Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention,
please? The show starts in 10... 9... 8... 7...
6... 5... Four, three, two, one, go. We pulled
it together at the last second. Finally. Guys,
y 'all know this fellow. This is Sean, a fellow
business owner in my area. I think we started
our businesses relatively about the same time.
One of the good things about bringing him on
is that he has a completely different perspective
about the business where I decided to keep it
small. He's growing his business. I'm going to
have some questions about that coming up. Sean,
can you see the comments over there on the side?
Um, let me hold on just a second. I got that
turned off. Yep. I'll see it. Okay. Well, one
of the first things I ask. most people because
of the people that watch my channel is how did
you get in the trades? Was that what you wanted
to do when you first started out as a young man?
And if not, how'd you get in the trades? So I
really didn't really know what I wanted to do.
I knew I was very mechanically minded and had
the opportunity to go to work for a local heat
and air company brought out of school and Went
to work in it, you know started doing duct work
and move my way up and just fell in love with
the industry I was very intrigued by the the
wiring aspect and the refrigeration all the troubleshooting.
So that's what really drew me into it Really
so actually you started right off the rip you
started in HVAC then Yeah, yeah 28 years now
I try to imagine where I might be now if I had
started right off the rip because I really didn't
get into it until I was 35 or something like
that, or really seriously anyway, until I was
35. Yeah. Yeah, I grew up in the industry. Okay.
Well, a lot of people, a lot of us, we kind of
stumbled into it. It wasn't the plan. Kids are
taught they got to go to college and get a bachelor's
degree and stuff like that. And that was the,
that's what I thought I had to do when it didn't
work out that way, but I'm glad it didn't work
out that way. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. But our, our,
uh, high school counselor, she was, you know,
she said, well, you're never going to get a job
without a college degree. And then when you get
a college degree, it's still going to be hard
to get one. The heat and air industry, I was
able to always have work and it's done well for
me. Well, I'll tell you one thing, you develop
a skill in the trades, you'll always have work.
Absolutely. I've never had a problem trying to
find a job. Me neither, especially once I became
competent in what I was doing at least. Halfway
knew how to diagnose something on I never had
trouble getting a job Yeah Never yeah, I was
even I was able to move so I left my hometown
doing heat and air and they moved to North Alabama
and Found you know stayed in the industry up
there and then meant went to Florida because
it was too cold in North Alabama working on heat
pumps so I went to Florida and you know was able
to get work down there no problem and Didn't
really like far to move back to Albany. That's
how I landed in Albany and then You know obviously
stayed in the industry here, too So it's always
been I've always had multiple offers on jobs
when I moved into an area so it's never been
a Problem to find a job now in North Alabama.
You said it was too cold. Were you up in the
mountains? I was Brindle Mountain just south
of Huntsville yeah, they had ice and snow that
would come in and you'd be they're trying to
work on heat pumps and you know the the temperature
coming on top of that heat pumps pretty cold.
And when it's 20 degrees outside, it's really
cold. Yeah. Yeah. It does get cold. Yeah. Especially
for our South Georgia boy too. I ain't used to
all that. So I had to come back home. Yeah. And
in Florida, what was different down in Florida?
I know they, I talked to some other people down
there and they got lots of duct board and, um,
I don't know. It seems like there's lots of air
handlers over carports. Did you see? Yeah, they
called them dog boxes. They would do a cutout
in the ceiling of the carport and hang the air
handler right above it. I didn't like the setup
because the humidity would drop. You know, you
would get drips of water on the car, but it was
a way to keep the duct work in the attic, but
then still have the air handler accessible. Hmm
I Don't know what's better that or us being in
a hundred and fifty degree addicts I Wish we
didn't go, you know, you know air Air hammers
leak real bad. So I mean, but then it was still
hot in the garages too. So I don't I don't know
I Got some prepared questions for you I already
asked you one of them. All right. We both have
gone through opening a business. Is Georgia the
only place where you've opened a business? Yes.
All right. I've talked about in Georgia about
what we have to go through to get a license and
getting three contractors or three engineers
to sign off on three jobs and work for somebody
else for five years. I don't imagine it was much
different when you got your license. No, it was
the same. Yeah. Same thing. Yeah. The letter,
you had to send out a labor letter, get the letters
of recommendation. I mean, all that. It ain't
easy. It ain't easy for somebody. Some contractors
don't want to help you. Um, well, especially
if they, especially if they think that you could
come in and take business from them. Yeah. Um,
you know, I lost. My last job I lost because
of that Yeah, he realized I had a license and
I lost my job And I was not planning on Opening
my business when I did but I kind of had to make
that decision either do it now Get another job
and put it off for another year or something
and I had nothing I had no advertisements out
no yellow pages. No customer list and I just,
I just jumped in. That's, that's pretty much
what I've done. Um, you know, my, my dad got
sick with cancer and he had always been after
me to get my license. And I, you know, of course
came up with excuses on, you know, with the economy,
the way it is now ain't the right time. And,
you know, I mean, it was, it was scary. And so
he come up with. terminal cancer and I was okay
well I'm gonna go get my license because I want
him to see me with my license before he passes
and I was able to to do that so that was that
was good and that kind of that's what really
pushed me out of the nest if you will to to kind
of get me started yeah I was reading the comments
looks like one of the guys having trouble with
his video running but others are saying it's
working so I hope you can get it going I had
a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to ask you. You
know, one thing I struggle with, how many technicians
do you have now? So we've got, including the
service manager, we've got six service techs.
We've got a service manager, a commercial tech,
and then four residential slash commercial techs.
All right. One of the things that I struggle
with, even with me, is the desire to spend an
hour and a half, two hours on a job, be really
thorough, try to find everything, but knowing
good and well, I've got something on my schedule
coming up. There's always like a little bit of
pressure to try and hurry. So how do you manage
that with your technicians? You want them to
stay on the job and do a quality job, but at
the same time, They have a schedule of followers.
So how do you manage that? So that that is a
balance we are actually working on that because
You know the the technician, you know, they want
to go in fix the problem and get out But they're
also you know There's other issues that if they
are thorough that they'll find and it could prevent,
you know another call or a call back or or whatnot
so We are we are starting to Getting ready to
roll out some incentives to our technicians So
when they go to the house, you know, they'll
they'll find the problem identify the problem
But then they'll also be looking for other issues
and you're not not that they're selling they're
looking for stuff to you know Try to to get the
customer to spend more money, but just to do
a job As far as looking for everything because
it benefits them if they find more stuff wrong
Well for me, um Spending more time on the job
means it prevents callbacks. And even for me,
I have callbacks. But for example, if I'm there
because of a blower motor, it doesn't take me
too long to check the capacitor outside. You
know what I'm saying? Just little stuff like
that. I don't want to have to come back because
I was there for a blower motor. And three days
later, it's got a clogged drain. little stuff
like that. In my mind, if they go to do a blower
motor or I go to a blower motor and I don't check
the evaporator coil, I'm sure there's people
that's going to say, oh, you'll be able to see
it in your gauges and all that, but visually
checking the evaporator coil and when you pull
the blower motor, go ahead and clean the wheel,
do a thorough job. That way you know that you're
taking care of the customer. You're doing a good
job for them, like you would want somebody to
do for you. And I understand being in a hurry,
but at the same time, like you roll up on a job,
you maybe give yourself an hour or an hour and
a half, maybe two hours. I have run across sometimes
where what I think is gonna be an hour and a
half call turns into three and a half hours and
I start feeling stressed. by the end of that
call because I'm having to shuffle my schedule
around and maybe call a customer telling them
I'm going to be late or something. So it's always
a balancing act for me because I want to spend
all the time that I need, but there's, there
is that clock in the back of my head that's telling
me you need to hurry up. Sure. Well, you being
a one man guy, you know, just a one man show
that could, that could be definitely where, you
know, I've got The advantage, because I have
multiple techs, if one technician gets held up,
then I can send another technician to that call
behind him and be able to have that flexibility
and be able to take care of my customers. And
so we don't do a lot of advertising because we
want to control how many customers we have. And
that way we're not getting bombarded with calls
and not be able to take care of our customers
that we have now. OK. Y 'all tell me. Some of
the viewers, y 'all comment down below if y 'all
are having the same troubles that Seton is having
about not seeing the video, but just let me know.
I think he's the only one that's having those
troubles. All right, I did try to come prepared.
All right, there's something that we have talked
about. that I want you to discuss here. We both
know that when you work by yourself, you can
make good money. And when you first start bringing
on employees, your profit margin takes a hit.
I mean, it did for me, and I'm pretty sure it
did for you. and we've discussed that you had
to get to a certain point where you started making
more money than you did before you when you were
just going solo. Yeah, I mean it is weird how
it works because there's sweet spots like you
may add a truck and then you see your profit
margin drop but you have to do it to be able
to take care of the customers that you have and
to be able to and that's like a hurdle to get
over to get to the next truck and then when you
add that next truck after the one that made your
profit margin go down, you may see an increase
in your profit margin. And of course I'm using
just, you know, generic numbers, but you know,
you may have to add two or three before you see
the difference. Well, the biggest I got, I had
two technicians and a somewhat install crew.
I had an installer, a girl working in the office
in my profit margin never got to where it was.
I mean, the amount of money I was making never
got anywhere near what I make solo working by
myself. I just never got to the point where it
seemed like it was worth it. Yeah, it took me
probably five years to get to that point where
I started seeing the amount of money because
my profit when it was just me in a truck by myself.
versus once I started at employees, it probably
took me five years to really start to see that
coming back. But at the same time as I was growing
the company, I was having to invest a lot of
money back into the company. And I still am.
I mean, it's like it never stops. But I'm also
trying to grow the company to the point where
I don't have to be here. Although, I mean, it's...
I enjoy it, but it's still work. And I want to
be able to have a retirement at some point in
time. So I want to be able to have that retirement,
but still have our care going and still have
that machine working for, you know, for me and
for my family. My son's working with me now and
my daughter -in -law. So, you know, that's something
that I hope that they'll, you know, they'll be
able to utilize it and make money off of and
continue to grow it. You and I have a different
strategy there my my strategy right now is to
just make it enough money so I can Just walk
away from it one day instead of have it continue
to run in the background, right? Yeah Well with
my kids, you know, that's probably got a lot
to do with it is, you know I want to be able
to leave them something I mean, other than just,
hey, here's some cash. But if I can teach them
this industry and teach them how to run, to have
a successful business, then I know that they'll
be good for the rest of their life. So I'm trying
to give them more than just, oh, well, here's
some cash that I'm leaving you to help along.
Yeah, well, that sounds really good. And you
know I don't have kids, so I don't think like
that. All right. I'm trying to read over these
comments. It does look like people can hear and
see us. Yeah. Yeah. OK. You and I both have hired
people. And for me, I have had when I hired people,
I didn't really have the space or time to train
anybody. And a lot of people have asked over
the years, do you need to go to tech school to
get a job? And sometimes what I tell them is
that, you know, it might help, but it's not absolutely
necessary. A lot of people never go to tech school
and they turn out to be great techs. So to the
people getting in the trade as an employer, what
would you tell them? Do they need to go to tech
school or what? what are you looking for i mean
yeah i mean because one it shows that you're
committed to the industry and then two it also
will help lay a base for you you know because
the tech schools may not teach you much and that's
sad i don't you know the tech schools in our
area are not great at all um i interviewed a
kid out of tech school he was a month away from
graduating and he could not tell me super heat
sub cooling the flow of refrigerant or even what
a cumulator was. So that was kind of disturbing
that that's what we're getting in our schools
now, in our tech schools. But if you're really
into it, you're going to be in there, you're
going to be absorbing it, you're going to be
paying attention and any education that you can
get on it will help because it'll help you make
it make you a better technician out there in
the field. I was already working when I went
through tech school. So tech school did. It taught
me a couple of things and I try to pass it on
in my videos. The one main thing that it taught
me, like I said, I was working and I was wiring
up these hard start kits and I couldn't determine
which side of the contactor or what wire was
coming, start and run. I would trace the wires
all the way back to the compressor. to where
it's labeled CS and R, and then follow them all
the way back so I could wire my start relays.
And one thing I learned in school was that the
capacitor is always between start and run. And
when that sunk in my head, I realized that the
wire that's feeding the... the capacitor is always
run, so I knew what side was run, the other side
was common, and the other side on the capacitor
would start. It just made everything so much
easier. So I didn't learn a lot in school, but
that one thing really helped me out. One thing,
yeah. And see, and that's why I tell people.
But some people are just not, you know, especially
mechanical people, some people are not wired
for school. They, you know, they won't, they're
going to learn more hands on, and they're doing
it, you know, actually touching it, you know.
actually doing the work than they can trying
to read a book. So it really depends on how the
person's wired, but regardless to make it in
this industry, we call it the it factor. You've
got to have the it factor. If you don't have
it, then you need to be doing something else.
It just, if it clicks with you, but if it don't,
you need to be doing something else. Well, I
have seen where some people, I'll give you an
example. There might be a really good installer.
and I had an installer that I tried to move over
to Technician and he struggled. He just, he never
could really get it to click and he ended up
going back to installing and he still does real
good at that. It's just like, I didn't know.
I tried to get him to progress and it just didn't
click for him. Well some some installers I mean
unfortunately it is repetition It's you know
you hook up this line here You will hook this
color wire up to this wire and they get good
at that and that's Going back to the way people
some people are wired some people are wired to
do repetitious jobs That's just the way their
brain works, but you've got to you know You've
got to have that if you want to be on the tech
side of it You've got to be able to look at that
unit and almost see an exploded version in your
mind to be able to see how it works. I'm sure
you know what I'm talking about. It's kind of
hard to explain. Well, for me, I do tell some
people just keep at it because for me, I just
got to the point where everything just clicked.
It's like I got to a point one day I realized
I wasn't looking at schematics anymore or trying
to trace. I just understood how it worked. And
that made my job just so much easier. So when
I was younger, I had the opportunity to work,
worked in ductwork, worked in an install. I did
commercial controls. I did work in the sheet
metal shop. then worked in service and working
in all the different departments gave me an advantage
especially like commercial controls with service
work because I've always been great at low voltage.
I love low voltage and you know open normally
open normally closed contacts so that gave me
a huge advantage because just that year during
the commercial controls I picked up so much and
I was able to take that and then go over to the
service side and apply it there. I worked at
a large company here with us at one time and
they had a commercial controls department, but
the people that worked in that apartment broke
off and started their own business. And I kept
trying to get them to start another controls
department because I wanted to learn that side.
And basically what I've learned in commercial
controls is what I've done and seen on the job.
instead of doing it in a program like that. When
I did it, it was old school. It was before all
the computers and all that. We run everything
back to a panel and it was old school. It wasn't
like what you've got today. Well, what I saw
was relays mounted to the air handler that would
bring on the cooling or the fan for the school
system. Do you know what I'm talking about around
here? Say that again like for the school system
around here They would have like on something
like a ribby relay mounted to the air handler
that they would control from a different location
That would bring on the cooling and stuff like
that. That was the kind of control that I saw
around here Yeah, the yeah. Yeah, I mean it was
we did high school We did a high school over
in Jeff Davis County We took 80 units and run
them all back to a panel and you could see that
panel you could see return temp supply temp um
you know you could do make it through whatever
mode set the you know it had an indoor air sensor
in the classroom so you you know you would be
able to see what room temp was so basically that
panel was like one big thermostat and those 80
units was like a zone for each one now on commercial
controls is a lot of conduit a lot of conduit
running a lot of wire pulling too back then so
you didn't have all the wireless stuff You know,
now they accomplish all that with communicating
thermostats controlled from a remote location.
Sure. Sure. Wait a minute here. Miguel, well,
thank you. You didn't have to do that, but thank
you. I tried to prepare you for the end of this.
This is going quicker than I thought it would.
I'm sorry. I ain't talking enough. No, it's just
like you go through your topics. I'll tell you
what, I'll tell you something that happened to
me that I almost got on video. I was working
on a mini split and you know you have to use
those adapters because the 516s. Sure. And my
adapter just wouldn't push in the Schrader so
I tightened that thing down really good just
so I could get access to the system. had done
my repair I had to do new flares on this thing
done my repair pulled a vacuum recharge and when
I pulled off that adapter after recharging somehow
it backed out the Schrader that was underneath
it when it came out oh wow so when I pulled it
out my charge was just blowing Into the air and
you stuck your hand down in there, right? No,
well first I tried to put the cap back on No,
I'm saying at first. I just got it. Yeah, and
it was just blowing so hard I couldn't do it.
So I ran to my my van and I got my my mini split
on Schrader core removal tool And ran back over
there and got that on and shut it off. Yeah But
by that time, you know, like 60 % of what I had
just put in there had come out. Yeah. I was frustrated.
You can't charge the customer for it. Cause it
ain't their fault. I can't, I couldn't charge
him for the first one. This is within the first
year. Oh, okay. So you didn't see my level of
frustration. And so you bet. At least you had
a five sixteenths, uh, shredder graph core removal.
So that's what I tell my guys. You gotta have
the proper tools to be able to do the job. Shit,
I just didn't have it in my bag. I had to go
all the way back to my van the whole time. I
can hear it in the background just But and then
I didn't realize that Somebody else is doing
this. I didn't realize that the Schrader had
come out. All I knew is it was blowing out the
fridge Oh Thank you, man, I am I didn't know
the Schrader was out. I couldn't see in there.
So I put the Schrader core removal tool in there
and I pushed in the pin to try to pull out the
Schrader that I thought was bent or messed up
or something. And the pin went all the way in.
There was nothing in there. So I just tried putting
in another Schrader and it took the Schrader.
And I was like, well, how did that even happen?
Because I didn't pull the Schrader out. The only
thing I can think of is the seal grabbed it when
it was because you pushed that seal down in there
You know, you know how you see the seal will
wrinkle up on there on the rim, you know, maybe
it grabbed I don't know that's it it pulled it
out and I Don't know it that has never happened
to me before but That that's right core removal
tool is now in my bag Yeah, I'll wait always
expect the unexpected direct It happens. And
I included it in my video because, you know,
sometimes my jobs look clean and all that stuff.
And I want people to know stuff like that happens
to everybody. You just got to deal with it. Absolutely.
Yep. What's your, uh, what's your worst shock
story? Oh, they may have heard this. Y 'all really
don't have to do this. Um, but thank you. Um,
My worst shock story, do you know those, those
square D 60 amp QO disconnects? Yeah. I have
one of those that was all burnt up and I was
trying to pull the breaker out and all the plastic
was burnt up. So everything came out all at one
time. And I wasn't thinking and I was a young
tech. I tried to put my hand up there to stop
it. And when I did, I made a power arc between
the two legs of power on my hand. That hurt,
that really hurt. You ain't done that again,
have you? No, that was probably the worst one.
And I've been hit when I've been sweaty and it's
gone across my heart and it's kind of scared
me, but that one where I did it on my hand bruised
me. My hand and my arm was sore. So yeah, that
hurt. So I'll share mine. You remember when the
410A first come out, the leak detectors didn't
pick it up well. The R22 leak detectors didn't.
It was hard to find. So I would put the unit
in heat mode and disconnect the power from the
blower to let it build up to over 500 PSI on
the evaporator coil. And we used a Yokogawa leak
detector, H10G. And I would go in there and find
the leak. Reem had these capacitors mounted on
the bottom of the blower and they got that crossmember.
I had my arm laying on the crossmember and it
actually swole my arm up to make contact to the
capacitor. Now that was an experience to try
to get pulled out of it. It took a couple yanks,
but I thought that one got me. That was probably
my worst shock one ever. Yeah, that's pretty
bad. That was pretty bad. Cause it actually,
you know, made my arm get bigger to be able to
make contact. It jumped. Now I got, I had a capacitor
hit me inside a air handler one time and I yanked
my arm back and I yanked back so hard there was
like a little support member between the two
panels. I completely bent it. And cut my arm
when I did it. It'll make you hurt yourself if
it don't hurt you absolutely. Yeah, that's what
it did. Um Yeah, getting shocked. I try not to
anymore, but it still happens Yeah, if you mess
with electric you're gonna get shocked. That's
just it's not a matter of when is there if it's
a matter of when have you um Notice like on they're
starting to double Isolate electric heat now
No, yeah, that's the thing now you might have
sequencers on one side and a relay on the other
No, I hadn't but I'm not where I'm at with Arctic
Air I'm not in the field like I used to be so
I don't get to get as hands -on with the equipment
like I used to and get Familiar with them To
that extent, now I've got all my guys do it.
So I'm losing touch a little bit because I'm
not out there all the time. I don't understand
exactly why they're doing that unless they think
it's wasting energy or something. But yeah, they're
double isolating them so that they don't have
any electricity to them at all. It just sounds
like I know. a short or either, you know, to
prevent, you know, cause you, you know, you've
seen the relays catch on fire and all that. So
maybe that's an effort to try to stop that too.
Yeah. Yeah. And also I think something that might
prevent is if you get one of those blower relays
that kind of welds itself shut, if it's double
isolated, it won't bring on a heat strip. Yeah.
All right It's late enough I'll ask okay, I Like
to end the show with them Kind of the horror
stories the craziest thing you may have seen
in somebody's house or sometimes it's Really
nice stuff that you may have seen in a really
nice house and I got one of those to share But
what's the craziest thing you may have seen going
in somebody's house? Hold on, I'm sorry, give
me just a second. Sorry about that. So, I don't
know, it all kind of blurs together after all
the years. I mean, I've seen one that sticks
out. I went to a house on the south side one
year and it was really cold. Went there to go
start up a wall heater. And it was a little bitty
small, a little shotgun house. When you walked
in the door, the heater was on the right and
they had a bed on the left and they were in there
and they were smoking crack or whatever it was
while I was working on the heater. And I mean,
I just, I turned around and politely asked myself,
hey, look, you know, y 'all gonna have to put
that out until I get done. Otherwise I'm leaving
now. Yeah, that's pretty rough. Yeah, that's
pretty rough, but I mean, you know stripper poles
we see stripper poles and I've been in apartments
and saw where they had all their their dope out
and they just they know people's coming and they
leave everything out It just never ceases to
amaze me at what some people do. Yeah, they don't
seem to care I told a story a couple weeks ago
where a fellow with a leg monitor gang to AR
15 out from behind the filter But one of the
strangest things I saw, I was in this nice house.
You know where Quail Pines is? Yes. Back in that
neighborhood, not in Quail Pines, but in that
area. I was in this nice house working, and I
see this giant clear tube that takes up part
of a room. And I just asked a homeowner, I'm
like, what is that? He goes, oh, that's an elevator.
He had an elevator in his house to get from the
first floor to the second floor and vice versa.
I had a lady that had one over there on the East
side and she made me walk the stairs while she
rode the elevator. She's like, the stairs is
over here. I'll meet you up there. Wow. And this
guy's elevator, it worked on vacuum. Do you like
those things at the bank when you send the tube
over? It worked on vacuum. And he said, um, you
can write it if you want to. And I'm like, you
know, I I'm just curious. I don't, I don't want
to write it. I was just curious. Yeah. I, uh,
another one, the strange call. I went to a call
and this has been 20 something years ago. It
was here in Albany, went to this guy's house.
And it was over off of over kind of in that area
that you're talking about but Marlboro I think
and the guy was really nice house brick home
very nice come to the knock on the door you know
to let him know that was there and dude comes
to get in a row and he's sunburned and he's got
like a really thick gold chain on and he's got
a northern accent Go in the house and there's
nothing in the house except a recliner in front
of a TV and a little table and You know it looked
like he had been drunk and passed out by the
pool He was burnt so bad and I went to go fix
the air conditioner and there was one room That
had window units all in it and he actually had
servers in there So that was a that was a pretty
strange one So he was there babysitting those
those servers in the bedroom that had these window
units to keep the bedroom cold and he was like,
you know, getting passing out, getting sunburnt,
and obviously wasn't from this area. So that
was probably one of the sketchiest ones I've
been to. That's kind of weird. It was very weird.
That reminds me to a... First time I ever went
on a call, one of the calls I went to was in
a bank. Their server room was getting hot. and
I had to troubleshoot like five different air
conditioners for this one room that's about as
big as the room that I'm in right here. And finally
I come out and said, you know, everything's working
fine. And the fellow said, well, maybe it's because
we just added this new rack of servers right
here. And I'm like, well, you could have told
me that from the start, but yeah, it was getting
hot. I guess they got to add yet another air
conditioner to it. It looked like somebody else
was having trouble with seeing it on YouTube.
Don't know what's going on with that. But anyway,
I really do appreciate your perspective and bringing
that on. I know we had a lot of trouble just
getting you. on the just getting you here. We
worked it out though. Yeah. So maybe we can get
that worked out and in the future, bring you
back on. So, um, absolutely. I'm going to say
goodbye to everybody and in the conversation,
hang around just a little bit, Sean, and, um,
we'll go ahead.