Home Improvement Show 08-30-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Good morning and welcome in the Home Improvement Show of
the Midlands. Now for August thirtieth, twenty twenty five, opening
season for college football, and folks are pumped up. A
reminder our best Gamecock coverage tomorrow morning, actually at noon,
it starts at noon tomorrow because it's at three o'clock

(00:40):
matchup over in Atlanta, the game Cocks in Virginia Tech.
Christopher Thompson the team kicking it off at noon tomorrow.
Best Gamecock coverage, pregame and postgame. You'll get it all
right here on WVOC. Good to have you with us.
My name is Gary David, the Home Improvement Show of
the Midlands. Now we'll be talking about mosquito control with
Trey Powell for Mosquito Joe. We'll be talking about all
things electric with mister Electric Jeremy Holliday. And the first

(01:03):
up this morning, we like to welcome to the studio
Russ Markaesy. He is the owner of the Finishing Touch
team Painters extraordin in there. Look my friend, good morning, Gary,
How are you. I'm well? How you doing, brother, I'm
doing great man, great to be here. Can you believe
it is? Uh, it's Labor day? Weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I cannot believe it. Where do the summer go? I
mean word it? Well, it was hot enough while it lasts,
It wasn't it?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
It was?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
It was then we had the bit of a wash
out here this last month. It seemed like rain for
a couple few weeks there. Weather it's helped.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
The weather's been weird, man, it has it really is.
I'll tell you what, what a nice weekend we've got.
Yeah we could see I drop it to a rain
here or there, but I mean temperature wise and good
three day weekend going on here, Labor day weekend. Absolutely
love it, love it. We want to spend some time
today to talk well, we'll sort of talk about painting.
We'll talk about cabinet refinishing, which is something you guys

(01:53):
specialize in and have for many years, or finishing touch
that's right, and how much money you can say by
refinishing and not replacing when it comes to cab his
kitchens or wherever else. But you know, let's let's talk
process here for a second. And sure, let me ask
you this, Russ, because we've all had this experience you
ul suous when it comes to home improvement. How many

(02:13):
times have you called somebody and maybe you never got
a call back, or or maybe you eventually got a
call back sure, and then they didn't show up on
time or they didn't show up at all. You wind
up not getting what you thought you were paying for
in terms of professionalism. Yeah, I mean it's you walk

(02:38):
away sometimes, Russ with a feeling that business must be good,
because there are folks out there who you think they
just they don't need my business, apparently because I don't know.
It's it's it's arnting rampant these days, man, it is.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
I cannot tell you how many times we I hear
it from homeowners and contractors constantly.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Gary.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
This is it's a very very common theme, you know,
getting them to show up to do an estimate, to
begin with number one right, and then secondly them doing
what they say they're gonna do and showing up on
time and showing up when they say they're going to
show up. This is a super common theme that we hear.
I've heard it forever, but it does seem to be

(03:21):
it does seem to be really bad these days. I
hear it more and more and more. That is a
huge difference in stand out indicator of finishing touch. Okay,
I'm gonna tell you. We pride ourselves Gary on getting
back to folks within twenty four hours at least a
lot of times it's a lot sooner than that.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
If somebody calls us about a project or reaches out
to us, we try to reach out to them really
within that day, that half a day, we try to
at least reach out and schedule it's good, good time
and day to meet with them and see when we
can take a look at their needs.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Right.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Not only that, but whatever time it is, you always
show up to that appointment, no matter what, no matter what,
if something comes up. Look, life happens and things come
up sometimes, but it's all about communication, right.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Everything is communication. That's why would be if something comes
up you can't make it. You want to call and say, hey,
I got to come over this afternoon instead of this
morning or maybe to morrow. Sorry, get good fine?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Exactly? It just to get ghosted. It's just unbelievable to me.
I ask myself, do they not have you know, priorities
or bills? I mean, what's what's going on with this?

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right?

Speaker 2 (04:30):
But I can't tell you how many times i've you know,
maybe the appointment prior was running a little bit behind,
and I'm running five ten minutes behind for an appointment, right, Well,
I call these folks, and you wouldn't believe how many
people are just so appreciative that I called and let
them know that I'm running five ten minutes behind, right,
And it just kind of spins my mind a bit

(04:51):
because it's just a normal, common, one oh one practice
of communication, and it just shows how little that's happening
out there all the time. And beyond that, once we
schedule a time and a day to get out there,
we show up to do exactly that. Exactly that. We

(05:11):
contact the customer sometimes a week to a few days
prior to the to the project starting. Yep, we set
things up with them logistically, make sure that there's no
you know, pieces of information that we need to know about,
you know, leaving a key, or cats or dogs letting
out or whatever the case is. Right, we try to
touch base and make sure that everything is on for that,

(05:33):
and that's what we do. We show up on top
of that. You know, I have devoted project coordinators and
project managers to every job to oversee them. Okay, so
you're not getting a different person every day. Let's say
the job is going to last three four days or something. Okay,
you're not getting a different crew or different guys there

(05:53):
every single day to where, boy, you're thinking yourself, do
they really know? Do they know what the guys did yesterday?
They know what they're supposed to do. We have the
same guys on that job from start to finish, with
oversight of a project coordinator and project manager, okay, And
it's made a huge, huge difference in just just quality communication,

(06:16):
you name it.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Right.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Those guys are overseeing everything, they're quality controlling everything. They're
the ones that are talking directly to the customer, so
the customers not having to talk to two three different
people or you know, throughout the week. And while I
told this guy that, but he didn't relay it to
this guy, right, how many times have I heard that?

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (06:34):
So we've cut all that out by by implementing you know,
these coordinators and project managers. And we've got a really
really good response from that from you know, not only
homeowners but contractors. Because we do a lot of commercial painting,
we do the same thing for commercial painting. We have
a devoted project manager that sees everything through from start

(06:55):
to finish, and it just it takes out any it
takes out a lot of errors, a lot miscommunications. It
just makes the job go so much smoother right from
start to finish, and something that we're really proud of,
that we pride ourselves on, and uh, well can continue
doing without a doubt.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
You know, you find that and you know, depending on
what it is you're doing with painting, I mean there's
a creative aspect to that, right, sure, okay, sure, a
lot of these things are and you know me, I'm
in the creative business on this end of what we
do here. Yeah, that's right, But you find that creative
people are often the worst when it comes to organizations,
wing through and all that stuff. I mean you really,

(07:33):
I mean you know, and the first time that we
we work with you guys, you knew right away, Okay,
this is a professional organized organization here. Sure, I mean
when you guys come out, I mean, for example, it's
not well, let's see, yeah we can do that, and
it's you know, it's gonna be an X amount of
money and we should be able to get to it

(07:55):
X amount of ten or written on a napkin, right, right, exactly.
I have seen that one. Yes, yeah, I mean you
guys come out with a detailed estimate, all of it
in writing, Yes, sir, Yes, there's no doubt as to
what's going to happen and when it's going to happen,
and what it's going to take in cost exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
We are explicit with our proposals, Okay, every proposal we
have provided ourselves on these, and you know, through the years,
we've really honed in on this and got we get
a lot of compliments on these. Actually with our commercial contractors. Okay,
a lot of times our estimates are so detailed and explicit, Gary,
They're so black and white that a lot of times

(08:31):
in the commercial industry, contractors will use our estimates to
qualify other painting contractors that are bidding on it because
they know how thorough we are when it comes to
these and we're doing our due diligence. We're going through
the whole project, all the specifications, all the scopes of work.
We're not missing a thing. We're turning up every stone

(08:52):
on this project, right and they know this, and it's
all written down in black and white, so they do
they use that kind of as the standard proposal to
go buy when qualifying other people. I mean this happened
for many, many, many many times, but it just makes
it just makes all the difference in the world when
it comes to the serviceability. Okay, look, when you're getting something.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Done at your house or your.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Building, or whatever the case is, nine times out of ten,
the first feeling is a little bit of dread, right,
because you've got to go through this process of finding
somebody qualified and all the you know, ins and outs
of this.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Right, let me go on Facebook and ask, hey, anybody
will good painter?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Oh boy, look out exactly. We hear it all the time. Boy,
that was so smooth and easy. We really appreciate it,
you know, all the time we hear this scary because
it is. It's if we can make that that part
of the process streamline and very easy. Uh, no stress
involved whatsoever. It just makes everything flow so much smoother.

(09:53):
It makes the homeowners happier, the contractors happier. That's really
the angle that we go for. It's all about the
custom mo satisfaction when it comes to it.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
The estimate's Gary, I go on estimates all the time,
myself and my other estimators and we know. We inform
the homeowners and contractors as much as possible about the potentials,
the non potentials, different products. We try to give as
much information, not making it confusing, right, but trying to

(10:23):
give enough information that they can make a good, educated
decision on how they want to go about it themselves.
I can't tell you how many times I've walked into
a person's home. They want all the trim in this
room done and all the walls. Okay, well, the trim
looks beautiful, it's in great shape. So I'll ask them,
is there a reason why you want to paint the trim?
Are you changing the color?

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Possibly?

Speaker 2 (10:44):
No, I just thought maybe it was time. So I
give them my professional opinion and tell them, Look, I
can price this for you, and I still can and
will and I maybe will separate that for you. Right,
but your trim's in great shape. You don't necessarily have
to paint your trim. Put that money towards something else,
or put it towards the walls that you want to
get done. And it it's very appreciated, and we're Look,

(11:07):
we're not trying to sell people on every little aspect, right,
we want to do what you want to do in
the needs that are that are at hand. Right, We're
not trying to oversell somebody on something.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Ever.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
We try to listen to the customer and hear what
their needs and wants are and we go that's the
route we go. You know, we always try to pride
ourselves on doing that.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Oh, what's so cool about it? Because again, most of us,
even if we're DIY painters. Sure we don't have to
slap a code of paint on a wall. Maybe, but
but we don't understand, you know, all the intricacies because
there are a lot of them when it comes to
what you do. There are so you know, taking the
time to explain, you know, this is what we'll do,

(11:49):
and this is why we're going to do it. Correct.
So this is the the what you can expect from
a time perspective, a finished product perspective and all that.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Sure in a process carry process as well. The process
process is huge, okay, because you know, well folks will say, well,
I want to I want to do this portion of
the house, but I also want to do this maybe
at a later time. Right, Well, it might actually cost
more doing it that way, because now we have to
cover certain things or it takes a lot longer to

(12:19):
paint this surface if we paint this surface first, okay,
or whatever the case is. There's so many times where
you know, there's there's a process and steps to doing
things when it comes to this, all right, a lot
of little nuances. So we try to educate them on
that and let them know, hey, look, we can do this,
but if you do it this way, it may save
you money in the long run.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
It may look better.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Different types of products that are on the wall, we
can identify and make really good suggestions on how to
you know, go forward with that to where it looks
great and maintenance wise as well. That's you're going to
get the longevity out of out of these finishes without
a doubt, Right, That's that's the key.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
And then when you guys show up to do the
actual job, right, But you know this going in as
the homeowner business owner, that you're not going to show
up on day one and start.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Pain No, hardly ever, how hardly hardly ever, this is
preparation work. Gary, as you know, we we go through it,
I explain on site exactly how we're gonna go about
doing it to the to the owners, and then we
couple that by putting it into the proposal, step by
step by step of how we're going to go about it,

(13:30):
what products we're going to use, how many coats of
paint we're gonna.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Put on the wall. Okay, I hear it all the time.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
You know, they put one coat on the walls, but
they told me they put two.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Right.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
How many times have we heard this? So many times?
You know, our name is on this at the end
of the day, and we have to do the right
steps in the beginning, with all the prep work, sanding
the walls down, fixing all the drywall in perfections. It's
all part of our pain shop. We don't charge extra
for that. If you have cracks in the wall, little
nail pops where pitchers were holes, anything like that, we

(14:04):
repair all of that stuff because it makes our paint
job look so much better at the end, and our
name's on it.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Right.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
We paint baseboard all the time. For an example, Gary
baseboard could be painted every six months just about. I mean,
it's it's a dust collector. It's a shelf, right, So
a lot of times I'll throw the baseboards in with
the walls because it's it's actually quicker for us to
paint the baseboard than to tape it off right right
for us, it is right so and it makes the

(14:33):
paint job look so much better. So we do things
like that all the time, all the time. And you
know it seems to go, It seems to go a
long ways. And folks really and you know, appreciate that
joy well.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
As I've always said, Russ, I mean, if you've hired
somebody ever to do a professional paining job, paid them
to do a job, and they showed up and just
started a sloping painting all you just got, you just
got ripped off. There's something wrong. Yeah, most likely there's
something wrong there. Now I can't let you go without
again talking about where we're folks, because they I mean
literally tens and tens of thousands of dollars thousands, scary. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
When it comes to cabinets, yes, sir, Yes, sir, absolutely,
I love talking about cabinets, as you know, we it's
our specialty. We love doing vanities, kitchen cabinets, all sorts
of finishes that you can do. We just did a
set for a really really nice couple Gary and they
had the old style hinges on their on their cabinets. Okay,

(15:27):
the exposed external hinges, right, you know, those are considered
out of date, and you know at the moment and whatnot,
everybody's going to the hidden hinge, soft clothes, those sort
of types of hinges. Now, we don't do the hinges
ourselves exactly, okay, but we work. I work with a
dozen cabinetry guys that we refer them to, or they
can work with us however the homeowner wants. Again, if

(15:50):
the homeowner doesn't want to deal with making another separate
phone call to a cabinet eye, we can handle that
for you, okay, because we have relationships with them. You
can do everything through us if you'd like. But this
particular customer had those hinges, and my cabinet guy came
in and bored out all the holes on the back
of the doors, put new hinges on. We changed the

(16:10):
color of the of the cabinets. There were stained cabinet doors.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
What it was.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
We put a primer on, We bonded little imperfections on it.
The cabinet guy actually added a piece of crown mole
to the top of the cabinet tree to kind of
you know, finish that top end off because it was
just had nothing up there. It was plain right, and
then we painted them and I'll tell you a complete
transformation of these folks kitchen.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Gary. It just looked night and day. Okay.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
And like you said, the savings that they had in
comparison to ripping all those cabinets off putting brand new
cabinets on were literally thousands of dollars.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Like you said, Oh wait, we're talking about literally what
you do? You know, you're talking about the thousands of
dollars exactly place and the tens of thousands of dollars.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Exactly and it's the highest highest satisfaction they had. I mean,
they're just thrilled with their kitchen. It just looks so different.
They actually had a backsplash added to it as well,
and you know, just redid up their kitchen, modernize a
little bit, and it looked fantastic.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
It really did came out, Sure it did, all right.
So folks want to talk to you and get an estimate.
And again, don't it. Don't it. Don't be thinking you're
going to be at days getting you know, hearing back
from this guy. And it's folks at Finishing Touch team.
What if folks need to do Russ.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
You can give me a call at eight zero three
four sixty seven sixt seven five nine, or you can
always visit our website that.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
It would be finishing toouchteam dot com.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
You got it, Gary, al right, Russ, enjoy your Labor
Day weekend brother, you too, Gary, Thanks so much.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
Lifetime Cabinets Encountertops is your locally owned source for countertops.
Great selection, great prices, and they pride themselves on superior
installation and customer service. The owner, Marcus will even personally
come out to do all your measurements. See the selection
online at Lifetimecabinets sc dot com or stop buy one
of Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops two conveniently located showrooms on

(17:59):
Fernandina Rode in Columbia or Chapin Road in Chapin and
check out the hundreds of slabs in stocked granite marble
courts court site.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
They've got it all. And if you can't find exactly
what you are looking for when you're.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
There, and that's rare, they will find it. And it's
not just kitchens and bats. Lifetime Cabinets and Countertops does
outdoor patios, vanities, bars man caves, you name it Lifetime
Cabinets and Countertops Fernandina Road in Columbia, Chapin Road in
Chapin and online at Lifetime Cabinets sc dot com.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Hi is Gary David. Looking to refresh your home or
business with a fresh code of paint. Call Finishing Touch Team.
Finishing Touch Team for outstanding service, quality and professionalism. There
are reasons why they've been so successful doing business now
in Columbia for twenty two years. Their service and quality
stands out in the painting industry and speaks for itself.
Don't hire just another painter. Hire the Finishing Touch Team

(18:54):
Perfection with unwavering commitment to superior craftsmanship and customer service.
Free estimates and ten per sent off for first responders.
That's the nurses. Find out more at Finishingtouchteam dot com.
And we're back on the Labor Day weekend edition of

(19:15):
the Home Improvement Show of the Midlands on WVOC. Good
morning once again, and once again it's great to have
you joining us this morning. We appreciate it. I hope
your Labor Day weekend is off to a good start.
Trey Pale now joins us from Mosquito. Joe. Good morning
to you, Trey, and happy Labor Day.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
Wee get morning to you. Wow, already you believe it's
Labor Day already?

Speaker 1 (19:33):
It's nuts?

Speaker 5 (19:33):
Man?

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Oll do we get and all that?

Speaker 3 (19:36):
You know?

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Quick? There it goes? And listen, are there places in
this country where by the time you hit Labor Day
weekend you're not too worried about mosquitos anymore?

Speaker 4 (19:47):
Maybe in Alaska maybe, but probably not there yet either.
You need you need to be in a place where
it is consistently below fifty degrees before you're going to
start seeing any relief whatsoever. But you really need about
a week where it's hitting in the thirties every single night. Wow,

(20:09):
before you're really not gonna you're gonna stop seeing mosquitoes
all together. And so we got a long way to go.
Uh here. I know it's officially, I mean in my
mind it's officially fall after Labor Day, but you know
it's still eighty degrees out and it's going to be
that way for months. I mean, we in this area,
we go to about Thanksgiving. As you start getting up

(20:30):
around you know, you know, Virginia and that area, they
they go through the month of October, you know, up
in New York, they may go halfway through October. But yeah,
you got to get to really cold climates before uh
it's Labor Day.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, and again for all I mean we've we've I
think you've mentioned this before. We've had seasons where yeah,
we've had bisquite populations, you know around Christmas time. I
mean it can happen.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you're gett an Indian some where.
You know, even if it gets cold and then it
gets warm again for a few weeks, man, bam, they
will just pop right back.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
So these things, these little suckers can sit there and
just wait for the opportune time to hatch, right. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
The mosquito eggs really is the kind of the the
the control factor on when the mosquito pressure. And at
this time of year, those mosquito eggs are hatching almost
immediately because the conditions are just perfect, meaning there's lots
of heat and humidity, there's lots of moisture. We've had

(21:37):
plenty of raine, so everything's wet, there's lots of standing
water everywhere, and so any mosquito eggs that are laid
or have been laid are hatching almost immediately, and then
they just have to go through that larval stage where
they're a little wiggler in the in the water. And
you know, at this time of year, they go through
that stage very very quickly. You know, when they can

(22:00):
additions start when the weather starts turning, you know, and
you start getting weeks you know, where you're below fifty degrees,
those eggs will basically just go into hibernation. They will
incubate and they will not hatch if the conditions are
not right. And that's why you see a slow down

(22:22):
in the late fall. When you start getting you know,
temperatures below fifty degrees consistently, the eggs stop hatching, and
so the pressure will go down because there's just not
as many mosquitos. You still have mosquitoes, live mosquitoes that
are out there and they're biting and breeding and laying
more eggs. It's just the eggs are not hatching, so
you don't have the intensity that you have, but you're

(22:43):
still getting bit and you're still seeing mosquitos. Then when
the temperatures drop down below thirty degrees or around thirty
degrees for about a week, that will kind of eliminate
the adult mosquitos. And since the no eggs are being hatched,
That's why we have a break for a couple of months,
you know, in like December January, you know timeframe when

(23:05):
we have that colder weather. God, as soon as the weather,
you know, as soon as those temperatures pop above fifty degrees,
you know, for a couple of weeks, those those eggs
start hatching and you start seeing mosquitos again. And once
you're seeing mosquitos, they're laying more eggs and repopulated.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Starting that visious cycle all over again. How long do
these things stay dormant? They're waiting for the opportune times.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
They can Some species can can lie dormant for up
to five years wow, until the conditions are right, and
you know they're really there's nothing legal or safe that
is going to eliminate mosquito egg and that's pretty well
true with a lot of insect eggs. Those eggs are
extremely resilient, which is how they survive you know, harsh winters,

(23:52):
you know, very hot drought time periods and things like that.
There's really no amount of heat or cold that's going
to destroy the eggs themselves. And so those eggs are
very resilient. They'll sit dry and hot, you know, they'll
sit you know, frozen for months or even years if

(24:12):
they have to, and then when the conditions are right, bam,
they come out like like nothing ever happened.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
That's just crazy, man. Wow, that's how they survive. So
you guys aren't flats south for the winter, right, I
know you've been at our properties so as early as
late February, or maybe even earlier than that sometimes, but
but yeah, by bye, by February, so you guys are
right back out there doing it. Huh.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
Yeah, mid February when you know, when the temperatures start rising,
we are out there immediately. And a lot of what
we're doing and in February is preventive maintenance. We you know,
our customers, we really don't want you to ever see mosquitoes.
You know, this is not a situation where we want
you to, you know, let us know when you get

(24:59):
a enough bites where you're ready to start like, that's
just that's the wrong approach because by that time you've
got such an infestation that we're fighting an uphill battle.
The better, you know, much more effective approach is to
get out there, get the larva side down, and let's
stop them before they ever start. And so you never
really see mosquitos. And that's why we get started in February,

(25:20):
and you know a lot of these properties. Now we're
putting out a biological method, which is a basically, it's
a trap that we're putting out a bucket that has
a product in it that is very attractive to mosquitos,
and they'll go in and lay their eggs in it.
And when they do that, none of those eggs are

(25:42):
going to hatch because of the product that's in there.
When they hatch, they'll be eliminated immediately. But the mosquito
will pick up that product, and that mosquito will take
the product and they will put it in every other
water source in the yard as they go from water,
so the water source lying their eggs, they're spreading that
product around and so it kind of effects all the

(26:07):
water sources around that property. And within about a month
or so, you have kind of spoiled the source all
around the yard. You're using mosquito, letting the mosquitoes do
the work.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
For you, right, genius. Now this is something fairly new
or you guys been doing this for a while. We
haven't really talked about that.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
I'd say that again is.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
This something that's fairly new now as a part of
the regiment, or not something we've really talked about before.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
I don't think, yeah, it's it's been around for years.
We use it specifically with problem properties, with you know,
customers that have allergies and things like that where we're
really trying to get control, or where we have a
property that has just an exorbitant number of sources that

(26:52):
are very very hard to you know, Larva siding is
very expensive, which is why most companies don't do it.
It's the most effective way to eliminate mosquitos because if
you get them before they hatch, you know, if they're
never born, they can't bite, and you significantly lower the population.
But it's very very expensive, and it's not always easy

(27:14):
to find all those sources. Many times the sources are hidden,
they're below ground, they're you know, in drains and pipes
and things like that, they're you know, up underneath decks
where you can't get to them. And so in a
lot of cases that you know, where people have just
a lot of stuff around their yard, that is the
most effective way, and it doesn't it doesn't work immediately.

(27:36):
It takes uh, you know, it takes a month or
so for the mosquitoes to do their work and to
help spread spread that product around all the different water sources.
But it's highly effective and uh, you know, we just
put them to work.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
That was gonna be my question if you so, if
you've got a property where it's just a ridiculous infestation,
don't think that all hope is lost because you've got
some answers here. We do.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
We have we have a lot of different you know,
techniques that we can do and go after and and
we'll we'll keep working at it. The key is communication
that we stay in touch with the customer. They keep
you know, let us know how things are working, and
if they're getting any breakthrough, then we're right back out
there at no cost, you know, to to fix it,
find it, or offer a different or better solution.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
I guess folks who try to do this on their own,
with you know stuff you about a big buck story,
the biggest mistake you make is, I guess, maybe not
attacking the source.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
Right, Yeah, most of the time, Yeah, they're they're not
attacking the source or the biggest thing is they're probably
not very consistent with it. I mean, it's you know,
you've got to be on it consistently and very routinely,
or you're just never going to be happy with the
with the results. I mean, it's it is something that

(28:51):
can be done at b I Y. You know method
you just have to be very very diligent. And you
know most people don't or won't, you know, be that
diligent on top of it. They think they are, but
they're you know, generally speaking, that they're just reacting to
issues when they come up. I mean, when you're getting bit,

(29:11):
it's now you're fighting an uphill battle and right, and
it's it's it's never over right.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
That doesn't sound like it. So when folks ask the question,
all right, so I got you out and spray in
my yard, great, But I got neighbors all around me
who aren't. What's going to happen?

Speaker 4 (29:31):
Yeah, it's really doesn't make a whole lot of difference
at all. I mean when we treat a yard, you know,
first of all, the mosquitoes that we have are very local.
They don't fly very far, they don't fly very high,
they don't fly very fast, and so they don't travel
very far. The average mosquito in this area might might
travel two hundred feet in their whole lifetime. Wow, meaning

(29:53):
most of them don't travel anywhere near that distance. That's
the kind of the maximum distance that they would go.
And so the fact is that your mosquitoes are probably
not coming from your neighbor's yard. They're very very localized,
unless you have an extremely small yard or the houses
are really really close together, which sometimes that's the case.

(30:16):
You know. But when we treat, you know, we're the
source is probably in the yard, and it's finding the
source in that yard and eliminating and then spraying that
property where we're putting out a product that sticks to
all the foliage and that is going to target all
the live mosquitos in that yard. But if any other
mosquitos come over, they're going to hit that foliage and
they're going to be eliminated too. It's kind of like

(30:37):
putting a flea collar around that yard where you know
that that yard is not going to have mosquitoes, but
the ones around it will.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
And this product works on fleas and ticks too, doesn't it?

Speaker 4 (30:51):
That is correct?

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yep? Beautiful And when it's when it's applied, Trey, uh,
how long before or you if you you know you
can let Fido back out in the backyard.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
Yeah, it just needs about thirty minutes to dry. Once
it dries, like I said, it sticks and you can't
wash it off. It actually integrates into the plant material,
into the waxy surface, and it can't be washed off.
So it's rain proof within thirty minutes after you put
it down, you know. So you're you're good to go.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Okay, good. Now, earlier this year, I know, you guys,
something you've been doing, but you really put a big
emphasis on and rolled it out and that is now
not just mosquitoes and fleas and takes, but total total
home pest control as well, which you can you can
bundle and save. Right.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
Yeah, So you know, we're finding a lot of customers.
They just want to deal with one company, and so
we're offering you know, home pest defense to keep bugs,
you know, crawling insects like roaches and ants and silverfish
and things like that out of the house. And so
we do home pest defense you know. There we also
do rodent control, keeping a little mice and rats out

(32:03):
of your house as well, all the tests that you
don't want in and we can we can bundle all
those services together.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Now, well, let's just put it this way. In a
couple of weeks or so, I know, you guys some
more announcements to make and we'll just leave it to dat.
But it's it's it's very exciting stuff. And speaking of
a couple of weeks, I mean, it won't be long
before you guys are in the so called off season
in which you're busy doing the Christmas stuff.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
Man, we do uh. In fact, as we as we
start to wind down in October, we also offer we
do Christmas lights. So they're a different company, Wonderly Lights,
but it's just a way of keeping our all of
our staff employed year round. And it's you know, everybody

(32:50):
loves Christmas lights, but nobody likes to put them up
and take them down. We offer a service to come
out put up Christmas lights, maintain them for the season
in jail Anywuary. We come and take them down, and
we take them away and storm them in a climate
control facility for them.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
At what point do you start entertaining orders for folks
who have never used that service before, Trey? Can they
start contacting you now or.

Speaker 4 (33:17):
Well they can, Yeah, absolutely, they can reach out to
us now. We you know, we We have customers from
last year that are already booked. We have customers that
come on and in July they take advantage of a
Christmas in July sale. We did some of those. If
they come on now, what we do is we allow
them to kind of spread out the payment and you know,

(33:37):
pay us, you know, a deposit in September, and then
pay us in October and November, and so they kind
of split it up into three payments make it a
little bit easier on their budget.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
We'll just put it this way. If you've driven around
the Midlands and seeing i mean really professional beautiful light displays,
chances are pretty dog on good. You guys put it
up because you can. There's a major difference between what
I could do and what you guys do.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
Yeah, we do not put up other people's lights. We
only put up our own lights. It's really a lease
program and they're all professional, great lights. Every single bulb
screws in individually. We cut everything to link exactly for
the house. We make all of our own extension cords.
Everything is tucked behind the gutters and you know, it

(34:26):
just looks perfect when it's done. Everything is exactly evenly
spaced and there's no big orange extension cord hanging off
the side of the house or running across the lawn.
Everything's hidden and away, and it just you come home
one day and you see her turn the corner, see
your house, and you're like, wow, that looks amazing, and
you you know, you get to enjoy that for the
entire holiday season, and then one day in January you

(34:48):
turn the corner and it's all gone.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Gone, all right. So if folks are interested in that service,
what do they need to do?

Speaker 4 (34:55):
Tray, they can actually just contact us at eight five five,
asked eight five to five, askad Joe, and then you
just inquire about our holiday lighting and that will you know,
that will work for either the Columbia side of town
or over in Washington.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
And that same number we'll get you the mosquito control,
the total home pest defense and all of it just
right there and for the mosquito still introductory special for
folks who've never tried you before.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
Right, that's correct. We'll do the first treatment for you
for only thirty nine dollars. It's below cost. Give you
a chance to try it. I know it's a football season,
a lot of people like to put a TV outside
and sit out in the in the better weather. Yeah,
and watch some of those football games. You don't want
to get eaten alive while you're trying to do that.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
No, that that will drive you indoors in a hurry.
Want it, Trey. That's right, terrific brother, Always good to
talk to you, Trey Palace, Mosquito Joe eight five five
Aska Joe and Mosquitojoe dot com. Right, that is correct,
All right, brother, enjoy the rest of your week, kid,
my friend.

Speaker 4 (35:55):
Thank you too far.

Speaker 6 (35:58):
When your power goes out, there's not a lot to do,
but you can call mister Electric with priority dispatching. One
of our electricians will be at your door ready to
safely restore your power fast. Because not having electricity is annoying,
very annoying. So next time you need an electrician, call

(36:18):
mister Electric because life is better with electricity. Services provided
by locally owned and operated franchise ees. Products and services
may vary by location.

Speaker 7 (36:26):
Hi there, I'm Jeremy Holliday, local owner of Mister Electric
of Columbia. I've been servicing the Midlands since twenty ten
and I'm happy to answer questions and give you free estimates.
With upfront pricing. Schedule your free safety check with mister
Electric of Columbia and receive fifty dollars off any.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
Work over three hundred dollars.

Speaker 7 (36:43):
Call eight oh three eight six eight four two four
three or visit my website mister Electric dot com forward
slash Columbia.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Hi, this is Gary David. You've heard me talk for
years about Anthony John Construction and the wonderful jobs they
do for folks all across the Midlands. When it comes
to roofing and guttery, it's the same people doing the job,
but the name has changed. That's right now, it's Beaver
Roofing and Beaver Gutters. Leave it to Beaver for all
your roofing and gutter needs. The same great service and
the same great folks behind Anthony John Construction, just with

(37:14):
a new name. Eight oh three nine nine to one
roof and Beaverroofing dot com Me gutter roofing work, Leave
it to Beaver Beaver Roofing and Beaver Gutters. As always,

(37:39):
my friends, we thank you so much for joining us
for the Home Improvement Show the Midlands. Sam, We appreciate
you tuning in here on one oh three point five FM.
At five sixty am WVOC or listening on the iHeartRadio app.
And hey, if you ever miss an episode, don't forget.
You can go on the app. You can search us
out WVOC Home Improvement Show of the Midlands. You can
catch up. They're all right there, all right. Jeremy Holliday,

(38:02):
mister Electric who joins us in studio. Jeremy, morning to you,
my friend, Good morning Gary. I gotta tell you I've
been I've been challenging. I've been channeling my inner mister
Electric last week week or so, and have you. You
have to be careful, you diy Electricity. I mean, I
know enough to be able to hang a light fixture. Yeah, okay,

(38:22):
I always wind up doing something wrong and some wire
pops off or whatever, and I gotta take it all.
This happened to me just the other day. I take
it all back down again. And anyway, there's there's this stuff. Listen.
I know enough to know when to stop, and that's
what we're here for again. Yeah, exactly, you can always
call us exactly what I'm going to know. I was

(38:45):
before we came on the air here during the break
we were talking and you know, we moved to a
new house, and I know there's a lot of outdoor lighting,
but I don't heck, I don't know if it's just
not working, or if I'm not sure if I'm doing
something wrong or whatever. So you know, we've talked about
this before this US Listen. Electricity doesn't have to be boring, right, No,
absolutely no. You guys do a lot of that sort

(39:06):
of thing, the outdoor lighting and the and all that.
Those enhancements.

Speaker 7 (39:10):
Yeah, home enhancements, fun things, fun projects that you get
to enjoy after we're finished. You know, it's not all
all the hidden stuff that you don't really get to see.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
But we can do landscape lighting. We do.

Speaker 7 (39:22):
We actually use a product that is brass, comes in
different finishes and lifetime warranty on the fixtures their self.
So we use a quality, real quality product. LED h
you know LED.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
Everything's LED these days. Yeah, it'd be strange if it wasn't.

Speaker 7 (39:41):
But sometimes we run into it where it is still
some type of halogen or something like that, and it's
on a medium voltage system.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
The systems we install would be a low voltage. Well,
what's what's the difference there between those two? I mean,
what what's the advantage.

Speaker 7 (39:55):
Well, the advantages of the low voltage is obviously you're
saving energy.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Makes sense, Yeah, yep.

Speaker 7 (40:00):
It's a lot uh safer As far as being out
in the yard, in the ground, running from light to light,
uh tends to last longer. The LED Uh, the voltage
definitely lasts longer than the halogen. Halogens can be problematic.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
LED's. I mean those things are supposed to last like
almost forever, aren't they. I mean, yeah, yeah, they last
a long time.

Speaker 7 (40:26):
I mean you're talking thousands of hours, thousands and eighty thousand,
fifty thousand hour bulbs, you know, so if you uh, yeah,
they last a lot longer, so a lot less maintenance,
you know, right, Yeah, there's a lot of you don't
you know, there's a lot of different You can place
them anywhere, Uh you don't you know, you don't have
to trench super deep for the wiring because it's low

(40:49):
voltage wiring. So it's really you're really able to put
them anywhere you want.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
I mean it would look bad, but I mean you
could basically, lady seems just on the front on the grass,
you could.

Speaker 7 (40:58):
I wouldn't recommend that we normally, you know, get it
covered up an inch deep or two inches you know
underneath everything doesn't need to be you know, eighteen inches
like medium wearing.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Oh okay, that's a big difference right there. Yeah, so
this sounds like you probably come out and lay these
things and lay the saw back over to whatever, and
you never know you were there. That's right.

Speaker 7 (41:21):
Yeah, very cool and some pretty cool fixtures they have.
I mean, we have a whole catalog. We bring bring
a book with us, an iPad. We call that our book,
but it's an iPad and it has a catalog on
it and you can see all the different fixtures, pick
them out in the style you like. We can go
over all that with you the placement and.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Or repair what you have. You know, a typical I
always ask this question on this show, and I know
there's no typical anything, but you know, more than likely
when you guys go out and do one of these
jobs like this, I mean, what kind of time frame
we are we talking about from somebody that has nothing
and you want to you know, go the whole night.

(42:05):
You want to get it. You got to get the
maybe I guess maybe the controller or whatever, or cook
to the app or however it's done. Is this a
one day kind of job typically, or it can be
and a lot of times it probably is.

Speaker 7 (42:17):
Yeah, depending on the guys, you got how many fixtures
you got to install, right, how big the project is.
There's some houses it might take two or three days, depending.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
On some people get pretty extravagant. Yeah, you can.

Speaker 7 (42:29):
And you know, if it's all yeah, you know, earth fixtures,
I guess I could say not implanted into the walls
or ran up on posts and stuff like that. You know,
it should typical installs should be probably about a day.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
It should be able to get in and out of there.
But it's more than just lights. When we come to
home enhancements. Yeah, this is a wide variety of things.
I'm not sure that we quite understand, you know, what
all is possible in our homes these days. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (42:59):
So ah man, you're talking smart switches, you know, where
you can program your lights to come on at a
certain time, turn them off from different locations.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
And we're not talking about smart plugging now, we're talking
about the actual switch wall, the switch in the wall
for your lights. That's right. You can get smart receptacles also,
you know we put in a Okay, with.

Speaker 7 (43:20):
Christmas coming up, there's actually one that we like to install,
which is a plug in play, but just so people
know it's out there, you can buy.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
It's a really cool module.

Speaker 7 (43:30):
You can plug into your wall and then you can
control it on an app on your phone right where
you don't have to unplug that Christmas tree. You can
just turn it off with your phone, you know.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yeah, now I have done that with just a regular
smart switch and Alexa before, and that's that's cool.

Speaker 7 (43:44):
Yeah, that's a cool little feature. So there's little things
like that. We can put a three way switch anywhere
you want to. If you have a situation where you
wish you could turn a light off at a point
that you don't have a switch there with with smart
which is where you don't even have to do any wiring,
you know, we can put like a remote switch with

(44:05):
a ten year battery and put a master switch if
you will, where the where the switch location is for
that fixture, and then you have two locations where you
can turn it on and off without a lot of
sheet rock damage or crawling through the attic and things
like that.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
So there's there's a lot of little things like that. Lighting.

Speaker 7 (44:28):
Obviously they've got lighting now that's r g b W
where it'll do a million plus colors.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
I love those. My wife is like, no, we're going
with white. I'm like, oh, it's boring. Yeah, well it's
fun on the holidays. Well that's what I told her.
How cool would it be to have you know, red
and green lights on Christmas or you know, orange for
Halloween coming up here in a couple of days or whatever.
And she's very traditionalist when it comes to that sort
of thing, so that's wrong with that. When she's not there,
I turn it on right, Yeah, we'll put them in.

(44:58):
She won't ever know. There you go, perfect, perfect, you
can keep them on white. But you know we do
so light under cabinet lights that's another one.

Speaker 7 (45:09):
That's another great to your home, you know, accent lighting
to cake lighting, stair lighting.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Oh okay, stairsteps, yeah, that sort of thing.

Speaker 8 (45:19):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know I'm familiar with because like
in the house we have now there's a space over
the cabinets and I want to run some LEDs up
there or whatever.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
But I didn't think about that in the cabinet lighting.
Well that's a that's a that's an ideas. Time has come,
hasn't it.

Speaker 7 (45:35):
Oh yeah, Yeah, they make so much great products out
there that you can that aren't that hard to install anymore. Really,
you know, puck lights you can put in your cabinets
level and those would be all lovltage. Also, yeah, we
fabricate lights on the scene. Yeah, we build strip lighting
at your location and install it so for under cabinet lighting.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Very cool, very cool. Are there any things that maybe
we as homeowners and consumers haven't really thought of that
is that you can do these days? Well?

Speaker 7 (46:11):
Yeah, you know, like I'm saying, the three way switches,
the you know, all the stuff we've talked about, you
can do. Drawing a blank now, Gary.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Trust me, I draw a blank probably four or five
times already the last hour.

Speaker 7 (46:31):
You know, anything you can think, I would say, anything
you could think of, it's worth calling and asking, getting in,
getting us to come out and look at it, because
there's a lot of stuff we can do in set
lighting in the walls, a different different pathway lighting. If
you you know, you can put track in the floors,

(46:51):
you can put track on the walls U and have
your you know, different different types of lighting can be put.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
In for it. Sounds like if if you can can
dream it up but you guys can find a way
to make it happen. Basically, Yeah, most of the time,
there's there's a way. Yeah, so very cool. And you know,
this is not really related to this discussion, but I
know it's one we've had in the past. Something else
you guys do, and and that is when it comes

(47:21):
to things like smoke detectors. You two detectors and such.
And I didn't realize that. Again, we were this new
home and we'd had this discussion before, so I wasn't
shocked to discover how many smoke detectors are in this
house I'm in right now. I think a lot of
us always thought, oh, you need water, maybe two or whatever.
But I think we've talked about this before. Yeah, that's
really not enough. And this is something you guys do

(47:43):
as well.

Speaker 7 (47:44):
Yes, and we do smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire alarms,
all of that, And yeah, they're very They're an essential
part of your home because they if you ever read
the statistics which I'm not going to go over, but
you can read the statistics about home fires and people
to get harmed. Most of the time they don't have
smoke detectors or they have smoke detectors that they've uh disengaged,

(48:09):
you know, uh and and and so they're very important.
And I imagine being that you just got into your home,
those are all probably new.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Yes ceahly that we've all been put up. It's not
a new home, but they all look to be very new,
and they're they're everywhere.

Speaker 7 (48:25):
Yeah, everywhere, Like wow, in every bedroom outside the vicinity
of every bedroom is that and.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
This is not a new building moved into but a
new build homes these days? Is that? Is that a
code now or that standard? Yes?

Speaker 7 (48:35):
Okay, yeah, so that's something that has to happen. And
for the reason for that is just to forget.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
We're not talking about one or two. We're talking about yeah,
a lot of them.

Speaker 7 (48:43):
I mean you're talking on a on an average home,
you're probably looking at six to eight in there.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Yeah, you know, yeah, and certainly older homes you're probably
thinking saying, what, I don't have that many. Yeah, they
used to.

Speaker 7 (48:56):
I think the code was back in the seventies was
just one yeah, and maybe one on each floor. It
was like, wow, we got a lot. But now they're everywhere. Yeah,
they really are.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
And that's again something else that mister Electric is going
to help you with that and the yeah, of course
the safety checks you do with every.

Speaker 7 (49:12):
Visit, that's right. We do safety check on every call
new customers. We can go over your system and just
let you know of anything that can they can make
that system safer, any items that need to be addressed, you.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
Know, absolutely absolutely. All right, Well, I gotta get you
out and look at these other outdoor lighting at my place.
I got to figure this thing out, man, Yeah, give
us a call. Funs up again. Electricity doesn't have to
be boring, no, not with mister Electric. Jeremy. Always good
to see you, my friend. So how's the best what's
the best place for club? Still reach you and and

(49:47):
and get you out there to their place.

Speaker 7 (49:49):
So you can reach us by phone eight zero three
eight six eight four two four three, or you can
reach us at our website mister Electric dot com forward
s Columbia.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
Okay, and then numberto three eight two.

Speaker 7 (50:02):
Eight eight six eight eight six eight zero three this
information eight six eight four to two four to three.
And we always have a live person answering, so you know,
you always get a hold of somebody.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
All right, Jeremy, have a good weekend.

Speaker 5 (50:16):
Buddy, Yes, sir, I'm James Carwell, local owner and operator
of Freedom Plumbing right here in the Midlands. After working
as a plumber for nearly a decade, I decided to
open my own business and Freedom Plumbing was born. Because
of my love for this country and the great respect
I have for the men and women of our armed
forces and our first responders. I named my company Freedom Plumbing.

(50:38):
What sets us apart from other companies is our customer service.
We have a five star rating on Google, a five
star rating on Facebook, an a plus rating on Angie's
List and an eight plus rating with a Better Business Bureau.
I'm James Carwell, local owner of Freedom Plumbing, and we
look forward to servicing you for all of your plumbing needs.
Get fifty percent off your next service car when you

(51:00):
mentioned you heard us on w VOC. Learn more at
Freedom dash Plumbing dot com. That's Freedom Dash Plumbing dot com.