Ep 077 The New Podcast and Trey Farley

In this episode of the Luxury Outdoor Living Podcast, hosts Mike and Trey Farley of Farley Pool Designs discuss their extensive experience in transforming backyards into personal retreats. Trey, who initially resisted following in his father's footsteps, recounts his journey from construction site work to becoming a designer, all while contributing to the podcast. The episode also covers their recent projects, challenges with new materials, and the community-focused ethos they hope to foster within the industry. The episode highlights Trey's evolving role, favorite moments, and the importance of continual learning in design.

 

Connect with us:

https://www.farleypooldesigns.com/

https://www.instagram.com/farleydesigns/

https://www.instagram.com/trey.scope/

https://www.instagram.com/poolzila/

 

00:00 Introduction to Luxury Outdoor Living Podcast 01:17 Expanding the Scope: From Pools to Outdoor Living 02:51 The Importance of Starting Your Outdoor Living Journey 06:04 Insights from Designers and Unique Products 09:28 Personal Journeys and Inspirations 20:57 Barbecue Bits: Enhancing Your Outdoor Kitchen with Alfresco 26:11 Reflections on the Podcast Experience 32:28 Favorite Foods and Childhood Memories 33:09 Bookworm Confessions and Star Wars Debate 34:06 Travel Destinations and Family Connections 34:59 Professional Insights and True Crime in Construction 42:57 Design Challenges and Innovations 54:32 Project Highlights and Future Plans 58:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts  

Episode Transcript

Intro (00:02):
Welcome to Luxury Outdoor Living Podcast with Mike and Trey
Farley of Farley Pool Designs.
For over 40 years, we'vehelped homeowners turn their
backyards into personal retreats.
Spaces of joy, relaxation,and unforgettable memories.
And whether it's a cozy escape, or aresort style oasis, we design it all.

(00:24):
We know how overwhelming a projectcan feel and nothing feels worse than
a homeowner having a bad experience.
And that's why after decades of designingand teaching in this industry, We're
here to share our knowledge, helping younavigate the process with confidence.
Every week we break down designtrends and insider tips to
turn your vision into reality.

(00:45):
And since this is about creating somethingamazing together, drop a comment if
you have any questions, ideas, or justwant to be part of the conversation.
If you find this helpful, a like helpsget this out to more people like you.
And if you want to keep upwith what's next, go ahead
and hit that subscribe button.
We'd love to have you along for the ride.
Let's build your paradise together.

Mike (01:17):
Good afternoon, this is Mike Farley with the Luxury Outdoor Living Podcast and
we have a fun episode to talk about today.
So kind of have some historywe've got to deal with, but we'll
get into that in a little bit.
And some fun projects and some interestingscenarios and all kinds of fun stuff,

(01:37):
but it will be all over the place.
Yeah.
So most of you probably have seen bynow, cause when this comes out, it'll be
several weeks later, but got a new logo.
Yeah, New podcast.
we broadened the scope frompool side, which pool side,
I meant you were by the pool.
There was a lot of thingsto cover there, but

Trey (01:56):
yes, you are an expert when it comes to pools and stuff around the pool.

Mike (01:59):
So now, now we're dealing with everything.
Outdoor living, which means outside ofthe four walls of the house is fair game.

Trey (02:07):
Yeah.
And honestly, with the whole podcast,the topic of outdoor living, there's
gonna be guests that come on as well.
That probably correlate.
Two outdoor living that don't reallyspecifically work in outdoor living.
Like obviously there's home buildersand pool builders, and there's a lot of
variation, a lot of different topics.
We're going to entertain.
Oh yeah.

Mike (02:24):
So you've got everything from hardscaping, to landscaping, to
lighting, to, kitchens to structures.
then we can start gettinginto swimming pools, which.
Where I started from a long time ago, butyou know, as a designer now we're expected
to be an expert at all those things.

(02:45):
Yes.
So we'll talk about them all and helpyou figure out your journey and trying
to figure out what's best for you.
we just finished going to severalpool shows and people want to
know why do another podcast?
Why not just finish withpoolside perspective and be done.
there's a real challenge.
I think when people.

(03:06):
Don't end up with what's best forthem and not knowing how to go about
figuring out that journey is a challenge.
And we're working with people in a spacethat has great impact on their lives.
It's one of the biggest expenses thatthey're going to have in their life
outside of purchasing their home.

(03:27):
And it's not like I was listening to JohnLee today and editing his podcast, and
he says, it's not like a refrigeratorthat you can take back to Best Buy.
No.
So once this journey starts.
You're kind of locked in with who youdecided to start it with and I think
another comment that was on his podcast,which is well said is don't delay

(03:53):
starting this journey, start the journey,take your time figuring things out.
Because once you commit to whoyou're going to work with, basically
married to them and being marriedto some people for several years.
a lot of these projects, when you gothrough the planning aspect and the
construction aspect and, everything'sbeing finaled and they still, will

(04:16):
take care of me, the followingyear when something goes wrong
and they'll pick up the phone and.
That's a journey and yeah.
You want to make sure that youend up with the right people.
So

Trey (04:27):
I think to that point though, when he said, don't delay, do
you still want to be educated?
And that's the wholepurpose of this podcast.
There's conversations that as we havethem over time, iron sharpens iron.
it's a conversation, the industry isalways flowing and evolving, you know,
you want to be educated before you getmarried to someone who you're going to
work with but don't delay because how manytimes have we heard customers that you've

(04:49):
worked with in the past that disappearedand just ended up not doing anything.
And then they're like, man, I shouldhave done this a long time ago.
Cause it costs so much more now to do it.

Mike (04:59):
So, What I'm saying is start dating.
Yeah.
Okay.
You have to date before you get married.
Get out there.

Trey (05:04):
Okay.
So

Mike (05:05):
start looking, listen to some podcast episodes.
We've got over 70 now.
So there's a lot of dating.
You can take place there.
Just gather information, you know, andthen talk to some people and then check
some things out, because, we don'twant this to be an average adventure.
Okay.
Is what a lot of people end up withbecause they call three average

(05:26):
companies and they send out threeaverage designers and you get three
average quotes and you think, oh,okay, that's as good as it can be.
And you invest your money and thenrealize, wow, I could have done
so much more and maybe not spendmore money, but maybe I should have
been doing this feature over here,which I got a lot more return off
of versus this feature over here.

(05:48):
Or maybe I should have.
Wait a year and save a little bitmore money because then my investment
would be a lot better and it willlast longer and be lower maintenance
and all the things that go with it.
so decided that we were goingto broaden our scope of.
What we're going to talk about and sowe've had a lot of different guests
already and what we're going to tryto do is focus on different designers.

(06:12):
And one of the things that we're goingto talk about designers and talk to them
about is how you might want to considertalking to the designers you interview.
What unique features do they have?
how did they get into this andjust, what's their skill set and,
do they have a particular style?
So we're going to talk todifferent designers, which gives.
You a little bit of guidance onhow to go through it, but it's also

(06:32):
fun for people to look at differentpeople in different parts of the
country that do different things.
So everybody goes about outdoorliving in a little bit different way.
we're also going to look ata lot of different products.
there, things out there thatpeople want to know about and
that are unusual and unique.
And so we're going to look ata lot of things that you may
not even have heard about.

(06:53):
And some of it's going tobe like, that's ridiculous.
Who in the world would do that?
But there are people that are like,this is interesting and I can't
find any information on it anywhere.
So we're going to be that resource.
And yes, sometimes you may be like,who in the world is going to look for
a TV that telescopes out of the groundand folds out and is wide as a room.

(07:17):
It's quite a few out therenow, it's a pretty cool TV.
It is.
But there's a lot to know about it, howdoes that work and what might it cost?
And but I'm just using that as an example.

Trey (07:28):
And when you're saying that, I do want to preface.
So if you're watching the YouTube video.
Please comment down below anythingthat you would be interested in, and
if there's something out there thatwe haven't talked about, maybe we have
and we can direct you in the rightspace in the comment section, but just
the recommendations seeing what y'all,the feedback want is always helpful.

Mike (07:46):
A hundred percent.
we have a list of all kinds of things.
Long ago, I wrote a column forwater shapes magazine long time ago.
And when I wrote that column,Eric Herman sat down with me.
And if you haven't listened to the EricHerman episode, that's pretty funny.
Anyway, Eric said, do youthink you could do 10?
And I said, yeah, I think so.
And he said send me your list of 10books that you want to kind of review.

(08:08):
We proceeded after the 10.
To go 10 years with that column and hewas like, it was just the most weird
thing because I would come up withsomething totally had a right field and
then something out of left field andsomething from under here and something.
I mean, That was all over theplace, but that's my journey
is I'm all over the place.

(08:30):
A lot of times I'm veryinquisitive about things.
And so I want to know things.
And I like to dive down rabbit holesand, the internet could be a really
bad thing for me if I was really into,have to be careful because I can go
down researching all kinds of stuff.
And we never ran out of subjects and thisoutdoor living, don't think we'll ever run
out of subjects, but there are things thatyou have a very high interest rate in.

(08:53):
And so some of the things wewill come back to and repeat
with a different person.
To give maybe a different perspective and

Trey (09:01):
some of these subjects are so broad that if we did a whole episode on just
Modern design or just any kind of designin particular, there's so much that we
could talk about, but still leave out.
Oh yeah.
So

Mike (09:14):
could spend an hour just on different modern designers.
processes, there's a lot moreto talk about, but we need to
understand what's important to you.
And so please give ussome insight in that.
So as we're going throughthis journey, the other thing
is, Trey, you snuck in here.
I did.

(09:35):
Kevin and me started thepodcast if y'all don't know a
lot of the back history of it.
And Full side perspectives.
Kevin got sick.
Yes.
And when Kevin got sick Trey, youwere the appointed heir by Kevin.

Trey (09:48):
Yep, I was supposed to substitute in.
the first episode I'm on, I'm so nervousand I go back and listen to it, I can
tell I'm nervous, but he was very niceand said that I did a phenomenal job,
gassed me up a little bit, and I neededthat, at the time, I honestly did not
want to do it, I was very nervous andI felt like I needed to do this because
this is a passion that y'all two have.
And I love seeing y'alltake on a new opportunity.

(10:11):
it changed I got comfortable in the roleand it's honestly been a blessing because
obviously Kevin passed away and that isa tragedy and it's tiredly self and I'm.
I really wish that I would've never gotthe opportunity to come on the podcast.
It did happen.
if you don't know much about me, Iworked in the construction industry on the
construction side of pools with Claffey.

(10:31):
I got an opportunity there aboutseven years ago, but my dad came to
me one day and he had, what was it?
Was it covid?
The one year that was justlike one of the biggest years
you had and almost killed you?

Mike (10:43):
Yeah.
the ramifications when, poolsales increased 300% in one year.
I have an assistant Yes.
Already.
And Megan takes care of all my 3D andtakes care of a lot of things beyond that.
when you have a three timesincrease in demand and my sales

(11:04):
went up over almost three times.
In one year over my record year.
Okay, and that yes about killed me.
So yes, I came to you and said,hey you want to get out of the
construction field and work with me

Trey (11:21):
and it was actually a hard decision to do because I was in a
good spot with Klaffy saw You know,I was supposed to be a PM in the next
year or so or work my way up to it.
So what's a PM project managers,what they call it, but some
people call it superintendent.
I thought

Mike (11:35):
that meant you didn't get up until the PM.

Trey (11:37):
No.
But also one thing thatI always thought is.
Even if I came to work for you, that Iwould never be able to be a designer on my
own because I never got a college degreeforced like, you know, engineering or
architecture or anything like that, right?
So I just assumed that wasn'tthe case and you told me that
it wasn't the case at all.

Mike (11:57):
No, my path was I got a degree in landscape architecture.
Yeah.
I got into the pool industry.
Way back in the early ninetiesfrom the landscape architecture
and the residential side.
If you look at the design fieldthat's out there right now and there
are more people that are like me.

Trey (12:16):
Okay.

Mike (12:16):
Well, I mean One.
Yeah.
Okay.
And now,

Trey (12:19):
you know, Quite a

Mike (12:20):
I know quite a few Mark Harmon still out in California working.
But.
there's a whole, whole bunch of themnow, and we've had several of them on
the podcast, but there's also a lot ofpeople that's not the path that they took.

Trey (12:32):
Yeah, and I found that out because the more that I was with you,
the more I'm interacting with theseother designers, I'm finding out, oh.
This guy never actually got a degreeever or this guy got a degree and it was
for something completely different andso that kind of inspired me and also I
just want to read a rocky balboa quoteIt says it ain't about the piece of
paper It's about what you do with theknowledge you gain in the fight you put

(12:55):
in to get there which resonates withme a lot for that because I feel like
I've almost gotten a degree from workingwith you for the past couple years.
I took with you as a kid, and I learnedhow to measure a yard and stuff like that.
Basic stuff.
Honestly, I was notvery good at it at all.
Not consistent, I'm a high school student,it goes through one ear and out the other.

(13:17):
Which was an amazing opportunity, becauseif I would have stuck with it, it could
have been somewhere maybe like Reed.
With information he has now obviouslyat my age though it really has taught me
so much and this brings it full circleto how this not even Bridged off in this
path, but the opportunity to not justlearn from, you know, but to be on this
podcast and get wisdom just randomlywhere I wouldn't even expect it from

(13:40):
conversations with all these guests.
We have, it's amazing.
It's not even just the guests.
It's the topics that we coverthe research that we are required
to do to cover the same topics.
I've always had a fascinationwith architecture.
Even when I started with Claffy, Iremember when Charlie came over the first
day, he asked how I liked it, and I waslike, Man, I'm around these crazy pools

(14:00):
this is so cool not, designing them oranything, I'm just doing chemicals and
stuff and brushing the pool, but I'm like,I'm a piece of the puzzle that needs to
go well for the experience to go wellfor the customer and That means so much
more than like I would even expect itat that time And just to understand this

(14:20):
whole puzzle because I'm I love puzzles.
I remember as a kid I went to likea museum or something like that And
there's this one puzzle that no onecould figure out how to do And you
were like so proud that I was likethe one that was able to do it.
Some like geometry puzzle.
And I was like, yeah, but

Mike (14:37):
was Mr. Kane, right?

Trey (14:38):
I think so.
Maybe, yeah, it was second grade.
Great teacher.
Hopefully he got paid a lot cause a lotof teachers don't, but my mind is like,
look at something as if it was a puzzleand I'm trying to figure out how it works.
it worked that drive, that kind of Idon't know what you want to call it,
fascination with looking at it that way.
When you come to some kind of job orpool or anything in this industry,

(15:00):
anything we do to our 9 to 5, whichisn't really 9 to 5, it varies.
But it's been a blessing,

Mike (15:06):
I would certainly say what we do is put puzzles together.
For sure.
Yeah, because workingwith some crazy spaces.
the puzzles are three dimensionaland they go up and across and every
which way we have to think about,the ramifications of what we do

Trey (15:22):
it's not just a physical puzzle though.
It's like also like on the first meetingwhen we're meeting with the customer.
It's like a psychological puzzle.
You're trying to figureout exactly what they want.
Maybe they think they want one thing,but they really want something else.
And then you have the dynamic ofhaving, two customers at the same
time, a husband, a wife, it's a puzzlefrom the get go to the very end.

Mike (15:41):
and that's the fun about the way that we work is none of 'em are the same.
So what we look at is the primarypieces that get thrown into the box to
create this is we've got a backyard.
. That's totally differentfrom somebody else's.
Yeah.
Okay.
Then we have a house that's.
Generally, totally different thansomebody else's and even if you're in a

(16:03):
subdivision, materials can be different.
The two of those things are the same.
You may have the samelot in the same house.
The third element will still make itunique enough is what do you want?
Yep.
Okay.
Now I did have a client one timein my career that I did a model
home and it had a pool in it.

(16:23):
And he said, this was back beforewe did three dimensional modeling.

Trey (16:27):
Oh, okay.

Mike (16:28):
it was really hard for people to visualize things.

Trey (16:31):
Yeah, I'd imagine so.
So if they actually saw a yardthat they really liked, they'd
be like, oh, I want that.

Mike (16:36):
wanted that exact yard.
And he said I bought this house cause it'sthe same house and it's the same yard.
And I'm like well, you'reslightly different.
And I said, I tried to explain

Trey (16:49):
that to him,

Mike (16:50):
say, let's talk and see if there's anything we want to customize.
Oh, no.
No, I might mess it up.
I just want you to justbuild this in my backyard.

Trey (16:59):
Let me guess.
He had the same footage for his backyard,but the elevations were different.

Mike (17:04):
No, it was, pretty close to the same.
He purchased the lot, so it wouldbe similar to the lot for the model.
I guess I, always say I'venever done two the same, so I
guess I have done one the same.

Trey (17:17):
Different, requirements.
He did

Mike (17:19):
pick a few different materials.
Okay.
So, It's not exactly the same.
There you go.
But, you know.
you can still say that then.
I can still say that.
I don't have to put anasterisk next to it.
That's the fun of the journey.
so now that you've been doing the podcastfor a little bit, is there a guest
that you was the most surprised or youkind of was like that was really fun.

(17:41):
I didn't expect that to be.

Trey (17:43):
So I think with our podcast, we've done a lot of different guests.
So there's been ones that are pushinga product that they use that we
really like, or we're just interestedto understand it a little bit more.
And then we have also other designers,builders, owners, whatever it might be.
And I think with all of them, at leastfor me, and I think this is why obviously.
Our audience, our target audienceis the homeowner, because that's

(18:04):
our intent to have y'all havethe best experience possible.
But if there's other designers or anybodythat wants to get into this industry,
this podcast is littered with gold.
there's so many nuggets of informationthat I pull from that I'm like I knew we
were going to talk to this guy or thiscompany, but I had no idea that I would be
coming out with this kind of information.
I can't put a name or a numberon which episode I took the most

(18:28):
away from because I think theyall provide a lot of information.
And I'm not just saying that to push likethe entire podcast or anything like that.
I really can't be like, Oh, thisspecific one is the most fun or whatever.

Mike (18:40):
get that.
So I was in class the other day at theHouston pool show and I had somebody
asked me, why are you in this class?
Don't, you know, this stuffthat's already in here.
And just said, the way I look atit is, yeah, I know a lot of it.
I've been doing this for 40 years.
So, The reason I go to classes stillis because I will learn something

(19:03):
and that something can a lot of timesmake a huge difference down the road.
I

Trey (19:08):
compare it to movies because I love movies.
I'll watch a movie one time, and thenthe next time I'll catch something I
missed, and that happens to me to thisday, and I've been watching Inception
since it came out and every time Iwatch that movie, I catch something new.

Mike (19:22):
Okay, so one of the critical questions in the podcast for a guest
is, what is your favorite movie?
So I guess we can segue into that rightnow, or do we have to save it to the end?
No, we

Trey (19:30):
can do that right now.
that's difficult.
Cause I'm all over the place with movies.
Cause
I love so many different genres ofmovies, music all these kinds of things.
I see.
Cause I like to put myself inpeople's shoes cause that was
really hard for me to do as a kid.
I don't know if it was you or mom orone of my teachers where I was just
like blatantly just mad about something.
And they're like, calm down andput yourself in their shoes.

(19:52):
I do that to movies now.
And so I can see what like the artdirection or what they were trying to do.
But off the top, easy, like top 10, andI'm just going to ramble off like, three
just cause I can't put them all in orderright now, but inception's up there.
Interstellar's up thereand Gladiator's up there.
There's so many movies.
Die Hard.

(20:13):
I

Mike (20:13):
was gonna say, Die Hard's gotta be.
Yeah, Live Free and Die

Trey (20:16):
Hard is probably my favorite, but Die Hard's Probably most watched.

Mike (20:19):
This is a child.

Trey (20:21):
First rated R movie I ever saw was Die Hard, by the way.

Mike (20:24):
And so what did you watch every night?
Die Hard.
For how long?

Trey (20:29):
Until I graduated high school.

Mike (20:31):
Yes,

Trey (20:31):
we From like Fifth grade fourth grade.
Yeah, so That's a long time That'sthe movie I'd watch to sleep.

Mike (20:38):
Some kids listen to ocean waves to go to sleep Trey
would listen to Yippee Ki Yay

Trey (20:46):
That's the line that would put me to sleep obviously yeah, maybe
that's why it's nice slumber that'swhy I have problems going to sleep.

Mike (20:51):
that's why he was a defensive end.
Yeah

Trey (20:54):
But Yeah, I love movies, love art, love puzzles.

BBQ Intro (20:59):
We're going to take a break here for a second
and get into outdoor living.
So with outdoor living, we liketo go to barbecue bits here.
We're going to share some informationof everything that you may want to
consider in your outdoor living space.
As far as features,especially for the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy this.

Bobby (21:18):
Al Frisco is at a city of industry of California.
We were the first dealer in Dallasand Fort Worth to carry Al Frisco.
It's in our high-end premium lineup.
You can see a lot of their storagevehicles and the grill at Cloudy's
design Center in Southlake, Texas.
Why sell the product?
Great service, high qualitystainless steel from the company.

(21:43):
Versatility from a standpoint,they are the innovator of what
we call a sealed storage system.
It's not refrigerated, but ifyou've had a kitchen from Claffey
or Texas Outfitters before.
And we're blessed to have thesecond one with our customers.
They're gonna say, Hey, listen.
when I open the doors,there's bugs and spiders.
You don't get this.
you

Mike (22:03):
got a seal in here.
So this is ceiling in

Bobby (22:06):
a door?
That's correct.
It's sealed.
You've got drawer storage.
You've got a wire rack that's inhere that you can see cutting boards.
So it's element driven and you canput perishables in here before party.
It's very popular.
They'll make this in 30 inch, 42 inch.
And they also do low profile systemsthat go under grills to, bring
out the inner chef inside of you.
Alfresco makes a marinating drawer system.

(22:27):
It's refrigerated, all of it.
We keep water in ourshowroom inside of it.
This unit's been running for rot atabout 17 years now, with it never goes
down unless we power down electricity.
This is an alfresco exclusive.
So if when I put my meats in hereand I bring indoor to outdoor,
I can hold in here and they godirectly to the grill if I need to.

Mike (22:48):
Wow.
So

Bobby (22:49):
you can plate items inside of it.
If you notice how claffey designs,we mimic that at their showroom.
You prep cook plate, and you offerall types of vehicles that can go
in this grill from safety zone by orgrilling griddles that go on here.
Also, this is their tier of theirindirect roasting pod, steamer fryer.

(23:10):
Real popular, now solid fuelinserts which is charcoal and wood.
Depends on what that customer wantsto cook and how they want to cook.
Alfresco can answer their needs.
Wow.

Mike (23:20):
A lot of diversity.

Bobby (23:21):
A lot of diversity.
Now big on colors.
Alf Fresco now has see a lot of the.
Stealth black fronts the blue fronts.
So we're customers a little morespecific on what their custom needs are.
this company tries to answer thatwith different color variations
and pallets that you can actuallycompliment what you're gonna do
as far as design in your backyard.

Mike (23:41):
Typically you don't ever have something below the grill.
You have storage 'cause you have tohave a shutoff valve for the gas.
So how does that handled with this setup?
That's right.

Bobby (23:51):
Something that we've done in partnership together that
you'll see a lot of we can touchon safety principle real quick.
When you buy claffey grill and youbuild it in, the specifier will have the
ventilation procedures that are in it.
Also, where do we terminate the gasis something were to arise on this.
In other words.
If something were to get to where it wasoutta control, if we walk away from it and

(24:14):
you've got storage solution here, how doyou go and find the gas and turn it off?
This is the termination point.
Okay.
It terminates all the gas to the grill.
And it's accessible.
If something were let's say wewere, forget to, to clean out the
drip tray and you're not gonna gounder the grill to turn it off.
This is a quick reference point.
Our access to terminate the fuelto the rail is what it's perfect.

(24:35):
That's a great safety piece, sothank you for that explanation.
Free zone system thatyou have in the Alfresco.
This one is a chain driven rotisserie.
It can all hold 55 60 pounds ofmeat chain ribbons inside the wall
here you have a stowaway warmingrack that's inside of the grill.
A heli cool top opening forthe, that opens up the canopy

(24:56):
whenever I'm cooking on it.
And you can set up thegrill in three zones.
If however you want, I can dotwo standard burner and sear.
So what is SR versus main burner?
Main burner will give you a sear mark.
A sear burner will give you acrust on the filet or a pork chop.
We have to ask thesequestions to our customers.

(25:17):
Hey, do you remember the last timeyou had a filet that had a cruft?
Is that something you would want?
Yes.
That's how we go through thatlot, that discovery phase.
And awesome.
Yeah, an infusion box.
So we put wood chunks inside of there.
You can put aromatics rosemary and whatit'll do, it's got a dedicated burner that
dries flavors through the whole cookingprocess and the whole cooking experience.

(25:38):
Hood a canopy termination for the light.
Whenever I'm not grilling and I'm grillinglid down, terminates the interiorize.
What it does, fluidity handle.
It rolls so it doesn't burn yourforearm when you open it all cast.
Stainless steel knobs American madeproducts a high quality product.
So Bobby, you know your stuff.
We try 28 years in the business,

BBQ Ends (25:57):
So I hope you enjoyed the barbecue bits that we just featured today
and we'll have more coming up next week.
If there's something in particular thatyou're interested for, let us know and
we'll get back into the episode now.

Mike (26:11):
did you choose to get into construction?

, Trey (26:14):
I'll answer your question, but first I have to preface this.
When I was a kid, I did notwant to do what you did.

Mike (26:21):
No.

Trey (26:21):
I did not want to do it at all.
cause at the time, it was probably duringthe recession, and you were working at
Gold Key, I mean, you would coach mysoccer team at the same time, which is
crazy, the amount of Hours you would putin just to be able to balance that but
wouldn't see you that often and what Idid it was like at soccer practice or
we would You know after a soccer gameor practice or whatever we would go to

(26:42):
the golki store And I thought it wascool because I could get some popcorn I
could get a soda say this all the timeon the podcast, I don't know if I'm
supposed to, but I used to sit in the hottubs, but I thought that was so cool.

Mike (26:53):
They were dry.

Trey (26:55):
I don't think one of them was.
Actually, no, they weredry, they were dry.
Yeah, you're right, you're right.
They

Mike (26:58):
were dry, but there was one that, one had water in it.
Yeah, yeah, one

Trey (27:02):
did.
I didn't want to do what youdid, As a kid, I didn't know
what I wanted to do to begin with.
It was all over the place.
I wanted to be a firefighter at one point.
I wanted to be a youth minister.
I wanted to be football coach.
I wanted to be actor.
It was all over the place.
And most kids are like that as well.
You really don't know what you wantto do until you get out there and
realize, I don't really have a plan.
But.
I did get the opportunity with Claffy,and I wanted to be a designer, I didn't

(27:27):
think it was possible without collegeeducation, I thought it was either that or
it was going to be a huge setback to beginwith, so I always thought, if I could
construct a pool, then I could probablydesign a pool as well, I felt if you're
going to do it, you need to learn how tobe a PM and learn the construction and
understand all that get that underneathyour belt and then switch over to design.

(27:50):
I didn't realize how long it would taketo become a PM from the position I was in.
That kind of changed myperspective on things.
And then also.
The classes that I did when I firststarted working with you, the amount of
information of construction that I thoughtI already knew, and then I learned on
the way working with you still gave methat satisfaction that I wanted to know
how to construct a pool before, becauseI feel like if I needed to, I could

(28:13):
maybe build my own pool in my backyard.
At this point,

Mike (28:16):
supervised crews on ours, but I didn't personally build it.
although they're pretty

Trey (28:21):
busy, selling pools, making a

Mike (28:23):
living, I was still pretty busy doing that.
Although I know people that havedone that have gotten down in
the hole and tied steel and doneplumbing and been on the gun, I crew.
And I think that anybody thatdesigns needs to understand.
Mentally in their head, howthey're going to build something.
Yes.
Cause otherwise you, you end updesigning things that, aren't necessarily

(28:45):
buildable and the million dollar poolchallenge only comes around once a year.
Exactly.
And not that you can't build thoseprojects because you get graded
on if they're buildable or not.

Trey (28:56):
That's why you said it.
Yes.
There's been some amazing designsthat probably didn't even get into
the top five because they had somekind of flaw with the building aspect.

Mike (29:05):
what's your favorite part of the podcast or the podcast?

Trey (29:09):
My favorite part of the podcast is.
getting to know somebody and just sittingdown and having a conversation with them,
because the opportunity to sit down andhave a two hour conversation with somebody
is so rare, and I don't take that forgranted, I love podcasts to begin with.
I love Joe Rogan, the experience that'sobviously the biggest one in the world,

(29:30):
but there's a lot of podcasts thatI listen to so when I heard you were
doing the podcast, I was like, wow,that's really cool I don't know how
going to talk about pools for threehours every single week, but good luck.

Mike (29:39):
We try not to talk for three hours.

Trey (29:41):
Yeah, I know, the more that I got into it, I realized it was like.
Okay, there's a lot of differenttopics to cover, and a lot of different
people in the industry to talk to,and a lot of different regions with
different aesthetics and differentdesign styles, and yeah, I could
keep going on and on just about whatyou could do, let alone doing it.
But yeah, sitting down and just havingthe conversation, getting to know someone

(30:02):
new and also familiar, like having Paulback on a second time was a lot of fun.
So having someone like David on whoI, like that class that I took for
construction the foreman class for WaterShapes is what I took specifically.
He does the hydraulics and he'sactually in it quite a bit.
Having him on and just having aconversation with him Was so cool because
you're learning from a guy online it'sprobably the same effect that people

(30:25):
have with you which like me and moseswe joke about it, people come up to you
and fanboy a lot and Granted, I get it,big in the industry but for me, you're
my dad, and on top of that, I've beenworking with you for four years, I've
seen it a lot, it does get old at sometimes, but it's, still cool to see but
I can relate to that, cause I'm havinga conversation with him, and I'm like,

(30:45):
You know all this wealth of informationthat just got thrusted on me when I
started a new job with the foreman classThis is the guy like and we're just
talking to him I don't know and I seehim all the time at the shows and stuff
like that But it was stuff like that.
don't take it for granted at all

Mike (31:01):
It's fun to get all the different perspectives from the different people.
Yeah, and from it, there's a lot of peoplein our industry that are instructors
and teachers, and they've come on and wetry to have them because they can bring
some real good insight and information.
And then, you know, everythingfrom, different people that rep

(31:21):
different products to, yeah,different unique designers in
different parts of the country.
It's a fun, fun thing to gothrough all those things.

Trey (31:29):
And I think it's the fact that you get to, cause for Joe Rogan.
It was so cool when he would have randompeople that I already knew and they would
come on the podcast and I get to listen toa conversation between him and that guy.
For like two hours or whatever, I getto be a fly on the wall, and I get
to laugh and just enjoy it as well.
It's something that hasnever been done before.

(31:51):
Our podcasts are huge now, but likethe concept of having a long form media
where it's not just snippets whereyou say you're 15 seconds and then you
debate that and the stuff we see onthe news, which was typical up to this
point that itself is a beautiful thing.
it's great to see it actually.
Start growing in this industry.

Mike (32:11):
So what are you looking forward to?

Trey (32:13):
The next podcast.
I guess, This one.
Live in the moment.
That's how I feel.
Like Moses asked me whatwas my favorite year.
This year.
Everything.
You just gotta live in the moment.
You gotta appreciate what's going on.
And I still love what happened, butI'm not gonna live in the past either.

Mike (32:26):
We asked you your favorite movie.
What's your favorite food?

Trey (32:31):
Potatoes.
I love potatoes.
Baked potato, a giant spud from Macalesteror Jason's Deli, which is what my
dad used to take me to every Sunday.
Upgraded that toMacalester's for sure though.
French fries, anything potatoes related.

Mike (32:43):
Didn't fall the tree.
No.
This is when I called my mother inlaw said, What do I take Laura to eat?
What's her favorite food?
She's like, potatoes.
I was like, can you little more specific?
And she was like, no.
Anything potato wise.

Trey (33:00):
Even sweet.
I used to not like sweet potatoes.
I do, I like them now.
They're pretty good.
But yeah.
I also, there's a lotof foods that I like.
Watermelon and oranges andthere's all over the place.

Mike (33:09):
Okay do you have a favorite book?

Trey (33:11):
I'm actually like really nerdy.
I'm a geek and I was like a closetnerd in high school because I was like
hanging out with jocks, the popular crew.
I was with the football player.
But there is a book thatI've read like five times.
It's the first book in the trilogyof a character called Darth
Revan, which is a Star Wars novel.
I love science fiction in general,but I would say that's my favorite

(33:31):
book because I've gone back toit and re read it a couple times.

Mike (33:34):
So what's the best Star Wars movie?

Trey (33:36):
To all the OGs out there, the, people that are older than me, It's
for sure in Pirate Strikes Back,but um, would have to say Revenge
of the Sith is my cup of tea.
Rogue One's up there, too.
I'll throw a Disney one in there tothrow you all bone, but the rest suck.

Mike (33:52):
Rogue One was pretty good.
Oh, it was amazing.
They re

Trey (33:55):
shot that movie like five times, but it worked out.

Mike (33:58):
Yeah, it worked out pretty good.
Except for the characters all died.

Trey (34:01):
Darth Vader didn't, or Princess Leia.
They were thin.

Mike (34:04):
That's valid point.
where's your favorite place to go?

Trey (34:07):
Best answer on here I've heard was home, which I agree with.
I'm a homebody like you.
Being around my family is important to me.
it's actually very important to mebecause even though a lot of our
family lives in Texas, we're veryspread apart and that annoys me.
I envy families that are very close Iwish we were closer just being able to
see each other and stuff like that, butI would say that my favorite place I've

(34:29):
ever been has been Hawaii, for sureCabo's up there, but it's nothing compared
to Hawaii, and we're going to St.,
I think, Lucia, or St. Somethingin the Caribbean this next month.
So we'll see.
We'll see if it can giveHawaii a run for its money.
But Lahaina, unfortunately,it's not there.
That was the most beautifulplace I've ever seen in my life.
Colorado's actually probably second.

Mike (34:50):
Been there a few times.

Trey (34:52):
I have.
Yeah.
But being on top of a mountain versusSitting on the beach, I don't know.
They're both really good.
Water and fire.
I like both.

Mike (34:59):
There anything else we should know about Trey Farley?

Trey (35:01):
Sure.
I'm still an assistant for you andI will be but I'm never going to
try to overstep I have opinions ondesign and everything like that but
I do not have skins on the wall.
Until I have skins on the wall,I'm not gonna overstep at all.
I'll put that out there Ifeel like I have a lot to prove

Mike (35:18):
got a lot to learn or

Trey (35:20):
not.
Yeah.
No, I got a lot to learnThere's a lot all have

Mike (35:22):
a lot to learn.
So you've not been it as long as some,but you've been at it longer than others.
So you've got the constructionbackground as well as the design.
So

Trey (35:34):
I have a weird setup.
That's for sure.

Mike (35:36):
The weird setups usually work out pretty good.
Okay.
Given your knowledge baseat this point in time.
Yeah.
always ask the guests if they'veexperienced a true crime.
Oh, there's been a bunch.
would you say would be a true crimethat's Happened to a client you've seen

Trey (35:54):
I'm gonna pull from the back end of construction One of the biggest crimes, I
guess you could say, quote unquote crimeFalse expectations is a big one And where
I saw that be prevalent the most when youknow Temperatures are at their hottest or
coldest and people want to heat up maybea spa And they want to use their heat
pump to do so, and I remember being inthe middle of summer trying to use that

(36:17):
heat pump, maybe as a heat pump chiller,and trying to keep the pool, chilled,
and like, why can't I heat it down to 60degrees when it's 110 degrees outside,
and it's like, you only can have a 15,maybe 20 temperature swing going each
way, depending on the piece of equipment,of course, and how it's plumbed Being
able to heat up a hot tub with a chillerslash heater, it's impossible depending

(36:39):
on what temperature it is already.

Mike (36:41):
I've seen a heat pump installed on a spa.
Yeah.
And when I saw it, I asked the clientwhy in the world they did that.
And their comment was, we boughtthe house and it was that way.
Ah.
And I said, did the previousowners, were they from Florida?
And he said.
Yes, they were.

(37:02):
That makes more sense.
Yeah.
what he said is that they didn't need thespa to get real hot and their expectations
coming from Florida where they don'thave this cool temperatures that they
could do what they did in Florida.
So they came here and gave theorder to the pool guy, I want a

(37:24):
heat pump instead of a heater.
And the pool guy.
Instead of giving them all theinformation, said, Just did that.
Okay, that's what you asked for,that's what I'm going to give you.
Eventually they moved.
They moved, sold the house.
Wonder why.
And probably because theycouldn't get their spa hot enough.
Yeah.
A lot of times people see somethingin one part of the country and then

(37:45):
duplicate it in another part of thecountry and it doesn't work the same.
Okay.
So yeah, a heat pump, chiller you canextend the seasons, make it warmer in
the spring, you could make it warmerin the fall, but you're never going
to heat a spa up to 104 degrees.

Trey (38:01):
No, but actually, I don't know about that anymore.
We saw a piece of equipment at the poolshow, which up to this point, up to before
going to that pool show, I would agreepercent hands down, that's the case.
I've never seen or heard anything thatcould possibly achieve that, until now.

Mike (38:18):
I still don't think They didn't say that they could heat a spa up.

Trey (38:22):
No.
I thought they coulduse their biggest system

Mike (38:24):
to do it.
But they said that they could get colder.
the range of temperature was greaterthan anything they've had previously.

Trey (38:32):
Yeah, you're right.
They didn't talk about heating itup to 104, but they did talk about
chilling it down for a cold plunge.

Mike (38:38):
Correct.

Trey (38:39):
Yeah.

Mike (38:39):
this heat pump has more capability.
Than any other one.
So we were invited to go test it out.
Oh, that's right.
So maybe we ought to film We should.
Actually on site a test.
But they also talked about, which whatI've always been an advocate of is if
you have a chiller, it has to be on atotally separate system if you're using it

(39:00):
for a cold punch, because there's no wayyou're going to go hot, cold, hot, cold.
you can't swing the water that much.
Now we can get into the debateabout a cold plunge is going to be
usually a very small body of water.
A hot tub's usually amuch larger body of water.

Trey (39:17):
Also in the middle of winter, you're swinging the temperature a
crazy direction when you're heatingthe hot tub all the way to the top.

Mike (39:23):
so we need to go check that piece of equipment out, but yes.
Typically, to use heat pump chillerto heat a hot tub is a crime.
It's not going to happen.
now, there are some people,unlike you, what temperature
do you want your hot tub at?
104, the highest it can go.
You want it as high as it can go.

(39:43):
There's other people like your mom who'slike, it could be a hundred, it can be
a little less, that type of situation.
I know it's not you.

Trey (39:52):
A hundred is doable, but once you get to the 90s, it's
like, oh, what are we doing here?
It's just a warm

Mike (39:56):
bath

Trey (39:57):
though.
Yeah.

Mike (39:58):
Which I'm, not a big fan of either one for an extended period of time.
So obviously people aredifferent and I'm the non potato
eater in the family as well.
So I am just the weird duck.
You're

Trey (40:10):
the Irish one though, I thought, right?
I am Irish.
Come on now.
With the famine get rid of yourtaste buds a long time ago.
Yeah.

Mike (40:17):
No want to know the story?
Yeah.
I thought you'd heard.
So growing up.
Oh, I have heard every night I hadto go into the garage and what did I
have to do when I go into the garage?
I had to get four potatoesout of a sack of potatoes.
We had sacks upon sacks of 50 poundbags of potatoes in the garage.

(40:38):
I had to go peel the potatoes wehad mashed potatoes every single.
Night sounds like heaven.
Okay.
So maybe my dad didn't like salton them or something like that.
But anyway, so to me, they weren't loaded.
No, they weren't loaded mashed potatoes.
No, the word loaded didn't come into play.
might have had a littlebit of butter on them.

(41:00):
So to me, growing up, there was.
Not some great memoriesassociated with growing up.
So mashed potatoes gotassociated with those memories.
Maybe, I don't know, but that'smy hangup with mashed potatoes.
The other thing is rottenpotatoes that you had run into
in the bag were disgusting.

Trey (41:18):
They just like start oozing out like liquids and it was awful.
And

Mike (41:23):
so the smell of dealing with a rotten potato and that kind of stuff was
no fun either, and I probably still havethe same ham out because every Wednesday
it was liver and onions and I hate thesmell of liver but I still like onions.

Trey (41:37):
That's funny.
I remember complaining, notcomplaining, but like I went to the
kitchen one time to do a hot potato.
This is when I was a kid.
I was like, mom, or I thinkit was you, it was someone.
And I was like, thepotatoes they're rotten.
And they had like theroots growing out of them.
I had never seen that before.
And I was like, Oh no,the potatoes never rot.
in my opinion, for a long time, Ithought potatoes never rot at all.

(41:57):
And so, when I moved in with mybuddies at a house, I remember
my buddy's girlfriend complainingabout the potatoes being rotten.
I'm like, oh, she doesn'tknow what she's talking about.
potatoes don't rot.
And then I went in there one day to cleanhouse and everything, and I look at the
bottom where the potatoes were, and it'sjust this black goo surrounding them.
I'm like, what just happened?
It's funny.

Mike (42:18):
You can have rotting potatoes.
It's possible.
So true crime.
Yes, it is a crime to put a heatpump on a spa 100 percent by itself.
Although we will do a testrun and go check this piece of
equipment out and try to film that.
So we can see if we candebunk, maybe we're wrong.

Trey (42:36):
It'd be cool.
Cause there's a lot of places thatare outlawing, gas powered, uh.

Mike (42:41):
and that's probably why they're pushing the technology to do
what it can because yes Californiais certainly looking at outlawing
all gas appliances, which is hugefor the outdoor living industry.
they're putting in subdivisionsthat just don't have gas lines.
Yeah.
so one of the things also that welike to look at is a design concept.

(43:03):
And why we came up with something.
Do you have one in mindyou want me to run through?

Trey (43:07):
Yeah, there's one job that I think is really cool and I wish we could go
back and get Some shots of, if y'alldon't know, I helped my dad out with
the photography with the drone shots andstuff like that, but Sheehan the shots you
have are really good, I just Obviously myselfish, greedy self wants to be able to
go out there and shoot some stuff myself.
But she hands an amazing job.

Mike (43:27):
So I'm very impatient when it comes to photography.
So when a job's done,

Trey (43:33):
do you want to get in there and just,

Mike (43:34):
I want to take pictures of it because it's been this journey
that's gone on for so long.
And I want people to see how coolthis solution and how things went.
And we literally.
Took pictures of she hand like two daysafter the sod was like, if you look at
it in some of the pictures, the lines,Oh, you can definitely see the line.
we try to wait a couple of weeks but thechallenge with that particular project

(43:56):
is we were fixing to go into winter.
It was just landscaped.
And of course I wanted pictures ofit so I could enter it in awards too.
And so there was a cutoff, I thinkin November for regional awards.
So we were like day before thecutoff when we took pictures.
So this client was a great client.
We sat down and talked aboutwhat they wanted and they

(44:18):
wanted to create a really nice.
Setting much more modern from anaesthetic standpoint and this was a
time period when the architecture wasstarting to swing from the, rustic,
really rocky look that you see in alot of Texas homes to a little bit
more of the modern flair gone fullmodern, but it was set that direction.

(44:40):
They wanted more modern and a lot of theexisting things that were on the home
already, like the back porch was thisreally rustic orange and brown stone.
And so we talked about everythingthat they wanted and they
wanted a lot of cool features.
They wanted some neat fire features.
They wanted some different areas.
And so we came up with.
A design that played off some reallystrong sight lines in their house sight

(45:04):
lines are real important So the primarysight line that we were working with was
out of the family room But then the crossaccess to that came out of the master
bedroom They had a window that they wantedto be able to look down And so we came up
with a design that kind of fit in there.
It was really clean tailored linesall straight but it was asymmetrical
in design at a perimeter overflowspa, we always took the tile on

(45:28):
the perimeter area spa down to thewaterline and then the channel.
That the water went into between the pooland the spa edge was typically about a
foot wide he's like, okay, you got tilecoming down on this wall, six inches, and
you got this 18 inch raised spa and tilecoming down and we got 24 inches and then
you just stop right before the channel.

(45:50):
don't you put tile in the channel?
I was like.
I don't know.
Nobody's ever asked for it.
It would be more expensive.
And he said, wow, that was the first

Trey (45:57):
one.

Mike (45:58):
like, wouldn't it look better?
And I was like, oh, 100percent it would look better.
And he said tell me how much that is.
I think that would be a pretty good thing.
other aspect of it is.
And I had only done it on oneproject before is I said would
you like lights in the channel?
And he was like, Ohyeah, a hundred percent.
Yeah.
We also put in four cleaning heads inthe channel, which I did which he was

(46:21):
like, why wouldn't somebody do that?
And I'm like, a lot of peoplechoose not to do in for cleaning.
And if they do it, theydon't do it in the channel.
And he's like, well, thatmakes no sense whatsoever.
Because how are you going to clean that?
It's pretty hard to brush out.
did some cool things.
when we came down to the outdoor livingstructure, he's like, let's do one
of those louvered Equinox structures.
Cause it's real clean, modern lines,and we could do sun and shade.

(46:44):
I originally, wanted a cabana and weran the numbers on it and he's like.
that's ridiculous.
I'm not spending that kind of money.
I was like, okay.
So we started the construction ofthe pool and we were almost finished
with the construction of the pool.
We just finished the decks and wewere fixing to do the structure.
And I got a call and he said Listen,we've talked about this a lot since

(47:08):
you went through the initial designwith us, and I believe that given
what we're seeing here, we're goingto spend a lot of time in this space,
a lot more than I thought initially.
And I really think weneed a cabana structure.
In fact, want a nice size cabana fora living space and a kitchen space.

(47:28):
And so it's gotta be bigger thanwhat you initially designed.
And I said, okay, I'vegot a challenge tomorrow.
I'm having my hip replaced.
I didn't really discuss thiswith you because we were
almost finished with the job.
So it wasn't going toreally come into play, but.
We're talking about a major revisionto the design at this point in time.

(47:49):
And I said, if I had a day or two,I could probably create something
for you, but I'm literally goingin to have surgery tomorrow.
He said, well.
let's see how surgery goesand then see how it'll work.
And the other thing was when they told meI was having surgery, they said, you have
to lay flat on your back for four weeks.
And I was like, I can't sit up.
And they're like, no flat on your back.

(48:10):
And I was like, cause ifI can sit up, I can draw.
Yeah.
Anyway, that wasn't allowed.
So I've called him after surgery.
I told him, listen, I'm notgoing to be able to touch
this for at least four weeks.
And he said well, Why don't I getyour sales manager and have him
come out and see if he can get somethings up and see what will work out.
He went out and drewsome stuff up with him.
He called me and he's like,Mike, we will wait for you.

(48:33):
So he said, he's just not getting thevibe that we're trying to get here.
That's a hard

Trey (48:38):
thing to do.

Mike (48:39):
Like you're all,

Trey (48:40):
all like halfway more than the halfway through this process.
You knew how he thinkshe knows how you think.
Yeah, that's a hardtask, even for a manager.

Mike (48:48):
Yeah.
And Bill was good at what he did.
It was just, they had some veryparticular, like you said, we'd connected.
So he's like, come back.
So I came back, worked up design.
And we ended up with twocabanas, two separate cabanas
that kind of faced each other.
And that created a path down the middleof them, which worked with the sight
lines on, which we came in with a reallycool fire feature that was incorporated.

(49:13):
And at that point she was like,Hey, can I take this and have
my interior designer look at it?
And I was like, sure, she said, causeI think she'd like to help with the
final materials on these things.
The interior designer came back with fourdifferent materials that I had never used.
And she's like, I thinkthese would be good.

(49:34):
And I'm like We've never used this.
It's three materials.
I said, I don't have asource on these materials.
I don't have contractors toinstall these materials anyway.
So it was really interestingbecause the first one was Dekton.
Okay.
And Dekton, honestly, I'dused on one other project.
Yeah, but I didn't have afabricator that worked with it.

(49:56):
The fabricator that did the wine hated it.
Is this still

Trey (49:59):
the time where you could find it in Home Depot?

Mike (50:01):
And this was, yes, Home Depot.
So I'm like, okay, I needsomebody better because she didn't
want just a table with Dekton.
She wanted the table to look likeit was floating So it was a lot
of engineering involved with thistable And then she wanted this TV.
That looked like it was floating and soit had to have a special cabinet on it.

(50:22):
And then she wanted all board formedconcrete walls around the fire
pit, which we didn't have a subthat would did that kind of stuff.
turned out to be a veryinteresting process.
I learned about allthree of those materials.
Dekton is.
I use it on half my projects today.
We've done several projects withboard form concrete since then,

(50:42):
which is a phenomenal look, but not apopular material here in North Texas.
in a TV cabinet was a disaster.
But we'll go into that some othertime, but it was a cool project.
We'll show you some pictures of it.
It worked really well with the site.
It really worked well with their views.
One of the keys was towork around a massive tree.
It would be fun to goback and photograph that.

(51:04):
Especially now that thelandscaping has grown over time.
And, the sod is, I'm sure,growing at this point in time.
Although has llamas, they're all aroundmy bald spots and there might be,
initially it was a blow up and start over.
We blew the existing pool up.
We actually tore out all the existingdecking came in with travertine

(51:28):
pavers, much more modern look.
the materials were much more modern.
Excellent suggestions from the Interiordesigner, except for the TV cabinet thing,
which I understand is a good product.
Now we had a bid at installer becauseagain, we couldn't find these.
We're all new installers to us as well.

Trey (51:46):
Yeah.
The installer is the huge piece.
You can have an amazing product orwhatever idea, but if you can't actually
have someone be able to do that.

Mike (51:54):
Yeah.
So that's part of your journey.
you may say, Hey, here's allthe things I want on my project.
And you may be dealing with somebody andin their part of the country, they've
never used that, that can get tricky.
But if you find the rightperson, they'll dig around and
we eventually got the TV cabinet.
We went through two subs to do it over aperiod of time and people not returning

(52:18):
phone calls and people frustratedbecause we wouldn't get things done.
We were trying to deal withsomebody that said then you had
to do something, but did not.
So track records important to geta feel for But when you, design
things, It's cool to push the limits.
we went to the surface show last yearjust to see all kinds of different

(52:39):
materials that can go on surfaces.
We were at the internationalshow in November.
We were at the Southwest showhere last month looking always.
Turning over rocks, lookingunder everything to see,
Hey, this is cool and new.
But you also have to tread lightlybecause if it's so new that nobody's
done it, then there's no track record.

(53:01):
You don't know how thingsare going to perform.
And sometimes clients are like, Hey,I'm willing to be the first one.
I'm willing to be the Guinea pig.
But again, as you said, setting properexpectations, it's the biggest thing
you're like, I've never done this before.
We can try it, understand if it fails,that's the risk we're taking here and

(53:23):
the Sheehans were good with us doing thatand for the most part, it was successful.
One of the coolest things on thatproject is what's called the Dark Planet.
Yeah.
That's the piece of sculpturethat's there, which is by David
Harbour, which is out of England.
If you ever want to look up it'sa really cool focal point, and he
has some really cool artwork that'sused a lot in landscaping projects.

(53:46):
Do

Trey (53:46):
you know

Mike (53:46):
what the Dark Planet's made out of?
Is it steel?
No, it is like Mexican beach pebble.
Oh, really?
And they're all stacked on top ofeach other, just slightly going in.
It's not one solid piece?
No.
Oh, what?
It is pieces of stone thatare all laid together.
really cool because then there's alight that goes in the center of it,

(54:06):
so this light shines out at night.
But is a very intricately done.
Piece of sculpture out of theseMexican beach pebbles, which are
hard to work with in the first placebecause they're perfectly smooth.

Trey (54:18):
Yeah.
So smooth.
Okay.

Mike (54:19):
So putting them together.
And so they stacked andyou know how he does that.
I don't know, but it was the shippingcontainer that it was in to make
sure that didn't get banged upcoming from England was pretty hefty.
lots of fun projects.
We've got A lot of fun guests coming up,
so we'll look forward to whatpeople have questions about.

Trey (54:41):
Oh yeah.
I do want to correct one thing.
I said the Star Wars book earlier.
I was thinking about it, Iwas like, Dune's probably my
favorite sci fi I've ever read.
And the book that came after Duneas well, and the one after that,
but not the one in the far future.
But yeah.
The Dune books were really good.
But yeah, that job's amazing.
I love the Sheehan job.
I really want to go thereand take photos one day.

(55:01):
And it's interesting because I know wetry to rush the photo shoots because
obviously we want to put a lot of themin awards and use them for social media.
But.
It would be really cool to go back likea year later or whatever it is on some
of these jobs and maybe even longer thanthat for the landscaping that takes longer
to develop because I mean there's jobswhere you plant it and you have like maybe
like oak trees or some kind of vegetationthat's going to take a while for it

(55:24):
to actually get the full grown whereit's doing the purpose that you need.

Mike (55:27):
So three years.
You get the real good feel of the space.
Yeah.
The plants have grown, all yourshrubs are full grown at that point
in time, your perennials are fullgrown, your ground cover is grown in.
Some of your trees atthat point have started.
To give you the shape of thespace, but they're still out there.

(55:47):
Yeah.
And there's some of the bestjobs that I've taken pictures of.
I wasn't able to get inbecause, Oh, the job finished.
And then, things got hung upand, Oh, I forgot about it.
And then I, Oh, I need togo take pictures of that.
And I go back two or three yearslater, those jobs look great.
Yeah.
But yes, to go back andsee some of them is fun.

Trey (56:09):
What's their job.
I forgot who it was.
It was in the last two years, butthey came to you and they wanted the
job to be like their old home and youactually designed the old home, but
it was with a different homeowner.
And then there was all these trees orbushes that weren't full grown by the
time we took the pictures and everythingit's hanging up in the office as well.

(56:29):
yeah, everything's like fully grown now,it's like a privacy wall, I believe,
by a driveway or something like that.
But they didn't design it with you?
No, they did.
No, it was someone else where they, youdidn't design the original pool with them.
Which, we need to takephotos of that job too.

Mike (56:43):
Yeah they purchased the house that I designed and so when
they moved into their new house,they tracked me down because they
wanted me to design their new space.
Which we haven't taken photographs of yet.
Which is a really cool job too.
It is a cool job.
So it's got there's about16 foot long fire bar on it.

Trey (57:02):
But we didn't need any more awards this year.
We can leave it off for the next one.
Only so many hands tocarry those things back.

Mike (57:09):
Yes we did pretty good at international and regional.
got a lot of awards.
So we're blessed with lots ofawesome sites and awesome clients
and awesome team of people.

Trey (57:20):
It's awesome seeing everybody else around the region as well.
Some of them are in tributarywith us and they did really good.
Seeing we went and visited Regal and thenthey killed it too, got one more than us.

Mike (57:30):
Yeah iron sharpens iron.
Exactly,

Trey (57:32):
competition is

Mike (57:33):
key.
It's a lot of fun.
in this industry, Friendly competition.
There is a lot of people and that'sone of the things that's cool that
I've seen change over my career.
it used to be everybody wasin competition with each other
and there was no collaboration.
And today if I wanted to call up a halfa dozen people that, know there was

(57:58):
somebody that we sat with at the tablethat we compete against with a builder.
But if I wanted to say,Hey how did you do this?
I have no doubt they wouldgive me the information.
And likewise, so we all try tohelp each other to do better.

Trey (58:14):
How about excellence for the customer at the day?

Mike (58:17):
that's what.
The people we talk to,that's how it's been.
We try to provide informationfor you, the homeowner, so you
can have a great experience.
Because in some parts of the countryyou don't have great resources.
But that doesn't mean that youcan't have a great project,

Trey (58:34):
yeah, there used to be a old stigma, I think it's still
there, around the pool industry.
How it's sleazy salespeople.
We're trying to change that.

Mike (58:40):
There's a lot of good young people.

Trey (58:42):
Oh yeah.
I guess a lot of good people.
I guess they don't want to be calledold, but older than me people.
Yeah.
So

Mike (58:47):
the sleazy ones died off anyway.
I think that's good, man.
We have a fun time and we'll keep havingsome fun and we'll see y'all later.

Trey (58:59):
Have a good one.

Mike (58:59):
Take care.

Outro (59:01):
This show is all about helping you become a better buyer, a better pool
owner, and hopefully you're going to findsome insights into how to enjoy your pool
even more so, how to help your friends,your family, anybody looking to buy a pool
in the future, or that want to remodeltheir backyard, add an outdoor fireplace,
fire pit, add an outdoor kitchen area, addsome shade cells, or whatever else it is.

(59:24):
We want to be that resourcefor you, and that's the end
goal here, and we promise you.
That there's going tobe a ton of information.
We'll try to go through it, youknow, as relatively quickly, but
also slow so people can understand.
But the intent of the show, thereason Mike and I are doing this
is because we just got a lot inour heads and we want to share it.
So we hope to see youhere every single week.
Thanks for listening.