Latest / Watts Up with Bowling Green Winlectric / Lighting That Works: Homes, Businesses & Better Planning with Scott Kerley
Transcript
- Winlectric Curly Construction (1): Hey guys, thanks for joining us for another episode Watts Up with Winlectric. Of course I'm Sean with Wind Electric and this is Scott with Kerley Construction. Scott, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me. Well, if first off, if you don't mind, can you tell everybody a little bit about yourself and what got you into what you're doing today? Well, actually I'm the company, Kerley Construction Company Incorporated, was started by my father in nineteen seventy seven. So wow I just kinda continued the family to d tradition there. and we've been going strong ever since. the we've we've been in this area and work within about thirty miles of Glasgow but we've done a lot of banks, doctors offices, upscale homes and things along that line. Wow, wow. So you're doing both commercial and industrial. Seems like a lot of times G Cs will kind of focus on one way or the other, but you're doing both. Yeah, we've certainly tried to stay busy closer closer to home and so we And and we got involved in some of the the banks and d medical facilities early on so we just kept going with it. Nice. So something you mentioned at the start there, kinda caught my ear there. So next year's gonna be your fiftieth anniversary. It will be, yes, absolutely. Wow, that's definitely something we actually just celebrated our fiftieth anniversary last year. So that's that's a big milestone. It is. Congratulations on that. Well, thank you. It's And obviously again my my father started it so i but yeah it's it's been a good ride so far. Yeah, gotcha. Gotcha. Well, what we're here to talk about is little bit about electrical and lighting in a commercial space and how that might differ from residential space. do you find that one poses a little more headache than the other? Well there's there's different things involved obviously in in and obviously with homeowners the the challenge there as far as picking the perfect picture and some of those type of things. a lot of times in businesses and and commercial spaces it's just kind of more of a business decision. What are we trying to communicate? what what needs do we have and that type of thing. and so again very different approaches and you have to be sensitive to the needs in both of those situations. For sure. Yeah. I I know one of the things I've heard from general contractors is when it comes to lighting specifically, they like the commercial a little bit better than the resie because it's all done on the front end. Right, absolutely. Those those things are are like you said, they're done early. there's a lot I mean certainly there are a lot of standard pictures in certain places and things along that line. residentially sometimes it's fixtures that catch a homeowner's eye and and those type of things and obviously you know budgets can change quickly because of changes in taste. Yeah, I'm sure that sometimes one simple decision change can make can make a huge deal. Right. Absolutely. As you know, there are different time frames in getting different products in. And so, you know, again commercially with more of those fixtures being more standard. at least the lighting fixtures sometimes it may be more predictable when some of that's gonna come in. Right, right. So one of the things you mentioned is doctor's office and dentist's office. Is that something you would kinda say you you specialize in? Well, medical facilities in general. But but that's certain that and and banks and So that's and obviously there are very different needs, even in certain in different parts of those facilities. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Do you find that some of those areas in let's say a dentist's office, that some of those are areas tend to be more challenging than others from a a lighting standpoint? I don't know about more challenging, you just have to be we aware of the lighting needs there. obviously they have task lights for certain things and and that type of thing, but like I said you need to know kind of some areas don't necessarily need that much light or some areas may have more natural light coming in and some of that type of thing. And then also, you know, businesses are oftentimes weighing in you know, kind of those green factors too. And so, you know, be s you have to be sensitive to that too. Right, right. So if as a general contractor, if you were approached by we'll say a an an an entrepreneur who wants to start a business, maybe maybe they have worked for another dentist and they want to and I just keep saying dentist 'cause that was one of the first things you mentioned, and they and they want to start their own business and they're they're gonna purchase a or gonna lease a building and they're gonna build it out. would you have some kind of hints or good points of information to give to them that would be good for them to know and going into that venture? Well y absolutely we would have some we would have some discussions and obviously we would pull in you know, possibly an electrician we're going to to potentially work with because they've been exposed to more of that than we have obviously. but you know, s certainly we would think about space planning. and you know, what types of equipment or where because that's going to dictate what type of lighting you need in in certain places. And you know, again, what type of environment are you wanting people to feel as they even walk through the the doors. and you know, a couple of things that I can think about recently, w a couple of banks that we've remodeled, the lighting as you walk into the lobby area kinda sets the tone and mood and and even almost what type of bank that they're wanting to portray themselves to be because some lighting is is more modern. you know, and some mo lighting is more kind of classic and that type of thing. And so obviously you don't want to walk into a a bank or something like that to where the lighting looks almost like it's Industrial factory type lighting or something along that line. You want to feel like your bank is stable and it's going to be there tomorrow or that type of thing. Yeah, you don't want to see a bunch of jar lights up there. Right, absolutely. you know, I'm sure they can still count money under jar lights, but yeah. So do you have really necessarily relevant to this conversation, but do you have a type of an office or business that you like doing more than the other? you know don't give me a politically correct answer. You know, again, we we can't we don't have that luxury necessarily necessary necessarily because we do obviously need to stay employed. but the so you know, certainly you know, banks and medical facilities, we've enjoyed doing those through time. Yeah. and you know, you You learn the needs of those different types of places and and so you know you're able to make perfect suggestions at the right time. Right. Well, I mean you also I'm sure one of the things you you learn is kind of customer flow and you know how to how to make sure a space 'cause sometimes you probably as a general contractor you might look at a set of plans and notice, you know what? I see this is here, you know, you might want to think about this being rearranged here. Right, absolutely. Certain types of equipment. If the lights are put in a certain place, the equipment actually blocks the light and and that type of thing. And even, you know, the the different daylight versus cool white and some of those type things. some of those are kind of irritating to the eyes and and they're made for certain types of workspace. So you know, you have to y you at least want those discussions to come out and and often oftentimes with a lot of the projects we do there are architects involved and so they're already making some of those choices and decisions. Right. but again as changes pop up or as you know we discover something's in a different place or whatever then you know things change. Well a lot of times that's where your expertise would really come in if you know something gets changed from what was originally on the plans and you figuring out how to make that happen. Right. you know we're y you know again it's it's It's all team effort at that point in time so you kinda put everything on the table and and you know, figure out what's going to be the best. And obviously you're along that line. Who's who's seen what through time and how that's how how effective that's been in certain places is important. Right. Well also w for whatever reason when you said, you know, who's seen what through time, i for whatever reason it popped into my head that I've learned a thousand times more from the mistakes I've made over the years in lighting than the things that actually worked out right the first time. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. And you you know, you think something's gonna do, you know, a certain amount of light or it's gonna light a space and it's gonna look a certain way and you go in there and you're like, man, that didn't that didn't do like I thought it was gonna look. Yeah, and and and we're now I think we're now on a good point in time too where some at one point in time LED lights were kind of new. they were all pretty much the same color and all of that type of thing and so we've gotten to where those are more dependable now. there were hour ratings at certain point in the past that really didn't play out that right. And so i and i again related to some of that too, it have a room with twenty light fixtures in there and two of go out and you can't get that light fixture anymore and and so now you have a little more stabil you have a lot more stability in that area so it's more dependable what you might be able to replace that with. Right. Well also, you know, it was like initially all these manufacturers were just like throwing dart to the dartboard or, you know, pin the tail sticking the tail to see where, you know, what's gonna stick. So they didn't know what fixtures people would really like or not like. You know, and now they've you know, they've learned over the last especially five years I feel like. I feel like about the last five years has been things have settled down a little bit more. Right. So that's that's been nice. Well and and you also know it's the same old thing as far as quality matters. And you don't want those lights that are flickering and all those type of things. And and they're still out there and still sold in different places, but you know it it does matter, particularly in a business that you know, when you're pr trying to project a certain image that you need quality fixtures. Yeah. We we still have customers that'll say, I don't like LED lights. Why not? They're like, I just don't like that blue color and I'm like, Man, come on, like that's not a thing. Well well, right, absolutely. And obviously related to that, you know, having those fixtures that you can switch so that if you decide you didn't like something in the C C T the C C T changeable, yeah, we almost everything we sell now is C C T. You know, even the bulbs, you know, we the A nineteens, the BR thirties, the PAR thirties are all C C T now. So if you know we customers like, I don't like that color temperature. All you gotta do How about that color temperature? Absolutely. How about that color temperature? Right. Yeah. And even on our commercial fixtures, actually especially on our commercial fixtures, we don't hardly sell anything commercial anymore that's not C C T. So and dimmable. A lot of times that was that was a big thing with the LEDs for a while. You couldn't hardly get any commercial fixtures that were dimmable. Right. Absolutely. Now Dammo, well you've got to use your zero to ten volt dimming control wire. So there you go. So if you wanna if we transition over to kind of higher end residential, do you w what would be some points that you could share with customer base as far as some good in point input on electrical or lighting in in a residential? Well certainly related to that, I would recommend those customers work with a interior designer and to help along that line because of you know obviously colors and and everything along that line. again, they're going to bring something else into the fold too. So hopefully we can through our collective efforts get the ideal situation going there. but the you know again i it's use of space and you know knowing what type of Fixtures are needed wear and and those type of things. I used to not really care that much for can lights in the past, but certainly w the LED lights, the cans further down so the light spreads out more. Whereas it used to be up in there and it was pretty much a spotlight. Yes, absolutely. And and and they just weren't that effective before, but now they're a lot better light. Yeah, yeah. I really like wafer lights. I'm not sure if you know what the wafer, the flat with the clip in. Yes. Gosh, I love those things, man. And we actually s what we sell the most of is a is a a higher output one. So the kind of the standard in the industry now is a thousand lumens. Well we stock's a fifteen hundred lumen and five C C T. man, it is I love it, man. I love it. Such a clean look. You know, don't have bugs in it because it's all sealed up. Right. absolutely. I like those aspects. a lot of the LEDs that you end up screwing into the old housings and things like that, they start flickering on and off after a period of time. I'm actually remodeling my personal bathroom right now and it's at an area where the trusses come down and all of that type of thing. So I have the old housings that I have to try to get out of there whereas if it was the wafer lights then you know, pop out and do whatever I need to do. That's one of the things I love the most about the wafer light actually is if you're doing what we would consider the standard one, they're only half inch deep. And so they can go across a joist. And matter of fact, I don't know if you know or not know this or not, but they can actually go across a double joist. It's still got enough room to fit that that driver in and out if you need to. Not triple joist, not so much. Right. Absolutely. absolutely. Well, there's that and then also a lot of the other like flat fixtures and things along that line. You know, it was always a cleaner look to have say a a acoustical ceiling with a troffer that's set above the ceiling versus the older types that came down below either hard ceiling or that. But then now, you know, those are an inch, three quarters of an inch or something like that and stick down. And then also it allows for the acoustical ceiling to go up a little bit higher too because you don't have that troffer sticking within there and so you can get a little more ceiling out of there. Yeah, and get those flat panels in there. I love a flat panel personally kinda to me it looks like a a come on Sean. What do you call it? Skylight. Yeah. It's almost like a skylight where the light just comes down. but we actually we sell some that are called frame lights where it's just the outer square. I don't know if you've seen those before, but I I should show you, but that it outlines around the edge of the T grid and there's not done light in the center and you put a still put an acoustical tile on top of it so you see that tile and but you just see the outline. Right. Those are really cool as well. I like those. But anyway, I get off topic, imagine that. but well, I tell you what, looks like we're already already out of time. Jeez Louise, man. It just seemed like we just started talking. well, I appreciate you joining me. and if you don't mind, share with our listener base your information, how people can get in touch with you if they're looking to maybe finish out a commercial space or you know, a higher end residential. Well, I'm Scott Curly with Kerley Construction Company Incorporated. We actually have an office over on Samson Street. so someone could potentially stop by there or they can email me at Kerley Construction Company at gmail dot com or curlyconstruction at gmail dot com. they can also check out our website, Kerley Construction Co dot com and then then also they can touch the base with me on my cell phone two seven zero six seven zero eight six four one. Okay. I'm sure you're probably on Facebook too. Yeah, absolutely. all of those things. So the time we're in now, you can get a hold of anybody fifteen different ways. And we just won best contractor in there. Heck yeah, man. Well that's nice. Yep. I'd be hanging that in my office for sure. Absolutely. Wow. Congratulations on that. What a way to end the episode, guys. Thanks again for joining us for what's up with Win Electric. And really appreciate our guests, Mr. Curly here for joining us. And if you need anything that any commercial application or high-end residential, he sounds like he's the man for the job. And as always, thanks for listening, guys. Bye.