Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Veteran Elevator Mechanic with over Two Decades of Experience | Andrew Glauser

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Veteran Elevator Mechanic with over Two Decades of Experience | Andrew Glauser · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean for me, it really doesn't matter who you're working with or where you are, you're always going to be able to learn something from, you know, the best mechanic or the best team on the planet.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Or they could be, you know, an average guy or they don't want to do the extra stuff.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Ask the right questions, ask the wrong questions.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Just ask questions, be a sponge.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I tell my students.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't really matter what you're doing, who you're with.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you don't understand, ask.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if somebody is spending the extra time to actually teach you, pay attention, write notes.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because if I'm doing door work for three, four days, I'm hoping that you by day three or day four are going to be able the one to jump in there and you know, actually take over for me.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: I always like to say, I as a mechanic now, I'm probably the best apprentice you would ever have.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like I love being able to have somebody else do the work and me, you know, for one, showing them what we did, to having them go in there and do that and then say, hey, I don't even need you, go do another task right now.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I got this under control.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry, to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: When talent is mission critical, call the Allred Group.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: With industry expertise, top talent, and exceptional customer service, you need the All-Red Group on your side.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your priority is their priority.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Call now 404-890-0445.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: In today's episode, we sit down with Andrew Glauser, a veteran elevator mechanic, adjuster, NEEP instructor, QEI, and foreman who has been keeping people moving safely for over two decades.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: From working on the new Buffalo Bill Stadium to training the next generation of technicians, Andrew brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to our conversation.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Andrew, welcome to the show.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you uh giving me an invitation.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know I'm excited.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's good to talk to you, talk to you and and meet you in person.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've talked a few times over the years and you know, always tried to drag you out of your hometown, but uh I think you're pretty happy there in in Buffalo, right?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm uh I'm enjoying it uh right now.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um actually the foreman running the uh the new Buffalo Bills Stadium going on here.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um almost 40 pieces of equipment.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Been going for about a year now, and we got about another 18 months to go.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I will be going nowhere anytime soon.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a fun project.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's one you can you can enjoy with your family, you can point out as you as you pass it, you know, and just know that hey, that's that's something that I got to put my stamp on.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think everybody, I mean, I can remember probably the first elevator I worked on, you know, over 20 years ago and still driving by it and and being proud of uh you know a little four-stop hydro.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And now I'm working on uh you know the biggest project ever in our area.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it is pretty cool.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: That is, that's awesome.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and your kids probably get sick of hearing it, right?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, yeah, whatever, dad.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they like it.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: The their school is actually right across the street.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: So the best part about it is when we have you know Monday or Thursday night games, they get a half a day school, so they benefit just as much as us.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: That that's awesome.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, so how did you uh get involved with the elevator industry to you know from the get-go?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we had a family friend who got in in the 90s, worked for Otis a long time.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: He was a um mechanical engineer, went to school for it and had a family member offer him a job.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: He'd been doing it for about 10, 15 years.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Tried getting my older brother into it.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was home on spring break from college, and they said, Hey, you want to go take a test?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Yeah, sure.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm taking tests all the time at school, might as well.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um, was the first recruitment for New York State back in 2003 and 2004, when the labor department made um the local unions go out and recruit outside of um the way they did it before, which is family, word of mouth, and all that, and uh went through that process, started in March of that year, 200 um four, and got a call in December on my winter break home in between semesters.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Started December 20th and uh never looked back 21.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Never looked back, you never never thought about man.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I'd had stayed in college.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And well, I'll tell you a story.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I did go back to college.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: I stayed, I went to community college at night while I was going to uh classes with Neep, and I uh finished my degree back in 2010.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, good for you.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: I do have my degree in construction management.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um hoping to use it one day, whether it's in the uh elevator industry or not, but uh I do have it there in my hat.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's nice.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what you were studying then?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Was construction management when you I did, yeah.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: I started with construction management and then worked on major.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was working on a major in architecture and it just got to be too much.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I did a minor in architecture and um I have a BS in construction management.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So started in the industry, and uh you you say you never look back.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: What what was it that kind of clicked for you?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and you you were like, man, this is this is good.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I need to be.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think I was probably lucky.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I worked at an independent where you really got to do a little bit of everything.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a small family-owned uh company, uh 20 employees, 25 employees.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: They did a lot of state work, university stuff, um, a lot of specification work.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: So you knew what the client, the customer had um had bought.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: So you could go back and read through it, and you know, they had new buttons, new cabs.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we did it from it wasn't just the piecemeal modernization.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: These were literally tearing jacks out from the beginning, oh wow, getting dirty, replacing machines.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think it was the start at the independent because we did everything.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't just you know, new construction or escalator work.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: We actually got to touch a little bit of everything.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: We maintained all the manufacturer's equipment.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I had a really good group of mentors that were around me who were never afraid to show me, you know, how they did it, or even if you make a mistake, you can still learn something from that mistake.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that was kind of their train of thoughts.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm not if you're not learning, that's that's the problem, right?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can make mistakes.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: You're not asking questions and you know, you're not spending a little bit of time outside of work even when you're not getting paid for it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this business is um humbling every day still, you know, 20-some years in.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: And um, as a student coming out of college, I think I was a little bit more eager, wanted to learn more.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I had a good, really good group of core guys around me that really helped me learn and allowed me to learn and make those mistakes that made me I think a better apprentice and a better mechanic.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So even then it was it was about the group of people, it was it was about the the the culture of the camaraderie.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is that really what uh yeah?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's only I'd say probably 30,000, you know, to 35,000 active elevator constructors, you know, mechanics across, you know, the US right now.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a small knit group, but I would guarantee you most people uh in our area at least know an elevator guy somehow, whether they know him from the golf course or they know him from school or a family friend or you know.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I mean to be in in the upper echelon of construction, which I think everybody says, you know, about the elevator trade.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all the other trades say the same.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how'd you get in?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Who did you know?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: This and that.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, well, you have the same opportunities we have, you know, and when we recruit, look in the newspaper, look at the Department of Labor, talk to everybody.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's the important part is uh you don't have to know somebody to get in, you just need to know where to find the opportunity.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and uh yeah, I mean sometimes I I think it can be a matter of who you know or or being the right place at the right time, but um I'm seeing a lot of you know just opportunities that seem to go uh I don't know, unfilled.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: You mean you and I talked a little bit about uh inspectors, for example, and and I, you know, in New York and Colorado, and you know, it just seems like countrywide.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's like where are all the inspectors?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: How do I how do I fill those roles?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: It uh I don't know, maybe maybe aliens are abducting them or something.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean, I I think you have to be eager to do it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when I went back to school in 2010 to finish my degree, before I did that, I didn't know if I'd be able to actually work in the business.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I went and got my inspector's license.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I still carry a QEI, I've had it now for 15 years, didn't know if I would use it then.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I certainly use it, you know, not in a day-to-day way, but I use it as uh, you know, research and guys call and ask, hey, what do you think about this?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think about that?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's a it's a very different trade than it was, I think, when I got in 20 some years ago.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was your your next step was you retired, you became an inspector, and then you inspected for 10 years, and they love seeing the same guys they worked with every day.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And um I think it's I think it's a little bit different now.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think the travel is there.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: I also think there's some things with liability, you know, at this point with New York State has licensing now, and there's been a couple high profile uh incidents and injuries where guys talk about it now, and and um you are now putting your name and your neck on the line every day, whether you're doing inspections or you're doing maintenance or service, you know.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I I've been subpoenaed a couple times, you know, just for calls, somebody got hit with a door or somebody fell in an elevator, you know.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's just the the world we live in today, you know.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So so I think what I'm hearing you say is if you if you got your name on that little placard that's inside the cab and something happens, you you could be held liable for what's going on.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you know, whether you're right or wrong, it doesn't really matter.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's the building owner that's brought in, it's the elevator company that's brought in, the inspector, the mechanic, all of it.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: They're just looking for somebody to have missed a step, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And is that the way to go about things?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: No, but if you're in a car accident, right, they're gonna do the exact same thing and bring everybody into it.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, in the the old days, it was the guy I worked with yesterday was retiring, going on a vacation, and then six months later, you'd see him knocking, you know, calling you and saying, Hey, we need to go over and and do a pressure test on this, you know.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, at the same point, we've seen some guys who have had injuries.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I had a guy on my crew um who had back surgery, wasn't able to come back in the field.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: He went and got his inspector's license and he's loving it now.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: He still can be out, be around the guys, you know, and and he's not away from the trade.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: So there's opportunities.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Some guys like, you know, hitting the office and going to become a superintendent once they get out of the field, you know, or if time gets slow.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it was back in 2009.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, 2008 when the downturn happened.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know New York City, a lot of our guys went and got their QEIs in time.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't know how bad it was gonna get.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't know we were gonna work, we didn't know we were gonna do, but we all kind of had a backup plan.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, then you were getting calls.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: If you had a QEI, you were getting calls, you know, monthly.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, are you willing to go here?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to travel?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so there's um a lot of opportunity out there if you're really willing to listen and uh you know and take it.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and one of the things I see too is is once you get in, kind of learn the space, learn the trade, you can really go a lot of different directions.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I love to interview people who maybe they you know invent a new product and right, and then they kind of pursue that path or they come up with a new service, or or they want to be own their own contracting company and they go start a company.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it seems to be that the the time and experience and and knowledge you gain within the elevator industry becomes very empowering to you know give you a lot of opportunities.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, we have right now a superintendent that I used to work with, um, is kind of doing his own turnkey general contracting on the elevator side only, right?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's such a niche.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you go into an older building, they don't have HVAC in the room, they need to add a shunt trip, they got all this.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: He was around it for eight, nine years, knows the ins and outs.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's working with an electrician and some sprinkler folks, and he's kind of got his own little market on what he wants to do.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And there's, you know, money to be made.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: You're working with the same small group of people, you know what the expectation is, and you know what the outcome is, honestly.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I mean, um, once you get into it, you see how specialized it really is, and um you kind of hang around the same people and work around the same people, you know, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: You'll run into a guy you worked with three years ago on another project, and there he is in a different position and a different company doing the exact same thing.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it definitely seems to get in people's blood, right?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: They seem to just love it.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I've heard some people say they get addicted to it, you know, they they just you know love what they do and and want to keep doing it.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the one of the things I see, you know, I mentioned uh seemingly a shortage of inspectors, but you know, there's a lot of growth in residential elevators for, for example.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I I have a lot of people reach out and it's like they can't find anybody on the planet or at least enough people to keep up with the growth, right?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: They can they can sell those residential elevators all day long, and there's there's all kinds of growth, but it when it comes to installing it, servicing it, you know, repairs, they they really seem to to struggle in that department.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious what what do you think can be done to to get the word out there and let you know up and comers know that hey, this is a pretty amazing industry that give will give you a lot of opportunity.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I and going back to where I started at an independent, right?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we would maintain home elevators, we would maintain stair lifts, uh handicapped lifts, a lot of that stuff.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, most of all because we didn't carry the overhead of some of the majors, right?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: So they didn't have the profit margin in a lot of it.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I was lucky enough to work on some of that.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you go into a doctor's home in the back and the elevator shut down.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: He wants to know why.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um at the same point, like we have a couple local small um, you know, home lift elevators.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, it's it's such a niche market where you almost see them hooking up with certain architects and engineers.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's kind of like going to a trade show, right?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: You go and you meet a new guy and all of a sudden he's like, hey, I got this piece of equipment, why don't you try it out?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Give me a deal on a couple of them.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so the the biggest thing I think with some of the homeless and and the elevators is, you know, who's following up on them?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Who is inspecting them?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Who's checking to make sure that they're safe and doing some of that?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's really just education.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the the local AHJs or the local towns don't really have uh a process for one to install it, two to pull a permit, and then three to inspect it and keep up.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people don't realize that they follow very similar uh maintenance and testing schedules and inspection schedules that they do a normal elevator.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't say normal elevator, but uh a commercial elevator, you know what I mean?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and it's a little different too, right?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: On a modernization, you could be on a job for six weeks.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: On uh home lift, you could be on it for a day and a half, yeah, right.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, they're a little bit different.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: The equipment's out there.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, now with the the changes in code, right?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Going into now 2019 code, um 2022 coming out, you're starting to see them kind of, I don't want to say crack down, but actually draw some of these other smaller units and components into the code, which now you'll see, you know, a little bit higher cost, some other stuff that needs to be done, some of the software stuff that you know you need to keep track of.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm curious to see where where it goes to here in the next you know five to ten years.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Does it does it simmer down a little bit, or do you see it starting to explode a little bit and you know more Lula's going in if you want to be under that 1500-pound capacity, or are you gonna go to some 2,000 pound elevators because of speed or height?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it I think it'll be interesting to see where where the market really goes.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and you you talked about how several you know, states kind of do their own thing, certain jurisdictions do their own thing, and and some seem pretty aggressive adopting the the newest code, some don't have any code that they've adopted, or at least that they kind of enforce.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, certain states, it's it's like, okay, you got an elevator.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's one of the things.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like we talk about, you know, what a close group knit group uh elevator guys are.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm an instructor uh with NEEP.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we go to trainings and we talk to guys from California to Hawaii to Louisiana to Florida.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Not one of us draw the same experience.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: For sure, right?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: The way it gets installed, the way the equipment comes, you know, who's testing it, who's inspecting it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's where it goes back to the pride of it to drive by that first job that I put in, you know, 20 some years ago, hoping the job that I'm doing today, it should be better, right?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've had off my experiences, but at the same point, it's a safe, and I would put anybody in my family or loved ones in that elevator to make sure that you know they get up to the next floor where they have to go.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean there is certain certainly uh an amount of pride, right?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and just knowing that, hey, if I put my family on this, I I I know it needs to be safe, and I I know that uh, you know, I've I've done everything I can do to make sure it is and know that it is.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh um gotta be you know rewarding in that way that you uh yeah get to see Andrew.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think um knowing like my job as a foreman where I am today is to get my workers home safe, right?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's my number one priority.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: We go into work and then when you're done, you turn an elevator over or an escalator, whatever it is, to make sure that the riding public gets home safely and makes their way where they got to do, you know, without incident.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I just traveled, I was out of town last week with the family on vacation, and the first thing you come to is an airport with a down escalator, you know, and it's it doesn't matter where you go, who you are, how long you've been in, you start looking at elevators and escalators and all the equipment and you know, wondering who's working on it, trying to find a mechanic, you know, and um two things is it shut down for preventative maintenance or is it shut down for you know a callback or shutdown?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and if you're coming back through that exact same airport a week later, you know they're either doing doing something or they're waiting on a park, right?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so it's um and that goes back to the specialized stuff, depending on what it is, you can't just go to the local construction store and pick up the component you need.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you you might be, you know, a couple weeks for something to come in, or you might have to pull something, get it to the machine shop, have it repaired, brought back in, you know.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: So, and and those are other um, you know, connections you make.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: The all the local spots you go and call the guys, you know, in New York City that have already dealt with the same situation that you are here locally.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And hey, how'd you handle it?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Where'd you get your part, your piece, everything else that you need, you know?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, thank you for listening.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is Matt with a brief message from our sponsor.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: The All Red Group has been recruiting elevator industry talent for over 14 years.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you were looking to grow your business and hire great people, contact the All Red Group at allredgroup.com.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's A-L-L-R-E-D, G-R-O-U-P dot com and talk with Matt and his team about how they can assist you.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And now back to the show.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I was at a uh NAC conference a few years ago and in the lobby that these two beautiful elevators, and yeah, one of them was shut down, and all these elevator contractors are rolling in going, Why is this contract?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: What in the world?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can do better than they could, you know.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I mean, it's it is it's one of those things where you start in it, you're just kind of a lowly apprentice, you don't really know what you're getting into, you're blindsided, and then there's something that just kind of clicks for most of the guys, where it turns from a job into a career.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say, probably for me, it was you know, four or five years in up as a temporary mechanic, um, going through it every day and running into the people.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I used to take care of a hospital up here in Buffalo for a little bit, and you know, it was my my day route.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'd start, I'd had 20 hours a week there.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: I walk in and they'd hand me the keys, and I was the elevator dude in the building.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like awesome.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's how they want to remember me.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't know my first name or whatever.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't matter to me.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you'd see him in the cafeteria, you'd see him at the coffee shop, whatever else, and they knew that you were the guy that was getting them throughout the building safe.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was pretty cool.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's uh it's a fascinating industry.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think because of obviously there's there's hydraulics and electronics and mechanics, you know, there's there's uh kind of everything, right?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you're technically minded and technically savvy, um, I think there are probably a lot of just a lot of people in the you know coming up, maybe maybe high school kids that don't.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Know of the opportunity to really get your hands dirty and and learn a trade that can be so rewarding in that way.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, my dad was an educator for 30 some odd years and then was on the school board and and he used to say that you know that essentially that that college is really designed for like 20% of the population.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: But he's like, but we've got large groups of people that really benefit from trades.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's really what they're you know, they're very gifted in that way.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so he was a big proponent of let's let's keep the trades out there, let's keep you know the shop classes in school, let's keep the um you know, like the trade colleges that uh seem like they've they've kind of come and gone in certain certain areas.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, I think you're starting to see some of that come back around now, right?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean college with the cost of you know education, right?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the nice thing is is for for us now, the outreach.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've been part of now four recruitments here uh in the Buffalo, Western New York area, and to see the people who have come through and the age ranges from guys in their 40s, 50s, girls in their 40s, sure, right?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: To this last list, we actually um interviewed high school seniors who actually who knew about us, who had heard about it a couple years ago.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Their guidance counselors are not always pushing college anymore either.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: They have you know what we call up here Bose's classes, which would be your construction school, welding schools, uh lectural spots.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I would be pretty proud to say that this last recruitment that we did in 2024 was by far the best group of candidates that I had seen in the um in the eight years that I've done recruitments.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um we got a great list.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're a small, um, small local up here.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: There's only 120 uh union elevator guys, and we have, I think, 60, just under 65 people on our hire list right now.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a great recruitment.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a great um, you know, people come from all over the area to come and do it.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: People come from other trades because they hear about it.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're high school students, college students, some guys are professionals, you know.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, 10 years as an electrician.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, want to come and do it because they know what the opportunity is.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it's gotten a little better recently.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that is the outreach.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, people are hearing about it word of mouth.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, I've been to two colleges in the last couple of years to try to talk to their seniors about recruiting them and saying, hey, I know you might have a job here, but this is an opportunity for you.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're seeing diesel mechanics, we're seeing electricians, we're seeing auto mechanics, you know, um, anybody in construction really can do it.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing, like, even though it is a niche, you know, you can do hydraulics.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: You want to be an escalator guy?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: We'll put you as an escalator guy, right?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the difference and and where we are.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, the the training isn't just, you know, on the job.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: The nice thing is training is, you know, whether it's school at night, right?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Some of that other stuff that goes right along with it.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and now that you know, some of like New York State has state licensing, came into effect a couple years ago.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: So now to get a license in New York State, whether you're union or non-union, you have to have four years of schooling and the other stuff um to get to that point to become a journeyman.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, everybody somehow has to go to work, do the school, and then get out of it.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: The nice thing is, like we're talking about doing um, have you heard of helmets the hard hats?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a list that we keep here um in our local where we have 15 helmets that are like ready to go.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And for us, we'll bring them in, we can interview them, and we can place them anywhere on the list that we want, you know, because those guys that, you know, we've all said it, guys that fought for the country, they kind of deserve an extra step or a little bit that they can jump the line, you know, because not all of us were willing to do that, you know, out of high school or however it worked.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: And those guys, whether they know it or not, are actually eligible to get paid through their GI bill to go to school, right?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another thing.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: They might not know.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: We give them the opportunity to come, and then we also let them know hey, this is like a college education.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you're going to work and sitting in class, you're gonna get another paycheck, right?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just really about letting them know what those opportunities are and uh allowing them to make the decisions to you know come through on them.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, and I it sounds like you guys are doing a great job getting the word out, and I think that's probably what what needs to be done, you know, nationwide, whether it's residential, whether it's you know, New York or Florida or Texas or you know, union, non-union, it's it's yeah, just a matter of of sharing that hey, this is uh an awesome industry, it's got a great, you know, long tradition.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's something that that people get into and they just love they they love it, they fall in love with who they work with and and you know the work that they're doing is what it really seems like.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: There, the community, the camaraderie, it's all there.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's and honestly, like when COVID hit, we kind of always said, you know, I'm always gonna have a job.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: People need elevators, right?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: They need escalators.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not all of a sudden you started to see some of the, you know, stay people stay home working, right?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: So the office building that had 2,000 people, all of a sudden had 200 people, and you're like, man, am I really gonna have a job forever?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like you never really thought about it until that happened.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And now, like, you're starting to see it come back, you know, everybody's back in the office.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So you can think, like, I don't need to worry about having a job because you know, real estate's right there again, everybody's back to the office, and now all the equipment that sat for those couple of years is back up and running.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: People didn't want to pay for maintenance, right?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: So now all of a sudden you're seeing opportunities for modernization, some of that other stuff that is rolling right back around.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we had a stretch here where we were doing modernization, but really just updating the electrical, right?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: New controllers, leaving the mechanics, right?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the machine stayed, everything in the hoist weight stayed.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: The next wave, what you're seeing is controllers, and all the machines are gone, right?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: They're going from DC machines generators to AC gearless.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: They all want to go to, you know, we did a big project where we replaced um seven gearless old Westinghouse DC machines with brand new uh Schindler permanent magnet machines because the building wanted to go green, right?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: So they put in regenerative drives, they did all that.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that'll be the next wave, too, where you're starting to see everybody go um energy you know friendly, so to speak, get rid of the old stuff.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: And some of the boards actually want to see, hey, we're gonna make this investment.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: What's the return for us?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: So they see their power costs come down, they see some of the other stuff that happens.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: They so you can move the people through the building faster.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's educating the people into business, the people that get in the business, but also our customers, you know, at the same point about the importance.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it's it's interesting, you know, you like to say that that with the COVID, you you saw a decrease in in commercial, but what I'm seeing too is there's a lot of residential, three, four-story, you know, apartments and and condos and townhomes going up, which you know, still need elevators.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: They might not be as tall as your your commercial, but uh still got plenty of opportunities to yeah.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you're seeing a lot of that residential.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: And 10 years ago, it was the hotel boom, right?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: You had a holiday in going in down the road, and then you had a comfort inn, and you had all these suites going up.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: All those have two or three elevators in them.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and now, like you said, you're starting to see the two, three-story, you know, um apartment buildings now go up and they're all low income.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: And once you pop through that third story, now you got to have a hospital service car, right?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: So you start getting into some of that other stuff.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, you know, and it's a different generation.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like I remember buying my first house.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: I have guys that we work with right now that would rather rep, right?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: They want to live in one of those places.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you see that little, you know, shift in in the residential market going from everybody being in a home to now wanting to be in a complex or be downtown living, right?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: As they say.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um and even, you know, young professionals, whether you're in the medical office or you know, working in in the banking industry, they don't want to come home and mow alone anymore.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: They just want to go to their apartment and then go out for dinner and do all that, right?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's that's the change, I think, you know, kind of what you're speaking about now.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, and and through it all, right?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: The elevators are are a crucial part of all of that.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh they're not going anywhere.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I can say, you know, 20 some years in, I I don't want to have another 20 years, but I can see the future, you know, needing needing to have 20 years, and then hopefully my apprentices that I've had coming up behind me, you know, are are gonna be there to uh fill that spot as uh as I go off into the sunset, hopefully.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: So uh as we as we wrap up our time here, Andrew, what what would you, I guess advice would you give to to those who are either brand new or maybe they're thinking about getting into the industry?
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, for me, it really doesn't matter who you're working with or where you are, you're always gonna be able to learn something from you know the best mechanic or the best team on the planet, or they could be, you know, an average guy, or they don't want to do the extra stuff.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: Ask the right questions, ask the wrong questions, right?
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just ask questions, be a sponge.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: All right, that's what I tell my students.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't really matter what you're doing, who you're with.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you don't understand, ask.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if somebody is spending the extra time to actually teach you, pay attention, write notes.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because if I'm doing door work for three, four days, I'm hoping that you by day three or day four are going to be able the one the one to jump in there and you know actually take over for me.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: I always like to say, I as a mechanic now, I'm probably the best apprentice you would ever have, right?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like I love being able to have somebody else do the work and me, you know, for one, showing them what we did, two, having them go in there and do that and then say, hey, I don't even need you, go do another task right now.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: I got this under control, right?
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: So be aware, um, listen to opportunities.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, that's how you and I met, right?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: We reached out about an opportunity, and I said, you know what, at the time, I'm pretty happy where I am.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Still right now, I'm pretty happy where I am, but uh I listen to any opportunity that comes across my desk, right?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because you never know what the what tomorrow holds, you know, and now, you know, in the the elevator market where we are with you know the majors and some of the stuff, um, you can at times feel like you're just a number, right?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you're not really valued all the time.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I like to say, again, as a foreman, without my guys around me, um doing their work, if they're better or as good than I am, they make my job way easier on myself, right?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: So just surround yourself with the right people.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um ask questions, don't be shy.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: And um most of all for me is you know, make sure you're you're getting home safe at the end of the day.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, follow all your company's procedures and you know, the guy you're with, because who I'm working with, I have to have his back and he's got to have my back.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we both get to go home at the end of the day.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's really what it's all about.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it is uh at the end of the day, it is high risk, right?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's great rewards, but uh it is high risk, you know.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very, very dangerous business, right?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's gotten better a hundred since I've gotten in.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's gotten safer, they give you right tools, everything else.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a question.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if it comes to to safety or equipment, the company's gonna get it, you know, whatever you need to do the job.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and if they get it for you and you do it quicker, it's even you know more beneficial to them.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: But um, safety is uh for me, day to day is the most important thing because if uh we don't come in with safety in our mind at the beginning of the day, um, we might not make it home at the end of the day, right?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't get into this business for a shorter life.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: We got it for a better life for us and our family.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, perfectly said.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Andrew.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you being with me today.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a lot of fun again.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you, man.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate the invitation and uh hopefully, you know, uh good conversation.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I appreciate everything that you do and the outreach that you do, and uh, you know, love watching your stuff on YouTube and we'll be talking again soon, I'm sure.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, sir.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the All Red Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Please like and subscribe.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, stay safe.