Navigating Success and Change in the HVAC Industry: Insights from Andy Graham

This is this is straight straight straight out of Crumpton with your host, Greg Crumpton. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode. Straight out of Crumpton. I'm Gabby Bar, and I am joined by Mr. Greg Crumpton. Greg, how are you doing today? Jody, I'm doing quite well. I'm, strap it on to my straight out crumpton ball cap. So no. I I am really doing good. We were talking a little bit before we hit record about the weather and how unique it is for January. But my guest said, yeah, that is great, but it's such for for business because As you know, being a HVAC, a apprentice that you are and how we're bringing you along through the process, it's important to have weather So whether extremes are good, but now super excited to have the fella today. I've known this guy for Probably five or six years now if I'm if I'm doing my math, maybe seven. So here he is already. He's ready to go, Gabby. You better get him you better get him introduced Absolutely. Well, it is awesome to have you here today. I would love to introduce Andy Graham, he is the president at modern heating and air conditioning. Andy, how are you doing today? Doing great today. Yourself? I'm doing well. Thank you. Well, I think you both looked stunning. So, you know, with with me rounding out the, the video screen here. I'm I'm probably dragging the the average down, but, Andy, we are glad you're here. You know, we we talked to a little bit about get this thing coordinated and we kinda shifted a few days around for schedules, but glad we're glad we're getting, to do it today. Before we get rolling, why don't you tell our listening audience a little bit about Andy Graham, what he does how he became what he is doing today. And I I think why you do it. You know, what's the driving for behind you other than that big blue paycheck that rolls through every couple of weeks. No. I I I'd love to do that. But first, I have to ask, you know, for doing these podcasts, do I get, One of those hats? Those are good. Great. Yeah. Because see a lot of people that do the podcast actually wear the hat. And unlike our producer who forgets hers from time to time. I always forget mine. It's on my desk. Yeah. Showing it for guessing every week, but otherwise, we're good. No. But going back to college, is kinda where it all started. I My senior project was actually on HVAC, and I just really enjoyed it. So I knew I knew I wanted to get into this market right out of college. And graduated from college back in ninety one, so it's been a few years. I I went to work for State General, which is you know, now I'm a equate. But, you know, I I worked there a year and a half and worked with designing air handlers and You know, back, that's kind of funny. We were just getting into designing the modular air handling units, which is what is the norm these days. Yeah. But, you know, Back then, they're all different sizes. Your fan section was one size. Your coil set different sizing that it uses look ugly. We pieced them together. But we're just getting into the uniform casing size, and that's what I worked on. And also talk to vendors around the country is you know, for their special needs changing their handler to fit their needs. And after a year, I'm like, boy, I'd I'd rather be on the other end of this instead of designing the unit go into the application, I wanna be installing these units and getting to the contracting world. Let me jump in and ask. Macquay was based in Minneapolis. Is that right? It still is. Oh, their their headquarters are still in in Plymouth, Minnesota. Okay. And, yep, they have a large facility there, a large test facility lab they test all their equipment. Yep. It's based right here. And their handlers are manufactured in Minnesota too. A lot of the other manufacturers on the country. But it was a great place to start. But then I wanted to get into contracting. So I went to work for a small a service contractor in town that also had a, you know, a construction branch to serve their their service customers. And I latched on to, one of the salesman there's name was Doug Oaks. Unfortunately, Doug's along with us. He passed a few years ago, but he really taught me the trade as far as You know, I don't wanna use the word hustling, but, you know, getting out there and meeting people and forming relationships and doing repeat business with the same people over and over And just what it takes to survive in this industry, you know, it's not just looking at a couple jobs a week and, you know, hope they go. I mean, it's looking at a couple jobs a day. And putting those pricing together and he taught me the race that, you know, it's not a nine to five job. It's probably a a six to six job for a lot of days. But, you know, I really I love the race, I love the challenge. And, you know, what I still love about it today is every day is unique. I look at a different different challenge every day, and you think you've seen it all, and you have it. I mean, just yesterday, not to jump too far ahead. I'll get back. I was asked to design a a cannabis growing room since that's the new thing. It's legal here. You know, I've never designed the cannabis growing room in the different conditions for the stage. So it's always there's always a new challenge. But, you know, I worked at that company for about five and a half years, then they actually just got small for me. I wanted to start getting to some bigger jobs, and they didn't have the manpower to handle it. And You know, they also, you know, didn't like work with General Contractors. That was a bad name to them. They like working all direct owner stuff. And I know, from talking to other people, if you get good relationships with the general contractors, they can actually be great contractors also or great customers also. So I went to work for the big boys in town here, back in ninety eight. And, you know, that's where I met my future business partner, Mike Renstrom. And we really clicked on the way we like through business. Very ethical, honest with our customers, you know, we form relationships. And we'll we'll talk more about this as the, you know, because it's it's how I see you being successful in this industry is relationships in multiple levels. But we we both had the same input, and Mike and I just thought a lot alike. And, he left there at all one I left there no two and we came here in modern, together and bought this building or bought this building and bought the company and You know, we haven't done too bad. It's two thousand ten. We have ten times the company size, and, grew a pretty good thing here. But, you know, I don't have any business degree so learned a lot of this on the fly as far as what it's like to have, you know, to go from twelve employees to now I gotta control a hundred and thirty four. Employees today and, you know, just kinda learned all that on the flight, but it's it's been a lot of fun this this whole growth pattern. And then obviously, you know, developing an exit strategy back in two thousand fourteen, when we determined none of the employees you wanted to buy us how you you know, vetting some companies out there, you know, talking to service logic for the first time was probably late fourteen. And I think spring of four swing of fifteen Greg is when you came up here, where we met down at the hotel down by the airport, for the first time. And then, you know, sold the business, but, you know, I'm still president today here nine years later and, you know, just just loving this industry, loving this business. Well, that is one heck of a a success story. Andy, you know, it's odd that It's not odd. It's frequently talked about on this show, intentionally and non intentionally or unintentionally that this relationship, it it or this business is all about relationships. And and we highlight those we talk about those. And it's so cool of how our industry and, you know, we talked to other people in the industry, but, obviously, the there's a bias in our in our episodes to the the trade because that's hell, that's all I know. You know, so naturally, there's a lot of people in the industry. I do have a a buddy I'm gonna introduce you to in the cannabis environmental control business. So I'm a send you a email later because he's just a great resource to have. He'll give me in trouble now with the guy running that one. This this is all legal stuff. So, but the the people really do, you know, you you mentioned mister Oakes earlier and then Renstrom, you know, who I know, Mike, as well. And, you know, I think about the folks that are at Modern now that I know your people and You know, there there's a certain, you know, people use the word culture. I call it culture vibe, mojo, whatever you wanna call that thing, but you guys have that thing there. And I love to come up there in the spring and summer, by the way. It it's the feeling. You know, last time we were up, we did the, it was the the one day safety where you didn't have, you know, half the company did one day, half the other. But just that, that familial, brotherly thing, sisterly thing that y'all have going is really special, but that is is, you know, developed and formulated and and nourished by you guys at the at the top of the organization. Where do you think you know, where did that come from for you? Did you grow up in a family like that? Or did you see, you know, in your early days of school or your early days of work, where did that where did that little punch come from if you know? I do know. It's kinda funny. So when I was sixteen, I worked at a private golf club, worked at a private golf course. So when you're in a private golf course, you have every personality there. I mean, you have your people with tons of money that are super nice. You have your people with tons of money that, you know, ours is nice for try to keep this a, you know, PG. But, you know, you have to deal with lots of different types of people. You know, and There was a great experience as a sixteen seventy. I was just dealing with all these different personalities and, you know, how do work with each of them and how to be friends with them because then you're in tips. And it it really helped me, you know, in life going forward because, you know, I always call our in our business, you have to be kind of a chameleon. Because in a single day, I can be meeting with a building engineer, who, you know, may have finished high school, maybe not. I can be dealing with a property manager who's got a, you know, master's degree, and I'm dealing with, CEO of cargo, which is one of the largest private corporations in the country, you know, all in one day, and you have to be able to fit in with all of them And it really you know, that whole relationship thing just as a young kid really I mean, part of it was natural. Just being Minnesota. Nice. But, you know, it it is a learning experience because you can learn really quick. If you say something wrong to the wrong person, It can it can turn a situation very fast. And you just learned how to not do that the next time. Yeah. It it's, the chameleon in in our business, you know, and and that's not meant as a derogatory term. I I'll look at that as being able to to move swiftly and think on your feet because you have these different situations that arise. You know, you can you can be true and blue to your your beliefs and your morals, you may just have to verbalize them a bit differently depending on who you're with. Right. And, you know, like, I can I'm not a big hunter or fisherman, but I can talk that all day long with people that wanna talk that. You know, these days, I try to stay away from political stuff because that's got so divided in this country. I don't wanna go there in this conversation, but, you know, it's it is. It's be a chameleon. And, you know, the whole right ship thing, Greg, You know, my salesman are sick of hearing about it almost, but that's good. Cause, you know, it sounds too easy. Right? Well, You can get in and be successful in this business with just the right ship. You can't. And when I say you can't, meetings, when I talk to our sales people, it's You may have a good relationship with somebody, and that might lead to a good year, but it's not gonna lead to repeated success. If you have relationships with multiple people at multiple levels, and what I mean by that is, you know, I the number of relationships you have to have is huge. I mean, you have to have you have to know your billing engineers. You have to know your property managers. You got to know your general contractors. But doesn't stop there at outside customers. You have building owners, you have your accounting staff here in the office, who are some of the most important people, You have the field superintendents, the field foreman. You know, they're all working for you. And the people I see successful that have five, six layers relationships can have repeat success year after year after year. The people that only have one or two of those relationship levels have a good year, Level down for a couple years, peak up for a couple years. They just don't have that continued success. And, you know, I can speak it till my face is blue. But it takes a lot of work to form those relationships at all of those different levels. And, you know, it's what I preach and is what we push here modern and the people that do it do it well. And I think that's part of the reason where, you know, I feel lucky going to some of our service logic meetings and I stand up there some years, and I haven't had turnover in the last year. I mean, I've had managers in the same positions now for ten plus years at these levels. I've had project managers here for ten plus years. You know, thankfully, we just don't get a lot of turnover here because we've developed that type of people. We test for that type of person. And it's really created a business here that just boomed here and not coming out of COVID. Well, it's fun to watch, you know. Just just You you may have noticed this or or have thought about it. And the last, October annual president's meeting, we did. It's remarkable in a good way to me to see the incoming crop or or, cohort of young presidents and and vice presidents that we have into these businesses. And most of those, if not all of those, are homegrown people. Meaning they grew up in that organization. And it's so rewarding to me as, you know, on the on the backside of my career. To see these young folks coming in and young being forty forty five. Yeah. These folks coming in with such vigor and and they're steeped in their their company's history and and they're not bolted on. They they get the flow of the business. It's like Chad at your business. It's like Eddie in your business. Those guys know the flow of the business. So, you know, if if you have to be out or, you know, somebody else is out. The business doesn't take a huge hit. Yes. There's always a hit when somebody has to go away for a bit or is sick or what have you. But the business perpetuates because everybody knows how modern operates or how you know, acme company operates, it is that feel as a tribal knowledge that's so important But you don't get that perpetuation if people aren't happy and and enjoy working where they work because they look at, okay, Amy's hour you know, Rob's out. Well, that's probably not a good one, but, if if if anybody's out, Business carries on. It's not all we get to get this crew off today, you know, because they know the mission, and that's so important. It is, and it's been it's been a really fun part of growing this business. You know, back in two thousand fifteen, when we approached my service logic, I mean, it was Mike and I, you know, the two business partners that did seventy percent of the revenue for this business. Right. And, you know, part of growing a business is having a succession plan. So this thing continues, continues to grow, and we can you know, remain successful. And, you know, right now, you know, nine years later here, with, you know, the guidance of some great people at service logic behind us, you know, we've developed that. And I'm excited for this company going forward. I mean, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. But You know, I have people right now in their mid forties that are ready to ready to take over. I have people in mid upper thirties that are just driven to know tomorrow. They're probably the next generation of leaders, you know, ten, fifteen years down the road. And like you said, Greg, it was fun seeing some of the new leaders, at this group. I mean, there's There's some brilliant minds out there and and and some great people. And bolting on a new president into a company to me, it's always a risk. It brings a different it can bring a whole new vibe to a company. And, you know, there's risk to that. We're here. I mean, I see you I'll have pride twenty years from now if I still see modern growing the way it is today and saying, hey, this is what what I infused into the company and and why it's continuing to grow today is because of these standards, these moral standards that we had you know, and it it will get better continue on. Well, you know, as service logic continues to grow and we're seventy five hundred people or some some number around there right now. It's so important that we keep the the number one thing, number one, which is the people and the local vibe and the local culture. And I think that well, I know for a fact we work hard to do that. But you have to keep working at it because, you know, the the larger you get, the more group think you get. And our job is is at service logic is to make sure that all the companies have the autonomy to do their thing locally because there's nothing like you knowing your local market because nobody that sits in Charlotte, North Carolina knows your market like you do nor will they ever So that's really that's really fun to to see. I wanna talk a little bit about, how you're continuing to find quality people. You're a union contractor. So you have, sheet metal, plumbers, pipe footers, everything. Those are different locals, typically. How do you how do you guys, like, I I don't wanna say this the wrong way. But when you get a group of people in, how does the natural evolution of filtering out the undesirable is occur? Is that a self policing thing among the field? How does that work for you guys? Let's talk about this in two ways because we have office personnel. Obviously, we're trying to fight a field personnel. Let's start with field. Hill, right now, we're in a good situation and we have a great great reputation that we actually have some people calling here. Yeah. Just saying, hey, do you guys have any openings of modern? You know, you know, the sheet metal halls here and the pipe fitting holes here are are our hiring also. We can't solicit work. You know, guys can't just move here automatically. They have to go through the hall and they don't always get placed here, because other companies might have openings, but You know, that vetting process is, you know, we have good superintendents in place, and, you know, people wanna come here. And we have a lot of employees here that tell the new people to Well, you're lucky to be here. I've been at five different shops in town or six different shops, and this is by far the best. Because I do give a lot of freedom to our field guys. You know, I have a lot of trust in our field guys. You know, we don't monitor their day to day. We just know we can look at productivity and know if works get done or not. And we have good productivity, but the self vetting our field guys do, because they all know our standard. You know, if someone's not working hard and living up to it within two, three weeks, they're probably going back to the hall. And we're lucky to have a good haul here that we still have labor available. The only place we don't have labor available is in service. There's no service techs, and so we have to learn how to grow our own a little bit on that or just really watch what we sell so we don't I'll kick our coverage. Right. But, you know, as far as the other trades, it really is a self vetting thing that, you know, you have a reputation of being a great contractor to work for. And that helps bring good people here. I love it when we have our company parties and honestly, Greg, I'm not trying to slap my back, but we've had at least twenty people talk to me the last couple of years to say, It's the best place I've ever worked for. He says you guys are just different. I'd like to describe that different, better if I could, but I can't. I just this is the only way to order a new business. So I'm curious how these other businesses run because it's like, wow, they're really that bad to work for. He said they're they're really they're a person here, they're a name, and mean, I try to know every employee here. It gets harder when you have a hundred and thirty. And I used to know a lot about everyone's families, and I can't quite do that anymore. But it's it is I try to make it very personal. That's where the relationship even unless, you know, a new employee comes in. You try to find some stuff about them and you keep in touch with them and you try to know who's having problems at home. Maybe with a sick wife or a sick kid. And I reach out every two or three days for some of those people just to find out. And they said other companies just don't do that. But that's the only way I I know it. And, but it does really help bring good people here and just and having, you know, and this is where Chad Good has done an amazing job He's our vice president of construction. Well, Blake his name out where he can get a big hit. Okay. Yeah. But he's got great superintendents in place to do that do the right job that vet these people out, pretty quickly because they know our standard. And, and, and that's my great. Now the office It's tough. It's a it's it's it's much harder finding off some office employees right now to keep trying to grow. So And, you know, we've tried the ads and you make it a one and thirty hit, one and forty hit of someone that's qualified. Think every employee we have here monitoring now we were just talking about this last week is a relationship that someone had or knew someone in another company that's just maybe not happy right now. And thankfully, that happens often enough where they're working somewhere, but they're not happy. And they say, hey, come over here. It's a great culture. You'll love it. You'll be successful. And So we're able to transfer people over here and they come in, you know, they take a six months to settle in to the new regime because I don't have They're always like, what's your policy for this? I'm like Do the right thing. Yeah. What's your policy for this? Do the right thing. Yeah. We don't have books and books of policies and But it's like, you know, I give I always call it. I give everyone a six lane highway to drive in, not a two lane, which I think giving them that flexibility and freedom actually makes them a stronger person. And, you know, they're willing to work hard for you that way. But bringing office people over is a challenge. And then, you know, you have to be careful sometimes because some of these guys think they're really good. You know, if they're asking for the world, sometimes it makes me a little cautious right away. It's like most people The terms I like to use are humble and hungry. If someone comes in and just says, hey, I'm willing to come over for this, and I'll be able to do this for you. I mean, that's what she wants. I'm more of a prove it person that, you know, hey, we're gonna pay you good. Now just show us you can do it. And just don't come for this huge salary that sends your expectations, you know, way up high. But it's it's been fun finding people to grow this and you know, thankfully, I don't have anyone in the office retiring this year. I have one next year and one, two years from now replace, but it's not a We're we're pretty young. Right now, which is fun. So we got a good group that can grow here for years, but, you know, it's It's a fun challenge in this market. I don't even know where to go with all that other than it's really fun to watch it from my, you know, I get to jut in a couple of times a year and see the it's probably think about it, like, your kids know you're little every day, and you don't get to see these leaps forward because you're watching the incremental movement, but, like, I come up there once or twice a year, It's like holy crap, you know, you can, like, really see a substantial leap or substantial growth or what have you in any certain way. It's really fun. And then all your retiring folks, what what is is honorable about that to me is that Your folks think enough of you to tell you their retirement plans twelve or twenty four months ahead of time so that they can be active in that, back filling up their position, as opposed to walking in one day and say, hey, in two weeks. I'm out of here, you know. It that that two week deal is what happens at crappy companies when people are ready to go and They're just like whatever. I'm out anyway. But having people that genuinely are interested in the company moving forward without them. And to your point, while ago, you said it really well. In twenty years from now, you you wanna be able to look at the company and still see and be proud. Most people feel that way when they're happy and they're in their job and what the happy people are are they're happy with the people that they get to work with. So I think that's a testament to the you know, the mo I call it mojo. I don't know what the hell other people call it, but that's what it is for me. There, Greg. And, you know, So one of my biggest pride was, you know, because as we grew, obviously, I had to scale back. You know, I can't run forty projects a week, month, you know, and be out there bedding day to day. I mean, someone needed to focus on this company. And, you know, so I've there's still a few customers I work direct with, but y'all I've scaled back and handed most of my accounts off to people. And I loved hearing the man, this new guy you got is just great. This new guy You have has the same personality you do. I mean, you do have a couple times that, hey, I'd love work with this guy, but you're still gonna be there, right, for some of the technical stuff because you know, being our professional engineer on staff, a lot of things do run through me. I'm like, nope. I'm still here to help with all the design and stuff. There is there to run the day today, and I always said they're gonna do a lot better job than I can because I'm getting pulled fifty directions and they're only getting pulled twenty. So, you get better service from them and just turning accounts over, you know, takes time. And that's what we're having this year because personalities are different. There's no two people alike. That's what's fun. But it can be a challenge because some of these people, you know, we're trying to find the right mentality, personality, to turn these accounts over to. And so we're talking to our project manager saying, what's this customer like? You know, what are his hot buttons? You know, some people wanna be responded to within an hour. Some people wanna respond to it that a day. Some people wanna be seen once a week. Some people wanna be called once a week. Some people say, don't bug me. I'll call you on OS here. You know, you have to learn how everyone you know, everyone works and to have that time to turn those relationships over so we can move on seamlessly, you know, is vital to future success. Because, you know, don't fool yourself. Your competition's calling our customers every day. Every day. You know, all these for lack of a better term cold callers or the the correct term nowadays business development people. For those of you listening, if your term's business development, if you call my number, leave a message, I'll never call you back. But, But, you know, it's we're all there getting targeted every day. I mean, I had one of our vendors come in a couple weeks ago and said, I mean, you guys just have a target on your chest. They say, How does modern get so much work in Minneapolis? I said relationships. I just left it at that. And and, but, you know, you you do have to you know, getting these turnover, like you said, Greg, is vitally important, but it it's it it's fun to watch. And, you know, it's You know, it's where we need to go. And one of the things too that you mentioned earlier, and I don't wanna get us some personal things here, but you go, I missed a lot of time early this year. And watching this place not skip a beat. It gave me a lot of pride and joy. You know, it it really did and everyone stepped up and they know my expectations. They know this, did everything go perfect? No. I mean, which they were trying to make me feel needed. But, you know, who's coming back, it really was easy to jump back in. And just this company just kept rolling, you know, with with with me being limited here. The first couple months of this year was It was it was a proud moment, actually. You know, you don't wanna say you're proud of being sick, but it was a proud moment to watch those places continue moving on. And we had you know, twenty twenty three was modern, the best year in history. And, you know, so it's a testament to the employees here for that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Minneapolis got a big old black guy, kind of a big old mess a couple of years ago. How has the city and it come back and what what's different in the Not so much the socioeconomical sense, but what in business life? You're because the a a bulk are a big portion of your work is downtown. It is. How is unaffected, modern? And and how have y'all learned to cope with the whatever you wanna call the new deal is. It really changed us as a company too, not only downtown, you know, with a lot of the major corporations just totally wanting to stay down out of downtown the first six months because of danger. Yeah. You know, and then, you know, COVID followed right with you know, the whole George Flight situation that, you know, some major corporations pulled out a hundred percent like Target corporation pulled out of entire thirty story office building, moved people to the suburbs, and it really changed the vibe there. Through the Skyways, even today. And I'd say eighty percent of businesses are closed. Maybe it's seventy now, especially in some buildings, and it's just It's a sad feel. But it it's coming back slowly. There's maybe at fifty percent people working downtown right now. And, you know, getting the people back, it it's safe. We haven't had any employees encounter any issues. I really don't think safety is the driving issue anymore. Right now, I think it's the whole new hybrid work environment that a lot of larger professional corporations have established. Yeah. You know, accountants, lawyers, stuff can do the work, not being in their office. Whereas, you know, our our business, you have to be here. When you're in the customer service industry, you gotta it's more of a face to face right on the back. But it's biggest thing has changed, Greg. We used to be half our work downtown Minneapolis, half our work in the suburbs. Now we're eighty percent in the suburbs, eight, maybe even eighty five and fifteen, twenty percent downtown. Wow. And But as leases come up, what's happening, you know, because most buildings are ten year leases, these headed sign. So when the lease is coming up, they're downsizing. But what drives some business is they don't usually just remodel their space. They're in. They get a new space remodeled and just make the move over a weekend. So it doesn't disrupt business. And so we're still building on space. Is there a smaller? You know, there is a drive to get more businesses downtown, but really where the boom is downtown right now is some of these billing to turn into multifamily housing. So people aren't scared to be downtown. There's a lot of people moving so the the nightlife starting to come back and the restaurants downtown because of all the people living down there. But, you know, just the office environment's still just a lot different. You know, you don't have to wait in line for half hour to get lunch, you know, it might be ten minutes. And things like that at at business. But and so we've, you know, which helped us survive as our general contractor had to survive. And they followed the workflow or to the suburbs and, you know, the manufacturing industry, for example, is booming. People can't make stuff fast enough right now. I mean, there's still a shortage and, you know, they're always buying new equipment. They're always buying, you know, expanding right now. To to make stuff faster, make stuff bigger. And, you know, so when we're adding a lot of codes there, so a lot of our businesses has moved from downtown into the suburbs. But, you know, being downtown is still vitally important for us because that's where our general's office. It's funny walking to Skyways right now. It's slap Chad's back again. We walked to lunch here a couple weeks ago. He saw, like, five people in the skyway that he stopped and shook hands with. You know, and and that's why it's important to be down there. And I mean, there was property managers, there's other GCs, you know, and and just being being being seen down there is is vitally important, but there's still You know, it's gonna come back. I I'm an optimist. It's still, you know, sitting there's nothing like sitting on a thirty four story office looking out that window and having that office base compared to a six story building in the suburbs. Yeah. You know, I I I do think it's gonna come back and rents are gonna start probably coming down a bit because they have to for vacancies, and we'll just we'll see where it all goes. You know, I'm not economist way, but, you know, I I'm an optimist that, you know, life's gonna come back. It's just gonna take many years. Another lease cycle, probably. Yeah. The converting high rise into residential is such, easy sounding thing to do if you're looking at it from, you know, the the public perspective. What I think about it, and I think about how many dang cores there must be for plumbing to go into a slab to accommodate residential in a high rise that was built for offices. Other than so naturally, I think about plumbing, I think about, you know, air distribution and zoning. And how how challenging is that? Is that a is that a is it cut and dried after you kinda get your head around it, or is it a well, how how do you view it? Well, it's not cut and dry, and it's it's different from what we do on a day to day basis to the point where We really don't. We stay out of that market. Okay. It it's it's really a very competitive market. There's a few companies in town that specialize in it. And it's just something that we don't have that specialty. And so when those get converted, we don't in the buildings, we see it happening in Greg is where mechanicals are old and obsolete. So they're really just kind of gutting all the mechanical and, you know, a lot of them going through the, you know, through the wall air conditioning units you know, hot water heat for the rooms and just going very simple for that. But it the plumbing is a huge part of it. Yeah. But we've really stayed out of that multifamily housing market. It's just It's not who we are. It's not what we're good at, and I've learned to stay in our sandbox and get outside of a bunch and get in trouble. Yeah. The beach sentence to get on the floor mats when you, start trees in rural areas you shouldn't be. Yep. Well, tell us, What what do you view? What's the horizon look like for modern? You know, you you, have this outlook and a positive outlook, which I freaking love. What what is your one year view? You know, what does twenty four look like? We've got this election coming up. You know, how how is I going to impact this financially? What what's your what's your update or, outlook on the two one, two years for me a crystal baller gets a little foggy some days right now because you just, you know, I don't think I don't think there's a person out there that's excited for this election, to be honest with you. Yep. But You know, the good news is, like, I've always told people, there's we got really good people in good positions elsewhere on the country that, you know, anyone leader is not gonna bring us down no matter which side which side of the fence you're on. Yep. But I'm still very optimistic. I mean, you know, you know, talking to these manufacturers, they're still getting lots of orders. We're still we're still budgeting a lot of large replacement projects. You know, companies are very fiscally successful right now. Yep. And so there I mean, I I'm still optimistic where we kinda go. I mean, we've had a great start to this year already Yeah. For for bookings. And, you know, I just see twenty twenty four as a, you know, we'll continue to draw off twenty three. Right now, twenty five You know, if I listen to some people, makes me nervous because they're like, you know, what's gonna happen if this guy gets elected, if this other guy gets elected, But I have I have all the confidence in the world that for all the different levels of leaders in place that, you know, business leaders are gonna plow forward no matter who you know, you know, who who's leading us at the top. But I see, you know, like I said, I don't see a massive slowdown coming just because There's a lot of companies. They're still sitting on a lot of record cash. No. Right now. And there's still a lot of pent up demand out there for equipment. People just backed off in twenty two and replaced up because the price increases were happening every three, four months. And things out of whack, And, you know, we're starting to see a little of that correct right now. Would it be about correcting it? Pricing isn't going down. It's just not no. We're starting to get back to just one price increase a year. Type of thing that, you know, now they can actually budget something and know that'll be the price next year. Right. So now we could actually budget jobs for twenty five, which we're doing already. For some customers. And so they can start putting it into their budgets to get some large equipment replaced, and upgrade. So, you know, I'm a glass half full guy, Greg. I I still see great business opportunities here in twenty four and twenty five, and I haven't seen any indication of you know, a slowdown other than there was an article this weekend in our local paper. There's one of the largest class a office complexes in the suburbs. Is defaulting on their tax payments right now for twenty three because, you know, lack of occupancy in their buildings. So is that gonna be start a little trickle effect? I don't know. But, you know, those buildings are gonna start to devalue And, you know, what's gonna happen then? I don't know. But overall, I I I see pretty good pretty good forecast ahead. Well, it's remarkable, Your backlog growing, our company and general's backlog growing. I I I saw a report this morning that just blew me away that Shane Corbett puts out every week. It's like holy crap. It just it's like the gift that keeps giving And then you've got this, you know, impending election and people worried about it, like, to your point, whichever way you look at it, it's kinda like a you know, like, a white grape or red grape, but it's still a grape. So and then the market is booming, stock market, you know, it's booming. So you got all this really cool fun stuff, manufacturing it full till. People work in seven twenty four building stuff. And then you got this negative cloud, but what we don't seem to care. We just keep plowing. So it's a really, I don't know. It was a fun time to me to to be alive, a, and to be participatory in all this fun. But who the heck knows? You know, it's like, We can all make these assumptions about what it's gonna be, but, Tom will tell, but it'll be fun to to see that happen. No. I'm part of the fun too, Greg, is as you've witnessed, and, you know, we just had a seminar on it last week on some of the new technology that are out there. I mean, you know, when I got into this industry from, like, ninety one to two thousand, I think I sold the same model number, condensing unit, rooftop units for ten years. Right. You know, things just didn't change much. Now I'm selling a different model number. Every year or two. Yeah. Whether it be carrier, diachen, train, all the major manufacturers. I mean, they're They're continually getting more efficient units. They're continuing to get refrigerants or more earth friendly And it it's it's kinda fun to change it. It keeps your it keeps your head in the game because you have to be following this stuff so you don't get behind other people. And, you know, the technology we talked about last week's really really need to to increase efficiencies at a really low cost. And it's you know, there's some neat stuff happening out there that's, you know, it keeps the whole guy like me, you know, continuing to learn because it's, you know, the city of Laurel because Ross, all these young kids are gonna come up and pass me by, you know? No. That's a great topic because I think the you know, when we talk about crooting. Again, we talk about awareness of the trades and all a lot on here. And I think the more that, we are embracing technology and embracing different veins of science. The more interesting it is for people to get involved and to your point, you know, to sell a carrier fifty d d double o five for twenty seven years, then the only thing that changed was the thirty, fourth digit, and the serial number, that gets boring, you know. But when you've got new technology, you know, VRF, VRV coming into the market controls continuing to get more and more embedded in our life and then the building whole the building proper. I think that's intriguing to younger people to to have a look at us to see, okay, you're not just crawling you know, the first thing people think about HVAC is crawling through somebody's attic. I've never been on a freaking attic for pay. You know, I've been in an attic over here Besides my bonus room, working on my crop, but I've never earned a living doing attic or basement work residential wise, But there's so much to offer. And I think that this this trend toward open mindedness, efficiency gains just bodes well for our future because in twenty years, you know, we've got to have the new push of of folks coming through that are, you know, gen z, gen y right now, are gonna be in the positions that you and I are in the twenty year. It is great, and it's not just equipment efficiency. Yeah. It's labor efficiencies because, you know, even this isn't a phenomenal career, and that could be a whole other topic, we have to do we have to be very smart in the field, and what I mean by that is more prefab. Do you do more prefab in a controlled environment? Because you really can control your output because in some of these jobs, we're working at it. I mean, we're working on live people. You know, you're you're soldering, so there's some smoke. And then then they have smoke detectors. You gotta get covered in the day. And, you know, you gotta pull a hot work permit and, you know, all this stuff that goes along with it. We're if we can do all this in our shop and ship out large pieces and just a few welds in the field and we're done. Yeah. You know, that and that's where I see the world really changing is, you know, we just had a job at Mall of America here couple weeks ago, we did a job. Of course, it was one of the coldest nights of the year. It was ten below, one of our few nights in the year. We rigged forty foot lengths of ductwork dollar shaft, you know, to get from a roof down and all pre manufactured and when they came in twenty foot lengths here, then we bolted them on there, and it's we put those all in in one night. Yep. You know, a bunch And I see that being the biggest thing in the future now is this, Billy, how can you be born field efficient as well as energy efficient. Yep. And It it is a it's a fun challenge. The only way to stay competitive. You know, I I've said it before. I I'm excited for our industry. I'm excited for for the new folks who are becoming exposed to it. I'm a little bit envious that, you know, some of the cool stuff that Our folks have to work with now. We I wish we would've had back in the day, but that's not evolution of of any industry. You know, you've you've got a compound, you know, I was gonna say this a while ago when you're talking about being out. And handing over some work, relationship wise just because you're doing more, presidential stuff you don't have time. But the beauty of what you told your customers when you said, no, I'm still gonna be here. To me, That's compounding the knowledge of the company because now you've got, you know, maybe four people that are outreaching to your former customers, but you're still there as needed. So, you know, you basically four times your ability by having more and more people out there representing you and modern and us. I just I love that. So that you kinda springboard the company based off of the foundation that you've helped form. I mean, that's just it's a it's a beautiful thing. Thank you, Greg. No. It's nice to thanks for the help of it. We haven't talked the darn thing about you or your young ones or what y'all like to do, but are y'all are y'all outdoors people? Do y'all like camp or fish or hike or any of the? Hiking. Just be outside. My my wife was a master gardener. So we we actually just bought a property last year. Some people think we're crazy at our age, but, we have over a hundred apple trees. We have a little orchard. So get to go out there and putts around and, you know, if I can be outside doing the hard work all day, it doesn't bother me at all. I I really enjoy it. Just being outdoors is big. We have dogs, golden retrievers. So we love to go for long walks, hikes in the woods, and, you know, just being outside. And then finishing the evening with a nice glass of wine drink. I mean, there's a perfect day right there. But, you know, and then obviously, I love the golf. My wife's learning how to golf, but our, you know, I have two kids and one's a sophomore in college, one's a senior in high school. So next fall, we have to experience our first, empty nest. So we'll have some weekends free, and we'll, you know, we love to travel also. So maybe get away long weekends and stuff would be a lot easier. Well, without having you know, if some aren't alive, sometimes you don't trust a seventeen, you know, girl home alone for four nights You don't know what your houses are like when you come home. But, it's a fun part of life to be coming up on here to have a little more freedoms and do some of the things we like. But, you know, I do there's a lot I love about Minnesota. We're kinda gonna be laying our roots here till I think that's where families gonna be, but seeing the rest of the country and the rest of the world is a is important to us also. Just it's it's a good eye opener. Well, I am glad that, you get to a go experience that. That's, as fun. You know, it was kinda like the another chapter, you know, for for lack of a better word that companies in good shape. Y'all are in good shape. Kid job at the house and he held us a victory in a lot of households. Yep. And, you know, thirty two years of marriage. That's not a not a bad number either, you know. How many? Thirty two. You know what I call that? A rookie. Ricky. What are you? This month, let's see. In in thirteen days or ten days from now will be thirty eight years. Okay. And, she's always got me trained, she says. I never. Well, Andy, this has been a a great great time with you. I've enjoyed talking to you. I haven't learned anything new, but you have reiterated so many of the to things that I think about you as a person and that I think about your company that you've built in the quality folks that you've surrounded yourself with. I just You know, I love your people. And they, you know, they're they're special to me, and I have a ball with them. And it's just Good mojo, as I said earlier. No. It's been great talking to you too, Greg. And, you know, I'll say it again just like you're one of my salesmen. I mean, this whole relationship thing. It's just we talk about it almost monthly. To the point, you know, where my guys are like, come on. I mean, it's like that I found out they're not doing it. You know, on certain jobs, it'd be like, Why don't you know this engine building engineer? It's part of the job. So, you know, it's it's important. You push it and, you know, it's a it's a key to success. On the road. So but this has been fun, you know, first ever podcast. I think I did okay. It was fun. Well, gabby, here we are. Shrunching up on the old top of the hour again like we always do. So if you could, be so kind to to wrap this up for us, and, we just so much appreciate Andy being with us today. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, Andy, as Greg said, Thank you so much for joining us today. It has been great talking with you and learning about you know, what your strategy is and what your life looks like. I think it's awesome that you have an apple orchard to just go hang out in. I'm extremely jealous of that. But it's been really great learning about you and You did fantastic for your first ever podcast episodes, so that is super exciting. And we'd love to have you back some time to be on podcast your podcast number too. Well, we we did that. And it's phenomenal if you so I gotta go one more thing. So Apple butter on cinnamon ice cream? Oh, my god. Oh, yes. It's telling you, oh, look, Moi fix this great apple butter and you put a little bit on cinnamon ice cream and it so good. So anyways. Alright. So now I'm hungry. It is coming up on the lunch hour. So I guess I'll I'll have her lunch Yeah. Right. Well, unfortunately, I won't be having apple butter, but that sounds so amazing. I would love some of that. Yeah, Andy. Thank you again. It's been such a pleasure getting to know you. And as for all of our other listeners, thank you so much for joining us for another episode of straight out of Crumpton. For more episodes like this, don't forget to subscribe through Apple or Spotify Podcasts, and Check out Greg crumpton dot com for all of your Greg crumpton content.