Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And joining us this morning is mister Andrew Larson from
Larsen Home Services. Andrew, how you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Fantastic? Like always, He'll pick me up song there.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm doing really, really good, And I'm really happy about
this morning's conversation because it's something that I've worked with
you in the past, and obviously I know you, Uh,
this is something that's really near and dear, not just
to your heart, but in practice as well. Let's talk
about this week's conversation. We're not really necessarily talking about products.
(00:30):
We're talking more about culture and service and the people
that you serve.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's correct, you know, I wanted to talk a little
about a little bit, I think I said, company integrity, ethics.
There's a whole lot of stuff we could talk about,
and honestly, choosing the right contractor to do whatever it
is you know you're looking to do. And what really
really spurred me wanting to talk about this is something
(00:58):
that happened here this past week two. A friend of
mine in Lodi, and she reached out to my wife
and asked if she could call me. She calls me
up and she having a problem with her contractor. She
hired a contractor to uh build her a deck, and
they worked on it for a couple of weeks and
they showed up one morning and just said we're done.
(01:18):
They left, and she had already paid them all of
the money she was supposed to pay them. And now
she's sitting there, left high and dry. Single mom saved
up all of this money and now now she's got
to figure out what to do. And and it comes
down to company ethics, and it comes down something that
(01:39):
we talk about talk about a lot. And so so
we have what's when we come over to somebody's house
to give them a price on, you know, a roof
for gutters or insulation. We we we we talk about
our company and we we we have a company story.
And I hear my reps a lot going all yeah,
people don't want to hear it, which to me is
insane that you don't want to hear about the company
(02:03):
that you're thinking about possibly giving thousands of dollars too.
And here's why. When it comes to shingles in a roof,
I mean the type of roof that we put on,
anybody can go buy that material. Sure most don't, but
anybody can go buy it. Anybody can put those type
of shingles on that we use. Our warranties are a
(02:25):
little better because we're a master elite. But in the end,
anybody can go get it. The insulation that we use,
anybody can get that. It's just the way that we
do it and the way that we'll only do it
is what makes it better. Now, our gutters are proprietary,
but there's lots of companies that do gutters. But what
separates us to me is our company story, where we've
come from, what this company is, how many employees this
(02:50):
company has helped, how many homeowners our companies helped. It's
very very important, and here's why. Stories like I just
found out for my friend here getting a deck, and
I asked her upfront, I said, listen, did you get estimates?
And she said yes, And I said, do you mind
(03:11):
sharing with me what those estimates were? And she said.
One of the estimates was about thirty one thousand dollars.
I said, did they tell you about the company as
the company bent around? She said, yeah, they did. Actually
a company went around for a long time, like sound
like a great company. Okay, how about the next one?
The next one was about twenty eight thousand dollars. How
(03:31):
about that. Did they talk about the company? Yes, the
company's been and I'm not going to name the companies,
but ben in business for a long time. Great And
the company that you went with, did they talk about
the company? Well, no, no, But but their bid was
only eleven thousand. I said, so you got a bid
for thirty one twenty eight thousand and eleven thousand, and
(03:52):
you went with the eleven thousand dollars estimate. And I said, unfortunately,
I think this one might be on you. Now. I'm
not I don't want to throw blame on homeowners for
hiring a bad contractor, but I'm going to give this
contractor the benefit of the doubt, saying that they probably
had all of the best intentions in the world. The
problem is is that she did not vet them properly.
(04:16):
They ran into some things that were over their head,
and so rather than lose their tails, they just had
to stop and go away. And it happens all It
blows me away that it still happens all the time,
because there's the Internet now and there's so much free
education out there on what to look for, who to
(04:39):
look for, how to vet a contractor. I mean, if
you're hiring a contractor and they don't have a Google
page with Google reviews, that's a red flag to me,
that's a red flag. And honestly, honestly, Sean, it's not
even that easy to get like Dave really made it difficult.
(05:01):
I mean, you can't just say, hey, I'm a company, yep,
give me Google reviews. Google has a vetting process. So
if a company has it and they have a bunch
of great reviews, you know they're probably a pretty good company.
So when I talk about integrity and ethics, it goes
both ways. Though homeowners have to be able to listen.
(05:23):
We've all heard you can't go with the cheapest estimate.
There's a reason it's the cheapest. Why would one estimate
be eleven thousand and the other two be about thirty
There's a reason for that because those two companies that
were up around thirty thousand bet in business for many years.
They know how much to charge so that they can
finish the job on time and the homeowners happy in
(05:47):
the end, and they have enough profit to continue to
stay in business. When you get an estimate that's a
third of the price, that's not even a third of
the price yeah, is that a third yeap just about
little about a third of the other ones. They are
throwing a number at the wall and guessing, and they
(06:07):
have no idea what they're doing, and as soon as
they run into one little hiccup, they're done. You know
what happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
You know, Andrew, And when we talk about this stuff. Obviously,
for all of us, money is important, and I think
that that you sometimes we see these things and we
get very excitedly, Oh, it's a great opportunity to get
a great deal. You know, I'm going to get this thing,
and then we hear these horror stories of what unfortunately happens.
You know, you talk about the deck that that's not completed,
(06:37):
or a company that that may not do the best work,
or when it comes time to for follow up, they're
just not around. And I think one of the great
things you talk about company integrity, There is nothing better
than one you put your name on the business. People
know exactly Larsenal Services, who is Larsenal Services, They know
who you are. But there's also something to be said
(06:58):
for for feeling good about that project in the long term.
Is like some of the stuff like that immediate gratification.
It's cheaper, so you feel good. But in a week
and a month or gosh forbid, if the project never
gets finished, how are you going to feel? Then? I
think of, you know, the work that you guys have
done for us and what we've done in the past.
I just feel like, you know, you're always very confident,
you always feel very good about it. You don't feel
(07:19):
like there was, you know, like anything, any shenanigans or anything.
It's an important it's an important feeling and it comes
really from from respect and understanding of what you got
a really good product for what you paid for in
really good service as well.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Correct. Listen, what's the old adage? You know, I know
I'm going to screw this one up, but you know what,
I'm not even gonna give it. Here's the bottom line
is when people make when people are looking to get
their homework done right, they want three things. They want
the best product, they want great workmanship, and they want
a great price. And you can't have all three of them.
(07:55):
You can pick two, but you're going to give up
one or the other. When it comes of the price,
you get a cheap price. They're going to skimp on someplace,
the materials, the labor. However, so and I'm not saying
that you always need to buy the most expensive thing
in the world. But at the same time, what's happened
to the contracting industry over the past twenty thirty years
(08:17):
is that contractors themselves have actually finally gotten good at business.
Whereas back in the day, it was a lot of
you know, a couple of guys and a truck and
going around and just doing what they could, and a
lot of them would rob from Peter to pay Paul.
And what I mean by that is I have to
start the next job just to get enough cash flow
to finish the job that they're on because they had
(08:39):
no idea what they were doing. When it came to business.
There were wonderful crafts people, they were really good at
what they did, but actually running a business they weren't. Well. Nowadays, again,
with so much education out there on the internet, contractors
have gotten good at business. And what that means is
not meaning not saying that they just know how to
charge more and sell better. No, they know how to
(09:00):
charge appropriately so that they can have profit and they
can grow and they can employ more people and they
can do more jobs and they can stay in business.
I mean, there is a stat that was put out
by the Small Business Administration. This was probably about twenty
years ago that ninety four percent of all contractors that
started in business today would be out of business within
(09:22):
twenty four months. And that's not because they are bad people,
that's for the most part, but it's because they don't
know how to run a business. They don't know how
to charge appropriately, and they get into problems where they're
mid job, they run out of money, run out of material.
Instead of going back to the homeowner and saying, my gosh,
I screwed up, or even if they did, the homeowner
(09:43):
might be like too bad, too sad, finish it, they
just leave and once that happens a few times, they
just close up shop. So it's really, really, really important
to listen to the company story, know where that company's
been and know where they're going, Know where they're going.
Are they growing, Are they you know, actively looking to grow?
Are they just maintaining you know, Yeah, it's up to you.
(10:06):
But it's it's very very important because this story and
honestly breaks my heart. It's so bad for her.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well and Andrew. One of the things too. Is is
I think we've talked about this is the folks that
work at Larson Home Services, and we've had quite a
few of them on the air over the years. These
are people that these are not obviously Larsen Home Services.
You're here for the long haul, but the team around you,
these are people when they get hired, these are career jobs.
(10:33):
These are folks that will start, you know, start day one.
They'll start out maybe being on site labor, hauling around
some of the heavy stuff for the other guys. And
in twenty thirty years, these are the guys that are
managing the projects and they're going to retire with you
as well. And it's it's always great to see that
that level of professionalism that you're going to get throughout
top to bottom, no matter who they are. These are
(10:54):
people that I know you do a lot of work
vetting and finding really really good folks to work at
Urst Home Services. And you mentioned, of course the importance
of kind of telling the story and explaining to people
when you're when you're meeting with them the homeowner about
about who you are and what your priorities are and
what you're about, and a little bit about that company integrity.
That stuff is important and it does. It means a lot.
(11:15):
If if you're if you're the team around you is
happy and satisfied. There's a reason because they know that
the work that they're doing is good. They know that
when they go to sleep at night, they can rest
easy knowing that they've done the best by the homeowner,
done the best by the home and that's pretty amazing.
That's one of the great things about working with Andrew
and the team at Larsenome Services. It's a fantastic day
to have them come on out. I know we've had
(11:36):
tis the season for storms and other things. If you've
got questions about your roof, questions about your gutters, great
day to have them come on out. Take a look
from Larsenome Services, no pressure. You'll learn a little bit
about Larsenome Services. You will learn a lot about your
home as well. All I got to do this morning
is pick up phone game McCall six oh eight five
three five forty three forty three. That's five three five
four three four three. Of course you can learn more
(11:58):
online larsen Home Service Verus dot com. That's l A R.
S O N Home Services dot com. Andrew, it's always
great chatting with you. You have a great day and we'll
do it all again real soon.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
All right, we'll see you and again that.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Website Larsenhome Services dot com. Kevin ham Haamsarbacare comes your
way next year on thirteen ten wu i v a
And joining us this morning is mister Andrew Larson from
Larsen Home Services. Andrew, how you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Fantastic? Like always, He'll pick me up song there.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm doing really, really good, And I'm really happy about
this morning's conversation because it's something that I've worked with
you in the past, and obviously I know you, Uh,
this is something that's really near and dear, not just
to your heart, but in practice as well. Let's talk
about this week's conversation. We're not really necessarily talking about products.
(00:30):
We're talking more about culture and service and the people
that you serve.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's correct, you know, I wanted to talk a little
about a little bit, I think I said, company integrity, ethics.
There's a whole lot of stuff we could talk about,
and honestly, choosing the right contractor to do whatever it
is you know you're looking to do. And what really
really spurred me wanting to talk about this is something
(00:58):
that happened here this past week two. A friend of
mine in Lodi, and she reached out to my wife
and asked if she could call me. She calls me
up and she having a problem with her contractor. She
hired a contractor to uh build her a deck, and
they worked on it for a couple of weeks and
they showed up one morning and just said we're done.
(01:18):
They left, and she had already paid them all of
the money she was supposed to pay them. And now
she's sitting there, left high and dry. Single mom saved
up all of this money and now now she's got
to figure out what to do. And and it comes
down to company ethics, and it comes down something that
(01:39):
we talk about talk about a lot. And so so
we have what's when we come over to somebody's house
to give them a price on, you know, a roof
for gutters or insulation. We we we we talk about
our company and we we we have a company story.
And I hear my reps a lot going all yeah,
people don't want to hear it, which to me is
insane that you don't want to hear about the company
(02:03):
that you're thinking about possibly giving thousands of dollars too.
And here's why. When it comes to shingles in a roof,
I mean the type of roof that we put on,
anybody can go buy that material. Sure most don't, but
anybody can go buy it. Anybody can put those type
of shingles on that we use. Our warranties are a
(02:25):
little better because we're a master elite. But in the end,
anybody can go get it. The insulation that we use,
anybody can get that. It's just the way that we
do it and the way that we'll only do it
is what makes it better. Now, our gutters are proprietary,
but there's lots of companies that do gutters. But what
separates us to me is our company story, where we've
come from, what this company is, how many employees this
(02:50):
company has helped, how many homeowners our companies helped. It's
very very important, and here's why. Stories like I just
found out for my friend here getting a deck, and
I asked her upfront, I said, listen, did you get estimates?
And she said yes, And I said, do you mind
(03:11):
sharing with me what those estimates were? And she said.
One of the estimates was about thirty one thousand dollars.
I said, did they tell you about the company as
the company bent around? She said, yeah, they did. Actually
a company went around for a long time, like sound
like a great company. Okay, how about the next one?
The next one was about twenty eight thousand dollars. How
(03:31):
about that. Did they talk about the company? Yes, the
company's been and I'm not going to name the companies,
but ben in business for a long time. Great And
the company that you went with, did they talk about
the company? Well, no, no, But but their bid was
only eleven thousand. I said, so you got a bid
for thirty one twenty eight thousand and eleven thousand, and
(03:52):
you went with the eleven thousand dollars estimate. And I said, unfortunately,
I think this one might be on you. Now. I'm
not I don't want to throw blame on homeowners for
hiring a bad contractor, but I'm going to give this
contractor the benefit of the doubt, saying that they probably
had all of the best intentions in the world. The
problem is is that she did not vet them properly.
(04:16):
They ran into some things that were over their head,
and so rather than lose their tails, they just had
to stop and go away. And it happens all It
blows me away that it still happens all the time,
because there's the Internet now and there's so much free
education out there on what to look for, who to
(04:39):
look for, how to vet a contractor. I mean, if
you're hiring a contractor and they don't have a Google
page with Google reviews, that's a red flag to me,
that's a red flag. And honestly, honestly, Sean, it's not
even that easy to get like Dave really made it difficult.
(05:01):
I mean, you can't just say, hey, I'm a company, yep,
give me Google reviews. Google has a vetting process. So
if a company has it and they have a bunch
of great reviews, you know they're probably a pretty good company.
So when I talk about integrity and ethics, it goes
both ways. Though homeowners have to be able to listen.
(05:23):
We've all heard you can't go with the cheapest estimate.
There's a reason it's the cheapest. Why would one estimate
be eleven thousand and the other two be about thirty
There's a reason for that because those two companies that
were up around thirty thousand bet in business for many years.
They know how much to charge so that they can
finish the job on time and the homeowners happy in
(05:47):
the end, and they have enough profit to continue to
stay in business. When you get an estimate that's a
third of the price, that's not even a third of
the price yeah, is that a third yeap just about
little about a third of the other ones. They are
throwing a number at the wall and guessing, and they
(06:07):
have no idea what they're doing, and as soon as
they run into one little hiccup, they're done. You know
what happens all the time.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
You know, Andrew, And when we talk about this stuff. Obviously,
for all of us, money is important, and I think
that that you sometimes we see these things and we
get very excitedly, Oh, it's a great opportunity to get
a great deal. You know, I'm going to get this thing,
and then we hear these horror stories of what unfortunately happens.
You know, you talk about the deck that that's not completed,
(06:37):
or a company that that may not do the best work,
or when it comes time to for follow up, they're
just not around. And I think one of the great
things you talk about company integrity, There is nothing better
than one you put your name on the business. People
know exactly Larsenal Services, who is Larsenal Services, They know
who you are. But there's also something to be said
(06:58):
for for feeling good about that project in the long term.
Is like some of the stuff like that immediate gratification.
It's cheaper, so you feel good. But in a week
and a month or gosh forbid, if the project never
gets finished, how are you going to feel? Then? I
think of, you know, the work that you guys have
done for us and what we've done in the past.
I just feel like, you know, you're always very confident,
you always feel very good about it. You don't feel
(07:19):
like there was, you know, like anything, any shenanigans or anything.
It's an important it's an important feeling and it comes
really from from respect and understanding of what you got
a really good product for what you paid for in
really good service as well.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Correct. Listen, what's the old adage? You know, I know
I'm going to screw this one up, but you know what,
I'm not even gonna give it. Here's the bottom line
is when people make when people are looking to get
their homework done right, they want three things. They want
the best product, they want great workmanship, and they want
a great price. And you can't have all three of them.
(07:55):
You can pick two, but you're going to give up
one or the other. When it comes of the price,
you get a cheap price. They're going to skimp on someplace,
the materials, the labor. However, so and I'm not saying
that you always need to buy the most expensive thing
in the world. But at the same time, what's happened
to the contracting industry over the past twenty thirty years
(08:17):
is that contractors themselves have actually finally gotten good at business.
Whereas back in the day, it was a lot of
you know, a couple of guys and a truck and
going around and just doing what they could, and a
lot of them would rob from Peter to pay Paul.
And what I mean by that is I have to
start the next job just to get enough cash flow
to finish the job that they're on because they had
(08:39):
no idea what they were doing. When it came to business.
There were wonderful crafts people, they were really good at
what they did, but actually running a business they weren't. Well. Nowadays, again,
with so much education out there on the internet, contractors
have gotten good at business. And what that means is
not meaning not saying that they just know how to
charge more and sell better. No, they know how to
(09:00):
charge appropriately so that they can have profit and they
can grow and they can employ more people and they
can do more jobs and they can stay in business.
I mean, there is a stat that was put out
by the Small Business Administration. This was probably about twenty
years ago that ninety four percent of all contractors that
started in business today would be out of business within
(09:22):
twenty four months. And that's not because they are bad people,
that's for the most part, but it's because they don't
know how to run a business. They don't know how
to charge appropriately, and they get into problems where they're
mid job, they run out of money, run out of material.
Instead of going back to the homeowner and saying, my gosh,
I screwed up, or even if they did, the homeowner
(09:43):
might be like too bad, too sad, finish it, they
just leave and once that happens a few times, they
just close up shop. So it's really, really, really important
to listen to the company story, know where that company's
been and know where they're going, Know where they're going.
Are they growing, Are they you know, actively looking to grow?
Are they just maintaining you know, Yeah, it's up to you.
(10:06):
But it's it's very very important because this story and
honestly breaks my heart. It's so bad for her.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well and Andrew. One of the things too. Is is
I think we've talked about this is the folks that
work at Larson Home Services, and we've had quite a
few of them on the air over the years. These
are people that these are not obviously Larsen Home Services.
You're here for the long haul, but the team around you,
these are people when they get hired, these are career jobs.
(10:33):
These are folks that will start, you know, start day one.
They'll start out maybe being on site labor, hauling around
some of the heavy stuff for the other guys. And
in twenty thirty years, these are the guys that are
managing the projects and they're going to retire with you
as well. And it's it's always great to see that
that level of professionalism that you're going to get throughout
top to bottom, no matter who they are. These are
(10:54):
people that I know you do a lot of work
vetting and finding really really good folks to work at
Urst Home Services. And you mentioned, of course the importance
of kind of telling the story and explaining to people
when you're when you're meeting with them the homeowner about
about who you are and what your priorities are and
what you're about, and a little bit about that company integrity.
That stuff is important and it does. It means a lot.
(11:15):
If if you're if you're the team around you is
happy and satisfied. There's a reason because they know that
the work that they're doing is good. They know that
when they go to sleep at night, they can rest
easy knowing that they've done the best by the homeowner,
done the best by the home and that's pretty amazing.
That's one of the great things about working with Andrew
and the team at Larsenome Services. It's a fantastic day
to have them come on out. I know we've had
(11:36):
tis the season for storms and other things. If you've
got questions about your roof, questions about your gutters, great
day to have them come on out. Take a look
from Larsenome Services, no pressure. You'll learn a little bit
about Larsenome Services. You will learn a lot about your
home as well. All I got to do this morning
is pick up phone game McCall six oh eight five
three five forty three forty three. That's five three five
four three four three. Of course you can learn more
(11:58):
online larsen Home Service Verus dot com. That's l A R.
S O N Home Services dot com. Andrew, it's always
great chatting with you. You have a great day and we'll
do it all again real soon.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
All right, we'll see you and again that.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Website Larsenhome Services dot com. Kevin ham Haamsarbacare comes your
way next year on thirteen ten wu i v a
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