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Plumbing, HVAC Specialist & Truck Driving feat. Quinton Harden
111 Plays1 year ago
Today we’re discussing the skilled trades of plumbers, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning), Truck Driving & Entrepreneurship. The US Dept. of Labor reports skilled trade educations are more likely to be employed than those with academic degrees. In fact, trade school is less expensive that a traditional 4 year degree, offers more job security since it can’t be outsourced and will have availability since more tradespeople, who are baby boomers and Gen. Xers, will be retiring soon.
Today’s guest is Quinton Harden, a 20 year professional in plumbing, HVAC and truck driving and now has expanded into Business Ownership. His principle of treating each job as if he’s working on his own equipment has earned him high praise and acclaim from clients and his Union Peers. He loves how this career has allowed him to see the country, meet some of the coolest ppl and design his life how he sees fit. He’s charted his own path as an independent thinker and is here to share why skilled trades are valuable to our society and possibly your life.
https://www.thumbtack.com/oh/pickerington/central-air-conditioning-repair/harden-hvac-plumbing-small-appliances/service/447186946109685766?utm_medium=web&utm_source=txt&surface=sp
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Transcript
Setting the Scene
00:00:00
Speaker
I would have a picture of me with a print table in front of me. I would have a big old roll of print that schematics pulled out in front of me looking at. And I'd probably be sitting down looking at it and thinking of what's the next step. If that whole print is schematic, you look at a pair of schematics, that is how everything is going to look when you put it in the air.
Podcast Introduction
00:00:39
Speaker
What's up world? Have you ever wondered what does my friend actually do at work? Because if so, welcome to Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast.
00:00:53
Speaker
I am your host, BA, and here's what you can expect by tuning in. Each episode, I interview guests from different professions and dive into exactly what they do and how they came to be in their roles. I'll also have them open up about how they find fulfillment through their work. So for anyone interested in hearing the firsthand experience of a specific career, these conversations are your launching pad.
Benefits of Skilled Trades
00:01:22
Speaker
Today we're discussing the skill trades of plumbing, HVAC specialist or heating, ventilation and air conditioning, truck driving and entrepreneurship. Now one of my favorite comedy scenes is the bathroom scene from Friday.
00:01:41
Speaker
when Pops tells Craig he needs to look in that paper and find himself a trade. And while I laughed at the awkwardness of Craig being in the bathroom with his dad, it didn't miss me that the message was to learn a skill that will support you through life. And quick fun fact, the US Department of Labor reports skilled trade educations are more likely to be employed than those with academic degrees.
00:02:09
Speaker
because in fact, trade school is less expensive than a traditional four-year degree, offers more job security since it can't be outsourced, and will have availability since more tradespeople who are usually baby boomers and Gen Xers will be retiring soon.
Meet Quentin Hardin
00:02:28
Speaker
Today's guest is Quentin Hardin, a 20-year professional in plumbing, HVAC, and truck driving, and now has expanded into business ownership.
00:02:38
Speaker
His principle of treating each job as if he's working on his own equipment has earned him high praise and acclaim from clients and his union peers. He loves how this career has allowed him to see the country, meet some of the coolest people, and design his life how he sees fit.
00:02:59
Speaker
He's charted his own path as an independent thinker and is here to share why skilled trades are valuable to our society and possibly to your life. Welcome to the show.
00:03:26
Speaker
Of course, of course, man.
Importance of HVAC and Plumbing
00:03:30
Speaker
So I guess my first thing is, you know, I know that you love what you do, but to you, why is the work of plumbing and HVAC work so important to our society?
00:03:44
Speaker
alright well let's start with this when it comes to plumbing and HVAC first what you have is uh... you have indoor heating and air conditioning also when it comes down to the plumbing side you also have which is indoor plumbing and if you look at a lot of things you go through some of these other different countries a lot of people don't have those essentials that we do have yeah when it comes to me doing HVAC it allows me to bring
00:04:11
Speaker
climate controls to wherever you're working at, to your residence, the home that you're at, wherever you're working. So, you know, when it comes to the wintertime, you're able to have that heat. Also, when it comes to the summertime, you're able to have that AC because you don't want to be outside, you know, burning up. It's nothing like being able to come into a house and it's nothing like from being outside. And let's say it's like 100 degrees and then you come in the house, you just get that nice breath of air to just cross your face. Yeah.
00:04:42
Speaker
But always look at it. That's the luxury. That's the luxury that us as Americans are able to have. And of course, we're going to enjoy it. If we have it, we can enjoy it. And also, when it comes down to plumbing, I will keep it real. That's also another luxury. You'll be surprised. Some countries nowadays still don't have indoor plumbing. They still use outhouses. So when it comes down to indoor plumbing, you have the luxury to be able to take care of all your duties.
00:05:06
Speaker
inside of your house instead of having to go to one of the back to the caveman days where some places are still that same way. Yeah well said well said thank you for that quick overview of why it's important and once again reminding us here in America how good we have it even when it doesn't seem like it so so those the way you use the word luxury and having air conditioning and heating and plumbing is 100% of luxury so thank you for even using that word I appreciate it.
Quentin's Journey into Trades
00:05:35
Speaker
So let me ask, how did you get into this? I mean, was there somebody in the family who introduced it to it? Or did you always know that you wanted to go into this work when you were younger? What drew you to this skill trade and this career?
00:05:56
Speaker
I graduated back in 02. At that time, I was still, yeah. Time flies. I'm 39 years old now, so it's amazing how fast time has flown. Me and Jason done it for a long time. It's 20 years and I'm going. When you take me into it, 98, man. That's a long time. Like I said, I graduated in 02.
00:06:21
Speaker
Pretty much, it was one of those things where I didn't really know what I was going to do. What I did do was I registered and got into Columbus State because what I was going to do at the time, I was going to go to computer programming. At the same time as I was doing that, I was still a little bit lost. I got a cousin. His name is Jermaine Harden. He is a plumber and pipe fitter out of
00:06:46
Speaker
Local 189 is a union hall there. He pretty much probably been in there for a good 10 or so years while I joined. He pretty much told me about it. He explained the process. And then what he said to me, which is, since you don't know what career, what path you're looking at, give this a try and see if you like it. Because pretty much he did the same thing on his end. Someone told him about it. He ended up joining. And then you'll be surprised. Like, you know what?
00:07:15
Speaker
I kind of like this. This is actually not as bad as I thought. Pretty much, my cousin told me about it. I went down there at the time when they were accepting an application. I filled one out, and really about the time when I graduated from high school, they got back with me and let me know that I was invited to come down, do a little interview real quick. And once they accepted from that point,
00:07:37
Speaker
Pretty much have been I've been in the junior hall ever since and it definitely has been a dream to me It has it has changed my life. It's changed my family It's also a trade job when it comes down to a trade job this trade I Didn't have to put any money to be able to be part of this right down to a lot of colleges I don't I don't knock colleges in any way I
00:08:04
Speaker
Colleges are a great thing, but it all
Financial Advantages of Trades
00:08:07
Speaker
depends on what you're going for. Some colleges, a lot of degrees you get, they're worthless. I'm not gonna lie, but some degrees you get, I mean, if you're gonna be a, okay, let's say you're gonna go be a doctor. If you're gonna go be a nurse, there's a lot of things, there's a lot of careers that you'll have to have that college degree and it will be useful in that area. But some degrees you'll go to and you'll be surprised how many people go to college
00:08:32
Speaker
and the degree that they got for what they do, they're not even in that field no more. At the same time, they're still paying student loans on something that they don't even do. So when it comes to doing trades, I definitely appreciate when a lot of different teachers or people come out to all these high schools. And I love to see when they come out and at least acknowledge and let the kids know that they're
00:08:58
Speaker
There's other opportunities out there that you can do because usually in your head, it's like, I got to go to college. It's fine. It depends on what you're going for. But when it comes to these trade jobs, like I do plumbing and piping, you got electrical, you have an, you have an elevator junior hall. There's so many different trades out there and you will be surprised on what they pay. And the thing about it.
00:09:22
Speaker
don't let it get you food. A lot of these trade jobs pay way more than what these college degrees that you get. Plus you're not paying student loans for these trade jobs. Right, right. Yeah. So when you join, uh, so versus going to a traditional four year college, going into debt, you're able to do an interview, hopefully get into the union, prove yourself.
Apprenticeship Structure and Benefits
00:09:41
Speaker
And then you start in a apprenticeship for how long is usually an apprenticeship?
00:09:47
Speaker
All right, it's a five-year apprenticeship. OK. Go right here. Go right here. No, my next question is going to be like, what is going through the apprenticeship like? Is there classroom time? Is it most of it actually being out in the field and learning firsthand from somebody? What's it like going through that apprenticeship program? The apprenticeship is a pretty much this way. It's a life-changing experience.
00:10:16
Speaker
So when it comes down, you're pretty much like, you know, when they call somebody, you know, you're the newbie or you're like the green person that comes in. When you come as a first year apprentice, pretty much what they do is after you join the hall, they got you in there pretty much. They usually take about 20 to 25 apprentices at a time.
00:10:35
Speaker
And if anybody wants to know or think about joining in, it's usually around April in the beginning of the year when they do start putting out some applications and are accepting apprentices for the next year. What they'll do is they'll bring you all in, they'll explain the process. And then what they do...
00:10:51
Speaker
Through our Union Hall, we have about, I don't know, there could be maybe 20, 25 companies within the Union Hall. I'll list a couple. Sauer, Bruner, Johnson Control, these are just a couple companies that are in the Union Hall. And what they'll do is they'll take all of us, and then they will distribute us all. They'll send us out to different jobs. And Bruner needs so many apprentices. Let's say they need five or six. They'll send five or six to you out there.
00:11:20
Speaker
And the thing about it, which the good thing about it, we have like a plumbing side. We also have an HVAC side. So you have a one to five years that you do when it comes to the apprentice. So now when you come in as an apprentice.
00:11:32
Speaker
I believe now a first year apprentice may, it could be like 20 to 25, if I'm not giving you the right number. It's somewhere between there. So yeah. That's money. That's real money. That's what I'm trying to say now. I mean, you go to some college to come out and think you'll
Trade Progression and Earnings
00:11:51
Speaker
be making that. You still have to work your way up to it. You have to show yourself. Which is one of, I got my college degree. What am I needing to show you? I already showed you I went to college four years.
00:12:00
Speaker
Right. That's just how things end. So you're about 20 to 25. So let's say for myself, you have one to five years. Every year that you're in there, your pay goes up by the year. So you do your first year, you'll make maybe like 20, 25, your third year, you'll probably be 28, 29, everything goes up per year. And what to do, they'll put you out with a certain company.
00:12:25
Speaker
You may stay with that company your whole five years. You could get switched around every year. It really depends on how much work the company has that you're able to do. So when I first came in, I went to a company called Train Columbus, right out here in Columbus. It's off of City Gate Road, not far from the airport. Train Columbus is an HVAC company. They do a lot of the big commercial HVAC work. A lot of these companies, whether it comes to the malls,
00:12:55
Speaker
All these places I'm talking about where it comes to dealing with. Chillers, it comes to dealing with cooling towers, anything that has to do with your HVAC needs in the commercial area, that's when training comes in.
00:13:09
Speaker
I end up going over the train and really one of the reasons I end up getting lucky to go over there because I had a good driving record. See what I'm saying? When you're trying to train,
Learning in Apprenticeships
00:13:20
Speaker
see, I end up getting, I end up getting my own vehicle and everything. You have to be able to get around. You know, you have to be able to drive the vehicles around. So when it comes down to insurance, just like anything else, you got a bad driver record. What's your insurance going to look like? It's going to skyrocket. That's how we think it is. So I ended up going off the train. Now me as an apprentice,
00:13:38
Speaker
I work for what they call, it's called a journeyman. It's either a journeyman or it's a journeywoman. That's someone that's pretty much to say that someone that's been in the trade for over five years. So pretty much a lot of people they're not working with, and these people probably been working for at least 15 years and over or so that I work with. So my job as an apprentice,
00:13:59
Speaker
I go out and work with different journeymen out there with training. So maybe somebody might be working on a chiller, maybe somebody might be working on some rooftop units, but pretty much whatever they're working on, they're showing me and they're teaching me how everything is done. So pretty much every day I go out, it's a learning process. Everything starts with safety after safety. Everything's all about troubleshooting and understanding how a unit works. You're taking me through, you know, I'm just like a child. When I'm there,
00:14:28
Speaker
I'm there to learn, I'm there to take in all the information. The more information you understand, makes it easier for you to work by yourself so you understand what's happening. And then hopefully soon down the line, you're able to take that information and give it to somebody else. So that's how everything works. So I would go to work from 7 to 3.30. After 7 to 3.30, then I would go to school that started about 5.30 to 9. And pretty much, I would do that throughout the whole
00:14:56
Speaker
whole work schedule throughout the whole year. That's how it works. And then the next year, once you graduate up the second year, you could luckily be at the same place. You know, you already know everybody there. I end up staying with Train for a little bit over three years. And after that one, I ended up going to a company called Bruner. Now, when I went to Bruner,
00:15:19
Speaker
Bruner does HVAC, but Bruner also has a plumbing side also. They have a really big plumbing side. So my first three years is all HVAC, and then my last two years of apprenticeship, I did nothing but plumbing.
00:15:34
Speaker
What I do say I will like about how that happened is that within my apprenticeship, I was able to learn both sides. So now instead of what I do now, instead of just doing HVAC, which is fine, I also am able to do the plumbing side because I was also able to learn the ins and outs from both sides through my five years, which pretty much made me a well diverse person.
00:15:57
Speaker
Makes sense. Makes sense. And thank you for that thorough explanation of the matriculation through the apprenticeship program. And you actually did a perfect segue into my next question, which is about how much can somebody make? So I know in the first year,
00:16:15
Speaker
You said that you can make somewhere between $20 and $25 an hour, which sounds a lot better than going into $25,000 worth of debt during your freshman year in college. As you matriculate through each year, can you make more money? And then after you graduate from your apprenticeship, how much can somebody expect to make?
00:16:37
Speaker
Right now,
Earnings Potential for Journeymen
00:16:38
Speaker
a journeyman is pulling in $55 an hour. Oh, OK. Every year, this goes up. So you're making $55 an hour now, right? Next year, you could be at, I don't know, maybe $56 and some change. They have a contract. And pretty much every four years, the contract is redone. And they're negotiating for more and more money. So right now, you're about at $55.
00:17:05
Speaker
So when you think about stuff, you think about this is a trade job you didn't have to go to college for. You put in five years of your life that is going to pretty much make you a better person and make you understand more. That's also going to bring more money to the table. And you're making $55 an hour. And as we was talking here, like I said, I don't knock colleges.
00:17:34
Speaker
It just all depends on what you're going for. And most of the degrees, I mean, if it's not in that doctor field somewhere, most of the degrees you're going to get, you're still not going to be making 55 after you get out of your four years of college. And the thing that sucked when it comes down to college, not only would you not be making $55 an hour when you got out of college, now you have this big student loan debt that you have.
00:17:59
Speaker
Hopefully,
Trade vs College Comparison
00:18:00
Speaker
you're working in your field to even pay it back. Hopefully, you're even in that field still. And the other thing about it with some of these degrees, the thing about it, as we had this conversation before, if you choose to go to college and whatever it is that you want to do, and let's say you want to go to college for it, make sure to first know what it pays. You want to know what it pays when you get out. How much money are you going to make for that degree, that four-year degree you have? Next, after that,
00:18:30
Speaker
Wherever you live at, you want to make sure that companies need somebody with that degree. Because if no company needs somebody, there's degrees out there, which is, it's just sad to see sometimes. There's degrees that companies don't even use that degree because it's a worthless degree. But it's a worthless money in a college pocket. I mean, college is going to take your money whether it goes. Some of these degrees you get, it's like, you go to like, okay, I got this degree later.
00:18:58
Speaker
That degree is useless. I mean, there's not even a name in the field for that type of degree that you got. And the thing about it, now you have all this student loan debt that you picked up. I mean, a hundred thousand or whatever it costs for you to get that degree for that four years. You still got to pay that stuff back. Yeah. When it comes to the trade, it gives you another opportunity to learn something. And also trade is when you learn this, this is a skill that nobody can take from you. This is a skill you always have.
00:19:27
Speaker
so when it comes down to my life when it comes down for me working for certain companies this trade here has caused me to learn so much that i'm able to go out on my own and i'm able to do stuff by myself because i was able to learn just like a sponge i was able to soak everything in and then i was able to use it for myself to be able to do what i want to do i'm doing the same thing but i'm just making money for myself
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing. And while you were talking, I fleshed out the numbers also because you said it's about 20 to $25 on your first year at apprenticeship. That'll make you about I think like 20 to $22,000 a year. And as a 19 year old, that's kind of a lot of money. And then if you graduate from the apprentice apprenticeship program at 22 or 23 years old, you
00:20:15
Speaker
come out, you're able to make $50 to $55 an hour.
Debt-Free Career Path
00:20:19
Speaker
If you work a 40 hour work week, which I imagine sometimes you'll probably even work longer depending upon the job. And if you work 26 pay periods,
00:20:28
Speaker
That's over $50,000 a year. And to share my own personal journey, when I first graduated from college, my first job, I was making 55 a year. So to know that I could have gotten a trade, made money while I was still in school between $20,000, $25,000, got a slight increase second, third, fourth year. And then by the time I graduate, I'm making $50,000 to $55,000 an hour, which turns out to be between $50,000 and $55,000 a year.
00:20:57
Speaker
Man, that sounds so appealing. And I wish I was aware of all this now that we're learning and talking about it, man. So thank you for sharing about the financial side of it. That's no problem at all. Like you said, there's a lot of things that we, as we go through life, that we definitely wish we know that would definitely put us in a better place we at. But as you mentioned about the money, like I said, we're about 50, 55. So if you're looking at it for a year,
00:21:26
Speaker
That's 104,000 a year. You take taxes out of that. So let's just say, put you around probably 80 or 85,000. Think about a job that you went to for five years. At the same time, you was making money. You're learning to trade. And after your five years, you're making your point in a minimum of $80,000. There's no student loans with that. That is cash money in your pocket. So the four years you're in college, you're just in classes.
00:21:57
Speaker
You're not just in class, you're actually out in the field working. Now when you're out in the field working, you're also getting paid for the work you do. So in this process, it's hard to beat because you're learning, you're getting paid. And as an apprentice, you're going year by year, you're making more and more money all this time. You're getting paid. You're not paying any student loans. So when you come out, first of all, you're not in debt.
00:22:22
Speaker
You already on top of the game because you've already been making money for five years. At the same time, you already been learning for five years. You already have everything you need. You
Path to Business Ownership
00:22:30
Speaker
don't have to go look and find the job because more than likely, the job... You already got one. ...when you're already there. You don't have to look for a job. And when it comes down to the trade, I'm out, like I said, I'm out for local 189. If I need a job, I just go to the union hall. I just go look at a piece of paper. There'll be 10 jobs sitting there. All I do is just sign the job and go to it. I don't...
00:22:51
Speaker
the fifth
00:23:10
Speaker
Man, that man, wow, that sounds so appealing. So now let's jump into actually some of the work that you've accomplished while you're out there working. So I guess you talked about how you look at your job as bringing luxury to people, helping people feel comfortable in their lives, who hates coming into the house being sweaty and then sitting down on the couch, and now your body's all sticky on the couch. You want to come in and feel comfortable. So as you think over your career,
00:23:40
Speaker
What has been the proudest achievement that you've done? What's been the proudest achievement you accomplished in your career so far?
00:23:51
Speaker
I will say the proudest achievement that I accomplished is that I was able to, as a sponge, I was able to soak everything in and I was able to understand everything, which then caused me to be able to branch out on my own and then start my own business. Respect.
00:24:12
Speaker
I'm already, I'm doing the same thing that I would be doing there. But instead of doing it for them, I'm just doing it for myself. The process is all the same. You're just taking all the profits yourself instead of having that middleman in front of you.
00:24:26
Speaker
So you know what you and now I have an even more question So
Entrepreneurial Financial Differences
00:24:30
Speaker
as you you know now that you are in business ownership and so you can see how much a job fully costs versus Taking on a job and only receiving your salary What percentage of a job does the worker receive versus what the the employer receive? Did that make sense?
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah, if you go down to percentages, put it this way, you're probably going to pull maybe 15 to 20%. That money goes to the employer. That's a great job. Because any job you do, you're getting that small cut of the big profit that they're making.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yep. So whatever, whatever they make, you're, you're, you're getting, believe me, a real small cut off of what they're actually getting. Yep. They're not trying to, they ain't trying to pay that much money.
Entrepreneurship Challenges and Benefits
00:25:26
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? They're going to give you, they're going to give you what them numbers are. If you make $50 an hour, you're okay. They going to give you that because they got to give that to you. They ain't trying to give you no extra. It comes out to a lot of stuff.
00:25:39
Speaker
Out of 100%, you may make $15 to $20 out of that that you want to get from out of the company, because most of that money goes to the company. So when you do something so long, it doesn't matter what you're in, it depends. If you have that entrepreneur mindset or something like that, if you have the mindset where you want to do your own thing, some people don't want it. Some people want to just work for a company. That is fine. Everybody doesn't have that mindset to want to do that, because you're in that comfort zone.
00:26:09
Speaker
Some people are just comfortable with where they're at. That's fine, and that's understandable. No one wants to push anybody to go anywhere. Everything has to move on your own terms. But you get that mindset, and when you start understanding, if you understand the job, you can do it for yourself. At the same time, you can start a small business, and you don't have, see, most of these companies have so much overhead that they gotta pay for. It's why you only make so much. You go out there and start you a small business company,
00:26:39
Speaker
And when you don't have all that overhead, you're going to bring in all kinds of money because you don't have all the extra stuff that you got to pay for like most of these bigger companies have. That reminds me, I don't even know who made this quote, but people were talking about professional athletes and how much money they make and it's millions. And then there was this light bulb moment that says, hey, if an athlete is making this many millions while they're playing, just imagine how much the owners are actually making from what they're doing.
00:27:06
Speaker
And so I love how you brought up. Thank you for sharing that, you know, the estimate of about 15 to 20 percent is what an employee is actually making from the whole, from the value that they're creating or the return on investment is the business term you'd like to use. You know, so thank you for sharing that estimate. I appreciate it.
00:27:24
Speaker
Now, thank you for, I love that you've gotten into business ownership and you talked about how, you know, soaking, just being a sponge and learning as much as you can.
Understanding Work for Empowerment
00:27:37
Speaker
And I guess, and you can share whether, you know, from being an owner or actually being out in the field and using your hands, but when, you know, when do you feel the most powerful in your job?
00:27:54
Speaker
I must say, feeling the most powerful is when you understand the complete project. When it comes down to anything I do, whether it comes to me, I love working with my hands.
00:28:12
Speaker
I'm good when it comes to figuring stuff out, when it comes to reading prints, when it comes to looking at schematics, anything that has to do with troubleshooting, anything that has to do with you going to computer and looking it up and trying to find out a better way to always do something. I'm really good at that stuff. But when you're able to take all of that, and you're able to convince that all in one, and you understand all the aspects, it makes you a better person, it makes your job easier. If I go out to a job,
00:28:42
Speaker
If somebody needs a new AC put in, I already have numbers to give you because I know what everything costs. I know what all the parts, I know where to get my stuff. I know what parts cost. I know times that places are open. I know who has the best deal. I know who has what brands.
00:29:00
Speaker
Once I go to your house, before I even go to your place, I already know what the square footage of your house is before I get to you. If I got your address, I could get all that information. So when I come to you, I already have stuff in my head because I already know the customer is always going to have questions they want to give me. You throw all the questions you want at me because I guarantee when you throw the questions at me, I'm always going to have an answer for you because I'm already prepared and mentally ready to give you anything that you want after you ask me.
00:29:27
Speaker
I always want to be prepared and I want to be quick at giving my customers this information. It makes them understand that I'm reliable. They make sure that I'm not the one jumping around or just throwing some bull at you. I'm going to give it to you 100%. Everything that I do is like, you got to understand it. Once you understand it, your job is easy after you understand how to do everything. Once you understand everything,
00:29:53
Speaker
you get more you can rely you can get that chill mode just a little bit because you know what's going you're finally in that top feet of understanding what's going on makes sense and uh um
00:30:07
Speaker
What was I thinking while you were talking? We'll come back to that at the end, but thank you for sharing that learning and being knowledgeable of cost, even your own time. I guess you have to factor that into the price also. You know how valuable your time is. That makes you feel powerful and that also builds into the business ownership. So awesome.
00:30:30
Speaker
So I want to switch things up a little bit and ask you a couple of questions that talk about some of the tough times you may have experienced.
Challenges of Trade Work
00:30:41
Speaker
So we've talked a lot about how this is a great career, how having a trade empowers you, especially since you'd like to work with your hands and there's a skill that no one can take from you.
00:30:52
Speaker
But as with anything, there's a bad and an ugly side of it too. So, you know, if you could talk to your younger self, what's a watch out that you would give yourself about some of the negative things that somebody could experience going into this career?
00:31:15
Speaker
You want to make sure that you can learn everything is possible. So when it comes down to within your five years as an apprentice, you want to learn all you can. After five years is done, remember you're on your own now. And you don't want to be that one that doesn't know or doesn't understand nothing because you didn't build or understand the information when it's there. So when it comes down to a lot of stuff we do, I mean, you go with the gives and the bads. When it comes down to pumping a pipe in,
00:31:45
Speaker
I will admit, it's a dirty job. Everybody's not built for a dirty job. It's also hands on.
00:32:03
Speaker
I'm not a suit person. I don't wear suits to church. The only time I have a suit on is at a funeral. I have the same suit because I really have to wear this thing anywhere.
00:32:17
Speaker
of a black suit. I don't wear the shirt, because I don't wear suits. It's not my thing. I don't like sitting office all the time. I like moving around. I feel like when I move around, it feels like time just goes by faster, because you're doing something. So when it comes down to my field, let's just say you work outside a lot. And when it comes to climate conditions, you know what I mean? You're going to be working out in the heat. You're going to be out there sweating. You're also going to be working out there when it's freezing cold.
00:32:47
Speaker
So I've been out, I've been out in over 100 degree weather. Man, I've also been out way past when it's negative 32. I can see when it's negative 32, we still outside working. We don't change because now, if you got an inside office job, remember, don't forget to thank me for that heat that you got in that car. Right. I never knock anybody. I always give it. You got office job. Listen.
00:33:16
Speaker
stick with it because you have what's called climate control. When it's 30 degrees outside, when you see it snowing outside, and let's say when you look outside that window and you see all the people out there working, doing construction, like you in there and you got probably 70 degrees in there. As a matter of fact, while you're in there nice and warm, you can thank the people that's outside because they're also making sure that you have them certain temperatures that way you're always comfortable.
00:33:42
Speaker
So it doesn't matter what the weather is or what's going on. It's like, whether it's cold or it's hot outside, you're out there. Now when it comes down to the field, oh man, I know since I've been in there, we've had a lot of times where things have got real slow, like there wasn't a lot of work out there. So when this happens, like say people start getting laid off, you might be sitting at your house for a while if there's no work out there. But also what you can do, we have a lot of out of town work
00:34:10
Speaker
which those are called travelers, and you can go out of town and you can go work for another home over in different states. Now, it all depends on the person and how built you are. Some people can't do that. I mean, you go out of town for a couple months and you go make some money. Some people like being at home. Some people don't like being away from their loved ones. I mean, that's all on you, but them certain times when times get low, you might have to go out of town to work. Now, right now, times is real good.
00:34:37
Speaker
But don't get me wrong, that time was, it might be bad. Anything can happen. You always got to be ready for the unexpected. What's the, uh, what's, what's the longest, what's the longest you've spent away from home for work?
Travel Opportunities in Trades
00:34:52
Speaker
The longest I spent away from home. That'd be about what? Three months.
00:34:59
Speaker
Damn, yeah, that is a long time. Okay. Okay. And that was, I was over, I was in Alaska during that time. Alaska? What were you doing up there? I worked in Alaska two times and I worked on the Alaska pipeline. Oh, wow. Damn. Okay. Okay. Where else have you worked? I know you've been able to travel the country. Where else have you worked? Well, I can say travel. Well, okay. When it comes to travel country, I worked in what I worked in.
00:35:26
Speaker
Illinois, Michigan. I worked in California, Idaho, Utah, Mississippi, Las Vegas. What we got? Wood River, Illinois. That was a refinery that I was working on. I worked at all kinds of refineries, man. I love them. The thing about it was so funny. A lot of these out-of-town jobs, it's so weird because you make more money, but you do less work.
00:35:55
Speaker
Refineries, whether they're called, they call them shutdowns. What they do is that they have more people than what they need just in case. You know, you always got that in case because you know, somebody that you might need. So you always want to have an extra hundred people because you might happen to need all of them. You might not, but just in case, you always got that just in case in your head because you never know what happened. You just want to be prepared for something. Even if it doesn't happen, at least you weren't prepared for it.
00:36:24
Speaker
So a lot of times, like we say, the best place I have, I've done a lot of out-of-town work. And I mean, I've loved it. And me traveling, me traveling has just actually built a lot of friendships with a lot of different union halls. Well, I could just call them directly. Plus, it has caused me to meet a whole lot of journeymen plumber, you know, journeymen, pipe hitters, a lot of journeymen, journeywomen. But my best job out of town will probably be Alaska. I've done a lot of work out in Alaska. I know a lot of people out there.
00:36:53
Speaker
I've worked all up and down Alaska pipeline. We was on a, it's called the shoe center crew. You got a, you got a 60 inch pipe of crude oil that goes through Alaska 24 seven. All that pipe that runs through there, they sit on what's called shoes and those shoes sit on a beam because everything has to be mounted and sturdy on that beam. If they're not all that pipe can start cracking. If it starts cracking, you're going to have another issue after that. So we would go around,
00:37:20
Speaker
And we would have cranes and everything with us. And we would do all the shoes that pretty much were about to fall off because someone pretty much has already went ahead of us and figured all this out. We would bring cranes out. We would have a big crew with us. And what we would do, we would pretty much center everything back on these pipelines. So that actually allowed me to see a lot of Alaska, which is a wonderful place. And I'm not going to lie, man, when I first went out there the first time,
00:37:47
Speaker
Dude, I had all winter clothes. When I went out to Alaska, I had nothing because of that. Right. That's what you think. Right. It's cold. I've seen Alaska. All you see is snow. It's all winter cold. I mean, that's all I've ever seen. So it's funny because when I went down to Alaska, man, I had all winter stuff. And when I went out there, dude, it was 100 degrees out there.
00:38:09
Speaker
So when I got yikes, I had to go find the thrift store, right? And I had to go buy, I had to get all new stuff. It was burning up out there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 24 seven. You got 24 seven daylight from the time I was there. It don't get dark. Right. So that was another thing you had to get used to. He's out there. So I say when I was out there, it was a pretty fun time.
00:38:36
Speaker
very cool very cool now let me ask you this then um i know you do a lot of interaction with customers uh you know maybe even with some union peers and sometimes things can go a little left or a little unpredictable so
00:38:52
Speaker
What's been the wildest experience? I think something that was the most unexpected thing that's happened to you while you've been out there
Networking and Career Advancement
00:39:01
Speaker
working. And that can be with either a customer or with maybe a peer that you're working with on the job or even an employer. What's the loudest thing that's ever happened? The most unexpected will, I'll say on my end, would be meeting the right people. A lot of these times, yeah, it will be meeting the right people.
00:39:21
Speaker
Because you never know what you get into when you're out there. As I've been doing this for quite a while, even when it goes to trucking, it goes the same with that. When you're out there and doing a lot of these jobs, you never know that time when you meet the right person. Because a lot of times, you'll hear something like, it's not what you know sometimes. It might be the person that you happen to just go by that ends up changing your whole life around.
00:39:51
Speaker
Mm hmm. People that you know, you might be just in that right spot where you end up meeting someone that was doing the same thing that you're doing. And you'll be surprised you meeting that person changed your whole life around where it made a whole lot of things better for you. And then you end up being able to have that direct contact one on one with that person that was able to bring you all kinds of money. Gotcha. Gotcha. Cool.
00:40:15
Speaker
Now, I want to switch gears a little bit, and I want you to think abstract, all right?
Trade Work as Art
00:40:22
Speaker
So imagine you've hired a painter to commemorate the work that you do in a visual form. So we've talked a lot about what you do, but if you had to describe the work that you do to a painter, what would you tell that painter to draw?
00:40:46
Speaker
I would have a picture of me with a print table in front of me. I would have a big old roll of print that schematics pulled out in front of me looking at and I'll probably be sitting down looking at it and thinking of what's the next step. That whole print is schematic. When you look at a pair of schematics, that is how
00:41:08
Speaker
everything is going to look when you put it in the air so me my mind will be a painter pretty much of me looking down at a set of pranks getting things together and just checking to see where everything's going to go so everything's put in the
00:41:25
Speaker
Bet, bet, bet. All right. And so then my next question, each industry, profession, career has their own language and acronyms that they use.
Customer Communication
00:41:37
Speaker
So as it relates to the work you do, what is your favorite term or favorite acronym that you use? My acronym. Well, you know what? I'm going to keep it real with you.
00:41:53
Speaker
When it comes when it comes on to a lot of stuff. Everybody uses a lot of everybody wants to use a lot of big words, a lot of words. And the thing about it, that's what they got. When it comes up to a lot of stuff, you know, like I keep things simple. Yeah. The basics. You can understand it. Yeah. And whether it comes to the plumbing and pipe in the field or whatever it comes to what you do, sometimes a lot of these places have these certain words. So that way you just don't understand what you're saying.
00:42:24
Speaker
I don't really care for none of that. If I speak to you, if I come to you as an HBC technician, I'm gonna talk to you in the, I always say this to somebody, okay look, when you talk to me, talk to me as if I'm just a baby, just a little kid. Talk to me like I don't know nothing. So pretty much, tell me in the simplest form, you don't have to use no big words, just explain it to me basically so that way a person understands
00:42:52
Speaker
You don't have to put in all the fancy talk that a certain person might use to make it sound more abstract or more bigger than what it is. All the acronyms I've heard a lot of when I went through the trade, I never cared for it. Because even now, as I'm out, when I do work, I give it to you basic, I'm going to give it to you easy, I'm going to give it to you simple. All that extra junk, sometimes when I talk to people, I don't put all that junk in there because a lot of stuff that you might say,
00:43:21
Speaker
They don't understand it. But keep it real. It was a waste of your time even talking about it with a lot of questions. If they don't understand that stuff you're saying, don't even give all that extra junk damage. That gives people confusion. When you're talking to somebody, you start giving that plumber, pipe-fitting language. Unless you're in the field, you won't understand that. You feel what I'm saying? Yeah, you still there? Oh, yo. Yeah, when you're out there, you got to give these customers, give it to those customers. Give it to them basically.
00:43:50
Speaker
Pretty much, like, tell me as if I don't know what you're about to do. Give it to me in the simplest form that makes this job a whole lot easier. Bet. And that shows a lot of respect that you give to your customers. So salute to you for having that perspective. I imagine people do that to try to sound smart so that they can maybe even charge a higher price. But if you just put it in layman's terms, it just shows a certain level of respect that you give to your customers. So salute to you for that.
00:44:19
Speaker
So we're coming down to the end of the show, and I got a curveball question for you. Something that I didn't put, didn't let you know I was going to ask, but there is no right or wrong answer.
Dream Musical Collaboration
00:44:29
Speaker
It's just intended for the listeners to learn a little bit about your, you know, your interest and how you think or what you like. So you ready for it?
00:44:41
Speaker
So imagine you are an ANR for record company, all right? And you are given an unlimited budget to create a song. And you can put on this song any three artists, dead or alive, and then you can create one producer or beat maker to actually make the sound. Which three artists and which beat maker are you choosing?
00:45:11
Speaker
three artists. It would be I go with Eminem. Hello. Alright. Alright. I'll go with Eminem. I'll go with Jay Z. Uh huh. Go with, let's say, I'll go with Kendrick Lamar. And then, when it goes out to a beat maker, heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy hitters. You want to say beat maker, I got two of them. But you're always saying one. So, I'm gonna go with Dr. Dre on that one.
00:45:38
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Man. Wow. Dre. Think about it. When you look at NWA.
00:45:46
Speaker
And when it comes to Dre, Dre is the guy that came up during our time, actually before our time, and think about it, till this day, he's still at the top of this game. When it comes down to beats, when it comes down to making songs, you got a lot of artists out there, they'll be in the business for a little bit, and you don't hear about them artists no more. They like slip them.
00:46:20
Speaker
I lost you, G. It sounds like you maybe went on mute, and you still there? All right, yep, you back now. You got me? All right, like, when it comes down to a lot of different artists, like I said, Jay-Z, I mean, that's one of my favorite artists there. This guy's been around a long time, and as he's been around, he also, he understands change. As he's grown,
00:46:48
Speaker
His music has also grown with him. Yeah. Yeah, man. I mean, when he talks, he talks a lot of stuff that's like, man, understand what he said. He you don't see Jay Z walking around talking about change, talking about bling bling. This is talking about buying paintings, you know, saying, hold on for a certain amount of time. We can make money off of it. He talked about financial wealth. He comes down a lot of financial wealth. That's where it's at.
00:47:14
Speaker
You got active income, you got passive income. Your whole point of life is to build towards the passive income and have somebody else working on your active, but you don't have to physically work for what you got. Well, thank you for, I know that may be a tough question, but thank you for answering that, man. And you are so right. Dre is still on the top of his game. Him and Em just did a song together for the new Grand Theft Auto called Gospel. And I have been playing that song on repeat because the beat is so hard and they both come with the flow. Have you heard the song yet?
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah, man, I mean you can't you can't you can't take that apart that you can't come together It's something that I mean, it's amazing when it comes music wise. They always gonna put a nice combination together
00:48:03
Speaker
and even as the longest M&L's been out, man. That M&L's one of my favorite artists, you know? Hell yeah. Who you know when it comes down to, you wanna, when I listen to rap, like, I get tired of hearing people talk about the same stuff all the time. Like, you know, we have a, I mean, last time I checked, I mean, we got a Webster's dictionary. You know what? Think about it. We got over 10,000 words in the English language.
00:48:32
Speaker
which would be surprising. Don't none of us know all those words, but this one here, Eminem, it comes down to understanding, I mean, this guy knows how to dissect the dictionary down to, he don't have to use all the same crap that some of these people use, you know, he's able to break it down, he's able to use that, the menthols would make him a better artist.
00:48:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, man. Well said. Well said. Well, Quentin, man, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your journey and career.
Podcast Conclusion
00:49:02
Speaker
I definitely wanted to highlight you because of how important your work is. And it often goes unheralded.
00:49:09
Speaker
And people take for granted that we have plumbing and heating and cooling. And like you said, it is actually a luxury. And so I wanted to give you a platform and give your trade and career awareness as a field for people to go into.
00:49:27
Speaker
Once again, thank you so much for coming on. I was even thinking that, you know, I want to turn this into a TV show and I would love to actually follow you around for a week, come out with you for a week, do jobs with you and actually see what the work is like because it sounds so enriching being able to work with your hands, help people out, bring relief and satisfaction to people. So thank you once again for coming on the show, man. I really appreciate it. You have a business. What's the name of your business and where can people find you at?
00:49:57
Speaker
My business is called Harden HVAC employment. You can look me up on Yahoo. You can look me up on Yelp. You find me on Facebook. If I'm not there, I will be there. But if anybody wants to get a hold on me, got your pencil and piece of paper. Phone number is 614-384-3094. I don't pull any punches. Get a hold on me. Ask me whatever you want. Feel free to call me anytime. I'm an open book.
00:50:25
Speaker
You want something you gotta tell me, I'm always open to learn. So get a hold of me whenever you need to. Love it. Love it. Thank you again, man. No problem, man.