Latest / The Goo Crew / Our Worst Hires Ever: Painting Contractor Horror Stories | Goo Crew #4

Transcript

Our Worst Hires Ever: Painting Contractor Horror Stories | Goo Crew #4 · The Goo Crew

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Alright, Joshua, what is the worst hire that you've ever made or we've ever made over the years?
0:07
SPEAKER_01: There's a couple.
0:08
SPEAKER_01: But one that stands out is we'll call him Piano Man.
0:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: So I was I had this big commercial account for retirement community, and at the time I just wanted someone who was I could get him cheap.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, this guy, he only charges 25 an hour.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: We charge much more than that.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: We'll make s all this money on this account.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: It's painting.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: This is easy.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: We'll get it done.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, anybody can paint.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: Anyone can paint.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: So I bring him on, and he was doing weekend work for us, and I immediately get a call Monday morning.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: And these are very nice units where they said, Hey, whatever you do, just clean up when you're done.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: And what he did was he sanded and didn't vacuum up anything.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: It was all over this brand new hardwood floor.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: And the marketing team brought in these people of like pretty much a possible client to buy the unit.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: And these units would cost like$500 to$600,000.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: And this was like 15 years ago.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: So that was a lot of money.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: And they were paying six grand a month in rent.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: So these are high-end units.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: These are just units completely trashed, our stuff everywhere.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: Call.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, shoot.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: And then I would like a what later on the week, I'm like, hey, knock out these studio apartments.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: I think it's pretty easy.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: Then I get a call from one of the carpet guys there who's like, hey, uh, they're going through these units right now, and man, they're just really ripping these things apart, like far as like the people who look it over.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: Your boy ain't doing well over here.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh crap.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: So at the time, I was also moonlighting for a property management company.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: I was kind of doing that, you know, nights and kind of weekends, and they're like, hey Josh, we have um an insurance claim and we need a guy to paint it.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: Would you have somebody that can paint this?
1:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, I got the perfect guy.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: Send him over to Piano Man.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: I said, Piano Man, it's not his real name.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: We're protecting his name.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: I said, Here's what we're gonna do.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm like, here's the thing.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: And there's a lockbox.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, you you just the key needs to stay in the lockbox, and we gotta paint this by this date.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: Can you get it done?
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: So I get a call.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: It's like a few days after he started, and they're like, hey man, we're trying to get in the unit with like our HVAC guy, and there's no key.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: I was like, what are you talking about?
2:24
SPEAKER_01: He's like, yeah, there's no key.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: I think your boy took it.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, let me give him a call.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: So I gave Piano Man a call.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: He's like, hey, uh, yeah.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yo, Piano Man, did you you what's up?
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Did you take the key?
2:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, oh yeah, sorry, I have it here.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, they're trying to get in the unit.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: When are you getting back?
2:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I had to go home.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: It'll probably be like another two hours.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: And dude, he took the key.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: Other contractors couldn't get in.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: And then, like, they would call me the next day or two.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, is he gonna get it done?
2:54
SPEAKER_01: So I caught a piano man back.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: He's like, oh yeah, I got my wife over here.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: We're paying away.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know if she was a painter.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: And it was like everything that could go wrong, any little thing.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: And then, oh, oh, and then at the retirement community, this one drove me crazy.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: I was like, all right, so they let me order paint at this retirement community.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: And so, like, but it was like for every unit, because it was on their own own account as a nonprofit, so you didn't pay tax and you got a really good deal at the local Sheron Williams.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: And so I said, Okay, piano man, if you ever pick up paint or order paint here, sometimes he'd be like, Yeah, I gotta order a gallon of this, sure.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: Right.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: And it was like twelve dollars or something.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: Don't because on Sharon Williams they asked for your name.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: I was like, use my name because the needs to see that like I approved this or I went through me.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: Do not put your name on it.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Right.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: And then I get a call from the uh essentially like my boss over there is like, hey, I didn't know your name was Piano Man.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm putting in Piano Man.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we got it.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, ha ha, yeah, yeah, yeah, Piano Man, funny.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: And then he was like, thought it was like they wrote down the wrong name.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: Um and I'm like, and I had to call Piano Man, but I'm like, dude, you can't put your name on there.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: It's like you can't do that because I or I'm gonna have to order every gallon of paint and I'm gonna be the choke point there.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to be the choke point.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Oh, they just asked me what my name was, so I thought I'd give them my name.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: And then I was like, dude, and then I remember I was like, I was dating uh my now wife, and I remember she were walking, and I was like, and she I was just telling her, like, dude, this guy's driving me crazy.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: She's like, Josh, you should only hire rock stars, you shouldn't deal with people you don't like that aren't good, they're not gonna get better, they're just not.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: And I remember sitting there, I'm like, damn right, I should fire this guy.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: I was like, thanks.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we had a we had a little bit of a philosophy in the beginning where we kind of thought that anybody could paint, or or if they were willing enough that we could like train them and teach them.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: It's easy as painting to paint.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Like and for us who'd been, you know, you know, we were still relatively new, but we'd been painting since we were like 15 years old.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: And we sh we just like thought that uh the adults we'd be dealing with would be like of higher caliber than the maintenance crew we were like because we worked with other kids like during the paint, other 15-year-olds that were like friends of ours, yes, and then were like they could all paint, and they could all paint, like all the guys that they brought in that we worked with that were like our buddies and friends from school, and like all that stuff, they it seemed like they could put it together, like you'd be like, Hey, just do this, stop doing this, don't do that.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: And then we started hiring guys, and we got kind of out in the wild, and it was just you're like, I'm pretty because then you you you basically have someone paint on a job, and then you're like, Okay, how far away is your skill set from where it needs to be for us to be able to like get you where you need to be?
6:00
SPEAKER_00: Because we a lot of times we would almost use our commercial account as like our farm league, you could like test guys out over there, which was a mistake because that was our biggest account of the yeah.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, but it was also but it was also the simplest painting, and if they screwed that up, there was no chance they were gonna be able to go into somebody's house and we can hide them in there for a day or two because it was just us and then you could like squirrel away somebody and then see how it went, and then the the one I remember is uh the the destroyer was like one of the worst because I was on the job where uh he came uh to uh we both painted on that job.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Like I was there for the one, and my my favorite part of that is this this dude.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh he I think he had to come to our house or something, or was it gonna meet us somewhere?
6:51
SPEAKER_01: He what didn't he have?
6:52
SPEAKER_00: He was supposed to drive like over here, like to our house.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: He was supposed to drive to her house.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: I think I was taking him to the job.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Because it was like down in Philly or something.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: It was down in Philly, so I was gonna take him.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: And so I get a call, and he calls me.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: I was like, he's like, hey, where are you, man?
7:09
SPEAKER_01: I said, uh what do you mean?
7:12
SPEAKER_01: I guess we'll call him the destroyer.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Hey Destroyer, uh, what where are you, man?
7:16
SPEAKER_01: He's like, dude, I'm I'm in like like Lansdale.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm like, he's I said, What do you mean?
7:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I never gave you my address.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Oh, I just thought I'd find you.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: I was like, what?
7:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, wait, wait, you need it.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Lansdale's a big town.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: Like, you you need my address.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I I thought I'd just find you, man.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: I was like, what yeah, to put it in perspective, I don't know how Lansdale's enormous.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's like saying, like, I'm gonna find you in uh like Philly.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Like it's a big area.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, landmass-wise it is.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Lansdale's huge.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: He just thought he could find me driving around.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Red flag number one.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: And we brought him to the I just remember, we brought him to the job.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: It was in Philadelphia, and I just needed something to try him out on because he never painted with us before.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: I brought him on, and I kind of thought that he actually interviewed, like, he talked final, like phone, normal.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: Nice guy.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, All right, paint this trim in the closet.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: And then we come back in 20 minutes, 30 minutes, there's paint all over the floor.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: Like, he actually took the paintbrush and just smashed the floor all the way around.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: You're like, yo, you came over to me, dude.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: Check this out.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: It's like oh, all right, and I was like, Alright, destroyer, all right, I appreciate your work today, but I think I'm just gonna send you home and I'll just pay you for the whole day.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: Because I was like, dude, I told him I'd get on here for the while, pay you for the full day.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: I was like, okay, and then every time you come to the job, I'd have him do something simpler and simpler, and you just couldn't get it done.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like, okay, let me show you how to like spackle something.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: And he'd like these huge globs on the wall.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: She's just huge.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: I was like, okay.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: And the one thing I could get him to kind of do was roll.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: That was it.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, roll.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: So the only thing I could get him to do on the job, like he'd move some stuff around and like bring in materials, and then it's like, all right, I got this wall for you to roll.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: He was very slow, and then that, and like he was from Philly, and he says he just never did anything with his hands.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, he never did like any physical labor.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: None at all.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: And I remember I got a call from the commercial account again.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know that destroyer guy?
9:19
SPEAKER_01: You gotta get him out of here, man.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: He is just so bad.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: But his personal, like his custom, like talking with people, he was fantastic.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: Our clients loved him, but he had zero skills.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he didn't stay with he he we worked for like less than a week.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: It was a week or two, and then I think you paid him for two weeks or something.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I remember he like he worked at like you know a restaurant somewhere, and then he's like, I'm like, dude, this is just not working out.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, and I paid him like a couple weeks' severance.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: I felt bad because he kind of quit his job to do that, but I didn't actually like test him out first, right?
9:53
SPEAKER_01: Which I should have done.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: And dude, it was just like he, I just he was the worst, he just couldn't paint anything.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we we did have a stint where we were bringing a lot of our our uh our bros in to paint at our commercial account, and most guys like did really well immediately.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Like we had some good ones, like Matt did great, Tim did great, like we had guys.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Zach did Zach.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Like there was guys that came in, uh like we had one kid, Zach, and he came in and like I think it was actually on a real like a residential job, and he painted Louvre doors and they looked perfect, like immediately.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: He just crushed.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: It was so fast.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: So that was pretty early on, so they spoiled us a bit.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so like we we kind of went and ran through like some of those guys, and like they were especially those guys, they were like Mennonites, they were so good with their hands, like they just they were they had it like immediately.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: It's I it seems like a lot of painters come from have some sort of like athletic background or have done some sort of sport or like have just worked with their hands a lot.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh and we it helps.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: It helps a lot.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: So we and we we had done that kind of stuff uh s from a from a young age of like having your hands coordinated because some guys uh do you remember that kid Dave that we hired?
11:14
SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, I don't care about using this because it was so long ago.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna use his last name.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: So uh he I think he was like a football guy.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes those dudes are a bit of a like goonish, um, and they're not as like we'll say careful.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: And I think I was painting with him on an exterior, and uh I think where we were staying in a deck.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I was was it a deck or was it something I think I was on a deck painted red, yeah.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: And then so he hit we had like red deck stain, which was probably oil-based at the time, because this is like 15 plus years ago, and he we like finished the deck, and then he jumps off the deck with the brush in his hand, and he like does like a victory, like, yeah.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: And as he like flailed his arm back, he just whacked the white siding with a red stain brush, and I watched him do it, and I was like, bro, what was that?
12:06
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Oh, sorry, dude.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: Get water, get water.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dude, we gotta get that off right now.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: And it was oh, such a cooking in the sun.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Pain in the ass.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Well, he jumped it because we were trying to jump off the deck over the step we just did.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he did the uh celebration and then whacked it.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: Man, yeah, you don't want to be whipping stain around.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: No, he he stayed with us for a little bit, but I think we had it.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: It's the summer, like a couple of my weeks in the summer.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we would get calls like, yeah, you know that guy, the destroyer, you need to get him out of here.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: He just destroyed like the destroyer would actually destroy everything.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: Like he just kept walking and stepping on things, breaking lights, breaking equipment, breaking everything.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: He would just he was the clumsiest dude.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Super clumsy.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was um the the uh some some fellas don't have good proprioception, which is the perception of where your body is in space, and things that coordinate that together are like playing sports and doing things that require you to hammering in a nail.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, but just having like hand-eye coordinate-that's what we like kind of put together where it was like, Oh, if you are not aware of where your body is in space, and then you're not coordinated, like painting's one of the worst things you can even try and do.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Because he would like he moves so slow, and then he would just like so we used to have these light bulbs that would plug into the wall.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: We've gotten like different ones now, but he broke that like he would just like walk by and snap that off.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and then it was like the he was the destroyer, like it was like he was like a slow snowplow that would just destroy everything in his wake, making paths in the units at the retirement community, so he could like not we'd like party on the Red Sea.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: We're like, dude, don't break our stuff.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: It was the and it and then I mean it takes you know, anytime you bring on a new guy, like there is an onboarding period, but then then I'll be like, dude, we got this is this is we gotta dump this dude.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: We gotta dump this dude.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: And then uh I got one for you.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: So you had one where you we, you know, you were vetting a guy, and like what we ended up doing is like, all right, so we gotta bring him on for like a day on the weekend, work with them for a day, yeah, just pay him for that day, and that's it.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: And if they good, we can bring them on another day, but we need to vet these guys a little bit.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: So you're like, we're getting really busy.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: So you're like, all right, I think I found a guy from the jujitsu gym.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I uh uh I've for a while there, but uh I was you know, Josh and I've done a bunch of jujitsu and muay thai and fighting and blah blah blah.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: And then I was teaching uh jujitsu for a couple months, and then a couple of my students, I was like, I was like, okay, you guys are because I you get a good feel for for that when I'm you know interact in a different space.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: You see that he's not an idiot, he shows up on time, he's like able to receive instruction, which is like I kind of thought I was gonna nail it on this.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Use your body to move.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: Use your body like decently coordinated.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: He was like definitely on his way to like getting his blue belt, like that, you know.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: And if if no one's if you're if you're familiar with jujitsu, like there's some people that come in where you're like, there's no shot, you're progressing, like you're not, you can't, you don't know how to listen, you're not coordinated, this is crap.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: So I really like this fella.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we'll call him Brian.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh super, super nice guy, super nice guy, very and he was like, I think in his like mid-20s, maybe.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like coordinated all that stuff.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: I I took on some weekend work and I was like, all right, I'm gonna he's gonna come in and just be my helper.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but those weekend work jobs, I was just on to the tools, and he was like ferrying my stuff back and forth.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: So like cleaning up, doing stuff.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: I had him like holding ladders, holding ladders, like footing ladders, just it was a lot of like assisting work.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but he showed up on time, again, super pleasant, wonderful with the clients, all that stuff, uh, and like not a complete dirt ball, all of that, and then um then like then we kicked off a big job where I was like, okay, and it was me, you, Brendan, and then Brian.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh he came in and uh you know you've gotta you there's some hand holding because it's like he hadn't really like painted with a brush or whatever.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: So then I'm like, alright, it gave him like what I considered to be reasonable tasks to do, and then it was just like alright, it was like everyone.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: So every day I would like I have a notebook and I would write out like bullet point lists of like do this, do this, do this, and then every night I was spending like an hour putting this list together, and then every day I would like give it to him, and then he wouldn't even make it through like two of the things on like a list of ten things, and you're just like, bro, okay, and then the and then his his work wasn't good, like I we're not expecting everyone to know exactly our system or how to paint or anything, but it was like alright, fill these nail holes, and then Brandon's like, yo, dude, he's missing like every other nail hole.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, okay, can you can you see what I'm talking about?
17:19
SPEAKER_00: Where can you pay enough attention to this spot to like fill in every one?
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Like painting's a little bit of an OCD level of focus where you have to be able to like see and pay attention to the surface, how smooth it is, and that's how you have to start like viewing the world.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh and then some people just don't have that.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: I feel like some people can't see the world in that high of resolution, or they it's like, you think that looks good?
17:47
SPEAKER_00: They're like, Yeah, you're like, I know we're not even we're not even close, dude.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then that job just dragged on and on, and it took for and then we we had like kind of committed to a certain amount of time with him.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: Yes, like dude, this the first month is just onboarding.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: The next month we'll try we're like, here's our three-month process.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Josh and I had I were like, we'll ramp him up, we'll do it, blah- blah, blah, blah.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: And then you had me be in charge.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, all right, you're like, Josh, all right, because I had a job where I was on, because we had four guys total, including him.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, I was like, okay, I had a closet.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: I was like, what do I need to do?
18:22
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Josh, just write out what you want to do.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: So I did what you did, just write out the whole thing.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, here's kind of our time we're trying to hit for this closet.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: And I looked at his hourly rate and everything, and I was like, you need to paint this closet, we'll say in six hours.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: So I thought it was very reasonable for the closet.
18:37
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: And then like, I think we had, I don't know, maybe two, probably put a charge more, but like the like the$200 allotted to get him to paint this uh closet.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: And then by the time it was all done, he did in like two days and or two one and a half days.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: I was like, wait, we paid him$300 and we're making charging$200 for this closet.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: So like he just lost us$100.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: On this closet.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, I could knock out in like three hours.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: And then so we kept trying, and you're you're and we were just like, all right, what else could he do?
19:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, when you're just trying to get it so that they're gonna like they have to get it.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: Like they you have to start moving at a certain pace.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: And uh it just wasn't happening.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: And then we're just trying to get to break even.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: Like we want to make it so he's not costing us money.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: And we just tried to like like we tried like he would he's like he filmed and like held the camera for like some YouTube stuff.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Like it was anything that it just doesn't, he just wasn't like locking in on the work, and like it's it's it's just weird to tell someone be like, you need to get better at this, like now, like not like we've given you many chances at this, and then we hit I forget how long Brian was with us, but I remember the job where I was just like, you and I had been talking, and it was we didn't get a Christmas bonus, yes, and I think that was the one earlier.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: You're like, hey Josh, is there because I do the books.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: I was like, a lot of times we'll try to pay us an end-of-the-year bonus for us doing a great job, you know, patting ourselves back, pat ourselves on the back, and uh you're like, is there a bonus this year?
20:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, dude, uh Brian's cost it so much money that we there's no bonus, there's no extra money.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're like, what?
20:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I was like, mmm, well, because I have to go, you know, I do a lot of the estimates and land a lot of the jobs and get the work, and then as soon as and he was a full he wasn't a sub, he was like a legitimate with benefits, so like now that makes the number that we have to clear every month significantly higher than it otherwise would be.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: And then the goal, if you are hiring someone, is that you can like they should be making you money, yes, and hopefully making your life easier.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, because you start churning work if you have if you're running a couple guys, you can like set them up, leap frong them, and it's more logistics, but you can you know increase your volume and hopefully increase your revenue and all that stuff.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole point.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're not like a charity, yeah.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: Help us out, and then we we were talking and then it was taking me so much time, and then it would cause me so much anxiety where I'd have to like, what can he do?
21:19
SPEAKER_00: And then you would try him out, and you're like, God.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: And you're burning cash every day.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Burning cash, and he's not making it back, and it's just like I was like, and then you you came in, and uh we're there, we were talking in like the basement of this this house we were in, the client was gone, and we were all gonna be painting there, and uh, it was like a Monday, and uh you were like, No, I think we give him like another couple months or like it to the I thought it was like a week.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: Let's sum a week.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: Some like arbitrary amount of time, and I was like, I was like, dude, he's not gonna get better.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: He's a nice guy, I will fire him right now.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: And you were you're like, really?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Like that's because you know I'm an I'm a nice guy.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Josh is usually more of like the cold hearted one, I would say, for certain things.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Business wise.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Business wise.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: But it was because like I don't he was kind of like my first hire on like where I yeah, but like vetted and brought him in.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you you there's the most vetted one you brought in.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: And uh and then and then I was like, dude, F this.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I I was like, Brian, I need to talk to you down in the basement.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: I was like, listen, man, you're a hell of a nice guy.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: You're like affable, one for I think you have a lot of potential to do something that's not painting.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: You're just your skills aren't there, and I appreciate you wanting to try and like fit in with the crew.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: And this was like our trial period, and this just isn't working out.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: You're not coming up fast enough, you're not getting like putting it together in this way.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: I think you have a lot of other opportunities.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, and then we like offer for and we did like a severance and all that stuff, and then and he's like, Oh, so do you want me to like work today?
23:00
SPEAKER_00: I was like, No, you can go like right now.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I was like, leave your stuff, you can keep the shirt, and like you know, yeah, piss off.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Like that was like get get and dude, as soon as he left, the weight that was lifted off my shoulders.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: I was thrilled, and then I was like, fellas, everybody's getting Chick-fil-A today.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Not Brian, because he's gone, but the rest of us were Chick-fil-A lunch, and uh it was the best Chick-fil-a I've had.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: It was it was glorious.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you were so happy.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: You were talking about that for like the next month.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: You're like, dude, feel so good.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dude, I would invite him back just to fire him again.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: I have that feeling.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: It was and it wasn't the nicest guy.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: He was a great guy.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Great guy, and I still am, you know, I still know him, so it's that's all good.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: But just some people are bad fits, and that's okay.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: And you can be a bad fit for well.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Then when you're looking at the numbers, you're like, you're working harder, so they can lose you money.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Well, and then so we because we've had different variations of handiworks over the years of like you know, different guys out in the field and subs, and we've had guys that work directly for us, and like all that stuff.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: And when it's going well, it's cool.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: And then just our our current form is you, me, and our guy Brennan, who's like super steady and consistent and all that.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: It's just like we're kind of on the the no one's causing any problems, and very rarely do any of us like make serious mistakes.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that are like if if Brennan goes somewhere, I just know he's gonna it's gonna be done well.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: The job's going to progress, and there's gonna be no problems that are caused by us generally.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: So and then if you're once you start running a lot of dudes, then you're gonna start having to put out fires, like even if they kind of know what they're doing.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: Man, yeah.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: So that was that was my experience with that one.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: But my probably my favorite uh one that we've had that's but was terrible, and it's my favorite because you hired him.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: I did.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: And I I disliked this dude immediately for a variety of reasons.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: It was good old Johnny Turbo.
25:12
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and uh that's you well, I'll let you pick it up because I don't even remember where he came through.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: Like Yeah, I think we put an ad in the church directory, and this guy said he painted it before.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: It's like I painted for this many years, and at that point I'm like, dude, I just need to throw a body at this, and I wasn't viewing it as oh, he's gonna work on our crew, we need to get along, and so it's like I did this, I did this, and then I was I made the mistake of all right, so I'm gonna work with you for the first few months, and then if you do well, you can make this much more money.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of had like a carrot, yeah.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't like if it wasn't like if you hit these checkpoints or you get this, and so we bring him on the job.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't we're I don't even know where to begin with this one.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: Alright, we'll just to we'll see how he got the name uh Johnny Turbo.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Was we brought him on a job and I was like, all right, you need to hit the baseboard in this bedroom.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna let you go, and I'm gonna be paying this other room.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: And then the client comes to me, very nice clients, they're like, hey, just let you know he's been on that same baseboard, like just the one thing, and it's been like three hours.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what?
26:21
SPEAKER_01: No, he's he's on one piece of baseboard, it's been three hours.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: And so I walk in there, and dude, he was I he maybe was a few hours in and he was still on like the first two sections of baseboard.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: And this was like normal, this is not even like prep.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: No, you just paint it.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: I was on that job.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: And I just look at him like, how like do you like I could do that with a toothbrush and paint faster than that?
26:43
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: I was like, okay, all right.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, all right, hey, hey, uh Mr.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Turbo, here we're gonna let's try this.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: And so I would kept would put him somewhere else, and a few things he was like just below average on, and some things he was so slow.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: It was just so slow on everything, and dude, and then like I I was young, I was like in my 20s and thinking that like dude, you know, this guy is older than us, I think we'll figure it out.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: And so we kind of like he was okay at some exterior stuff, but then when I work in a room with him, I'm like, what's that smell?
27:17
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Oh man, oh yeah, this guy has some BO.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: And so we had some other names for him.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, okay, dude, he stinks.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: I can't have him being in the house stinking because everyone else smells pretty good.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And if everyone's like, yo, man, you don't like you know, you don't smell good, like you know, help yourself out there.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: He he stank, yeah.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: He stank, and if when he got working, the the woof, the odor that wafted off of that dude, and the funniest thing was what I was with Josh and he had to like tell him to like wear deodorant, and you like bought him, you like brought him deodorant.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's just weird to tell someone that you don't know that word.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: This is like a this is like a grown-ass man.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: He was probably like what in his forties.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: He's in his forties, yeah.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: He kind of interesting haircut and stuff.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: So but anyway, so hey man, like I you know, I just trying to and I'm trying to say this and not be like a complete D-bag.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey man, you just I get a smell, I think I'm gonna get sweaty, but like, can you just make sure you throw in deodorant and stuff?
28:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: So for a day or two it'd be better, and then it'd be right back to the normal.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, dude, I was like, I can't just deal with this.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: So I went to the store, I think I bought four different kinds of deodorant.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: And I said, yo, Johnny Turbo, here you go, man.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: Just wear this, dude, because like you don't smell good.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: It'd be like a day or two or maybe a week, and then right back where we started.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: And then gosh, this guy drove me crazy.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Because all right, so two things happened.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: So it was like two things that set me off.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: And then I remember he came to me and like he was barely passable for certain things.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: And he becomes to me, so uh remember that raise you mentioned?
28:54
SPEAKER_01: I like looked at him, I was like, Yeah, not now.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: Just because I'm like, I and I don't think I was expressing like, hey, you need to paint something this fast and do it this way.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: I was just like, know what's in my head.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but like I was not happy.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: No, and then one thing happened was like usually when we were just him and me on a job, you were set at a different job, and it was Friday.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: And this guy and like so I'm cleaning up, it's like four o'clock on a Friday, and you know you clean up, it can take up to an hour.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: And then he's helping me bring stuff to the car.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: We know we're like 30 job 30 minutes away from my house.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: It's Friday.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: I would love to get home.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, so and he's like helping me carry stuff.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: So I got here at uh 8 24.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: I said, uh yeah.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: He's like, well, it's uh 422.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: So I I'm gonna go.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: His thing was when eight hours is up, he's gone.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: If you want to see that guy move fast, it was when the eight hours was up.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say he turned into Usain Bolt.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's he was like, I'm like, I was like, okay, and I remember I put something back after he told me that, then room, like way down.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, how did he move that fast?
30:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's when he hit the turbos, but that's where he went Johnny Turbo on us.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, dude, he was out.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: So if he got there at 817, he was out at 417.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: Dude, it was literally on the dot.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: He he he would like disappear like Batman.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: It would like might as well have been a puff of smoke, and then his car is pulling away.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: It was wild.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: You're like, where's where's old turbo?
30:21
SPEAKER_00: And then even he sometimes wouldn't tell us.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Like if he got there at 8.32, 432 out.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: No, he just it was it, it was like it was very impressive.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: So mad because it was Friday, so I ended up staying at the job till you know 5.15 because usually we'd work you know 8.30 to 4:30, 5.15, 520, cleaning up by myself.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, that's not a good move.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: And then the final straw was you saw that job.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: We were painting.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: Remember, we're painting cinder block in like a boiler room.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: And there's I said, Okay, Johnny Turbo, we're painting this wall, but we're not painting the wall where all the pipes are, because if we get any paint on this wall, we have to paint this whole wall and it'll take hours.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: It was like one of those walls where the client was like, Don't paint that wall.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: And there was pipes and all this kind of stuff, and it would take forever to paint.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Thank God we don't have to paint that wall.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: So I leave and I come back, and what's Johnny Turbo doing painting that wall with all the pipes on it?
31:16
SPEAKER_01: I was like, damn it, John! Yeah, we're not painting that wall.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: And like I was furious, and usually I can keep a cool, even temperament.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: Josh, Josh is a cute cool cucumber, he's got an insanely long fuse.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Was furious because I didn't quote that wall out, and he was so slow at it, and I just remember I left and he said something to you.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: He was like, Oh yeah, Josh was kind of mad.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I was like, dude, like I I don't know what I said.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: I was like, you you know because then it's it's making me upset.
31:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because it's like, well, you're sc' uh how do I put this uh diplomatically?
31:54
SPEAKER_00: Like when you work on a crew, you need to not be a piece of shit.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Like you need to be a part of the crew and work in with guys and be helpful and help the jobs progress, help close the jobs out, and like we're all on the same team, the better everybody does, the better everybody does.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: And we're not like you're you're not operating independently of everybody else.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: So if you s if someone, if the foreman tells you, hey, don't do that, and like you and I do this all the time with each other because like yeah, you quote a job, yeah.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: I quote a job.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: We're not painting the closet, don't paint the closet.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: And we're like, hey Josh, don't paint this, or hey germ, paint we're painting this, we're not doing that.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: This it's just knowing the scope of the work.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: It's not like some weird thing to tell someone like we're not painting that, and then he just they don't pay attention.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: And that I wanted I put tape X's on that wall.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: I put multiple X's.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: I remember doing that because I put big blue tape on that wall out of our way to make things retard proof, and it's just never it.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: I was like, dude, this guy sucks so bad.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: And then I think I and then I'm I'm kind of like the guy like dude, get like it's time to thin the herd, dude.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: You gotta get rid of this.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Because then you start doing the math, and you're like, we'll just we'll be smoother if it's just the two of us.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would rather just you don't need to book as much work, you know, you more profitable, and you have less headaches.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: So, like that that's kind of where we ended up landing on that.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: But uh and I remember the problem was with him, he might have been, I think he was a sub, and I was like, one of the jobs, like he's done after this, and then I was a bit of a pansy with this.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: I was like, hey man, I just don't got have much work.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: It was it might have been February or March.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: I just don't have much more work coming in, so I just don't have anything for you coming up soon.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, instead of being like, we're done, right?
33:38
SPEAKER_01: I kind of went the wimpy way and just said this, oh okay.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: So it's like you stopped calling a girl.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, because technically he was a sub.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: When are we gonna hang out?
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I was like, uh, and then he calls me like two months later.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yo, Johnny Turbo, what's going on?
33:53
SPEAKER_01: Hey man, you got any work for me?
33:54
SPEAKER_01: I was like, uh sorry, no.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: He's like, okay, just hung up.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Dude, I remember I had a I had like a and then I had like a jarring experience because I I I had driven past uh a Sharon Williams and I like I was like, is that his car over there?
34:11
SPEAKER_00: I was like, all right.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: And then I had to call that Sharon Williams to buy paint.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and he goes, and I was like, oh like it was like because I knew his voice and I was like, uh, is Steve there?
34:23
SPEAKER_00: Like, can I talk to him?
34:24
SPEAKER_00: And then I I remember I walked in and it sure enough, there there was old Johnny Turbo, and uh I was talking to because we were friends with the the crew that worked at that store, and uh I was like I was like yo, you you hired Johnny Turbo?
34:40
SPEAKER_00: And they were like, You call him Johnny Turbo, and then the the store manager was like, that is so perfect, he's the slowest human being on the planet.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I know, right?
34:50
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was like, hey man, good luck with that shit.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: And then they were like, dude.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: I remember that manager, I think his name was Steve.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: He was just venting to us out in the park a lot of how slow and terrible Johnny Turbo was.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: And then to be like slow in a paint store where you're like not mixing up.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: You just need to mix up paint.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: It's very straightforward.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Yep, yep.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: He would pick up the phone because near that retirement account like, hey, Steve there.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: I would just like, no, we need to bypass you and get Steve on the phone.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: So he's like, I got this.
35:18
SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll make you up your paint.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he reminded me of that, like uh that turtle from uh Bugs Bunny.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Be like, Yup dope.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Like that was like his pace was was that.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh man, but it it feels great to fire him, though.
35:34
SPEAKER_01: When they're terrible, it is great.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: Because I I I'll I think I have one last bad one to go on.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
35:40
SPEAKER_01: So this one, uh, we hired a guy.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to think of a good nickname for him.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: So let's just call him Larry.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh so Larry, we hired, he we knew him from a CrossFit gym.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: Younger guy, and he ended up, we had puppies at the time.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, got it, got it.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: I know what we're talking about.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: We'll call him Larry.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: And so I brought him on, and it's like, do you have any experience?
36:07
SPEAKER_01: No.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: So I got him for a reasonable rate, like it wasn't that expensive to bring him on, probably young 20s.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: And every task I gave him, it was just he's never painted before.
36:15
SPEAKER_01: He's like, and like I had him spackle walls.
36:17
SPEAKER_01: And I remember like one of the carpet guys, like, hey, oh man, you might want to check out these walls.
36:21
SPEAKER_01: And dude, and we didn't even have like an electric sander at the time.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: It was like it was like an anthill of spackle on everything.
36:29
SPEAKER_01: So we ended up hiring him, and he was the guy who helped uh uh go walk our dogs and feed our dogs and let them out at lunch because we had puppy, you and me had puppies at the time.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: Dude, because we you and I would have to leave in the middle of the day to go let them out.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, one of us would be able to do that.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: And we're like, dude, this takes us two and a half hour turnaround.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: Like, let's just get Larry to do this.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: So Larry, for the first nine like months of we of us having dogs, did that, and then like he couldn't he didn't really progress or do anything better.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: Super nice guy, great personality, got along with everyone, yep, but couldn't paint to save his life, and he couldn't do like much prep, like he could barely do anything, but we essentially hired him to let our dogs out, and then as soon as our dogs were old enough where they could stay home, like sorry Larry, this is not gonna work out, we gotta let you go.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Oh, okay.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: He was super well, and then they they kind of know too that they're not Yeah, he's like, I know well you just you kind of think that you would progress, like in the because you give them the same rep, like six-panel door, like try and stuff you kind of want to like it takes 45 minutes to paint a six-panel door once.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you're if you're painting on a crew, you want to start like being like that I can complete this task.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: Now I can complete this whole task.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, now you know, uh Larry, you can you can prep baseboard.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: Great.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's something I can have in my hopper as I'm looking at the job and the signing roles.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, you can prep all the trim, you can caulk the trim in, you can sand the wood putty, you can uh you can sand, you can prime, you can like start start building up those things, and it's the same thing over and over again.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then it then you're just like, God.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: And then I remember pretty much when when Drake and Boone, which were our dogs, could could stay home without being let out in the middle of the day.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: We were I was like, you're we we had a lot of guys going when he was around though.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: For a piece of that, yeah.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: We had a lot of guys.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: We'll touch upon that one another time, but it was more of I think it was February, and then we didn't have as much work coming in.
38:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I was like, dude, this isn't the time.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, you know, yeah it's not working out.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: He was he was cool about it though.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: It was just they they kind of get a whiff of like, yeah, this isn't working out.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was but dude, when what always when someone who's not good and not working out for you and they're gone, oh it's such a relief.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh, yeah, I don't have to think about like what they're gonna do.
38:50
SPEAKER_01: Because you spend a lot of time trying to get like, hey, can you do this?
38:54
SPEAKER_01: And then writing it all out and all that stuff.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: And if it's a good guy, because we had hired some really good guys, you're like, paint this unit, cool, they got it.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: Yep, no phone, it's done, you bill it out, and it's hardly any problems.
39:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, like, and then to because there's there's a lot of reasons to be like to there's a lot of ways to be a bad hire.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's a a myriad of ways you can be not good at something.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think the ones that were like jarring were the ones where the guys were just they couldn't they couldn't put it together.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: Like they really everything together, they really couldn't paint, they didn't understand the sequence, like pace, like just how fast you're moving around.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: Guys would just be dragging their feet, especially when we were working on and we had a lot of guys going.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: It would be like, All right, we're gonna send Jeremy and Brian or whoever, like they're gonna close that out in two days.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: And then if you're the lead, you're in there and you're like, okay, and then this guy's holding you up, and then you're spending time thinking about dumb stuff that he could do.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, maybe he could vacuum my truck.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: Like you're thinking of things that aren't painting.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: Can you organize my truck?
39:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, how long does it take to wash out brushes?
40:01
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he could wash out brushes, and you just think of like smaller and smaller tasks that aren't really getting the jobs progressing, uh, and then it's just super frustrating, and you're like, oh, this is uh, and I think that's what I realized too.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, what you gotta kind of figure out what size crew you want to run.
40:19
SPEAKER_00: Some guys are really into like developing guys and doing that, and then they want to be off the tools and uh just more on the coordination thing, and are are like patient with guys, they want to teach them.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: But man, a lot of guys don't.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, they just wanna you kind of need to come in with some skills and uh like start to quickly understand what how this guy works, how this crew works, where you fit in with it, and like assimilate into that so that you are a net positive to all of the work getting done.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Like when we had Tim, Tim was like he'd he'd worked with his hands, did a lot of stuff with his dad, very like handy.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: He hadn't painted with our like like our our progression or like our our kind of like how we go through jobs, just like our SOPs and stuff.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: But as soon as we showed him, he's like, Okay, we're gonna do it like this, and then got it quick, and then he got faster and faster and faster, and then it was like sweet, me and me and Tim are gonna crush this out.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: So, like that was you're like that you're helping us get through this work better.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: So that was uh but like then you then you have guys that get good and then they start sniping your work and taking side so like we've heard it all from guys that are oh well that'll be another episode, yeah.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: Like we yeah, we backstabbing betrayers, yeah.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: Cause we yeah, because we we had a guy that like borrowed our gear and took on side work and like had our stuff.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: He was taking days off to go do his during the week to to go not work on our job sites and work on his own stuff.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: It's just like yo man.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh we got some betrayal stories.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: They're good.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: That's what we'll we'll uh we'll we'll circle back to that.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: Now uh uh Josh, did you want to bring up the uh the the goo corner?
42:12
SPEAKER_00: The goo crew.
42:13
SPEAKER_01: We have the goo crew, a online community for paint contractors helping other paint contractors.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have all the best stuff to make money, save money, all that stuff.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: Yep, but people can ask questions, and we had a good awesome guy in the group named Todd, and he sent us a picture of uh he said, I overbid a job, he technically didn't overbid it, of cabinets that he said he bid for like$2,500, I think.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: And some guy who was new to painting bid$350, and now Mr.
42:41
SPEAKER_01: Todd is fixing that horrid, horrid job that he showed his pictures of.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: He and he posted pictures of the job that this uh person did, and then he said in one of his follow-up comments, he said that that was that guy's first paint job was was kitchen cabinets, and bro, it it looks so they the guy his Todd's bid was$2,500 and this dude's bid was$350.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: Which uh, if anyone has painted kitchen cabinets, it is that there's zero chance you can make any money off of it.
43:13
SPEAKER_01: I think they overpaid for the$350.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, for that and then he he said they didn't pay him.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, because then they they have to bring him bring Todd in to fix it all.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and Todd's very good from like all the pictures I've seen of his work, it's very like fine finished, the level that you want.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: But like kitchen cabinets are like you that that's of more of a technical job.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: So, and it kind of depends on what what you're dealing with, if you're gonna spray it, if it's already been painted, whatever.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: But the pictures are atrocious of what like drips everywhere, they smeared it on the wall.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: Like it's not even they literally look like they took like a half-inch roller and just whacked the cabinets like up into the ceiling.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: It was bad.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: It's like yo.
43:56
SPEAKER_01: And then we also had Mr.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: Travis uh had a question where he has a sprayer, hasn't used it much, and he was gonna paint some exterior hardy, uh hardy board, yep, and was wondering if at what uh if he should use his sprayer or not.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: And so a lot of people chimed in to say what they have done, but he quoted it out to brush and roll, yeah, which he would make money and feels confident confident with, so we'll see what he ends up doing.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: So everyone was chiming in their two cents, but a lot of us have sprayers, yes, and a lot of us like feel obligated to use sprayers because I could I have a sprayer, I should use it because I paid good money for it.
44:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: But then you're like, well, I haven't used it enough, so I could totally F up this job.
44:31
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean it's I because we We felt like that, like we should spray, we should spray, and then we're just we're usually brush and roller crew.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean it's the right fit for the the job.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: So there's certain things where it in like there's certain things where if they are expecting a certain finish quality, like they want a certain finish on it.
44:50
SPEAKER_00: Like I want sprayed cabinets.
44:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's like, well, then those need to be sprayed.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it's because we even talked to our buddy Nick, who's got like a big crew.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: 22 guys, he's got 22 guys, and he's like, Yeah, we have like 15 sprayers, and uh we're because we were asking him, like, are you doing much spraying right now?
45:05
SPEAKER_00: And he's just like, not really, not right now.
45:07
SPEAKER_00: So you kind of it depends on the job and yeah, all of that, and then how comfortable you are with it.
45:12
SPEAKER_00: But if you have a method that you know works and you can get a certain quality out of it, there's no for percentage success rate at doing it at this level, yeah.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to progress in that direction, because there are you know, spray technology has blah blah blah gotten better, and there's certain things that are could be compelling to do, but again, it's just like what kind of work are you doing?
45:31
SPEAKER_00: Because even I think what people don't realize, and I this is what I I came to with uh like especially talking to people in the DIY space, is they they think automatically getting a sprayer is gonna make everything easier, and that's definitely not the case.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it's great, sometimes not so much.
45:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's another skill set, yeah.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: So but and I don't think a lot of people, especially in the DIY space, know about like back rolling or like how the spraying kind of SOP actually works if you are doing all of this.
46:01
SPEAKER_01: So, anyway, join the goo crew free for their first 150 uh people.
46:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh so when you listen to this, uh if it's done we're not up to 150, join for free.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: Yep, so go check that out.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: And uh I think that's gonna do it for today.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: So until next time, y'all take it easy, work smart, and have a good one.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: Peace.