, after winter, I'd
have to paint it, you know, but it was a beautiful
fence. So I guess that's the only problem with
wood. You do the vinyl now and you never have
to do it. Exactly. Exactly. But certain people,
I mean, honestly, when my wife and I moved to
our new place, the place that we're in now, my
immediate reaction was, I mean, we got a couple
acres. I just had one day, but I just wanted
to do a straight line of fans and I threw up
some vinyl. and then since then we we bought
we got a Frenchie who is literally like our kids
are all older pretty much out of the house it's
like well we needed something to empty nest you
know so we got him and all of a sudden I was
like all right crap I got to put a fence up for
this guy is nuts yeah he's just right so and
I did wood on most of my other part of my property
and it's like all right and she's it's driving
her crazy she goes I cannot have two different
places in my yard make sense so And I live out
in the woods and the woods. So there are a lot
of situations, I think, that wood looks more
natural. Absolutely. Yeah. What's the key? Just
using the right kind of stain to keep the propeller
along the life? Personally, so I'd like just
let it go natural. Really? That's the way I like
to do it. Like unstained? Just let it go. OK.
It's going to turn gray. I think that's part
of the charm. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah gives it like
a rustic real because once you do like you mentioned
once you start that process You're and you got
to stick with it. You've got to stick with that
and I love honestly when people do it too. I
mean, sorry people But if you do it too soon,
you actually seal the moisture into these. Yeah,
you got it and it rots quicker, right? You're
supposed to live it like let it go for a year
on Season. Yeah when we had a new deck same thing.
It was like let the wood Go for a year and warp
and do what it's got to do. So many people don't
even after we tell them that they're so anxious.
It's like, it looks like we just did it in June
or July. You can't be putting something on this
September. No, you got to wait a year. And people
then are like, oh, it didn't last for 25 votes
because yeah, you sealed all the destroyed it.
Yeah. So those, you know, I don't like those
conversations, but it does. You know, it happens.
Only lead a horse to water. That's it. Can't
make me drink it. Yeah, primarily It's chain
link wood vinyl aluminum, but on the commercial
side we do guard rail We do flag poles we do
you do electric fences We don't really do farm
type that's right for that there's actually one
or two guys that that's kind of all they do Wow,
there's a niche within it within the niche you
could be a Electric fence business. There's IT
guys specialize in farms. They do nothing but
Make Wi -Fi work all over the outdoor space.
That's kind of fun. That's a whole conversation.
We need to have that's wild Rick we're almost
out of time, but I want to ask you one quick
question, especially Since you talked about the
residential side and your dog Is there anything
special you need to do if folks say I really
want to protect from an animal that might be
trying to dig under fences and things like that?
Do you go above and beyond to kind of seal things
off or what do you do? Certain people do request
that. I mean not as much as they did in the past.
I mean, listen, certain animals. So we don't
really do that very often. Gotcha. I mean, we
just don't I mean, but our fences are tied to
the ground. And it's going to keep and like I
tell everybody, nine out of 10 people that are
doing a fence at some point are going to have
an animal either they want to keep their animal
in. And that could even be a child. But you know,
they were going to keep something in Danny and
keep you know, other people. So privacy is, I
mean, back in the 70s, 80s, Every but you know,
listen they think I called these people farms,
you know, they wipe out every tree sure they
build these developments and Everyone's you know
fairly on top of each other. Yeah, and I mean
I just see to change change Remember when they
used to do the slats in the chain link. Yes That
yes, I used to put and very commercial, you know
where they put the privacy slats. They used to
be diagonal. Oh Like the green yeah. Yeah be
the first thing the kids walking by would break
and yes often that means not very you know and
I see it all the time still as far as most you
know more people are getting rid of those sure
sure still up but around the pool like if you
had a pool a lot of the people that had pools
would have those chain link was primary I mean
that was it and there was no vinyl at that point
yeah and wood was basket we there wasn't much
choice on wood I mean yeah I feel like we brought
this stick built thing here to Syracuse. That's
all where I'd went to a few trade shows instead
of people using panels. They're all selling one
by six. And I'm like, well, that's going to work
for us because instead of teachers, there's composite
decking. But I never really thought is there
composite fencing? It's very expensive. It's
not. Well, during the pandemic, we did our our
deck and we were going to do a wood deck just
re you know, that was when wood was we did composite
because composite was cheaper than the lumber
during the pandemic. So which ended up In the
long run now we have a deck that's gonna you
know last long days are probably gone But yeah,
but they do have composite fence and they do
it's very you know And people are going more
with the colors the art Brown's they want you
know and that stuff You know I mean if my fences
say 50 bucks a running foot that stuff's like
50 % higher that color but more and more people
I kind of always said Syracuse is kind of a Chevy
market. I mean, it's just, you know, it's not
about, you know, we're not, it's very simple,
you know, very fairly, but there's even, even
though you don't see, there's people are holding
on to their homes now. So their value just all
went up 50 to a hundred and they're not going
to move and they've got a little maybe extra
money and they're putting it. Time to make it
look even prettier. Yeah. Yep. For sure. And
now with all these home improvement shows, you
see all the beauty that you can do. And there
are certainly fences that can beautify your home.
And the one thing that drives me more nuts than
anything is going into these areas where you're
talking four or $500 ,000 homes, all gorgeous.
And I see a POS Home Depot vinyl. Oh, yeah, they
tried to do themselves. And it's just must drive
you nuts. That's like, I could have made this
a showcase instead. I'm like, So you see them
strap the panels to the roof of their SUV? Yeah,
yeah Like you mentioned they have no idea what
they're getting into the most are probably only
half the depth They're supposed to be Yeah, it
seems simple, right? You build it around and
here we go. Before we go, we want you to hit
the plugs, anything you want to plug. But I got
to ask, do most fencing companies or yourself,
do you charge by square foot? Is that how the
pricing works? It's not really that way. I mean,
there are, right. It's material because really,
I mean, I have a panel price and a post price
and a gate price. OK. And then a labor price.
Now, obviously, a guy that's doing 50 feet versus
250 feet, I can discount that accordingly. 50
feet, I don't really have a lot of room on that.
So if you did a per foot thing, you know, so.
So it is kind of a sliding scale. Yeah. Makes
sense. You're talking about, you know, you go
50 feet straight up a hill like you're talking
about. That's a different, different ball game.
Three day job versus a one or something, you
know. So the salesman, you know, and I get, you
know, I've got one or two of my competitors love
to do that online thing. And I'm thinking. I
can't imagine what their guys are going through
without anyone getting their eyes on that. Yeah,
not every job is a flat piece of paper. Sure,
it'd be most often not. So that's incredible.
Well, old fashioned. What? So Rick Austin, Butler
Fence. What's what's the best way for folks to
get? Yeah. Well, our website is well, if you
have an inquirer, I guess it's sales. It's easy
enough. Send your pictures, send a request, or
just call our number. Debbie has been with me
for... That Debbie won't go Debbie's I'm not
supposed to say her age, but she's Well, yes,
she's been 50 for almost 20 years now Well, and
she can't do man just loves to come in and she's
been the face of my place for that's all 40 odd
years I love that. So give her a call at three
one five four two two eight four 10. And she'll
get you one of the guys scheduled to come out
either. I still do two or three estimates a day
just to get out of the office. So once in a while,
you even get the owner out there, and people
are always amazed. They really are. They do.
It's the same way. You go to a restaurant, and
you like to see the owner come out and talk to
the tables. It's kind of cool. You're the best,
Rick. Thank you so much for coming. Guys, thanks
for having me. I really appreciate it. This has
been great, Rick. We really appreciate it. For
sure. We will definitely have you back. And anytime
you got something interesting to... Going on
or or a promotion anything like that. We're more
than happy to absolutely help spread the word
so Rick Austin Butler fence We will be back because
we are gonna celebrate our 50th episode And I
think Danny's gonna come on talk about the new
Nintendo switch that yeah, we got some surprises.
We got some nerd Yeah, it's it's good news York
brought to you by ads on the go get ads on the
go calm It'll actually be worth sticking around
Org yeah, no ads on the go. I do get ads on the
go. That's it calm. We'll be back Now we're back.
Oh, we're on oh, yeah, he never stopped what
is this? Oh, hey, buddy. Oh, hey, look. Oh, this
is weird. Yeah, I'm freaking out. Yeah, wrong
transport side Our man Danny It's fitting that
is Barely awake because he spent all his night
all his time last night in multiple nerd lines
to get a new game system We're gonna talk about
that in a minute. Mm -hmm, but first We got to
celebrate the big five. Oh, the 50th episode.
No one here is 50 years old. I just want to still
make that very clear. But with the 50th episode,
this is exciting. And, you know, we've been at
this technically like for what, four months?
Yeah. That's a lot of episodes. It is. I'm really
happy. I have to say I want to thank both of
you because none of this would happen without
you. And Danny, you don't get enough credit.
You're always behind the scenes. I'm glad you're
sitting here to talk about the switch. But more
importantly, so people can see your beautiful
face. Yeah. Because you do produce the show for
us. And you do an amazing job. And at Growth
Mode Content, you do an amazing job as well.
We still don't know what your job title is, whatever
you do. But it's awesome, and we love you. So
this is great, guys. He's the head ginger in
charge. Yeah, Todd, what's going on with this?
Because now I'm getting excited. I was at the
local comic book store, Larger Than Life. Shout
out to them. They got a great retro game con
event, I think, coming up sometime soon. They're
not paying me to say that, so I should shut up.
But anyway, as I was shopping around, looking
for a couple of things, and I'll tell you specifically
why later, I ran into these grab bags. They got
these grab bags, and I'm going to tell you they're
themed. Do we grab them? And they are Funko Pops,
right? But these are gifts for you two fellas
to celebrate our 50th. Hold on. But it'll also
be fun to see what's in the bag. Funko Pops?
That's a form of bobblehead, and you know what?
I love bobbleheads. I was trying to decide who
gets what. And you know what? I've decided I'm
going to leave it up to you fellas. So I got
80s classics and television. I love all of that.
Who wants which one? Oh, fuck. Well, I mean...
You have to fight each other to the death. I
feel like the easy answer... Danny's 10 years
younger than us, so I feel like I should take
the 80s classics, but I do love television. That's
solid logic. Danny, what do you think? I'm guessing...
Do you have a strong...? I guess my assumption
was 80s classics could potentially be 80s classics
TV, but it doesn't actually say that, so it's
a mystery. All right, you know what? I'll take
80s classics. Danny, how do you feel about television,
buddy? That's fine. We could do like a deal or
no deal. Do you want to switch briefcases? I'll
give you one last chance to switch briefcase.
OK. All right. And let's do this. There's a few
of these things in each bag. So let's open them
and we'll take them one by one. And since you
got to pick, Danny, you you reveal the first
prize in this magical grab bag. So exciting.
Larger than shout out to Funko and ads on the
go. GNY sponsored by ads on the go all right
here. We go the first one in the television grab
bag You got Elaine from sign holy shit. That's
awesome fucking all right. That's awesome You're
acting like you're surprised. You bought them.
Bro, I bought them like this. I don't know what
the fuck's in it. Oh, you didn't pick them out?
No, they're just like this on the shelf. Oh,
holy shit. Oh, this has just got way cooler.
All I know about it is that theme that they wrote
on the bag. I was like, may I have time to do
this? Yeah. I literally grabbed it as an impulse
item next to the register. That's because I was
like, that's a really good acting. You were like,
no way. and I was like, dude, you bought them.
It's funny that you thought that I knew what
was in there. I did. Well, I don't know. Let's
see. You pop one out. Let's see what you got.
Yep. Oh my god, this is so fun. Pop one out.
I'll pop one out. Never mind. What do we got
from the 80s classics? I got Webster. I don't
know who that is. I thought it was Masters of
the Universe. He -Man? Oh, I did used to watch
He -Man. I did watch it. Why don't I remember?
I fucking love He -Man. I don't remember Web
Store either. That's what I mean. At first I
got excited. I thought it was Webster from the
TV show. The little kid. What you talking about,
Willis? Yeah. No, that's... See, Webster always
gets looped in with different strokes. Webster
had the clock that he could go in and the...
Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But it's not him.
It's Web Store. Okay, listen. I'm not complaining
all right all right, and I loved I loved he Danny
What's number two in the bag Webster web store
Skeletor right? This is a bit of a deep cut.
Oh what? I don't know if you're familiar with
black mirror. Yes, but we have Robert Daly oh
Which episode yeah? Oh my god. What? I don't
want to spoil it for anybody. It's okay. It's
okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You find out at the end
like the weird twist is he's like programmed
this Star Trek episode with his co -workers and
he's in a simulation and stuff like that. I feel
like I need to watch this. I've never seen this.
Black Mirror is good. Very niche but great great
episode. Awesome. I knew who he was. Solid Funko
Pop. Alright here we go. What do you got number
two for Mike subway? Get the fuck out of kidding.
I'm fucking kidding Jesus that was 90s was that
super collector got this is no Yeah, the chick
from GI Joe the Baroness. I loved GI Joe what
and Listen on Saturday mornings in the 80s little
Mikey got made fun of because he stopped watching
G .I. Joe because Jem and the Hologram started
at the same time and I liked watching that better.
Of course you did. But this is great. G .I. Joe,
come on. Go Joe. Yeah. Go Joe. All right, this
last one. Knowing is half the battle. This one
is probably, well, I don't know. You're damn
right. This one is Fun Run Dwight. Get the fuck
out of here. I'm gonna slit your throat for that.
You got a Dwight? I will slit your throat for
that. Oh, the other options are kind of crazy.
You got fun run Andy and Michael with a check.
Oh my god. That's awesome. Fun run Dwight. That's
incredible. I don't know what my third one is,
but I am wildly jealous of that. That's incredible.
See? I know. You picked. Just because I thought
you wouldn't know any of them. Young lad ironically.
I think that was the cheaper bag right one is
cheaper than the other one Never mind. Holy shit.
Holy shit. What is it? What fucking Michelangelo?
Ninja Turtles, dude. I I loved the Ninja Turtles
Ghostbusters Ninja Turtles GI Joe Masters of
the universe, dude. I could kiss you right now.
Please don't I won't that's outstanding. That
is this is a good This was a good batch. Matt,
thank you. Happy 50th episode, fellas. We didn't
get you anything. It's okay. Here, have sep -tor.
Danny's gonna give me the switch, right? No.
Uh, wow, I don't know what to say other than
thank you, dude. This is great. Happy 50th. GI
Joe Ninja Turtles, so let's uh with that being
said let's take two minutes and talk about Danny's
video game adventure. Yeah, dude What you were
you were fucking in it started you were getting
you look really early for this yesterday I left
work early so I managed to get over to the GameStop
at 3 and I was like oh, this isn't bad. There's
no yeah you messaged us You're like whoa. I thought
it was gonna be way more than this when I got
inside. It was all the way they'd like went all
the way deep back and they they had I was like
47th out of 50 people were there to like get
a switch and uh yeah waited in that line for
probably an hour and a half paid for it in full
at like three or four o 'clock 4 30 and uh went
home did some work and then came back I ended
up falling asleep and luckily I sent an alarm
because I know myself but I woke up and was like
I'm just going to go back to bed. I can just
go and get it tomorrow. But I was like, you know
what? I'm up now. So I went 1201. They opened
up their doors, but they're only letting in five
people at a time. So that took forever. I think
I got over or got through it by like 130 in the
morning. Gotcha. And then from there. One of
our pre -orders fell through for retro game con
so we needed a switch for the convention. Oh
I decided I'm in that Marshall's Plaza over in
DeWitt. Shout out to them. I went over to the
Best Buy There's like 150 people standing outside.
They're just surrounding the front of the building.
It was like a zombie apocalypse, but with nerds
Indistinguishable same one side is for people
who pre -ordered the other side goes out to the
the weeds it was like what's the a League of
their not a League of their own League of their
own. There's no crying in baseball. Feel the
dreams. Feel the dreams. I felt like I was going
to go to the cornfield. They have to wait in
line for the switch. But yeah, so I waited there.
You paid some kid to cut the line. No, it was
crazy. So I showed up and there was this older
woman with her son and she was like, oh yeah,
you missed out. They're sold out. And I was like.
Son of a and she was like, oh, I'm just kidding
with you. So every everybody to the whole area
had a little piece of paper and knocked some
kids mom out Yeah, great joke lady Yeah, so I
waited in line there and Probably at 2 30. I
got handed a sheet of paper. That was like this
will guarantee that you have a switch console
and It was crazy was I was the end of the line
for the longest time and then probably like 3
30 in the morning more people were showing up
People must have been calling other people to
tell them. This is wild. Wake your ass up. Nuts.
So I got home around 4 .30 and then went to bed
and woke up. My god, and you haven't even played
the thing yet. No, I turned it on, plugged everything
in. Made sure it worked. Yeah, made sure the
screen wasn't busted. That was the thing this
morning. Game stops, certain game stops, I think
in Long Island, they stapled the bridge to the
box and it went through and pierced the screen.
So there's like two or three cases of... Can
you imagine after all that coming home? And it's
an expensive device. So you spend like a guy
from Nintendo is going to show up to that store
and just start. Do people do people go all out
for these and like like dress up cosplay or is
it just you're waiting in line? I mean, maybe
in bigger cities. So here I'll show I'll share
our buddy Phil Farta in the stage time trivia
crew actually hosted a party at a GameStop location
out in the Utica area. It's brilliant. I love
that. I absolutely love that. So my retro game
con friends were making fun of me last night
because I'll kick their ass somebody in there
somebody in the discord shared this wide shot
that they were there in line and I happened to
be in there and We'll share this with you. It
looks like footage of like we're looking for
this man. I was miserable. There was a person
behind me. This was only at twelve oh five in
the morning. I just like had woken up. Were you
drinking or anything? No, I was just probably
would have been happier. There was a guy behind
me with a speaker. blasting video game music,
like, super loud. So that person caught it just
at the moment where I turned around and was like,
you gotta be kidding me, right? Yeah, I mean,
it says it all on your face. You literally look
like a, just like a fugitive on the run in that
picture. I was gonna be. Wanted for questioning.
Right, right. You're playing music, don't be
that guy. So, I'm not gonna... Make you demonstrate
the thing since you haven't played it, but I'd
love to You know next week after you've you've
gone, so we need a review of a full review of
the device What you love what you don't do? Real
quick question What will be your first game?
What are you gonna try to play first great question?
Probably Mario Kart that okay came bundled with
it probably gotcha I love that and it's a brand
new for this platform Mario Kart. I don't know
if you're familiar with it, but the The Switch
didn't have its own Mario Kart. Gotcha. It was
a rebrand of the Mario Kart that was released
on the Wii U. So it was Mario Kart 8. Then on
the Switch, it was Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. All right.
Yeah, they added... I was... Yoshi was my guy
in Mario Kart. Who was your character? Princess?
Yeah. You strike me as a... I'm a big Luigi fan.
Luigi was good. He was probably my second choice.
I usually go Mario. You just go straight up Mario?
Classic, yeah. Can't go wrong. Don't it's a me
money. Oh, it's a me. I'm audio Of course should
be the winner, right? So like the iPhone a lot
of times people that are like in line to get
the new iPhones Yeah, they know kind of some
of the feature Do you know any of the features
that are a little different than the last switch
offhand? Yeah, so there's there's a big performance
jump the switch originally released in 2017,
so we've gone, what, seven years without a new
console. It's a long way in technology development.
Yeah, and it's honestly not the most up -to -date
thing. Like, it doesn't compare to an Xbox Series
X or a PlayStation 5. It's more comparable to,
like, a PlayStation 4. But at the same time,
yeah, you're comparing something that I can take
with me. Yeah. You got us beat. Is the screen,
is it? Is the console or the piece itself, is
it heavier, bigger, smaller? Yeah, so the screen
is a little bit bigger. I believe it's like seven
inches or something. But it's light. Yeah, it's
very light. Why don't we bring it out? The materials
that they're made out of, yeah, I should have
brought it with me. You dumbass. No, I'm kidding.
You didn't get any sleep. It's not your fault.
The materials are very well -made. It's a very
well -made device. It's crazy. It is. You let
me hold it, and I was like, I don't care. Is
this still something that you're going to do
a lot of? Docking it and playing it on the big
screen or is it gonna be more handheld? I think
so, you know when I first got the switch in 2017
I remember I was leaving my job to go work at
the Mets and It was that week that I was leaving
there So I just brought it in and would play
it at my desk while I was taking phone calls
for people I was in a call center and Hey, you
know might as well take advantage of it But other
than that, I feel like that was the only time
that I really used it. That's probably mostly
docked. That's awesome Listen, I'm gonna make
you one offer before we go. And I don't want
you to feel obligated. You know we got tape running,
right? I will trade you. Oh, jeez. I will trade
you these two for the Dwight. The G .I. Joe is
pretty appealing. It's also a number 7 -5, I
feel like. I'm not a big Funko Pop guy, so you
gotta tell me. The numbers on these, is this
sequential for all Funko Pops? Here's the thing.
I claim to be a bobblehead guy, as you know.
I have, like, a series. Yeah. I have 50 bobbleheads
at home at this point. I don't usually do Funko.
I'm more of a traditional bobblehead guy. Doesn't
mean I don't like the Funko. So I don't know
much about the numbers, but I'm assuming it's
part of a series. I'm just wondering, because
they're all widely different. I didn't know if,
literally, they just started at one with every
one they make, and they increment. Yeah, I'll
make that trade. Oh, will you really? Yeah. Oh,
I thought you were gonna tell me to go f myself.
No, it's all right I'll take what I mean you
are you sure green, but he's trying to look like
a good guy at a store Yeah, as soon as we cut
he's gonna give me that back fuckhead. This is
awesome. Oh, I'm so happy dude. That's awesome
Nice, gny. That's what we're doing here. Good
news happiness positivity Michelangelo Dwight
Michelangelo web store store. Yeah, we get a
V Danny tripod In the new Switch? What an episode,
man. Rick from Butler Fence. Rick from Butler
Fence. What a cool guy he was. He was cool. Yeah,
we are Good News York brought to you by ads on
the go. Get ads on the go dot com. Yes, you're
going to start seeing us everywhere on the side
of Zach's incredible three sided video screen
truck. I saw him yesterday, by the way. He was
driving in the truck. Yeah, he was driving around.
Yeah, I was like, oh man, I was trying to see
if that's our guy already had an ad yet. But
yeah, luckily we didn't go with our faces because
that could be jarring. Right. You know, no offense
to any of us, but... There was a memo from the
highway department that sort of banned that for
hazard safety. Faces? Ours, specifically. Oh,
oh, our... Well, then that makes more sense,
yeah. They got wind that we might be on a billboard.
Yeah, they were like, we can't have this. That's
actually why we don't have any on 690 right now.
That's correct. In any case, folks, it's been
Good News York. I love... Each and every one
of you, except for that one guy, you're a fuck.
You know it. You are a fuck, man. But I really...
Hey, that guy. Hey, that guy. Thank you for,
like, sharing, subscribing. Don't stop, because
we sure as hell aren't. This is a... We're enjoying
celebrating 50, but, man, we are so honestly
in our infancy of where we're going and what's
happening here. Listen, man, I... Thank you for
everybody who's been along the ride. This has
been a dream. so far. So I got to thank you and
you, Amanda, everybody that works here, even
on the IT side, growth mode tech to growth mode
content. This has been a dream gig so far. And
more importantly, we have to thank the people
listening and watching because without you this
this what are we doing here? We're talking to
ourselves, which we do enough of. We sound like
the PBS telethon now. Yes. We could do it. Can
we do a 24 hour telethon like the old Jerry Lewis?
I don't know why I did this. All right, peace
out. Bye