January 5, 2025 • 33 mins
Happy New Year from the “At Home with Roby” show! Join Trent and Patrick for this special episode as they ring in 2025 and take a walk down memory lane to celebrate 75 incredible years of Roby’s history. Starting in 1950, Trent shares stories, achievements and milestones that have shaped the company into what it is today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome that home with Roby. I'm Patrick mcaac
from Roby Commercial and Services on the Trent Haston from
the Roby Family of Companies, Trent. It is two zero
two five, lots of multiples of five in the year,
Happy new year.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Bud to zero two five, yeah, twenty five and you
left me there twenty twenty five. I say, oh two
O two five two O.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Two yeah, two point oh two five.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I don't have time to say zero. Nah. I always
get confused. I put the alphabet in there for the
for the number, and that's incorrect. That's what That's what
I've been told on the computer will tell me twenty
twenty five. Yeah, the year of the three quarters of
(00:54):
a century for Roby Family of Companies. That makes it
even another multiple tee me up on another five, so five, ten, fifteen,
twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Five, thirty, keep it going, roll it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
That's how I do. And I do multiplications with my kids.
Dad used to always do multiplications with me. Fond memory.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I remember doing that. Help me what's seven plus nine?
I mean seven times nine.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Seven times nine sixty three? You had to think about it.
You gotta repeat it to get it. You'd mind running
in the back eight and now the kids do this
finger thing. I don't know what they're teaching them in
school anymore. I don't get it. But I'm like, no, man,
just go seven, fourteen, twenty eight, thirty five, forty two,
forty nine. Then you figure out sometimes seven forty nine,
(01:39):
seven times nine sixty three and do it. Then you're
nine times seven. Then you can do seven times seven,
and you can reverse it and go seven times seven.
I'm not talking to Ford, I'm talking to Patrick. Huh No,
Ford answers me. He just thinks that, uh the way
I the way my old gu self comes up with
(02:02):
stuff sometimes is not right. I got you, he tells me,
I am wrong. He's so smart, that nine year old.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Little whipper snapper. I like him. We need to get
him back in the studio with some matchbox cards.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Been that long, Yeah, he still got some matchbox cards
that monster trucks. But uh, but Knox has really inherent
inherited that the cars legacy of my house. I mean
he actually when I left this morning, he had a
ramp coming down the steps, had a couple of loopylos
and had it all set up right in the foyer
(02:36):
and Reagan's like, you gotta take this down. People can't walk.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's like, no, put on some roller skates and get
on my track.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well he's like, we're rolling. We're rolling, got monster trucks
doing launches. Well.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, speaking of legacies, uh, I mean, twenty twenty five
is a very special year for Ruby and the Roby
family of companies. Uh, seventy five years in business. According
to the Google less than one percent of all business
is make it seventy five years?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I'm sure did you google that?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I did much much less than one percent, So something
to be definitely proud of. We thought it might be
fun you and I talking before the show to kind
of talk about your recollection of the business of a
Robi in general from the beginning. Really, if you go
to the Ruby offices, there's a picture of your grandfather
and Andrew Roby that we have. It's on our website
(03:25):
as well, and that's that's really you know, at the
very beginning.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, I mean, the story goes, my grandfather was mister
Roby's first employee in nineteen fifty Andrew Roby check was
his name shortened it, I think make it more americanized.
Roby do business I guess that's a sign of the times.
And his nephew is the great doctor Francis Erby Check
(03:53):
passed away within the last couple of years, lived to
be one hundred. Started the Sanger Clinic first first trials
and tribulations at some level of heart transplant. Yeah, so
that that's kind of where it began. And my granddad,
uh was rolling on mister Roby.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Well, you knew. It's kind of funny that you say
that talking about Andrew Robie Roby Check. Is that whenever
anybody calls the office and asks for mister Roby's the
tall tale sign they got the wrong they got the
wrong place or their full caller.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Typically when people call the office anymore and ask for
anybody like me or my brother, a founder, they're wrong.
They're selling something. Yeah, so Delicia's pretty good at that. Yeah,
I love Delicia. Goodness, gracious, you're the best. She's such
a good face for our business.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
She is, and if you want to come visit her,
she's always got a nice jar as skittles there waiting
that you're welcome to, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
And that's a Roby family office. And we have another
office over off Wilkinson where you're located, you have your
own group, but greeterers there, that's right.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, and they got into the holiday spirit this year.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, y'all had a bunch of decorations, really nice. Just
going to wonder how much time clocked that took.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
He's kidding, He's kidding.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I'm not actually just curious, well worthed good investments. I'm kidding, man,
it is. It's great to get people into the holiday spirit.
And uh, we're recording this a little before the first
of the year. And Uh, I didn't get a Christmas
tree this year. Christian asked me to. I said yes,
(05:34):
and I kind of did what I do to my
wife sometimes. I said yes.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It did she give you the tisk tisk.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I don't get one of the tisk tists times that
at you tis man disgusting you are, Patrick. But anyway, so,
speaking of the fives, multiples of fives, I think it's uh,
five times fifteen is seventy five great years of the
Roby family. Andrew Roby is what it was originally started as,
(06:09):
this is our year of celebrating our seventy fifth anniversary,
so we thought nothing better. We alluded to it a
couple shows ago as I've been getting quizzed by our
PR department that we were upcoming on it and they
were trying to get information out of me and us
and my brother, yeah and whoever, and talking about in
the new year having some legacy customers, legacy relationships on
(06:34):
that might be able to tell some cool stories. So
that's what we got to look forward to. We're gonna
work that in this year. And today we're going to
talk about the history Roby Family seventy five years. I
think they call it the Platinum super Duper Bunker five
multiple anniversary on the at Home with Road Show.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Welcome back to at Home with Roby. I'm Patrick mcaza
from Ruby Curse and Services along with Trent Hayson from
the Roby Family of Companies. We are your hosts. You'vent's
the first segment. Happy New Year, first and foremost, we're
in twenty twenty five, excited and a very very special
year for the Roby Family of Companies. We celebrate seventy
five years. Trent was talking a little bit about his
(07:18):
grandfather and Andrew robi Seck Robi Check. I can never
say that the founder of our company and Trent, I
want to go back. I know you've been talking to
a lot of people about in particularly in our marketing team,
about your memories coming up through the business. Is there
like the earliest memory that comes to mind, like coming
to the office when you were a little around Christmas
(07:39):
time or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
No, not, not really. I mean I actually was at
a party last night and met a lady who's a
real estate investor, and she said it came up that
I worked with Andrew Roby, and she said that she
bought our family's house where my dad and his siblings
(08:08):
grew up on McDonald Avenue, no way, and tore it
down and build a house this lady Matt, Which was
crazy to randomly meet somebody. I guess I hang out
with real estate people and stuff like that. Is that
is that? Where's instruction people? But I my granddad built
his house over in Cottswad on rutleyd Avenue, which I
(08:32):
knew is really where him and my grandmother lived, and
then she passed and and he lived until he passed
in five. I knew that house as hit their home,
but he built that in like eighty two, eighty three,
and prior to that they lived on McDonald Avenue, So
I have a really, really, really vague memory of McDonald Avenue,
(08:52):
and obviously back then the the Andrew Robi office was
in McDonald Avenue.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, it makes sense of ask you that.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, so very vaguely remember that. I don't remember like
knocking around the office. We alluded to it to a
couple shows ago. So I was born in seventy eight,
so it'd been early eighties when he finished his house
on Rutledge and he did. I do remember down the
hallway back of the kitchen had an office in a
little powder room bathroom before you went down into the
(09:25):
back garage, and that office was the office for the
company for several years, and then in the mid eighties,
I guess it was pretty soon there after a couple
of years they bought my grandfather and my dad and
my uncle bought a house on Harding Place. Yeah. Yeah, okay,
(09:46):
So I was single digits, not yet ten, probably between
Knox and Ford's age, and I remember going there to
the office on Harding Place. I was kind of, I
like to say, an office monkey. I was just hanging
around as much as I could. Uh, my father will
let me treated me like I belonged and and never
(10:08):
made me feel like I didn't. And that's I speak
a lot about that with with my kids and our
staff's kids, and Scarlet and and your you know, your daughter,
and I want him to feel they can walk into
the office and walk around the office.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Well, it's kind of funny that he said that that
evolved into one of our core values, which is which
is family, which has been part of what we've been
doing the whole time.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I mean, I talk a lot about this. So I
remember when I was a kid and my dad would
need to talk to somebody in his off and he
would say, this is Trent, this is my son, and Trent,
would you like to stay in here? So we need
to shut the door. You can leave or you can stay.
And he would maybe potentially be hiring someone, potentially be
(10:55):
firing someone, potentially be getting paid or loaning money or
something who knew. Uh. But but it was never hey,
I have to talk business. You need to get out, uh,
I know, it was always hey, what do you want
to do? Of course I said I want to stay
and didn't realize the magnitude of what I was getting
(11:16):
a witness and how it would, how it make impression
on my life. So I remember hanging around that office,
and I remember later years, I think I threw the
fax machine off of this balcony into the parking lot
when I when I was working full time and and
full of a pp and vinegar. They say, uh, But
(11:39):
when I was a kid, I remember thinking we could
tie rope. It's about a story and a half off
the gravel parking lot. We could tie rope and swing
Tarzan swing off of that happened, it wouldn't have been good.
We'd have went kerk plunk and uh and not not
made it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
But uh, so what year did you start?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You started when I started when I was fourteen, working
when I didn't have school during the ninety holiday. He
said that was ninety two, would you be Travis is
probably shortly before that, maybe ninety eighty nine. He's four
years older, so he started when he was fourteen and
then said, yes, I guess he was eighty eight, if
that's right. Anyway, I worked all through high school, started
(12:25):
driving a dump truck when I was sixteen. My buddies
got to work when they turned sixteen for the for
the company. Travis's high school buddies had already been working
and doing labor work. I mean we were laborers, the
bottom of the bottom, but we did a lot of
labor work. Dug a lot of dug a lot of footers,
poured a lot of concrete, tore a lot of brick,
veneers off. I think my dad and Leroy back in
(12:49):
the day did a lot of that years before. And
then I graduated Chapel Hill in two thousand and immediately
was working eighty hour weeks.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Well, you left the part out, you started really started
working as a project manager and like a but a
junior in college you kind of are running some projects.
You got the bug.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, my senior year, I didn't have Friday classes on purpose.
Reagan and I were dating. She was a freshman. I
wanted to get out of school, man, I wanted to
come back to Charlotte work and uh so, so I
talked my dad and he had always said philosophy, you
only know what you know, uh and where you come from.
(13:29):
So he was a workaholic and work real well with
his hands. Was a true craftsman. Serve two tours in
Vietnam and worked a couple of jobs for Roby as
well as like me, Dividen the Street, big commercial company
in Charlotte, Uh for many years when he was growing
up and when he was a young man. So he said,
no matter what, if you want to come back into
(13:51):
the business, you gotta no matter where you go to school,
or what degrees you have or whatever, which he which
he really wanted us to to have the opportunity to
do because he didn't really and uh, he said, you
have to work in the field for five solid years
to get respect. So, uh, my little fancy but went
(14:15):
to Carolina and grew up around the office every breathing moment.
I didn't have to go to school or play sports,
and uh learned learned opportunity costs and economics and taught
him into before my junior year, letting me do some
estimation uh that summer and uh he let me, and
(14:37):
you know, he evolved. So he went from having to
work full time in the field for five years after
college too. Now I'm doing estimates. The summer before my
senior year, sold a couple of projects, uh, the Sleeper
family and the trying to fleet his family. If y'all
are out there, God bless you very special Joe Piedmont thing,
(14:58):
I sold a project at their home. Thank y'all. So much.
It's just such an impression on my life and how
how customers treat can treat people, and families can can
welcome you and you can serve. But I manage those
projects during my senior year, so I didn't have Friday class.
Reagan and I'd come home Thursday night and I'd worked
Friday and Saturday. I'd get back to school on Sunday
(15:19):
and call my dad and say, you sell that job.
Sunday he said, leave, go back to school, go to
the bar or something. Not that he wanted me to
go to the bar. He just wanted me to get
off the day on phone wearing his butt out. But
that was cool. So I was able to do that.
So when I graduated school in May of two thousand
(15:42):
and I hit the ground running. I was dating Reagan
really seriously, and don't think I went on any trips
or anything that during that time and rolled right in.
So yeah, so it was good. So all that was
on Harding Place, in the house on Harting Place where
I basically grew up. And then and then over the
(16:04):
years we bought a couple other houses in that little
area in the Midtown area over by Charlottetown, mall and Uh.
As we grew out of the eight to nine recession,
we were moved into a couple of these other houses.
We had a little little neighborhood, walking between yards and
(16:25):
stuff had some lines. Anyway, it was cool, and our
shop was over off South Trine. So it always drove
me crazy that our shopp and our office were at
different spots as we grew and they're still not together.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I know it's funny how that works, isn't it twoenty.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And twenty five. Uh, but yeah, all right, let's keep going.
Let's go pay some bills and we'll come back. You
said you had some easy questions, so hopefully they're easy.
You're listening to that Home with Roby. We're celebrating the
start of our seventy fifth anniversary.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Welcome back at Home with Roby. I'm Patrick mcaac from
Robie Commercial in Services on with Trent Hayson from the
Roby Family of Companies. We are your hosts. Happy New Year.
Twenty twenty five is upon us very special year for
the Roby Family companies. If you missed the last couple
of segments, go check us out, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, not
x but everywhere else you can find us. Trent were
(17:23):
cooring down Memory Lane here a big special year for
the Roby Family Company seventy five years mix, it's exciting.
You were talking about Harding Place, and that was that
was my very first month at Roby was at Harding Place,
in an upstairs bedroom next door to your office and
then across from Dave MacGuire's. I remember those days. But
(17:45):
it's kind of cool to go back you were you
were talking about what made you angry was I did
not realize where was the shop on South Troin You
had mentioned that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, it was so between Clanton and Remount. Okay, you're
headed out of town on South Trin on the right there.
I can't think of May Street, Foster Avenue and May Street.
We had a couple couple of little, little janky buildings
over there, and they're still there. They looked better than
they did when we had them. But uh, yeah, that
(18:17):
was where it was, and uh it served us well
for our time. And when we sold those buildings I
think pre recession seven eighth nine and moved to where
we're at now. Our shop is on the corner of
Moorhead and Wilkes. Yeah, which has really been a great
(18:39):
branding spot for our business in the last fifteen to
twenty years over there as our family office is down
Morehead a little bit across from WBT at two thousand
West Moorehead on Millerton, Old Biltmore Derry. That's where my
office is. That's where the Andrew Roby office is. And
(19:00):
then we have our shop on the corner. Y'all used
to be right across from the shop Commercial and Services
on Ardy Avenue.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
In the shop when I first started. Yeah, in the shop, yeah, yeah,
forget about that.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I'll tell you something that we're really good at. And
and our real estate endeavors with various partners is folks
say they want to get into real estate. My dad's
philosophy was, he said, son, you think you're gonna make
a lot of money running a business. He says, he's
not gonna make any any money like you think. He said,
(19:34):
you have two weeks vacation, five holidays, and if your
wife complains enough, you'll be able to take the kids
to the beach when you need to. You get a
pickup truck, a gas card, and you get some health insurance,
he said. And if you play your cards right, one
day you'll own a piece of property or two, because
(19:56):
you'll be able to rent it from yourself by a
piece of property in the business rents it just like
it's paying the lease. And that was his philosophy. So
that's kind of how we've done grown our branding over
over the last quarter century during mine and Travis's tenure.
My dad allowed it to happen. And then uh, the
physical locations being together trying to get some synergies. So
(20:19):
I meet a lot of people that are small business owners,
been paying leases and they say, I want to own
a property one day. Well, well they all see it.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, like it's like it's like it's.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Gold, when it's really a negative because it takes twenty
years in consistency and diligency to earn out and create value,
to appreciate and to pay down principle and the and
the and to feel comfortable where you're at. Uh, but
I say this all the time. You also kind of
got to be a little creative and own something, a
(20:50):
little janky owned something. When somebody asked me last night
with JANKI men, I mean it's a little making stuff happen,
you know, you piece around. See these guys, these business
owners say hey, man, help me get a piece of property,
help me help me pay myself rent for some years
and I'm like, Okay, here's this, here's that, And they're like, no, no,
(21:13):
that isn't perfect. Well you can take on a partner
and do this, don't know, I want to own it
all myself. And they missed the whole point. And ten
years later they're still paying rent and when they could
have had a little more creativity and as your as
your friend and our partner in a couple of deals,
(21:33):
Mike Alterman said when he was on here getting the
way real estate get in the and I use that
I have I have plagiarized his statement.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, I mean it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
You can get it in a way real estate. You
want to get able to pay rent and make it.
Number one, you get the visibility of it and the
branding of it if you do it right. But number two,
it's going to appreciate and by you running that business
and being a healthy enough business to pay rent and
(22:04):
pay the bills, pay the employees over time, you create
a little value. So that's kind of been our philosophy.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
You might have to deal with someone sleeping in front
of the building for for a couple of years there
until you or you talk till you get get things
or things get come, progress catches up. We'll talk about
I might have slept in front of a building. I
might just slept on the floor inside the building before.
But on that, that's a different story.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Definitely done that.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Well, we'll keep taking us down the road. Talk about
maybe how how these other businesses evolved, How many of
your family members were in the business throughout the years.
Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, so, uh, my granddad was mister Roby's right hand
person during the fifties. In the sixties, the story goes, uh,
mister Roby and him, I guess had figured that the
legacy was gonna come at some way to the Hastings
in the sixties, and they didn't have any money and
(23:01):
just a small little business. And instead of a Christmas
bonus or something my granddad earned as a gift, his
first couple pieces of stock of this little business that
you know, arguably probably wasn't worth anything at the time,
and he had to go get a loan to buy
Christmas for the family. That that's how tels go, I'm
(23:24):
sure some version of that. And then in the seventies,
the late seventies, which was a real rough decade for construction.
My dad always talked about interest rates being eighteen percent,
nobody spending any money, gas lines a mile and a
half long, the old old crisis, and how bad it was.
(23:45):
He said they had five employees in the late seventies.
They worked one day a week to keep health insurance.
That saw the business they had, and they were just
making it wow. And they bought the business from mister
Roby in the mid we say seventy six. Uh. And
then my dad ran led with my granddad. Uh but
(24:09):
kind of I think he was the young whipper snapper
in the eighties and the nineties. My granddad worked every day.
I mean he was in the book He's a workaholt.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And uh. And then I came into the business and
didn't know any better and say, get out of my way.
I'm gonna do this. Uh.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
They call you in the big G, Little G.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
That little G. Yeah, okay, look big G was my
grand Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
You were okay.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I all thought it was funny. How I was a
little spitting image of him until we got Big G
get out of here, until we got started fighting each
other he had some size on you, didn't he so?
Uh yeah he was. He was originally six five. He's
a little hunched over by when he passed away. But
uh but yeah, so my aunt Brenda, I mean a
(24:54):
true family business. My aunt Brenda Randy office. We had
Ken lean An. He was our superintendent, kind of ran
the field, and my uncle Don ran the field too,
and my dad sold jobs and everybody did everything kind of. Uh,
I don't think there was any so so peace, the
(25:16):
inter operating procedures or anything. I came in and raised
a bunch of ruckus about all that.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
What was the balance in quick books? Again?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Well, when I joined, we were not online in two
thousand and we had a one quick book software and
it was like negative thirteen million because we were doing
about three or four million a year in revenue and
we had had it three or four years, and so
he had that together. All we did was write checks.
It was a check printer, never had any positives and
(25:44):
never was used as accounting software. It was a check producer.
So uh yeah, that's what that's where we came from.
So I started managing our finances on an Excel spreadsheet
that I learned at Chapel Hill. Yeah, I still use
Excel spreadsheets thing you excel. And in three we hired
our first book keeper, dars kimber Lane. She worked with
(26:06):
us for about ten years and great and help us,
help us get a leg up. But you don't know
where you come from. Nothing's easy, man, But it's all
rewarding when you do it and when you when you
do it together, when you fight and find success, find
rewards from trials and tribulations. I have a story to
(26:30):
tell when I come back. Yeah, yeah, about how how
I really got into the thick of things because I
asked for it. But I'll save that for when we return.
We're telling some memories, telling some stories, setting up for
our celebration of our seventy fifth year in twenty twenty
five on the at Home with Ruby shows, Welcome back
(26:58):
at Home with Ruby, Ruby Commercialing Services on Trent Hanson
from the Ruby family of Companies.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
We are your hosts. If you miss the last couple
of segments, go back check it out. We are celebrating
our seventieth seventy fifth anniversary this year. First and foremost,
Happy New Year, Trent. You did a cliffhanger. I think
that's what you called on the on the seven before
you said you had a store.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yes, I don't know if I've ever told the story
and radio, but it's such a cool story. It is
you know, it's always harder everybody thinks to see here.
So I get out of college. I go beat bopping
at the local Wacovia in the Hearting Place at Kenilworth, Phillis,
who I had known for a long time, loved my dad.
(27:42):
I give her my four hundred and forty six dollars
net paycheck on Friday and go through drink of bud
light on the river and excited got my cash and
she gave it back to me and said, hey, mister Hasten,
insufficient funds. I said, I get mad. I drive straight
(28:03):
down Hearting Place. I get fired up, little g Get
my granddad. I'm in my granddad's office. Get my dad,
my good dad, my granddad. I'm complaining, I said, a
fire and this came from my dad. This is upbringing,
I said. I wasn't worried about my money, my four
hundred and forty six dollars. I was worried about if
our our brick mason that was employed, or our carpenter
(28:25):
or somebody else in the company had heard what I heard.
Then this is before really before next till took off.
I mean we would word would travel, they wouldn't know
the perspective, and we would lose all of our employees
within the next six months. They'd go look for another job.
I just knew. The woman told me we didn't have
(28:46):
any money. I'm ranting, I'm raving. My Granddad's like, I
got some fire in here. This is great. He's all excited,
Like I said, until we start button heads, until I
get fiery about something. He doesn't want to change. My dad.
Let's me talk. He says, son, you done. He's listening.
I said no, I go again. He says, get done.
I said no, go one more time, and then I
(29:08):
said I'm done. And he said, all right, sit tight.
And he goes in the front office and brings back
this manila folder of plastic green actually, and it was
our receiv receivable stile and it was probably three inches
thick of paper, and he dropped it on the floor.
This is my first full time week now. I had
been managing projects and estimating and was kind of doing
(29:32):
that vital thing for our company. And he dropped it
on the floor. I mean, I remember this like this
twenty five years ago. Dropped it on the floor, and
he says, son, I do not want to hear you
complain anymore. I don't want to hear you moan. I
don't want to hear you grown. He said, I'm owed
a lot of money. Go collect my money, and I'm
(29:54):
gonna get out there in the field and do some work.
I'm tired of hearing it. I don't ever want to
hear you complain about now I have money again. So
I started. I didn't know what to do. I went
up to my office. I might have smoked a cigarette.
I might have prayed. I did both. I think. I said, well,
how am I going to do this? I gotta co
figure out. So I had to call these people, go
(30:15):
meet them, get out in the field, go talk to them,
tell them I was My brother was already in the company.
We were starting to grow. Cash was tight. I told
him my story, told I usual lies. My dad and
my granddad and my uncle has tools. I said, you know,
you love my dad, but hitting real big about collecting money.
But he'll serve you and he'll work for you, and
you love him. I'm here to do the dirty work,
(30:36):
and I got to do it. And I might have
worked at your house as a kid. Let me come see.
And then I learned. I really I tell all these
young guys people learn about it. Learn all our blessing
is we get to serve these great people, kind of
like the radio show. So I got inquisitive. I want
to learn about them, flatter them. Uh So I started
(30:58):
collecting money. And when you do that, you start leading
because you collect money, uh, and you get to know people. People.
People also see your sincere and uh people understand trying
to run a business. They got it so uh so yeah,
so that's how it works. So that and then that's
how we kind of started. The company started growing, and
(31:20):
then we were only Andrew Roby, which was custom residential
into the recession of eight oh nine, which was terrible.
My dad said it was worse than the seventies. Yeah, kudos.
And then, uh, coming out of a recession, I said,
we got to grow, we got to do more. We
got to diversify. And the way we're going to diversify
is by vertically integrating the blessing of our lucky homeowner
(31:44):
that we get conserve and what else did they do?
They invest in properties, They run businesses that have properties
that need work. Uh, they help their kids with their
first homes, and they have second homes in the mountains
and at the coast. So and they have mechanical, electrical
plumbing service and handyman service for the life of any
of their hard assets. So that's kind of how we've
(32:06):
grown into where we are today with the commercial services.
Everybody's like, oh, you're going to do this and that
and this, and it's really not a distraction. It's really
a focus both and it's it makes it life easier
for our for our trusted client as well because they
don't have to go start a new trusting relationship and
(32:29):
take risk. They know what they got. We know what
we got, so we're fortunate. So hopefully we're going to
be able to grow that over over the next seventy
five years. We love the sun Belt, we love the Southeast.
And the only way we grow geographically is if our
(32:49):
clients take us places in the businesses that they lead
or in their second home markets. If we have if
we have enough girth out of sharps and our base.
So that's our model. I think a lot of people
don't understand that thing. It's good to hear. So we're
very fortunate. I grew up in the dunt Trump beside
(33:11):
Fred and Leroy, and they were so impressionable in my life.
And my dad did that, and my granddad taught my
dad to do that, so my brother did the same.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And you get to grow up with Trent seventy five
years man, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Well, thank you for listening. We hope this is a great,
our best year ever in memory of all those we
talked about, and many, many, many many more. Go do
the Golden rule today. Treat others the way you want
to be treated. On this first Sunday and into twenty
twenty five, carry a smile around on your face. God
(33:47):
bless
Good morning, Welcome that home with Roby. I'm Patrick mcaac
from Roby Commercial and Services on the Trent Haston from
the Roby Family of Companies, Trent. It is two zero
two five, lots of multiples of five in the year,
Happy new year.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Bud to zero two five, yeah, twenty five and you
left me there twenty twenty five. I say, oh two
O two five two O.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Two yeah, two point oh two five.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I don't have time to say zero. Nah. I always
get confused. I put the alphabet in there for the
for the number, and that's incorrect. That's what That's what
I've been told on the computer will tell me twenty
twenty five. Yeah, the year of the three quarters of
(00:54):
a century for Roby Family of Companies. That makes it
even another multiple tee me up on another five, so five, ten, fifteen,
twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Five, thirty, keep it going, roll it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
That's how I do. And I do multiplications with my kids.
Dad used to always do multiplications with me. Fond memory.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I remember doing that. Help me what's seven plus nine?
I mean seven times nine.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Seven times nine sixty three? You had to think about it.
You gotta repeat it to get it. You'd mind running
in the back eight and now the kids do this
finger thing. I don't know what they're teaching them in
school anymore. I don't get it. But I'm like, no, man,
just go seven, fourteen, twenty eight, thirty five, forty two,
forty nine. Then you figure out sometimes seven forty nine,
(01:39):
seven times nine sixty three and do it. Then you're
nine times seven. Then you can do seven times seven,
and you can reverse it and go seven times seven.
I'm not talking to Ford, I'm talking to Patrick. Huh No,
Ford answers me. He just thinks that, uh the way
I the way my old gu self comes up with
(02:02):
stuff sometimes is not right. I got you, he tells me,
I am wrong. He's so smart, that nine year old.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Little whipper snapper. I like him. We need to get
him back in the studio with some matchbox cards.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Been that long, Yeah, he still got some matchbox cards
that monster trucks. But uh, but Knox has really inherent
inherited that the cars legacy of my house. I mean
he actually when I left this morning, he had a
ramp coming down the steps, had a couple of loopylos
and had it all set up right in the foyer
(02:36):
and Reagan's like, you gotta take this down. People can't walk.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's like, no, put on some roller skates and get
on my track.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well he's like, we're rolling. We're rolling, got monster trucks
doing launches. Well.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, speaking of legacies, uh, I mean, twenty twenty five
is a very special year for Ruby and the Roby
family of companies. Uh, seventy five years in business. According
to the Google less than one percent of all business
is make it seventy five years?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I'm sure did you google that?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I did much much less than one percent, So something
to be definitely proud of. We thought it might be
fun you and I talking before the show to kind
of talk about your recollection of the business of a
Robi in general from the beginning. Really, if you go
to the Ruby offices, there's a picture of your grandfather
and Andrew Roby that we have. It's on our website
(03:25):
as well, and that's that's really you know, at the
very beginning.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, I mean, the story goes, my grandfather was mister
Roby's first employee in nineteen fifty Andrew Roby check was
his name shortened it, I think make it more americanized.
Roby do business I guess that's a sign of the times.
And his nephew is the great doctor Francis Erby Check
(03:53):
passed away within the last couple of years, lived to
be one hundred. Started the Sanger Clinic first first trials
and tribulations at some level of heart transplant. Yeah, so
that that's kind of where it began. And my granddad,
uh was rolling on mister Roby.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Well, you knew. It's kind of funny that you say
that talking about Andrew Robie Roby Check. Is that whenever
anybody calls the office and asks for mister Roby's the
tall tale sign they got the wrong they got the
wrong place or their full caller.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Typically when people call the office anymore and ask for
anybody like me or my brother, a founder, they're wrong.
They're selling something. Yeah, so Delicia's pretty good at that. Yeah,
I love Delicia. Goodness, gracious, you're the best. She's such
a good face for our business.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
She is, and if you want to come visit her,
she's always got a nice jar as skittles there waiting
that you're welcome to, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
And that's a Roby family office. And we have another
office over off Wilkinson where you're located, you have your
own group, but greeterers there, that's right.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, and they got into the holiday spirit this year.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, y'all had a bunch of decorations, really nice. Just
going to wonder how much time clocked that took.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
He's kidding, He's kidding.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I'm not actually just curious, well worthed good investments. I'm kidding, man,
it is. It's great to get people into the holiday spirit.
And uh, we're recording this a little before the first
of the year. And Uh, I didn't get a Christmas
tree this year. Christian asked me to. I said yes,
(05:34):
and I kind of did what I do to my
wife sometimes. I said yes.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
It did she give you the tisk tisk.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I don't get one of the tisk tists times that
at you tis man disgusting you are, Patrick. But anyway, so,
speaking of the fives, multiples of fives, I think it's uh,
five times fifteen is seventy five great years of the
Roby family. Andrew Roby is what it was originally started as,
(06:09):
this is our year of celebrating our seventy fifth anniversary,
so we thought nothing better. We alluded to it a
couple shows ago as I've been getting quizzed by our
PR department that we were upcoming on it and they
were trying to get information out of me and us
and my brother, yeah and whoever, and talking about in
the new year having some legacy customers, legacy relationships on
(06:34):
that might be able to tell some cool stories. So
that's what we got to look forward to. We're gonna
work that in this year. And today we're going to
talk about the history Roby Family seventy five years. I
think they call it the Platinum super Duper Bunker five
multiple anniversary on the at Home with Road Show.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Welcome back to at Home with Roby. I'm Patrick mcaza
from Ruby Curse and Services along with Trent Hayson from
the Roby Family of Companies. We are your hosts. You'vent's
the first segment. Happy New Year, first and foremost, we're
in twenty twenty five, excited and a very very special
year for the Roby Family of Companies. We celebrate seventy
five years. Trent was talking a little bit about his
(07:18):
grandfather and Andrew robi Seck Robi Check. I can never
say that the founder of our company and Trent, I
want to go back. I know you've been talking to
a lot of people about in particularly in our marketing team,
about your memories coming up through the business. Is there
like the earliest memory that comes to mind, like coming
to the office when you were a little around Christmas
(07:39):
time or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
No, not, not really. I mean I actually was at
a party last night and met a lady who's a
real estate investor, and she said it came up that
I worked with Andrew Roby, and she said that she
bought our family's house where my dad and his siblings
(08:08):
grew up on McDonald Avenue, no way, and tore it
down and build a house this lady Matt, Which was
crazy to randomly meet somebody. I guess I hang out
with real estate people and stuff like that. Is that
is that? Where's instruction people? But I my granddad built
his house over in Cottswad on rutleyd Avenue, which I
(08:32):
knew is really where him and my grandmother lived, and
then she passed and and he lived until he passed
in five. I knew that house as hit their home,
but he built that in like eighty two, eighty three,
and prior to that they lived on McDonald Avenue, So
I have a really, really, really vague memory of McDonald Avenue,
(08:52):
and obviously back then the the Andrew Robi office was
in McDonald Avenue.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, it makes sense of ask you that.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, so very vaguely remember that. I don't remember like
knocking around the office. We alluded to it to a
couple shows ago. So I was born in seventy eight,
so it'd been early eighties when he finished his house
on Rutledge and he did. I do remember down the
hallway back of the kitchen had an office in a
little powder room bathroom before you went down into the
(09:25):
back garage, and that office was the office for the
company for several years, and then in the mid eighties,
I guess it was pretty soon there after a couple
of years they bought my grandfather and my dad and
my uncle bought a house on Harding Place. Yeah. Yeah, okay,
(09:46):
So I was single digits, not yet ten, probably between
Knox and Ford's age, and I remember going there to
the office on Harding Place. I was kind of, I
like to say, an office monkey. I was just hanging
around as much as I could. Uh, my father will
let me treated me like I belonged and and never
(10:08):
made me feel like I didn't. And that's I speak
a lot about that with with my kids and our
staff's kids, and Scarlet and and your you know, your daughter,
and I want him to feel they can walk into
the office and walk around the office.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Well, it's kind of funny that he said that that
evolved into one of our core values, which is which
is family, which has been part of what we've been
doing the whole time.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I mean, I talk a lot about this. So I
remember when I was a kid and my dad would
need to talk to somebody in his off and he
would say, this is Trent, this is my son, and Trent,
would you like to stay in here? So we need
to shut the door. You can leave or you can stay.
And he would maybe potentially be hiring someone, potentially be
(10:55):
firing someone, potentially be getting paid or loaning money or
something who knew. Uh. But but it was never hey,
I have to talk business. You need to get out, uh,
I know, it was always hey, what do you want
to do? Of course I said I want to stay
and didn't realize the magnitude of what I was getting
(11:16):
a witness and how it would, how it make impression
on my life. So I remember hanging around that office,
and I remember later years, I think I threw the
fax machine off of this balcony into the parking lot
when I when I was working full time and and
full of a pp and vinegar. They say, uh, But
(11:39):
when I was a kid, I remember thinking we could
tie rope. It's about a story and a half off
the gravel parking lot. We could tie rope and swing
Tarzan swing off of that happened, it wouldn't have been good.
We'd have went kerk plunk and uh and not not
made it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
But uh, so what year did you start?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You started when I started when I was fourteen, working
when I didn't have school during the ninety holiday. He
said that was ninety two, would you be Travis is
probably shortly before that, maybe ninety eighty nine. He's four
years older, so he started when he was fourteen and
then said, yes, I guess he was eighty eight, if
that's right. Anyway, I worked all through high school, started
(12:25):
driving a dump truck when I was sixteen. My buddies
got to work when they turned sixteen for the for
the company. Travis's high school buddies had already been working
and doing labor work. I mean we were laborers, the
bottom of the bottom, but we did a lot of
labor work. Dug a lot of dug a lot of footers,
poured a lot of concrete, tore a lot of brick,
veneers off. I think my dad and Leroy back in
(12:49):
the day did a lot of that years before. And
then I graduated Chapel Hill in two thousand and immediately
was working eighty hour weeks.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Well, you left the part out, you started really started
working as a project manager and like a but a
junior in college you kind of are running some projects.
You got the bug.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, my senior year, I didn't have Friday classes on purpose.
Reagan and I were dating. She was a freshman. I
wanted to get out of school, man, I wanted to
come back to Charlotte work and uh so, so I
talked my dad and he had always said philosophy, you
only know what you know, uh and where you come from.
(13:29):
So he was a workaholic and work real well with
his hands. Was a true craftsman. Serve two tours in
Vietnam and worked a couple of jobs for Roby as
well as like me, Dividen the Street, big commercial company
in Charlotte, Uh for many years when he was growing
up and when he was a young man. So he said,
no matter what, if you want to come back into
(13:51):
the business, you gotta no matter where you go to school,
or what degrees you have or whatever, which he which
he really wanted us to to have the opportunity to
do because he didn't really and uh, he said, you
have to work in the field for five solid years
to get respect. So, uh, my little fancy but went
(14:15):
to Carolina and grew up around the office every breathing moment.
I didn't have to go to school or play sports,
and uh learned learned opportunity costs and economics and taught
him into before my junior year, letting me do some
estimation uh that summer and uh he let me, and
(14:37):
you know, he evolved. So he went from having to
work full time in the field for five years after
college too. Now I'm doing estimates. The summer before my
senior year, sold a couple of projects, uh, the Sleeper
family and the trying to fleet his family. If y'all
are out there, God bless you very special Joe Piedmont thing,
(14:58):
I sold a project at their home. Thank y'all. So much.
It's just such an impression on my life and how
how customers treat can treat people, and families can can
welcome you and you can serve. But I manage those
projects during my senior year, so I didn't have Friday class.
Reagan and I'd come home Thursday night and I'd worked
Friday and Saturday. I'd get back to school on Sunday
(15:19):
and call my dad and say, you sell that job.
Sunday he said, leave, go back to school, go to
the bar or something. Not that he wanted me to
go to the bar. He just wanted me to get
off the day on phone wearing his butt out. But
that was cool. So I was able to do that.
So when I graduated school in May of two thousand
(15:42):
and I hit the ground running. I was dating Reagan
really seriously, and don't think I went on any trips
or anything that during that time and rolled right in.
So yeah, so it was good. So all that was
on Harding Place, in the house on Harting Place where
I basically grew up. And then and then over the
(16:04):
years we bought a couple other houses in that little
area in the Midtown area over by Charlottetown, mall and Uh.
As we grew out of the eight to nine recession,
we were moved into a couple of these other houses.
We had a little little neighborhood, walking between yards and
(16:25):
stuff had some lines. Anyway, it was cool, and our
shop was over off South Trine. So it always drove
me crazy that our shopp and our office were at
different spots as we grew and they're still not together.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I know it's funny how that works, isn't it twoenty.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And twenty five. Uh, but yeah, all right, let's keep going.
Let's go pay some bills and we'll come back. You
said you had some easy questions, so hopefully they're easy.
You're listening to that Home with Roby. We're celebrating the
start of our seventy fifth anniversary.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Welcome back at Home with Roby. I'm Patrick mcaac from
Robie Commercial in Services on with Trent Hayson from the
Roby Family of Companies. We are your hosts. Happy New Year.
Twenty twenty five is upon us very special year for
the Roby Family companies. If you missed the last couple
of segments, go check us out, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, not
x but everywhere else you can find us. Trent were
(17:23):
cooring down Memory Lane here a big special year for
the Roby Family Company seventy five years mix, it's exciting.
You were talking about Harding Place, and that was that
was my very first month at Roby was at Harding Place,
in an upstairs bedroom next door to your office and
then across from Dave MacGuire's. I remember those days. But
(17:45):
it's kind of cool to go back you were you
were talking about what made you angry was I did
not realize where was the shop on South Troin You
had mentioned that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, it was so between Clanton and Remount. Okay, you're
headed out of town on South Trin on the right there.
I can't think of May Street, Foster Avenue and May Street.
We had a couple couple of little, little janky buildings
over there, and they're still there. They looked better than
they did when we had them. But uh, yeah, that
(18:17):
was where it was, and uh it served us well
for our time. And when we sold those buildings I
think pre recession seven eighth nine and moved to where
we're at now. Our shop is on the corner of
Moorhead and Wilkes. Yeah, which has really been a great
(18:39):
branding spot for our business in the last fifteen to
twenty years over there as our family office is down
Morehead a little bit across from WBT at two thousand
West Moorehead on Millerton, Old Biltmore Derry. That's where my
office is. That's where the Andrew Roby office is. And
(19:00):
then we have our shop on the corner. Y'all used
to be right across from the shop Commercial and Services
on Ardy Avenue.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
In the shop when I first started. Yeah, in the shop, yeah, yeah,
forget about that.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I'll tell you something that we're really good at. And
and our real estate endeavors with various partners is folks
say they want to get into real estate. My dad's
philosophy was, he said, son, you think you're gonna make
a lot of money running a business. He says, he's
not gonna make any any money like you think. He said,
(19:34):
you have two weeks vacation, five holidays, and if your
wife complains enough, you'll be able to take the kids
to the beach when you need to. You get a
pickup truck, a gas card, and you get some health insurance,
he said. And if you play your cards right, one
day you'll own a piece of property or two, because
(19:56):
you'll be able to rent it from yourself by a
piece of property in the business rents it just like
it's paying the lease. And that was his philosophy. So
that's kind of how we've done grown our branding over
over the last quarter century during mine and Travis's tenure.
My dad allowed it to happen. And then uh, the
physical locations being together trying to get some synergies. So
(20:19):
I meet a lot of people that are small business owners,
been paying leases and they say, I want to own
a property one day. Well, well they all see it.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, like it's like it's like it's.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Gold, when it's really a negative because it takes twenty
years in consistency and diligency to earn out and create value,
to appreciate and to pay down principle and the and
the and to feel comfortable where you're at. Uh, but
I say this all the time. You also kind of
got to be a little creative and own something, a
(20:50):
little janky owned something. When somebody asked me last night
with JANKI men, I mean it's a little making stuff happen,
you know, you piece around. See these guys, these business
owners say hey, man, help me get a piece of property,
help me help me pay myself rent for some years
and I'm like, Okay, here's this, here's that, And they're like, no, no,
(21:13):
that isn't perfect. Well you can take on a partner
and do this, don't know, I want to own it
all myself. And they missed the whole point. And ten
years later they're still paying rent and when they could
have had a little more creativity and as your as
your friend and our partner in a couple of deals,
(21:33):
Mike Alterman said when he was on here getting the
way real estate get in the and I use that
I have I have plagiarized his statement.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, I mean it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
You can get it in a way real estate. You
want to get able to pay rent and make it.
Number one, you get the visibility of it and the
branding of it if you do it right. But number two,
it's going to appreciate and by you running that business
and being a healthy enough business to pay rent and
(22:04):
pay the bills, pay the employees over time, you create
a little value. So that's kind of been our philosophy.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
You might have to deal with someone sleeping in front
of the building for for a couple of years there
until you or you talk till you get get things
or things get come, progress catches up. We'll talk about
I might have slept in front of a building. I
might just slept on the floor inside the building before.
But on that, that's a different story.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Definitely done that.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Well, we'll keep taking us down the road. Talk about
maybe how how these other businesses evolved, How many of
your family members were in the business throughout the years.
Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, so, uh, my granddad was mister Roby's right hand
person during the fifties. In the sixties, the story goes, uh,
mister Roby and him, I guess had figured that the
legacy was gonna come at some way to the Hastings
in the sixties, and they didn't have any money and
(23:01):
just a small little business. And instead of a Christmas
bonus or something my granddad earned as a gift, his
first couple pieces of stock of this little business that
you know, arguably probably wasn't worth anything at the time,
and he had to go get a loan to buy
Christmas for the family. That that's how tels go, I'm
(23:24):
sure some version of that. And then in the seventies,
the late seventies, which was a real rough decade for construction.
My dad always talked about interest rates being eighteen percent,
nobody spending any money, gas lines a mile and a
half long, the old old crisis, and how bad it was.
(23:45):
He said they had five employees in the late seventies.
They worked one day a week to keep health insurance.
That saw the business they had, and they were just
making it wow. And they bought the business from mister
Roby in the mid we say seventy six. Uh. And
then my dad ran led with my granddad. Uh but
(24:09):
kind of I think he was the young whipper snapper
in the eighties and the nineties. My granddad worked every day.
I mean he was in the book He's a workaholt.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And uh. And then I came into the business and
didn't know any better and say, get out of my way.
I'm gonna do this. Uh.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
They call you in the big G, Little G.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
That little G. Yeah, okay, look big G was my
grand Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
You were okay.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I all thought it was funny. How I was a
little spitting image of him until we got Big G
get out of here, until we got started fighting each
other he had some size on you, didn't he so?
Uh yeah he was. He was originally six five. He's
a little hunched over by when he passed away. But
uh but yeah, so my aunt Brenda, I mean a
(24:54):
true family business. My aunt Brenda Randy office. We had
Ken lean An. He was our superintendent, kind of ran
the field, and my uncle Don ran the field too,
and my dad sold jobs and everybody did everything kind of. Uh,
I don't think there was any so so peace, the
(25:16):
inter operating procedures or anything. I came in and raised
a bunch of ruckus about all that.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
What was the balance in quick books? Again?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Well, when I joined, we were not online in two
thousand and we had a one quick book software and
it was like negative thirteen million because we were doing
about three or four million a year in revenue and
we had had it three or four years, and so
he had that together. All we did was write checks.
It was a check printer, never had any positives and
(25:44):
never was used as accounting software. It was a check producer.
So uh yeah, that's what that's where we came from.
So I started managing our finances on an Excel spreadsheet
that I learned at Chapel Hill. Yeah, I still use
Excel spreadsheets thing you excel. And in three we hired
our first book keeper, dars kimber Lane. She worked with
(26:06):
us for about ten years and great and help us,
help us get a leg up. But you don't know
where you come from. Nothing's easy, man, But it's all
rewarding when you do it and when you when you
do it together, when you fight and find success, find
rewards from trials and tribulations. I have a story to
(26:30):
tell when I come back. Yeah, yeah, about how how
I really got into the thick of things because I
asked for it. But I'll save that for when we return.
We're telling some memories, telling some stories, setting up for
our celebration of our seventy fifth year in twenty twenty
five on the at Home with Ruby shows, Welcome back
(26:58):
at Home with Ruby, Ruby Commercialing Services on Trent Hanson
from the Ruby family of Companies.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
We are your hosts. If you miss the last couple
of segments, go back check it out. We are celebrating
our seventieth seventy fifth anniversary this year. First and foremost,
Happy New Year, Trent. You did a cliffhanger. I think
that's what you called on the on the seven before
you said you had a store.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Yes, I don't know if I've ever told the story
and radio, but it's such a cool story. It is
you know, it's always harder everybody thinks to see here.
So I get out of college. I go beat bopping
at the local Wacovia in the Hearting Place at Kenilworth, Phillis,
who I had known for a long time, loved my dad.
(27:42):
I give her my four hundred and forty six dollars
net paycheck on Friday and go through drink of bud
light on the river and excited got my cash and
she gave it back to me and said, hey, mister Hasten,
insufficient funds. I said, I get mad. I drive straight
(28:03):
down Hearting Place. I get fired up, little g Get
my granddad. I'm in my granddad's office. Get my dad,
my good dad, my granddad. I'm complaining, I said, a
fire and this came from my dad. This is upbringing,
I said. I wasn't worried about my money, my four
hundred and forty six dollars. I was worried about if
our our brick mason that was employed, or our carpenter
(28:25):
or somebody else in the company had heard what I heard.
Then this is before really before next till took off.
I mean we would word would travel, they wouldn't know
the perspective, and we would lose all of our employees
within the next six months. They'd go look for another job.
I just knew. The woman told me we didn't have
(28:46):
any money. I'm ranting, I'm raving. My Granddad's like, I
got some fire in here. This is great. He's all excited,
Like I said, until we start button heads, until I
get fiery about something. He doesn't want to change. My dad.
Let's me talk. He says, son, you done. He's listening.
I said no, I go again. He says, get done.
I said no, go one more time, and then I
(29:08):
said I'm done. And he said, all right, sit tight.
And he goes in the front office and brings back
this manila folder of plastic green actually, and it was
our receiv receivable stile and it was probably three inches
thick of paper, and he dropped it on the floor.
This is my first full time week now. I had
been managing projects and estimating and was kind of doing
(29:32):
that vital thing for our company. And he dropped it
on the floor. I mean, I remember this like this
twenty five years ago. Dropped it on the floor, and
he says, son, I do not want to hear you
complain anymore. I don't want to hear you moan. I
don't want to hear you grown. He said, I'm owed
a lot of money. Go collect my money, and I'm
(29:54):
gonna get out there in the field and do some work.
I'm tired of hearing it. I don't ever want to
hear you complain about now I have money again. So
I started. I didn't know what to do. I went
up to my office. I might have smoked a cigarette.
I might have prayed. I did both. I think. I said, well,
how am I going to do this? I gotta co
figure out. So I had to call these people, go
(30:15):
meet them, get out in the field, go talk to them,
tell them I was My brother was already in the company.
We were starting to grow. Cash was tight. I told
him my story, told I usual lies. My dad and
my granddad and my uncle has tools. I said, you know,
you love my dad, but hitting real big about collecting money.
But he'll serve you and he'll work for you, and
you love him. I'm here to do the dirty work,
(30:36):
and I got to do it. And I might have
worked at your house as a kid. Let me come see.
And then I learned. I really I tell all these
young guys people learn about it. Learn all our blessing
is we get to serve these great people, kind of
like the radio show. So I got inquisitive. I want
to learn about them, flatter them. Uh So I started
(30:58):
collecting money. And when you do that, you start leading
because you collect money, uh, and you get to know people. People.
People also see your sincere and uh people understand trying
to run a business. They got it so uh so yeah,
so that's how it works. So that and then that's
how we kind of started. The company started growing, and
(31:20):
then we were only Andrew Roby, which was custom residential
into the recession of eight oh nine, which was terrible.
My dad said it was worse than the seventies. Yeah, kudos.
And then, uh, coming out of a recession, I said,
we got to grow, we got to do more. We
got to diversify. And the way we're going to diversify
is by vertically integrating the blessing of our lucky homeowner
(31:44):
that we get conserve and what else did they do?
They invest in properties, They run businesses that have properties
that need work. Uh, they help their kids with their
first homes, and they have second homes in the mountains
and at the coast. So and they have mechanical, electrical
plumbing service and handyman service for the life of any
of their hard assets. So that's kind of how we've
(32:06):
grown into where we are today with the commercial services.
Everybody's like, oh, you're going to do this and that
and this, and it's really not a distraction. It's really
a focus both and it's it makes it life easier
for our for our trusted client as well because they
don't have to go start a new trusting relationship and
(32:29):
take risk. They know what they got. We know what
we got, so we're fortunate. So hopefully we're going to
be able to grow that over over the next seventy
five years. We love the sun Belt, we love the Southeast.
And the only way we grow geographically is if our
(32:49):
clients take us places in the businesses that they lead
or in their second home markets. If we have if
we have enough girth out of sharps and our base.
So that's our model. I think a lot of people
don't understand that thing. It's good to hear. So we're
very fortunate. I grew up in the dunt Trump beside
(33:11):
Fred and Leroy, and they were so impressionable in my life.
And my dad did that, and my granddad taught my
dad to do that, so my brother did the same.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And you get to grow up with Trent seventy five
years man, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Well, thank you for listening. We hope this is a great,
our best year ever in memory of all those we
talked about, and many, many, many many more. Go do
the Golden rule today. Treat others the way you want
to be treated. On this first Sunday and into twenty
twenty five, carry a smile around on your face. God
(33:47):
bless
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