Heather & Hubby: Florida Vs Texas Part 1 Construction

In case you were wondering how Florida is different than Texas, Heather and Chris are here to tell you more about it.

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SPEAKER_01 0:53

Hey, good afternoon, good evening, good morning, whatever time it is where you are at. It's Heather with Hump Days with Heather, and today I have Hubby. Say hi, hubby.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

It's not hubby. I can't tell you how many freaking times I've told you to stop calling me hubby.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Killer hubby, is that better?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yeah, no, beat your ass if you flirt or touch my wife at these pull and spa shows, hubby.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Aww, we get a little protective now.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Well, I mean, there's a little excessive. But anyway, we've talked about that in the past, and I think uh people have heeded the warnings pretty well because it has diminished quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah. So I want to talk on this episode about differences with the construction and or remodel side between Texas and Florida.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

And also what we've talked with with Dan and Kelly. I know Kelly is going through the Genesis training right now for building, which is very proud of her. Good job, Kelly. Whoop, whoop! That's my girl. She's a rock star. If you guys don't know her, you need to know her.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

That's a hard class. Like that Genesis class is super hard. And I love the instructors. They are all great. They all love me. And I even message them afterwards, and I'm just like, hey, so I know in class it was this, but I've got this. And I just they all know me super well, so they're a little bit more lenient with me, right? Compared to most, I think. And they're like, Heather, you know the answer to this. Think about it. Just sit there and think about it. What do you and they make me think about it, right? So I'm just like, shit, I didn't think about that. Okay. Like Deathpool, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yeah, I was I was listening to Kelly and Dan's podcast from this last week. Today, I'm a little behind, guys. Sorry. But I listened to it today, and Kelly was saying that she was surprised at how many of the answers that she actually knew before she took test and when they were going over it. It's great how we actually pick up things in the field. We learn things from our certain you know peer group and industry leaders, and we choose to take in what we think is right, and we throw all the other bullshit out.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

The other bullshit.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah. Meaning So if somebody tells you something that's completely asinine off the ball, like you need to jump drop 20 buckets of shock into our into your pool, and they don't even get have the gallons of your pool to get breakpoint chlorination. Yeah. I mean, you gotta throw some of the bullshit out.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Yeah. So we're finding here that the build process is a lot different. And Texas, we we dig, we plumb, we steal, and then we shoot, right? Not here in Florida. You dig, you do the main drains, and then you do the spa plumbing, and then you shoot the pool, and then you go back and do the whole plumbing again. So when I ask them, like, why is that? And it makes total sense, right? Because the water table here, they want to make sure that no cave-ins, because cavens happen a lot more here, I guess, if you don't do that. But in Texas, I'm like, we're done with that in like a week.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

You gotta think about it. We're working with a lot of iron ore and a lot of bedrock and stuff like that in Texas. We have to soil totally. We have to jackhammer through half of our crop. We actually had a pool in East Texas that we hit iron ore rock, which is completely solid, that we had to blast. We actually had to blow that some bitch off, and that was fun. The customer loved every bit of that. But here in Florida is sand, you know, we got a lot of sand and a lot of coral up under the ground, all kinds of crap that they hit.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

I just like too, like you have to have the little fingerings thingies that you call him. The little finger I call them fingerings. I don't know what the actual name.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Oh, it is Fantees with Heather, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

No, it's it okay, it's like the ceramic. Okay, so picture the old ceramic tubs, okay, right? Like back in the day, like they're still in houses now, like the old apartments where you put the soap in, right? You put the soap on the ceramic thing. That's what this is.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

So it's oh the safety grip thing that go around the spa and all that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Well, depending on where it goes, because if you got a water feature, you've got to add this to be able to pull up and get out, right? To prevent drowning, like that's what that's for. But I was like, what? I'm sorry, we really have to have that, and they're like, Yeah. And then if we go over five foot, you have to have a swim out bench in the deep end or wherever the five foot is for drowning prevention and all that as well. So that's a little different. Setbacks here are a little different as well than they are in in Texas. The risers are different a little bit, not much.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Um, one thing I have noticed that play pools aren't really a popular thing. No, it's a single slope.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

No, yeah. So I went on an estimate last week and I was like, so we're wanting a play pool because they're like they want to play volleyball and stuff. They're like, what the hell is a play pool? And so I'm explaining what a play pool is, and they're like, We've never even heard of that. And I'm like, seriously, like it's so you play volleyball, right? The middle is deeper, and then the sides are gonna be like shallow, so it goes in like a a U or V rather, like a V, I guess. And they're like, You're the only person that's ever, you know, mentioned that, and blah blah blah. And I'm just like, that's crazy to me. Play pools are so much fun. Plunge pools, we have those too. Spools. Y'all actually do spools here in Florida, not so much in Texas. Like, I don't remember last time I quoted for a spool.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah, a lot of the the minimums that we have in Texas are you know a lot higher than what you guys have in Florida, so we can't build those smaller pools. They uh the industry has actually made it to where in Texas has made it to where I think the smallest linear feet that we can do around a pool is 85.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Yeah, ours was 85, and then 400 for decking. But and that being said, though, like the decking here I'm finding is 400, of course. Minimums on linear foot here is like 70 to 75, is what I'm finding as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Have you noticed they still do cantilever deck here in Florida?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Oh, that's popular here.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Oh my god, it can be spanned cantilever deck, but I guess you guys don't know.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

But they pour it, but they pour it differently too than they do because I asked about that with and that shit is thick, it is so thick here. Yeah, so they tie it so the top, they tie it to the back, so it allows for that movement a bit. So that's like the only difference for that. And I'm just like, when I, you know, bring up coping, they're like, I'm sorry, what's coping? And I'm just like, how do you not know what coping is? It's around the pool because everybody's got the cantilever deck, right? So it's I'm just I'm in awe with it, and everybody loves the cantilever look. In Texas, everybody hates the cantilever look. Like it's not modern, it's not clean. And here, I was like, Oh, it's so modern, it's so clean, it's the thing. And I'm like, that's like shit that we did like in the 60s when pools were just starting, or whatever year that was at, right? So I don't know exactly, but um okay, so let's talk about plastering, hubby.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Yeah, so um I started with a new company here in Vero Beach, and I'm trying to start up a construction division. I'm trying to get my sub-contractors in line and figure out who we're gonna use for different phases because we're gonna start building here with by the end of the year. We're gonna have complete building started.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

I'm sorry, what wait, wait, wait. You're gonna have the building aspect done and ready to go by December. That's in two months.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

No, by January, by the end of the year.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

By the end of January?

SPEAKER_00 8:57

No, by the end of December, yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

That's in two months.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Two months.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

I don't think speed days. What can I say? Fuck around and fuck around. Somebody gonna end up laying down? Is that what they say? No, I don't fuck around. So um, every one of the plaster companies that I've called, they don't have their own rigs, they use a um a pump truck. Well, not a pump truck, but a mixing truck off of the back of their trailer or mixing machine off the back of their trailers, and they wheelbarrow that shit in.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

And I'm like, think of all that work. I mean, really, how heavy that wheelbarrow is, even the double-wheeled wheelbarrow, think of how heavy that is. Yeah, so I couldn't do it. I'd fall flat ass into the damn.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Apparently, that's a very, very popular thing here. If that was even hinted to us in Texas, we would have been like, no, we don't need a Craigslister to come in and do something half-ass work.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

I wonder why they don't have the trucks here. I'm really curious. Like, why is it not they do, but it's not like Texas where everywhere has the trucks versus like few people have the trailers, and here it's the opposite. A few people have the trucks and uh everybody has the trailers.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah, and good luck trying to get in with a new company that has a truck or being a new company, getting started with someone that has a complete setup and rig and all that. Because they're already booked out for like months and months and months with other companies.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

I mean, just start your own damn plaster crew.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, may end up doing that.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I mean, $150,000 for the truck and the mixer, then you've got to get your CDL license because it's air, it's air right, so you've got to go get your CDL license for that, which you've already got your first phase of CDL, so just go finish taking the safety test for your air things and you're good to go.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Oh hell no, I'm not driving that truck. I'm not getting out there trialing a pool. I'm not shooting.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

I didn't say you're trying, I just said drive. But I just I'm still in just the culture shock, so to say, between the different variances of the different states. I mean, granted, Texas is middle, right? Florida is the opposite side, but still, I didn't think that things would vary this much from here, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah, I know the the stories we've been told at the trade shows from people there from Florida, people there from California, they're like, oh, you just don't know the struggles. You guys got it good in Texas. It's like, man, you don't know shit. Texas is hard. And we get here, we're like, holy fuck.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

They weren't lying.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Florida's hard.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

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SPEAKER_00 13:47

It's gonna be hard to learn how to estimate a pool here versus Texas.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yes. Thank God I have spreadsheets though. Holy shit, I create my awesome spreadsheet, which I'll be going over at the um international show. So if you want to see my lovely spreadsheets I've created for our business, and it'll be there. What else do you think?

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Oh, I'm just I'm blown away that um they really don't have much presence of pebble here versus Texas. I mean, the pebble plaster in Texas, that's pretty much all we did. Um, somebody went at quartz, we thought they were super cheap and we'd walk away. It's like nah, you guys can go away, you can get your standard plaster somewhere else. Yeah, I don't remember. Wet edge is kind of a big thing here. A lot of people do wet edge here, yeah. But and it's polished. Wet edge is noticed that there's not very many people that want pebble versus quartz.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah, I don't know why. I guess it's because the way that they expose it too, because the the exposure is totally different the way that they do it. Like we one wash it in Texas, right? And I know um Temple's got one that's a different wash, I forget the name of it off the top of my head, but um it the exposure is totally different, right? And with pebble, you have to get that exposure accurate, and then if you don't, that's a whole nother ordeal, right? We're in oh, I don't even know. I mean, everybody knows.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Yeah, I was talking to a couple of the plaster companies I've been reaching out to in the last couple of days, and they say they just blast the shit out of it. They just put 100% acid on this and they brush, and then I'll come back about an hour later, they'll acid wash it again, and they'll brush. I'm thinking to myself, just the horse stories of modeling.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Wait a minute. So to get the pebble exposed, they acid wash it to remove the excess plaster off of it. That wait a minute.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

By that that doesn't make sense because by that time stonescapes and um I think he said it was river walk.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

That doesn't make sense because by that time the shit's already drying. Once that plaster is dry, you can't come back and acid wash it. That plaster is embedded and you're not exposing the pebble at that point.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

That's why I'm saying the difference between Texas and Florida is greatly different.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

How does that fucking happen? I don't know. You can't, unless they're burning that plaster off like completely, but then you're burning the rock too. I want to see that. Now I'm curious. So if you're in the Florida near Vero and you do that process, call me because I want to see how the hell you do it. Because I there's there's no way that I can see y'all acid washing to expose the rock.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

I know there's been two other two companies I've spoken to so far that actually still did pebble, and they said they do not wand wash, they brush, and they they burn it off with acid.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

I want to see that. Yeah, that's voiding the warranty all the hell right there. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

I asked them about that too, and they say no, that's within the um perimeters of the MPT stonescapes. Bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

So I have the instruction manual from MBT Directory.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, but you have the Texas version. The warranty is the warranty. No, you got the Texas version. Apparently, yeah. Apparently, I've I've well I have spoken with MPT here also, uh, and their processes are completely different here versus Texas.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Seriously? I mean, I've got a very warranty warranty from regions. That doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Well, I can't answer that one because I'm still learning Florida. Well, I don't even have my plaster crew set up yet. As soon as I get that set up, I'll let you know what they do.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

We got a lot to learn still for this market, obviously. But we're getting it and we're booking it, I think. We're doing good. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

And the next thing that we've seen that's different is well, obviously your pool sizes are a lot smaller, but your equipment is way, in our opinion, just from our experience, your equipment is undersized for every single one of your pools.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

But it's actually not because it I calculated the PH.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

I understand you calculated it, but who in the hell wants to do a filter clean every two weeks?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Do they really clean their filter every two weeks?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, pretty much. If you do, especially if you're doing hardback and you got a lot of debris in that pool.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

But who around here really does hardvac? Nobody does hardvac around here.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Oh, we've been doing hardbacks.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Y'all have, but yeah, you're there's two companies that we found that does hardback in this area, and that's it. Everybody else is port of acts.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Yeah, well, all of our pools are right on the beach. I mean, literally right on the beach. Sand sitting, and we don't kind of don't have a choice half the time because there's so much sediment and sand in the bottom of the pools.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I mean, don't they make the sand vacc for the like hammerheads and all that?

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Yeah, they do, but these customers are all coming in now. During the summertime, you can get away with it with a hammerhead and uh whatever else, you know. Um, but since the snowbirds are coming into town, which this is another thing that we're learning, is your swim season starts now when this is a little bit of a few. Ours are closing in Texas now. Heather and I would be planning our vacation. Vacation!

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Maldives, here we come.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Um, no, the snowbirds are coming in, they want that pool perfect. So, and all these people are Canadian and New York and Minnesota, and all these people are coming from the very cold areas down. I don't I I see that's the difference between your company and my company, also, Heather. Your company doesn't really cater too much to the island. No, your your company caters more to the you know people in town.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

And I cater to these pricks that live in these billion-dollar houses.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

But they haven't been though, you said, which is kind of nice because normally in Texas, the bigger the house, the bigger an asshole the client is, typically. And because you know that the people with the money, they do other things, so like their backyard isn't isn't really as important to them. They just think they're entitled to do shit, right? Versus when you're a single family home and you have, you know, blue-collar individual, your backyard is your getaway for your family time, so they're gonna be a lot nicer to you, and they're gonna wanna do things and fix it and all that fun stuff, versus that's hilarious, like the chair. Anyway, sorry. I'll be sitting in a green chair and I don't have my green screen up, and so it's yeah, and so it's like doing the whole thing behind there if you can't see the video. Anyways, but I just think it's funny that just the differences, you know, and the culture difference here is still really I I love the people here so far. They've all been super nice, and I've noticed here too, a lot of the people with the pool companies, they're longevity employees, they're not, you know, a year, two, three. Okay, you get those, of course, occasionally, but like when we first when we first moved here and we started interviewing, most most of the people have been with that company for 15 plus years. Hell, we interview with somebody that's with the company for like 40 something years. I've got the guy that I work for right now, or the company I work for now, there's a guy there that's been at that same company since day one they opened the door, and they opened the door like in 70 or 71, something like that. How yeah. So, no longer than that because they've been they've been open longer than 50 years. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

But yeah, whatever numbers, yeah. So not your strong suit.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Oh bullshit. So it's been that's that's really nice because in Texas, you don't have that. Like, I think the most that I've seen in Texas is about 20 years for an individual, but you know, obviously somebody out there's got to have more than that in Texas, but just on average, multiple companies that we interviewed for had multiple employees that were there for that long, so that's great. You know, I love that. That tells me they're taking care of their employees, the employee likes their job, you know, it's just it's nice, it's nice to have that culture around. Well, I don't have anything else to say on this, do you?

SPEAKER_00 22:14

No. Um just if you are in the construction side of the business, just make sure you guys take care of your customers. There's um a few jobs I'm going behind. I'm not going to say names, but I am having to do a ton of repair on remodels. Like, for one, the plaster company did not remove the sponge out of the main drain of the spaw. And now that some of a bitch is wedged in there with tile and all kinds of stuff, I'm going back out there tomorrow of all times, and I've got to scope that line. I follow that because that company that did the remodel is refusing to do anything about it, saying he didn't do anything wrong.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

I mean, to be fair, the homeowner did wait like six damn months.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

It's not the homeowner's fault. The homeowner is a snowbird, he doesn't live there.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I get that.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

And why do you need to use your spa if you're not living there? Why would you need to turn the spa suction on if you don't live there?

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Well, you gotta have suction for circulation.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Okay. When was the last time you when you were doing service, went out there and changed it from pool to spa? You didn't never do that shit.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

I did it once a month, but that's about it. To turn the actuators and clear the lines out.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

No, she didn't.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

I did.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

She did it, she's a minimalist. She did the minimum amount of work she could.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

I did once a month. That was minimal.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

She went out there and she checked the chems, scooped the pool, and maybe brushed some shit into the main drain. And that was it.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Lies. Lies, hubby lies.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

And half the time she didn't even check the chemistry on the pool.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

She'd just dump in like no 10 pounds of cow hypo and two gallons of acid into a 5,000 gallon pool.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

I'm gonna fight you.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Those are some fighting words right there.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Alright, guys and gals. Thanks for listening. Drop us a comment. Let us know if you're gonna be in Vegas. We would love to meet you. Um, my schedule in Vegas is pretty tight. Uh but hubby's is a little bit more loose than me, but he's still gonna be with me at at the show.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Well, that's debatable, also.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Yeah, I may be across the street at F1 the whole time.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

I think not.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

F1, baby.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

All right, guys and gals. We'll talk to you next time. Have a good day. Bye, guys.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Bye.