May 21, 2024 • 21 mins
May 21, 2024
136. Repairing Drywall the Right Way with Ted Speers
Ever wondered why that tiny dent in your wall seems to draw your eye every time you walk past it? Ted Speers, the drywall whisperer and president of the Patch Boys, joins me to shed light on the surprisingly significant world of drywall repair. We peel back the layers of this often-overlooked craft, discussing the meticulous artistry required to make even the smallest imperfections vanish. Ted shares tales from the trenches focusing on repairs that can make all the difference in a home's appearance and value.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
George Siegal (00:00):
Today, we are going to dive into a topic
that's often overlooked butincredibly important for
maintaining the beauty andintegrity of your home Drywall
repair.
Now, whether you're dealingwith a small gash or a major
hole, knowing how to fix drywallcorrectly can save you time,
money and a lot of frustration.
My guest today is Ted Spears,the president of the Patch Boys,
(00:23):
the only national drywallrepair company in the US.
So why should you, as ahomeowner, care about drywall
repair?
Fixing drywall the right way iscrucial.
It ensures the repairs areseamless, durable and blend
perfectly with the rest of yourwalls.
Now, whether you're preparingyour home for sale, just moved
in or have been putting offrepairs for years, this episode
(00:44):
will equip you with theknowledge you need to tackle
drywall damage head on.
I'm George Siegal, and this isHomeowners Be Aware the podcast
that teaches you everything youneed to know about being a
homeowner, ted, thank you somuch for joining me today,
george, excited to be here.
Yeah, it's exciting.
We were talking before we wenton and you're in Michigan.
(01:06):
I worked in Detroit for threeyears, so that's an exciting
connection and, as I was tellingyou, I loved living there,
minus the cold weather.
Ted Speers (01:17):
Yeah, it gets a little chilly up here, but it's
predictable and it makes spring,summer and fall all that much
more enjoyable.
George Siegal (01:25):
Oh, there's nothing more beautiful than fall
.
When the leaves are turning,the apple cider is out and it's
incredible.
But that's not what we're hereto talk about today.
We're going to talk about thePatch Boys.
Sounds like a gang, but it'snot.
You guys do some interestingstuff.
Tell me about the Patch Boys.
Ted Speers (01:58):
Yeah, the Patch Boys would be trying to get small
drywall repair fixed and nobodywanted to do it because you know
a lot of the drywall companies.
They did the big stuff right.
You know they drywall your homeor you know you'd want to
drywall your basement but theproblem is when you have a leak
in your upstairs bathroom and itcomes through, you know,
(02:18):
through the ceiling and it'sright in your dining room and it
looks terrible.
You know you get the plumber tocome and fix it but nobody
wants to come in, you know, andfix that hole and so along the
way, you know this concept wasdeveloped and you know the
Belfort Franchise Group, who Iwork for, purchased the Patch
Boys about four years ago andwe'd grown it from 35
(02:43):
franchisees to over 110, now anational presence and we're
still growing.
George Siegal (02:49):
So it sounds interesting.
But what I would wanna know isokay, so I have this hole.
I need somebody to come out andfix it.
A lot of times when I've hadthat and unfortunately I have
had that problem a handful oftimes the painter has done it.
So what's the difference whenyou is this just an extra step
and then it's easier to findsomebody to run out and paint
(03:09):
afterwards, so you're kind ofseparating those two tasks.
Ted Speers (03:13):
I mean good question .
I mean I'm sure there are, youknow, painters that can do this.
You know there are great.
You know people, you know thatcan come in and do a variety of
things.
What we do is we specialize inmaking sure that hole goes away
100%, and so we not only fix thehole right, and probably 60% of
(03:38):
our jobs, george, are ceilingjobs.
You know, when you think of it,water coming from upstairs,
water coming from the roof,people stepping through things,
you know, basically in the atticwhen they're working on things,
that's where those holes comefrom.
And then our franchisees, youknow we work, train and hire
(04:02):
technicians that specialize indrywall repair and then, once we
make that hole go away, sureyou know, we prime and many of
our franchisees paint too,because customers, they, you
know they like to make one calland have that hole gone and have
their house, you know, back tothe way it was.
George Siegal (04:21):
Well, anybody that's ever well first of all
tried to do that themselves orseen a bad drywall job.
It really stands out.
So with the artists, the peoplethat are good at it, you don't
even know there was a hole therewhen they're done.
Ted Speers (04:34):
I mean, and I'm fascinated.
I always joke that, hey, I amnot a drywall specialist, I can
do it, but you wouldn't want topay me to do it.
Okay, I just want to.
But it's art and sciencebecause it's a combination of
you know making sure that.
You know you're putting the mud, mud on it, right, you're
fixing the hole, you're puttingthree coats.
(04:58):
There's sanding involved, thenthere's priming and paint with
you know the goal.
Then there's priming and paintwith you know the goal.
It's that hole is gone.
And so you're right, it'sfascinating.
And we all go.
I travel with our franchiseesout.
You know I was just inJacksonville, fort Lauderdale,
you know, a couple of weeks agoand we go out and work with our
(05:19):
technicians and they're pros, Imean you know, they know how to
do, you know fix any of thoseissues that are there.
Make sure it's clean too,because the last you know,
drywall is messy, I got to tellyou.
So you know we make sure thatthat home is clean and plastic
is there.
So when we walk away, it's notonly the hole is gone, you know,
(05:41):
we make sure your house is asclean as it was when we walked
through the door yeah.
George Siegal (05:46):
Now yeah, anybody that's ever even tried to plug
little holes where you hadpictures or something.
It's hard to get that right.
You know you put, you put thespackle in and you get it down
there.
But when a painter has donethat for me, I haven't even
noticed it.
When I do it, it looks likeit's a polka dotted room.
Ted Speers (06:03):
I have to tell you and it's a no judgment zone for
us, you know, in terms of but weget so many calls from spouses,
husband or wives, and say, well, we tried to fix it, it didn't
turn out that well, can you comeover so that it looks right?
And so, yes, people try it allthe time but it's not easy.
(06:26):
It is not easy and there'sdefinitely, you know, science to
the process in terms of gettingthat mud to dry and making sure
that it's.
You know that whole smooth, andthen you know the priming and
painting to make sure it blendsin.
So it's gone.
Because that's as a homeownerI've had it done in my house a
(06:47):
number of times.
You want it gone, that's allyou know.
I don't care how you do it, Ijust want to make sure that it's
gone so that, hey, when we'reentertaining or whatever, my
brother's not pointing up at theceiling going.
Hey, ted, nice try.
George Siegal (07:02):
Yeah, hey, nice job, ted.
So when you call somebody out,is it by the job, is it by the
hour?
How do you guys price out?
So somebody knows?
Well, I'll wait till I have afew more holes, then I'll call
these guys.
Ted Speers (07:18):
It's, we set it up by the job and you know, we we
try to keep it as simple aspossible half day, full day, and
then increments of that and andthen there's, there's some fine
tuning of the pricing.
That's there, but it, you know,we try to keep it as as simple
as possible for the customer sothey can kind of understand in
terms of, hey, you know, thesmaller the job for the most
(07:41):
part, the less time it, lesstime it takes.
And then when you get intoceiling work, like I talked to
you about, you know that takesmore time because, hey, the
higher you go, you need ladders,you need to make sure your site
is clean, and when you'reworking up on the ceiling, you
know, dust kind of goeseverywhere.
So we have to set up moreplastic.
(08:04):
And then, yeah, sometimes wewill come into a home and if you
just have one hole, you know,one wall, you know we'll say you
know what, you got a stresscrack over here for this, for
the same amount of money we cando both, like I did a.
I did a laundry room.
You know I had, uh, guys do alaundry, my laundry room and my
dog.
We kept my dog in the laundryroom when we weren't there and
(08:26):
she had scratched up the walland and the guy goes tell you
what I, I'll do this and thisand I can get it all done.
For that half day job I waslike fantastic.
George Siegal (08:36):
Now a lot of the challenges with trades are and
especially from an employerpoint of view is finding good
people that want to work andwant to show up.
How has that challenge been?
Because you guys are growingpretty fast.
Ted Speers (08:49):
That's the number one challenge.
I mean, I think everybodyunderstands that.
You know in.
You know in our business or anytype of construction business
is getting good workers, andthat's our number one priority
when we launch a franchise.
And it's our focus because, youknow, we like to differentiate
ourselves not only from ourquality of work, but you know in
(09:10):
terms of what our brand standsfor.
And so you know we want to beon time, we want to make sure
we're treating the customer withrespect, we want a clean job
site and we want a great job.
In order to do that, you need tohave people that are working
with you, that understand theimportance and then can do the
work working with you, thatunderstand the importance and
(09:33):
then can do the work.
And so that is one of our, youknow, biggest focuses of the
company is making sure we'regetting experienced technicians,
because it takes time.
You know the art and science.
You know it's not something youknow I can train you on in two
weeks.
You know we like to hire peoplethat have years of experience,
have gone through it, and thenmake sure that they understand
(09:53):
what our brand stands for andthen treat them great.
We really, you know, try totreat our technicians well and
they're part of the team andwith that we've been able to
grow.
George Siegal (10:06):
Now anybody that watches HGTV or DIY channels or
YouTube videos.
They're always trying to showyou how to fix things really
quickly.
What are some of the commonmistakes that people make when
they're trying to fix drywall?
Ted Speers (10:32):
you know, the longer you wait, the worse it can get.
And so normally when you havedrywall and it's a ceiling, it's
some type of leak.
And you know we'll walk into ahome, george, and they'll.
You know, the first questionwe'll ask is, hey, have you
fixed the leak?
Because the last thing we wantto do is fix something and then
it comes back.
It comes back later, and so wewant to, we want to make sure
(10:53):
that you know that leak is fixed.
And you know, having somethingsit there, I've walked into a
dining room, you know, inChicago a couple months ago and
that that ceiling was gettingready to fall.
Somebody left.
If you let it, if you, thelonger you wait, the, you know,
the worse the circumstances thatare there.
So you know, the sooner youraise your hand and reach out,
(11:16):
reach out to you know, to us orsomeone, the better it is, so
that you can come out.
And you know we can come outand make sure we get those.
Get those fixed that are there,get those fixed that are there.
And water is, you know, issomething that impacts your
drywall.
You know sometimes you'll seebubbling, you know in a paint,
(11:36):
you know on a.
You know a side wall and a lotof times that's because of the
water that's come in, you know,either through, you know your
window, or it's leaked down, youknow, from from the ceiling and
those.
Those are things that, hey, youcan, you can just fix it, but
you know you also have to makesure you get rid of that
(11:56):
moisture, because moisture canlead to a lot of other things
besides bubbling, mold and, youknow, eroding of, you know of
the wall or the structure.
George Siegal (12:06):
Absolutely, and you know, I looked this up.
I thought it was reallyinteresting.
You know why they call itdrywall?
Yeah, tell me.
Oh, there's actually a storybehind it.
There was a whole section on onGoogle, so then I guess I don't
know how accurate that is.
But when I said because it'sdry, all four walls are dry and
there's no but, but.
But as I was reading that, Iwas going but if you have to put
(12:27):
the mud on there and you haveto do certain things, isn't that
putting wet on dry?
Ted Speers (12:40):
So if you don't have the answer for that, then we
really don't need to go downthis trail, because I know
nothing about drywall yeah, well, and the funny thing you bring
it up is have you heard the termsheetrock?
Yes, so what's the differencebetween sheetrock and drywall?
George Siegal (12:49):
see now, you stumped me, I, I haven't, I
don't.
Ted Speers (12:52):
No difference.
Sheetrock is a brand name fordrywall that, especially in the
South, has kind of taken overfor the generic term of drywall,
just like Kleenex and tissue.
You know that.
You know Kleenex is so popularand so Sheetrock is actually a
brand name for drywall that alot of people will use, you know
(13:15):
, as a synonym for drywall.
That's there.
George Siegal (13:19):
And I did learn that it's not as simple as just
running into the local homesupply store and buying it.
You need to know the thicknessof what you're trying to match
it with.
I mean, there are certainelements and I saw a guy take
out a bunch of popsicle sticksand all this other stuff and I'm
going yeah, I probably want aprofessional to do this, because
I'm going to make a mess.
Ted Speers (13:39):
Yeah, I mean it's amazing the things that we run
into.
You know.
You know you might say popsiclesticks, we call them backers.
So you know, a lot of timesbehind the wall you need to
affix the drywall and a lot oftimes it's not a full sheet.
I'm cutting out maybe a threeby three you know piece of
drywall and then cutting thedrywall so we fit it in and then
(14:01):
I use what we call a backer,any any type of you know wood
that I can screw into so that Ican put my drywall in.
But it's, you know, there's somany different ways that that
you can use it.
But you know you really want tomake sure that somebody knows
what they're doing when they'rein your home.
George Siegal (14:18):
Now, earlier this season my wife and I were at a
Tampa Bay Lightning hockey gameand this young guy they put up
on the board before the game washis first game in the NHL and
he scored a goal that night.
Ted Speers (14:42):
And then when I was reading about you, you have
something in common with thisguy.
Tell us about that.
Yeah, yeah, that is funny.
I knew where you're going whenyou said that.
But but yeah, so I I was ahockey player, uh, growing up in
Michigan and I played atuniversity of Michigan and then
I I signed with the wings and Iplayed mostly in the minors, but
I got called up to play withthe Detroit Red Wings back in
the late eighties and, for avariety of reasons you know, I
(15:03):
had been called up before andsat in the press box and my dad
was coming in for this game thatI was going to play with and I
asked the coach if I was playing, because my dad was going to
fly in from Baltimore to Detroitthe day of expensive flight.
And the coach said tell you what, ted, if your dad comes in, you
can start.
So Brad Park was the coach andI started that game.
(15:27):
First shift, first game.
52 seconds into the game Iscored a goal.
So I only played four games inthe NHL.
You can look it up, it's there.
But my claim to fame is I stillam in the top 10 of the fastest
(15:47):
first goal in the NHL forsomebody.
George Siegal (15:50):
That's just started.
Wow, congratulations, did youget in many fights, that's just
started.
Ted Speers (15:56):
Wow, congratulations .
Did you get in many fights?
I didn't, I didn't, I, you know.
I mean, back then everybody gotin some.
Uh, you know, I, I definitelygot in, you know some fights.
But uh, you know, coming fromcollege, at that time, you know
if you fought in college you gotsuspended for you know the game
.
So I, I'm not gonna, I'm notgonna lie and say it was a great
fighter, but uh, I definitelygot in a few fights and uh, and
(16:19):
you know, I was probably more ofa wrestler than a fighter when
I got in those fights.
George Siegal (16:23):
Man.
One of the greatest momentsI've ever seen when I was living
there was when, darren it wasDarren McCarty and Claude
Lemieux when- Lemieux hadinjured Chris Draper and, uh,
and it was payback time.
That was incredible it was.
Ted Speers (16:38):
That was unbelievable.
You know you talk about theWings against the Avalanche and
that you know that was in 97when the Wings eventually won
the Stanley Cup for the firsttime in 42 years.
And you're right, that rivalryand you know those fights and
you know Detroit, such a, youknow such a blue collar town
(17:00):
sticking up for somebody that wefelt was wrong and wow, that
that was a lot of fun.
And you know those, you knowthose years with the wings.
You know fond memories.
George Siegal (17:13):
A lot of people say that hockey players are
really nice guys when they'reoff the ice, but on the ice
they're crazy.
Ted Speers (17:21):
I had a lot of teammates and you know some guys
that are still involved in theNHL and as teammates they you
know we do anything for yourteammate to.
You know, to help each otheroff the ice Nicest, nicest guys
ever.
You know I played and then Iworked for the Wings for 10
(17:42):
years on the marketing side andyou know dealing with, you know,
professional athletes and surethey have a lot of things going
on but you know, very personableand you know had a great
perspective.
George Siegal (17:57):
Yeah, I was a Lakers fan growing up and so I
hated the Pistons.
And one Sunday night bad boys.
Yeah, I know.
And who was it?
It was a.
Rick Mahorn was one of my theplayers I hated the most and he
was at the station that nightand he came up and shook my hand
and said he enjoyed watching meand it was nice to meet me and
I felt like such an asshole forhating the guy.
(18:18):
After that I go.
This is a really nice guy buthe was not nice on the court.
Those guys were tough.
Ted Speers (18:24):
Yeah Well, and you know you have to be in order.
You know, I mean, in order toget to a certain level, you have
to protect yourself.
You know you have to.
You know there's there'scertain skills that you develop,
and and so it's, it's somethingthat you know.
Rick Mahorn, bill Lambert, allthose bad boys, I mean they,
they played a certain way ofbasketball so they could be
(18:46):
successful.
And hey, I would.
I'm still a Pistons fan.
George Siegal (18:51):
Yeah, no, I bet, but I'll never like Lambert.
I'm sorry that's that one's offthe market completely and ever
and never changing my opinionall right, I like bill, but
that's okay okay, let's bringthis back around to drywall and,
uh, wrap it up with that.
So the number one thing that ahomeowner should do I have a
drywall problem.
Tell me the the steps I shouldtake to tackle that don't, don't
(19:14):
wait, don't wait.
Ted Speers (19:16):
Get somebody.
You know, if it's batch work,it's great, but get somebody in
there to take a look at it.
You know because a lot of timesyou know everything's behind
the wall.
You know weather, and that'sreally where our business
started it's.
You know electrical's behindthe wall, plumbing's behind the
wall.
You know you have HVAC wallplumbing's behind the wall.
(19:38):
You know you have HVAC.
You know you have so manythings that are behind the wall,
and that's one of the reasonswe work a lot with.
You know a variety ofcontractors because you know
you'll do a flood cut.
You know somebody.
You know somebody has floodingin their home.
You have to go in.
You have to get two or threefeet of drywall out of that area
and get up, and then and thenthey call us.
And so you know my number onething is is is don't wait.
(20:00):
You know, don't wait to do it.
And then, in terms of you knowfrom from our standpoint, what
we like to talk about is is youknow, if you call us, we're
going to make sure it's doneright.
You know we're.
We're a national company, we'reowned by Belfor, which is an
international company, and soyou can trust us.
(20:21):
If there's ever a question, youcan call one of the franchisees
.
You call me.
I get calls all the time from acustomer that has a question.
We're not going anywhere.
We stand behind our work and wewant to make sure that customer
is 100% satisfied.
George Siegal (20:36):
Excellent.
Well, all your contactinformation will be in the show
notes and congratulations onthat goal.
Ted Speers (20:45):
I do have the puck on the wall.
They give you a plaque andeverything.
So you know for my one goal,george.
George Siegal (20:52):
That's awesome.
Hey, Ted, thank you so much forcoming on today.
All right, thank you so much.
Thank you for taking the timeto listen today.
See you next time.
Today, we are going to dive into a topic
that's often overlooked butincredibly important for
maintaining the beauty andintegrity of your home Drywall
repair.
Now, whether you're dealingwith a small gash or a major
hole, knowing how to fix drywallcorrectly can save you time,
money and a lot of frustration.
My guest today is Ted Spears,the president of the Patch Boys,
(00:23):
the only national drywallrepair company in the US.
So why should you, as ahomeowner, care about drywall
repair?
Fixing drywall the right way iscrucial.
It ensures the repairs areseamless, durable and blend
perfectly with the rest of yourwalls.
Now, whether you're preparingyour home for sale, just moved
in or have been putting offrepairs for years, this episode
(00:44):
will equip you with theknowledge you need to tackle
drywall damage head on.
I'm George Siegal, and this isHomeowners Be Aware the podcast
that teaches you everything youneed to know about being a
homeowner, ted, thank you somuch for joining me today,
george, excited to be here.
Yeah, it's exciting.
We were talking before we wenton and you're in Michigan.
(01:06):
I worked in Detroit for threeyears, so that's an exciting
connection and, as I was tellingyou, I loved living there,
minus the cold weather.
Ted Speers (01:17):
Yeah, it gets a little chilly up here, but it's
predictable and it makes spring,summer and fall all that much
more enjoyable.
George Siegal (01:25):
Oh, there's nothing more beautiful than fall
.
When the leaves are turning,the apple cider is out and it's
incredible.
But that's not what we're hereto talk about today.
We're going to talk about thePatch Boys.
Sounds like a gang, but it'snot.
You guys do some interestingstuff.
Tell me about the Patch Boys.
Ted Speers (01:58):
Yeah, the Patch Boys would be trying to get small
drywall repair fixed and nobodywanted to do it because you know
a lot of the drywall companies.
They did the big stuff right.
You know they drywall your homeor you know you'd want to
drywall your basement but theproblem is when you have a leak
in your upstairs bathroom and itcomes through, you know,
(02:18):
through the ceiling and it'sright in your dining room and it
looks terrible.
You know you get the plumber tocome and fix it but nobody
wants to come in, you know, andfix that hole and so along the
way, you know this concept wasdeveloped and you know the
Belfort Franchise Group, who Iwork for, purchased the Patch
Boys about four years ago andwe'd grown it from 35
(02:43):
franchisees to over 110, now anational presence and we're
still growing.
George Siegal (02:49):
So it sounds interesting.
But what I would wanna know isokay, so I have this hole.
I need somebody to come out andfix it.
A lot of times when I've hadthat and unfortunately I have
had that problem a handful oftimes the painter has done it.
So what's the difference whenyou is this just an extra step
and then it's easier to findsomebody to run out and paint
(03:09):
afterwards, so you're kind ofseparating those two tasks.
Ted Speers (03:13):
I mean good question .
I mean I'm sure there are, youknow, painters that can do this.
You know there are great.
You know people, you know thatcan come in and do a variety of
things.
What we do is we specialize inmaking sure that hole goes away
100%, and so we not only fix thehole right, and probably 60% of
(03:38):
our jobs, george, are ceilingjobs.
You know, when you think of it,water coming from upstairs,
water coming from the roof,people stepping through things,
you know, basically in the atticwhen they're working on things,
that's where those holes comefrom.
And then our franchisees, youknow we work, train and hire
(04:02):
technicians that specialize indrywall repair and then, once we
make that hole go away, sureyou know, we prime and many of
our franchisees paint too,because customers, they, you
know they like to make one calland have that hole gone and have
their house, you know, back tothe way it was.
George Siegal (04:21):
Well, anybody that's ever well first of all
tried to do that themselves orseen a bad drywall job.
It really stands out.
So with the artists, the peoplethat are good at it, you don't
even know there was a hole therewhen they're done.
Ted Speers (04:34):
I mean, and I'm fascinated.
I always joke that, hey, I amnot a drywall specialist, I can
do it, but you wouldn't want topay me to do it.
Okay, I just want to.
But it's art and sciencebecause it's a combination of
you know making sure that.
You know you're putting the mud, mud on it, right, you're
fixing the hole, you're puttingthree coats.
(04:58):
There's sanding involved, thenthere's priming and paint with
you know the goal.
Then there's priming and paintwith you know the goal.
It's that hole is gone.
And so you're right, it'sfascinating.
And we all go.
I travel with our franchiseesout.
You know I was just inJacksonville, fort Lauderdale,
you know, a couple of weeks agoand we go out and work with our
(05:19):
technicians and they're pros, Imean you know, they know how to
do, you know fix any of thoseissues that are there.
Make sure it's clean too,because the last you know,
drywall is messy, I got to tellyou.
So you know we make sure thatthat home is clean and plastic
is there.
So when we walk away, it's notonly the hole is gone, you know,
(05:41):
we make sure your house is asclean as it was when we walked
through the door yeah.
George Siegal (05:46):
Now yeah, anybody that's ever even tried to plug
little holes where you hadpictures or something.
It's hard to get that right.
You know you put, you put thespackle in and you get it down
there.
But when a painter has donethat for me, I haven't even
noticed it.
When I do it, it looks likeit's a polka dotted room.
Ted Speers (06:03):
I have to tell you and it's a no judgment zone for
us, you know, in terms of but weget so many calls from spouses,
husband or wives, and say, well, we tried to fix it, it didn't
turn out that well, can you comeover so that it looks right?
And so, yes, people try it allthe time but it's not easy.
(06:26):
It is not easy and there'sdefinitely, you know, science to
the process in terms of gettingthat mud to dry and making sure
that it's.
You know that whole smooth, andthen you know the priming and
painting to make sure it blendsin.
So it's gone.
Because that's as a homeownerI've had it done in my house a
(06:47):
number of times.
You want it gone, that's allyou know.
I don't care how you do it, Ijust want to make sure that it's
gone so that, hey, when we'reentertaining or whatever, my
brother's not pointing up at theceiling going.
Hey, ted, nice try.
George Siegal (07:02):
Yeah, hey, nice job, ted.
So when you call somebody out,is it by the job, is it by the
hour?
How do you guys price out?
So somebody knows?
Well, I'll wait till I have afew more holes, then I'll call
these guys.
Ted Speers (07:18):
It's, we set it up by the job and you know, we we
try to keep it as simple aspossible half day, full day, and
then increments of that and andthen there's, there's some fine
tuning of the pricing.
That's there, but it, you know,we try to keep it as as simple
as possible for the customer sothey can kind of understand in
terms of, hey, you know, thesmaller the job for the most
(07:41):
part, the less time it, lesstime it takes.
And then when you get intoceiling work, like I talked to
you about, you know that takesmore time because, hey, the
higher you go, you need ladders,you need to make sure your site
is clean, and when you'reworking up on the ceiling, you
know, dust kind of goeseverywhere.
So we have to set up moreplastic.
(08:04):
And then, yeah, sometimes wewill come into a home and if you
just have one hole, you know,one wall, you know we'll say you
know what, you got a stresscrack over here for this, for
the same amount of money we cando both, like I did a.
I did a laundry room.
You know I had, uh, guys do alaundry, my laundry room and my
dog.
We kept my dog in the laundryroom when we weren't there and
(08:26):
she had scratched up the walland and the guy goes tell you
what I, I'll do this and thisand I can get it all done.
For that half day job I waslike fantastic.
George Siegal (08:36):
Now a lot of the challenges with trades are and
especially from an employerpoint of view is finding good
people that want to work andwant to show up.
How has that challenge been?
Because you guys are growingpretty fast.
Ted Speers (08:49):
That's the number one challenge.
I mean, I think everybodyunderstands that.
You know in.
You know in our business or anytype of construction business
is getting good workers, andthat's our number one priority
when we launch a franchise.
And it's our focus because, youknow, we like to differentiate
ourselves not only from ourquality of work, but you know in
(09:10):
terms of what our brand standsfor.
And so you know we want to beon time, we want to make sure
we're treating the customer withrespect, we want a clean job
site and we want a great job.
In order to do that, you need tohave people that are working
with you, that understand theimportance and then can do the
work working with you, thatunderstand the importance and
(09:33):
then can do the work.
And so that is one of our, youknow, biggest focuses of the
company is making sure we'regetting experienced technicians,
because it takes time.
You know the art and science.
You know it's not something youknow I can train you on in two
weeks.
You know we like to hire peoplethat have years of experience,
have gone through it, and thenmake sure that they understand
(09:53):
what our brand stands for andthen treat them great.
We really, you know, try totreat our technicians well and
they're part of the team andwith that we've been able to
grow.
George Siegal (10:06):
Now anybody that watches HGTV or DIY channels or
YouTube videos.
They're always trying to showyou how to fix things really
quickly.
What are some of the commonmistakes that people make when
they're trying to fix drywall?
Ted Speers (10:32):
you know, the longer you wait, the worse it can get.
And so normally when you havedrywall and it's a ceiling, it's
some type of leak.
And you know we'll walk into ahome, george, and they'll.
You know, the first questionwe'll ask is, hey, have you
fixed the leak?
Because the last thing we wantto do is fix something and then
it comes back.
It comes back later, and so wewant to, we want to make sure
(10:53):
that you know that leak is fixed.
And you know, having somethingsit there, I've walked into a
dining room, you know, inChicago a couple months ago and
that that ceiling was gettingready to fall.
Somebody left.
If you let it, if you, thelonger you wait, the, you know,
the worse the circumstances thatare there.
So you know, the sooner youraise your hand and reach out,
(11:16):
reach out to you know, to us orsomeone, the better it is, so
that you can come out.
And you know we can come outand make sure we get those.
Get those fixed that are there,get those fixed that are there.
And water is, you know, issomething that impacts your
drywall.
You know sometimes you'll seebubbling, you know in a paint,
(11:36):
you know on a.
You know a side wall and a lotof times that's because of the
water that's come in, you know,either through, you know your
window, or it's leaked down, youknow, from from the ceiling and
those.
Those are things that, hey, youcan, you can just fix it, but
you know you also have to makesure you get rid of that
(11:56):
moisture, because moisture canlead to a lot of other things
besides bubbling, mold and, youknow, eroding of, you know of
the wall or the structure.
George Siegal (12:06):
Absolutely, and you know, I looked this up.
I thought it was reallyinteresting.
You know why they call itdrywall?
Yeah, tell me.
Oh, there's actually a storybehind it.
There was a whole section on onGoogle, so then I guess I don't
know how accurate that is.
But when I said because it'sdry, all four walls are dry and
there's no but, but.
But as I was reading that, Iwas going but if you have to put
(12:27):
the mud on there and you haveto do certain things, isn't that
putting wet on dry?
Ted Speers (12:40):
So if you don't have the answer for that, then we
really don't need to go downthis trail, because I know
nothing about drywall yeah, well, and the funny thing you bring
it up is have you heard the termsheetrock?
Yes, so what's the differencebetween sheetrock and drywall?
George Siegal (12:49):
see now, you stumped me, I, I haven't, I
don't.
Ted Speers (12:52):
No difference.
Sheetrock is a brand name fordrywall that, especially in the
South, has kind of taken overfor the generic term of drywall,
just like Kleenex and tissue.
You know that.
You know Kleenex is so popularand so Sheetrock is actually a
brand name for drywall that alot of people will use, you know
(13:15):
, as a synonym for drywall.
That's there.
George Siegal (13:19):
And I did learn that it's not as simple as just
running into the local homesupply store and buying it.
You need to know the thicknessof what you're trying to match
it with.
I mean, there are certainelements and I saw a guy take
out a bunch of popsicle sticksand all this other stuff and I'm
going yeah, I probably want aprofessional to do this, because
I'm going to make a mess.
Ted Speers (13:39):
Yeah, I mean it's amazing the things that we run
into.
You know.
You know you might say popsiclesticks, we call them backers.
So you know, a lot of timesbehind the wall you need to
affix the drywall and a lot oftimes it's not a full sheet.
I'm cutting out maybe a threeby three you know piece of
drywall and then cutting thedrywall so we fit it in and then
(14:01):
I use what we call a backer,any any type of you know wood
that I can screw into so that Ican put my drywall in.
But it's, you know, there's somany different ways that that
you can use it.
But you know you really want tomake sure that somebody knows
what they're doing when they'rein your home.
George Siegal (14:18):
Now, earlier this season my wife and I were at a
Tampa Bay Lightning hockey gameand this young guy they put up
on the board before the game washis first game in the NHL and
he scored a goal that night.
Ted Speers (14:42):
And then when I was reading about you, you have
something in common with thisguy.
Tell us about that.
Yeah, yeah, that is funny.
I knew where you're going whenyou said that.
But but yeah, so I I was ahockey player, uh, growing up in
Michigan and I played atuniversity of Michigan and then
I I signed with the wings and Iplayed mostly in the minors, but
I got called up to play withthe Detroit Red Wings back in
the late eighties and, for avariety of reasons you know, I
(15:03):
had been called up before andsat in the press box and my dad
was coming in for this game thatI was going to play with and I
asked the coach if I was playing, because my dad was going to
fly in from Baltimore to Detroitthe day of expensive flight.
And the coach said tell you what, ted, if your dad comes in, you
can start.
So Brad Park was the coach andI started that game.
(15:27):
First shift, first game.
52 seconds into the game Iscored a goal.
So I only played four games inthe NHL.
You can look it up, it's there.
But my claim to fame is I stillam in the top 10 of the fastest
(15:47):
first goal in the NHL forsomebody.
George Siegal (15:50):
That's just started.
Wow, congratulations, did youget in many fights, that's just
started.
Ted Speers (15:56):
Wow, congratulations .
Did you get in many fights?
I didn't, I didn't, I, you know.
I mean, back then everybody gotin some.
Uh, you know, I, I definitelygot in, you know some fights.
But uh, you know, coming fromcollege, at that time, you know
if you fought in college you gotsuspended for you know the game
.
So I, I'm not gonna, I'm notgonna lie and say it was a great
fighter, but uh, I definitelygot in a few fights and uh, and
(16:19):
you know, I was probably more ofa wrestler than a fighter when
I got in those fights.
George Siegal (16:23):
Man.
One of the greatest momentsI've ever seen when I was living
there was when, darren it wasDarren McCarty and Claude
Lemieux when- Lemieux hadinjured Chris Draper and, uh,
and it was payback time.
That was incredible it was.
Ted Speers (16:38):
That was unbelievable.
You know you talk about theWings against the Avalanche and
that you know that was in 97when the Wings eventually won
the Stanley Cup for the firsttime in 42 years.
And you're right, that rivalryand you know those fights and
you know Detroit, such a, youknow such a blue collar town
(17:00):
sticking up for somebody that wefelt was wrong and wow, that
that was a lot of fun.
And you know those, you knowthose years with the wings.
You know fond memories.
George Siegal (17:13):
A lot of people say that hockey players are
really nice guys when they'reoff the ice, but on the ice
they're crazy.
Ted Speers (17:21):
I had a lot of teammates and you know some guys
that are still involved in theNHL and as teammates they you
know we do anything for yourteammate to.
You know, to help each otheroff the ice Nicest, nicest guys
ever.
You know I played and then Iworked for the Wings for 10
(17:42):
years on the marketing side andyou know dealing with, you know,
professional athletes and surethey have a lot of things going
on but you know, very personableand you know had a great
perspective.
George Siegal (17:57):
Yeah, I was a Lakers fan growing up and so I
hated the Pistons.
And one Sunday night bad boys.
Yeah, I know.
And who was it?
It was a.
Rick Mahorn was one of my theplayers I hated the most and he
was at the station that nightand he came up and shook my hand
and said he enjoyed watching meand it was nice to meet me and
I felt like such an asshole forhating the guy.
(18:18):
After that I go.
This is a really nice guy buthe was not nice on the court.
Those guys were tough.
Ted Speers (18:24):
Yeah Well, and you know you have to be in order.
You know, I mean, in order toget to a certain level, you have
to protect yourself.
You know you have to.
You know there's there'scertain skills that you develop,
and and so it's, it's somethingthat you know.
Rick Mahorn, bill Lambert, allthose bad boys, I mean they,
they played a certain way ofbasketball so they could be
(18:46):
successful.
And hey, I would.
I'm still a Pistons fan.
George Siegal (18:51):
Yeah, no, I bet, but I'll never like Lambert.
I'm sorry that's that one's offthe market completely and ever
and never changing my opinionall right, I like bill, but
that's okay okay, let's bringthis back around to drywall and,
uh, wrap it up with that.
So the number one thing that ahomeowner should do I have a
drywall problem.
Tell me the the steps I shouldtake to tackle that don't, don't
(19:14):
wait, don't wait.
Ted Speers (19:16):
Get somebody.
You know, if it's batch work,it's great, but get somebody in
there to take a look at it.
You know because a lot of timesyou know everything's behind
the wall.
You know weather, and that'sreally where our business
started it's.
You know electrical's behindthe wall, plumbing's behind the
wall.
You know you have HVAC wallplumbing's behind the wall.
(19:38):
You know you have HVAC.
You know you have so manythings that are behind the wall,
and that's one of the reasonswe work a lot with.
You know a variety ofcontractors because you know
you'll do a flood cut.
You know somebody.
You know somebody has floodingin their home.
You have to go in.
You have to get two or threefeet of drywall out of that area
and get up, and then and thenthey call us.
And so you know my number onething is is is don't wait.
(20:00):
You know, don't wait to do it.
And then, in terms of you knowfrom from our standpoint, what
we like to talk about is is youknow, if you call us, we're
going to make sure it's doneright.
You know we're.
We're a national company, we'reowned by Belfor, which is an
international company, and soyou can trust us.
(20:21):
If there's ever a question, youcan call one of the franchisees
.
You call me.
I get calls all the time from acustomer that has a question.
We're not going anywhere.
We stand behind our work and wewant to make sure that customer
is 100% satisfied.
George Siegal (20:36):
Excellent.
Well, all your contactinformation will be in the show
notes and congratulations onthat goal.
Ted Speers (20:45):
I do have the puck on the wall.
They give you a plaque andeverything.
So you know for my one goal,george.
George Siegal (20:52):
That's awesome.
Hey, Ted, thank you so much forcoming on today.
All right, thank you so much.
Thank you for taking the timeto listen today.
See you next time.
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