June 2, 2024 • 48 mins
What if you could turn military discipline and skills into a successful civilian career? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Josh McMahon, a former Navy Seabee and now Vice President of a custom home building company. Josh's unique background - shaped by frequent relocations with a stepfather in the Navy and an initial aversion to a military career - offers a compelling narrative of how unexpected decisions can lead to remarkable achievements. From his early days in the construction trades to enlisting in the Navy and finding his calling with the Seabees, Josh shares valuable lessons on adaptability and resilience.
Our exploration continues with an in-depth look at Josh's multifaceted career within the Navy, where he honed his skills in plumbing and HVAC. Learn about his intensive training, memorable experiences in Sicily, and the significant project in Okinawa, Japan, that broadened his expertise. Josh recounts the extensive cross-training and varied responsibilities that characterize the Seabees, highlighting how these unique experiences provided him with a rare and invaluable skill set for his future civilian endeavors. His riveting stories underscore the importance of flexibility and teamwork in both military and civilian construction sectors.
In the final segment, Josh reflects on his post-service career, detailing his impactful role during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and the transition to his current position in Charlottesville, Virginia. Discover the intricacies of managing a custom home building company, the joy of creating personalized living spaces, and the leadership qualities that drive success. We also emphasize the significance of personal vision, mental health support, and the power of celebrating s
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If you're a military veteran in the construction industry, or you're in the construction industry and support our military vets, and you'd like to be a guest on the podcast you can find me at constructionvetpodcast@gmail.com , or send me a message on LinkedIn. You can find me there at Scott Friend. Let's share the stories and motivate others!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
everything goes into running a construction company.
So it's not all just swinginghammers.
There's more to this industry.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is the construction veteran podcast
connecting and celebratingveterans in construction now.
Now here's your host, scottFriend.
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Scott Friend.
I'm proud to bring you guysJosh McMahon, a fellow former CB
like myself and currently avice president of a residential
(00:38):
home builder.
Let's dig into it it.
Hey, josh, how's it going?
Man scott, how you doing?
I am fantastic.
It's a a beautiful day in texas.
For once, we've had a ton ofrain, but you are in virginia.
(00:59):
How are things up there?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
richmond, virginia.
It's uh, we have not had asmuch rain as you guys have had,
which is you know.
I'd say it's been good.
It's really good from aconstruction standpoint because
we're able to get a lot of stuffdone, but it's not so good for
my yard.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, amen, totally agreed.
So Josh and I haven'tofficially met, but we connected
a while back on LinkedIn andgot reconnected.
I'll say, with a mutual friendthat a lot of you guys might
know, out there to listen to theshow Luke Hill great guy.
Um, so, yeah, we, uh, we, we'regoing to talk about our, our
shared service.
(01:35):
We have a couple of things incommon.
Um, I want to ask Josh, uh,where are you from man, what led
you to the military and what'dyou do?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, I'm.
I'm originally from Syracuse,new York, and my stepfather, who
married my mother when I wasprobably five or six years old,
he was in the Navy and he was inthe Navy.
We moved from Syracuse toVirginia Beach, to South
Carolina, back to Virginia threedifferent places in Virginia.
(02:03):
So I had the great fortune ofgrowing up and living on the
East Coast and attending threedifferent high schools.
So I don't have a lot ofchildhood friends because I grew
up in the Navy and I swore Iwould never join the military.
It was not the life for me.
And when I came out of highschool I went directly into the
trades and I started the tradesas a stucco person, laborer,
(02:26):
helper, and I really loved it.
The camaraderie running aroundthe job site looking for that
board stretcher.
It still doesn't exist, but Iwas looking.
I was determined to find itright.
That's awesome, but thosememories from 25, 30 years ago
was like that, really stuck withyou and I was with my people,
(02:49):
so to speak, and I love theconstruction industry and I
advanced very quickly because Iwas hungry.
I learned at a very quick pace,but what I also learned was
there wasn't a lot of ceilingright.
There wasn't a lot of growthopportunities.
I was looking for more andthat's what led me to the
military and I started bylooking at the Coast Guard.
(03:12):
That's what I really wanted todo was the Coast Guard, and they
said no problem, it's atwo-year wait.
Yeah, me, being the impatientperson I am, I was not waiting
two years to join the CoastGuard.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
What year was this that you found that out?
I think it was probably 2000.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
That's when I started .
I started in the constructionindustry in 98, and I was
getting frustrated with the lackof mobility.
And that's when I looked intothe Coast Guard and they said,
you know, one to two years towait, and I wasn't interested.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So what was the sorry to sidebar you?
But what was the reason forthat long wait back then?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Man, it was just there was not a need for service
members at that time.
Everybody was flushed.
This is pre 9-11.
So the service and you rememberthe service in the later
nineties we were downsizing ourmilitary to, you know, for
economic reasons or budgetaryreasons or politics, who knows
(04:13):
we didn't need, we didn't needservice members.
So the coast guard, especiallycause it's more department of
transportation we definitelydidn't need service members.
Yeah, but that was a little bitof a frustration.
So I went next door and I wentto, uh, I went to the Navy the
next best thing, the closestthing to the coast.
(04:35):
Going through the whole processof the Navy thing and talking to
the recruiter and I'm ready,right.
And they said, uh, we, we gotyour stuff, we're ready to go.
And I said, you know what?
I thought a lot about this.
I don't want to do anythingwith a ship, I don't, I don't.
If I want to see water, I wantto go to the beach.
And he and it was a secondclass and he said, man, my chief
(04:57):
wants to talk to you.
And I said, oh, okay, I don'tknow what a chief is, so that
didn't mean anything to me atthat time.
No problem, dude, I'll talk toyour chief.
So chief gets on the phone andhe says man, you don't want to
go on the water.
I said you know, no, sir,that's just not my thing.
He said no problem, we'll putyou on the plane, we'll fly you
to other countries and you gobuild shit.
I was like I said do what?
(05:20):
Yeah, we'll fly you places, yougo there and you build stuff.
That's what we'll do.
And I was like man, where do Isign?
And that's when I gotintroduced to the Navy Seabees.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So did they know anything about your trade
background at that time, or thatthis is something that they
offered up?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Uh, they, I think they knew that I was in
construction and that I enjoyeddoing that because I was doing.
I was doing stucco as a youngerperson, you know, right out of
high school.
But I fell into the HVAC tradesand that's where I was
advancing very quickly and I wastrying to make the jump into
the service side of HVAC.
But the service side was almostfrom a military standpoint you
(06:02):
have enlisted in officers and itit almost felt like service
side.
You had to have a collegedegree.
You had to have somethingdifferent.
You had to be family, collegeeducated, something.
You had to have a different,compelling argument and they
didn't have it.
So that was why they hooked meup with the Seabees and the best
thing happened they put me intothe best rate in the Navy,
(06:23):
which was a utilities man.
I would argue that a little bit, just saying the best thing
happened.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
They put me into the best rate in the Navy, which was
a utilities man.
I would argue that a little bit, just saying Naturally we can
talk.
Yeah, let's talk about what isa utilities man.
So I've mentioned previouslywhat the Seabees are, what we do
, and that we could basicallybuild a city if need be, and you
had all these different trades.
So I'm a builder formerly.
So let's talk about a utilitiesman and what that entails.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, utilities man is a.
It's a plumber and an HVACtechnician, so it's both trades
in one, which is really great.
You get to learn two reallygreat trades.
So we would go to somewhere inTexas I can't remember where the
A school was, but we went to Aschool with the electricians.
(07:10):
Three months of school to onemonth for plumbing, because it
doesn't take a lot of effort tobe a plumber.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
But one month of school.
You just lost like a quarter ofmy audience.
Thanks a lot.
You just lost like a quarter ofmy audience.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Thanks a lot.
One month of plumbing schooland then two months of HVAC
school Very cool.
And then they say, hey, you'reready to go, you're ready to be
a plumber, ready to be anelectrician?
Not completely true, but youhave the basic information to go
out and be dangerous.
Yeah, basic information to goout and be dangerous.
(07:48):
Yeah, utilitiesman was a reallycool job because for me, I was
single at the time and if youwere married, you were instantly
going to a battalion whichbattalion for the CVs is our
deployable units which means 10months at home, six months or
seven months out to sea or adifferent country building
something.
So very, very high tempo forfive years.
(08:08):
But if you were single, you hada good chance of going overseas
somewhere, and I was single.
I got stationed in Sicily forthree years, sicily being Italy.
So my time was not deployed notdoing this high tempo.
My time was more maintenancedriven, so I got to work in a
plumbing shop to right out thegate.
So my 22nd birthday, I remember, like it was yesterday, sitting
(08:32):
on top of this water main thatwas the size of a car and
cutting this thing open becausethe leak, I mean the pipe, had
ruptured, and where it ruptured.
It had ruptured 10 years prior,which our UT one, our our um
leading petty officer, had fixedwhen he first got there himself
10 years prior.
So now we're fixing this pipeon my 22nd birthday it was.
(08:56):
It was a great memory again.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I hope you gave him so much crap that his fix didn't
hold.
I mean, 10 years is pretty good, though I got to hand it to him
.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
That's not bad for the Navy.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, that's not bad.
Yeah, that's for sure, that'san understatement.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I mean we, we just want it to hold for a deployment
.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, and you know those, those units like that man
, I mean, even though you're notdeploying, it's not that high
up tempo.
I mean, I learned a ton when Iwas in a maintenance unit as
well, because you really get toput your trade to good use, Got
to follow the codes, dependingon where you're at Right.
So it's not like deployment,just get it done.
So, yeah, let's talk a littlebit more.
So you were in a maintenanceunit in Sicily.
(09:39):
How long were you out there?
Yeah, three years, and then yougot the opportunity to go
elsewhere, correct?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, after I finished my three years.
It was an easy decision.
I wanted to go to the battalionI wanted to deploy and we have
two options as Seabees youeither go to Gulfport,
mississippi, or Port Hueneme,california.
Being an East Coast boy, Ireally wanted to go to
California.
And I told the detailer he'slike hey, where do you want to
(10:07):
go?
I said any one of thebattalions on the West Coast
Doesn't matter.
Where doesn't matter, wherethey're going Doesn't matter, I
want to go and I was lucky toget NMCB 40 or Fighting 40.
The cool thing about that tripwas that the moment I got to
Port Hueneme they just left toOkinawa, japan.
(10:28):
So I get to California, I getsettled in, I immediately jump
on a plane and fly to Okinawaand I spend the next six months
there.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh cool.
What was the main mission therein Okinawa?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So that was a cool mission because we had to do a
dispatch building and what wewere doing was we excavated for
the foundation and then we, ourunit, was putting together,
tying the footers and foundationwalls, and and you know from
your time in the military, weover-engineer everything we do.
(11:03):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, thisfooting and foundation was
designed for like a skyscraperand it was a one-story building.
Yep, that rings true, and sohere's the thing.
So, as a utilities man, as aplumber, I'm going to be the
lead plumber on this project,but you're not doing plumbing
every day, and this is whatmakes the CB so special.
(11:25):
You're not doing plumbing everyday, and this is what makes the
CB so special.
You're not doing plumbing everyday.
So what are you doing?
You're tying rebar, you'reputting rebar together, you're
building forms, you're gettingit ready to pour concrete, then
you're pouring concrete, thenyou're running your plumbing.
You were a builder and that'swhat you did.
You did builder stuff prettymuch all the time.
I'm assuming utilities men gotthe ability to be builders and
(11:50):
then be utilities men, so I gotthe best of everybody's world.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, that's a good point.
And I got a little bit of crosstraining as well.
On deployment, you know I hadsome times where I was welding,
always with, obviously, an SWoverseeing that, or, you know,
if we needed to help, if it wasa small team of us and we had to
set something up, I'm learningfrom the electrician doing what
he does so I can get ready formy work and I think that's one
thing you know now that we'retalking about.
(12:14):
I really took that for granted.
I got all that cross trainingbecause you don't get that
nowadays in the in theconstruction industry really.
I mean, you can, but you yeah,that's 100% accurate.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I mean the level of cross-training we got in it.
It was highly encouraged andeverybody was there to help you
learn each other's jobs, becausenobody was going to take
something from you.
They weren't going to make moremoney than you.
It was all structured.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, and what some people might not know is that
once you reach that Master Chieflevel, you're combining the
rates together, so you've kindof got to be a master of
multiple trades at once.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, it's kind of like I'd relate it to a
superintendent, like what I do.
Not that I'm a master of any ofthe trades by any means, but
I've got to know a little bitabout everything to make it.
I know enough to be dangerous.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, I think the superintendent role is the next
best job to be in a CB.
I don't think there's a betterjob than being a Navy CB.
I wish I could have.
I wish I would have stayed inlonger.
I just my ambition got the bestof me.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, so that was so you.
You did the deployment toOkinawa.
That was a six month deployment, you said so.
You came back stateside inCalifornia.
So what tell me about?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
walk me through the rest of your service.
Yeah.
So once I got back from mydeployment, this is where I
really was no longer interested.
I am not a home port B, and thehome port is when you're just
sitting at home, you're doingtraining, you're getting ready
for the next deployment.
That is not my bag and I gotbored.
I didn't like.
What we would do is we wouldmuster and make it, which just
(13:52):
basically meant you get there at7 o'clock or 7.15, whatever
time they tell you to be there15 minutes prior, of course.
And Monday, wednesday, friday,you go PT.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
That is a term I haven't heard in a long time.
Thank you, josh, but you knowwhat I'm talking about
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So you know what I'm talking about Absolutely.
So you know, if you're PT andyou're like great, let's go run,
let's go, let's go get this in.
Well, once you get done withyour run, they say OK, well,
we'll see you at 1300.
We'll see you at one o'clock.
And it's like, well, what do Ido for four hours?
Like you know, that's not gotto sit here and wait to tell you
(14:29):
at one o'clock that I'm stillalive and I'm still with you.
Like, can you just call myphone?
No, sir, be here at one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Okay, extremely inefficient.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Oh my God, it killed me.
And, being the smart aleck thatI am, I would say, you know
what?
I'm going to sit here and I'mgoing to wait.
And I'm going to sit here andI'm going to wait and I'm just
going to be kind of like anuisance and I say, hey, you got
anything for me to do, gotanything for me to do, got
anything for me to do.
And I would just wear peopleout.
And then I just didn't want tobe there anymore.
(15:01):
A great thing happened.
We were getting ready to dofield exercises in the fall 2005
timeframe, I think, and Ivolunteered for it.
I'm like, heck, yeah, man, sendme down range.
Like let me go do something.
So we're doing field exercises,which is basically playing war,
and we're on the aggressor side, which was a ton of fun for us,
(15:23):
because you know it'spaintballs, right?
Did you ever shoot the M16swith the paintballs?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You're the guys, we hated man.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh, the aggress right .
Did you ever shoot the m16swith the paintballs?
You're the guys we hated man.
Oh, oh god, it was so much fun.
Yeah, for y'all.
And let me tell you, thosethings did hurt.
So it wasn't, it wasn't easy.
But we're doing that.
And we're sitting at the chowhall one day and we're eating
dinner and hurricane katrinahappens to be in the gulf.
And they're like it's chow hallone day and we're eating dinner
and Hurricane Katrina happensto be in the Gulf and they're
like it's going to hit, it'sgoing to level this, this is
going to be bad.
And we're like, oh, my God, wecome back the next day.
You know, louisiana is gettingplowed, everything's underwater,
people are, you know, peopleare in dire need for help.
(16:05):
And I'm looking at the TV andI'm like what are we doing?
Like we should be there helpingour people.
That's what we should be doing.
So we get done with fieldexercises, we go back to the
base and they said, hey, seabaginspection tomorrow morning.
I said, okay, no problem, getthere for the seabag inspection.
They said, hey, look, there's achance that we might deploy to
(16:28):
New Orleans and help with therecovery efforts.
And I was like, oh, thank God,this is great.
Now, mind you, I'm getting outin three months, my end of
service is on the horizon, butbecause I'm a junkie, I want to
go help.
So we go and we do the seabaginspection.
They said, ok, seabaginspection tomorrow.
And I said, guys, how manypairs of underwear I have in my
seabag doesn't determine how I'mgoing to help these people that
are in dire need.
(16:49):
And the chief calls me in thereand he's like McMahon, you've
got a bad attitude.
I said you know, chief, withall due respect, I'm out of here
in three months.
Man, there are people who needour help.
Let me go down there and helpthem.
The next day they said you knowwhat?
(17:16):
Because you're such a smartaleck, you're going to be the
first one to deploy you andthese other six people.
And I said, oh, thank God.
I said why are you so excited?
I said because just think ofall the musters that I'm going
to skip out on.
Now I get to go down and work.
Awesome, we had this six personcrew with this, this boot SW
one, and he's like, he's a hardcharger and he's like man I got
all these guys are getting readyto get out.
This is going to be a disaster.
It was the best working squad.
(17:36):
We did more work in like twoweeks than the whole battalion
did in the month that they werethere.
It was unbelievable.
I'm like none of us are badpeople.
We just want to work.
We want to help people, man,yeah, so that was a great ending
for my, my Naval service,because you know, louisiana is
is where I ended it.
Um, I love the people oflouisiana and new orleans.
They're just really good people.
Even when we're down therehelping them, they were feeding
(17:56):
us and they were just soappreciative of everything we
were doing for them.
It was just.
It made you feel really good.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That's cool yeah, it's really nice.
You got to see the the fruitsof your labor immediately too, I
mean.
I mean you're really helpingthese people, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean because you know youwere in the service long enough.
You do something.
You don't know if it everaffects or helps anybody.
You don't see the fruits ofwhat that does.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It could be four years before you really see
something, and by then it's adistant memory.
Yeah yeah, a distant memory,yeah yeah.
And I'd say even sometimes morein the industry.
Now too.
I mean, you're building thesebuildings or with you, you know
you're in residential we'll getinto that here in a minute but
uh, you know, I would assumeyou're not seeing every family
move into the house.
I'm certainly not seeing.
Uh, I built hospitals for awhile and I'm not seeing the
patients coming in.
But we know we're workingtoward, but we don't get to see
(18:48):
it at the end.
So that's, that's a good visualreminder.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, it really is, you're right.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So okay, so we're at the point you transition out.
Um, what do you do now in theindustry?
I'm going to kind of speed up alittle bit and then we'll go
back to it.
But what are you doing rightnow in the industry?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, so right now, today, I'm a vice president of a
custom home builder inCharlottesville, virginia.
We do $10 million of revenueannually, which equates to four
to six homes a year.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's awesome.
So these are pretty, prettynice outstanding large homes, I
assume.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, some of them are really big, some can be
small, with really high endfinishes.
The beauty of custom is we cando anything you want, and that's
what I really enjoy about it.
And you know, we and on ourhomes there's no land included,
it's just the house, and we'reprobably averaging about 1.7,
$1.8 million per home.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
That's awesome.
0.7, $1.8 million per homethat's awesome.
So how did you go from theservice and I'm going to back up
again now.
So when you first got out, whatwere you doing when you first
left the?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Navy Right away.
I went back to Syracuse.
I moved in with my parents.
I went to school for a year.
I was working on getting myeducation because I felt that's
what I needed to do, and I wasworking on my associate's degree
and just doing really fixingthings around their home.
They bought a fixer upper.
As my mother is an HRprofessional and my stepfather
was a computer person, they hadno idea what they were doing and
(20:23):
, quite frankly, I didn't haveany idea what I was doing either
.
But I was fixing up their house, learning as I went, and
basically remodeled everythingin their house, which really
gave me the bug for residentialconstruction.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That's awesome.
So you still had that bug whenyou got out.
It sounds like to get into itbecause you still loved building
.
So how did you end up?
What did you do for your firstjob when you got out in the
industry?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, I kind of lucked into a couple of things.
So first I became a handymanfor a Mr Handyman company.
I was doing that for a littlewhile.
I didn't, I didn't like it, Ididn't get a lot of satisfaction
from it.
And I lucked into a homebuilder, not knowing anything
about that world.
And I lucked into falling intoa role that was customer service
representative, whichessentially means warranty tech.
(21:11):
So once the house is closed I'dhave a whole list of any items
the customers wanted fixed.
I'd call them, I'd schedule it,I'd go fix it myself, or I'd go
and I'd schedule the trades tocome back and fix it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Were you working on your parents' home at the time
where you were doing that, or isthis?
This is after you got done withthe renovation?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, this is about a year or two years after that
renovation.
That's when I I um, I stoppedgoing to school.
I moved to Virginia and I waslooking for something more.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Okay.
So you had a lot of that tradeknowledge, you know pre-service,
during service, post-service,to really kind of go get after
it.
And so I'm going to back upagain what really drove you to
wanting to do plaster and allthat when you were younger.
What is it that sparked your?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
interest in construction as a whole.
You know, I think when I wasyounger I didn't think I was
smart enough or good enough todo anything else, and I know
that that doesn't sound good,but that is a young person.
That's what I thought.
You know, my stepfather youknow.
Let me say it this way Parentsshould tell their kids they can
(22:24):
amount to anything they want toachieve if they work for it.
My stepfather and mother werethe opposite.
They told me not to set mygoals too high because I don't
want to be disappointed.
And so I did.
I set my goals low and Iachieved those goals.
And then I became bored withthose goals and I just set
higher and higher goals to goafter more.
So I fell into constructionbecause I didn't think I could
do anything else.
And then, when I realized Icould do that and I could do a
(22:47):
lot more, I started to pushmyself to take on more
challenges.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Oh, I like that.
That's cool, man.
What a neat story.
I like how it kind of came fullcircle.
And little do people believeand I preach this a lot that
this industry is a lot morecomplicated than people really
think and a lot of these guysare doing financially a lot
better than people think too.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
That's such a fact and so many people just don't
understand how much opportunityis in this industry.
So, in my role today and thetype of income that I make for
my family, we live a very, verygood life.
We have more things than weneed, more things than we ever
(23:31):
wanted, and we're doing verywell.
And this industry allows youthat ability.
If you get after it, you learn,you grow, you network with the
right people.
The sky's the limit in thisindustry and no better time than
today.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
Let me ask this um your service, how do you think that's
directly helped you with whatyou're doing now, other than you
gotta be a smart Alec,obviously a little bit time to
time in the industry.
Still, so that helped.
But um, how, how do you think,like what did you take away from
the service that's helping youin the industry?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
I'll tell you what it is in a nutshell.
It's it's teamwork andcamaraderie.
The service is nothing but thisgiant brotherhood or this
camaraderie.
We've never met, but the momentyou told me you were a CB, we
have an instant connection andwe'll have a bond for life.
Now, just because of that oneword right, and we know what
we've both done.
You don't have that on theoutside and that's what I've
(24:26):
searched for for 15 years, 20years, and the cool thing about
today being in the role that I'min is I get to build that
environment.
I get to build teams, a team togo build homes, but the focus
of the team is really on theculture and that teamwork and
camaraderie and this win-winmentality that we had when we
were in the bees.
(24:47):
Yeah that's what's helped metoday.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I haven't had too many residential folks on the
show yet, and I'm reallyencouraged to hear that, because
it gets preached a lot in thecommercial industry and I guess
we don't give you guys enoughcredit too that there's small
teams building these homestogether that really have to
depend on each other for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, the problem with residential home building
is that it's chaos.
Management.
Commercial specifications arevery clear, things are very
black and white.
You know when you're going todo it, you know what time you're
going to be there.
Home building is completelydifferent.
It's kind of like a bomb blowsup and then a house appears and
when you get the rightleadership and the right teams
(25:29):
and you share this vision forwhat we can build here and what
we can do, you can createsomething special.
And it's not.
It's very unorthodox for ourindustry, but we're doing that
at Bramante homes.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I like that.
You'll appreciate this.
I have a nameplate on my deskat the job site that says chaos
coordinator.
That is my job.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Hey, sometimes it's true, and you know.
Here's why it's true.
It's not the project managerriding his bicycle down the
street with a flat tire andeverything's on fire.
That's not what it is.
You have a plan, you know whereyou're going, you know how
you're going to get there.
Something derails your plan andhow you pivot and how you react
to that is what determines howthat day and that project will
go.
That's what makes good projectmanagers and superintendents.
(26:17):
We are three and four stepsahead of that problem before it
even happens.
So we're already mitigating itbefore it happens.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, I've had people say that our superpower is is
seeing, you know, four to sixmonths into the future, of what
am I not doing right now that'sgoing to impact me later on down
the road.
That's it.
You nailed it.
So let me ask about thisjourney.
So you've had a really cooljourney, man, and it's neat to
see you've been in the industrybasically from a young age
(26:46):
through today.
Not everybody has that story.
You know started with theirgrandpa or something when they
were a young kid and framing.
So not everybody has that kindof background or you know your
type of story doing plaster.
But if they're looking back atthe last couple of decades here,
is there anything along thejourney that maybe you think I
(27:06):
would have not done?
Or I would have done that mighthave put you in a better
position?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, 100%.
The one thing I would have donewas I would have networked more
before I was coming out of theNavy.
I didn't do a good jobnetworking.
I didn't do a good job keepingin touch with some of those
contacts because there's thethought that these people aren't
going to be able to help you onthe outside.
The reality is, you don't knowwho's going to be able to help
you or how you're going to beable to help them.
So network every single placeyou can.
(27:31):
And a little bit of credit tomyself in in 2005, the Internet
was still relatively a new thing.
I didn't know a lot about it.
We didn't know a lot about it.
You know, technology was just.
It's not what it is today,right, so networking was a
little bit more challenging.
But that's the one thing Iwould encourage everybody to do
(27:51):
is start networking now.
Don't wait.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, that's good, absolutely A hundred percent
agreed, um, and there's reallyno excuse not to now.
With things like LinkedIn andall the social media we didn't
have, you know, getting out ofthe service, um and being able
to just text your buddy.
Right, he's moving to adifferent state, but he's
getting into an industry youlike might, uh, you like or want
to get into Um.
(28:14):
So I want to talk about otherveterans in the industry real
quick.
Uh, it's not an easy industry.
I don't try to sugarcoat itLike this is everything's
perfect and you just go out andmake a ton of money.
It's hard work.
I mean, you'll get there, um,but it can really beat you down
sometimes, and we're recordingthis.
I'm going to publish it afterMay, but we're recording this
(28:34):
during mental health month too,and that's another thing to
think about.
You know, vets struggle withthat.
The industry struggles withthat.
So if we've got folks out there, specifically vets, that are
just trudging through the mudtrying to make to the next day,
what would you try to say toencourage those people?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
this, too, shall pass , right.
I heard Tom Hanks say it.
If things are good,everything's going the way you
want it to go, this too shallpass, and if things are bad,
this will pass too.
The reality is, tomorrow is adue day.
It's how you see the futurethat will determine what happens
(29:13):
.
Right.
You can manifest great thingsif you believe in it.
And this is where I like tostart, and I don't think it's
talked about enough.
Companies do a good job ofcreating a vision for where
they're going.
And I say companies do a goodjob.
Maybe they don't all do a goodjob.
Individuals do a terrible jobof creating a vision.
If I would say to you you'rejust starting in the industry,
(29:34):
you're a veteran.
You did 15, 20 years.
What's the vision for thefuture you?
Where are you going to be infive years?
What do you hope to see?
What's your house look like?
What's your family look like?
What's everybody doing?
What do you see around you?
As you start developing thatvision for who you're going to
be and what you're going to have, or what you're going to be
(29:54):
doing, for who you're going tobe and what you're going to have
, or what you're going to bedoing.
It's incredible how quicklythings start to fall into place
and it will happen faster thanwhat you anticipated, because
you've put it out there.
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I mean people used to give folks grief about like a
dream board, but I keep a goalsheet.
I have an actual goal sheet onmy computer of this is what I
want to achieve in the next yearto two, this is two to five and
beyond, and I think that'sreally important to keep you on
track.
And it's changed.
I mean sometimes month to month.
Those goals will change for meor maybe I find a more efficient
(30:28):
way to get there.
But yeah, I would say thatthere's just a lot of folks
having a tough time in theindustry because we're lower on
resources than we were a decadeago.
And I don't just mean material,I mean people too.
People are getting out.
And I think, at least in myposition and your position, our
(30:49):
job is really to train that nextgeneration of builders coming
up.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
That's right, it is.
And this industry I meanthere's no sugarcoating it Some
days just suck, and honestly Ireally think that's in every
industry.
It's just we live this everyday, so we know it.
But I'll tell you as you startcounting the days, if you said,
hey, at the end of the day, wasit a good or a bad day?
And I would even do itdifferently.
(31:13):
Once you score your day on ascale of zero to a hundred and
just score it on a 10 pointscale, how many days are over
70%?
Yeah, and you might find thatyou've got more days over 70
than you think.
So so think of it in verysimple terms so I get a passing
grade today, Like do I feel likeI won the day?
And as you get more and more ofthose wins, you start to create
(31:35):
more positivity, more wins, andthen everything just seems to
be working well.
The opposite is true.
If you just keep looking at thenegative things and I had a bad
day, and I had another bad dayyou're just going to keep
finding more bad days, becausethat's what you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, no, that's.
I'm definitely having a lightbulb moment here, for sure, and
I can relate it to the service.
Like we, we all miss it when weget out, cause we don't really
dwell on the crappy times Mostof the time.
I mean we've lost friends downrange and like there's horrible
things that happen, but all inall, we're looking at the big
positive.
So yeah, you're going to havesome crappy days, but that's.
(32:11):
That's good man.
I'm going to keep that in myback pocket for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Well, I'll tell you, what's worked really well for me
is that if I let my mind do itsown thing, I can get in a
really dark place.
So I'll go backwards for you alittle bit.
February of two years ago mybrother took his own life.
He's a veteran air crewman.
(32:37):
When he got out he struggled.
He didn't know where to go, hehad to start over and he
couldn't get his head wrappedaround it.
I hired him as a superintendentone of the best damn
superintendents I ever hadbecause, man, he just wanted to
work, he wanted to learn, hewanted to grow, he gave it
everything he had.
And when he went to anothercompany, I was really happy for
(33:01):
him because I felt like you know, you're there, man, you're
ready and you did it on your own.
And I know that's what hereally needed.
Well, the company let him down.
They didn't do anything tosupport him.
Two, three months later theylet him go and it's all downhill
(33:21):
from there.
Nine months later, you know theuh, the bad stuff happens Right
and uh, and it sucks.
Okay, um, but what's helped mewith some of the coping is
having a daily journal.
I know men, journaling, youknow, sounds a little, I don't
know, I don't know how you thinkthat sounds right.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
It's not manly yeah no, I get it, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
But my journal is very simple.
I put the three positives fromthe day before First thing I do.
What are the three wins?
And listen, don'tovercomplicate this.
My win could be I got eighthours of sleep last night.
I drove home safely, had agreat dinner with my wife.
It is very, very simple.
We're just celebrating wins,we're creating momentum.
(34:00):
The next thing is what am Igoing to accomplish today?
And then I journal whatever'sleft on that page.
Just write whatever's in yourhead and what will happen is you
start to get any negativethoughts out of your head and
you start to write positivethoughts where you're going,
what you're going to do, when wethink of mental health.
For me personally, with myjourney, what I've been through,
(34:23):
that has been an absolute gamechanger for me.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, man, I really appreciate you sharing that
story.
That's, that's difficult, butI'm really glad that you have
like a positive light that cameout of that with that tragedy.
So thank you, josh, for sharingthat.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
It took a lot of time , man.
It's the first time I've reallyopened up and shared any of
that, so however many peoplelisten to this, you'll be the
first ones to hear it.
And I laugh because I'm a laughor cry guy, so I'd rather laugh
, yeah, plus you can't see mecrying, but you can see me.
You can hear me laughing.
It's true.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
But it was nine months in a dark place and you
know what?
What helped me was my wife andhow strong she was, and family
that were willing to talk to you, friends that were willing to
talk to you, and that's what weneed, right?
Everybody has bad days,everybody has tough times.
Be there for each other.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah Amen, I appreciate that, man.
Man, it's going to be hard toget back to the podcast.
That's really good.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
No, I really appreciate it, man, and I'll
share a quick story.
One of the guys that I deployedwith he took his life back in
2016.
And it was rough for a lot ofus that served together and the
crazy thing is that we all kindof bonded a little bit more over
that and we're we're constantlychecking on each other now and
we felt bad because we're we Ican blame myself because he was
here in Texas and why didn't Icheck in on him and why this.
(35:48):
And it's not my faultnecessarily that it happened,
but it definitely encouraged memore to check in on my battalion
brothers happen, um, but itdefinitely encouraged me more to
check in on my battalionbrothers.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
That's what you hope, right?
We want something good to comefrom everything and and that's I
think that's a really goodthing.
And I don't think it's yourfault, it's nobody's fault.
We, we can't understand whypeople do that.
You can, I mean, cause evenwith my brother, his best friend
talked to him that morning andwas joking with him and
everything was good, like, sothere were people talking
(36:20):
positively.
We don't know what's going on,and I think it's just imperative
that we all open up to eachother.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, so we, we just passed Memorial day, uh, this
past Monday, as we're recording,and I saw somebody put a post I
think it was on LinkedIn of youknow, check on your happy
friends, check on your friendsthat aren't doing well, it's.
It's kind of a check oneverybody kind of thing.
Just check in and I I shot outa few texts to a few people and
that I hadn't talked to in awhile and they're like thanks
(36:47):
for checking in, man.
I mean they're doing well, butthey appreciate it.
And I appreciate it when peoplecheck in with me, because I
have bad days, like the rest ofus for sure, and I've had those,
those dirty thoughts before andI struggled a while myself
after deployment, but no, that's, that's good man, I appreciate
that.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
All right.
So if we've got veterans thatare listening to the show or we
get the message out there and weknow we need people really bad
in the industry, um, we've got alot of folks that are retiring
out.
Um, some are getting out of theindustry.
Some are retiring.
They're doing other things.
Um, how do we encourage people?
(37:28):
And I think this is the wholeimpetus as to why the show
started was to celebrate thisindustry and we didn't.
We haven't done a great job ofit.
I think we're getting better,but how would you encourage
someone to say, hey, this isprobably going to be a really
good fit for you once youseparate from the service?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
I think it comes to that networking.
There was an individual inGeorgia that I think did a
really good job as he wasleaving the service from the
Army and he called probably 20people, sent you a LinkedIn
message, said I'm leaving theservice, I'm really interested
in being in construction, I'dlike to pick your brain.
And I thought it was reallycool because he talked to me,
talked to commercial people, hetalked to everybody he could
(38:07):
think of.
I think it's important for ourbases and leadership at these
organizations and I can'tremember what they call the
units where, like when you'regetting out, the teams that go
around and help you findingcompanies.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Oh, the TAPS program.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
There you go.
Taps, that's right.
Taps needs to be pushing.
You know construction is anoption.
So you might start at the lowerwages.
You might start at entry level.
You've got to learn the ropes,that's what it is.
Lower wages you might start atentry level.
You've got to learn the ropes,that's what it is.
So, if you set yourexpectations right, you go in
there with a growth mindset.
You find the right companywhere you can grow and learn.
You can move up very quickly,and I think a lot of it just
(38:49):
depends on what motivates you.
What part of the business do youwant to do?
Because, as you think aboutNavy Seabees, we were a
self-contained unit.
We could do whatever we neededto do.
Well, construction is verysimilar, right?
Because commercial constructionyou can be in the middle of
nowhere and develop your entirecity, and there's different
facets of that, right?
So you've got builders andelectricians and people swinging
hammers, then you've gotmanagement side, then you've got
(39:11):
accounting side, then you'vegot sales, you've got marketing.
Everything goes into running aconstruction company.
So it's not all just swinginghammers.
There's more to this industry,which is what makes it so
appealing.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
And that you know, relating itback to the bees, like we had
support personnel we needed.
We couldn't do our job, Iwanted to get paid, I wanted to
go on a leave, you know, Iwanted to get the right supplies
.
So we've got a lot of that.
I'll call them supportpersonnel, outside of the
operations of the industry thathelp us get the job done.
I mean, we can't do anything wedo without them.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
That's exactly right that support staff is so
critical.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, for sure.
And the cool thing is they getto come out like marketing folks
that might not get to see anexcavator every day get to come
out on the job site.
They don't have to worry abouthalf the stress we're dealing
with.
They get to take the coolphotos and so they're still
exposed to this neat industry,just serving in a different role
people into the industry.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
Get out there and take more pictures, show how
cool this industry really is.
This was a piece of dirt andnow we've got pictures and we're
showing you a time lapse of apiece of dirt to this hospital
where babies are going to beborn, where diseases are going
to be cured, like how can youget anything cooler than that?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yeah, I've seen a huge uptick over the last couple
of years of a lot of tradesfolks that are they'll snap a
picture of hey, check out thissweet.
Well, they did like I'm reallyproud of this, so that's awesome
for them.
But it's also exposing, youknow, teenagers or younger folks
into the industry as well, andthat, and that's really what we
need.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Social media is a really cool popular thing and
we've all got a hate, loverelationship with it.
Embrace it.
Put those pictures out there,show them how cool this industry
can be.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
So I want to give you a little bit of time here.
I want to talk about yourpodcast, so we mentioned it a
little bit.
So you run a podcast with yourwife called Feed Me your
Construction Content, and yousaid it's been going for about
two years.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That's exactly right About two years my wife and I.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
every Thursday morning at 4 am a new episode
drops Very cool.
So what do you guys?
Speaker 1 (41:25):
cover on that.
This is a podcast thatoriginally started with myself
and another individual who wasin the commercial sector, so we
had a commercial and residentialflavor to our conversations and
just talking about peoplecoming into the industry, what
to expect, how to be successful.
That's kind of how we wanted todo it.
It was like really giving back.
Well, as you got a co-hostwho's in another state, I got
(41:48):
really serious about it.
I really enjoyed it.
I started investing my ownmoney into new technology and
microphones and headphones andpod tracks and everything else
and he just wasn't interested.
So we stopped.
And then I told my wife.
I said I really want to getback to podcasting.
She said yeah, you should do it.
And I said I think you shouldbe my co-host.
She said no way.
So we go from a no way to howabout this?
(42:13):
Let's just do two episodeswhere I just ask you questions
about your interior design work,what you do, what your
experiences were working withbuilders, and just see where it
goes.
And from that we're almost twoyears later.
We we podcast every week.
Everything that we talk aboutis really home building related,
but we could talk about mentalhealth stuff, firing individuals
(42:37):
, hiring, core values, vision,anything to do with the business
, anything that we think isvaluable to someone that wants
to get into the home buildingindustry, maybe commercial
sector really, just kind of anyindustry on some episodes.
So they're not always abouthome building or always about
construction.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
I like that.
Cool, I'll definitely.
I'll have to check it out now.
Man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Well, we, we'd love for you to check it out.
We'd uh, we'd love to have youon as a guest too and talk about
your journey, Cause I thinkthat would be really cool.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Yeah, no, I'm in.
So you guys heard it, I will bethere, that's great.
That's awesome.
So one quick question before wego.
I was thinking so we're both indifferent facets of the
industry.
You're in residential, I'm incommercial.
There's a lot of differences,obviously, codes and the way we
build some things.
(43:28):
But what is it that kept you inthe residential side?
Or did you have no interest inthe commercial side, or what is
it that appealed to you about?
Speaker 1 (43:38):
residential.
Well, some of my career wascommercial.
I really liked the commercialside.
I really liked doing NAVFACprojects or Army Corps of
Engineers, because of howdetailed the specs were and you
you knew exactly what to do.
I think what I really what Ididn't like about commercial or
or NAVFAC was traveling.
I could have made a lot ofmoney, I could have been very
(43:59):
successful, but I was going tohave to travel more and I just
didn't want to do it.
Our son was at an age where Ifelt like it was critical for me
to be here and in the projectthat I decided to move away from
commercial, I was actually atMarine Corps barracks renovating
one of the barracks and I waslike this just isn't worth it.
I need to get away from this.
(44:20):
In residential, what I've reallyloved and hated, I love that
there's so much opportunity.
There was a lot of chaos.
There wasn't a lot oforganization or order and
discipline and accountabilityand I was like, wow, we can
really fix this stuff.
And after about two years ofdoing it I was like no, you
can't fix this.
There's no fixing this industry.
(44:43):
So I went and got my degree.
I got my bachelor's degree toget out of construction and
around the same time I wasgraduating, I got my own team
and I was a production managerand I was running three
different communities, 10different superintendents, and I
fell in love with buildingteams that were building homes.
(45:05):
So what I love aboutresidential construction is the
opportunity to really give backto people and groom their career
and watch them blossom and turninto something really brilliant
, and that's why I've stayed inresidential construction.
I can really get back to thepeople.
I can.
No matter where I go, how highI get, I can still help people
(45:26):
that are directly around me andreally encourage others to uh,
to do well.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
That's what's kept me around residential brother, I,
if I can encourage you, that'sjust so cool to hear.
You know, like I've said,there's been some crossover from
some of the culture, mentalityof commercial that I think
you're bringing something reallyspecial to the residential
world and I think you can changeit and you are changing it and
I I'm really encouraged to seehow far you go with that.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Well, it takes time, right, but one day at a time,
and if we affect one person,then that's the kind of change I
need.
And in my current role, whatI'm doing is I've created my
team, I've got the systems inplace and now I'm working with
individual sub-trades andhelping to kind of coach them up
on how they can be moreprofitable but also help us, the
(46:16):
builder.
So it's it's kind of a it'sreally what I love doing, which
is coaching and helping otherpeople Very cool.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Well, josh, on that note, man, I really appreciate
your time tonight.
As you know, as a fellowpodcast host, it's it's
difficult to try to set up thesetimes that we can chit chat
because we both have a full-timejobs and families.
So thank you again, man.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, it's my pleasure, scott, Thank you so
much for having me on the show.
I can't wait to listen to theend result and I can't wait to
get you on the other end of themics, all right brother, we'll
see you soon.
Thank you, brother, talk to yousoon.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
All right If you're a military veteran in the
construction industry or you'rein the construction industry and
support our military vets andyou'd like to be a guest on the
podcast.
You can find me atconstructionvetpodcast at
gmailcom, or send me a messageon LinkedIn.
You can find me there at ScottFriend.
Let's share the stories andmotivate others.
(47:10):
You.
everything goes into running a construction company.
So it's not all just swinginghammers.
There's more to this industry.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is the construction veteran podcast
connecting and celebratingveterans in construction now.
Now here's your host, scottFriend.
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Scott Friend.
I'm proud to bring you guysJosh McMahon, a fellow former CB
like myself and currently avice president of a residential
(00:38):
home builder.
Let's dig into it it.
Hey, josh, how's it going?
Man scott, how you doing?
I am fantastic.
It's a a beautiful day in texas.
For once, we've had a ton ofrain, but you are in virginia.
(00:59):
How are things up there?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
richmond, virginia.
It's uh, we have not had asmuch rain as you guys have had,
which is you know.
I'd say it's been good.
It's really good from aconstruction standpoint because
we're able to get a lot of stuffdone, but it's not so good for
my yard.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, amen, totally agreed.
So Josh and I haven'tofficially met, but we connected
a while back on LinkedIn andgot reconnected.
I'll say, with a mutual friendthat a lot of you guys might
know, out there to listen to theshow Luke Hill great guy.
Um, so, yeah, we, uh, we, we'regoing to talk about our, our
shared service.
(01:35):
We have a couple of things incommon.
Um, I want to ask Josh, uh,where are you from man, what led
you to the military and what'dyou do?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, I'm.
I'm originally from Syracuse,new York, and my stepfather, who
married my mother when I wasprobably five or six years old,
he was in the Navy and he was inthe Navy.
We moved from Syracuse toVirginia Beach, to South
Carolina, back to Virginia threedifferent places in Virginia.
(02:03):
So I had the great fortune ofgrowing up and living on the
East Coast and attending threedifferent high schools.
So I don't have a lot ofchildhood friends because I grew
up in the Navy and I swore Iwould never join the military.
It was not the life for me.
And when I came out of highschool I went directly into the
trades and I started the tradesas a stucco person, laborer,
(02:26):
helper, and I really loved it.
The camaraderie running aroundthe job site looking for that
board stretcher.
It still doesn't exist, but Iwas looking.
I was determined to find itright.
That's awesome, but thosememories from 25, 30 years ago
was like that, really stuck withyou and I was with my people,
(02:49):
so to speak, and I love theconstruction industry and I
advanced very quickly because Iwas hungry.
I learned at a very quick pace,but what I also learned was
there wasn't a lot of ceilingright.
There wasn't a lot of growthopportunities.
I was looking for more andthat's what led me to the
military and I started bylooking at the Coast Guard.
(03:12):
That's what I really wanted todo was the Coast Guard, and they
said no problem, it's atwo-year wait.
Yeah, me, being the impatientperson I am, I was not waiting
two years to join the CoastGuard.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
What year was this that you found that out?
I think it was probably 2000.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
That's when I started .
I started in the constructionindustry in 98, and I was
getting frustrated with the lackof mobility.
And that's when I looked intothe Coast Guard and they said,
you know, one to two years towait, and I wasn't interested.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So what was the sorry to sidebar you?
But what was the reason forthat long wait back then?
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Man, it was just there was not a need for service
members at that time.
Everybody was flushed.
This is pre 9-11.
So the service and you rememberthe service in the later
nineties we were downsizing ourmilitary to, you know, for
economic reasons or budgetaryreasons or politics, who knows
(04:13):
we didn't need, we didn't needservice members.
So the coast guard, especiallycause it's more department of
transportation we definitelydidn't need service members.
Yeah, but that was a little bitof a frustration.
So I went next door and I wentto, uh, I went to the Navy the
next best thing, the closestthing to the coast.
(04:35):
Going through the whole processof the Navy thing and talking to
the recruiter and I'm ready,right.
And they said, uh, we, we gotyour stuff, we're ready to go.
And I said, you know what?
I thought a lot about this.
I don't want to do anythingwith a ship, I don't, I don't.
If I want to see water, I wantto go to the beach.
And he and it was a secondclass and he said, man, my chief
(04:57):
wants to talk to you.
And I said, oh, okay, I don'tknow what a chief is, so that
didn't mean anything to me atthat time.
No problem, dude, I'll talk toyour chief.
So chief gets on the phone andhe says man, you don't want to
go on the water.
I said you know, no, sir,that's just not my thing.
He said no problem, we'll putyou on the plane, we'll fly you
to other countries and you gobuild shit.
I was like I said do what?
(05:20):
Yeah, we'll fly you places, yougo there and you build stuff.
That's what we'll do.
And I was like man, where do Isign?
And that's when I gotintroduced to the Navy Seabees.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So did they know anything about your trade
background at that time, or thatthis is something that they
offered up?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Uh, they, I think they knew that I was in
construction and that I enjoyeddoing that because I was doing.
I was doing stucco as a youngerperson, you know, right out of
high school.
But I fell into the HVAC tradesand that's where I was
advancing very quickly and I wastrying to make the jump into
the service side of HVAC.
But the service side was almostfrom a military standpoint you
(06:02):
have enlisted in officers and itit almost felt like service
side.
You had to have a collegedegree.
You had to have somethingdifferent.
You had to be family, collegeeducated, something.
You had to have a different,compelling argument and they
didn't have it.
So that was why they hooked meup with the Seabees and the best
thing happened they put me intothe best rate in the Navy,
(06:23):
which was a utilities man.
I would argue that a little bit, just saying the best thing
happened.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
They put me into the best rate in the Navy, which was
a utilities man.
I would argue that a little bit, just saying Naturally we can
talk.
Yeah, let's talk about what isa utilities man.
So I've mentioned previouslywhat the Seabees are, what we do
, and that we could basicallybuild a city if need be, and you
had all these different trades.
So I'm a builder formerly.
So let's talk about a utilitiesman and what that entails.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, utilities man is a.
It's a plumber and an HVACtechnician, so it's both trades
in one, which is really great.
You get to learn two reallygreat trades.
So we would go to somewhere inTexas I can't remember where the
A school was, but we went to Aschool with the electricians.
(07:10):
Three months of school to onemonth for plumbing, because it
doesn't take a lot of effort tobe a plumber.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
But one month of school.
You just lost like a quarter ofmy audience.
Thanks a lot.
You just lost like a quarter ofmy audience.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Thanks a lot.
One month of plumbing schooland then two months of HVAC
school Very cool.
And then they say, hey, you'reready to go, you're ready to be
a plumber, ready to be anelectrician?
Not completely true, but youhave the basic information to go
out and be dangerous.
Yeah, basic information to goout and be dangerous.
(07:48):
Yeah, utilitiesman was a reallycool job because for me, I was
single at the time and if youwere married, you were instantly
going to a battalion whichbattalion for the CVs is our
deployable units which means 10months at home, six months or
seven months out to sea or adifferent country building
something.
So very, very high tempo forfive years.
(08:08):
But if you were single, you hada good chance of going overseas
somewhere, and I was single.
I got stationed in Sicily forthree years, sicily being Italy.
So my time was not deployed notdoing this high tempo.
My time was more maintenancedriven, so I got to work in a
plumbing shop to right out thegate.
So my 22nd birthday, I remember, like it was yesterday, sitting
(08:32):
on top of this water main thatwas the size of a car and
cutting this thing open becausethe leak, I mean the pipe, had
ruptured, and where it ruptured.
It had ruptured 10 years prior,which our UT one, our our um
leading petty officer, had fixedwhen he first got there himself
10 years prior.
So now we're fixing this pipeon my 22nd birthday it was.
(08:56):
It was a great memory again.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I hope you gave him so much crap that his fix didn't
hold.
I mean, 10 years is pretty good, though I got to hand it to him
.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
That's not bad for the Navy.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, that's not bad.
Yeah, that's for sure, that'san understatement.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I mean we, we just want it to hold for a deployment
.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, and you know those, those units like that man
, I mean, even though you're notdeploying, it's not that high
up tempo.
I mean, I learned a ton when Iwas in a maintenance unit as
well, because you really get toput your trade to good use, Got
to follow the codes, dependingon where you're at Right.
So it's not like deployment,just get it done.
So, yeah, let's talk a littlebit more.
So you were in a maintenanceunit in Sicily.
(09:39):
How long were you out there?
Yeah, three years, and then yougot the opportunity to go
elsewhere, correct?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, after I finished my three years.
It was an easy decision.
I wanted to go to the battalionI wanted to deploy and we have
two options as Seabees youeither go to Gulfport,
mississippi, or Port Hueneme,california.
Being an East Coast boy, Ireally wanted to go to
California.
And I told the detailer he'slike hey, where do you want to
(10:07):
go?
I said any one of thebattalions on the West Coast
Doesn't matter.
Where doesn't matter, wherethey're going Doesn't matter, I
want to go and I was lucky toget NMCB 40 or Fighting 40.
The cool thing about that tripwas that the moment I got to
Port Hueneme they just left toOkinawa, japan.
(10:28):
So I get to California, I getsettled in, I immediately jump
on a plane and fly to Okinawaand I spend the next six months
there.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh cool.
What was the main mission therein Okinawa?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So that was a cool mission because we had to do a
dispatch building and what wewere doing was we excavated for
the foundation and then we, ourunit, was putting together,
tying the footers and foundationwalls, and and you know from
your time in the military, weover-engineer everything we do.
(11:03):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, thisfooting and foundation was
designed for like a skyscraperand it was a one-story building.
Yep, that rings true, and sohere's the thing.
So, as a utilities man, as aplumber, I'm going to be the
lead plumber on this project,but you're not doing plumbing
every day, and this is whatmakes the CB so special.
(11:25):
You're not doing plumbing everyday, and this is what makes the
CB so special.
You're not doing plumbing everyday.
So what are you doing?
You're tying rebar, you'reputting rebar together, you're
building forms, you're gettingit ready to pour concrete, then
you're pouring concrete, thenyou're running your plumbing.
You were a builder and that'swhat you did.
You did builder stuff prettymuch all the time.
I'm assuming utilities men gotthe ability to be builders and
(11:50):
then be utilities men, so I gotthe best of everybody's world.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah, that's a good point.
And I got a little bit of crosstraining as well.
On deployment, you know I hadsome times where I was welding,
always with, obviously, an SWoverseeing that, or, you know,
if we needed to help, if it wasa small team of us and we had to
set something up, I'm learningfrom the electrician doing what
he does so I can get ready formy work and I think that's one
thing you know now that we'retalking about.
(12:14):
I really took that for granted.
I got all that cross trainingbecause you don't get that
nowadays in the in theconstruction industry really.
I mean, you can, but you yeah,that's 100% accurate.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I mean the level of cross-training we got in it.
It was highly encouraged andeverybody was there to help you
learn each other's jobs, becausenobody was going to take
something from you.
They weren't going to make moremoney than you.
It was all structured.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, and what some people might not know is that
once you reach that Master Chieflevel, you're combining the
rates together, so you've kindof got to be a master of
multiple trades at once.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That's a great point.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, it's kind of like I'd relate it to a
superintendent, like what I do.
Not that I'm a master of any ofthe trades by any means, but
I've got to know a little bitabout everything to make it.
I know enough to be dangerous.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, I think the superintendent role is the next
best job to be in a CB.
I don't think there's a betterjob than being a Navy CB.
I wish I could have.
I wish I would have stayed inlonger.
I just my ambition got the bestof me.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, so that was so you.
You did the deployment toOkinawa.
That was a six month deployment, you said so.
You came back stateside inCalifornia.
So what tell me about?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
walk me through the rest of your service.
Yeah.
So once I got back from mydeployment, this is where I
really was no longer interested.
I am not a home port B, and thehome port is when you're just
sitting at home, you're doingtraining, you're getting ready
for the next deployment.
That is not my bag and I gotbored.
I didn't like.
What we would do is we wouldmuster and make it, which just
(13:52):
basically meant you get there at7 o'clock or 7.15, whatever
time they tell you to be there15 minutes prior, of course.
And Monday, wednesday, friday,you go PT.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
That is a term I haven't heard in a long time.
Thank you, josh, but you knowwhat I'm talking about
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So you know what I'm talking about Absolutely.
So you know, if you're PT andyou're like great, let's go run,
let's go, let's go get this in.
Well, once you get done withyour run, they say OK, well,
we'll see you at 1300.
We'll see you at one o'clock.
And it's like, well, what do Ido for four hours?
Like you know, that's not gotto sit here and wait to tell you
(14:29):
at one o'clock that I'm stillalive and I'm still with you.
Like, can you just call myphone?
No, sir, be here at one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Okay, extremely inefficient.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Oh my God, it killed me.
And, being the smart aleck thatI am, I would say, you know
what?
I'm going to sit here and I'mgoing to wait.
And I'm going to sit here andI'm going to wait and I'm just
going to be kind of like anuisance and I say, hey, you got
anything for me to do, gotanything for me to do, got
anything for me to do.
And I would just wear peopleout.
And then I just didn't want tobe there anymore.
(15:01):
A great thing happened.
We were getting ready to dofield exercises in the fall 2005
timeframe, I think, and Ivolunteered for it.
I'm like, heck, yeah, man, sendme down range.
Like let me go do something.
So we're doing field exercises,which is basically playing war,
and we're on the aggressor side, which was a ton of fun for us,
(15:23):
because you know it'spaintballs, right?
Did you ever shoot the M16swith the paintballs?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You're the guys, we hated man.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh, the aggress right .
Did you ever shoot the m16swith the paintballs?
You're the guys we hated man.
Oh, oh god, it was so much fun.
Yeah, for y'all.
And let me tell you, thosethings did hurt.
So it wasn't, it wasn't easy.
But we're doing that.
And we're sitting at the chowhall one day and we're eating
dinner and hurricane katrinahappens to be in the gulf.
And they're like it's chow hallone day and we're eating dinner
and Hurricane Katrina happensto be in the Gulf and they're
like it's going to hit, it'sgoing to level this, this is
going to be bad.
And we're like, oh, my God, wecome back the next day.
You know, louisiana is gettingplowed, everything's underwater,
people are, you know, peopleare in dire need for help.
(16:05):
And I'm looking at the TV andI'm like what are we doing?
Like we should be there helpingour people.
That's what we should be doing.
So we get done with fieldexercises, we go back to the
base and they said, hey, seabaginspection tomorrow morning.
I said, okay, no problem, getthere for the seabag inspection.
They said, hey, look, there's achance that we might deploy to
(16:28):
New Orleans and help with therecovery efforts.
And I was like, oh, thank God,this is great.
Now, mind you, I'm getting outin three months, my end of
service is on the horizon, butbecause I'm a junkie, I want to
go help.
So we go and we do the seabaginspection.
They said, ok, seabaginspection tomorrow.
And I said, guys, how manypairs of underwear I have in my
seabag doesn't determine how I'mgoing to help these people that
are in dire need.
(16:49):
And the chief calls me in thereand he's like McMahon, you've
got a bad attitude.
I said you know, chief, withall due respect, I'm out of here
in three months.
Man, there are people who needour help.
Let me go down there and helpthem.
The next day they said you knowwhat?
(17:16):
Because you're such a smartaleck, you're going to be the
first one to deploy you andthese other six people.
And I said, oh, thank God.
I said why are you so excited?
I said because just think ofall the musters that I'm going
to skip out on.
Now I get to go down and work.
Awesome, we had this six personcrew with this, this boot SW
one, and he's like, he's a hardcharger and he's like man I got
all these guys are getting readyto get out.
This is going to be a disaster.
It was the best working squad.
(17:36):
We did more work in like twoweeks than the whole battalion
did in the month that they werethere.
It was unbelievable.
I'm like none of us are badpeople.
We just want to work.
We want to help people, man,yeah, so that was a great ending
for my, my Naval service,because you know, louisiana is
is where I ended it.
Um, I love the people oflouisiana and new orleans.
They're just really good people.
Even when we're down therehelping them, they were feeding
(17:56):
us and they were just soappreciative of everything we
were doing for them.
It was just.
It made you feel really good.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That's cool yeah, it's really nice.
You got to see the the fruitsof your labor immediately too, I
mean.
I mean you're really helpingthese people, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean because you know youwere in the service long enough.
You do something.
You don't know if it everaffects or helps anybody.
You don't see the fruits ofwhat that does.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
It could be four years before you really see
something, and by then it's adistant memory.
Yeah yeah, a distant memory,yeah yeah.
And I'd say even sometimes morein the industry.
Now too.
I mean, you're building thesebuildings or with you, you know
you're in residential we'll getinto that here in a minute but
uh, you know, I would assumeyou're not seeing every family
move into the house.
I'm certainly not seeing.
Uh, I built hospitals for awhile and I'm not seeing the
patients coming in.
But we know we're workingtoward, but we don't get to see
(18:48):
it at the end.
So that's, that's a good visualreminder.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, it really is, you're right.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So okay, so we're at the point you transition out.
Um, what do you do now in theindustry?
I'm going to kind of speed up alittle bit and then we'll go
back to it.
But what are you doing rightnow in the industry?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, so right now, today, I'm a vice president of a
custom home builder inCharlottesville, virginia.
We do $10 million of revenueannually, which equates to four
to six homes a year.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's awesome.
So these are pretty, prettynice outstanding large homes, I
assume.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, some of them are really big, some can be
small, with really high endfinishes.
The beauty of custom is we cando anything you want, and that's
what I really enjoy about it.
And you know, we and on ourhomes there's no land included,
it's just the house, and we'reprobably averaging about 1.7,
$1.8 million per home.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
That's awesome.
0.7, $1.8 million per homethat's awesome.
So how did you go from theservice and I'm going to back up
again now.
So when you first got out, whatwere you doing when you first
left the?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Navy Right away.
I went back to Syracuse.
I moved in with my parents.
I went to school for a year.
I was working on getting myeducation because I felt that's
what I needed to do, and I wasworking on my associate's degree
and just doing really fixingthings around their home.
They bought a fixer upper.
As my mother is an HRprofessional and my stepfather
was a computer person, they hadno idea what they were doing and
(20:23):
, quite frankly, I didn't haveany idea what I was doing either
.
But I was fixing up their house, learning as I went, and
basically remodeled everythingin their house, which really
gave me the bug for residentialconstruction.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That's awesome.
So you still had that bug whenyou got out.
It sounds like to get into itbecause you still loved building
.
So how did you end up?
What did you do for your firstjob when you got out in the
industry?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah, I kind of lucked into a couple of things.
So first I became a handymanfor a Mr Handyman company.
I was doing that for a littlewhile.
I didn't, I didn't like it, Ididn't get a lot of satisfaction
from it.
And I lucked into a homebuilder, not knowing anything
about that world.
And I lucked into falling intoa role that was customer service
representative, whichessentially means warranty tech.
(21:11):
So once the house is closed I'dhave a whole list of any items
the customers wanted fixed.
I'd call them, I'd schedule it,I'd go fix it myself, or I'd go
and I'd schedule the trades tocome back and fix it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Were you working on your parents' home at the time
where you were doing that, or isthis?
This is after you got done withthe renovation?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, this is about a year or two years after that
renovation.
That's when I I um, I stoppedgoing to school.
I moved to Virginia and I waslooking for something more.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Okay.
So you had a lot of that tradeknowledge, you know pre-service,
during service, post-service,to really kind of go get after
it.
And so I'm going to back upagain what really drove you to
wanting to do plaster and allthat when you were younger.
What is it that sparked your?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
interest in construction as a whole.
You know, I think when I wasyounger I didn't think I was
smart enough or good enough todo anything else, and I know
that that doesn't sound good,but that is a young person.
That's what I thought.
You know, my stepfather youknow.
Let me say it this way Parentsshould tell their kids they can
(22:24):
amount to anything they want toachieve if they work for it.
My stepfather and mother werethe opposite.
They told me not to set mygoals too high because I don't
want to be disappointed.
And so I did.
I set my goals low and Iachieved those goals.
And then I became bored withthose goals and I just set
higher and higher goals to goafter more.
So I fell into constructionbecause I didn't think I could
do anything else.
And then, when I realized Icould do that and I could do a
(22:47):
lot more, I started to pushmyself to take on more
challenges.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Oh, I like that.
That's cool, man.
What a neat story.
I like how it kind of came fullcircle.
And little do people believeand I preach this a lot that
this industry is a lot morecomplicated than people really
think and a lot of these guysare doing financially a lot
better than people think too.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
That's such a fact and so many people just don't
understand how much opportunityis in this industry.
So, in my role today and thetype of income that I make for
my family, we live a very, verygood life.
We have more things than weneed, more things than we ever
(23:31):
wanted, and we're doing verywell.
And this industry allows youthat ability.
If you get after it, you learn,you grow, you network with the
right people.
The sky's the limit in thisindustry and no better time than
today.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
Let me ask this um your service, how do you think that's
directly helped you with whatyou're doing now, other than you
gotta be a smart Alec,obviously a little bit time to
time in the industry.
Still, so that helped.
But um, how, how do you think,like what did you take away from
the service that's helping youin the industry?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
I'll tell you what it is in a nutshell.
It's it's teamwork andcamaraderie.
The service is nothing but thisgiant brotherhood or this
camaraderie.
We've never met, but the momentyou told me you were a CB, we
have an instant connection andwe'll have a bond for life.
Now, just because of that oneword right, and we know what
we've both done.
You don't have that on theoutside and that's what I've
(24:26):
searched for for 15 years, 20years, and the cool thing about
today being in the role that I'min is I get to build that
environment.
I get to build teams, a team togo build homes, but the focus
of the team is really on theculture and that teamwork and
camaraderie and this win-winmentality that we had when we
were in the bees.
(24:47):
Yeah that's what's helped metoday.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I haven't had too many residential folks on the
show yet, and I'm reallyencouraged to hear that, because
it gets preached a lot in thecommercial industry and I guess
we don't give you guys enoughcredit too that there's small
teams building these homestogether that really have to
depend on each other for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, the problem with residential home building
is that it's chaos.
Management.
Commercial specifications arevery clear, things are very
black and white.
You know when you're going todo it, you know what time you're
going to be there.
Home building is completelydifferent.
It's kind of like a bomb blowsup and then a house appears and
when you get the rightleadership and the right teams
(25:29):
and you share this vision forwhat we can build here and what
we can do, you can createsomething special.
And it's not.
It's very unorthodox for ourindustry, but we're doing that
at Bramante homes.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I like that.
You'll appreciate this.
I have a nameplate on my deskat the job site that says chaos
coordinator.
That is my job.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Hey, sometimes it's true, and you know.
Here's why it's true.
It's not the project managerriding his bicycle down the
street with a flat tire andeverything's on fire.
That's not what it is.
You have a plan, you know whereyou're going, you know how
you're going to get there.
Something derails your plan andhow you pivot and how you react
to that is what determines howthat day and that project will
go.
That's what makes good projectmanagers and superintendents.
(26:17):
We are three and four stepsahead of that problem before it
even happens.
So we're already mitigating itbefore it happens.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, I've had people say that our superpower is is
seeing, you know, four to sixmonths into the future, of what
am I not doing right now that'sgoing to impact me later on down
the road.
That's it.
You nailed it.
So let me ask about thisjourney.
So you've had a really cooljourney, man, and it's neat to
see you've been in the industrybasically from a young age
(26:46):
through today.
Not everybody has that story.
You know started with theirgrandpa or something when they
were a young kid and framing.
So not everybody has that kindof background or you know your
type of story doing plaster.
But if they're looking back atthe last couple of decades here,
is there anything along thejourney that maybe you think I
(27:06):
would have not done?
Or I would have done that mighthave put you in a better
position?
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, 100%.
The one thing I would have donewas I would have networked more
before I was coming out of theNavy.
I didn't do a good jobnetworking.
I didn't do a good job keepingin touch with some of those
contacts because there's thethought that these people aren't
going to be able to help you onthe outside.
The reality is, you don't knowwho's going to be able to help
you or how you're going to beable to help them.
So network every single placeyou can.
(27:31):
And a little bit of credit tomyself in in 2005, the Internet
was still relatively a new thing.
I didn't know a lot about it.
We didn't know a lot about it.
You know, technology was just.
It's not what it is today,right, so networking was a
little bit more challenging.
But that's the one thing Iwould encourage everybody to do
(27:51):
is start networking now.
Don't wait.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, that's good, absolutely A hundred percent
agreed, um, and there's reallyno excuse not to now.
With things like LinkedIn andall the social media we didn't
have, you know, getting out ofthe service, um and being able
to just text your buddy.
Right, he's moving to adifferent state, but he's
getting into an industry youlike might, uh, you like or want
to get into Um.
(28:14):
So I want to talk about otherveterans in the industry real
quick.
Uh, it's not an easy industry.
I don't try to sugarcoat itLike this is everything's
perfect and you just go out andmake a ton of money.
It's hard work.
I mean, you'll get there, um,but it can really beat you down
sometimes, and we're recordingthis.
I'm going to publish it afterMay, but we're recording this
(28:34):
during mental health month too,and that's another thing to
think about.
You know, vets struggle withthat.
The industry struggles withthat.
So if we've got folks out there, specifically vets, that are
just trudging through the mudtrying to make to the next day,
what would you try to say toencourage those people?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
this, too, shall pass , right.
I heard Tom Hanks say it.
If things are good,everything's going the way you
want it to go, this too shallpass, and if things are bad,
this will pass too.
The reality is, tomorrow is adue day.
It's how you see the futurethat will determine what happens
(29:13):
.
Right.
You can manifest great thingsif you believe in it.
And this is where I like tostart, and I don't think it's
talked about enough.
Companies do a good job ofcreating a vision for where
they're going.
And I say companies do a goodjob.
Maybe they don't all do a goodjob.
Individuals do a terrible jobof creating a vision.
If I would say to you you'rejust starting in the industry,
(29:34):
you're a veteran.
You did 15, 20 years.
What's the vision for thefuture you?
Where are you going to be infive years?
What do you hope to see?
What's your house look like?
What's your family look like?
What's everybody doing?
What do you see around you?
As you start developing thatvision for who you're going to
be and what you're going to have, or what you're going to be
(29:54):
doing, for who you're going tobe and what you're going to have
, or what you're going to bedoing.
It's incredible how quicklythings start to fall into place
and it will happen faster thanwhat you anticipated, because
you've put it out there.
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I mean people used to give folks grief about like a
dream board, but I keep a goalsheet.
I have an actual goal sheet onmy computer of this is what I
want to achieve in the next yearto two, this is two to five and
beyond, and I think that'sreally important to keep you on
track.
And it's changed.
I mean sometimes month to month.
Those goals will change for meor maybe I find a more efficient
(30:28):
way to get there.
But yeah, I would say thatthere's just a lot of folks
having a tough time in theindustry because we're lower on
resources than we were a decadeago.
And I don't just mean material,I mean people too.
People are getting out.
And I think, at least in myposition and your position, our
(30:49):
job is really to train that nextgeneration of builders coming
up.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
That's right, it is.
And this industry I meanthere's no sugarcoating it Some
days just suck, and honestly Ireally think that's in every
industry.
It's just we live this everyday, so we know it.
But I'll tell you as you startcounting the days, if you said,
hey, at the end of the day, wasit a good or a bad day?
And I would even do itdifferently.
(31:13):
Once you score your day on ascale of zero to a hundred and
just score it on a 10 pointscale, how many days are over
70%?
Yeah, and you might find thatyou've got more days over 70
than you think.
So so think of it in verysimple terms so I get a passing
grade today, Like do I feel likeI won the day?
And as you get more and more ofthose wins, you start to create
(31:35):
more positivity, more wins, andthen everything just seems to
be working well.
The opposite is true.
If you just keep looking at thenegative things and I had a bad
day, and I had another bad dayyou're just going to keep
finding more bad days, becausethat's what you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, no, that's.
I'm definitely having a lightbulb moment here, for sure, and
I can relate it to the service.
Like we, we all miss it when weget out, cause we don't really
dwell on the crappy times Mostof the time.
I mean we've lost friends downrange and like there's horrible
things that happen, but all inall, we're looking at the big
positive.
So yeah, you're going to havesome crappy days, but that's.
(32:11):
That's good man.
I'm going to keep that in myback pocket for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Well, I'll tell you, what's worked really well for me
is that if I let my mind do itsown thing, I can get in a
really dark place.
So I'll go backwards for you alittle bit.
February of two years ago mybrother took his own life.
He's a veteran air crewman.
(32:37):
When he got out he struggled.
He didn't know where to go, hehad to start over and he
couldn't get his head wrappedaround it.
I hired him as a superintendentone of the best damn
superintendents I ever hadbecause, man, he just wanted to
work, he wanted to learn, hewanted to grow, he gave it
everything he had.
And when he went to anothercompany, I was really happy for
(33:01):
him because I felt like you know, you're there, man, you're
ready and you did it on your own.
And I know that's what hereally needed.
Well, the company let him down.
They didn't do anything tosupport him.
Two, three months later theylet him go and it's all downhill
(33:21):
from there.
Nine months later, you know theuh, the bad stuff happens Right
and uh, and it sucks.
Okay, um, but what's helped mewith some of the coping is
having a daily journal.
I know men, journaling, youknow, sounds a little, I don't
know, I don't know how you thinkthat sounds right.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
It's not manly yeah no, I get it, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
But my journal is very simple.
I put the three positives fromthe day before First thing I do.
What are the three wins?
And listen, don'tovercomplicate this.
My win could be I got eighthours of sleep last night.
I drove home safely, had agreat dinner with my wife.
It is very, very simple.
We're just celebrating wins,we're creating momentum.
(34:00):
The next thing is what am Igoing to accomplish today?
And then I journal whatever'sleft on that page.
Just write whatever's in yourhead and what will happen is you
start to get any negativethoughts out of your head and
you start to write positivethoughts where you're going,
what you're going to do, when wethink of mental health.
For me personally, with myjourney, what I've been through,
(34:23):
that has been an absolute gamechanger for me.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, man, I really appreciate you sharing that
story.
That's, that's difficult, butI'm really glad that you have
like a positive light that cameout of that with that tragedy.
So thank you, josh, for sharingthat.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
It took a lot of time , man.
It's the first time I've reallyopened up and shared any of
that, so however many peoplelisten to this, you'll be the
first ones to hear it.
And I laugh because I'm a laughor cry guy, so I'd rather laugh
, yeah, plus you can't see mecrying, but you can see me.
You can hear me laughing.
It's true.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
But it was nine months in a dark place and you
know what?
What helped me was my wife andhow strong she was, and family
that were willing to talk to you, friends that were willing to
talk to you, and that's what weneed, right?
Everybody has bad days,everybody has tough times.
Be there for each other.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah Amen, I appreciate that, man.
Man, it's going to be hard toget back to the podcast.
That's really good.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
No, I really appreciate it, man, and I'll
share a quick story.
One of the guys that I deployedwith he took his life back in
2016.
And it was rough for a lot ofus that served together and the
crazy thing is that we all kindof bonded a little bit more over
that and we're we're constantlychecking on each other now and
we felt bad because we're we Ican blame myself because he was
here in Texas and why didn't Icheck in on him and why this.
(35:48):
And it's not my faultnecessarily that it happened,
but it definitely encouraged memore to check in on my battalion
brothers happen, um, but itdefinitely encouraged me more to
check in on my battalionbrothers.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
That's what you hope, right?
We want something good to comefrom everything and and that's I
think that's a really goodthing.
And I don't think it's yourfault, it's nobody's fault.
We, we can't understand whypeople do that.
You can, I mean, cause evenwith my brother, his best friend
talked to him that morning andwas joking with him and
everything was good, like, sothere were people talking
(36:20):
positively.
We don't know what's going on,and I think it's just imperative
that we all open up to eachother.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, so we, we just passed Memorial day, uh, this
past Monday, as we're recording,and I saw somebody put a post I
think it was on LinkedIn of youknow, check on your happy
friends, check on your friendsthat aren't doing well, it's.
It's kind of a check oneverybody kind of thing.
Just check in and I I shot outa few texts to a few people and
that I hadn't talked to in awhile and they're like thanks
(36:47):
for checking in, man.
I mean they're doing well, butthey appreciate it.
And I appreciate it when peoplecheck in with me, because I
have bad days, like the rest ofus for sure, and I've had those,
those dirty thoughts before andI struggled a while myself
after deployment, but no, that's, that's good man, I appreciate
that.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
All right.
So if we've got veterans thatare listening to the show or we
get the message out there and weknow we need people really bad
in the industry, um, we've got alot of folks that are retiring
out.
Um, some are getting out of theindustry.
Some are retiring.
They're doing other things.
Um, how do we encourage people?
(37:28):
And I think this is the wholeimpetus as to why the show
started was to celebrate thisindustry and we didn't.
We haven't done a great job ofit.
I think we're getting better,but how would you encourage
someone to say, hey, this isprobably going to be a really
good fit for you once youseparate from the service?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
I think it comes to that networking.
There was an individual inGeorgia that I think did a
really good job as he wasleaving the service from the
Army and he called probably 20people, sent you a LinkedIn
message, said I'm leaving theservice, I'm really interested
in being in construction, I'dlike to pick your brain.
And I thought it was reallycool because he talked to me,
talked to commercial people, hetalked to everybody he could
(38:07):
think of.
I think it's important for ourbases and leadership at these
organizations and I can'tremember what they call the
units where, like when you'regetting out, the teams that go
around and help you findingcompanies.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Oh, the TAPS program.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
There you go.
Taps, that's right.
Taps needs to be pushing.
You know construction is anoption.
So you might start at the lowerwages.
You might start at entry level.
You've got to learn the ropes,that's what it is.
Lower wages you might start atentry level.
You've got to learn the ropes,that's what it is.
So, if you set yourexpectations right, you go in
there with a growth mindset.
You find the right companywhere you can grow and learn.
You can move up very quickly,and I think a lot of it just
(38:49):
depends on what motivates you.
What part of the business do youwant to do?
Because, as you think aboutNavy Seabees, we were a
self-contained unit.
We could do whatever we neededto do.
Well, construction is verysimilar, right?
Because commercial constructionyou can be in the middle of
nowhere and develop your entirecity, and there's different
facets of that, right?
So you've got builders andelectricians and people swinging
hammers, then you've gotmanagement side, then you've got
(39:11):
accounting side, then you'vegot sales, you've got marketing.
Everything goes into running aconstruction company.
So it's not all just swinginghammers.
There's more to this industry,which is what makes it so
appealing.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
And that you know, relating itback to the bees, like we had
support personnel we needed.
We couldn't do our job, Iwanted to get paid, I wanted to
go on a leave, you know, Iwanted to get the right supplies
.
So we've got a lot of that.
I'll call them supportpersonnel, outside of the
operations of the industry thathelp us get the job done.
I mean, we can't do anything wedo without them.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
That's exactly right that support staff is so
critical.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, for sure.
And the cool thing is they getto come out like marketing folks
that might not get to see anexcavator every day get to come
out on the job site.
They don't have to worry abouthalf the stress we're dealing
with.
They get to take the coolphotos and so they're still
exposed to this neat industry,just serving in a different role
people into the industry.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
Get out there and take more pictures, show how
cool this industry really is.
This was a piece of dirt andnow we've got pictures and we're
showing you a time lapse of apiece of dirt to this hospital
where babies are going to beborn, where diseases are going
to be cured, like how can youget anything cooler than that?
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yeah, I've seen a huge uptick over the last couple
of years of a lot of tradesfolks that are they'll snap a
picture of hey, check out thissweet.
Well, they did like I'm reallyproud of this, so that's awesome
for them.
But it's also exposing, youknow, teenagers or younger folks
into the industry as well, andthat, and that's really what we
need.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Social media is a really cool popular thing and
we've all got a hate, loverelationship with it.
Embrace it.
Put those pictures out there,show them how cool this industry
can be.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
So I want to give you a little bit of time here.
I want to talk about yourpodcast, so we mentioned it a
little bit.
So you run a podcast with yourwife called Feed Me your
Construction Content, and yousaid it's been going for about
two years.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That's exactly right About two years my wife and I.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
every Thursday morning at 4 am a new episode
drops Very cool.
So what do you guys?
Speaker 1 (41:25):
cover on that.
This is a podcast thatoriginally started with myself
and another individual who wasin the commercial sector, so we
had a commercial and residentialflavor to our conversations and
just talking about peoplecoming into the industry, what
to expect, how to be successful.
That's kind of how we wanted todo it.
It was like really giving back.
Well, as you got a co-hostwho's in another state, I got
(41:48):
really serious about it.
I really enjoyed it.
I started investing my ownmoney into new technology and
microphones and headphones andpod tracks and everything else
and he just wasn't interested.
So we stopped.
And then I told my wife.
I said I really want to getback to podcasting.
She said yeah, you should do it.
And I said I think you shouldbe my co-host.
She said no way.
So we go from a no way to howabout this?
(42:13):
Let's just do two episodeswhere I just ask you questions
about your interior design work,what you do, what your
experiences were working withbuilders, and just see where it
goes.
And from that we're almost twoyears later.
We we podcast every week.
Everything that we talk aboutis really home building related,
but we could talk about mentalhealth stuff, firing individuals
(42:37):
, hiring, core values, vision,anything to do with the business
, anything that we think isvaluable to someone that wants
to get into the home buildingindustry, maybe commercial
sector really, just kind of anyindustry on some episodes.
So they're not always abouthome building or always about
construction.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
I like that.
Cool, I'll definitely.
I'll have to check it out now.
Man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Well, we, we'd love for you to check it out.
We'd uh, we'd love to have youon as a guest too and talk about
your journey, Cause I thinkthat would be really cool.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Yeah, no, I'm in.
So you guys heard it, I will bethere, that's great.
That's awesome.
So one quick question before wego.
I was thinking so we're both indifferent facets of the
industry.
You're in residential, I'm incommercial.
There's a lot of differences,obviously, codes and the way we
build some things.
(43:28):
But what is it that kept you inthe residential side?
Or did you have no interest inthe commercial side, or what is
it that appealed to you about?
Speaker 1 (43:38):
residential.
Well, some of my career wascommercial.
I really liked the commercialside.
I really liked doing NAVFACprojects or Army Corps of
Engineers, because of howdetailed the specs were and you
you knew exactly what to do.
I think what I really what Ididn't like about commercial or
or NAVFAC was traveling.
I could have made a lot ofmoney, I could have been very
(43:59):
successful, but I was going tohave to travel more and I just
didn't want to do it.
Our son was at an age where Ifelt like it was critical for me
to be here and in the projectthat I decided to move away from
commercial, I was actually atMarine Corps barracks renovating
one of the barracks and I waslike this just isn't worth it.
I need to get away from this.
(44:20):
In residential, what I've reallyloved and hated, I love that
there's so much opportunity.
There was a lot of chaos.
There wasn't a lot oforganization or order and
discipline and accountabilityand I was like, wow, we can
really fix this stuff.
And after about two years ofdoing it I was like no, you
can't fix this.
There's no fixing this industry.
(44:43):
So I went and got my degree.
I got my bachelor's degree toget out of construction and
around the same time I wasgraduating, I got my own team
and I was a production managerand I was running three
different communities, 10different superintendents, and I
fell in love with buildingteams that were building homes.
(45:05):
So what I love aboutresidential construction is the
opportunity to really give backto people and groom their career
and watch them blossom and turninto something really brilliant
, and that's why I've stayed inresidential construction.
I can really get back to thepeople.
I can.
No matter where I go, how highI get, I can still help people
(45:26):
that are directly around me andreally encourage others to uh,
to do well.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
That's what's kept me around residential brother, I,
if I can encourage you, that'sjust so cool to hear.
You know, like I've said,there's been some crossover from
some of the culture, mentalityof commercial that I think
you're bringing something reallyspecial to the residential
world and I think you can changeit and you are changing it and
I I'm really encouraged to seehow far you go with that.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
Well, it takes time, right, but one day at a time,
and if we affect one person,then that's the kind of change I
need.
And in my current role, whatI'm doing is I've created my
team, I've got the systems inplace and now I'm working with
individual sub-trades andhelping to kind of coach them up
on how they can be moreprofitable but also help us, the
(46:16):
builder.
So it's it's kind of a it'sreally what I love doing, which
is coaching and helping otherpeople Very cool.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Well, josh, on that note, man, I really appreciate
your time tonight.
As you know, as a fellowpodcast host, it's it's
difficult to try to set up thesetimes that we can chit chat
because we both have a full-timejobs and families.
So thank you again, man.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Yeah, it's my pleasure, scott, Thank you so
much for having me on the show.
I can't wait to listen to theend result and I can't wait to
get you on the other end of themics, all right brother, we'll
see you soon.
Thank you, brother, talk to yousoon.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
All right If you're a military veteran in the
construction industry or you'rein the construction industry and
support our military vets andyou'd like to be a guest on the
podcast.
You can find me atconstructionvetpodcast at
gmailcom, or send me a messageon LinkedIn.
You can find me there at ScottFriend.
Let's share the stories andmotivate others.
(47:10):
You.
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