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TailGate Talk W/ Kevin V
78 Plays7 days ago
Kevin V demanded an episode!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
Well, I got up early, got a crew to leave. Sitting up, pulls and ropes, that's a lie for me. From a wedding to a fair, from the field to the town. the one you call when you need a 10 up or down.
00:00:17
Speaker
All right. We're back with Under the Vinyl here. Realized we need to do some tailgate talking, and we've got some good topics today. Got a good guest on. But as always, I've got Kyle with me. How are you doing, Kyle?
00:00:28
Speaker
Oh, I'm good. That song gets me hyped up, Nate. I love that. give me It gives me some goosebumps. It makes me want to go. It makes me want to do something. How's your week been? It's been good, getting back in the swing of things. I was out of town for three days last week, hanging out with our guest today, actually. So...
00:00:44
Speaker
All right, well well, without further ado, then I guess let's bring him in. So we got Kevin Vasquez that everybody knows from Made in the Shade out in the California. How are you doing, Kevin? Good, good, man. It's good to see you, Nate. Kyle, it's good to see you, even though it's been, you know, four days.
Tent Anchoring Courses Overview
00:00:58
Speaker
It's weird. We don't have beer in our hand this time. I know, right? Must be nice. God almighty. I don't Some people are out here working. We worked very hard, Nate. Putting on two of those anchoring courses that ARA offers is a lot.
00:01:12
Speaker
Shaking hands and kissing babies. I understand. you guys do a great job. Back to back. Same day. So, yeah. Well, thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk about some of the topics we got today. Yeah. Just jump into some stuff. We're not going to make this episode too long today. Just a good little tailgate talk about some safety and some stuff that's going on in the industry.
00:01:29
Speaker
Some things that Kyle and Kevin are actually leading the forefront on with classes and things like that. So we'll jump into some essentials of tent anchoring, the in-person class that they have taught, which I think blends with the class that you can take online as well as some 8-1-1 stuff that, uh, that we're running into now with the season ramping up. And, uh,
00:01:48
Speaker
I think are some key points that everybody needs to know about. So tell us a little bit about what you guys did up in Minnesota for the Essentials of 10 Anchoring. So, yeah, ah we went through the ARA of Minnesota. They talked to the big ARA group and Grace Nelson over there at their education department and said they wanted to put on a class.
00:02:09
Speaker
had some really good interest in it. And as time went on, we learned that so many people were interested that we had to split the class into two groups. So we did a morning group and an evening group all in the same day, which typically these classes are, you know, four or five hours, one single day in and out, you know, showing you all the essentials of anchoring, like what it's called and all the stuff that goes along with it. But because there was so much,
00:02:36
Speaker
So many people that wanted to take it, we had to split it in two. That was definitely a ah lot to do, but having Kyle by my side, we were able to knock it out and get it done. My favorite part about it is that there are people who've been doing tents for 20 years, and there were some guys who'd been doing tents for three months.
00:02:55
Speaker
And there's owners that we had manufacturer reps there as well. So I'm happy to see that everyone is kind of taking this seriously as we kind of try to get the certification off the ground with the three organizations.
00:03:08
Speaker
Tell us a little about it just the differences in the online, because I've done the online. I missed the in-person one at Anchor the other day when they did it with Matra. So tell us a little bit about what the difference is and how many different parts there are to this. Because now what I was hearing, I didn't even understand myself, is that there's an online, there's an in-person. It's almost like a step-by-step process and how many there are.
00:03:31
Speaker
Yeah, so I actually have the roadmap up here on my laptop, and I can kind of talk about that a little bit. This is now getting out there. But
Becoming a Tent Trainer
00:03:39
Speaker
the first course is, of course, the Foundations of Safe Tenting.
00:03:42
Speaker
That's like what you said you took, Nate. That's about, you know, two to three hour computer-based training course, all online, all in your office, computer, phone, however you want to do it. That, you know, you pass that and then you're able to take the next course, which is this Essentials of Tent Anchoring. That's the in-person course.
00:04:01
Speaker
Like I said, it's about, you know, two to three hours in class and about an hour, hour and a half out in the field showing all the, you know, Good installs, a bad install of tent stakes, anchors, cement ballast, all that good stuff.
00:04:15
Speaker
So those are the two courses going on right now. Of course, like I said, the Foundations is a computer-based. Essentials of Tent Anchoring is an in-person class at a location, wherever it may be.
00:04:26
Speaker
Now there are the next steps being laid out, which are the essentials of whole tent install, the essentials of frame tent installations, the essentials of structure tent installations, which are three different courses. And those are kind of getting figured out
Importance and Structure of Tent Training
00:04:43
Speaker
now. Most likely those will be an in-person course as well.
00:04:46
Speaker
And then once you take the foundations, the essentials of tent anchoring, you do those three courses, you're now considered a level one professional tent installer. Okay, so that then those aren't out there yet. They are in the process, correct?
00:05:00
Speaker
Yes, those are what currently ARA, ATA, and Matcher are working on together. We don't know exactly when the timeframe is going to be, you know but in the next either few months or few years, they're still working on all the kinks.
00:05:13
Speaker
I think we're going to see some progress this year. I think we're to least one or two out by the end of the year. I don't know that all three will be out, but I think we'll see one or two out by the end of this year or January.
00:05:25
Speaker
So then anybody listening, but it would be in your best interest now to probably knock those first two out and get them done so you don't have to do them all at once or get left behind. That way you can kind of keep up with as they come out, you can get them done, correct?
00:05:37
Speaker
And the other thing is... We need trainers, people listening. So like Kevin and i had to take time out of our week. we had a great time, but it's three days no matter how you slice it so for us to go to Minnesota.
00:05:50
Speaker
Just because there's not that many of us that are trainers. I think there's six of us, seven of us now. How do you become a trainer? ah You have to apply through the three associations. There's a form you can fill out. If anyone's interested, they can send it over to me and Kevin and we can get you hooked up with who you need to speak to about it.
00:06:07
Speaker
But that's going to be the biggest issue with getting these certifications off the ground is just getting trainers across the country because... and We're all volunteers and we only have so much time we can give ah and take away from our own businesses.
00:06:21
Speaker
I was wondering that on on how you actually get trained. So that would make sense. So also, like we were talking about before the show started here, you can get a group together. Basically, it doesn't just have to be your business. You can get a group of businesses together.
00:06:33
Speaker
ah know, Kevin, if you want to elaborate on what you said on, you know, if you get people together on how many people in that whatnot. Yeah, yeah. So like what the ARA of Minnesota did is they, I think at the show, got a lot of questions asked in their internal group and raised some, you know, excitement about this course and got people wanting to do it. So they kind of gathered and and did some math and figured it would be, you know,
00:07:00
Speaker
40 to 50 people that would be attending this. You know, like Kyle said, some some are business owners, some are people in the business, and some are manufacturers, whatever it may be. That's kind of so through the chapters, through the state chapters is where this is kind of coming from.
00:07:15
Speaker
There's one this week as well, going into Michigan. And we did one at my place two weeks ago through ara itself in the area of California.
00:07:26
Speaker
That's kind of like when it comes to region or anything like that. That's what you're going see. Of course, at Matchra, they're going to do it most likely at their trade show or their spring trainings. And then through ATA, we'll do it probably at tent expo and then also our boot camps and whatever we may have.
00:07:42
Speaker
Got it. And what is the trend looking like as far as how it's received? is Are people receiving it pretty well and taking it pretty seriously? Or is this something, you know, they're just going and they're just getting it done to get it done?
00:07:54
Speaker
You know, I see there's a general, it's, you know, this is a general overview of, like I said, staking. concrete ballasting, concrete anchoring, other hold
Utility Safety in Tent Installation
00:08:03
Speaker
down methods for your tent.
00:08:04
Speaker
But, you know, you sometimes you see some shocked faces in the in the course as you're going through it. Or sometimes you see some people shaking their head like, yes, okay, yeah, yeah, I've heard about that. But, you know, I think Sean from ARA told me when we did it at our place that we had trained about 150 to 160 people so far.
00:08:22
Speaker
So with this Essentials of Tent Anchoring course. Which just came out at the beginning of the year, right? and Yeah, yeah. yeah Yeah, I mean, we dropped in November at MATRA 2024. And since then, I think there's been at least six to seven classes that I can think of off the top my head.
00:08:38
Speaker
The turnover is is turning out to be really good and exciting for people to go through and check it out. what do you think What do you think it's going to take to really push it over the hill to get the forward momentum to keep it rolling?
00:08:52
Speaker
The issue I see, that's not really an issue. It's just the monetary thing. You've got to get the the owners to buy into it first because you there is a fee associated with it. so You need the owners to buy in. And once they're bought in, then they're willing to spend the money for their employees. That's the biggest thing.
00:09:09
Speaker
I think that is what is going to be the hardest. So we're seeing people signing up for these courses. So it's obvious people do care. i just hope we keep the momentum rolling as we move forward.
00:09:19
Speaker
What I'm hoping for, you know, like I said, a lot of our guys have taken it in my Nashville office, but is it hopefully it doesn't come just monotonous and people are just like, how We're just going it to get it done. I hope that people utilize it as knowledge, as a trade style education in the industry. And I think that's the way, just like what you're saying with the owners has to have to have buy-in.
00:09:40
Speaker
We have to pitch it the right way. I feel like the, for me, the forward momentum and how you get the ball rolling is to pitch it the right way. You can't just pitch it as, Hey, jump on here and take these classes because that's what the industry is doing. That's what we have to do.
00:09:52
Speaker
Jump on here and take these classes because it's going to better your future and your career. I'm going to say it. I wouldn't have everyone in my company take it. There's guys who you can tell want to excel and get better.
00:10:04
Speaker
And move up in the industry and in within the companies they work for. And those are the guys I'm willing to invest the money in. And there's guys who are just here for a job and they they don't want anything more than they currently have. So you know what?
00:10:16
Speaker
I don't have to spend the money for them to get the certification, but it is nice to have some guys in your crew who are willing to learn some new stuff. But with that said, I don't think you really dive into who wants to be on the crew or who wants to stay and it's just a job or a career until you...
00:10:32
Speaker
Put this in front of them, let them take it and put it in front of them. And then they tell you whether it's going to be a job or career. And you'll find out really quick who wants it and who doesn't. I mean, that's like the, you know, I'll tell the same story that told last time. I had one of my guys is but that have been up there for a while that I thought he was treating just like a job. and He dove in and then, you know, he's starting to treat it more like a career. And he finally got to the point where he took the test and he didn't take it seriously. And he got a 60% and then went back in and really took it seriously and got a 90%.
00:11:00
Speaker
And did great. And now he's like, he's ready and motivated more for that. But it was, I think that it helps show them the path. And that's what it has, has to be done. There has to be some buy-in there. So.
00:11:11
Speaker
I agree. I think that, I think you're barking up the right tree and understanding that. And like Kyle says, not necessarily everyone on your crew or in your staff needs to be trained in this.
00:11:23
Speaker
Essentially, you know, there are some key people like you want your leadership, you want your managers, project managers, whatever it may be, or, you know, like, again, someone who's been with your group for quite some time to go through this course, the monetary fee on it, you know, it does have, it does have that. So it's like training somebody on a forklift. It's like training somebody on a, on a scissor lift, you know, it's, there are going to be some fees attached to it.
00:11:47
Speaker
What I'm taking from this as a business owner is that there was no solid tent training Right. Before this, I mean, there was the IFAI procedural handbook for the safe installation maintenance of tentage. Like that was written so long ago.
00:12:03
Speaker
It's something that's not computer based. It's something that's it doesn't have the traction that this is getting now. But, you know, to train now compared to how it was, you know, even two to three years ago on the job training, you name it.
00:12:17
Speaker
No one knows what tenting is. No one knows when you need to tell them, hey, we're a tent rental company. They say camping tents. They say all kinds of other things. Yeah. Do you have easy ups? You know, all those kind of things, you know, pop up tents. And so by now having something that they can understand and grasp as far as a new employee coming in, they get to see this.
00:12:37
Speaker
how a job site looks, how the warehouse looks, how even as far down as an exit sign and a fire extinguisher, you know, what are these things and and why did why do they mean something? And so for them to go through the computer-based course, the Foundation of Safe Tenting, I think is just phenomenal because they can say right then and there, this isn't for me, or now they have some knowledge going out there. They know what kind of pipes to look for or anything like that.
00:13:03
Speaker
So I think to wrap up that topic then is everybody get involved and there's no way more to push this downhill and keep the ball rolling than everybody getting involved. So if you can reach out to or Kyle, I mean, they'll lead you in the right direction or, you know, really just anybody from the ARA, MATRA, IFAI to see how you can really get this rolling for your team and get everybody certified. i mean, that's where the industry is going and we need to get it.
00:13:28
Speaker
We need to keep it moving. Definitely. And, you know, there are, there's going to be versions coming out, right? Like I think they're even looking at foundations of safe tenting that the computer course and checking it over one more time that there may be a new version with some,
00:13:42
Speaker
updated material, updated pictures, you name it. So there's always going to be more updated versions of these as time goes on. Even me and Kyle were talking last week about stuff that should be in there and stuff that doesn't really necessarily need to be in there.
00:13:55
Speaker
All right, let's move on to the next topic here. So let's talk about some 8-1-1 as we ramp up here to get back into busy You don't have to call 8-1-1, Nate. I don't know what you're talking about. As we get back into busy time here and we start to...
00:14:07
Speaker
pitch some tents under the vinyl. You know, we need to get ready to find utilities and, uh, make sure we get everything marked out before we get out there and start staking. We're not excavators.
00:14:18
Speaker
We don't have to call it. We're not digging a hole. Yeah. I'm not looking to die today. So I don't know about you all, but, uh, I've risked that one too many times. And I think that all of us have probably been in a predicament where we have probably hit something that we shouldn't have that, uh,
00:14:35
Speaker
that maybe could have cost us our life. And we got really lucky, you know, between gas lines and, you know, electrical and everything else. So Kevin, what what have you been working with on 811 lately? I know you've, it's been a hot topic for you. So give us a little insight on what you got going on.
00:14:48
Speaker
Before Kevin starts. Hey, Kevin, we got to give a shout out to Nick Donino. Yeah. Nick has worked really hard with a one one themselves. I don't know if a lot of people know this and they actually now have a campaign call before you stake.
00:15:03
Speaker
I had hard hat stickers somewhere, but he's worked really hard with them to get a one to recognize the tent industry as one of their big customers. So we got to shout Nick out. He'll be happy. I did not know that either. I did not know that. It's a good, that's good to know.
00:15:18
Speaker
Yeah. So kind of on the coat heels of that, um, This April is Safe Digging Month. So that's time to recognize about calling in Safe Digs, whether it's 811 or like in Minnesota, we learned it's called Gopher One.
00:15:32
Speaker
but so You know, but there are so many different names for it, right? Again, it's Safe Digging Month. So like Kyle said, ah you know, ATA has been working close with the Common Ground Alliance who deals with 811 and all the other ones, the call-out services to get this call-before-you-stake campaign going. cause We are. we I mean, Kyle's putting in hundreds and hundreds of stakes every single day almost. You know you too, Nate, like just between all of us, we're just dropping these big, large diameter nails in the ground, and there are things down there that could get hit.
00:16:07
Speaker
So, yeah, so you know that's what that's what this month's all about, and that's what we're we're excited about, like like to get that that phrase out there. you know Some stickers, some hard hat stickers, maybe even some truck decals as time goes on.
00:16:20
Speaker
Have you had any recent jobs just as we've started here getting into busy time that you've had any issues? Frickin' Kevin. I think it was April 1st. No.
00:16:34
Speaker
Yeah, we actually hit a private... electrical line, a cherry packing facility in the Central Valley of California. and you know, it's just a reminder to always look around and check things out, which, you know, I think we'll go kind of like step by step here in a minute of how to do that, how to prepare yourself for driving these stakes in the ground. But yeah, we hit ah and an electrical line.
00:16:58
Speaker
Someone came out and said, my computer's dead or I don't have any power. What's going on? And Sure enough, the same area we've staked for 10 years plus, the stake just went in just a little bit of a different angle and hit that electrical line. So it was on the the owners of the business and the property that they didn't let us know. They didn't tell us that that was running there.
00:17:19
Speaker
I don't even think they even realized that electrical lines were there. So what happened? They had to dig it out. We had to come back another day, finish up the tent and all that. But what came out of it was that they will extend the concrete pad.
00:17:33
Speaker
five more feet so we can get the tent anchored in there instead of staked in the ground. And I think that's the biggest thing is why people just blow off the 811s, especially some smaller groups, some smaller companies is it's time.
00:17:47
Speaker
It's one of those things where you get out to the job site. You've been planning this job for how long, you know, and you finally get out to the job site. And there's no markings. And so, I mean, let's be honest. We've all, we've all done it where we are like, you know what, this job's got to get done. We got a busy schedule. We got to get it done. Let's just, let's say, let's go ahead and hit those stakes. And, but if you feel something, you know, yes ah Hey, just use the hammer. You'll feel it. Yeah. You'll feel it eventually, you know, and it's, it's, it's like, you know, we just can't put people at risk like that anymore. And there's too much, there's too many, there's too many things out there to help prevent that. So,
00:18:22
Speaker
What are the steps, Kevin, to to go through to ah to lock down eight one one Yeah, so 8-1-1 is a free service. It's a free public service. You used to have to call in, actually, and that's why people would say, you got to call it in, you got to call it in. But now you can go online and actually fill out all the information and do that.
00:18:43
Speaker
Typically, you want to do it a week ahead. You can do it, I believe, up to even 90 days before because after 90 days of the proposed excavation time, you have to either renew or get it redone, whatever it may be.
00:18:57
Speaker
So a week is ah is a safe time to do it. You do technically have three days minimum, and that that first call is not considered the day. It would be the next three days after that.
00:19:10
Speaker
So if somebody's asking for a tent on Friday, then, and they call in on Thursday or Wednesday before, that means that that tent's probably not going, going to get staked in the ground. and You may have to do ballast. We have to do something else because the repercussions of not calling 8-1-1 are fines, fees.
00:19:30
Speaker
You'll start getting, you know, blacklisted on the, on their call list. You know, there's, there's things that can happen. So, yeah, that's the problem. yeah That's the biggest problem. yeah Until it happens to you, you don't realize how important it is.
00:19:43
Speaker
like Until you hit something and something bad happens or you get fined or you pay for the emergency services if you hit a gas line when they have to come out, you don't realize how easy it is to just save yourself the money from the fine until you actually have to pay it. That is the biggest issue.
Logistical Challenges and Team Communication
00:20:00
Speaker
Or from having to tell somebody that they got killed on a job site but that's because they decided to stake into an electrical line that they didn't want to wait on.
00:20:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's what happens. And so that's that's on the public side, right? That's the 811 side. And i think a lot of people don't realize that when you do call 811, it's the public utilities.
00:20:21
Speaker
It's their line that they're marking for. It's not anything after the meter. So, you know, even at point. Yeah, that your tourment turns to private. Yeah. Let's say your electric electric company or gas company has, you know, their lines go in the street and then spread out to the houses, right?
00:20:40
Speaker
So if you're if you're going to your house, that line is going to go to that meter that's public. After that meter, it's private. So it's on either the homeowner to know where everything's at, the contractor or whoever built the facility to know where things are at, or you can call a private marker that will do it.
00:20:58
Speaker
which ah B is involved with that. Yeah. I think that's the other big thing is the, ah is the private stuff that gets us a lot that we would go to so many properties where 90% of it is private stuff.
00:21:10
Speaker
I mean, there was one specifically that we've had geo marked several times, you know, and we we have someone come out. Yeah, you got to pay a fee for it. And you can roll on roll that on to the customer, obviously. But the biggest thing is getting those private lines marked. And I think that is hard because a lot of times 811 won't catch anything. But if you don't know to ask about private, then you're going to get in even bigger trouble there. 811 and the markout is a big part of the class we teach.
00:21:35
Speaker
And I always say, like, if you see they have an outdoor grill and they don't have a propane tank next to it, I would ask them if they know where the line is, because obviously they're hooked up to their own gas from the meter. Like, that's an important thing. If they have a pool and a pool heater, well, there's gas coming somewhere.
00:21:51
Speaker
so like I didn't think about that as pool heater. Yeah, those are all things that you've got to keep an eye out for, because it gets there somewhere. Yeah, and and and and just the under... just the under underground that you wouldn't even think of.
00:22:04
Speaker
Well, what else you got on the 811 there, Kev? So, yeah, I mean, just to kind of ah bring the private and public home, But 811, what they'll teach you in the classes, because you can go to these classes for 811. Whatever your utility company use or whatever group you use, you can go to that and talk about – they'll actually have some training on it.
00:22:27
Speaker
So one of the things that they say is that – let's say you're replacing a fence at your house, right? Here's this fence that's been there for years and you got to dig the posts up. All right. Well, usually want to dig a little deeper to get set the posts even better with more concrete, whatever it may be. Right.
00:22:44
Speaker
There could be a main running right underneath that fence line that you have no no idea about. your Your real estate agent doesn't know. No one knows but the private but the the utility company. So what they're saying is if they will mark that main if you need to replace that fence.
00:23:00
Speaker
So anytime you pierce the earth, you technically are supposed to call 8-1-1. They have it on trees now that you go buy at the hardware store or wherever you get those from. They'll have little decals of 811 on there because anytime you break, like I said, pierce that earth, you're technically supposed to call because you don't know how shallow that line is or where that line's running from.
00:23:19
Speaker
All utilities come in the front of the house, don't they? Oh, yeah. Mostly now now new construction, they kind of – they do. But if you have a house from the 50s, from the 40s, or even older than that, which you guys on the East Coast have way older houses than we do on the West Coast, but they they put lines wherever they want.
00:23:39
Speaker
They did ah in time. you know they never They thought they could just put this line and it would be an orchard forever or whatever it may be. Well, now there's houses built there. I think last week, gas line through the backyard of the house.
00:23:50
Speaker
Like, yeah what is going on? A public gas line right through the backyard. So it teed off to everyone's houses through the backyards. Yeah. So, I mean, it we're driving 42, 36, 42 inch even five foot stakes down into the ground. So it just, you got to know where those, those lines are at. So that's why private's good too, because you can call them again, there's a fee attached, but they're going to let you know where all the lines go.
00:24:15
Speaker
They'll even let you know irrigation and all that. Kyle does some work at some universities. I do too. Universities typically have somebody on staff that that's all they do. They just do markouts. They go show you where everything's at and all that.
00:24:27
Speaker
And then, um like Nate says, sometimes there's years but that you do this job every year. i still call markouts because you don't know where that utility company has put new lines in their ground. You just don't know what's going on under there.
00:24:40
Speaker
All right. Last topic before we wrap this one up. Are any of you doing like tailgate talks weekly? Monthly, yearly? So I will say production meeting. I've been doing a lot of production meetings before the job starts.
00:24:54
Speaker
I started to do them almost like a week ahead of time to get ah in front of it. So I would bring the foreman in, And then bring in, you know, his, his guy that's below him in.
00:25:05
Speaker
So his lead guy. So the foreman and the lead. So I was bringing them in. I was going over all documents from anybody that's planning the event, whoever's doing the event, as far as diagrams, just details.
00:25:16
Speaker
We'd walk line by line on the contract on and go over every single thing on the contract grade, whatever that entails with the floor, specific little details and timelines.
00:25:28
Speaker
Well, then what I realized was as much as I do during a week, I, and bounce around and run around. i can't remember half the stuff, which is why I tell 90% of the people that ask me something or need something for me to email me because it's the one place that I won't accidentally delete it or check it.
00:25:44
Speaker
But they're forgetting so a lot of this stuff because I'm doing it too far ahead of time. yeah, This is our first day of busy season. It's officially hit for me in Nashville. So we have one big job that started today.
00:25:56
Speaker
We have another big job that starts tomorrow. So I went ahead and did the production meeting for the big job that's starting tomorrow today. So I'm going to do it, try and do it 24 hours before.
00:26:07
Speaker
That way we can kind of start having the, make that our tailgate talk. So that way the guys come in in the morning, they can load their tools and head out and we're getting ahead of it rather than having to stop them and, you know, get them in the morning.
00:26:18
Speaker
So we get it to them the night before they have time to sit, you know, sit on it and think of any questions during the day, anything that pops up at night. But, um, yeah. And I, i had, two of my employees from Nashville on that one as well with the lead and the foreman.
00:26:32
Speaker
So that way we can make sure if I missed anything, you know, they could catch her, they could write notes down too. So everybody's on the same page and it works great that way, even through, you know, if if I'm not in the office, we can do it do it through, Teams or Zoom, just so everybody can be there at one time and ask a bunch of questions.
00:26:48
Speaker
In those meetings, Nate, you guys ever talk about like the weather and how things may be, trying to get all those kinds of things that may have an incident occur, right? Like things could happen. yeah Yeah. So also even for like, I'll go back to, um yeah well, to answer that question, my timeline, i always put a buffer day in.
00:27:07
Speaker
There is always a buffer day in my timeline on my jobs because I'm always afraid. Like today we had, truck driver call in last night. So this morning, we got stuff going from Chattanooga to Nashville.
00:27:19
Speaker
Supposed to be out of here by 630 in the morning to be on site by nine o'clock, eight o'clock Nashville time. He called in yesterday. We didn't get the memo until this morning. Truck didn't get out the door.
00:27:30
Speaker
It's also pouring down rain. You got 16 guys on the job site that are waiting to carry this stuff up and do all these things. So everything's behind. So we built in a buffer day, luckily, or a lot of our jobs are for the most part, jobs that take five to seven days, if not longer.
00:27:46
Speaker
So we're doing them far enough ahead of time where the weather, it's not, you know, everybody was freaking out about the weather this morning and it's, it's raining. That's for damn sure. But you know, it's, you look real wet.
00:27:57
Speaker
We built it up.
Job Safety Assessments and Team Efficiency
00:27:58
Speaker
We built it up ahead of time, far enough that I don't let weather play in as much as i you know, it could. So, but, We were on my jobs from, you know, we do production meetings in Chattanooga for national jobs. And for my jobs, we even, you know, we meet with operations. We meet with logistics. We meet with inventory, warehouse manager. So we meet with all those people at once and we go through each contract, each individual job. And, you know, I walked away from my our first one that we had for the year last week with five different things that I missed on the contractor that might have not been correct or whatever it was. And that we were able to catch it right then and there.
00:28:36
Speaker
rather than on the job site. And we kind of started those, and I'm being long-winded here, but we started based on, we had everybody in one room, all the salespeople, all the operations, everybody in one room at one time to walk through the week ahead on what was coming up in each job. But what what happened was now you're sitting here listening and answering questions for almost two hours for all these different salespeople and everybody else.
00:29:00
Speaker
And it's it's a waste of everybody's time. And then the details get missed because everybody's trying to just run through it. So we have basically turned it into a sales talk for each individual salesperson for the month. So that we hammered out the month of May last week.
00:29:14
Speaker
That helped a ton. And we'll we'll probably meet again before that some of those jobs come up. But just getting those together so everybody can be on the same page. Cool. Yeah. That's what wanted to See how you guys did that.
00:29:26
Speaker
When it comes to like our like kind of tailgate talks, when it comes to safety stuff, we typically do a weekly tailgate talk. Sometimes some days, some weeks get missed, we get busy, things happen, right?
00:29:39
Speaker
But every Monday, we have we put out these red folders, one for each lead, even if two leads are on the job, they can still take them. And it has a topic kind of what's going on. Like when it starts getting wet weather here, we'll start talking about rain and driving in the rain and cold weather, all that kind of stuff. But as spring starts happening, we'll talk more about, you know, the heat illness, whatever it may be.
00:30:02
Speaker
So that's like every week. And then we try and do either some sort of safety meeting every like two to three months, some big one with the whole crew all together and talk about that, whatever the topic may be. Again,
00:30:15
Speaker
what's What's trending, what's happening, anything like that. So that's your defense on that. You're doing JSAs, aren't you? Yeah. So then when it comes to like a daily basis, we every job that they go to, you know we're not like a party rental store, so we're not doing multiple deliveries.
00:30:32
Speaker
Typically, we're going to one to two stops a day, depending on how the day looks. So what they'll do is they'll whip out this. ah It's called the JSA, JHA, AHA. There's all kinds of terms for it.
00:30:43
Speaker
But it's a hazard assessment, basically. So they'll take this hazard assessment, they'll see what's going on, weather plays a factor, right? we going to talk about the heat, we're going to talk about the wind, the rain, whatever it may be, they'll list out all the job steps, all the hazards, and then all the ways to mitigate those hazards. So you know,
00:30:59
Speaker
pinch points, wear gloves, heavy items, team lift or mechanical lift, whatever it may be. So we go over those and then everybody signs it and then it's good to go, you know, and then, you know, if things change, if if things happen, then we have to kind of,
00:31:15
Speaker
rewrite it a little bit and play with it and kind of recheck it and talk about it more. But it's basically a step-by-step of how the job's going to go. So, you know, it's nice for those people who haven't been in this industry to hear what the steps are and what they're looking out for and all that.
00:31:30
Speaker
It's just one of the things we do every, every day for each job. So even if it's a large install, we'll still do it too. That's a good reminder. I'm actually going to give my call and guys a call after this call to make sure they do their meetings in the morning. Cause as we're getting busy or just a,
00:31:45
Speaker
It's a good process for not only us to do the meetings with them, but to them do the meetings for themselves. Yeah. and they occur I feel like I started forcing guys na to do those on the job site because I only talk to the leads as well.
00:31:57
Speaker
Right. But I've noticed things go so much smoother. They take five minutes and just tell everyone what the plan is. That's all you need to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Well, and how I've learned that the most is watching, you know,
00:32:10
Speaker
people get so upset if they're not in the know and you always tell them, I can tell you a hundred times that there's a reason for it. There's a reason for it. But if I don't physically tell you what the reason is, you're just frustrated because you don't know. And so what I've, you know, less has always been more, right?
00:32:26
Speaker
Just get the job done. Less is more. Let's get it done. Now it's, it's becoming to the point where it's like, you need to tell them more. So they understand they be, they're more part of the team. They, they know exactly what's going on.
00:32:36
Speaker
And actually you have less people standing around and, and more people are motivated to do something because they know what they're supposed to do rather than sit there with their thumb in their ass. Yeah. It's so easy. Like typical question, Nate, not for you as much because you don't do, but like tell them where the power is in the beginning of the day, instead of them walking around doing nothing. Cause now they know, Oh, Hey, all the heater cord and exit signs, all that stuff. right got go there Yeah, exactly. Like I know I did one today. I had a meeting with them. I said, so I turned around and the guys had already finished the exit signs and the heaters. And I'm like,
00:33:08
Speaker
Thank you. no one even asked me a question. They just took care of it. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's, it's, mean, it's great. And it just takes you back to the career versus job thing. You know, if you want to get these people involved and you want them to take the classes and you want to do everything else, then you got to tell them what they got to do and what they need to do and make them feel part of the team.
00:33:25
Speaker
I don't even mind sharing the damn numbers with you on how much we make on some stuff so that you know why this business is profitable or why it's not profitable and why you're not getting raised or you're getting raised. So. Yeah, totally.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah. wrap this up kevin All right. Now, one of the, one of the things like you, like you were saying, take that five, 10 minutes out of the morning to talk about how that day is going to look, you know, whether it's safety stuff or even we talk about break times. Hey, we're going to take our first break at this.
00:33:50
Speaker
We're going to do lunch around this time. We're going to do break around this. Get, get that mindset going. So, you know, like what that day is going to look like. So every day is a new challenge, right? For us. So if you talk about it, spend that five, 10 minutes in the morning,
00:34:03
Speaker
go over all the things that could happen. You could save somebody's life that day or. And a post-cating too. Yeah. You could even, you know, just say, and then at the other day, Hey, nothing happened. You guys, we, we, we made it happen. Great job.
00:34:16
Speaker
Let's do the next one. Same thing, you know? So it's always good to have that little, just pre-talk before. And I've even been on sites where after lunch, I got everyone back together and said, Hey, let's just like, Hey, this is what the day's looking like. All right, cool. You know, let's make it happen.
00:34:32
Speaker
Yep. And then after the job concludes, we like to do the post talks of just making sure that we nail down details of what happened. um We don't do it as often as we should maybe.
00:34:42
Speaker
And this is something I'm trying to ingrain in some of their heads is just give me the details on what happened or extra parts or why you did this or why you did did that. So next year, when we do the same job, we know, Hey, we need to do this, but it wasn't on the contract or, Hey, we did this and we need to charge for it. Exactly.
00:35:00
Speaker
That's the biggest thing that, and they don't understand that. It's like, they don't, they want to help the customer and they want to go above and beyond, which I'm thankful for, but Hey, We got to make money while we go above and beyond. Yeah. I'm all for doing whatever the customer wants, but I also want to bill them for it.
00:35:14
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Running time the running running extension cores whatever may be, 100 plus feet or more, is ah that's not above and beyond. that that's That's a chargeable item that needs to happen, right?
Conclusion and Safety Protocols
00:35:24
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And just one last thing before wrap up here, just make sure...
00:35:29
Speaker
everybody's got their hard hats and their PPE, whether it be vest or whatever it is. No, I'm not going to say we're perfect on it, but I'm seeing a lot of pictures out there on the face space of ah maybe some not so safe things with hard hats and vests. And, you know, we got it. We got it. If we're going to move in the way we're talking, then this is we got to follow the safety procedures as well. so And you know what I'm going to say? I'm just going to say it, Nate.
00:35:50
Speaker
I can tell from pictures if you told your guys to put the hard hat on for the picture, Or if they actually wear those things. really uncomfortable Yeah, exactly. If you're going to make your guys wear hard hats, spend the money, buy the nice ones.
00:36:03
Speaker
And you got to give them a week off. If you catch them without a hard hat on, it sucks, but you do that to two guys, everyone will follow a line. Yeah. So just safety, safety concerns, you know, making sure you have the hard hat on the vest and just any PPE. I know Kevin's big on that for his, his business as well. And Kyle is too.
00:36:23
Speaker
No, I see you're, I'm not trying to give any Kyle any more publicity than 10 ox already does. So we'll keep that rolling, but I appreciate you guys coming on jumping on here. I know this was kind of long one, but it was good stuff and good stuff going into busy season here. So Kevin, thank you for jumping on and being a guest today. And yeah.
00:36:41
Speaker
yeah Another tailgate talk wrapped up here. Yeah, I appreciate it, guys. You have a go in and have a safe safe installs out there this crazy May.