Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / How the Color of the Year for 2025 Can Change Your Life, and more!

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How the Color of the Year for 2025 Can Change Your Life, and more! · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Well, good morning everybody. We've made it. We've made it.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: It's the weekend. We're listening to the Repco Light Home
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Improvement Show sponsored by Benjamin Moore, And yeah, it's the weekend,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and that means what lots of fun, lots of kicking back.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe it means weeding. I probably have some weeding that
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I've got to do. Anyway, that's coming up for me
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: later on the show. Today, I'm going to be breaking
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: down Benjamin Moore's Color of the Year for twenty twenty five.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: In the design world, that is big news, big news,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: big doings. But what does it practically mean? You know,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: does it affect our daily lives, you know, the daily
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: lives of regular people who are crazy cool but still
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: regular people. Does it affect us at all? Or is
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: it just a lot of buzz and hype over nothing.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: We're going to dig into all of that at the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: end of the show. I'm also going to be in
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the studio with Jeff Rousch from East End Plumbing and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Grand Bay Electric talking about how we can make sure
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: that our home state powered through any and all storms
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: that blast through our neighborhoods as we head into fall
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and eventually won't won't won't winter? You know, how do
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: we keep our homes nice and toasty? We'll talk about that.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: That's all coming up in a little bit. But right now,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: it's trivia time. We're gonna play a game. We don't
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: do this very often. I think we should do it
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: all the time. But we're gonna play a game. I've
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: got a greater point that I'm gonna get to, but
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: that's not important right now. You know, we'll get to
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the paint point in a minute. Right now, it's all
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: about trivia. It's all about beating the people who you're
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: standing around or hanging out with. Right now, who is
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: going to know the answers? And who's going to be wrong?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: All right, so let's find out. I'm gonna ask you
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: a couple of questions. You just come up with the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: answer in your head or shout it out you guys,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: make your own rules up, and then I'll give you
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the answer. All right. First question, bagpipes? Where did bagpipes
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: come from? All right? Think about it, talk about it,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: come up with your answer. What do you think Scotland?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Right got to be Scotland. There's nothing more Scottish than
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Highland bagpipes wrong. Turns out there's really solid evidence that
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: bagpipes came from ancient Egypt, of all places, no kidden,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: as early as four hundred BC. There's historical evidence or
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: scuttle about the pipers of Thebes and how they used
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: bagpipe like instruments that apparently made use of a big
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: bag made from dog skin and then had bone pipes
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: protruding from it. You know, I don't profess to understand
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: how bagpipes work, but apparently just squeeze the big skin bag,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: you know, the dog skin bag, and then the bone
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: pipes would blare out some kind of tune, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: all kinds of music would frolic forth from the ends
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of those pipes, and there you go, bagpipes in Egypt,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the pipers of Thebes four hundred BC. Who'd thought? Next question?
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: And this one's easier, right, which is older? Oxford University
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: or the Aztec Empire? All right, think about it for
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: a second. What do you think? Of course, the Aztecs
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: have to be older, right, Their civilization in Central Mexico
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: is ancient. They've got pyramids with lots of ivy, they've
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: got museum exhibits, you know, dedicated to them. They've got
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: to be older than Oxford University. Right long, go ahead
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: in fact check me, you're gonna want to. I fact
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: checked myself. I'm saying it that way because it normally
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: sounds like fat check when I say it the normal
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: way I would say it, and there's no reason to
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: fat check me. I know the fat's there. It's lurking.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: It's kind of out in the open. It's not really
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: lurking there it is. But I did fact check myself,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and it turns out that as early as the year
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: ten ninety six, teaching had started in Oxford, and by
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: twelve forty nine the school was a university. They had
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: student housing and everything. Probably parking passes were being issued
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: for exorbitant amounts of money, and they probably had a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: meal plan that you had to sign on for. The
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Aztec civilization, on the other hand, was founded in thirteen
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: twenty five, So Oxford predates the Aztec civilization by at
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: least seventy six years, possibly up to two hundred and
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: twenty nine years, depending on how you consider or when
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: you consider the actual beginning of Oxford. All right, next question, Cleopatra,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Let's think about her birth date. Was she born closer
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: to the construction of the pyramids in Giza, you know,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the three main pyramids in Egypt. Was she born closer
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to the construction of those pyramids or to the moon
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: landing in nineteen sixty nine? Which event is closer to
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the birth date of Cleopatra. Well, it's got to be
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the pyramids, right, wrong, wrong, wrong. Those pyramids were completed
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: twenty four hundred years before Cleopatra's birth, and the moon
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: landing took place about two thousand years after her birth. So,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: believe it or not, the moon landing is actually closer,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a closer historical event to Cleopatra's birth than the construction
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: of the pyramids in Giza. That is crazy, counterintuitive stuff.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: None of it seems right, but it is all right. Now,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: let's get to the paint point. And of course it's
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: not going to be as dramatic and fun as all
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: of those. It's a paint point, after all. How dramatic
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: and fun can it be? Anyway, here's the question, because
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: we're still playing trivia, we're trying to still make it
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: somewhat fun. Here's the question. When you have a paint project,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: what's the better money saving option When it comes to brushes.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Buying a cheap throwaway brush or dropping your hard earned
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: money on a good brush, well you know how it
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: works by now, but just play along. The cheap brush
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: has to be a better way to save money, right,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: of course, not wrong, wrong, wrong. Buying the cheap brush,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: the cheap throwaway brush, which seems, you know, seems to
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: make sense, is just as wrong is all of those
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: other things that we talked about, all those other historical
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: trivia's trivia points that we talked about. And here's why
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: it's wrong. When you buy a more expensive brush, you're
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: naturally going to feel inclined by the guilt factor to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: clean it out and keep it. Guilt is a powerful motivator,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and it's gonna motivate you like there's no tomorrow. When
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: you bought a more expensive brush, you're gonna clean it
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: out a throwaway brush. You know, they still price out
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: around five to eight bucks, you know, so keep that
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: in mind. But when you buy that, when you when
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: you buy a brush for five to eight bucks, with
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the mindset that it's a throwaway brush, you're gonna toss
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: it out after using it. You're not gonna bother to
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: clean it up. You're gonna throw it away, because that's
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the plan. If you drop bigger money for a better brush.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: The guilt factor again, Like I said, your brain is
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: gonna say, wait a minute there, hold on, you can't
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: throw that away. You need to clean it. That was expensive.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Don't just throw that away. Now. That may sound dumb.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: It does sound dumb. There's no may about it. It
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: sounds dumb. But it's psychology, I think, and it's true.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: You know, try it, think about it. You know, for me,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: my penny pinching fingers won't let me throw away something
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: that I spent twenty bucks on, especially if I can
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: clean it and save it. And if you buy the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: right good brush, you know, even cleanup isn't gonna be
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that bad. China's filaments, you know, we talked about them
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: last week. You know, the bristles brushes made using those
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: bristles clean up way faster and way easier than other brushes.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: You know, I've had some of these brushes for ten
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: years or more, and I've used them for tons and
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: tons of projects. The amount of extra money that I
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: would have spent on cheap brushes just to throw them
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: away is pretty crazy. So getting the better brush is
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: going to save you money in the long run. But
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: here's another good reason to buy a good brush. A
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: high quality brush makes the work simpler. You know, it
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: carries more paint than a cheap brush is going to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: and that means you can move that brush with a
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: smoother arm action across your surface, and you're naturally, just
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: by having the better brush, you're naturally going to end
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: up with smoother lines. One last thing to consider in
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the time that we've got and to me, this is
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: the thing to remember about everything that I said. If
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you forget everything else, don't forget this. The applicator. You know,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the tool that you use to apply your paint, whether
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: it's the roller cover or a brush, whatever you use,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: that applicator is really what determines the final look of
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: your finish. You know, it's not uncommon for people to
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: buy the best paint they can afford because they want
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: the durability and the quality of the product. But then
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: they try to save a couple bucks by grabbing a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: cheap roller cover or a throwaway brush. It just doesn't
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: make sense to do that. The better applicators they're gonna
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: leave a better finish on your wall. Cheaper tools can
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: make a great paint look cheap. So bottom line, better
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: brushes that you clean and reuse are gonna save you
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: money in the long run. They're gonna make the work smoother,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and they're gonna help you achieve the look that you
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: want with your finish. And right now, until the end
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: of October, you can pick up a two and a
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: half inch Corona Excalibur Chinax brush for twelve twenty six each.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: That's about eleven bucks off the normal price, so you
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: can get a great brush for not too much more
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: than a cheap one. All right, that's the paint point
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: for the week. Let's take a break and when we
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: come back up be in the studio with Jeff Rousch
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: from Grand Bay Electric. That's just ahead, stick around and
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: we're back. You're listening to the repro Light home improvement
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: shows sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And right now I'm in
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the studio with Jeff Rausch, the general manager at Grand
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Bay Electric and East End Plumbing. Jeff, thanks for being.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Here, absolutely, thank you for having me.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Now, Jeff, right off the bat, that's a new one
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: for me. You're the general manager of both of those organizations,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: those businesses, and you guys are connected in some way
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: with Airs Basement Systems, and they've been on the show
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: a ton of times. So yeah, before we get started
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: with our conversation, help me understand how all of those
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: businesses are connected.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so Airs Basement Systems of course, a basement
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: systems company installing waterproofing systems, doing foundation work and whatnot.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: You know, they service the entirety of Michigan, based out
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: of Lansing. A lot of their projects involve electrical and
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: plumbing work. So they found themselves a few years ago
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: kind of scrambling depending on where a job was located
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: in the state. Who am I going to subcontract to
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: help me with the electrical or who am I going
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: to subcontract for the plumbing? And it just got to
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: be chaotic, right, It's hard to manage and keep track of. So,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: you know, the CEO decided to acquire a you know,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: electric and plumbing company, grand By Electric and Eastern Plumbing
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: that were at the time to you know, full full
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: service standalone plumbing electric companies.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Not connected with each other, No, not at.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: All, Yeah, completely separate. So they went out acquired these
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: two companies, brought them under the AARs umbrella. You know,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: same management, under the same roof to be able to
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: provide those turnkey solutions to customers without having to go
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: out of the way and rely on third party contractors.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: All right, so you worked which one of them?
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Yes? So I actually I actually started with Airs about
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: three and a half years ago. Now, I actually started
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: in human resources of all places. After about six months,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I moved into their fleet and facilities department, managing their
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: you know, their maintenance schedules, their service on their vehicles
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: and also facility maintenance. And as of about six months
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: ago or so, I was fortunate enough to be offered
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: the position of general manager for our electric and plumbing companies.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: All right, all right, so do you have a background
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: of any kind and not particular so you're just not
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: general manager? You're run in the business, correct, Yeah?
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: And I lean very yes, exactly. I leaned very heavily
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: on our master electrician and master plumber to kind of
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: fill in my gas of knowledge.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: You didn't step in and just start telling them this
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: is gonna work. I'm the general manager here, guys.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they very much helped me in everything that I do,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: and I'm very fortunate to be able to work side
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: by side with them.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: All right, that's awesome. So how you cover how much
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: of the state? Pretty much all of.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: These the entirety of the state, absolutely, all right, So.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: There we go. That that helps me understand all of
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: that connection. Let's get into the topic basically. You know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: when I think about this, I think it was I
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: can't remember, maybe ten years ago or so, I moved
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: into the house that I'm in now, you know, back then,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: and we moved in at the end of August, and
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: then that Thanksgiving. So just just a few months later,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the power went out and it was out for five days.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: The entire neighborhood kept coming to our house to apologize
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: because they kept saying, you know, this never happens, you know,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: it never happens out here that we get this long
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: of a stretch. But that was we were thinking, what
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: did we just move into? Oh my goodness, right, and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: oh my god. It was just such a pain in
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the neck trying to you know. Fortunately, it was a
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: little cold out and we could keep the food from
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: going bad. Yeah, that was at least something, but it
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: was cold. It was it was crazy. And in the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: midst of all of that, the neighbor guy across the
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: street brought over an extra. He just had a portable generator,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and as the days kept adding up, he brought that
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: over to help us get by and limp along. But
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: ever since then, it's kind of plays in my mind
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that I should get a portable generator, and then I
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: stumble into whole house generators and I started thinking about those,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: and I toy around with that idea, and then I think, ah,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: it doesn't really affect me, and then the power goes
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: out again. So anyway, I just want to talk about it,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: get some scoop, you know, dig a little deeper into
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: this idea of whole house generators, and to get us started,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: let's just look at what are some of the most
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: common reasons homeowners install whole house generators, not just a
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: little portable you know, to get those. I mean, is it.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: It's as basic as it sounds. I just you know,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: when the power goes out, I want to keep the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: food good or.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: It's exactly your issues. Okay, yeah, yeah, I would say
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: the top three reasons would be, you know, quality of life,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: peace of mind, and property value. Right. Quality of life
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: is exactly like you said, it's it's the middle of winter,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: you lose power. How am I going to heat the place?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: How am I going to make sure my pipes don't freeze?
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: How am I going to keep the food and the
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: fridge cold?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Those types of things. You know, peace of mind is
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: if you have a vacation home, or you know you're
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: not constantly you know, in the area where your your
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: vacation home is located, and you know that power has
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: gone out in the area, You're not constantly having to
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: worry about the same issues, right, your pipes freezing or
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: you're well pumped not working in those types of things, right,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: So you have that peace of mind that you.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Know you're protected. Yeah, see it for vacation home. Yeah,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: because if I'm not a cottage or yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: that makes perfect sense.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: And then last, of course, you know it's property value.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: You know, a generator can add anywhere from three to
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: five percent, you know, to your home's property value when
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: it's one of the automatic home stand bys.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: All right, all right, So how does a whole house
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: generator work compared to the smaller, you know, the portable units. Yeah,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming it'll power everything.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: It'll power everything absolutely. I would say convenience is really
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: the biggest difference here. You know, a whole home unit
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: is going to provide that automatic backup power at a
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: moment's notice. So you're sitting in your living room, a
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: thunderstorm rolls through, power goes out. Within ten seconds, your
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: automatic homestand by generator kicks on. Power's returned. It's like
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: it never happened, right, Whereas with the portable, there's a
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: lot more inconvenience involved. Right, you're sitting in your living room,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: thunderstorm rolls through, power gets cut out. Now I got
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: to go out to my shed. I've got to yank
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: my portable.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I've got to put my pants on.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, Yeah, it's exactly. You gotta get dressed, right, Yeah,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: you got to go out to the shed, pull the
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: portable out, you know, make sure it's fueled up. You know,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: constantly monitor the fuel while it's running. Hopefully it starts
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: when you when you want to use it. Right, you're
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: branking on the bat.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: By the time I've pulled it to start, the power's comeback.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah that too, Oh, yes, exactly.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Then I'll wait and then the power doesn't go back exactly.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Then you go outside, then it.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Goes it's a guessing game.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and not to mention all the.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: While you're probably standing outside during a thunderstorm or during
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: a blizzard, right, so you know that those are really
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: that's the biggest aspect of it is convenience.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Do you know how much home maintenance gets done at
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: my house in the midst of ridiculous storms? Most most
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: of the maintenance that I have to do, And I
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: think about that when you just said that, it took
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: me off in a million different directions. But yeah, I've
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: installed eavestrough at my old house in the middle of
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: this horrible rain and thunderstorm because water was coming in
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: and I needed to channel it away and put this
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: project off. I'm up there on a ladder drilling things in.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: It was ridiculous. So yeah, I'm not completely, you know,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: unfamiliar with that ridiculousness of work. But even just starting
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the generator, with the whole house generator, it just kicks on,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: kicks on. So I got that that's a huge benefit
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: over the other ones.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: What about like what types of home? I mean, my home,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: it's my castle, but nobody else would call it that.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Does it have to be a big, fancy home? Does
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the size of the home matter at all. I mean
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: a little ridiculous person like me have a little whole home.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Absolutely Yeah. The size of the home does not matter
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: at all. You can have anything from a you know,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: three story stick built all the way down to a
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: modular home. You know, can can rely on an automatic
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: home stand by generator.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: There's different sizes, and there are different sizes different situation.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: The criteria really comes down to, you know, your fuel source,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: whether on natural gas or propane, and then essentially how
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: how many appliances you have, like what types of electrical
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: or gas appliances you have in your home. The square
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: footage of your home and the appliances that you're looking
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: to power really come down to that. And then we
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: use a special sizing tool that's provided directly from the
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: manufacturers of the units that we sell to custom fit
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: a generator to your home specific needs.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Let's hear walk me through a real life scenario. We're
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: having a whole house generator made a huge difference for
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: a particular homeowner. Yeah, you know, real life stuff.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: One of my favorite stories, and I think about this often,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: We had a single mother call us once. She's got
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: three kids and a dog at home. She called us,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: you know, inquiring about an estimate, and explained to us
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: at the very front end there that the heartache and
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: basically trouble that losing power causes her and her family.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: So to paint the picture every single time that she
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: would lose power, of course, the fear sets in, Right,
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: how long is power going to be out? I've got
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: three kids that I got to you know, feet in
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: the morning, get ready for school, get them shipped off.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I've got to get ready for work. I've got a
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: dog to take care of, YadA, YadA. Right, she calls
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: us and explains this story that nine out of ten
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: times she loses power, she's got to relocate her entire
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: family to a hotel, and that, of course, you know,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: involves uprooting everything, packing bags, getting your dog hooked up right,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: and finding a hotel that will leaven accommodate a dog
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: and so on. So we end up going out doing
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: an estimate, you know, She purchases one. We get it
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: installed within a couple of weeks. Four weeks later, tornadoes
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: start rolling through her area. All right, all of her
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: neighbors lose power. Not to mention the destruction and chaos
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: and everything else, right. She calls us that week and
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: is literally in tears. She's like, I cannot thank you
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: guys enough. This is the first time that my neighborhood
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: has lost power, and I'm the only one on the
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: block with my lights on. Right, She's got neighbors coming
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: to her home asking, Hey, can I borrow an hour
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: of light?
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: No, no you can't. This is mine, right, But that
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: I mean that stuck with me, right, I mean be
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: able to solve that problem permanently for her and her
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: family and just take that fear completely out of it. That,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: to me is the best success story to.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: No, that's that's really cool. So she must have lived,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: obviously in an area where actually where I grew up,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: we lost power like all the time. Yeah, oh the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: wind blew right for a while, Right, she was in
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: a weird situation or yep, something like that.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Ye, in an area the lost power quite frequently.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Wow, Well that's really cool. I'd like to say
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: that people cry when well, don't cry, well, cry when
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: they use our products. No, I don't want them to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: cry cry happily, you know. That's kind of cool. Anyway,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I'm in the studio with Jeff Rousch from Grand Bay
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Electric and East End Plumbing talking about whole house generators
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and Jeff, I guess that really kind of brings my
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: brain around to the idea of maintenance. What does that
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: look like with one of these systems.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's best to think about a generator maintenance
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: in the same terms of like a car. Right, so
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: you know, every x amount of miles, right, your car
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: needs an oil change. Same thing goes for a generator.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: There is an engine in there, right, it's running on oil, right,
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: it runs on either natural gas or propane as well.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: You know, after x amount of time, usually within a
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: year or so, every year, maintenance is due. And during
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: that maintenance, depending on what year maintenance is required, we're
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: going to do an oil change. We're going to replace
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: your oil filter, your air filters, your spark plugs, We're
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: going to load test the battery. We're going to do
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: a comprehensive diagnostic check, just make sure everything's you know,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: fully operational and running as intended. So that's I mean, essentially,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: what's all involved.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: In maintenance are any of those things things that we
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: do ourselves, can do ourselves. If we want to do that,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: we should get you out.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: There yeah, I would. I would highly recommend relying on
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: a manufacturer trained and certified technician because they're going to
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: do things by the books, according to manufacturer specifications. Now,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: similar to a car, you are more than welcome to
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: do an oil change, but in that point, you know,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: you also have to keep your warranty in mind, right,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: and only in order for your warranty to you know,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: be able to for the manufacturer to approve claims. You know,
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: if there were to be any repairs or anything like
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: that needed on your unit, they need detailed records showing
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: that you've maintained the unit according to their specifications. And
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: that's what we do for you, right, So we do
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: that comprehensive report. We give you a report at the
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: end of that visit basically saying, hey, we've checked X,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: you know, Y and Z, right, and sure everything is
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: fully functional. If anything were to be discovered during that
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: inspection that needs to be addressed at that time, we
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: repair it again according to those manufacturer specifications, keep those
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: detailed records, and we even submit that warranty claim on
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: your behalf, so you have no skin in the game
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: in that sense. All of it is on us, and
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: we do that for you.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: All right, that makes sense. Jeff, looking at the clock,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking we should probably take a break, play some
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: commercials and then pick this conversation up on the other side.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Are you good with that?
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Absolutely?
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: All right. I'll be back in the studio with Jeff
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Rousch in just a minute. Stick around, and we're back.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Repco Light Home improvement Show sponsored
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: by Benjamin Moore, and I'm in the studio with Jeff Rausch,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: general manager at Grand Bay Electric and the East End
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: of Plumbing. And Jeff, we were talking about whole house generators,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: kind of walking through an overview of how all of
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: that works. I guess let's just start this segment by
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: going back to something you kind of touched on earlier
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: in the first segment. You said that when the power
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: goes out, these things kick on almost instantaneously. What does
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: that look like? Literally? I mean like, maybe this is
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: a really dumb question, but but well you don't say no.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: You have not met me and known it for very long,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: so this could be completely idiotic, and feel free to
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: say so after the fact, when you're safely out of mind,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: out of my ear ear. Okay, So anyway, I had
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: power go out at the house, I don't know, a
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: couple of months ago, and it was off for maybe
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: three hours or so, No big deal, nothing really affected.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: It didn't affect us at all. It back on. Everything
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: was fine, except my sprinklers would not stop running. They
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: were running NonStop. So we go out there, we try
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: to figure out what to do. Eventually, just shut everything down,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: give the people a call. Well, the power surge had damaged,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you know, the control panel for my sprinkler system. So
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that's what brings me to this. Now the power goes out,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: this generator kicks on, there's no power surge to be
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: concerned about. It's not a mental bring everything back to
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: life because everything that was on is going to come
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: back on. Audiate anyway.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And in fact, there is a new electrical code
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: as of just a couple of years ago implemented in
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: the state of Michigan that you know, a search protector
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: is required to be installed at every main panel and
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: also the transfer switch. So that's going to protect you
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: from those those power surges.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: If we had that work done, yes, yes, But if
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: we haven't, it's still your generator isn't going to cause
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: no nothing's like going to cause a problem. Okay, yeah,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: so yeah, is that blue? Let me tell you that
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: was not fun?
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Oh I can imagine. Yeah, in this situation, when power
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: is lost, usually within ten seconds or less, that power
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: is automatically restored. So what's going to happen is you'll
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: hear that generator start as soon as that utility service
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: is lost. It's going to take a few seconds to
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: warm up and get to that idle engine speed. Then
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: the generator sends a signal automatically to your automatic transfer switch.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Now that bad boy's responsible for switching the power from
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: utility to the generator, right, So as soon as that
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: signals received by the generator to the automatic transfer switch,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: that's when your generator kicks on and all the lights
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: turned back on in your home and you're ready to
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: rock and.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: All of that's ten second? Yes, okay, yeah, all right?
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: All right? Are there certain Oh? I think I know
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the answer to this one too. Are there specific appliances
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: or systems that need to be prioritized when I'm running
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: a generator? Or this thing can run everything, so I
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: really don't need to worry so much, not like with
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: a portable one. I've got to decide, right, right, do
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: we do the freezer, do we do the television? Well,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: what's on? I don't know? Along will the freezer last?
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: That doesn't happen with this.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: No, so with the whole home unit. I mean really,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: what it comes down to is, if you want to
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: power your whole home, absolutely, we can get every single device, light, circuit,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: everything in your home powered.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Up by that bad boy.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: You have the option too, though, to customize it a
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: little bit and be more specific, and that's what's called
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: an essential circuit transfer switch essentially, where you can it's
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: essentially pick and choose what circuits you want to be
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: powered by that. So if you only want your kitchen
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: right to have power, or your bedroom or your office,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: we can we can do that. We can we can
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: install an essential circuit transfer switch which will only provide
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: power to those very specific areas.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: What would be the benefit of that means I can
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: get a smaller generation.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it would be a little bit more of
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: a cost effective option. Or if you're if you know
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: that when you lose power, you all go to the
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: living room and you all hang out there and you
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: make it a board game night or something, and you
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: just want power in that area of your home. You
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: can ask what.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: If I want to install, like, let's just say street
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: lamp type things in my yard that are normally not powered,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: but when the power goes out, I want this thing
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to power everything because I want everybody around me to know.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: It's like a carnival at my house.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I could do that, you could.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: It just cost me absolutely deside. Is yep? That pride
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: that I get from that experience worth right?
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, being the only house lit up on the street?
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Is that worth it to you? And nine out of
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: ten customers say yes, Yeah, that's that's the thing. We
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: don't really sell a lot of those essential circuits because
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: when you get down to it, the cost savings isn't
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: that effective compared to just being able to power your
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: whole home, right, And that's where that convenience comes in
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: again too. You know, you lose power and you only
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: have an essential circuit. Now you might be sitting there thinking,
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: maybe why didn't I go that extra mind?
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Can it be adjusted after the fact?
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: No, it cannot. All right, So we can downsize you,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: you know we could, but you can't. But you can't really, Yeah,
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: you can't do that.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I want to pick the right room then exactly going
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: to do that? Yeah, all right, I have to think
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: that through. Now I'm going to ask the question. Nobody
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: ever likes it when I ask, but I'm you know,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: as much as I'm talking about throwing your own money,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: that's just all fake. I cling to my money like
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: grim death because there's not that much of it. I
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: always want to know like a typical cost, and everybody says, well,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: I can't give you a cost. I can't do that.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I'm curious though, you know, what does it look like
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: even just a ballpark for installing a whole house generator? Yeah,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: you know, installation any necessary upgrades to my electrical system?
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: You know, are those things a requirement. Let's deal with
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: that first.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not a requirement. It might be an assess in
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: one off cases. Right, But a generator can run on
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: a service as small as one hundred amps. So as
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: long as you your service on your home is one
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: hundred amps are higher, you can have a generator. Okay,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I would say not very often do we
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: have to do service upgrades or are they required in
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: any way, shape or form. Now, some extra considerations for
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: a service upgrade would be you know how old your
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: panel is or if you have, you know, your panel
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: up to code. Right as soon as we start to
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: do an electrical project and we pull those permits and
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: we're relying on the local inspection authority to inspect our
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: work for safety. Everything electrical in your house is essentially
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: falls under that inspection, so we have to make sure
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: that we're getting your house up to code. But again
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: those are very few and far between. I would say
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: again nine ou to ten customers we go in, we're
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: able to identify, you know, what size service is on
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: your home, and we don't even have to touch it.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Everything is already set the way that it is and
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: we can just focus on the generator, right, yeah.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Right, So about what is the ballpark price? Yeah?
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Just rough? Yeah, So you know earlier we talked about
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: the sizes of homes that matters. Of course, we can
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: you know, anything as small as a modular home maybe
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: that's just getting an essential circuit all the way up
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: to a larger home, you know, with natural gas and
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: a ton of appliances. That range can can it's pretty significant.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: It could be anywhere from maybe on the low end
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: ten thousand dollars up to about fifteen thousand, but we
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: do offer comfortable monthly payments, so we can get those
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: as low as two hundred dollars a month.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Oh okay, all right, all right.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: We also offer free complimentary estimates as well, so you know,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: if you're thinking of even just hey, I want to
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: get somebody out here to see what this will look like, right,
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: what are the ins and outs of this project? We
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: will We will send somebody out to you free of charge,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: walk you through the details, perform our comprehensive inspection, you know,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: walk you through every single step of the process from
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: A to Z.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Do they bring donuts?
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: We can absolutely.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: I think if you did, that might get some people thinking, right,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: or at least get them not thinking, and maybe you
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: can get them moving on the project because they're loving
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: their donut. All right. So you mentioned at the beginning.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: I can't remember the percentage, but the whole house generator
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: can affect a home's value too.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: It's not absolutely the peace.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Of mind and you know, live in the quality of life,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: living living large, it's also impacting my home's value. What
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: was that number?
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, on average, we see it increased by about three
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: to five percent, thirty three to five Oh.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: My gosh, I know, I know, I just thought that
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: was ridiculously fun to just say, just to watch your
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: toes and it was worth it. So three to five
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: percent though, that's that's impressive, and that doesn't go away.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: What about the different fuel type you mentioned propane and
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: naturally natural gas.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: That's there's pretty much it. Yeah, pretty much the absolutely yep.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: So you know natural gas. One thing to keep in
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: mind here, and we're really really good at this after
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: doing this for the last five years, your natural gas
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: meter might need to be upgraded. Okay, so I keep
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: going back to this nine out of ten, right, nine
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: out of ten customers. That's another one where nine out
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: of ten customers do need a gas meter upgrade. Now,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: one thing I can say is that a lot of
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: our competitors do not mention that. So when they get
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: to the point where a generator gets installed and it's
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: now being starved for fuel, it's because they were never
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: made aware that their gas meter needs to be upgraded.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Now we take that a step further. When we've identified
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: that needs to be upgraded, we own that communication with
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: your gas company the entire way through, so you're not
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: the one having to reach out You're not the one
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: having to fill out a load calculation sheet on all
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: of your natural gas appliances. We do all of that
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: legwork for you. We send that information out to your
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: natural gas provider. Whether it's DTE, Michigan Gas Utilities, SEMCO,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter. We know them all. We work with them
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: on a daily basis, and we handle that communication and
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: coordination so that everybody is involved and can be there
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: on the exact same day to get it done in
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: one day for you.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: All right, So, and you can give us a ballpark
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: when you're giving us that estimate. Absolutely, that will include
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: that cost.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the gas meter upgrade typically ranges around four to
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: five hundred dollars. You know. Now, unless your gas line
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: from the city to your house needs to be upgraded,
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: which is very very small percentage of customers ever run
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: into that scenario, it could be a little bit more expensive,
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: possibly up to about nine hundred to one thousand dollars.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, but you can give us that ballpark absolutely, word look.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: And we'll be able to tell you when we're on site.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: One thing I am curious about, are there any you know,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: common misconceptions that you run into that people have about
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: whole house generators or something like that, are there, You know,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: things that people just don't understand about how they work. Yeah.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Well, I would say one of the one of the
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: biggest misconceptions is just the noise level. You know, people
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: think that's going to kick on and they're going to
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: be able to hear it through the entire neighborhood.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Well, we know the other ones, the portable ones. Put
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: your teeth on ed Jeff, Yeah, wow.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And they could be loud. I mean, I would
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: say they're similar noise levels. It's no louder than a lawnmower, really,
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: And you know, in my mind, the sacrifice of having
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: to hear a lawnmower twenty four to seven during a
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: power outage is small potatoes compared to being able to
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: live your life normally while everybody else on the block
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: is out of power.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: All right, last thing, Any advice that you've got for
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: homeowners who are on the fence, Yeah, about installing no.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Great question, I would say. If you're on the fence,
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: I want you to ask yourself a question. What do
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I normally do when I lose power? How do I
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: feel when I lose power? How does losing power affect
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: me or my family. So you might be thinking, you know,
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: in that moment, it's frustrating. It can be annoying, right,
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: it can be inconvenient. It might cause you some extra work.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: We talked about lugging the portable out right. Oh, I
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: hate that, you know, having to relocate right, trying to
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: find some hotels that will accommodate, you know. Not consider
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: how you might feel if you had that automatic generator
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: on standby. Right, you get a notification on your phone
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: that a blizzard's on the way or a thunderstorm's on
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: the way, and you don't even bat an eye at
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: it because you know that you have your generator there
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: and it's going to protect you. Right, And not to mention,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: there are some manufacturer promotions running actually right now from
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: September sixteenth through November third, you can get a free
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: seven year extended warranty on a Generac generator.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, so just on General, just on generator, yep. And
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: that's through when that is.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Going to be September sixteenth through November three.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Okay, so they've got a little bit of time left,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: we do, yes, So all right, so that all makes sense.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: That's a free seven year.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Free seven year extended warded warranty.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: What brands do you carry? I guess I should have
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: asked that.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we specialize in Generac, YEP and Kohler.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: All right, if our listeners do have any questions, if
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: they want to reach out to you, if they want
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: to get you out there for a free estimate, maybe
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: they want to get more questions answered about this this
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: promo that's going on right now. How's the best way
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: for him to get in touch.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, you can give us a call directly at
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: six one six six ' six ' two zero three
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: six four, or head on over to our website at
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Grand Bayelectric dot com. Either way, you can send us
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: a text right from our website as well. We can
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: communicate anyway that's easiest for you.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Perfect. I'll put all of that in the show notes.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Jeff Rausch, general manager at Grand Bay Electric and East
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: End Plumbing. You really get around. Thanks for being here.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: All Right, we're going to take a break. When we
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: come back, we're gonna get my thoughts on Color of
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the Year for twenty twenty five and what in the
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: world it means for all of us regular people that's
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: all coming up next. Stick around and we're back. You're
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: listening to the Repcroolite Home Improvement Show, and it's time
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: to talk about Benjamin Moore's Color of the Year pick
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five. Now you've probably already heard about it.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: You've probably already seen it. Hopefully you've seen it. The
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: new color of the Year is cinnamon Slate twenty one
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: thirteen dash forty And I say, I hope you've seen it,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: because I'm going to try to give you a quick
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: description on the radio. And there's nothing, nothing more, I
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: don't know, empty than describing color on the radio. But anyway,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give it a try. It's kind of
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: a muted purple with reddish brown undertones. Sounds lovely, doesn't it.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I can imagine the reaction out there to
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: hearing that it's a reddish brown purple. People don't like
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: the word purple. They struggle to figure out how they're
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: going to use purple in their own design in their homes.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: It's really a pole rising color. I think four people
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: in the world like purple, and the rest of the
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: world is mad at them because they like it. You know,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: that's what it feels like. Anyway, A few years ago,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore ran with another purple tone shadow, and that
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: was the scuttle. You know, a lot of people didn't
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: get it, and certainly lots of people liked it. I
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: understand that, but there was definitely some raised eyebrows when
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: that color was chosen. Well, this time the purple isn't
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: quite as pronounced as that time. The brown undertones really
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: do help ground it. And before you write it off,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: especially based on a description that I've given over the radio,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: go check it out, and by all means, give some
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: attention to the entire Color Trends collection for twenty twenty five.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: These are ten colors, including Cinnamon Slate, that range from
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: greens to off whites, to leather browns to tans, and
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: in what kind of feels like a break from past
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: color collections, this one for twenty twenty five feels really cohesive.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: You know, I think you could use the colors in
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: this collection to do an entire home and they would
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: flow and work together really well. You know, it's possible
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: that you could paint an entire home exclusively with colors
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: from this collection. You know, no need for other trim
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: colors or ceiling colors or anything outside of these. I
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: think it would work, and I like that part of
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: it a lot. That's a little bit of a break
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: from the past. So go check that out. I've got
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: links at repcolit dot com to make it easy to
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: find right on the homepage. Check that out, all right.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to say much more about the color
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: the specific colors in the collection. I don't have a
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: ton of time on this segment, and I'm going to
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: be doing that anyway, in more depth from time to
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: time in the next few months. Today, I want to
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: talk about why this is or isn't important. You know,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I get it. I know the audience is likely split.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: You know, a large number of you follow the color
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: of your predictions and you get excited and really in
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: it when the new color comes out, and there's another
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: group of people who couldn't care less about it. These
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: things just don't matter to them. Well, here's what I
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: think about it. All That's what we're to talk about
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: for the rest of this segment. I'm always interested in
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: seeing what Benjamin Moore comes up with, but it usually
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: doesn't impact me really outside of work. A whole lot
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: I don't redo my home every time with the new
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: colors when they come out. I don't debate if I
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: want this color in my home this year or not.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I really don't think about it outside of work, not
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: a lot anyway. But this year, in their little promotional
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: video that they released about the color, Benjamin Moore said
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: something different that caught my attention and it got me
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: a little more excited. It definitely got me thinking, and
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: I love that when something gets me thinking about something
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: that I'd not thought about before. Now, at the very
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: end of their little video, Andrea Magno, who's been on
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: our show recently a couple months or so ago, talking
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: about the color of the year and what goes into
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: the selection. Andrea Magno in this Benjamin More promotional video,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: says this, we hope.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: That people use this to just create new things for themselves,
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: get new ideas.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: We hope that people use this to create new things
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: for themselves and to come up with new ideas. Well.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: That hit me. I don't know about you, but I'm
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: stuck in a major rout and I don't always realize it,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: but I am. You know, I've got basically ten different
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: meals that I make regularly you know ten, I've got
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: one or two vacation spots that we go to. I've
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: got about three different things that I do on a
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: particular you know, any given evening at home one of
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: three things. That's what I'm doing. If I go shopping,
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: there's a limited range of places that I go. And
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: when it comes to paint, the walls in my home
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: have largely been the same colors for as long as
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: I've been a homeowner. You know, where are the new
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: things in life? Where are the new ideas? I'm looking
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: for them. But finding new ideas isn't easy. It takes
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: a ton of work. Right, if it was easy, we'd
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: all be doing it all the time. But it takes
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: just loads of work. It takes reading, searching, looking, exploring,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: It takes risking, takes a lot of effort at the
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: end of the day, and most of us want on it.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Many of us don't know how in the world to
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: find it, or even where to start looking for new
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: things or new ideas. Again, look at me in my house,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: let's just use that as an example. I've got the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: same green tones, blue tones, beige tones. They followed me
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: when I moved, and the new spaces eventually feel like
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: extensions of the old spaces. It's not bad, but it's
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: not new. It's just more of the same. And that's okay.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: If that's what I truly deep down want. If that's
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: what you truly deep down want, nothing wrong with that,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: go for it. But for me, that's not really what
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: I truly deep down want. I do want something new.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I do want that new idea, you know, whatever it is.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: But I'm stuck. You know, where do I begin? What
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: colors do I start with? How do I do it?
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: You know? Will the color work with the adjacent spaces?
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: That's always a concern. Will I end up needing to
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: change those as well? How far is this one change
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: going to spread through the house? You know? Will I
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: need new furniture, Will I need new window treatments? Will
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: I be wondering if I should have painted the ceiling
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: of color a different color When I'm done? Am I
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: going to regret my choices? You know? Oh? That goes
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: through my head. I work with paint, and I'm embarrassed
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: to say that. But that's, you know, pretty much where
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: I'm at. But then let's get back to this twenty
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: twenty five Color of the Year this. This color comes out,
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: A brownish purple color sounds lovely. Again every time I
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: say it, it just sounds so beautiful sarcasm, A brownish
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: purple color. That color comes out, and my first thought is,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: what in the world am I going to do with that?
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: You know, it's way out there when it comes to
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the colors of dan. You know it's not in my wheelhouse. Well,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about all of that. And then Andrea Magno
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: says that line that I referenced earlier. We hope that
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: people use this to create new things for themselves and
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: to come up with new ideas. And for some reason,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: like I said, that thought really hit me. New ideas,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: creating new things for myself. You know, when I look
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: at me, I realize that I limit myself by my stubbornness,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: right by my hesitancy to try something new, by my
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: fear whatever it is, I limit myself. Jumping into something
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: outside of my comfort zone is an opportunity to create
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: something new for me and my family. And I love
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: that idea. That's crazy cool, crazy fun. You know, I've
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: never thought about color as having that kind of power,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: and I think about paint a lot way more than
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: normal people do. I think about color a lot, and
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: I know it's got power. I know it dramatically affects
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: how we feel about a space. I know it can
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: help me make a space feel the way I want
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: it to feel. But I've never thought about it helping
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: me create something new for myself. Maybe that's just me
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: being dumb, but I've never thought about it that way,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: because when I think about that phrase, I picture something exciting.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: I picture that I'm creating something that I may never
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: have experienced otherwise. You know, I'm making something that I
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: never knew could be. I'm creating something that I'd previously
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: limited or maybe even rendered nonexistent for one reason or another.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: A color like cinnamon slate has the potential to encourage
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: you out of your comfort zone. It's got oh how
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: do you say it, It's got the ability to help
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: you create something new. Basically, that's I guess the same
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: idea keeps playing through. You know, other colors of the
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: year challenged us like that. I understand that raspberry blush
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: from a couple of years ago, if you remember that
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: one that challenged us to step out of our comfort zone.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: But seriously, if you remember that color, you know that
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: it was challenging us by standing outside of our comfort
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: zone and then screaming at us like a drill sergeant.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: You know, it was trying to boss me out of
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: my comfort zone. This new color is a little gentler.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: It's a kinder color of the year. You know, when
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: you see it, you can see that there are possibilities.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: You don't have to do a million mental backflips to
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: try to envision it in your space. It kind of
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: lures you out a little bit, I guess, i'd say,
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: and it encourages you to try something new, and the
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: supporting colors in the collection really really helps. So again,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: like I said, those out so bottom line, do you
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: need to use cinnamon slate everywhere? Do you need to
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: even use a little bit of it anywhere in your home? No?
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Not at all. Then if that's the case, is it
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: important in the grand scheme of things? Is the color
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: of the year an important concept or is it just
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: a throwaway? Well? I think it's important. And I think
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: if you feel stuck in your design and you love
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: the thought of having a new idea and finding something different,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: well there's a lesson in this color of the year stuff. Purple,
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: for example, may not be your color, but just thinking
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: about it as a possibility starts to open your mind
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: up to other colors that you may not have previously considered.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: And even if you don't care about color, you know
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: that's not your thing. You know, there's still a lesson
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: in all of this. Finding something new means entertaining something
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: outside of our comfort zone, whether it's new foods, new
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: vacation spots, new friends, anything we don't find new ideas
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: and new experiences, you know, all safely confined in the
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: circle in which we feel comfortable and happy. It's outside
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: that circle where the new stuff waits. So Cinnamon Slight
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: new color of the Ear for twenty twenty five. Will
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: talk more about it and the other colors in the
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: collection as the month's unfold. But those are my thoughts,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: and before I wrap this up for the week, I
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: want to help you out of your comfort zone a
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: little bit. Right now, through the end of October, you
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: can get one free Benjamin More color sample in any
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: of the ten Color Trends twenty twenty five colors. So
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: if you want a no risk way to give Cinnamon
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Slate or any of the other colors in the collection
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: a try in your home. You can get one free
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: color sample at any Repcollite that'll give you, you know,
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: basically about a half a pint of paint that you
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: can put on a wall, you can put it on
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: a phone board, and you can actually see the color
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: in your space. So once more, now through the end
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: of October, you can get one free Benjamin More color
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: sample from any of the ten colors in the twenty
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: twenty five Color Trends collection. So stop out at your
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: nearest Repcollite and ask about it. All Right, there you go,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: We're done. That's all the time of God. If you
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: want to catch this episode again, you can find it
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: online at repco light dot com. Whatever you do today,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: make sure paints a part of it. Have a great weekend, everybody,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: and I'll see you next week. I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: for listening.