Latest / The Ric and Dan Show / "I'm like, 'No, I don't want to go back into construction, at all. So anyway, I'm back in construction": Maynard Pelletier of Maine Fire Protection

Transcript

"I'm like, 'No, I don't want to go back into construction, at all. So anyway, I'm back in construction": Maynard Pelletier of Maine Fire Protection · The Ric and Dan Show

• 0:00
  (Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) How many of these have you guys done?
• 0:02
  Oh, you're our first.
• 0:04
  That's not true.
• 0:05
  Hopefully it'll be the first good one, though.
• 0:07
  We're still holding out.
• 0:09
  Oh, gosh.
• 0:10
  We are fully caffeinated from Coffee
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  Hound Coffee Company.
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  Wander, explore, caffeinate, Coffee
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  Hound Coffee Company at Coffee Hound
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  Coffee Co.
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  Because much like moms would pack a
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  nutritious and delicious lunch for
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  children to send them off to school,
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  Chris Keegan and the crew of Coffee
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  Hound Coffee has packed a delicious
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  prize package to deliver to all of our
• 0:29
  guests on our program, including you,
• 0:31
  Maynard. How do you take your coffee
• 0:32
  anyway?
• 0:32
  With cream and stevia.
• 0:34
  With cream and what?
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  Stevia.
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  I'm going to say that again.
• 0:37
  Cream and what?
• 0:38
  Stevia.
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  It's a sweetener.
• 0:40
  Stevia.
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  I'm pretty sure I dated a stevia in
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  college.
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  It's not that sweet.
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  Neither was she.
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  He's Rick Tyler and he's Dan Cashman.
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  And I'm Maynard Pelletier of Maine Fire.
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  And I'm on the Rick and Dan show.
• 0:55
  In Maine, we often hear, you can't get
• 0:57
  there from here.
• 0:57
  These are the stories of the risk
• 0:59
  takers, the trailblazers, those who
• 1:01
  turn obstacles into opportunities
• 1:03
  every day and found their way
• 1:05
  to get there from here.
• 1:07
  And today they're on the Rick
• 1:09
  and Dan show.
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  Some businesses will say we're number
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  one, we're number one.
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  Your business can actually say
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  we're number one.
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  We are number one because
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  we have the very first fire
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  protection license number
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  one in the state of Maine.
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  Is it framed somewhere in the
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  building?
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  It is. Absolutely.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  Is it required to have it framed and
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  posted in the building?
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  Yeah. You're supposed to post your
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  licensing and registration.
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  And most people just put it in the
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  room with the break room, with the
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  labor laws and everything.
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  This is something probably you have
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  framed and like lights on it or
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  something.
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  Exactly. Yeah.
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  No, it's we're number one.
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  For the uneducated in this
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  area, what does that mean?
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  What is what is that process
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  look like? What did it take to get
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  there?
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  I bought the company in 2005.
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  And so the license
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  had already been issued for that
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  company. So so it came
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  was one of the first companies
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  established. Well, it was the first
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  company established in Maine for
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  fire protection.
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  And so they got the first license
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  and their license numbers
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  or our license numbers.
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  Number one.
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  When you bought it, did someone
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  jokingly say it's a fire sale?
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  It's not the first time I've heard
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  that. Yeah.
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  You are originally from Arista
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  County. I am.
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  Whereabouts? Born and raised in Fort
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  Kent. You can't go much farther than
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  that before you start talking
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  Canadian. Yeah, exactly.
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  And I talk Canadian.
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  I do. Je parle français.
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  Mile marker one.
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  There's a lot of ones in your life.
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  Yeah, that's right.
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  But most people will be born
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  in Maine and you'll work in Maine
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  and then maybe reach middle
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  management and then send the kids
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  off to school and pack up and move
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  to Florida. You did that a little
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  faster than some people.
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  Yes, that's correct.
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  Yeah. So I went to UMaine,
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  Orono, actually went to trade school
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  in Brescau for one year,
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  transferred to UMaine, Orono,
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  graduated there.
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  And my wife and I, we got
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  married after we graduated.
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  But we moved to Florida
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  when we graduated in 1984.
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  And then you came back.
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  We came back.
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  What's the matter with you?
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  Yeah, well,
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  it's interesting.
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  We'd been there 14 years before
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  we came back.
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  We had all three of our children
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  were born in Jacksonville,
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  Florida.
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  It was quite the pace
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  of life, the city life.
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  And we were both raised in
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  Fort Kent and we
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  were starting to see things really
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  pull at our kids.
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  And it started concerning us
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  and we kind of liked that Maine
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  upbringing as
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  the idea for what we wanted
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  for our kids.
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  So we really started considering
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  coming back.
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  And our oldest was 11
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  when we came back to Maine.
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  And it was a different lifestyle.
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  It's like it's,
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  you know, like kids would
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  go like we're flying to Atlanta
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  to the Braves game for a birthday
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  party. And it was like my son
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  goes, can we go?
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  Can we go?
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  Like, that's not a lifestyle
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  that I was accustomed to or
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  kind of it was just different.
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  And you mean that that wasn't like
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  when you grew up with 10 siblings?
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  I'm number 10 of 10.
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  You have enough to play the Atlanta
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  Braves.
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  Correct. Right.
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  Exactly.
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  So seven boys and three girls
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  and in our family.
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  So quite a different
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  idea of Christmas gift
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  was a pair of jeans.
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  You know, that was what it was all
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  good. And we didn't know better.
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  It was where life was good.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  Just hard work.
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  And you just kind of did your thing.
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  What was it like having nine
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  siblings?
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  My parents are each one of
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  six, and I hear those stories.
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  But that feels like a lot where
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  nine siblings sort of the
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  threshold.
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  So it wasn't that unusual
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  to be honest with you, because
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  within like a one mile radius,
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  there were multiple families
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  with large families.
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  I mean, just one mile down the
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  road from where we live, there's
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  another family with 10 kids and
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  over through the potato fields,
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  you know, to another friend of
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  mine, there was there was nine.
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  And, you know, so there was not
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  that unusual.
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  My wife's
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  mother is from a family of 16.
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  And so so it was just a big
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  Catholic community and lots
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  of kids was just a normal thing.
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  But what it was like it was it was
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  just busy.
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  I mean, it was just like 10 kids
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  all in the span of 12 years with
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  one set of twins.
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  Wow. So just try to visualize
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  that.
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  I'm tired thinking about it.
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  Yeah, I bet that parents were tired
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  thinking about it, too.
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  There was a there was a season where
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  there was five siblings
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  in high school at the same time
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  because of the twins.
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  Wow.
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  So there's one every year with
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  one of the twins.
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  So when you were five, the oldest
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  would have been around 17.
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  Correct. And so you had a that must
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  have been you already said it was
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  busy, but that must have been busy.
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  Yeah. And it's the communities of
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  farming communities where we're all
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  like either working or doing
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  something. So everybody was and
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  come from a family of a lot of
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  sports, you know, so they were busy
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  with sports as well and stuff.
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  So there's always basketball.
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  No basketball.
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  Really? Yeah.
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  No basketball.
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  I was told when I was really
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  young that if I played basketball
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  instead of wrestling, that I would
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  have a warts in my hands.
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  So my that was my siblings
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  way to wrestle.
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  Who told you that?
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  One of my brothers.
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  Yeah. Yeah. No, if you play basketball,
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  because I would shoot around outside
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  and outside of the house, you'll get
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  warts. Yeah.
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  If you play basketball, you get warts
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  and not calluses.
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  No, no, warts.
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  Yeah. It was it was to get made sure
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  I wrestled and they weren't.
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  I wrestled.
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  Pick the right sport.
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  So you'll get wards.
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  Right. Did that also discourage you
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  from kissing frogs?
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  No, no, I never attempted to do
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  that. So I always never
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  working with your hands is something
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  that you have done for most
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  of your professional life.
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  Yeah, absolutely.
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  Yeah. Yeah. And no warts.
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  No, no, no.
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  That's a good thing.
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  Yeah. But construction, right.
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  Well, my degree is in engineering.
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  And I when I moved to Florida,
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  I did work.
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  I didn't work in the engineering
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  field, but it opened doors for
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  careers.
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  Worked at a shipyard that worked
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  on naval ships.
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  Anyone that we know for a season,
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  the forestall aircraft carrier.
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  And so some frigates as
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  well. But it was in the Mayport
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  shipyard in Jacksonville.
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  And then after that, I got a job
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  with British Petroleum and I worked
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  with them for a season, a couple of
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  years.
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  When you worked at a shipyard
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  somewhere outside of Maine, did
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  anyone talk to you about Bath Iron
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  Works? And then you had to keep
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  you did not mention that you're from
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  Maine because the competition is.
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  No, that's what we hear.
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  That's what we hear.
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  Yeah. No, no, it was never an issue.
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  There was definitely some frigates
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  that had been built in Bath Iron
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  Works and stuff. So it was.
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  Yeah, it was not an issue.
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  So the shipyard I worked in
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  did not build ships.
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  They serviced them.
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  They repaired them. So they come in
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  from tours and then we have
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  contracts to do repairs and stuff
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  like that. So how long
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  were you working in that industry,
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  in that state?
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  So let's see, I moved there in
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  eighty four.
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  The shipyard is probably about a
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  year. But then I landed the job
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  with British Petroleum and I did
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  that for about a couple of years.
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  What happened there is they were
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  restructuring and they closed the
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  district office that I was working
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  in. I had an opportunity to go
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  anywhere in the country with
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  British Petroleum.
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  They gave me multiple job offers,
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  but always had a desire to be
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  self-employed.
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  And where'd that come from?
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  I haven't.
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  There's nobody in my family that's
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  entrepreneurial like my dad
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  or and stuff.
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  My dad had tried some businesses,
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  had not succeeded.
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  And none of my siblings either
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  and stuff. I do have a brother that's
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  an optometrist.
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  But when I was young, I remember
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  noticing people in the community
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  and stuff and they all, the people
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  that, you know, we weren't,
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  when I came along, we weren't poor.
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  My older siblings were around.
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  We were quite poor.
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  When I came along, things
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  had improved considerably
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  for the family.
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  And so I didn't really understand
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  poverty, but I recognized people
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  that were more successful than
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  our family. And they all seemed
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  like, it appeared that they were all
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  self-employed.
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  And I would always, like I was just
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  a kid, I'd ask mom, why, why didn't
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  dad like try,
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  you know, being self-employed and
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  stuff like that? So it was, it
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  started from there, I think, from
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  that youth.
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  And I had an uncle in Connecticut
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  and it was successful.
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  And he'd visit Maine.
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  And of course, it's like, what does
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  he do for a living, mom?
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  You know, and I was like,
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  I'm self-employed again.
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  So when you took this step to be
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  self-employed, to be an entrepreneur,
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  did any of your siblings call you up
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  and say, Maynard, what are
• 9:08
  you doing?
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  Yeah, actually, I started
• 9:11
  in business in Florida
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  and so I had a partner.
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  We were doing construction, mostly
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  exterior construction, roofing,
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  siding, anything, windows
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  and anything, mostly exterior.
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  We expanded that when I left British
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  Petroleum because I had an in with
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  them and we started doing contract
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  work with British Petroleum as well.
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  And so that's where I started
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  my, my self-employment.
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  But I still hear my dad's voice.
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  He was always worried about me
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  being self-employed.
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  And I kept reminding him, you know,
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  I'm so worried about you.
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  You know, I said, well, that I didn't
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  go into business to fail.
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  And, you know, my, my goal and my
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  hopes are to succeed.
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  So, well, how do people fail?
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  And it is just kind of that approach
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  and stuff is just, just kind of
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  move forward anyway.
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  Were your siblings all supportive
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  or did they share the concern that
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  your dad had or sort of hands
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  off?
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  The siblings are very supportive.
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  Yeah, very supportive.
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  So I got an older brother that's
• 10:03
  definitely very supportive as
• 10:05
  well. So, yeah, no, it was
• 10:07
  they consider me gutsy to do.
• 10:08
  And a lot of times, again, I don't
• 10:10
  know how you do that, but stuff.
• 10:12
  So I have a lot of first cousins.
• 10:13
  I have one sibling with a lot of
• 10:15
  first cousins and our love
• 10:17
  language is sarcasm.
• 10:18
  So anytime I have an idea, it
• 10:20
  gets made fun of.
• 10:21
  I get sometimes physically
• 10:23
  punched, which, you know,
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  made me a little bit stronger,
• 10:26
  although I'm still pretty weak.
• 10:28
  What's your love language within
• 10:29
  your family? Is it like the rock
• 10:31
  solid support or is there some
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  some jabbing and ribbing that
• 10:33
  takes place to the jabbing
• 10:35
  and the ribbing was definitely
• 10:36
  upbringing. I mean, yeah, that
• 10:38
  was and being the
• 10:40
  youngest, you know, they said I
• 10:42
  was spoiled and I like to say
• 10:43
  that I was abused.
• 10:45
  You know what I mean?
• 10:46
  It was like two different
• 10:50
  perspectives.
• 10:50
  Exactly. My perspective there is
• 10:52
  oh, you're spoiled rotten.
• 10:53
  And I'm like, man, quit beating
• 10:55
  on me.
• 10:56
  I did everything I had to do to
• 10:58
  comprehend you getting warts.
• 10:59
  What are you talking about?
• 11:00
  Right. Right.
• 11:01
  Exactly. So and we still
• 11:03
  tease each other
• 11:05
  pretty heavily when we get
• 11:06
  together. But when it
• 11:08
  came to business, it wasn't that
• 11:10
  kind of thing. It was it was
• 11:11
  supportive. It was like cheering
• 11:12
  me on. So.
• 11:13
  But of all the businesses to land
• 11:14
  on, Maine Fire Protection
• 11:16
  Services.
• 11:17
  How did that opportunity come into
• 11:19
  existence?
• 11:20
  When I came back to Maine, I
• 11:22
  actually tried with another
• 11:24
  individual, another business.
• 11:26
  That's when the dot com thing
• 11:28
  was going crazy.
• 11:29
  And we started trying to do some
• 11:30
  of that. That just didn't work.
• 11:32
  And then
• 11:34
  I was convinced that I was not
• 11:35
  going to go back into
• 11:36
  construction.
• 11:37
  I'm like, my wife was like,
• 11:39
  you know, maybe you should just go
• 11:40
  back. And I'm like, no, I don't
• 11:42
  want to go back into construction
• 11:43
  at all.
• 11:44
  So anyway, I'm back in
• 11:46
  construction.
• 11:50
  so what
• 11:51
  happened?
• 11:52
  How did the ambient temperature in
• 11:54
  the house, how far did it drop
• 11:55
  when that happened?
• 11:56
  No, it was it was it was just
• 11:58
  she was right, you know, and if we
• 12:00
  just come to the conclusion more
• 12:01
  often, did you hear that, honey?
• 12:02
  You said you're right again.
• 12:05
  So so anyway, it was it
• 12:07
  was I knew that business.
• 12:09
  And so I ended up doing the same
• 12:11
  kind of construction that I was
• 12:12
  doing in Florida because I
• 12:14
  knew that well.
• 12:15
  And yeah, it took off right
• 12:17
  away and kind of knew how to
• 12:19
  do a little bit of marketing as well
• 12:20
  and stuff. So phone was ringing
• 12:22
  and yeah, first year did
• 12:24
  did OK and started doing some
• 12:25
  renovations.
• 12:27
  I used a friend
• 12:28
  of mine in the mechanical side of
• 12:30
  the business when I needed some
• 12:31
  plumbing and stuff done.
• 12:32
  And he's the one who made me aware
• 12:34
  that this company was
• 12:37
  going to be coming up for sale
• 12:39
  and stuff. I knew the uniqueness
• 12:40
  of it, how specialized it was
• 12:42
  that, you know, I thought it could
• 12:44
  be a very good opportunity.
• 12:45
  So that's kind of how that came
• 12:47
  about.
• 12:48
  Do you find that
• 12:49
  not enough people know what
• 12:51
  you do or your company does?
• 12:53
  We've made a lot of progress there.
• 12:56
  The industry is mandated.
• 12:59
  I mean, it's mandated by the
• 13:01
  government, it's mandated by
• 13:02
  insurance companies.
• 13:03
  I mean, a lot of a lot of properties
• 13:05
  won't get insurance unless they're
• 13:07
  they're protected for fire
• 13:08
  protection.
• 13:09
  And of course, there are laws
• 13:10
  governing what we do.
• 13:12
  I mean, we you know, some some
• 13:14
  places demand fire alarms, some
• 13:15
  places demand sprinkler systems.
• 13:17
  And and so, yeah, so it's
• 13:19
  it's mandated.
• 13:20
  I think it's pretty common
• 13:22
  knowledge now that
• 13:23
  that these things are necessary.
• 13:25
  But there's still a need for
• 13:27
  more education there, for sure,
• 13:29
  because we'll get that
• 13:31
  call. It's like, oh, gosh, we just
• 13:33
  got our first inspection and
• 13:34
  they're telling us we need a
• 13:35
  sprinkler system.
• 13:36
  You know what I mean?
• 13:37
  And of course, the building is
• 13:39
  well along in production.
• 13:41
  And of course, we get a scramble to
• 13:42
  get one installed.
• 13:43
  I wonder about that.
• 13:44
  Some of the buildings in the state
• 13:45
  of Maine were actually built in
• 13:46
  Massachusetts, if you get the
• 13:48
  reference.
• 13:49
  They are that old.
• 13:51
  And you just can't
• 13:53
  walk in with some pipe
• 13:55
  and some sprinkler heads and
• 13:56
  attach it to a garden hose.
• 13:58
  Yeah. Some regulations involved.
• 14:00
  Absolutely.
• 14:01
  Every every sprinkler system is
• 14:03
  actually designed by
• 14:04
  our designers, our engineers
• 14:06
  in an office, in our office.
• 14:08
  We have several engineers that
• 14:10
  work. So a system basically is
• 14:12
  designed based on water flow that's
• 14:13
  available.
• 14:14
  And then, of course, based on
• 14:16
  occupancy is another thing.
• 14:18
  So, I mean, if you're going to be
• 14:19
  storing tires, for
• 14:21
  example, or if it's just, you know,
• 14:22
  an office space, then
• 14:24
  the demands for fire protection
• 14:26
  are very, very different between
• 14:27
  the two. So those things come into
• 14:29
  play when it comes to designing
• 14:31
  systems specifically for each
• 14:32
  building.
• 14:33
  And I can imagine that every
• 14:34
  structure has its own, sometimes
• 14:36
  very personalized, I'll say.
• 14:38
  Oh, absolutely.
• 14:39
  But in the meantime, you have this
• 14:41
  thing called government and
• 14:44
  someone might have the bright idea.
• 14:45
  Well, all buildings should
• 14:47
  have this or that or this
• 14:49
  many number of these.
• 14:50
  So it seems that the regulations
• 14:52
  must be changing not daily,
• 14:55
  weekly, monthly, yearly.
• 14:57
  It's a moving target.
• 14:58
  There's no doubt about it, but it's
• 15:00
  legislative.
• 15:01
  It's laws passed and basically
• 15:03
  you you follow the laws.
• 15:04
  And then, you know, what can get
• 15:06
  more complicated than that is you
• 15:08
  can have communities that have
• 15:09
  their own codes as well.
• 15:11
  They can add on top of the code so
• 15:13
  you can have cities that can be way
• 15:14
  more cumbersome code wise than
• 15:16
  than the actual codes required by
• 15:18
  the state. So so you have to build
• 15:20
  and design based on where the
• 15:22
  property is being built, where the
• 15:23
  building's actually being built.
• 15:25
  So you drive to those communities,
• 15:26
  you're really like a wall of grass.
• 15:28
  Oh, my word.
• 15:29
  You people and your regulations.
• 15:31
  Right, right.
• 15:32
  Exactly.
• 15:33
  How many people work at Mainfire?
• 15:35
  We're about 80 people now.
• 15:36
  So we don't just do fire
• 15:37
  protections on the sprinkler side.
• 15:39
  We do alarms as well, fire alarms
• 15:41
  and so on. And of course, on the
• 15:42
  electronic components, we we are
• 15:44
  involved basically in anything
• 15:45
  electronic in a building, whether
• 15:47
  it's security, CCTV
• 15:49
  cameras.
• 15:50
  You do CCTV cameras?
• 15:52
  We do. Yeah.
• 15:53
  Yeah. That's kind of cool.
• 15:54
  Yeah. We watch a lot of police
• 15:56
  dramas and throw noise from Britain.
• 15:58
  OK. Did you check the CCTV?
• 16:00
  I'll do it in a moment, professor.
• 16:01
  There's a lot of that.
• 16:03
  Anything electronic in a building
• 16:04
  we we install, you know, basically
• 16:05
  a card access to get into the
• 16:07
  building for security purposes,
• 16:09
  all those kinds of things.
• 16:11
  So that's all part of our electronic
• 16:12
  portfolio.
• 16:13
  So we do nurse call systems for
• 16:15
  health care, with patient wandering
• 16:17
  systems so patients don't
• 16:19
  leave the building envelope and get
• 16:21
  lost.
• 16:21
  You don't do those ankle monitors.
• 16:23
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:23
  You do?
• 16:24
  The patient wandering.
• 16:25
  Well, I wasn't thinking more like
• 16:27
  the inmate, not the patient.
• 16:29
  More like, well, we don't.
• 16:32
  I could get you one.
• 16:33
  You can kind of. Could you?
• 16:34
  Yeah, we can get you a GPS.
• 16:35
  Every time we invite him over to the
• 16:37
  house for dinner, he says, I can
• 16:38
  only be here for an hour because
• 16:39
  that's when the charge runs out on my
• 16:40
  ankle monitor.
• 16:42
  Still waiting for that invite.
• 16:43
  So 80 people is a lot of people,
• 16:45
  though. It is.
• 16:46
  How do you keep them?
• 16:46
  How do you hang on to the good ones?
• 16:48
  Remember those ankle monitors we
• 16:49
  mentioned a moment ago?
• 16:50
  I guess that's it.
• 16:51
  The locks are on the outsides of the
• 16:53
  doors.
• 16:54
  Yeah. I've got some good people.
• 16:55
  I've got some real good people.
• 16:56
  I've got some good managers.
• 16:58
  And how do you keep people?
• 17:00
  You just I mean, genuinely, you got
• 17:01
  to care. I don't have a formula that
• 17:03
  says, you know, do this, this
• 17:05
  and everything will be good.
• 17:06
  Our industry does not.
• 17:08
  It's not like you can go to college
• 17:09
  and learn our trade,
• 17:11
  basically. So we hire
• 17:13
  and we train.
• 17:14
  We have apprenticeship programs.
• 17:16
  And the only other way to get
• 17:18
  someone is to basically poach them
• 17:20
  from someone else.
• 17:20
  And so that happens that there's a
• 17:22
  lot of effort to do that from our
• 17:24
  guys.
• 17:25
  You know, they get a lot of calls
• 17:26
  from our competition, but
• 17:28
  they stay on board.
• 17:29
  And, you know, we value
• 17:31
  them. We try to do a benefit
• 17:33
  package that's, you know, second to
• 17:35
  none. And at the end of the day, I
• 17:37
  want them to do well and I want them
• 17:38
  to go home and they're well cared
• 17:40
  for. You know, so that's that's
• 17:41
  important to me.
• 17:42
  This is not a money question, but
• 17:44
  caring costs.
• 17:46
  And we talk to business people
• 17:47
  that want to care for the employees
• 17:49
  because they want to keep their
• 17:50
  employee. Lord knows they don't want
• 17:51
  to have to go through a hiring
• 17:52
  process again.
• 17:53
  But that caring, that's
• 17:56
  a lot of late nights, losing
• 17:58
  sleep, worrying about things,
• 18:00
  wondering, how am I going to do
• 18:01
  this? And you still have a full
• 18:03
  thick, rich head of hair.
• 18:04
  So I'm puzzled.
• 18:05
  How do you how do you care?
• 18:08
  Well, a lot of prayer,
• 18:10
  a lot of prayer. So just
• 18:12
  a man of faith.
• 18:13
  And I just hang onto
• 18:15
  that as my anchor.
• 18:17
  And, yeah, it's gotten me this far.
• 18:19
  And it's it's been good.
• 18:20
  It's been good. So and caring.
• 18:22
  I mean, I share this with my
• 18:23
  managers. I says, guys, you can't
• 18:25
  fake it. You know,
• 18:26
  you really genuinely care or,
• 18:29
  you know, it's going to come through
• 18:30
  and stuff. So and, you know, we
• 18:32
  had to shift some managers at times
• 18:34
  and stuff because they care when
• 18:36
  I'm looking and that doesn't cut
• 18:37
  it.
• 18:38
  One of the things that you've said
• 18:39
  I've heard you say is that
• 18:41
  we're looking to find people who
• 18:43
  want to come in and work with you
• 18:44
  at Mainfire, as you said,
• 18:46
  I want this to be
• 18:48
  a job that you
• 18:50
  retire from.
• 18:51
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:53
  I want them to wear the badge, you
• 18:54
  know, the Mainfire badge
• 18:55
  proudly.
• 18:57
  Like I work at Mainfire
• 18:58
  and it's a great place
• 19:00
  to work. And that's important
• 19:02
  because they're not interested in
• 19:04
  going anywhere else.
• 19:05
  And one of the things like I was
• 19:07
  challenged earlier on when I first
• 19:09
  owned the company, because it was
• 19:10
  really difficult to pay for decent
• 19:13
  benefits.
• 19:14
  And so it was like a catch 22.
• 19:16
  If I do, I'm losing money.
• 19:17
  If I don't, you know,
• 19:19
  I'm not hiring any good people.
• 19:21
  You know, and they're not staying
• 19:23
  and stuff. So it's like, you know,
• 19:25
  and it's one of those things
• 19:26
  basically you step out in faith
• 19:28
  and you do the right thing because
• 19:30
  you feel led by God to do the right
• 19:31
  thing. And I started
• 19:33
  providing good benefits.
• 19:35
  And of course it's
• 19:37
  paid dividends.
• 19:38
  And so and I'll share a story
• 19:40
  that I think kind of encapsulates
• 19:42
  this. I had an employee
• 19:44
  who came down with an illness.
• 19:46
  I won't get into the details of it
• 19:48
  and basically was hospitalized
• 19:50
  and at the time we were we had
• 19:52
  health insurance and we were we did
• 19:54
  like most construction companies is
• 19:56
  a 50 50.
• 19:57
  You know, you pay 50 percent of the
• 19:58
  premium and the employee
• 20:00
  pays the other 50 percent of the
• 20:01
  employee.
• 20:02
  When I heard about his illness, I
• 20:03
  was talking to my office manager.
• 20:05
  I said, man, I am so glad he has
• 20:07
  health insurance, you know, because
• 20:09
  a hospital stays.
• 20:11
  I mean, it's it's quite quite
• 20:13
  expensive. And she
• 20:15
  corrected me. She said, no, he
• 20:16
  dropped it last year because
• 20:18
  he was trying to save a little bit
• 20:20
  of money on a monthly basis.
• 20:22
  You know, his 50 percent that he was
• 20:24
  paying for.
• 20:25
  And man, that troubled me.
• 20:26
  I bothered me for weeks
• 20:28
  literally.
• 20:29
  And I started wrestling with that.
• 20:31
  And I thought, how do I
• 20:33
  how do you stop someone from doing
• 20:34
  something like that? You can't
• 20:35
  really. And I thought, you know what,
• 20:37
  I guess if I covered 100 percent
• 20:39
  of the premium, he would have had
• 20:40
  health insurance. And so I
• 20:42
  made a policy change.
• 20:43
  We started covering 100 percent of
• 20:44
  our employees health
• 20:46
  premiums. And so now every one of our
• 20:48
  employees, every single one of them
• 20:50
  has health insurance and
• 20:51
  we cover the premium and we pay 50
• 20:53
  percent of their family's portion
• 20:55
  of the premium as well.
• 20:57
  So again, I don't I want to
• 20:59
  go home and things things are
• 21:01
  cared for, you know.
• 21:02
  So, you know, that's that was that
• 21:03
  was kind of the burden.
• 21:05
  And it's not easy.
• 21:06
  It's expensive.
• 21:07
  It's a lot of money.
• 21:09
  It's a lot of money.
• 21:09
  But so far so good.
• 21:12
  We'll keep keep rolling with it.
• 21:13
  Yeah. It's good to know that they're
• 21:15
  covered.
• 21:15
  I feel like that's unheard of today.
• 21:18
  I I can't speak for others.
• 21:20
  I know it's not
• 21:22
  the norm. I don't believe it's the
• 21:23
  norm.
• 21:24
  But at the same time, you got to run
• 21:26
  the business.
• 21:27
  And we know that
• 21:30
  inflation has
• 21:32
  jacked the price of so many things
• 21:33
  in the year. I can imagine some of
• 21:35
  the components that are required to
• 21:36
  do what you do at Mainfire.
• 21:38
  The price has gone up and
• 21:40
  I don't know how much of that gets
• 21:42
  passed on to the
• 21:44
  client or you have to maintain.
• 21:46
  You need to put stuff on the shelf.
• 21:47
  So when there's a call, you have it
• 21:49
  there. So there's supply chain
• 21:50
  issues. How have you managed all of
• 21:52
  that?
• 21:52
  Yeah.
• 21:54
  Inflationary circumstances have
• 21:55
  been pretty intense, especially
• 21:57
  in the last five, six years.
• 21:58
  It's something that I used to pride
• 22:00
  myself and being able to manage
• 22:02
  well.
• 22:03
  I'll be honest with you, I
• 22:04
  have struggled with staying up with
• 22:07
  inflation in the last last
• 22:08
  five years. It's been been
• 22:10
  challenging.
• 22:11
  And yeah, you unfortunately
• 22:13
  you pass inflationary.
• 22:15
  You know, my inflation is my
• 22:17
  customer's inflation.
• 22:18
  It just it just rolls.
• 22:20
  It just you have to roll it forward
• 22:22
  and stuff. So that's real.
• 22:23
  And sometimes you're like, man,
• 22:25
  things are expensive.
• 22:27
  Were there supply chain issues as
• 22:28
  well?
• 22:28
  We did during COVID, there were
• 22:30
  supply, especially on the electronic
• 22:31
  side.
• 22:32
  We had we had some pipe issues
• 22:34
  for a while, but we always
• 22:36
  managed to get what we needed.
• 22:38
  One of the problems we had is a lot
• 22:40
  of the cast fittings
• 22:42
  like valves and things are made
• 22:43
  overseas. And we had
• 22:45
  we were challenged in getting some
• 22:47
  of those.
• 22:48
  Nobody makes valves in the U.S.
• 22:49
  that I'm aware of and stuff.
• 22:51
  So I'm talking big valves, you know,
• 22:53
  like six inch and eight inch type
• 22:54
  valves and stuff.
• 22:55
  Sounds like an entrepreneurial
• 22:56
  opportunity.
• 22:57
  Yeah, I think that's my next valve.
• 22:59
  Yeah.
• 23:00
  Cashman's Valve Company.
• 23:02
  Sounds great.
• 23:03
  We'll be your first customer.
• 23:06
  Once again, number one.
• 23:08
  Yeah, I know.
• 23:08
  I know. Unfortunately, I'd probably
• 23:10
  be our only customer.
• 23:11
  We'll be out of business in a month.
• 23:13
  Yeah.
• 23:13
  Do you ever go walk into a
• 23:16
  building, an establishment,
• 23:18
  and you look around, you're
• 23:19
  thinking, OK, that's not the code.
• 23:22
  Honey, just follow me.
• 23:23
  We're just going to back out of the
• 23:24
  building slowly.
• 23:26
  Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 23:27
  You can't help but walk into a
• 23:28
  building and notice everything.
• 23:30
  So you look at the fire alarm, you
• 23:31
  look at the sprinkler systems and
• 23:33
  stuff, you go stay somewheres
• 23:34
  overnight and you're wondering, I
• 23:35
  wonder who did the inspection here
• 23:37
  and make sure it's up to code.
• 23:39
  You know, you always wonder.
• 23:40
  But there's a reason we asked you to
• 23:41
  come in through that specific door
• 23:43
  into our building today.
• 23:45
  We're going to shimmy you out
• 23:46
  through the window.
• 23:47
  I kept looking down.
• 23:48
  I didn't look up at all.
• 23:50
  You don't have to name names, but
• 23:51
  has there been a place that
• 23:53
  surprised you, a place like Disney
• 23:54
  who theoretically does everything
• 23:56
  right? Someplace like that that
• 23:58
  you've gone to and said,
• 24:00
  this is this is awkward.
• 24:04
  Nothing that comes to the top of
• 24:05
  that's good right now.
• 24:07
  So no, I'm glad you didn't say
• 24:08
  actually Disney.
• 24:09
  Yeah.
• 24:10
  Well, what happened?
• 24:11
  I mean, I'll be honest, Maine
• 24:13
  has kind of been on the forefront
• 24:15
  with fire protection, the
• 24:17
  industry. They've they've
• 24:19
  they've regulated it, but they've
• 24:20
  they've got people out inspecting
• 24:22
  and making sure that things are done
• 24:24
  accordingly and stuff.
• 24:26
  So fire marshals from different
• 24:27
  cities will inspect facilities
• 24:29
  and stuff. So for, you know,
• 24:31
  health care is definitely heavily
• 24:32
  regulated.
• 24:34
  Oh, especially
• 24:35
  fire protection and kind of alarm
• 24:37
  systems and stuff.
• 24:38
  So so those things, those
• 24:39
  companies typically do not,
• 24:41
  you know, mess around with that if
• 24:43
  they've got, you know, any kind of
• 24:45
  deficiencies, they're they're they're
• 24:46
  fixing stuff.
• 24:47
  Honest to goodness question.
• 24:48
  And you could cover your ears and go
• 24:49
  la la la la la.
• 24:51
  Dan, if you had to go find the fire
• 24:52
  extinguisher, the nearest fire
• 24:54
  extinguisher from where we're sitting
• 24:55
  right now in our podcast studio,
• 24:57
  could you find it?
• 24:58
  I think so.
• 25:00
  OK, if you smell smoke, you go get
• 25:01
  it, because I have no idea.
• 25:03
  Right. I'm pretty.
• 25:03
  We'll go on a little field trip when
• 25:05
  we're done. I'm pretty sure it's
• 25:06
  under the sink.
• 25:07
  Well, so many fires start there.
• 25:09
  What a great.
• 25:10
  Well, it's at least
• 25:12
  at least where we bury the bodies
• 25:14
  in front of the guest.
• 25:16
  Do you ever pull a fire alarm when
• 25:18
  you were a kid in school?
• 25:19
  Never.
• 25:20
  I was like, I was asking Dan.
• 25:22
  Oh, no, I haven't either.
• 25:24
  Have you? No.
• 25:25
  Yeah. Did you?
• 25:26
  No. But I've always wondered.
• 25:27
  Yeah. Maybe we can go do that.
• 25:29
  Do we have a fire alarm here?
• 25:30
  I can find out sooner than I could
• 25:32
  find the fire extinguisher.
• 25:34
  Just so you know, it's against
• 25:36
  the law.
• 25:38
  Buzzkill.
• 25:38
  Well, what if there's a real fire,
• 25:39
  though?
• 25:40
  Well, that's that's legit.
• 25:42
  I would say you're just pulling it
• 25:44
  for the sake of seeing what it does.
• 25:46
  OK, so first, start a fire.
• 25:48
  Second. OK, so there's one
• 25:49
  crime prevent, arson.
• 25:51
  Then you can pull it.
• 25:52
  Yeah. Pulling it.
• 25:53
  Arson's not still illegal, is it?
• 25:55
  Which is the lesser charge?
• 25:56
  Let's consider that.
• 25:58
  You remember, you remember the
• 26:00
  congressman that pulled the fire
• 26:01
  alarm. Fire alarm in Washington.
• 26:03
  Exactly.
• 26:03
  What are you doing?
• 26:05
  Anything to get out of here.
• 26:06
  Testimony on camera, too.
• 26:08
  They had him on camera doing it.
• 26:10
  So is it like that in the movies,
• 26:11
  though? In the movies, it's like,
• 26:13
  OK, we've got to get everybody out
• 26:15
  because there's the bad guys are
• 26:16
  inside. Just pull the fire alarm.
• 26:18
  Yeah. Nothing in
• 26:20
  our industry works like the movies.
• 26:22
  So when you pull the alarm, the
• 26:24
  sprinkler systems do not go off.
• 26:26
  That's not that's not how it works.
• 26:28
  When you pull the fire alarm, the
• 26:30
  fire alarm will go off.
• 26:32
  My childhood is ruined now.
• 26:33
  Yeah. So when you also see
• 26:35
  a movie and then, you know,
• 26:37
  the sprinkler system is
• 26:39
  tripped, every sprinkler head is
• 26:40
  flowing water.
• 26:41
  That's not how it works.
• 26:43
  Yeah. Thank God, because
• 26:44
  I moved into a new place
• 26:46
  for me, an apartment in downtown,
• 26:48
  and I was cooking a rather fatty
• 26:50
  cut of meat on the stovetop.
• 26:52
  It might have been a little smoky.
• 26:53
  Smoke detector goes off.
• 26:54
  And my first thought was if all of
• 26:56
  these sprinklers start going off
• 26:57
  as well, I am in big trouble.
• 26:59
  Thankfully, they did not.
• 27:00
  If you look at sprinkler heads,
• 27:02
  the more current modern ones,
• 27:03
  they're mechanical ones, of course.
• 27:04
  But there's a little glass filament
• 27:06
  and there are different colors,
• 27:08
  if you notice that, and the
• 27:10
  different colors are for different
• 27:11
  temperatures.
• 27:12
  And so the sprinkler head,
• 27:15
  there is actually a little
• 27:17
  air bubble in that filament.
• 27:18
  And when it gets hot enough,
• 27:20
  it expands and breaks that glass.
• 27:23
  And then now the water will flow.
• 27:25
  So the only way a sprinkler head
• 27:27
  will flow is if it's
• 27:29
  tripped by heat.
• 27:31
  There are different systems now.
• 27:32
  There's there are deluge systems.
• 27:34
  So it is legit.
• 27:35
  Not that we want to give anyone an
• 27:36
  idea, listening to this, that if you
• 27:37
  had a lighter and you held it up to
• 27:39
  it and lit it, that would.
• 27:40
  Absolutely. Yeah.
• 27:41
  Yes, you could definitely trip.
• 27:43
  But it would take a while.
• 27:44
  Do not try this at home, kids.
• 27:46
  No, if you, you know, if you put
• 27:48
  it right under it, if you put your
• 27:49
  lighter under your hand, you're
• 27:50
  going to burn yourself pretty quick.
• 27:51
  Right. Yes.
• 27:52
  So you can you can trip the system
• 27:53
  pretty fast. And so but
• 27:56
  like there are different
• 27:58
  temperature heads for like like
• 27:59
  like attic spaces can be have a
• 28:01
  sprinkler system. So in the attic,
• 28:03
  of course, you know, you want
• 28:05
  a higher temperature head because
• 28:07
  summer, summertime heat, you don't
• 28:08
  want those those heads.
• 28:10
  Oh, yeah. Tripping, you know.
• 28:11
  So our mechanical room can be
• 28:12
  120 degrees in a mechanical
• 28:14
  room, like a furnace room or
• 28:15
  something. You don't want your
• 28:16
  typical, you know, living room
• 28:18
  sprinkler heads.
• 28:19
  So you use a different temperature
• 28:20
  head. There's hundreds of different
• 28:22
  types of sprinkler heads and stuff.
• 28:23
  So and that's all stuff you need to
• 28:25
  know if you're going to live up with
• 28:26
  the regulations.
• 28:26
  Absolutely. Yeah, that's that's our
• 28:28
  design staff.
• 28:29
  Those, you know, they stay on top of
• 28:30
  that stuff and make sure we design
• 28:32
  the right system with the right
• 28:33
  water flow, with the right
• 28:35
  sprinkler heads for the occupation
• 28:36
  to make sure that we can hold our
• 28:38
  heads high.
• 28:39
  After this podcast,
• 28:41
  we're going to escort you from the
• 28:43
  building. We ask you just to keep
• 28:44
  your head down, just to keep
• 28:45
  looking down and then we'll get you
• 28:46
  to the door.
• 28:48
  I'm still going with the window.
• 28:50
  Thanks for listening to The Rick
• 28:51
  and Dan Show.
• 28:52
  Might not be here next time.
• 28:53
  I'm getting my bunion sanded.
• 28:54
  Ew.
• 28:55
  If you like what you heard, don't
• 28:56
  suppose you'd click that subscribe
• 28:57
  button and maybe leave us a review
• 28:59
  on your favorite listening platform.
• 29:01
  Five stars are our favorite.
• 29:02
  And next time you hear someone say
• 29:04
  you can't get there from here, you
• 29:06
  tell them to listen to The Rick and
• 29:07
  Dan Show.