Tips For Remodeling Your New Home To Save Money And Avoid Surprises

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:13 to 00:00:28

Yo. Hello, everybody. Mike mills with verity mortgage here. Today is open day, so we may not have a lot of people watching this live today, but we'll do the best we can. If you ever need a mortgage, a pre, approval, you're looking to buy or sell your house, please give me a call.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:29 to 00:00:45

Otherwise, let's move on to the show. We won't do too many boring stuff related to commercials. So today I'm welcoming a good friend of mine and a guy that's done a lot of work for us in the past that I really think is an awesome human being. And that's Mr. Aaron Robertson with all integrity contracting.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:00:45 to 00:00:55

What's going on, everybody? Thank you, Mike, for having me here today just to chat it up and talk about what's going on. Yes, absolutely, man. I'm glad you came in. I wanted to bring you in.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:00:56 to 00:01:36

So, just a little background on how I know aaron. So we met, I don't know, it's been a couple of years now that we got to know each other, and my wife and I did a show for it's not HGTV magnolia network something, what it was called. And we were looking for a contractor. And the story of this was we had reached out to one group to do the work for us in this remodel on a house that we bought in cedar creek lake for this show. And we had gotten the show booked several weeks or several months in advance, really, and had reached out to an initial contractor we got referred to to give us a bid, and the bid took forever.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:01:37 to 00:02:06

There was dragging their feet on how much this was going be and how much that was going to be, and it took a really long time to get the bid in. And we got to the point to where we were getting close to having to start filming the show, and we had no idea what the cost was going to be or when they could start the work and what all was going to be involved. And then about a week before we were supposed to start shooting, we got to bid. And it was insane, to say the least, on what they were charging. Now, granted, was a little bit of sticker shock.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:02:06 to 00:02:42

Whenever you get a lot of remodel work done and you're looking to try to figure out, because everybody kind of starts aaron probably knows this. We all start up here with all these ideas on what we want to do, and then when the bill actually shows up, then we kind of start knocking that down a little bit because everybody's eyes are bigger than their stomach or their wallets, as the case may. Um, so I reached out to a friend of mine to ask for another referral if anybody knew of someone that did great work. And she gave me Aaron's contact information. And within a week, aaron had and his partner, kyle had come out and bid the house.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:02:42 to 00:03:14

So they went out, they looked at it, they measured everything, and then they went out and sent us a bid within like five days. And it was about half of what the other company was going to charge us. So it was zero doubt in my mind, not to mention the person that referred him to me, somebody I trust a lot and is very locked in on this kind of stuff. So they came out, they did a fantastic job on the property. They knocked everything out exactly on budget, even, maybe even a little bit less than what we thought it was going to be, based off the work that we had initially requested.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:03:14 to 00:03:59

We added a few things to it, but for the most part, and we've been thrilled with them ever since. I've referred them to my sister, my mom, everybody I could possibly think of, because I think his group, they do such a fantastic job, and I think that's a really hard thing to find whenever you're dealing with contractors these days. So that's why I brought him in, because I really wanted to kind of promote his business and let everybody know what he does and then also have some questions for him on what homeowners. And we do this show primarily gauged towards realtors on what to look for when you're trying to buy a house, what kind of costs could be involved in different types of repairs and all that kind of stuff. So that's just a long winded way of saying I appreciate you coming in and we can get rolling on this.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:03:59 to 00:04:22

So first off, I want to know, how did you even get into doing all this to begin with? Where did you start off? Well, I kind of had to grow up a little faster than most people. When I was 15, I didn't necessarily have the greatest home life or home experience. So for me, I wanted to work.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:04:22 to 00:04:36

I wanted to get free, I wanted to go forward. I wanted my own money, my own things. I wanted that freedom that I didn't necessarily get to experience growing up. So when I was 15, I kind of packed my bags and took off. There you go.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:04:36 to 00:04:55

Not necessarily the best thing to ever happen, but it has turned out quite amazing. Okay. I would say that moving out at such a young age, you get thrown into life really fast. So bills start racking up quick. Like, I didn't have a car, so I was working, working.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:04:55 to 00:05:15

I finally bought a car and then had to pay for phone insurance, groceries, stuff like that. So I really had to learn quick how to work. And at the time, being young, I didn't have a degree to work with. So the first thing I could do was labor jobs. And starting off doing labor jobs, I always had a different mindset.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:05:15 to 00:05:47

I loved asking questions. I loved to learn. So there wasn't ever a job that I got that I didn't immediately rise to the top in because that's my personality. Like I want to strive in whatever I do. And so being young, I got in these jobs and I didn't mind doing the small work or the dirty work, but while I was doing that, I was always keeping one eye on the leaders, the people that were above me, and I was asking questions and keeping their workstations clean.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:05:47 to 00:06:25

So getting into this work just started out me just trying to provide for myself and from there and just being willing to learn, never trying to be bigger than what I was, just having an open mind, asking questions. It has led me to this place now where I've gotten to learn over the years how to run a company, how to do the work, how to bid the jobs, how to be successful in what we're doing. And it all just started getting out young, learning it, but being open minded. So a lot of trial and error, I would imagine. Yes, that's how honestly, I don't know if there is a contractor that hasn't learned, it not trial and error.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:06:25 to 00:06:26

Right.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:06:29 to 00:06:43

How long did you do it before you decided that you were ready to kind of step out on your own and start trying to do some stuff by yourself? So I moved here. I'm from Louisiana. For anyone that's watching, I didn't know. And I moved here for college.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:06:43 to 00:06:58

I'm actually, in my family, the only person that really got to go to college. So I was actually the first person to graduate high school as well. Oh, wow. So it's a huge deal. I didn't know anything about college or really much of anything.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:06:58 to 00:07:13

You had to figure it out all on your own? I had to figure it. So I moved know, I just kind of felt an urge in my heart to come here to Texas, to this school that I had found. And so I started going there and I was working. Where'd you go to school?

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:07:13 to 00:07:34

I went to Christ for the Nations Bible College in Dallas, Texas. Okay. And so I was going there and after the first year of working there, I was working ballet, parking cars and stuff like that. And I was there three months, and within that three months I was already a manager. Like I was saying, it's part of my personality.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:07:34 to 00:08:00

Well, it's amazing how we were just talking about this before we went on because you were talking about trying to add people and going back to just doing you and your partner. But there's not a ton of people these days that really want to work real hard. Sure there are plenty of people out there that do, but the vast majority probably are looking for shortcuts. And when you take the type of personality that you have in that you came from nothing, essentially. Right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:08:01 to 00:08:29

And had to struggle the whole way through. So every opportunity that you got to make a little bit of money, scratch a little bit of something together and kind of move yourself up the ladder, you took full advantage of it. And so it doesn't take very long when you show up to a situation. And everybody else is kind of meh, as they call it, or Mid, as the kids call it these days. And then you show up and you're like, well, I'll do that, and I'll do that and I'll do that and I'll do that, and then all of a sudden, they're like, well, we want to get this guy in charge of other people because we want everybody else to permeate through that.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:08:29 to 00:08:43

Right? Yeah. And it doesn't even take half an effort. It's kind of sad now in our day and age that so many people want handouts and nobody wants to work for anything, and it's really sad. I hate to see it because I love working.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:08:43 to 00:09:05

I love working hard. It's like the accomplishment you get when you defeated something that most people can or something you thought you couldn't. And I just really enjoy that, but yeah, so I started there, and it just really wasn't working out. It's hard to find good workers, but it's also hard to find good leadership to work under. Yeah, absolutely.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:09:05 to 00:09:14

So they were treating me pretty poorly. Okay. They made me manager, but gave me. All the responsibility in the world. All the responsibility and no money.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:09:14 to 00:09:25

Yeah, they just gave you a title. Hey, congratulations. You're in charge of everybody, but you're still making the same amount of money. So I went up there and I was like, look, I'm closing, I'm opening. I'm running your team.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:09:25 to 00:09:46

And I was like, I deserve a manager's salary, like a manager's pay. And they're like, well, we can give you a dollar more. And I said, all right, I'm done. Yeah. Because if I'm not going to be valued there, then my hard work is there's no point in, you know so so from there, I got an opportunity because Kevin was actually working kevin?

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:09:46 to 00:10:12

I said Kyle earlier, kevin my business partner now was actually working with another guy. That is a good friend of mine who runs a construction company. And he was know, like, we're working with this know, he's been good to us. He's got good like that's right up my alley, because when I moved here, I didn't know anybody. I didn't have the opportunity to just go into construction or you didn't have.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:10:12 to 00:10:26

A bunch of connections. I had no connections. So I started working for this guy again. I moved up the ladder really fast. I was giving bids, meeting with the clients, picking up the materials, running the crews.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:10:27 to 00:10:56

And so I worked for him for about three and a half, four years of being in Texas, and that's where I really got my trial and error stage. I got to learn by being under somebody else's leadership, how to run a business, like how to do the bids, how to go and sell the job, how to time management, money management. And he's a good friend of mine. We butted heads a lot, I'm not going to lie. Yeah, that's not unusual.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:10:56 to 00:11:01

That happens. Yeah, for sure. But it worked out because but you. Learned a lot from him. I got to learn a lot, yeah.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:11:01 to 00:11:25

It wasn't always the best, but if you have a learning mentality, then no matter what situation you're in, whether good or bad, you're going to be learning something. Well, sometimes you learn how to do stuff, and sometimes you learn how not to do stuff. Exactly right. Yeah. So I got to learn a lot, and I'm very thankful for it, looking back, even though sometimes it was harder than other times, I'm thankful for.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:11:27 to 00:11:46

I wouldn't have the company now if I didn't go through and learn then how to do it. Now, when you met your wife, had you already started your company, or was that before? I actually met my wife in college. For everyone watching, I play acoustic guitar and I sing. Okay.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:11:46 to 00:11:50

I don't think I knew that. Really? Yeah. Okay. And she actually sings.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:11:50 to 00:12:07

Okay. We were singing at our school, and we got paired together, and we were working on some music. Do you still sing church and stuff, or do you have, like, a band? I did for a while. I think once we had our daughter, she did not want to be in the nursery, so she made it really hard to go.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:12:07 to 00:12:32

I got you hollering and screaming. You drop her off, and within five minutes, you're picking her back up. Like they couldn't handle her. We are attending church right now. I kind of stepped back from leading and singing and stuff like that, but we actually met at school, and then we started dating and just kind of kicked off from there both of our passions for singing, and then that led us to getting to know each other and then moving forward.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:12:32 to 00:12:47

I didn't start my company until after we had gotten married and had our child. Okay. I have a little girl, and she's hard headed, but very beautiful and very smart. Is that because she's like you or is that because she's like your wife? Both.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:12:47 to 00:13:01

Yes. I think I probably married the girl version of myself. Okay, well, she got an ultra dose of hard headedness then. She did. Okay, so how did that get taken at home?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:13:01 to 00:13:14

When you go to your wife and you say, okay, babe, I've been working, making money steady, but now I'm going to go off on my own. So now the money isn't guaranteed anymore. Now I got to go get the jobs. How'd that go over? Well, my wife's always in full support.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:13:14 to 00:13:31

I think I'm hardest on myself because whenever you are single and you're working, there's not a ton of risk other than paying bills. Right. But when you have a family, you could be risking everything, right? Because you're jumping into the unknown saying, I want to move forward. I want better for my family.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:13:31 to 00:13:59

I want a better future. I want to be able to pay for college, pay for braces, be able to have a decent life without because I didn't grow up rich. I grew up pretty on the downside of being poor and just not having anything and seeing my parents slave day and night just to try and to give us something. But that's probably where I mean, not probably. I'm sure that's definitely where you got your work ethic from, because you're like, hey, look, I don't have any other choice.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:13:59 to 00:14:04

Right? Absolutely. There's no other options for you. You have to bust your ass in order to make things happen. Yeah, absolutely.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:14:04 to 00:14:29

But, yeah, I was at the point in that previous job where I had outgrown it to a point where it's like, okay, there's got to be another step because I can't stay here or I won't continue to grow. Right? So I was at that turning point where it was like, I need to make a decision. And at this point, my business partner, Kevin, he had a business in Massachusetts. They were running a drywall company.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:14:29 to 00:14:43

Okay, so he'd already had his own business. He had started one about a year and a half or two years before I did. Okay. And we were talking one day, and he was like, man, I'm really thinking about moving back to Texas. And I was like, Well, I'm thinking about starting a company.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:14:43 to 00:15:08

And he was like, Dude, I would love to do that. Because we're like, it'd be hard once you've worked for yourself, to go back, working for somebody else and being underneath that. It's very hard, very challenging. Yes, in some circumstances, you might have to, and that's not a big deal, but if you don't have to, he was like, Dude, I'm down. Freedom and autonomy are big things.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:15:08 to 00:15:43

If you have the time to go do what you want when you want, that makes life much more tolerable in many cases, for sure. But I was like I was toying with it. We had just had our baby girl. We were freshly a year into marriage, and I was like, man, it's such a big risk because I know that I have work with this guy, but if I start, I don't know if I'm going to have any. And it's like, you have the bills and some of the debt that was already acquired, and it was a huge leap of faith, and I said, you just have to do it.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:15:44 to 00:15:54

And we did it, and it worked out great. Before Kevin even moved to Texas, we were booked out four months wow. Before our company even started. That's awesome. So it was really cool.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:15:54 to 00:16:25

Well, I'm not shocked by that just because just as another note, the thing that blew me away mostly when it came to you and Kevin and y'all's not only just your work ethic, but just the way you structured everything. It's a difficult thing to find, especially in the world know, contract labor of any kind plumbers, electricians, any kind of trades for the most part. And when it comes to construction work, people are really good at trades. They're really good at being an electrician. They're really good at being a plumber.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:16:25 to 00:16:58

They're really good at this, but they're not really good at being business people, for sure. And that's what separates a successful tradesman operating his own business from somebody else who maybe there might be better electricians out there. There might be better plumbers out there. But if you can't communicate timelines, if you can't set expectations up front of what costs would be involved. And one of the things that I really appreciated about you guys when you came out and did any bids that you've ever done for us is you would say things along the lines, okay, well, here's what this is.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:16:58 to 00:17:12

Here's what this is. And this will cost this, and this will cost this. But if we get into this and there's another issue, then we might have additional costs. Are you guys okay with that? The expectation, generally speaking, is people know that.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:17:12 to 00:17:47

They know that there could be additional stuff. But just saying it out loud and making it to where we talked about this, like, oh, yeah, we sure did. It leaves the gap away for having any surprises, right? There's nothing that comes up where you're like, man, I didn't know it's like, well, I mean, we didn't know how much we didn't know what but you knew that there could be something, right? And I had a previous experience with somebody where we were doing a job and there was additional work that kind of as we were going through the job, was either brought up and or it was kind of one of those things where, hey, notice you need this thing over here.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:17:47 to 00:17:57

Do you want us to do that? Yeah, sure, that'd be great, right. And me take responsibility myself on that of not getting more details. Okay, well, what's it going to cost? How long is it going to take, all that kind of stuff.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:17:57 to 00:18:08

I didn't ask those questions. Right. But what I appreciate about you guys is when we would say something like that, because homeowners do that, right? It'd be cool if we could do this, right? And you would say, yeah, we can absolutely do that.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:18:08 to 00:18:32

We can do this, we can do this, we can do this. It's going to cost extra, though, and here's what it's going to cost. And then we could say, oh, yeah, we want to do that, or maybe not, you know what I mean? And just presenting that stuff up front and making sure that everybody involved understood that there's additional costs involved. And you're being very clear and direct about it makes such a world of difference when it comes to doing the job that you do, especially from the customer's point of view.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:18:32 to 00:18:51

Right? Yeah. And not only that, the other thing that I thought was amazing, which the Jen who obviously referred you to us had told me, which I was blown away by, is she's like, if they say they're going to be there at 08:00 in the morning, they're there at O'clock in the morning. And if they say they're going to be done by three, they're done by three. And then I would get pictures every day, this is what we did today.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:18:51 to 00:19:04

This is what we did today. This is what we did today. So it's almost like every day you're kind of saying, here's what we did, here's how we did it. And we're done. And as a homeowner and as somebody paying for that service, just having that peace of mind of knowing that the work is progressing.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:19:04 to 00:19:29

And even if you would have a day where like, man, we were trying to get to this, but we just didn't have time because this other thing came up. That level of communication is so lacking in your industry as a whole that it makes guys like you that come along with you and Kevin just such a breath of fresh air. Because I have complete faith and trust and I don't have to worry about it anymore because if I need something done, I just call you and you say, what? And I'm like, yeah, I know. You got this.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:19:29 to 00:19:47

I'm not even worried about you at all. So that's what has really separated you in my mind, away from anybody else that I've ever dealt with in the past. And it's the easiest part about our job, but for some reason in our industry, it's the thing that you find the least. It is sending a text saying, hey, we're here. Hey, we're leaving.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:19:47 to 00:19:55

Hey, this is what's going on. It's so easy. It takes half a second to do that. Right. But I do believe that's what sets us apart.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:19:55 to 00:20:28

It does. Because even meeting you guys, it was because of a failed contractor that she had had. And through that, and knowing you guys and then getting references from you all booked us out a year. Just from the people that you all knew, we had jobs after jobs after jobs, just from people that you all knew. And if we would have been bad in our communication or bad at what we did after that guy that messed up, he missed you all and all the connections that you all had.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:20:28 to 00:20:48

But because we try to strive and our company name, having integrity in everything that we do, we got the benefits of that because it sucks for them and I hate that for them. But I am thankful that we got the opportunity because it's so easy.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:20:50 to 00:21:14

I can't even think of a job where we've went into it and we've had to go to the homeowner and say, look, we're going to have to add thousands of dollars because we found this. Because if you've done this long enough, probably about 90% of the time going into something, you're going to know what you could find. Right? Like if there was water, if there was something like that, hey, I could find mold or I could find roted subfloor. I might have to change that out.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:21:14 to 00:21:41

And like you were saying, I want you to be aware of that. So it's really just about going in, laying out the expectations, talking with the homeowner about their expectations and then just being we're over communicative, we lay it out there four or five times a day and then every day that before I leave a house, I bring in the homeowners. I say, look, this is where we are. This is what's next. And I never leave surprises.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:21:41 to 00:22:03

And I really enjoy that part. I like the satisfaction of knowing that the homeowner feels safe, that I have had multiple homeowners give me the keys at their house, tell me I could spend the night. Yes, it doesn't matter. They trust us so much that they would leave their wallet sitting on the counter with money falling out of it. I'd never touch it.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:22:03 to 00:22:22

Right, yes. No, I mean, that was the thing. Because what happens is people have fear of situations that they don't understand. Right? And so when you go into in a situation because I don't know how to fix a subfloor, how to reinstall drywall, what possible plumbing issues, I have no idea.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:22:22 to 00:22:33

Right? So that's a lack of knowledge on my part, which leads to uncertainty and fear. And that's normal. I mean, I deal with that in my business every day. People do mortgages maybe three or four times in their life.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:22:33 to 00:22:58

So they just don't have a certain level of understanding and trust of what the process looks like. And so the more I communicate how it works and the more I'm very detailed about every little step of the process, the easier and more at ease that these people feel. And it's the same exact thing. It's just in a different industry. So that alone has set you guys so far apart from everybody else, which is why you continue to stay busy, because people feel secure.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:22:58 to 00:23:22

So when anybody ever says, because again, this has happened multiple times, we've used multiple contracts over contractors over the years, have lots of different people. And if someone were to say to me before you guys came along, if someone were to say, hey, do you have somebody that you would recommend as a contractor? I'd be like, I've used some, but this one was pretty expensive. This one didn't quite get the stuff we wanted done. So I don't know.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:23:22 to 00:23:39

But you guys show up and I'm like, yeah, absolutely. Call these guys. They're the best. No doubt. And just having people on your side that are advocates for you because of the level of integrity that you guys do carry, it's going to make you incredibly successful over the rest of your career.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:23:39 to 00:24:09

And we had talked about you trying to expand and do different things, and you said, Look, I'm great with this. I'm happy just working with my partner, doing what we do. And the demand itself will help you increase your revenue over the years because you can charge more for your services, you'll have more jobs available to you, and you guys are going to be set up for a lot of success for years to come. All right, so let's get to the actual work itself. So do you remember what your first job was like as a company?

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:24:11 to 00:24:20

Oh, yes, I do. Okay. There was a townhouse and it had got water damaged through the floor. It flooded, backed up, due some city plumbing issues. Okay.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:24:20 to 00:24:44

And it was this pop and lock MDF type flooring and we came in and tore it all up and then we relay tile throughout the whole thing. So that was our first job. And Kevin was actually coming in the day of our first job, so he couldn't work the first day. So I had to work all by myself. But we did that and it took us a little minute to get a groove going and get used to each other and start that.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:24:44 to 00:25:11

But we both have different specialties and it matches up perfect because what he's really good at, we're able to separate and tackle different stuff. We don't have to wait for someone to finish. We got it worked out and down to a science on what we do, especially when it comes to bathrooms, because I'm good at different stuff and he's good at other stuff. So what's the balance? What do you do?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:12 to 00:25:23

What does he do? I would say I'm good at the tile, installing the plumbing for the showers, the framing and stuff like that. He's really good at finished drywall because he had the drywall company. Oh, right. Yeah.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:25:23 to 00:25:39

So he could be finishing drywall while I'm laying tile, and then we'll meet at the end and be done at the same time. Wow. And then whenever he finishes up first, he's been learning and he's learning fast. He's getting really good. He'll jump on one side of the wall and start tiling that up while I'm doing the other.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:25:40 to 00:25:46

It just works out. We just got it down to it. It's a nice little harmony between the two. Absolutely. Yeah.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:47 to 00:25:55

So what do you think of how many years you've been doing it with the company now? How many years have you had it? Our company is two years. Two years old. Yeah, two years old.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:25:55 to 00:26:08

So what would you say thus far is the most frequent type. Of jobs that you've been doing? Bathrooms. Bathrooms, yes. We get a lot of bathrooms, and we love them because we're so good at them.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:26:08 to 00:26:16

We knock a full master bath out in two weeks, almost no matter the size. Really? Almost every single time. Okay. Because we have it down to a science.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:26:16 to 00:26:26

Done it so many times. And we also plan we think ahead on everything. We don't go into a job and just start. We say, this is how much we're going to get done today. This is how much we're going to get done, plan it out.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:26:26 to 00:26:51

And we plan out the entire two weeks. And some days we work slower because we're ahead of schedule, and some days we work faster because we're behind schedule, but we almost always stay on schedule. Yes, but I would say bathrooms, because bathrooms bring a lot of value to the home, and that's where you spend a lot of your time. I don't know about anybody else. I spend a lot of the time in the bathroom, whether you're waking up to take a shower, coming home and take a shower, using a bathroom, brushing your teeth.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:26:51 to 00:27:16

You got kiddos. You're in the bathroom all the time, and you want it to be a comfortable place, something that you enjoy looking at, not something you're trying to hurry up and get out of because it's gross. Yeah. So if someone's looking to remodel their bathroom, let's say it's a master bathroom, right. What are some things that you run into more often than not that cause either issues or constant things that people don't think about whenever they're doing their bathroom?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:27:17 to 00:27:32

That you have to say, hey, well, I know you want. To do this, but this is really something you got to consider. Whether it be location of particular types of plumbing on where the toilet is versus how you set up closets. Just what do you generally run into when you're doing that with bathrooms? That's why I like them so much.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:27:32 to 00:27:49

There's not a ton to run into. It really just comes down to budget and the type of remodel you're trying to do. Got you. We've had bathrooms where the entire structure of the bathroom has been redone, tool it all the way across the room. So you gutted it out to the.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:27:49 to 00:28:10

Studs that takes going through your concrete and just tearing all the jackhammering and bringing it all the way around. That gets expensive. Right. So it really comes down to just having someone that knows how to design. Like, if you've got something in your head, but you don't necessarily know how to design it, sometimes a design will help save you a lot of money.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:28:10 to 00:28:21

Got you. Instead of saying, I would love the toilet over here, I'm like, okay, but that's going to be very expensive. Right. But I would say we don't run into a lot of issues. Really.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:28:21 to 00:28:48

I mean, you have a lot of old showers that weren't installed, right where you tear it out and you do find mold because it seeps behind the shower, underneath the pan line, or underneath because they didn't do it right. But I enjoy bathrooms because you really. Don'T find a lot do you see that? Or do you find I guess that when people are asking you to do remodels on those, do they start from a basic structure and then redo the whole thing? Or more often than are they just kind of upgrading around what they already have?

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:28:49 to 00:29:09

Like I said, you have different clientele, different levels of finances that people are working with. And I would say a lot of times it's just kind of redoing what you got. Got you. We rip out a lot of jacuzzi tubs. Those are not in anymore, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:29:09 to 00:29:20

Nobody likes that. Nobody wants those. Nobody wants to keep them or clean them. So we rip out a lot of those. And what a lot of people have been doing is they'll put a freestanding tub where that was like a claw foot or whatever they call, just different types.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:29:21 to 00:29:41

I think the claw foot ones are probably more of a higher class, more expensive. Got you. But then they have other freestanding tubs. And whether if someone wanted for the listeners, it's easier to do a wall mount faucet for a freestanding tub than it is to do one that's standing out of the subfloor coming up. Got you.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:29:41 to 00:30:01

Because it's harder to run the plumbing. And then once it's in there, it's either if it's on subfloor I mean, if it's on concrete, it's concreted in it's in there, right. It's hard to get to, but I would say a lot of times people just kind of redo they'll make their shower bigger. Like if it's not against two walls, a lot of people want to make it a little bit bigger. And that's easy.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:30:01 to 00:30:22

Just tear down that wall, move it out a little bit. But yeah, people are getting rid of the jacuzzis and then making their shower a little bit bigger. When they do the tile these days, are you finding more and more people are getting to the bigger tiles or the smaller tiles? Are you doing a little bit of the design yourself or for the most part, does the homeowner have a pretty good idea of what they want? Some of them have an idea.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:30:22 to 00:30:37

I would say I kind of have a knack for the design part of it. I'll kind of get a feel of what they're into, maybe what the rest. Of their house kind of looks like. And I'm pretty good at just kind of trying to help tie things in. I give them, they'll be like, Well, I want this.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:30:37 to 00:30:55

And I'm like, okay, but that might not work here. A lot of times they're very eager to listen because people get on pinterest and they go on that and they're like, oh, this would look great. And then I'm like, you love Pinterest. Is that your favorite? Yeah, but I think for me, where we kind of stand out is the function.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:30:55 to 00:31:28

I'm really good at pointing out function. Right. So I'm like, you might want that. But the function of it wouldn't be great because of XY, but a lot of people I think it's kind of changing. I think we're going through a change right now with colors and design because even five years ago, it was all the subway tiles, and that's still there, but I kind of see it shifting to more of some neutral colors and kind of getting out of that a little bit.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:31:28 to 00:31:49

Right. And they're tying in a lot more like greens and blues and just kind of really I don't know, it's just a different look. It's getting kind of more out of the restaurant look and more of like. It'S probably more classic, I guess, just not so because things go through trends. Classic meets new school.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:31:49 to 00:32:16

So you would have like the classic look, but also maybe some subway tiles. It's like in the middle right now. Well, I didn't realize one of the things that because my wife obviously did a lot of our or did most of the design on everything that we've ever done, because that's what she likes to do. But one of the interesting parts of that I learned doing everything was that the size of the tile actually affects the labor involved because the smaller tiles you get, the more labor it takes, and the bigger tiles you get, the less labor it takes. Yeah.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:32:16 to 00:32:47

So we've actually had jobs where we'd going in thinking it was going to be a certain size, and then they're like, oh, we changed our mind. We want to do these little bitty baby tiles. I'm like, I don't think you understand. None of it lays the same if it's little tiny tiles or mosaics or something like that, I'm like the amount of skill and focus that I have to put into the project to make that flawless. It's a lot more than just slapping a twelve x 24 tile on the wall and running it up because I could tile a tub surround in half a day.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:32:47 to 00:32:52

Yes, twelve x 24. Wife's checking in with us here. Hey, honey.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:32:55 to 00:33:39

For anyone listening, if they're going into it and you're trying to do small little subway tiles or different stuff like that, the cost is going to be a little bit more because it's way more labor intensive. It takes like I can tile a standard shower size back wall in half a day, but it takes me a full day with subway tiles because if your wall is not perfectly level, it's hard to build out mortar to make your because a lot of these homes in Texas, they're not level. Texas is like the worst for structure and foundation. But I would say for everyone listening that it's more labor intensive to do smaller tiles, right? It might look good and sometimes it's worth a little bit of extra money.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:33:39 to 00:34:10

But if you have a super unlevel house or you're dealing with someone that isn't, they do good tile work and maybe not the best, maybe sometimes it's better to stay away from smaller. Well, that's where you run into the issue, I think is because I think we kind of experienced this one time was the little tiles. Now for the most part they come on the, what is it like the little sheets and they're all twelve x twelve sheets? Yeah, and they're all there. But lining up those sheets to each other to make it look the way it should is labor intensive.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:34:10 to 00:34:34

And if you ever have somebody, if you're like, hey, I want to do it this way and they're like, oh yeah, cool, no problem. You almost need to have like a little bit of a red flag. Like, wait a minute, isn't that going to be pretty tough? You hope that they know what they're doing, because when you get in there and you can see it and especially part of this is and this is something I joke with my wife about all the time, anytime we've ever had work done, she's like, well, this isn't the way I want it. This isn't the way I want it.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:34:34 to 00:35:00

And I'm like, well nobody's going to notice. First off, for sure we notice because it's our house or it's work that we request or whatever. But the little things, whether it's a VRBO we're having guest day, or whether it's someone coming to your house, for the most part other than just the scope of it, they're not going to really notice the little details. But as a homeowner, living in the house every day and seeing it every day, it'll drive you insane. So that's something I'd like to point out.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:35:00 to 00:35:31

Like for people listen that are doing remodels or people that are wanting to flip houses or something be involved. Because if you don't trust your contractor 1000%, there's going to be things that get passed by you and like you're saying the end of the project is here, they're ready for the money. You're like, Man, I really hate that but I guess I'll just have to live with it. And a lot of times if you were involved throughout that project, you wouldn't have to live with it, right? And that's what we do because we over communicate all throughout the project.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:35:31 to 00:36:05

Like I was saying, every evening before I leave at their home, the homeowner comes in, I'm like, are you happy with the way things are going? This is how this is going to work, this is how this has to be laid out. And when it comes to the end of the project, they can't look at me and say, well I'm unhappy because I was like, because I showed you the entire process and you were never left out, right? So that's something you got to watch for with contractors and even as homeowners be involved in the project, it's not weird. I've had people pull up a chair and watch me work, and it was weird.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:36:05 to 00:36:09

But who cares? It's fine. It's your house. You're not worried about. I don't have to live here.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:36:09 to 00:36:39

You do. I want you to be happy with. Well, when we did the show, you and I had to do the bar together, so I was working with you on that one, or just being your unlovely assistant, I guess you could say. Do you find when you're doing different projects, what types of projects do you have to get the city involved in with, like, permitting and that kind of excuse me. That adds a whole other layer of cost and time to the process.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:36:39 to 00:36:56

So how often do you come across that? For sure, we come across it a good bit. And in Texas, it's a lot different because you can get away with a lot, and you can also see that people get away with it a lot. Right. Kevin talks about a lot in Massachusetts, like you get away with nothing.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:36:56 to 00:37:23

They're so involved with your home projects that you cannot get away with anything. But they have better homes. They're running into way less that a lot of times if it's permitted. Well, for one, make sure your contractors have insurance. If they don't have insurance, then pick somebody else because you never know what could happen.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:37:24 to 00:37:32

And you want to be safe. You want to be safe. Have contracts in place, be extra thorough. There's nothing wrong with being thorough. There's too many horror stories out there.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:37:32 to 00:38:06

Get in writing. Make sure you have agreements. So some of these bigger projects where you may have to get the city involved, or sometimes in situations where you don't, make sure things are written out for your safety. If you don't go through the city, I mean, you are required to. But I do know that this is Texas, and anyone can start a remodeling company and get away with, you know, a lot of times if you're reconstructing the home on, like a foundational issue, load bearing stuff, you're supposed to pull permits for that.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:38:06 to 00:38:33

You're supposed to pull permits for plumbing, electrical. There's been situations where if I'm just changing out a light fixture and stuff like that, that's understandable, sure. But if you're going to do like a big remodel where you're redoing a ton of electrical, have a licensed electrician in there for your safety. Same thing with plumbing. If you're jacking up concrete and moving.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:38:34 to 00:38:52

When we do big projects, like when it comes to plumbing, if I'm moving sinks, changing out toilets, big deal. Not a big deal. But like that project where the toilet need to be moved across the bathroom, we hire a licensed plumber. I don't want that to ever fall back on me. Right.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:38:52 to 00:39:18

Like, no licensed plumber did it, not me. So you'll subcontract out that kind of stuff. When it's big work, like things that you guys don't typically do, you'll get licensed electrician, you'll get a licensed plumber because those are specific trades. When it's a big job, it's one thing to run a pipe fixing to something else, but it's a whole other thing to jackhammer up the floor and relocate the sewage line and everything else. Because those are things that I didn't get the opportunity growing up fast to get.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:39:18 to 00:39:44

I would have loved to spend X amount of years working underneath a licensed plumber and a licensed electrician, but I didn't get that opportunity growing up fast. But what I did get is the knowledge on how to remodel, how to do tile, how to lay floors, how to frame up extra bedrooms and stuff like that. That stuff is you don't need a license to do that stuff. You just need good. Have you been lucky finding guys for electricians, like the specific trades?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:39:44 to 00:40:05

Or do you run into the same problem everybody else does? It's the same thing. You try and find good people, but money corrupts people. Yes, and I think that's also what sets us apart, is like, I'm not a lover of money. I enjoy having money to have the freedoms and pay the bills, but I don't sit around and worship money.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:40:05 to 00:40:13

If it comes, it comes. Well, you have to have it. It's a necessary thing. You got to pay bills. You got to live.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:40:13 to 00:40:31

But it doesn't need to be all consuming, for sure. And you'll find a lot of contractors, a lot of people, that they'll give you outrageous prices. Like that person. There's no sense in charging someone 40, 50 grand more than what it actually cost you just because you're being greedy. It's really tough.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:40:31 to 00:40:53

A lot of people are greedy, and their workmanship doesn't even match up to their greediness for us. We try to keep our prices as fair as possible. I want to make a fair paycheck. I want to make the homeowner happy that they didn't fork out thousands of extra dollars on top of everything. And I hate cheating people because I'm a person.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:40:53 to 00:41:14

I wouldn't want someone cheating me. I'm not going to cheat. Well, what happens, and this happens in all walks of life too, is you guys are able to keep things reasonable and within a certain range because you physically do the work yourself. That's true. You and Kevin are out there, it's just the two of you, and you guys are doing the work.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:41:14 to 00:41:47

And when companies start to expand and grow a little bit, then they start adding layers of people. They have a manager, they have a general contractor, they have the laborers, they have everybody involved. So the cost starts going up. And then once they start getting into sourcing the materials, because that's always been something, too, that as somebody that doesn't know much about it. I look at it and go, okay, well, if I went to whatever, Home Depot or Lowe's and I bought the materials, some of the materials that I needed for a job, I'm going to pay retail for it, right, which may be a little bit higher.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:41:47 to 00:42:18

And maybe you can get a little bit better pricing because a particular group, they order in bulk on different things, whether it be lumber or screws or whatever it is drywall. You can maybe get a little bit better pricing on stuff. But then also some of them, I think, are going to add their margin to it as well. So if the company, it costs them $100 to, say, buy a piece of lumber or whatever, and it would cost me 150 maybe to get it myself, well, they're going to charge me 125, right? So there's an extra little cushion built in there on some of that.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:42:18 to 00:42:47

And one of the things that you guys do, and I don't know if this is typical or not, you could tell me, but I feel like more often than not, you all are like, hey, you get the materials and not everything but the bulk of what you need, we'll install it, and that's going to save you a ton of money. We're definitely different than a lot of people. A lot of people can get a little bit more ahead in life charging a little extra for material, which is every situation is going to be different. I can't speak for people that have a ton of employees. Yeah, there's a lot of layers to it.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:42:47 to 00:43:08

But for us, a two man team running a smaller remodeling company, we find it easier and less stressful to let the homeowners pick out what they want because we're very different. I care about the homeowner. I am such a terrible salesman. I cannot sell someone something and make them pay way more for it. I'm a terrible salesman.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:43:08 to 00:43:23

I'm like, Why would you do that? It only costs this much, and it probably sucks for me. That's why I'm not a great salesman. But we keep getting work because of just our integrity and things. You did that for us on the house.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:43:23 to 00:43:40

We did it for Cedar Creek. We had remodeled a garage, freestanding garage, into a suite, essentially, and we had to put a bathroom in there. And there was no preexisting plumbing. There was nothing there. So it was like, we're going to have to cut into the concrete in order to install, to run from the house to do whatever.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:43:40 to 00:44:12

And you're like, well, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. And what we did was we raised the floor of the bathroom, essentially, so there's a little bit of a step up from the suite area into the bathroom, and then we didn't have to jackhammer up anything. And you ran the concrete, the plumbing under the flooring, and it worked great, and it was like a third of the cost that it was going to. Be otherwise, for sure. Maybe that's why we don't grow as fast as some other companies, because I'm such a terrible salesman.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:44:12 to 00:44:39

But I always think, and this is the way my mind works, I think about the other person, I think about the homeowner, I think about their experience. I think about the amount of money and budget that they have. Like, if I had someone come to my house and didn't give me options because not everybody has a million dollars sitting around. But people, middle class people, lower class people, they want to have nice things. They want to be able to remodel their home.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:44:39 to 00:45:08

And it'd be unfair for me to charge every person or to think of every person as someone who has a ton of money sitting aside to remodel their home. And the way I think about it, it's like, okay, I look at the situation at hand, I look at where we're at, and I'm like, okay, well, if you want to save money, we'll do it, right? But these are some of the options that you could do. Sure, there's not always one option, and that's it. But that's probably why we stay a little bit smaller.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:45:08 to 00:45:33

I have a hard time cheating people. I just can't do it. Well, what you're doing is you're giving them choices to have lower cost options if they need it. And what that does, I think, more than anything, is it endears you to folks, right? Because if you're going to come in because again, most people that do this type of stuff, they're trying to sell you more, not sell you less, for sure, right?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:45:33 to 00:45:58

And I could even see from your point of view, you're like, okay, I could sell you an extra $1,000, $2,000, whatever it is, worth of work, right? But that's also going to tie up an extra two or three days for me, right? Or I can tell you, hey, look, I know this is what you want to do, but here's the cost, which might be a little bit outside your budget on what you want to do. If we did this, it would kind of accomplish the same stuff, but it would cost a little less. And it also doesn't take you as long to do it either.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:45:58 to 00:46:10

So then you can move on to the next job. Yeah, sure. We love keeping the jobs rolling, getting tied up just for a little bit more money. Why not finish this project and then go on to another big project? Well, that's a short sighted thing.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:46:10 to 00:46:46

I think a lot of business owners in your world and even in my world, to some extent, do, is that we get short sighted on making money off one particular project, right? One particular loan, one particular remodel, like you're trying to make every nickel you can make off that deal, right? Instead of looking at it going, I am going to make what I need to make on this, but I'm going to do it so well, and I'm going to do such a good job and I'm going to give these people such great service and a good value that they're going to refer me to 20 other people. And then that's going to continue to build my business so I don't have to strain for every nickel out of this one.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:46:48 to 00:47:26

You've done it not necessarily with us, per se, because I was like, no, but you have come in before and said, hey, look, we got this part wrong. It's costing us to do it, but we didn't catch that, so we're going to eat it on this. I think that's awesome because most people are like, oh, no, this is what it is. But if you genuinely felt like you missed it and it was a part of the project that you did not put in there, then within reason. Obviously you've taken the hit on those before, but that's all in the name of I want to make sure that when I finish this job that this customer thinks I'm the best thing that walked through this door, because they're going to tell 15 other people for sure.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:47:26 to 00:47:50

Our name is everything with our business. And if we taint our name or ruin it in any way that stops us from growing, that stops us from our name getting out there. Because I don't want anyone to say, well, they did something wrong and yet they charged us for it and I'm not going to refer them if I ever genuinely make a mistake. And we're human, we do sure, yeah, I'm going to own up to it. That's my mistake.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:47:50 to 00:48:07

I'll pay for it out of my pocket. We'll fix it. We'll get this homeowner happy, whatever they remodel and get them loving it, and we'll move on and we'll keep our name where it is. We've yet to have a bad review, yet to have a bad job, not a single one. And we love that.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:48:07 to 00:48:29

We pride ourselves from being like a five star company. We might not have a ton of reviews, but it's so hard getting homeowners to write reviews. If anyone's listening, write reviews for your contractors, please, because I have asked. I think we've got X amount of reviews on our website and stuff like that, but we've done hundreds of jobs. Yes.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:48:29 to 00:48:46

They're like, hey, I'll write you a review. I'm like sitting at home waiting for the review. We'll chat about that afterwards. I'll help you with that, but what do you think? So if someone's looking at a new house that they're going to purchase, right, and everybody gets inspections, they have come through and get everything checked out.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:48:46 to 00:49:17

What do you think? As a new homeowner, going into a house are some things that you really need to look out for to make sure that you don't have stuff bite you later on down the road, for sure. I think where we are now in society with all these flippers, all this COVID came through, and now everybody became a flipper, right? Which is very frustrating for people that are actually in the business, because you've got people that are just painting over stuff, right? I gave an estimate the other day, and this flipper painted over the light switches.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:49:17 to 00:49:32

And I'm like, those are like, thirty five cents. You couldn't spend thirty five cents you had to paint over. So don't get caught up in just the cosmetics you go in. It's like, oh, this looks so good. I love this.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:49:32 to 00:49:57

Because it's easy to get wrapped into. You want to move, you want a new place, you want to start something different for your family, but you got to be careful. Get the inspections 100% if you have to pay a little bit more to have like if you found a house and you're like, I love this house, spend the extra money to make sure things are right. Get someone in there to look at it before you buy the house. Even new homes, even brand new homes.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:49:57 to 00:50:24

Get it inspected thoroughly. Look at the electrical. You don't want to have to move into a home or an older home, and all of a sudden you need a whole new panel box because it's so outdated and old that it's a fire hazard. The plumbing, if you're in love with this house and you want to make sure everything's sound, and you got to pay a plumber $500. It's worth $500 before you buy the house, then $20,000 after.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:50:25 to 00:50:35

Make sure things are draining. Look at the roof. Get a roof inspector out there. Is that roof okay? Make sure there's no leaks, because those are your big money, and most people that are listening know that those are your big money.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:50:35 to 00:50:55

Spenders it's going to be the roof. It's going to be the plumbing, it's going to be the electrical. Cosmetics is normally a lot cheaper than those major things, right? So those are some of the things to make sure you look out for before. I have so many horror stories where people were caught up in the flip or the cosmetics of things bought the house, and now they've got all these underlying issues that they didn't see before.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:50:55 to 00:51:30

Foundation, that's another huge one. If you're walking into a house and you see cracks above the doors, make sure you get the foundations checked out, because Texas, obviously in Texas, almost every house has foundation issues, but make sure that it's been taken care of, because foundation is another 1020 grand to get it. And that's money that a lot of people don't have, especially after the market's so high right now, going into a house, spending a little bit more than you were expecting to turn around and spend even more. Well, these days, one of the great things about. The market.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:51:30 to 00:52:35

And what has happened over the last several years is that appreciation from what someone paid for their house to what it's worth now has just gone up dramatically. And another side problem, or whatever you want to call it that's occurred from that as well, is that with rates going up like they have with mortgage interest rates going up, people that bought their home with a 2% interest rate, they really have zero desire to move if they don't have to, right? Because then you're going to sell your house, you may make some good equity on it or you may have make a good profit on it, but you're going to buy another house at a higher price and you're going to have a high interest rate for at least a period of time until they go back down. But what that leaves is that leaves people's desire, because instead of moving now, they're saying, well, we're going to stay here, we're not going anywhere, and we have all this equity available, we want to do some work on our house to upgrade it, to improve it. From your experience, what do you think are the things obviously bathrooms, but what else do you think really adds value to a house that's going to not just be for the person that's living there, but that everybody looks at going forward?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:52:35 to 00:53:04

Just based on your customer experience, I. Would say that a cheap option that changes your look of your house dramatically is paint and flooring. Okay? They make tons of affordable flooring now, luxury vinyl planks, whether you want to do tile in the bathrooms, whatever you want to do for people that are staying in their house. Because we've had a couple of people that were looking to buy a house and then, like you said, they run into all these crazy rates and stuff.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:53:04 to 00:53:22

They're like, well, let me just stay in my home. Even if they take out a little bit of equity to pour back into it, there's nothing wrong with that because. Home prices keep going up, they're going up. So they're like, well, let me just take out, put a little bit of money back into my home and get it the way I like it, update it, make it feel new to me again. Flooring is huge.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:53:22 to 00:53:35

A lot of times you can get in and get your whole house floored in three, four days. Get in, paint things, stuff like that. Paint the kitchen cabinets that'll make them look brand new. Do you see people painting their exterior a lot? I do, yeah.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:53:35 to 00:53:47

A lot of brick homes we painted over. People are changing up, and it's very cost efficient. If you want a whole new look and make it look like a brand. New house, it's easy. Yeah.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:53:47 to 00:54:12

And not spend a ton of money. Just paint that exterior of your house, paint the trim, and it will really look like a new home to you. Yeah, I think there's going to be a pickup now over the next 1224 months. You guys should probably get pretty busy because I do think there's more and more people that are because they're not moving, they're going to stay where they're at, but they were going to want to do all these different types of upgrades and I think we're probably in a little bit better position now. I don't know.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:54:13 to 00:54:26

You could tell me as far as supplies of materials now, are you running into situations where it's getting a little bit easier to get things in? You're not having to wait as long? Is that it's getting easier. Are you seeing the cost of materials going down too? I have, yeah.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:54:26 to 00:54:45

So we were pretty much sky high, especially kind of during the period where we were doing Y'all's lake house and everything, everything was sky high and we were really trying not to cheat people. Then, but you only do what you. Can do in those situations and it was expensive. Wood has been going down. It's definitely not like it was, but it's still pretty pricey.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:54:46 to 00:55:06

What I have seen is bathrooms have stayed consistent through it all. Okay. Tile has been around that two dollars to two point fifty cents. Two seventy five a square foot hardy board stayed around $1011. Bathrooms have premade vanities and stuff like that.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:55:06 to 00:55:38

The labor of custom cabinetry, a lot of that stuff is going up because wood was going up so much higher. But for some reason like tile and flooring and stuff like that, that kind of stayed the same. But I have noticed that availability, we're back to where it's easier to get things, easier to get some stuff's a little harder than others. For a while we couldn't even find LVL beams, so we had to put an iron beam in this house to open up the concept. And then now we did another job and it was like we got Lvls and I was like, oh my gosh.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:55:39 to 00:56:00

So it is easier. So people that are looking to start doing stuff to their home, prices are coming down. So labor prices and bids should reflect that more than they were two years ago, right? At least the cost of materials. The problem with the labor is, like you said, and it's the same issue with everything, is it's hard to find good people?

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:56:00 to 00:56:25

For sure. And there might be when you go out there and you look for somebody who is, and I say that, but you guys are quite a bit cheaper than most. I was going to say when you find somebody that's significantly cheaper, you got to be careful and watch out for it. But I also would say that you guys are pretty, but I also think you all are unicorns. I don't think you're the norm by any stretch of the imagination.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:56:25 to 00:56:40

I would say we're middle of the pack because we think of the homeowner. So we don't want the stress. As a smaller company trying to make money on top of materials. I don't want to go home and spend all night shopping when I could spend that with my wife and my daughter. I don't want that.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:56:40 to 00:56:50

Right. I'm definitely more of a family man than I am a businessman. My family comes first. My business is second, as it should. So for me, I'm not trying to work night and day to get ahead.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:56:51 to 00:57:16

I really do feel like the Lord blesses me and blesses our company and constantly brings in work where I'm not having to strive as much. But I am thankful that we don't have to get ahead by cheating. We get ahead because we do good work. Yes, but a lot of companies, like you were saying earlier, they charge a little bit more than we would because they don't do the work right. They're subbing everything out.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:57:16 to 00:57:23

Me and Kevin love working. I have nothing against work, and I prefer it. I can't sit at home. I will go crazy. Yes.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:57:23 to 00:58:05

So why not just go to work? Working anyways something yeah, well, and the. Great thing about what you guys do, too, is at the end of the day, you've accomplished something, and you have something to show for it. And actually, there was a study that they did recently about finding looking for people that were the happiest in their profession, like, take money and everything out of it, just content with what they did. And on both ends of the spectrum, there were the least happiest people in their jobs were people like me that worked in money and finance, and the most happy people in their jobs were farmers, because they were out there working, doing the labor, doing the work.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:58:06 to 00:58:24

There's a certain amount of I've got to manufacture it myself physically every day by riding a bike and walking and getting out there and getting exercise going, because I got to get my blood going. I got to get my blood pumping. And if I don't if I have a day like yesterday, I was lazy. I woke up, took my daughter to school. I usually go do walk and run in the morning.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:58:24 to 00:58:46

I didn't. I walked later in the day, but I didn't ride my bike. And the whole day, I was just, like, in a shit mood. Like, I was just not in a good mood. And then I got back in my routine today, and I feel so much better because once you get your body moving and you're physically doing things, whatever it may be, there's just a sense of accomplishment and the anxiety and all the other stuff kind of goes away when you have that.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:58:46 to 00:59:05

Oh, for sure. Yeah. We love keeping busy because they say the same thing about working out all the endorphins that get sent through your body because you're moving, you're feeling like you're accomplishing something and just staying busy. So we enjoy that. Our prices show that because we're actually doing the work, so we're able to charge a little less.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:59:07 to 00:59:36

But I guess before we start wrapping up, that's one thing, since we're talking about being involved for anyone out there that is getting remodeling done to their house, and they have a contractor that's subbing out a lot of work, make sure that contractor stays involved. Right. Because we have done multiple jobs where we've come to fix things or come because they don't want the contractor anymore because they're never there. Right. So just be careful and stay on top of things.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 00:59:36 to 00:59:58

Make sure that contractor is involved. Yeah. Well, man, we're at an hour now, so it goes by fast, doesn't it? I appreciate you coming in, and I can't recommend you guys enough to everybody because I do think you have incredible work. Your name, all integrity, definitely is reflective of your work and who you guys are.

Mike Mills (Host) | 00:59:58 to 01:00:16

I think you're great human beings. And anytime we ever have jobs, you are the absolute only first person, nobody else that we will call to get stuff done. So you're going to be hopefully doing some stuff in my office eventually, once we get all my materials worked out. I got our own issues in here, but thanks for coming by, man. I really do appreciate it.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:00:16 to 01:00:28

Anything else you want to say before we go? Not really. You want to tell them how to get in touch with you? Yeah. If anybody out there is watching, want any remodeling done, just give us a call.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 01:00:28 to 01:00:45

You can check us out. We have a Facebook page and we have a website at all. Integrity Remodeling, LLC. So we'll put it in the comments. Yeah, we'll put it in there so y'all can click on it and just check out our work, check out the reviews, and give us a call for anything.

Aaron Roberson (Guest) | 01:00:45 to 01:01:00

And we're the type of people that if you call us out there and we don't know how to do it, we won't waste your time. We'll tell you that we can't do it. So that way we save everybody. But we would love to come check out what work you need done and see if it's something that we could do and work together with you. Awesome.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:01:00 to 01:01:07

All right, brother. Are you going? You're a baseball fan? You excited about opening day, or you more ready to go fishing? I would rather go play golf.

Mike Mills (Host) | 01:01:07 to 01:01:14

We're good. All right, brother. Well, I appreciate you coming by, and we'll see everybody next week. You all take care. Bye.