00:00:00:00 - 00:00:08:18 Unknown the generator industry, to me, is the hot button right now in the homebuilding industry, a lot of builders don't want to mess with it. 00:00:08:20 - 00:00:11:07 Unknown A lot of builders are starting to open up their eyes 00:00:11:07 - 00:00:15:20 Unknown It's going to be as common as a hot water heater. You're going to have to supply whether you want to or not. 00:00:15:20 - 00:00:17:23 Unknown when you look at a generator, it's a power plant. 00:00:18:00 - 00:00:38:17 Unknown You have natural gas or propane with electricity in a box that can produce voltage and carbon monoxide. And it's a dangerous piece of equipment. I mean, it could be, and that's why there's so many rules regarding generators. There's so many codes, fire codes, you know, the list goes on and on. The codebook just added a few years ago. 00:00:38:17 - 00:00:45:10 Unknown There's a whole section there now. It's getting more complicated, but it can be dangerous. And you want to make sure it's done right? 00:00:57:07 - 00:00:59:15 Unknown I don't. 00:00:59:15 - 00:01:03:02 Unknown Hey, friends. Welcome back to the Your Project Shepherd construction podcast. 00:01:03:02 - 00:01:08:15 Unknown My name is Curtis Lawson, your host, as usual. And today we're going to be talking about something 00:01:08:15 - 00:01:16:07 Unknown that I think everyone here in our market, which has used in Texas, is interested in. And that's home backup generators. 00:01:16:08 - 00:01:39:01 Unknown And my guest today is talk about that with us. Power pros are Brian Marshall and Ted Worsley. They are a local vendor and installer here in the Houston area. They're actually up north of Houston in Magnolia area, but they service the whole Houston area. I think we first met at a GBA luncheon, here a few months back, and Brian and I have been in contact and I said, you know what? 00:01:39:01 - 00:01:57:23 Unknown I've always been I've always wanted to do an episode on the podcast about, generators and, he's he's a great talker, as you'll see. And, and he has the knowledge to back it up to he's not just a talker. So I said, hey, let's let's do a podcast. So I am I'm happy to welcome, Brian and to, to the podcast today. 00:01:57:23 - 00:02:01:16 Unknown Thanks, guys, for being here. Thanks for having us, Curtis. Thanks for having us. 00:02:01:18 - 00:02:21:08 Unknown So when people call you guys, what are the what are the main things that they're, they're interested in protecting their home against? I mean, I mentioned hurricane readiness. Is that the big thing that that you have people, people asking you about? Well, that's that's what comes to mind first is, you know, hurricane summertime, you have no AC. That's what people first think about. 00:02:21:10 - 00:02:40:13 Unknown A few years ago, we had that big freeze in the area, which is very unusual. Even last year we had snow. And so now that's come into play where people are thinking about heat, their water, running so the pipes don't burst. And as the future goes in Houston and Texas grows, we're going to start seeing more problems with our grid. 00:02:40:18 - 00:03:07:14 Unknown And that's being definitely talked about, in power companies and on the national level, because of the fast growth Texas has and it's just going to bring more brownouts and blackouts. But yeah, the first thing is AC comfort. And people don't think about the safety and security. We had a customer last year that their house got broken into and the kids got held at gunpoint because they didn't have their alarm and lights. 00:03:07:15 - 00:03:25:16 Unknown And that the homeowner bought a generator. So that way he can have his alarm system. I mean, those type of things are very real. And then you have your medical side of things and, you know, keeping your medication cool and in the frigerator and things like that that people don't always think about. Yeah. And I think you might be forgetting two very important things. 00:03:25:16 - 00:03:52:14 Unknown And that is food, refrigerators, freezers. And then the most important thing is keeping mama happy. Absolutely. Very important. Well, those of us who like to hunt, you know, can can have a pretty good bit of money tied up in all the meat sitting in their, in their freezer. Right. And, I mean, I remember, I remember the first time when I was, the first time when I moved back to Houston, in 2002 or whatever. 00:03:52:16 - 00:04:07:05 Unknown I moved back here in 2000, but 2002 ish was when the first hurricane that came through right after I moved back and I had just gone on a hunting trip, and I had, you know, two freezers full, full of meat. And, I didn't have a generator. I didn't have any way to to save that stuff. 00:04:07:05 - 00:04:29:03 Unknown And I ended up throwing away, you know, a lot of money and a lot of memories worth a worth of meat there. And the other thing a lot of people I think overlook is they say, okay, well, I lost X amount of dollars of meat, but what about, what about the money you spent putting the trips together, putting in the, you know, taking care of the feeders, paying for the lease, going to Africa, for the wild boar. 00:04:29:05 - 00:04:55:22 Unknown All of these things add up. You literally could lose a lot of money. So I do get a lot of that. I get a lot of people concerned, about food. And then. And then more recently, Tesla car chargers. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is a big issue, especially in the city of Houston, which which brings about its own array of issues and problems, dependent upon our customers clients budget. 00:04:56:00 - 00:05:15:19 Unknown They pull a lot of power for sure. Yeah, that's some something that we don't think about is, is the people who are buying electric cars or own electric cars. The grid's down for a week. Yeah. How are they going to get around? I mean, I guess they can maybe drive out to Bucky's or whatever and and plug it in and sit there and and get some beaver nuggets all the way to charge. 00:05:15:21 - 00:05:33:09 Unknown Yeah. It's it's a big issue. It's a very big issue. And it's one that, we have to address delicately because those, those chargers usually throw some to liquid cooled units doubling doubling costs. Oh, really? Yeah. Or we block them out. Yeah. Because those things are like what, like 5060 and breakers sometimes for those Chargers aren't they. 00:05:33:09 - 00:05:53:11 Unknown Most of them I your double post 60s you know they're 50 to 60s. And you know we allow for that. And with the generator we plan for that. We just sometimes have to control that load or other loads to make sure the smaller generators will operate efficiently, because that's the last thing you want is you can't have your car or your garage door, for that matter. 00:05:53:13 - 00:06:12:16 Unknown Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, kind of planning out, you know, what those what those loads are that you want to backup as part of the equation. You know, you got to factor in, you know, cooking or refrigeration, possibly car chargers. I mean obviously you can you can back up the whole house if you want to spend the money on it. 00:06:12:16 - 00:06:29:09 Unknown Right. But it's, it's, it becomes a big cost difference when you kind of hit that break where you go from a, air cooled to liquid. Cool. Right. Well, there's a big difference between those two. But if you plan ahead and again, the the right and legal way to do a generator is doing a load calc. 00:06:29:10 - 00:06:49:19 Unknown Yeah. So once you do that load calculation you can see all the loads. Now there's devices out there called load shed management modules. And if you use those properly you can stay with the smaller unit and save the money but just control the loads differently. Maybe not everything run at the same time, but you just okay, you can run this one, maybe this one afterwards. 00:06:49:22 - 00:07:08:20 Unknown Yeah, and that way you can cover the whole house for a lot less money. And what's imperative, Curtis, is that you do the load calc and you do says that you know accordingly if you undersized that unit in any way warranties are void. Yeah. So regardless of the amount of money you spent, if there's an issue down the road, you're on your own. 00:07:09:01 - 00:07:29:11 Unknown Yeah. We we talked about this when we talk about, solar panels and battery storage, it's the same principles. But, as far as planning your, your needs for this. Right. But, you know, it's very, very rare that a house with a 200 amp or a 300 amp service is actually going to be using all two or 2 or 300 amps at the same time. 00:07:29:13 - 00:07:50:12 Unknown Right? So, so it's, you know, when you're planning these, these things out, like, you know, that you're not I mean, it would be crazy if you were going to have your, your heat pump system, you know, your, your laundry, your refrigeration, all your lights, your car charger, it kind of everything running at the same time. You don't it's right to plan on being able to to run 2 or 300 amps at the same time. 00:07:50:13 - 00:08:16:09 Unknown I would say to you, my unscientific calculation is about 7.5% of the population will, I repeat, will have the hurricane party, and they'll invite the entire neighborhood and call in the band. And it gets crazy. But but to your point, yes. It's very rare that that would happen. Yeah, we actually did that when, when I, when I, had all that that me that we were going to have to throw away. 00:08:16:09 - 00:08:30:02 Unknown We, we had a, we had a block party and I ended up cooking part of it and just, just giving it away to people instead of having to throw it away. I was like, well, if we're going to have to to lose this meat, let's go ahead and make some of it worthwhile. Right. What's your neighborhood? I'd like to go. 00:08:30:04 - 00:08:52:01 Unknown Come on. Neighbors. Oh, look, a good neighbor to me. And it's funny because the longer the outage is, the needs will change. At first, it's just comfort refrigeration. Make sure that's operational. But as you get going into it, okay? You got dirty dishes, you got dirty laundry. You know, you might need to use your washer and dryer, your dishwasher first day or two. 00:08:52:01 - 00:09:10:20 Unknown You might not need those items, but as it goes on, you might want to use those items. Yeah, you might want to make sure they run. Yeah. Absolutely. So again storm resiliency is kind of the the big thing that comes to mind. And had you touched on a minute ago. But health and safety can be a real issue for some people. 00:09:10:22 - 00:09:38:02 Unknown And you know, that's the elderly people who have medical conditions, you know, and you mentioned keeping a certain, certain, medications refrigerated is important. And, you know, people with young children, I mean, the extreme heat, extreme cold can create these, these health and safety situations. And I think people were more aware of that. And they're really wanting to plan to protect themselves against the these kinds of issues. 00:09:38:04 - 00:09:56:23 Unknown And let's face it, you know, in the, in the summer in Houston, it's not just it's not just those people. It's everybody is concerned about health and safety, too. I mean, you get 100 degrees outside. It can be hotter inside the house. No air moving. So, it's not just an elderly or even a medical issues. 00:09:56:23 - 00:10:14:16 Unknown Everyone, but even people with pools. Even in the summer, if you're out too long now, you got to retreat. That. Which is another added expense. Now, in the winter, if those pipes freeze and you don't have water flowing through there, you got busted pipes. Now there's another very expensive cost. So there's a lot of things that happen when you lose power. 00:10:14:19 - 00:10:51:11 Unknown Yeah, absolutely. And one other issue that I wanted to touch on, and this is something that we've we've touched on with some other guests, on the podcast in the past, and that's talking about the resiliency of our structures and how, conditions can affect what happens with our actual homes themselves, with actual structure. So, it's always really eye opening to me, after a big outage event, weather event, when I go in and see what's happened to some structures that have they haven't had backup power and then have had these big temperature fluctuations. 00:10:51:12 - 00:11:12:21 Unknown You know, you can get a lot of mold growth quickly. You know, the inside of the house gets really hot and humid. You can have mold growth. Your floors and your woodworking can can swell, expand and contract cabinet doors. Interior doors don't close. You know, wood products or warping, but then even on the cold side, that can happen, too. 00:11:12:21 - 00:11:39:04 Unknown I mean, you know, you could have, you know, frozen pipes like you mentioned, material shrinkage, cork joints, popping all kinds of stuff that can happen to your structures. You know, when that temperature is not maintained and not just temperature, but temperature and humidity, so. Well, in Texas, most everything runs through the attic. And if you ever want to know how the temperature affects your attic, go up there during the summer or during the winter to the very cold or very hot. 00:11:39:06 - 00:12:08:21 Unknown So you have your plumbing, your electrical, your gas, your your furnaces, your hot water heaters. Most of that's in the attic in Texas. So that's why you're so drastically affected up there. Yeah. So the main the main reason that I, that I actually wanted to talk to you guys was when Brian and I met at the GBA lunch, and one of the things he talked to me about was the the he was really passionate about making sure that people are taking care of, making sure things are done the right way. 00:12:09:03 - 00:12:34:01 Unknown And that's that's one of the big reasons that we have this podcast is to is to teach people the right way to do things, to help people make the right decisions when they're purchasing, whether it's a product, hiring a builder or whatever. So, you know, Brian mentioned to me that he was really passionate about making sure people are, you know, number one, buying the right product for for their needs, but then also getting the right job done. 00:12:34:05 - 00:13:00:17 Unknown So talk to me real quick about you want me to preach, don't you? I want you to preach. Yes, you can. You have the preacher's voice. I want you to preach. What's funny about that? When? When Brian came to work with us. It wasn't as important to him as it has been. Am I correct in that, Brian, he's learned, to do the job right and to make sure the customer is protected with easements and calculations and sizing. 00:13:00:19 - 00:13:21:15 Unknown And, boy, he's been a big advocate lately. He's he's promoting this all over everywhere. Well, you know, I came from a, I came from a sales and marketing background that goes back to the early 90s. Still in your my age. I got into the generator business kind of by accident, as many people had little career changes during the pandemic. 00:13:21:15 - 00:13:45:17 Unknown And, I kind of fell into it by accident. And it was only going to be temporary until the previous industry got back on its feet. But what I found when I got into the industry is that I saw it as something. And so into the generator industry, to me, is the hot button right now in the homebuilding industry, a lot of builders don't want to mess with it. 00:13:45:19 - 00:14:07:03 Unknown A lot of builders are starting to open up their eyes and see. As I see it, that is going to be a mandatory appliance within the next five years. It's going to be as common as a hot water heater. You're going to have to supply whether you want to or not. Now, what is happening? There are some that are taking that, that idea and moving forward with it, but they have no plan. 00:14:07:05 - 00:14:30:11 Unknown And they're allowing anybody and everybody to do, the installations in many cases, they're just allowing the trades to to do the installation. I can't begin to tell you how many times we've walked up onto a job. And Ted will tell you, I mean, he's going to send his service techs out. And if there is an issue with placement that could cause harm to that family on the interior of that home, we're walking away from it. 00:14:30:13 - 00:14:50:01 Unknown When I went to work for Ted, one of the things that really impressed me, and one of the reasons I'm still here today, is because I finally found an advocate that I think feels the same as I do. And that is is that, and we get it a lot where home builders and or individual clients will want us to place a unit here. 00:14:50:03 - 00:15:08:17 Unknown I can't place it here, but I want you to understand why. And then I explain the codes to him and the possibility of having harm to their family. Not waking up on a Saturday morning is a bad thing. So I've walked away. Ted has done the same. Will walk away from a job before, will improperly install it. 00:15:08:17 - 00:15:30:08 Unknown Why? Because that gentleman wants to go to bed at night and sleep well, as do, We're in agreement in that I didn't always have those advocates prior to this, so now I've got it. I feel like I'm on a mission. We. I'll give you an example. We walked up on a job. We got a call from a young lady out in Bryan, Texas. 00:15:30:10 - 00:15:52:12 Unknown Single mom with, with a child. And, you know, just a typical track home. Not not, you know, not a very wealthy woman by any stretch of the imagination. She says my generator's not working, and I need you to fix it. And I walk up and I look at the first thing I notice is they've tapped the gas through the wall into the, into the gas oven. 00:15:52:14 - 00:16:11:04 Unknown They had it set in a five foot space where there's no way that my techs can even come out and work on it is it's breaking all the codes there. And by the way, it's sitting about a foot and a half from the baby's window. And, unfortunately with sad eyes had to go to her, say I can't fix this thing. 00:16:11:09 - 00:16:35:03 Unknown Why are you calling us. Why don't you call the entity that installed this product? And she said, well, he's out of business, which means he probably never really was in business, but I'll bet he was. What do you think? To add a couple of thousand dollars cheaper than us? Probably could be something like that. So now I'm having to inform this individual that we're going to have to because we got to pull the trades out. 00:16:35:04 - 00:16:51:20 Unknown We've got to redo this whole thing. Everything she paid for in the set is null and void. Now we've got to pick it up. We've got to move it to the back of the yard. I go to Ted, and, this man said, well, I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to do it at cost. 00:16:51:22 - 00:17:19:13 Unknown And, I knew right there I was dealing with a good guy, the kind of guy that I can work with. So it is, in fact, something that's going to be mandatory whether the builders or, or anyone else likes it or not. It has to be done. Right. And the way we do that is, is, is that you hire a legitimate company who has integrity, a legitimate company that's not going to go out and place this thing in an improper setting that's going to cause harm. 00:17:19:13 - 00:17:37:14 Unknown Because if we cause harm, let's let's forget about the, the morality of it all. Let's just say we go out and we misplace it, in on our behalf. That's why we started the homebuilders, program. And something bad goes, astray. Guess what's going to happen? You're going to get sued. I'm going to get sued. 00:17:37:14 - 00:17:54:22 Unknown They're suing, the manufacturer. Everybody's getting sued. We don't want that to happen. Our objective is to not only protect the client, but it's to protect the home builder. And what's happening right now. I'm. I'm not saying it's happening across the board, but we do a lot of work for a lot of home builders. And I call. That's my job. 00:17:54:22 - 00:18:18:18 Unknown I call on a lot of home builders. And what's happening right now is many of the home builders are letting their trades do the work, and I'm sure they're wonderful electricians and I'm sure they're wonderful plumbers. I'm not debating that in any way, but it poses the question, would you hire a painter to do your electrical work? Would you hire a plumber to do your cabinet work? 00:18:18:20 - 00:18:41:17 Unknown Hire a generator company? You're going to be protected. Is, And Ted, I mean, I'm kind of rambling here. I know, I know that one of the things that you'll see, is really important on installing a generator. Number one thing is location. And unfortunately, a lot of people, builders, homeowners. Well, I want the generator here. They wanted out of sight, but they might have an easement there. 00:18:41:18 - 00:18:59:13 Unknown Well, you can't put it in an easement. You're not supposed to be in there at all. And which is really funny. In the cities, the AC condenser, you see it all the time. Easements. I don't know why the cities look at them so much different than they do a generator, but they do, it's just totally different appliance. 00:18:59:15 - 00:19:22:07 Unknown So we can't be in the easement, which is it can void your warranty. It can be more expensive. CenterPoint says you got to move that, or the utility company says you're in our easement. Move it, and you're starting to see that, and in the county, like I was telling you earlier, there are no inspections. So I recommend anybody that's in this trade to, you know, get a third party inspector. 00:19:22:09 - 00:19:47:20 Unknown I really recommend it. We recommend some because you just can't let people run wild and there's so many people that want to cut costs, you know, because profits can. We all got to make a profit stay in business. So some companies are willing to decrease the quality of the install to make a little bit more money, which is never a good idea, especially when you're dealing with the I mean, when you look at a generator, it's a power plant. 00:19:47:21 - 00:20:08:14 Unknown You have natural gas or propane with electricity in a box that can produce voltage and carbon monoxide. And it's a dangerous piece of equipment. I mean, it could be, and that's why there's so many rules regarding generators. There's so many codes, fire codes, you know, the list goes on and on. The codebook just added a few years ago. 00:20:08:14 - 00:20:27:14 Unknown There's a whole section there now. It's getting more complicated, but it can be dangerous. And you want to make sure it's done right? Yeah. People's lives are at risk. It's actually probably, probably the most dangerous piece of equipment on people's property. Right? As far as a fixture. Right. Like you said, it's got electrical. It's got natural gas or propane. 00:20:27:16 - 00:20:54:17 Unknown It's, it's tied into the electrical grid. If, if, if it's not done properly, you get back, feed into the grid and cause problems. I mean, there's, there's so that that one, that one box in your yard is, is tied into so many things and it has the potential to cause so many different problems if it's not done properly and down the road, you know, after you pay somebody to put it in, the last thing you ever want to have happen a year down the road, two years down the road, something happens to the generator. 00:20:54:17 - 00:21:14:02 Unknown You got to get it work done. Well, then the manufacturer says, well, this was installed wrong. We're going to avoid your warranty. Yeah. I mean, and it's getting more common today than it has been in the last few years. Manufacturers are getting strict, more strict on the installers, which is a great thing. Yeah. But and I'm, you know, the cities are getting better at inspecting these. 00:21:14:04 - 00:21:44:13 Unknown They're getting more knowledgeable. But in the county, again, I would recommend getting a third party inspection or, and hire a very reputable company. Right. Your life depends on it. Yeah, absolutely. So you, you know, you you talked about, you know, the generator of the lady's house call and Brian being, near the baby's window, and I know the issue there, but just to kind of state it for people who are listening, who may not be thinking about this or experiencing this, you've got this appliance that's that with an engine and is producing carbon, not carbon monoxide. 00:21:44:13 - 00:22:03:19 Unknown And that's right next to your child's window. And so that's the issue there. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a carbon monoxide issue. It could also be a fire issue if that thing's too close to combustibles or whatever. So. And so having that away from, from, from a window in your home is important. And the manufacturers are good. 00:22:03:19 - 00:22:23:16 Unknown And again, those are changing all the time. The codes are on that. And it's, you know, it's up to the installer to I mean, there's, we learned after birth, because it was during the hottest time of year, there was no air movement. So there were some houses that, you know, that was a big issue in the Houston market. 00:22:23:21 - 00:22:44:04 Unknown Carbon monoxide. Well, there were some things that happened that we've learned as a company, you know, and now we try to avoid, you know, look at you don't want to aim and into a corner of a house or, you know, you gotta be, you know, ten feet away or just things like that that that comes from experience. And, you know, some of these other companies that are new don't have that experience. 00:22:44:04 - 00:23:06:02 Unknown They're just, you know, throwing it in. So again, reputable companies is important. And to your point, Curtis, you there's nothing will make a client more angry than for us to come out and try to fix a unit a year later and go, well, we'll fix it. And but before we do, we're going to charge $2,500 to move it over six inches. 00:23:06:04 - 00:23:30:17 Unknown Yeah, 12in. It sounds it sounds like not a big deal, but it is a warranty void. It's a warranty void. And quite frankly, it just it makes me sleep at night knowing that we put it incorrectly, that we did not get it up and running and possibly cause people to go to sleep in that home. Yeah, well, and and moving something 4in or 6in can be just as much work as moving at 40ft. 00:23:30:21 - 00:23:48:09 Unknown You still got to move gas, right? Electrical new slamming right onto the slab. I mean, it's, you know, people think about that. They're oh, you're just moving a four inch is no big deal, Mike. No, it's you know that that's hard pipe gas. That's electrical. That's only a certain the wires, only a certain length. You can't just splice on a little extra six inches of wire. 00:23:48:11 - 00:24:07:19 Unknown So it's a it's the domino effect of, of having, having to do these things. And that cost just is again it's the same whether it's 6in or 20ft. Yeah. And the electrical or the generator industry is, you know, again a hot commodity, especially ever since the freeze. And I mean, there's some there are some good dealers out there. 00:24:07:21 - 00:24:26:10 Unknown Obviously we're one of them. But there are some good guys that are out there. But then after that freeze, it's kind of like roofing every time a hurricane comes in, bunch of people jump in it, and then they play in it for a year or two and then get out. Yeah. And, you know, that was big deal with roofing companies few years ago are actually after every hurricane, every hurricane. 00:24:26:13 - 00:24:48:21 Unknown So, there was a roofer, you know, you know, an ice for a builder or a homeowner go with a company. Has been around a while. Yeah. You know, go with a reputable company. After every storm, I see ads popping up on, you know, Facebook and and everywhere, you know, basically someone who went out and bought a truckload of generators, somewhere in a across the country, and they're selling them on the cheap. 00:24:49:00 - 00:25:11:20 Unknown My favorite was Joe's Tire shop, floral shop, and generator insulator. I was my favorite. Yeah. And by the way, he's out of business. Yeah. He was. He was never in business to begin with. Let's be honest. Right. But, yeah, I mean, we we see these ads pop up and it's like, you know, you get a generator installed for $12,000, you know, on, on, on Facebook. 00:25:11:22 - 00:25:30:00 Unknown Well, you know, and a lot of people put these in, a lot of people can put them in, but again, after it's done, they walk away. They're, they're not there to service it, take care of it over time. And so they're not really standing behind the product. And in this industry again, it's complicated piece of machinery. 00:25:30:02 - 00:25:47:22 Unknown It's I mean, it's a lot of money you're spending and it's they're made to last ten, 15 years if they're properly taken care of. Right. So just it doesn't go just to the installation. It goes well beyond that. Just like a car, you know, you don't just not change your oil or put air in your tires. You got to maintain it. 00:25:48:00 - 00:26:07:21 Unknown Preventive maintenance. Same thing with a generator. You have to take care of it. And if you do, it should last you a good long time. Yeah. And if I may add to that, one of the issues that we see a lot of with these startup companies and not all of them, of course, but a vast majority of them will go out and they'll just, undersell. 00:26:07:21 - 00:26:23:17 Unknown They'll just sell the unit, the smaller unit, because why? Because it makes their bid come in a thousand, $2,000 cheaper than ours. That's what they bought 40 of on a truck somewhere in Ohio. And right now, that's where the load comes, and that's where the load comes in. And and more importantly, I mean, look, can you run it on an can you. 00:26:23:17 - 00:26:41:07 Unknown It's calling for a 22. Can you run it on an 18 with load sheds. You bet. But the think of these generators just like your your car. I mean, that Nissan I pulled up in will run 300,000 miles as long as I do proper maintenance. And I'm cruising across the country. Take that same vehicle, run it up a mountain at 100 miles an hour. 00:26:41:07 - 00:27:06:14 Unknown I don't know what you're going to get out of it. You know, you know, a year, five years, I don't know. And that's what's happening right now. And I think some of that, and I've heard people telling me this, that it's done intentionally, burn the unit out that much quicker, they can resell them. And within five years, this is the kind of thing that I'm in this industry and really wanting to change the image of, of generator installation. 00:27:06:14 - 00:27:26:19 Unknown I don't think everybody out there is doing it, but there's enough of them doing it to cause me a great deal of concern. Absolutely. Well, you know, you you're in the building trades and you see it as well as I do. I've been doing this a long time, and we're an electrical contractor. We also wire new construction homes and commercial buildings. 00:27:26:21 - 00:27:46:03 Unknown And, you know, you look at one price to the next price and there can be a pretty good sizable difference there. But what's the quality difference? And, you know, a lot of times the old saying you get what you pay for, I mean, we're not the most expensive company out there. We try to be on the lower end, but we're not the least expensive either. 00:27:46:05 - 00:28:02:05 Unknown But there is a quality difference between a reputable company and a non reputable company. I mean, you see it in the trades all the time, I'm sure. Absolutely. Yeah. Same same thing with with everything that we touch. It's, there there's a difference, a difference between me and the other builders out there. I mean even like painters or. 00:28:02:05 - 00:28:17:19 Unknown I mean, anything with any job, there's a difference. But the the the biggest part to me is, is that you're still going to be there in a couple of years, five years, ten years to go back and, you know, maintain care, maintain it for him, be there in case they have a problem with it. Stand by your work. 00:28:17:21 - 00:28:41:06 Unknown Yep. I mean, that's that's the number one thing people are buying outside of a proper installation is there's, there's they know that you're going to be there. And it's again, it's very it's becoming more and more where you have to have one. I was just talking to a, utility broker, and he was telling me the state of Texas is facing, you know, a problem in a few years because it's it's growing. 00:28:41:08 - 00:28:58:04 Unknown I mean, Texas is one of the number one places everybody wants to move to. Well, the grid, because we're on our own grid. We're not part of the national grid. And he's predicting, you know, brownouts, blackouts is going to be very common. Which, you know, certain parts of this state sees that during the hot times of the year. 00:28:58:06 - 00:29:18:00 Unknown But he's what he's telling me it was it's going to be more prevalent. Yeah. And or are we going to get on to the national grid and it's too late to build a new factory because it takes so long. So this is a appliance that's going to be a must have. Yeah. It's kind of like a ten to keep building, but it's never big enough. 00:29:18:02 - 00:29:39:16 Unknown Exactly. I mean, yeah, that it is. You know, the codes are always changing and they're always adding more and more requirements for us. So I wouldn't be surprised if in a few more years you have to have some sort of backup, whether it's a gas generator or solar, but something some, some sort of mandated backup for every new home that's built at some point in the future. 00:29:39:19 - 00:29:58:21 Unknown I would I definitely would agree with that. And I think you you would know this better than I do. You're on the homebuilding side, but I get a lot of feedback from homebuilders. It seems like it's almost a mandatory request, at least for the customer. Home builders, they're there. Almost everybody wants one. Absolutely. Whether they're willing to spend the money on it or not is another story. 00:29:58:21 - 00:30:14:15 Unknown But in most cases, it's much easier to do it on the front end and, you know, take it out and throw it into the loan, pay it, absolutely. Throw it into the mortgage on home. And that's where the builders come in and the builders are getting better at it. But if they add that into the home, the cost of it's almost nothing. 00:30:14:15 - 00:30:34:00 Unknown Yeah. Over 30 years, you know, for the mortgage. Well on a whether it's of a hundred thousand or million or $2 million price tag, an extra 1520 is not that big of a budget. I, in the grand scheme of things, to write off the interest on it anyway. So I mean, it's making more sense on the builder side to start putting that in their home. 00:30:34:02 - 00:30:52:12 Unknown And again, as you were saying, it's the code and everything's going that way. You're going to have to have something. Yeah. I would say that, I mean, every, every house that we've built over the last few years, if we don't put one in or at least have in the conversation of what set you up for it, let's figure out where this thing should be on the right. 00:30:52:15 - 00:31:10:02 Unknown What's the right place on the property? Let's have a gas line there. Let's basically have everything provision for it so that when it comes time, the like, you ready to spend that money? It's literally just, you know, install it, connect it and cheaper to do it. You're good to go. Yeah. The plumbers are already there. The electricians are already there. 00:31:10:06 - 00:31:38:11 Unknown Let's get let's get it provisioned. And then when you're ready to spend the money, you know you can do it. Digging up your yard. You're not. Yeah. You're not tearing your way out there and it's all there. Yeah. It's that's the time to do it when you're building. Absolutely. Yeah. We've started a home builders program. Some years back and we're having to work out our probably our biggest obstacle is working with, with the in between the landscapers getting in right before them, but, you know, not coming in and messing up anything that they've done. 00:31:38:11 - 00:32:02:01 Unknown So, to your point, yeah, it's, it's something that I think with you doing what you're doing, it's, eliminate a lot of it. Yeah, well, and with the builders, it's educating the builders as well. Because though, like you just said, well, we're going to set you up. We're going to pre wire this, pre do this, and we're, we're running into a lot of issues is on the, on the gas side. 00:32:02:03 - 00:32:23:23 Unknown Because almost every home nowadays needs a gas meter upgrade which means you have a high pressure line. Well some cities allow you some cities don't allow you to run that through the house. So you have to plan that gas line. The electrical is a little bit easier to run through the house, you know, but when you a lot of the a few years ago, builders would just tap off a line in the house and to stub out a gas line. 00:32:24:05 - 00:32:44:06 Unknown Well, that's not going to work. Yeah. You know, even though these generators are getting more efficient, they still need a fair amount of fuel to run. And you don't want to starve the house. So you have to do a gas meter upgrade. Well, you don't want that high pressure line right there and done improperly down the road. It's going to cost you far more money because I just left a home here to talk about this. 00:32:44:06 - 00:33:04:00 Unknown By the way, I just left on the home builder ran the wrong wire through the house. So, you know, it's going to be an it's it's a big house. It's up two story across. It's probably 100. Easily 100ft, 150ft. It's going to cost somebody a lot of money. But a good builder will help the homeowner out and guide them on that and trust their trade. 00:33:04:02 - 00:33:22:10 Unknown And that's where we come in. As for Brian comes in, that's why we're members of the HBA. Because we believe in this cause, to help educate builders. Buy it from us or not, obviously, I'd rather you buy it from me, but, if we help you get educated and get the. At the end of the day, we all come down to the customer. 00:33:22:12 - 00:33:44:22 Unknown You know, maybe I didn't sell the unit. Maybe I can do get the, the maintenance on it later. But if I can help you set up your customer better. Everybody's happy. Yeah, I know we we talk a lot about having a solid team, and solid planning up front and and having a good, trusted, you know, trade partner that does this as part of your team. 00:33:45:00 - 00:34:02:15 Unknown And as a builder, having that is, is essential because I want to be able to pick and to pick up the phone and call you guys and say, hey, Brian, I got this customer. They're not ready to buy this today. But, you know, what should we be putting in place? You know, based on the size house, what generator are they going to need? 00:34:02:15 - 00:34:16:17 Unknown What should we set this up for? What size? Gas line? What size electrical should we be getting in the ground for you? And you'll be their favorite person down the road if you do that, right? Yeah. Because if I give them bad advice and we put in a three quarter inch gas line, it needs an inch and a half. 00:34:16:17 - 00:34:36:14 Unknown Well, they're tearing the yard up and they're and they're not happy with me. And that reflects poorly on me. So you know, having having a solid team who's going to help think through these issues. And you know, someone that I can trust is huge. Well that's what we're here for. I've been in this trade a long time. And I just believe in doing the job right. 00:34:36:14 - 00:34:55:12 Unknown First time being honest. It's not always about money. It's about doing the job right. I always feel if you do the job right, the money will always be there. If you take care of your customers. And I look at builders as our customer. And it's just a win win, you know, everybody wins. And that's a great thing. 00:34:55:14 - 00:35:18:08 Unknown Well, it's a true partnership. And the partnership that is created, protects what's, what's really crucial to, to to to note is that it protects everybody. It protects us, protects you. Most importantly, it protects our, it protects your client, my client. We're all, you know, we're all protected. Everything is done accurately. Everything's done, the way it's supposed to, to code. 00:35:18:08 - 00:35:44:14 Unknown And, it's just a win win, man. There's there's no problems that we're going to bump and do down the road based on that. And it's funny. Curtis, we you know, I've been talking to a lot of manufacturers and some of them have these small plans. And Brian actually had to research the one for GBA. But the manufacturers understand the importance of this, and they understand the importance of builders, because you're the first point, and this is getting to be a necessary appliance in the home. 00:35:44:16 - 00:36:03:03 Unknown So they're coming out with programs and changing, like they have, you know, combo meter cans and things like that to attract a builder. And we just met with one of our manufacturers and got a special program again, because they understand getting the builder to put this in is where it needs to happen. This is the first point. 00:36:03:05 - 00:36:23:06 Unknown It's easier. It's better for the customer to get it put in at the beginning, more cost effective. Everything. It's you're better all the way around because, look, let's. And this is a question for you, Curtis, as a home builder because I don't really know the answer to this, but, you build a home and I'm not you personally, but a home builder builds a home. 00:36:23:08 - 00:36:47:06 Unknown I assume there's lots of warranties that go along with that home build. And then they are Joe's Floral Shop, tire repair and generator installer. Six months after you're out to do the install, and it's all done and properly, you how does that reflect on you? You know, I mean, I mean, if they come in after we're done and screw something up that can void back and void their warranty with me, right? 00:36:47:09 - 00:37:05:22 Unknown If they come in and make a change to the plumbing or electrical system and hook something up the wrong way, that's kind of. Yeah. Fortunately for me, it's all it's off my liability. Right. But but unfortunately for the homeowner, you know, that can affect their warranty. Sure, sure. Or at least as far as is the changes that they made go. 00:37:06:00 - 00:37:29:21 Unknown So, you know, it's really important, you know, if, if they want to, to do a generator, what's again what's plan it. Let's, let's get it all at least set up upfront. If not install it. That way you can make sure that all the warranties are being maintained. Your builder's warranty, you know, on plumbing, electrical, structural, and the warranty with the manufacturer on the equipment they're buy in to. 00:37:29:23 - 00:37:48:09 Unknown And if I may add, I'm sorry, Ted, if I may add, I think this is important. More importantly, is protecting your reputation, even if even if a home builder or, if at that stage you're really not liable from a legal perspective, you know, they're going to they're going to run around in there, go holler at all of us. 00:37:48:13 - 00:38:16:15 Unknown Oh yeah. So it's about reputation. I'm sorry. That's right. I you know, I've seen this industry change like new hospitals have have to have this. That's a requirement again for medical reasons, safety medication. But as these years have gone by, I've been seeing it change. And now you see almost, I would say 80 to 90% of every home builder at the very start of the home in the project with the homeowner, this topic comes up. 00:38:16:17 - 00:38:35:16 Unknown Are you planning on this? I mean, that's I mean, that's what your industry is doing that and it's really driving it. And which is a great thing because like I said, you're seeing the manufacturers see it as well. So the products changing, they offer to the builders changing to make it more affordable to more affordable to the homeowner. 00:38:35:17 - 00:39:01:11 Unknown So it's a win win again all the way around. Yeah. To kind of wrap things up, let's let's just add we touched on all this, but let's just like rattle off the things that people not people, things that builders and generator companies should be looking at when we are deciding, you know, to or planning rather a generator, but a planning the placement and the install. 00:39:01:11 - 00:39:22:11 Unknown So you know that I want to say two things and I'll let Brian take it from here. But number one is placement. That is the number one most important thing you can do is properly place the generator on the property to meet all the rules and codes. Number two, I would say doing a proper load code to make sure you have the right size. 00:39:22:13 - 00:39:45:01 Unknown Brian, you can take. Yeah. No, and, print placement. And when you're talking to placement, you're just talking about making sure that you have your, to all the mandatory, mandatory codes, five foot from windows, openings, any openings, any openings at all. That includes dryer vents, that includes, drainpipes, that includes drainpipes that are coming from the AC evaporator, coming from the hot water heater. 00:39:45:03 - 00:39:50:05 Unknown You need to have three foot clearance in the front. If you got five foot between a house and a fence, 00:39:50:05 - 00:39:59:19 Unknown it's not going to work. You can't put it there. You got to go to the back yard. You see it every day. You see it every day. They're placing them in there in those little tight spots, but they're in proper, 00:39:59:20 - 00:40:18:22 Unknown And what's really interesting, we've had, sir, and we've had numerous issues. The primary issue with that is allowing the tech to be able to get in there and, and physically work on that safely. By the way, we're protecting the tech. He's got his hands or she's got her hands up inside this unit. As you stated, we're talking high voltage. 00:40:19:00 - 00:40:40:15 Unknown They don't need to be squeezed in. They need to be and they need to have ample room. And and of course, it's part of the electrical code. But placement, placement, placement, placement, is so, so important. And these are, these are where the issues are happening primarily load calcs. You want to size a unit, you want to put, you want to by Volkswagen to pull a horse trailer. 00:40:40:18 - 00:41:00:20 Unknown You're certainly free to do that. I wouldn't advise it however. So make sure you're sized properly. And most importantly, make sure that you're dealing with somebody that you think has your best interest at heart and is just not trying to make, well, turn the corner. The other thing that I see a lot, a lot, especially in the county, is the electrical and gas pipe. 00:41:00:20 - 00:41:18:02 Unknown Not deep enough? Sometimes I see it a lot in the same ditch, which we try not to. We try to always keep it 12 inch apart, which some of the cities are changing that code to make it 12in part. But, you know, you see it all the time. Not deep enough. What's the what's the minimum depth at 18, 18in. 00:41:18:07 - 00:41:37:17 Unknown And, you know, we see it. I've seen a six inches. Ten inches. And what really freaks me out is when I see the gas, electric in the same ditch, ten, ten foot down or ten inches down. And you just think about someone's going to go out and plant a bush with a shovel, and you got your gas and electric right there. 00:41:37:20 - 00:41:53:11 Unknown I mean, we, I mean, we we try not to, but obviously we hit lines all the time. We call 811. And that's the other thing you want to make sure you do one one before you do that. That's a that's a long table. One's not is not catching. The wire the electrician ran from the house to the generator. 00:41:53:11 - 00:42:14:18 Unknown The. They're catching the utility line. Correct. So there's only so much information they have. Yeah. That's true. Right. Well, guys, I think that kind of wraps it up, but thanks a lot for for being here to talk to me about about generators today. I hope we helped. Well, and I appreciate you having us Curtis. If anyone has any questions, feel free to give it, give me a call. 00:42:14:18 - 00:42:31:10 Unknown I if I don't know the answer, I'll find out. But I'm I'm I'm wide open. At any time. But we have an entire team that I can lean on heavily. And, of course, I don't think he mentioned Ted is our master electrician, so I bother him far more than he probably cares when it comes to electrical questions. 00:42:31:10 - 00:42:41:08 Unknown So we got one to talk about as soon as we get out of here. Well, if he's the if he's the owner of the company, he doesn't mind. He doesn't mind talking about greed. Because, I mean, because that means he's making a sale. Hopefully, hopefully. 00:42:41:08 - 00:42:57:21 Unknown is why I believe in the GHB. Okay. And this is why I've been a part of it for quite a long time. And we do get involved because there is a cause there. Every builder I've ever met through the GHB cares. Otherwise they wouldn't waste their time being there. 00:42:57:23 - 00:43:16:19 Unknown I mean, it's different being a member, but being an active member is. What I see is important. Because just like yourself, you care, okay? You're not just a member to put it on the door saying, hey, I'm a member of the GHB. I know you're active in it. And same thing with us. And I know there's other trades, you know, like I used to do home theater at one point. 00:43:16:21 - 00:43:38:07 Unknown And, you know, I seen all sorts of trades at the GHB meetings. So it's it's an important place. And if you're not a part of the GHB, you should be. It's it's just a wealth of knowledge. I've only been involved a very short period of time. As you know. And I've learned more. And, about the homebuilding industry just keeping my mouth shut, which is very hard to do and watching and listening to. 00:43:38:07 - 00:43:57:20 Unknown So that's a great test and a great testimonial. We're actually doing a, episode here. What next week? Francis, we got next week. We got three people from GHB to come in, and we're just going to talk about membership in the GBA and how that can benefit and benefit you. So we got some extra clips that we can, pop in and use on that one too. 00:43:57:20 - 00:44:12:09 Unknown So thanks for the thank you, I think. No, bro. Thanks for the sound bite there. Well, guys, thanks a lot. Talk to you again soon. Thanks for being here. And we thank all of you for listening and watching the The Audio Project Shepherd podcast. We'll see you next time. Take care.