March 5, 2025 • 48 mins
This week Lane and Fred introduce you to Steve Geroski of Red Horizon Engineering and Jack Schroeder and Katie Kwiatkowski of Epic Homes Real Estate. Find out how a passion for design led Steve to begin his own engineering firm, and why after many years in real estate Jack's daugher has joined the firm. Contact info in the links below
Red Horizon Engineering
Epic Homes Real Estate
Red Horizon Engineering
Epic Homes Real Estate
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to a Heart for Business. I'm Fred Lafever and
along with Lane Months, President CEO, the Better Business Bureau
of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, will highlight a local
business weekly. You'll discover why these small local business owners
have a passion for what they do and why the
(00:26):
Better Business Bureau has a Heart for business. Now here's
Lamee Months.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Greeting, salutations and a warm welcome to the listening audience.
Welcome to the program. Two guests today, Steve Jeroski from
Red Horizon Engineering and Jack Schroeder and his daughter Katie
Kwaikowski from Epic Homes. Good morning, good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Good evening.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Wherever you are, however you're listening, Hello Steve, good morning.
Are you nervous?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Oh no, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Been looking forward to this all week. Yeah, yeah, Well
Fred did a pretty good job prepping you. You ran the gauntlet.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, he's all said. I think he knows to use them.
My rule number three, use the mic like Mick Jagger.
There you go, and he's in a band, so you
know how to use microphones, right, I do my best.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Excellent use the mic like Steve Giroski.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yes, yeah, yeah, all right. What country band did you say? Yes, Yeah,
country band out of Columbus, Ohio. We're called Sugar Creek.
It's a it's a blast to be able to do
that on the weekends, you know, get some beer money
going and.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Does that get rid of any pressure that you get
during the week and normal engineering job.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It's a good release. Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I love it. So one of my best friends is
an engineer and he's was in a bluegrass band for decades.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah. Well, now when you say engineer though, okay, because
I've been on radio, I'm going to ready to celebrate
forty five years. My engineers are all radio engineers. One
of them actually built one oh four to seven from
the ground. What engineering field are you in?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Mechanical engineering? So I graduated from Ohio University down in Athens.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I pursued an NBA, finished an NBA in the universe Findlay,
so you know, Ohio educated. I've been in Ohio my
whole life. I won't even tell you how old I
am there, Fred with you being forty five years in
the industry.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
But I'm guessing about forty five thirty nine years old.
So how you like that? Fred? Take that? Wow? Takes that?
So is it unusual to have a master? You said
you got an MBA. Yes, is it unusual for an
engine data have masters or is that the typical route
that an education would take it?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It depends on where you want to go. So, you
know a lot of engineers stay in their field and
they're working on their design or projects supporting manufacturing or
other endeavors, especially from a mechanical side. But the engineering
tools allow you to really branch out into more leadership,
business development, you know, growth opportunities. So I was able
(02:54):
to tag onto the the engineering for lack of a
better terms, training that I've had to help manage business
and whatnot. So I've held multiple roles of management in
my previous life career and opted to branch out on
(03:15):
my own. And we started Red Rising Engineering three years ago,
moved up to Perrysburg two years ago. We're starting our
third year just as last January on Perrysburg at the
Fort Meg's Business Complex. We have a nice, small, but
mighty mighty crew. There's five of us.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You're home grown, so educated in Ohio University Athens. By
the way, did they still have the Burrito Buggy there.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh yeah they did.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh yeah, the Brido Buggy, I remember it well. Yeah,
So I visit there, and that was one of the
some of the reasons why I went there. And then
and then you say Masters in Finley, that's my hometown,
University of Findley. Fantastic organization. And now you planted your
flag in Perrysburg with Red Horizon Engineering. Yes, sir, so
tell us about that origin story.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Fantastic. I decided to move out of UH working for
a large corporation, had thoroughly enjoyed it company in Finley, Ohio.
It was a good opportunity for me to provide some
engineering support for some of the local folks and and
shops U in the area that needed a little boost
(04:22):
in engineering staffing. Spent that for spent doing that for
about a year, and then saw a real need in
laser cutting and metal forming operations, and saw that the
technology in that area was really growing. The price point
was manageable to UH invest in in the equipment, and
(04:47):
so two and a half years ago, I rubbed all
my pennies together and and and we purchased some equipment
and moved into the Perrysburg facility location and been humming
ever since.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
So was the spark the opportunity that you saw. Were
you thinking about that before?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yes, I've had I have a very strong design background
for like industrial equipment, conveyors, other types of structural type stuff, machines,
strong mechanical background, and it's always very interesting to see
how the things are made, whether it be you know,
(05:25):
like this table structure and and bracketry and and your
your microphone arms and stands and whatnot. You know, it
works exactly. And there's such a move in the last
two decades of manufacturing being moved overseas, and we hear
this story and you know, time and time again, and
(05:47):
I'm sure you hear it a lot lane you know,
being tied with a lot of businesses in the area.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And the thing I hate most is when businesses leave
Northwest Ohio southeast Michigan. And it's a problem. It is
a problem that we constantly need to combat. That's why
I wanted to be able to highlight local businesses and
Fred's a big supporter of that.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's fantastic, you know, that's a great way to go.
In my previous life, I was a maintenance reliability manager
for about six years and heavily involved with skill trades.
Your mill Rite, your electricians, Carpenters had about two hundred employees,
and saw such a huge gap in generation between the
(06:31):
guys that were getting ready to retire and leave the
workforce that had all this knowledge and training, and the
few amount of people wanting to get into the skill trades,
whether it just be welding or electrical work. And really
worked hard with the State of Ohio to grow apprenticeship
programs and get involved with the trade schools and starting
(06:55):
to see more uptechnic.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The pendulum is swinging back after thirty years of being
quote out of favor in the eyes of high schools
and they focused on college prep and academic careers. There's
the pendulum is swinging and there's gonna be an uptick
in the skilled trades. I do believe that.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, and that brings up my question. You said you're
what thirty nine, Yes, sir, all right, so twenty years
ago you decided to do this to get into mechanical engineering,
engineering of some sort. Why because it wasn't popular twenty
years ago, necessarily.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Very hands on individual. I started looking in the electrical realm,
but a lot of that is magic if you will.
You don't see the really you see the end result.
You don't really see how things are going. And I'm
a very visual animal. And two of my sons are
electrical engineers. Yes, I'm not going to give them the
compliment of saying what they do is magic. We're going
(07:51):
to keep that to ourselves in the listening audience. It's
definitely different part of the brain those guys can utilize.
But I like to look and see and feel, you know.
We like to be able to have a contact, you know,
with the things we make and design, and then you're
being able to understand how it all fits together so
you can have an outcome that you're trying to desire
to achieve, and what things are out there that can
(08:13):
that exist and what things that don't exist that maybe
we can develop, you know, new concepts or practices to
achieve that.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Well, that's something that's always fascinating me when I watch
those Discovery shows about how things were built, particularly, it's
just absolutely amazing to me how they design these buildings
that don't look like a normal building that would stand,
or how they design a machine. When I see a
machine that's doing a particular job. It's like who thought
of that and how did they know to create that?
(08:43):
So that's what the mechanical engineer does. Right. So if
I tell you I want to make a machine that
folds shirts a certain way, you sit down from scratch
and figure that out. That's correct, and that's where your
passion is at. Yes, yes, what.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
A great You don't know this, Fred, but what a
great lead in when you mentioned folding shirts. Let's tell
the pretzel stories, do you.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
One thing about Horizon Engineering is, unlike a lot of
BBB businesses often that deal directly with the consumer public,
you're really probably dealing with businesses, right, that's your accounts.
Most consumers aren't coming to you, if any. Right, so
you're dealing with another business, another manufacturer. Tell us how
you're doing that, and then tie the pretzel story because
(09:25):
I love that story.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Oh for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
The majority of who we support are you know, other fabricators, manufacturers.
We have a large laser that cuts metal up to
one inch thick steel and below stainless steel, aluminum, brass, big,
big parts, small parts, and we also help, you know,
(09:49):
other companies come up and develop their idea. So there's
a pretzel company, and I don't know if I can
say their name or not. I don't know if they
want that, but anyways, they've approached to help them develop
some molds to make custom shaped pretzels like the block
o for Ohio State. We've done a Notre Dame mold,
(10:10):
the Baltimore Ravens mold that they put in all the
suits and you know, you never so it's a mole, Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
To be an m Dror Dame. It's an actual mold
that they would pour the.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's a promotional pretzel thread pretty much. Yeah, I know,
could you do one in the heart shape for iHeartMedia.
I'm looking at the logo behind Fred and I don't
why not? Yeah, you know, it's a really neat logo.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
But the we do three D printer.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
We have three three D printing.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Machines and that that offers some really unique opportunity to
make off the wall and quick parts out of plastic.
We do food grade material as well. So one of
our customers is a major beef supplier Processor and we're
able to make little parts and components that they are
able to source locally or they're very uh expensive, very quickly,
(11:05):
very cheap and out of food grade material to ride
on that stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, one of the things is when you buy from
far away, that shipping cost becomes an important component of
the price that you're paying if you're a business and
you want to drive that price down. So when you
have somebody local that can turn projects around like this
custom bespoke metal processing and for manufacturing processes, and it's
right around the corner, yes, I mean, that's got to
(11:31):
make that's got to give you a competitive edge.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
It's fun, It definitely is, you know. And uh, allowing
the time to develop and help them develop what they're
looking for is always the fun fun part.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
How do you find them or do they find you?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
They find us? You know, a lot of it is
word of mouth. I read horize in engineering has not
done any media marketing really, it's been communicating with folks
that I've worked with, you know for for decades. And
and uh and then some of the team have a
have another good engineering tech on staff who's a phenomenal
(12:07):
at the three D printing and design work. And uh,
you know, yesterday we were thinking and discussing this with
the meeting today and and wanted to come up, you know,
with a little momento for laying here because he said this,
you know, this is your first podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, so uh we'll we'll get a picture of it
posted on here. You know, we don't have the camera
working today, so you did this in just one day.
So it's it's a metal. It's a metal like a bracket, standless, stale.
You know, I'm not to use the right word, sir,
but but then you've got a microphone setting on it.
So I know Rush Limbaugh had the Golden E IV microphone.
(12:42):
What's this made out of just plastic? It's not it's
a titanium.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Plastic.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, I gotta start somewhere, Fred, So we got to
keep costs down on this with.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
The three D stuff because obviously that's just relatively Is
that very different for you? Did you adapt to that
and and hold on to that as how things were
just going to be going from now on?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Yeah, And in the past, I've used it as a tool,
you know, and you would reach out to other companies.
There's a there's a lot of good web based companies
that you can supply them with what you need made
and it shows up and uh, ray on our staff
here brought his old company to Red horizon when he
came on board called Anchor Anchor United, and uh we
(13:35):
merged our the three D printing process with the metal
making process and it's it's been a neat, a neat relationship.
And the next step in the future is coming is
three D metal metal printing, three D metal pre D
metal printing. It is wild impossible. It is very impressive.
(13:57):
I don't know the origin, but it is definitely coming
down the pipeline very quickly. And you know that's on
for you know, no pun intended our horizon to look
at it. We'll see how we progress over the next
couple of years, but that that's definitely an avenue I'm
keeping an eye on because you can definitely get into
some very complex metal and being able to drive down
(14:21):
cost compared to certain manufacturing products.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So what are the applications for either of these exists?
Like how big is your three D printer? And you know,
what are the applications going forward? What can I expect
if I come to you and have an idea.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Very good question. We can we have a print area,
so it's a volume size. We can do a part
up to a twelve inches tall, twelve inches wide. It's
a nice cubic area the metal printing that's coming down
the pipeline. I went out to IMTS the International Machine
(14:57):
Tool Expo in Chicago about two and a half years
ago and Mitsubishi had their three D metal printing booth
set up where they displayed an engine, a car engine
where ninety percent of it was three D printed and
the headers and everything. So they are three D printing
(15:17):
the complex tubing and how you see on your exhaust
and your headers.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That need to wrap around structure and frame. Are they
breaking the metal the metal material down to where it's
being sprayed like a three D printer with plastic.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Very close to that.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yes, it's a single head and it's just following a
path and making layers and layers as it goes. Very
neat stuff. So, you know, if people are.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Going to put you personally not your company, is that
going to put you as a mechanical engineer out of
business or do we still need you?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
No, we'll definitely still need engineers around that to be
able to one understand how to effectively make the part
using that equipment. Okay, and if you don't, you know,
and you scrap something, you know, you lose a lot
of money right up there. You spent at ninety nine
completion and make a major mistake or the design is
an accurate or robust, then you're out of part and
(16:12):
you're starting all over it.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I can see, I can see I'm going to make
a prediction, but I'm probably not. It's already happened. Prosthetics
metal components for replacements. They're going to be three D
printed custom for that patient. Yes, it's coming. And that's
a really unique aspect of our laser cutting services as well.
We're we're able we do two blaser cutting as well,
so we can do up to nine inch diameter piping
(16:35):
or tube ibing C channel and what that does is
help our customers eliminate the time that they have to
set that part up in a C and C machine center.
The part comes up completely done with all the features
cut into it, it could be tap and really freeze
up manpower. So, like I was saying earlier about the
skilled trades kind of being the head count in the
(16:59):
area a little light, and with new new kids starting
to get involved with that, there's still a big gap.
So what we're really trying to do, What I'm really
trying to do is provide these shops with UH their
parts and components that freeze up their manpower so that
they can work work on their their end project to
get the pro project complete instead of having a guy
(17:22):
set at a bands all all day. That that tradesmen,
that technician could be finishing their their final product by
using these complete parts that come in. And we're a
small outfit, so we you know, we did a good
investment on our equipment, UH with the laser and the
press brakes and a lot of C N C automation
in that so we can we can keep our staff,
(17:42):
you know, pretty tight and be able to provide a
large volume of parts and materials quickly for these customers.
And you know time is money and and your your
labor costs is one of the largest expenses.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
So that's that's got to get passed on. So going forward,
all right, you went to oh you and then you
went to I call it f you. Some people call
it the University of Findlay. So you went to FU
and you got your master's. Going forward, would a kid
in high school right now take that same path or
(18:18):
what would you suggest to them if they tell you,
I'm really interested in doing what you do because it's
changed so much. Where should they go? What should they
look for in an educational path.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
That's why I'm the host.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
You can go that's.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Fantastic to do very well at your job, bred I
appreciate it. The nice thing about an engineering degree, especially
the mechanical side, you could go multiple paths. You can
continue on your engineering schooling and training and become a PE,
which is a professional engineer. It's a very very robust,
(18:53):
very grueling testing and certification process. You have to work
under another fellow PE for multiple years and then you
earned that accreditation to be able to sign off on
your structural stuff, your buildings, your bridges and whatnot. Or
you can go what I did. I did ten years
as an engineer and worked on parts and projects and
(19:16):
installations and project management, and then wanted to go more
into leadership and manage other engineers, manage operations. And you know,
that's what the NBA really helped out with learning those
skills on how to properly handle the business aspects.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Now I know that radio engineers, you know, as new
things come along. The guys who put this all together
had to get certification for Microsoft. This and Microsoft AD
and this microphone and everything, and teachers get CEUs on
a regular basis every year. Does the same hold true
for you and actually for your employees too, Is there
constant training on everything that's going on?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I would say we are constantly learning, okay, and we
don't go through any additional testing. I don't take another
test every year. That's a professional engineer a PE. I
do believe there's some additional work. I don't. Those are
like your top notch engineering professions that hold a lot
(20:19):
of responsibility, a lot of a lot of liability when
you're dealing with like bridges and buildings and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
But even if you hold the PE, it's like being
a doctor or a lawyer, or even in a radio
engineer for like you were talking about off air, even
though you might have that designation and technically you know
you can do anything and sign off on anything. They
all specialize. So whether you hold that or not, you
get heavy into a specialization. Again, just using my kid
as an example, he's electrical engineer. You can do a
(20:49):
lot with it. He's deep into solar field design and
so he's not going to design a highway or a bridge.
You wouldn't want him to. He wouldn't want to do it.
So when you get that deep expertise you have, I mean,
you really stand out and other engineers will even come
to you and say, well, we got a problem. What
do we do here?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
That's that's exactly correct. The understanding the mechanical aspects of
parts and equipment is is very important. You know, time
is very important. You could definitely go overboard on designing
something and make it too heavy duty or to your
bust and you're wasting time and money in that. You know,
(21:29):
being able to understand the mechanical aspects behind those design
works you know, to make it an efficient whatever we're
working on.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Well, you've got to be cost effective cost for you're
a customer too. It's Red Horizon Engineering. Steve Jiroski's are
a guest. You can go to Red Horizon Engineering dot com.
They're also on Facebook. Located down in Perrysburg. You want
to reach out by phone, it's four one nine six
nine two eight nine to four.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
All right, thanks a lot. Steve, was great to have you.
I was excited to have have you on your non
traditional BBB member. If there's anything we can do to
help connect you with businesses that might need your services.
Just give me a call someday.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
That'd be great.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Let's keep pushing manufacturing, especially nor Northwest Ohio. You know,
if you don't make something, we gotta make we gotta
be making things here.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, that's absolutely true. I'd love to hear it. Did
you know our area has over forty thousand businesses. Some
are old, some are new, but they all have a
story to tell about why they sell, How someone took
a chance once upon a time, someone with a heart
for business. Hi, this is Lane Monts, the host of
the Better Business Bureaus Heart for Business podcast. We know
a thing or two about our area's companies, after all,
(22:38):
we've been keeping tabs on them since nineteen nineteen. Join
me in Toledo radio legend Fred la Fever every week
as our BBB superheroes tell their origin story and share
a few industry secrets along the way. Welcome back, everybody,
Lane Monts here with Fred Lafever or radio legend Jack
Schroeder is in the studio. If Jack, is this your
first time in front of the microphone? No way, no way,
(23:00):
no way. This is part two of episode four. So Jack,
you brought somebody with you today.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Who's that I brought my daughter, Katie Quitkowski, and she
is now not only my daughter, but she's my boss.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
She's my way way.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
That is true. I've always been his boss. He's just
now catching on to that.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Make him do the worm on the floor.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
She leap frog over you to be the boss because
it's beauty and intelligence and a whole lot of other things.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Fad. She is a little bit like me, except for
she's more beautiful.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Thank goodness, Katie, glad.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I'm glad. I didn't have to say that, Jack, that
you that you brought that up? So all right, so
you leap frog him? When did you start?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So?
Speaker 5 (23:46):
I got in the business in two thousand and nine,
which is kind of you.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Don't mind me asking how old were you when you
got in the business.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Gosh, do I really have to age myself like that?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Well, let's do it this way. Were you a teenager?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
No?
Speaker 5 (23:57):
No, no, no, okay no. I was in my thirties
when I got into the business. Okay, And actually it
was kind of an odd time to get in in
two thousand and nine, if you remember, I was not
around the time the market crashed, and I remember in
the real estate classes. They're like why, but you learn
every market's different, And so I jumped in during a
(24:19):
hard market, and I learned a lot. You learn a
lot about people in those markets.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Did you go in to save your dad's bacon?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
No, he didn't at that point, he didn't need me
to save his bacon.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
And there must be seven or eight Jack Schroeders because
he's everywhere all the time, like that movie title, Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
No fool. So what did you do before? You know,
before your thirties? And you decided let's do it?
Speaker 5 (24:40):
So I graduated from Oakland University up in Michigan at
Rochester Hills, Great School. Great School had an accounting background,
and while I was going to college, I was working
full time at a CPA firm in downtown Rochester, and
I when I started in my fourth year of college,
(25:00):
I ended up getting into an internship with Saturn and
they obviously liked how my work ethic was and they
hired me out of college. So I had interviewed with
Dana Corp and a couple other places and just felt
like EDS on the Saturn account was the place for me.
So I rose the latter pretty quickly. There I was
(25:22):
with EDS supporting the GM account del Fi account for
ten years.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
And I had really high up customers and so you
learn a lot about customer relationships. I saw a little
bit of the corporate bureaucracy that exists, and I just
decided that, you know, that's not where I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So well, dealing with those guys all right, and the
corporate structure and the suits as we always call them
in the radio business, how different is that from dealing
with the folks who I want to buy a house?
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Well, I think in corporate you're kind of told, you know,
this is the reporting you have to do. This is
you know, it's almost like they map out your day
for you. Especially I was in I started out in
a financial you know position, so we were, you know,
we always had these initiatives that we had to save
GM two million dollars in this area and you know
(26:22):
that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
So, and you really got a color in the lines
when you're in corporate, right, You've got to stay within
the lines. And that's fine. It works for them, right,
but it doesn't give you a chance to show your
individuality and your creativity as much as I think working
at with your dad at Epic Homes.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, that's very different.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
It's very different.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
You like this better.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I do.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
I like the freedom of, you know, kind of setting
my hours, especially having kids, and honestly, you kind of
do work twenty four to seven, especially being a broker.
I have agents that are contacting me. I alway joke
that I work more after five and on weekends than
I do during the day because that's when people are
(27:06):
out and they have the question. So you know, it's
a business that you can be flexible with. But yet
you're still doing what you are passionate about doing. Sure,
and for me, it's helping people.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And that's been in jack your story for as long
as I can recall, Right, you don't work twenty four
to seven. I think you work twenty six y ten.
It seems like it.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
That's just part time.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That's just part time, yeah time. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
You know, on our website we have a pretty clear
little statement that says we're always open and there isn't
a time that you can't reach one or the other
of us by telephone, text, whatever it is. You can
always get ahold of us. It doesn't make any difference.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So Jackie wasn't always a family business. Something changed. Tell
us about when, where, how, why? Why did that change?
Something grew into epic homes. What was that all about?
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Well, I was working with another brokerage and Katie was
working in the marina business. You moved down here from
Rochester Hills, Michigan, got into marina business, and one day
I said to her I could use some help because
there was a lot of short sales going on, and
we became the experts in all of the city on
(28:19):
short sales. People would call us, can you take this one?
Can you do that one? Yeah, we can do them all.
So Katie with her financial background, and I got a
degree in accounting to we both. Some of you might
know this, but I worked for the IRS for thirty
four years before I retired, So this is really this
is career number two for me. And my retirement lasted
(28:44):
five days the last week in December.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's all. Yes, I hope mine lasts longer than that.
When I finally decided.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
To retire, thirty four years for the IRS.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Yes, and executive for seventeen years, and we had a
good time. Katie talks about her reallylationship with General Motors.
I was involved in the Auditor General Motors and were
the first time in the history we were able to
resolve all the issues. And I take good pride in
the fact that I am a superior negotiator. I understand
(29:13):
how to bring issues to a resolution. And if you're
good at that, you can be good if you get
the people skills in real estate. So once once Katie
met the new love of her life, Doug, and the
three of us hit it off fantastic. So one day
(29:34):
my birthdays in September.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
All right, I'll remember that.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, I know that, you'll remember that. Fred. They called
me up and said, you know what, we think it's
time for us to go out and start looking for space.
I said, what are you looking for space for? So, well,
I think it's time that we just kind of move
away from the brokerage where we're at and start our
(29:57):
own business. And I tell you what, that's been a
lifelong dream for me. I grew up on a farm
and it's like being a farm all over again.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
So you were ready for when they suggested it?
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Yeah, I was ready.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Okay, Yeah, you suggested it, Katie, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
It was. It was during COVID. It just made sense
we were closer we could be closer to home. We
were trying to homeschool kids, okay, so and we you know,
he mentioned that we had merged teams I think with
my husband who had his own team, So we were
kind of already independent where we were, okay, and it
just made sense to get a little closer to home.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
So you both had that background in finance. How important
is that? Because I don't think I don't know. When
I think real estate, I don't really think about the
finance part of it. I figure I'm going to go
see somebody else for that part. How important is that
background for you guys for epic homes?
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Well, let Katie touch on that for a little bit
and then I'll pick up on it. Katie did some
stuff like that before she ever got into real estate.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
I was a mortgage originator too. I've had a lot
of careers. I'm multitask well, and so for a couple
of years I worked as a loan officer. So I
had the financial background, which is kind of what helped
when we got into the short sales. I knew the
back end of how the loan origination PROSS worked and
some of the lingo. But you know, ultimately it just
(31:22):
kind of went hand in hand, so it worked well.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
The other thing that became important is from a financial standpoint,
it's better to be able to make all the decisions
than just a few of them. And even though we're
independent contractors, and we still are, it is just different
to have your own business. And our goal was to
have a family owned business, not to be a big brokerage,
(31:48):
just to be a really good brokerage and to have
quality people working for us and for us to be
in a position where we can mentor and bring people
along so that when we watch they grew up in
a business, we feel like that's a piece of us.
And I just know for sure that you know, Fred,
(32:09):
I used to chase people up and down the streets,
and I don't do that anymore. I don't need to
do that, Lane, Yeah, do.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
You not don't need to do it?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
But I think he still I think I saw you
at church, Jack, and I go to the same church.
By the way, he might have chased a few people down.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
He's probably desire.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yes, do you not need to do that? Because now
you have a reputation for being good at what you do.
And how important is the customer support and Katie's ability
to maybe explain to me as a buyer in layman's terms,
what I'm getting into. Because you know, they put so
many papers in front of you. When you buy.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
House is the biggest financial decision you're going to make,
So you have to be working with someone you trust,
somebody that has the right knowledge and is going to
guide you the right direction, point you to people who
are going to be able to help you in different scenarios,
because everybody's financial situation is not the same. You have
VA people, you have FHA people, you have first time
(33:07):
home buyers, you have divorce situations, you have estate situations.
There's a whole lot of different situations out there, and
the finance piece is different for each one of them.
So it's important to get a great knowledge of that,
and I think we do very well at that for
our clients.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
How do people know? How will they tell when they're
looking for a realtor whether they're a buyer or a seller.
How are they going to tell the difference? What kind
of questions could they ask?
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Well, we're not afraid of them asking any questions, and
we're not concerned about them having discussions with other real
historic people. But the vast majority of the ones that
contact me, I am the only one that they talk to.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Really, So you convince them right off the ball.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's a matter of how comfortable
are they with you and do they see themselves as
being on the team with us together, and they can tell.
And it's one of the things that I was going
to say a little bit earlier is when we opened
Epic Holmes real Estate five years ago, we were pretty
(34:12):
well known throughout the community, throughout the whole area. But
what we didn't have was what do we have to
do that takes that bridge to get them from where
we were to where we are. So our focus was
more initially at least on getting familiar with the community. Sure,
having them know that there's another not sheriff in town,
(34:35):
but there's another real option.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
There's another option, that's right.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
So we're the only brokerage in Savania that is a
Savania brokerage. We're out of Mayberry Square, which is a
great location.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Beauty.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, it's great. It is a good look. I was
going to mention that, but you got to it.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
But the kind of back to the question a little bit.
The first time I went out on a listing appointment.
I think because of my experience with the IRS and
this and that, I just thought, you know, I had
moved eleven times, bought and sold houses, and I mean,
I just knew a lot about real estate, and I
(35:10):
always had this passion for getting into real estate. But
you have to have a passion for people, and when
they meet you for the first time and they feel
that connection, that's all that takes. And if they trust you,
you're going to get from here to here. And we
don't do a lot of handoffs. A lot of reg
estate companies, it's handoff, handoff, handoff, handoff. We see it
(35:34):
from start to finish. I go to every one of
my clothings. I'm there from people from the beginning to
the end, and they know that I personally and Katie
personally cares about them as individuals and we'll make all
kinds of sacrifices to make the deal come together because
and that will not happen.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And that comes true. But I'm kind of curious because
IRS doesn't have the reputation of carrying a whole lot
about their clients. That's the reputation, whether it's true or not,
and coming from the corporate world again, It's like, yeah,
well she's dealing with the suits, So where did that
come from? Is that a family thing? Then?
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I think it is a little bit of a family thing,
you know. The work ethic. I don't think there are
very many people at the IRS who worked as hard
as I did. I went up the ladder faster than
almost anybody ever. You know, my first manager job is
at age twenty six. You know, Wow, everybody was old
enough to be my father or mother that was working
for me.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Sometimes you learn, sometimes you learn this is I mean,
this is my bit of wisdom here. Sometimes you learn
how you want to be. You grow into the person,
the business person you want to be because you have
a mentor that shows you what to do. And sometimes
and sometimes you go into the person and the business
person you want to be by watching and saying, I
(36:52):
don't want to do it that way, That's not how
I would do it. And so when you get to
a point where you're opening your own brokerage right to
make the calls, you get to decide what you're going
to do and what you're not gonna do, how you're
going to handle it. Is it going to be personal?
Is it going to be transactional. I think it's pretty
clear with you guys, with this family with Epic Homes,
it's personal first.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Well, and like Jack said, you said you moved like
eleven times, you bought houses and sold houses like eleven times.
What are the lessons that you learned from that that
you carried into when you decided to start Epic Homes.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Oh yeah, that's a really interesting part of a discussion
because I went from well, when we moved to from Washington,
d C. To Boston, the interest rates were eighteen percent
and even if you could get alone, it was a miracle.
(37:45):
So we had to watch every penny. I mean, it
was a tough thing for us to go through. Katie
and her brother and sister were all there together and
they know that it was just a real challenge. But
when I left and I sold our house, we made
fifty thousand dollars, So you know, if you invest in
the right location, in the right type of house, and
(38:07):
those kind of things are really important. So I learned
a lot about it. And the interesting thing to me
will always be when we were on our way from
Boston to Detroit. That was the next move. Katie and
her brother Brian, they had already mapped out the house
that we should look at.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
They had or was she doing that?
Speaker 4 (38:27):
They had all this stuff figured.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Out, and that's your future, boss Jack, that's your future.
Boston action.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
It was. And it was different too for us because
we left Katie to stay in Rochester Hills and to
go to Oakland University, and we moved out of state.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
They left me behind.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
That's all I know, Right.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Did they give you the forwarding address?
Speaker 5 (38:47):
They left me to sell their house. And that's how
I learned because.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
So, wait a minute, you were just going to college.
You were like eighteen or nineteen.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
I graduated high school at seventeen. I lived on my own.
At seventeen, I decided, Hey, I'm going to live at home,
go to Oakland University. It's a mile from our house.
I'll save my dad all this money. And then he
comes home one day and says, guess what, I got
a job transfer, I got a promotion. It means I
gotta go. So, you know, Oakland University back then was
(39:18):
much smaller than it is today. It was a commuter college.
There was a single dormitory that may have housed three
hundred kids if that. So he actually kind of set
me up for my financial success in that instead of
paying college and tuition and room and board, he told me,
(39:40):
I will give you this amount of money, go find
an apartment. It has to last you all month if
you don't get through it. So I learned at seventeen
how to budget my money. But until the house that
we lived in sold, I lived there. We had a dog.
They were in temporary housing where they moved to, so
they couldn't take the dog yet because their house was
being built. So I had to leave my job or
(40:04):
my classes at college to go home, just like people
do today, to let their dog out so people can
show the house. I had to keep cutting the grass
I had to keep. So that was my first experience
with being a seller.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Was that good for you?
Speaker 5 (40:19):
It was?
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I mean at the time, were you thinking, girl, what
are you doing this to me for? Or did you
see the value in it?
Speaker 5 (40:25):
I didn't see the value in it then, but I
definitely do now. I believe that things have changed so
drastically with the way we raise our kids and just
how they're They're just given things right, and so they
don't understand how to budget money. You know, even my son,
(40:45):
and he's a pretty smart kid, but he's like, just
put it on your card. Well, that card has to
be paid.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Right, it doesn't it does.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
My friends used to tease me because we'd go shopping
and I would buy stuff and I would return it
before we even left them all because I was like,
you know what, I need to have food right like that. Yeah, So,
I mean it was a valuable lesson, but that was
my first experience with truly helping help sell a house.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
When you guys do that, either of you, do you
take that into consideration because you said you establish a
relationship with your customers, is that part of what you
try to find out about them, where they're at financially
and how much their dream might cost and how much
they can really afford.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Well, the fascinating part of that is most agents won't
even talk to a potential buyer or seller unless they
know for sure that they have the financial qualifications to
move from point A to point B or to get
their home for the first time. So I'm one of
those guys that kind of lives on the edge because
(41:52):
I have never found somebody that I cannot get them financing. Okay,
you work with them, you teach them what they need
to know and if they follow through, they're going to
be successful. So yep, I still would prefer to have
somebody who's preapproved before I take them out. Sure, but
it's not always the most important thing. The really critical
(42:15):
aspect of it is do you feel comfortable with each
other and if they like me and I feel comfortable
with them. I mean, I haven't turned down very many
listenings in my entire life twenty one years that I've
been doing this, But there are some people that you
just know it's going to be an issue every day,
(42:35):
every step along the way, and sometimes it's easier to
just say, you know, maybe you had to check with
a couple more people. You know, it's like, well, but
that's so hard for me to do.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yeah, But to that point, it's not just bad for
you to take that person, it's bad for that person
to put themselves in that situation where they can't afford it.
I mean, you know, right, sense in.
Speaker 5 (43:03):
Your relationship has to work. It's no different than anything,
and you have to have a point where you can
be on the same page with people. I think it's
important to sit down and have a conversation with them.
What are your goals? Right, like, where are you trying
to be some even with financing right from all perspectives,
Are you going to be there for three years? Are
you going to be there for seven years? Do you
(43:24):
plan on being here for a long time? People with
children sometimes they want to be in a very specific
neighborhood or close neighborhood to a certain elementary school, and
you can't find them anything, and it's like they're only
going to be here two more years, like you know.
So sometimes it's those tough conversations that you have to
(43:46):
have with people because they don't always think about things
like that, right.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (43:51):
We've had people when you know, Sylvania did their school redistricting,
we had people that were calling us in a panic
because they wanted their kids to stay in the same
elementary and they literally moved long before they even created
the new boundary lines and they could have stayed where
they were because there was so many different things on
(44:12):
the table. So no matter if it's a seller or
a buyer, it's super important to sit down and find
out what their long term goals are. And obviously things change.
We see houses, you know, sell, and six months later
somebody gets an unexpected job transfer and now they have
to sell again. That's that wasn't a part of the plan.
But if it makes sense for them to take that job,
(44:34):
then go there. This is a huge community for medical people.
They're coming in and they're doing their residencies here. You know,
Jack has sold houses to a few of them, and
you know, they're here for nine months and then they're like,
you know what, we got a great opportunity down in Texas.
We're going to take it. It's not the right time
to sell. He's had to help them, you know, do
(44:55):
temporary rental situations until they can actually recoup what they
put into it. So there's a lot that goes into
buying and selling, and you have to have all those conversations.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
And don't you think it's better if you have to
have a tough conversation. You're going to have to have
it right, Have it earlier rather than later. Nothing's worse
and happen to have, excuse me, a tough conversation at
the end of a transaction when things are already signed
and you know, people didn't realize the repercussions. It's better
to have that. Tease it out early, go through the
painful conversation early. People appreciate it in the long run.
Speaker 5 (45:30):
I think I agree well, And what.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
I'm getting from both of you is the honesty part
of it, that you consider it really important to be
honest in your dealings with your clients. How important is
that to you as we wrap.
Speaker 4 (45:46):
Up here, Well, there's not a whole lot that's more
important than that, you know. That's kind of at the
top of the pile for me. That trust, the credibility
that you have. I have a lot of clients that
are seniors and it's easier for me to interact with
them sometimes, and it even would be Katie or some
of the younger educations in our office because they feel
(46:09):
more comfortable with me. Sure, but I can deal with
people no matter whether they're twenty or eighty. It don't
make any difference. It's how you relate to them and
whether they feel as comfortable as we can make them.
And we have to demonstrate, no matter how many times
we have to talk a little bit about it, that
we really do care for them. You know, I sold
(46:30):
a house a condo to a lady on Super Bowl
Sunday and.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
You're supposed to be watching the game.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
Jack, I know, and we did watch the game. But
the interesting thing was.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
I love it. I love hearing that. I just I
love it so.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
Much, she says to me. And we've been looking, and
we've been looking, and we got beat one time. And
I don't like getting beat. I got to finish number
one no matter what. It's just the way I am.
But the interesting thing on that is when we went
out to look at the place where we're already seven
offers on it and it was the second day on
the market. Wow, And we figured out a way to
(47:07):
get to the top of the pile. And she is excited.
We're closing that house on Tuesday. That's how fast that
we are. And this is and I mentioned this before.
We don't hand things off. We do it. We see
it all the way through. The title companies would tell
you the lenders that we work with, they understand that
we know how to get there first, and we always
(47:28):
do it right.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Anything in closing, Katie, I.
Speaker 5 (47:32):
Think Jack just summed it up pretty nicely. I mean,
it's again, it's all about the people. It's all about
the honest conversations and helping people the way you would
want them to help you or your family will get
you to the finish line every time.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
That is just what the BBB wanted to hear. That
is just what we wanted to hear. Thanks Katie, thank
you Jack, both of you for coming in. We'll have
you in again. I'm sure it's a family ordeal here,
and there's more to tell to that tale, I think.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
If you'd like to reach out Epic Holmes dot for
sale phone numbers four one nine three eight six zero
one two three. They're also on Facebook and you can
email them all right. They are our guests for this week.
We'll be back again next week, and don't forget you
can always get this podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you
(48:23):
listen to podcasts. Thanks for joining us again for this
episode of A Heart for Business
Welcome to a Heart for Business. I'm Fred Lafever and
along with Lane Months, President CEO, the Better Business Bureau
of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, will highlight a local
business weekly. You'll discover why these small local business owners
have a passion for what they do and why the
(00:26):
Better Business Bureau has a Heart for business. Now here's
Lamee Months.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Greeting, salutations and a warm welcome to the listening audience.
Welcome to the program. Two guests today, Steve Jeroski from
Red Horizon Engineering and Jack Schroeder and his daughter Katie
Kwaikowski from Epic Homes. Good morning, good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Good evening.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Wherever you are, however you're listening, Hello Steve, good morning.
Are you nervous?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Oh no, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Been looking forward to this all week. Yeah, yeah, Well
Fred did a pretty good job prepping you. You ran the gauntlet.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, he's all said. I think he knows to use them.
My rule number three, use the mic like Mick Jagger.
There you go, and he's in a band, so you
know how to use microphones, right, I do my best.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Excellent use the mic like Steve Giroski.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yes, yeah, yeah, all right. What country band did you say? Yes, Yeah,
country band out of Columbus, Ohio. We're called Sugar Creek.
It's a it's a blast to be able to do
that on the weekends, you know, get some beer money
going and.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Does that get rid of any pressure that you get
during the week and normal engineering job.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It's a good release. Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I love it. So one of my best friends is
an engineer and he's was in a bluegrass band for decades.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah. Well, now when you say engineer though, okay, because
I've been on radio, I'm going to ready to celebrate
forty five years. My engineers are all radio engineers. One
of them actually built one oh four to seven from
the ground. What engineering field are you in?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Mechanical engineering? So I graduated from Ohio University down in Athens.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I pursued an NBA, finished an NBA in the universe Findlay,
so you know, Ohio educated. I've been in Ohio my
whole life. I won't even tell you how old I
am there, Fred with you being forty five years in
the industry.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
But I'm guessing about forty five thirty nine years old.
So how you like that? Fred? Take that? Wow? Takes that?
So is it unusual to have a master? You said
you got an MBA. Yes, is it unusual for an
engine data have masters or is that the typical route
that an education would take it?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
It depends on where you want to go. So, you
know a lot of engineers stay in their field and
they're working on their design or projects supporting manufacturing or
other endeavors, especially from a mechanical side. But the engineering
tools allow you to really branch out into more leadership,
business development, you know, growth opportunities. So I was able
(02:54):
to tag onto the the engineering for lack of a
better terms, training that I've had to help manage business
and whatnot. So I've held multiple roles of management in
my previous life career and opted to branch out on
(03:15):
my own. And we started Red Rising Engineering three years ago,
moved up to Perrysburg two years ago. We're starting our
third year just as last January on Perrysburg at the
Fort Meg's Business Complex. We have a nice, small, but
mighty mighty crew. There's five of us.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You're home grown, so educated in Ohio University Athens. By
the way, did they still have the Burrito Buggy there.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh yeah they did.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh yeah, the Brido Buggy, I remember it well. Yeah,
So I visit there, and that was one of the
some of the reasons why I went there. And then
and then you say Masters in Finley, that's my hometown,
University of Findley. Fantastic organization. And now you planted your
flag in Perrysburg with Red Horizon Engineering. Yes, sir, so
tell us about that origin story.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Fantastic. I decided to move out of UH working for
a large corporation, had thoroughly enjoyed it company in Finley, Ohio.
It was a good opportunity for me to provide some
engineering support for some of the local folks and and
shops U in the area that needed a little boost
(04:22):
in engineering staffing. Spent that for spent doing that for
about a year, and then saw a real need in
laser cutting and metal forming operations, and saw that the
technology in that area was really growing. The price point
was manageable to UH invest in in the equipment, and
(04:47):
so two and a half years ago, I rubbed all
my pennies together and and and we purchased some equipment
and moved into the Perrysburg facility location and been humming
ever since.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
So was the spark the opportunity that you saw. Were
you thinking about that before?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yes, I've had I have a very strong design background
for like industrial equipment, conveyors, other types of structural type stuff, machines,
strong mechanical background, and it's always very interesting to see
how the things are made, whether it be you know,
(05:25):
like this table structure and and bracketry and and your
your microphone arms and stands and whatnot. You know, it
works exactly. And there's such a move in the last
two decades of manufacturing being moved overseas, and we hear
this story and you know, time and time again, and
(05:47):
I'm sure you hear it a lot lane you know,
being tied with a lot of businesses in the area.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
And the thing I hate most is when businesses leave
Northwest Ohio southeast Michigan. And it's a problem. It is
a problem that we constantly need to combat. That's why
I wanted to be able to highlight local businesses and
Fred's a big supporter of that.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's fantastic, you know, that's a great way to go.
In my previous life, I was a maintenance reliability manager
for about six years and heavily involved with skill trades.
Your mill Rite, your electricians, Carpenters had about two hundred employees,
and saw such a huge gap in generation between the
(06:31):
guys that were getting ready to retire and leave the
workforce that had all this knowledge and training, and the
few amount of people wanting to get into the skill trades,
whether it just be welding or electrical work. And really
worked hard with the State of Ohio to grow apprenticeship
programs and get involved with the trade schools and starting
(06:55):
to see more uptechnic.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
The pendulum is swinging back after thirty years of being
quote out of favor in the eyes of high schools
and they focused on college prep and academic careers. There's
the pendulum is swinging and there's gonna be an uptick
in the skilled trades. I do believe that.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, and that brings up my question. You said you're
what thirty nine, Yes, sir, all right, so twenty years
ago you decided to do this to get into mechanical engineering,
engineering of some sort. Why because it wasn't popular twenty
years ago, necessarily.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Very hands on individual. I started looking in the electrical realm,
but a lot of that is magic if you will.
You don't see the really you see the end result.
You don't really see how things are going. And I'm
a very visual animal. And two of my sons are
electrical engineers. Yes, I'm not going to give them the
compliment of saying what they do is magic. We're going
(07:51):
to keep that to ourselves in the listening audience. It's
definitely different part of the brain those guys can utilize.
But I like to look and see and feel, you know.
We like to be able to have a contact, you know,
with the things we make and design, and then you're
being able to understand how it all fits together so
you can have an outcome that you're trying to desire
to achieve, and what things are out there that can
(08:13):
that exist and what things that don't exist that maybe
we can develop, you know, new concepts or practices to
achieve that.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Well, that's something that's always fascinating me when I watch
those Discovery shows about how things were built, particularly, it's
just absolutely amazing to me how they design these buildings
that don't look like a normal building that would stand,
or how they design a machine. When I see a
machine that's doing a particular job. It's like who thought
of that and how did they know to create that?
(08:43):
So that's what the mechanical engineer does. Right. So if
I tell you I want to make a machine that
folds shirts a certain way, you sit down from scratch
and figure that out. That's correct, and that's where your
passion is at. Yes, yes, what.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
A great You don't know this, Fred, but what a
great lead in when you mentioned folding shirts. Let's tell
the pretzel stories, do you.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
One thing about Horizon Engineering is, unlike a lot of
BBB businesses often that deal directly with the consumer public,
you're really probably dealing with businesses, right, that's your accounts.
Most consumers aren't coming to you, if any. Right, so
you're dealing with another business, another manufacturer. Tell us how
you're doing that, and then tie the pretzel story because
(09:25):
I love that story.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Oh for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
The majority of who we support are you know, other fabricators, manufacturers.
We have a large laser that cuts metal up to
one inch thick steel and below stainless steel, aluminum, brass, big,
big parts, small parts, and we also help, you know,
(09:49):
other companies come up and develop their idea. So there's
a pretzel company, and I don't know if I can
say their name or not. I don't know if they
want that, but anyways, they've approached to help them develop
some molds to make custom shaped pretzels like the block
o for Ohio State. We've done a Notre Dame mold,
(10:10):
the Baltimore Ravens mold that they put in all the
suits and you know, you never so it's a mole, Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
To be an m Dror Dame. It's an actual mold
that they would pour the.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's a promotional pretzel thread pretty much. Yeah, I know,
could you do one in the heart shape for iHeartMedia.
I'm looking at the logo behind Fred and I don't
why not? Yeah, you know, it's a really neat logo.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
But the we do three D printer.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
We have three three D printing.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Machines and that that offers some really unique opportunity to
make off the wall and quick parts out of plastic.
We do food grade material as well. So one of
our customers is a major beef supplier Processor and we're
able to make little parts and components that they are
able to source locally or they're very uh expensive, very quickly,
(11:05):
very cheap and out of food grade material to ride
on that stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, one of the things is when you buy from
far away, that shipping cost becomes an important component of
the price that you're paying if you're a business and
you want to drive that price down. So when you
have somebody local that can turn projects around like this
custom bespoke metal processing and for manufacturing processes, and it's
right around the corner, yes, I mean, that's got to
(11:31):
make that's got to give you a competitive edge.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
It's fun, It definitely is, you know. And uh, allowing
the time to develop and help them develop what they're
looking for is always the fun fun part.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
How do you find them or do they find you?
Speaker 3 (11:46):
They find us? You know, a lot of it is
word of mouth. I read horize in engineering has not
done any media marketing really, it's been communicating with folks
that I've worked with, you know for for decades. And
and uh and then some of the team have a
have another good engineering tech on staff who's a phenomenal
(12:07):
at the three D printing and design work. And uh,
you know, yesterday we were thinking and discussing this with
the meeting today and and wanted to come up, you know,
with a little momento for laying here because he said this,
you know, this is your first podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, so uh we'll we'll get a picture of it
posted on here. You know, we don't have the camera
working today, so you did this in just one day.
So it's it's a metal. It's a metal like a bracket, standless, stale.
You know, I'm not to use the right word, sir,
but but then you've got a microphone setting on it.
So I know Rush Limbaugh had the Golden E IV microphone.
(12:42):
What's this made out of just plastic? It's not it's
a titanium.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Plastic.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, I gotta start somewhere, Fred, So we got to
keep costs down on this with.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
The three D stuff because obviously that's just relatively Is
that very different for you? Did you adapt to that
and and hold on to that as how things were
just going to be going from now on?
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Yeah, And in the past, I've used it as a tool,
you know, and you would reach out to other companies.
There's a there's a lot of good web based companies
that you can supply them with what you need made
and it shows up and uh, ray on our staff
here brought his old company to Red horizon when he
came on board called Anchor Anchor United, and uh we
(13:35):
merged our the three D printing process with the metal
making process and it's it's been a neat, a neat relationship.
And the next step in the future is coming is
three D metal metal printing, three D metal pre D
metal printing. It is wild impossible. It is very impressive.
(13:57):
I don't know the origin, but it is definitely coming
down the pipeline very quickly. And you know that's on
for you know, no pun intended our horizon to look
at it. We'll see how we progress over the next
couple of years, but that that's definitely an avenue I'm
keeping an eye on because you can definitely get into
some very complex metal and being able to drive down
(14:21):
cost compared to certain manufacturing products.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So what are the applications for either of these exists?
Like how big is your three D printer? And you know,
what are the applications going forward? What can I expect
if I come to you and have an idea.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Very good question. We can we have a print area,
so it's a volume size. We can do a part
up to a twelve inches tall, twelve inches wide. It's
a nice cubic area the metal printing that's coming down
the pipeline. I went out to IMTS the International Machine
(14:57):
Tool Expo in Chicago about two and a half years
ago and Mitsubishi had their three D metal printing booth
set up where they displayed an engine, a car engine
where ninety percent of it was three D printed and
the headers and everything. So they are three D printing
(15:17):
the complex tubing and how you see on your exhaust
and your headers.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That need to wrap around structure and frame. Are they
breaking the metal the metal material down to where it's
being sprayed like a three D printer with plastic.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Very close to that.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yes, it's a single head and it's just following a
path and making layers and layers as it goes. Very
neat stuff. So, you know, if people are.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Going to put you personally not your company, is that
going to put you as a mechanical engineer out of
business or do we still need you?
Speaker 3 (15:50):
No, we'll definitely still need engineers around that to be
able to one understand how to effectively make the part
using that equipment. Okay, and if you don't, you know,
and you scrap something, you know, you lose a lot
of money right up there. You spent at ninety nine
completion and make a major mistake or the design is
an accurate or robust, then you're out of part and
(16:12):
you're starting all over it.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I can see, I can see I'm going to make
a prediction, but I'm probably not. It's already happened. Prosthetics
metal components for replacements. They're going to be three D
printed custom for that patient. Yes, it's coming. And that's
a really unique aspect of our laser cutting services as well.
We're we're able we do two blaser cutting as well,
so we can do up to nine inch diameter piping
(16:35):
or tube ibing C channel and what that does is
help our customers eliminate the time that they have to
set that part up in a C and C machine center.
The part comes up completely done with all the features
cut into it, it could be tap and really freeze
up manpower. So, like I was saying earlier about the
skilled trades kind of being the head count in the
(16:59):
area a little light, and with new new kids starting
to get involved with that, there's still a big gap.
So what we're really trying to do, What I'm really
trying to do is provide these shops with UH their
parts and components that freeze up their manpower so that
they can work work on their their end project to
get the pro project complete instead of having a guy
(17:22):
set at a bands all all day. That that tradesmen,
that technician could be finishing their their final product by
using these complete parts that come in. And we're a
small outfit, so we you know, we did a good
investment on our equipment, UH with the laser and the
press brakes and a lot of C N C automation
in that so we can we can keep our staff,
(17:42):
you know, pretty tight and be able to provide a
large volume of parts and materials quickly for these customers.
And you know time is money and and your your
labor costs is one of the largest expenses.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
So that's that's got to get passed on. So going forward,
all right, you went to oh you and then you
went to I call it f you. Some people call
it the University of Findlay. So you went to FU
and you got your master's. Going forward, would a kid
in high school right now take that same path or
(18:18):
what would you suggest to them if they tell you,
I'm really interested in doing what you do because it's
changed so much. Where should they go? What should they
look for in an educational path.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
That's why I'm the host.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
You can go that's.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Fantastic to do very well at your job, bred I
appreciate it. The nice thing about an engineering degree, especially
the mechanical side, you could go multiple paths. You can
continue on your engineering schooling and training and become a PE,
which is a professional engineer. It's a very very robust,
(18:53):
very grueling testing and certification process. You have to work
under another fellow PE for multiple years and then you
earned that accreditation to be able to sign off on
your structural stuff, your buildings, your bridges and whatnot. Or
you can go what I did. I did ten years
as an engineer and worked on parts and projects and
(19:16):
installations and project management, and then wanted to go more
into leadership and manage other engineers, manage operations. And you know,
that's what the NBA really helped out with learning those
skills on how to properly handle the business aspects.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Now I know that radio engineers, you know, as new
things come along. The guys who put this all together
had to get certification for Microsoft. This and Microsoft AD
and this microphone and everything, and teachers get CEUs on
a regular basis every year. Does the same hold true
for you and actually for your employees too, Is there
constant training on everything that's going on?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
I would say we are constantly learning, okay, and we
don't go through any additional testing. I don't take another
test every year. That's a professional engineer a PE. I
do believe there's some additional work. I don't. Those are
like your top notch engineering professions that hold a lot
(20:19):
of responsibility, a lot of a lot of liability when
you're dealing with like bridges and buildings and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
But even if you hold the PE, it's like being
a doctor or a lawyer, or even in a radio
engineer for like you were talking about off air, even
though you might have that designation and technically you know
you can do anything and sign off on anything. They
all specialize. So whether you hold that or not, you
get heavy into a specialization. Again, just using my kid
as an example, he's electrical engineer. You can do a
(20:49):
lot with it. He's deep into solar field design and
so he's not going to design a highway or a bridge.
You wouldn't want him to. He wouldn't want to do it.
So when you get that deep expertise you have, I mean,
you really stand out and other engineers will even come
to you and say, well, we got a problem. What
do we do here?
Speaker 3 (21:07):
That's that's exactly correct. The understanding the mechanical aspects of
parts and equipment is is very important. You know, time
is very important. You could definitely go overboard on designing
something and make it too heavy duty or to your
bust and you're wasting time and money in that. You know,
(21:29):
being able to understand the mechanical aspects behind those design
works you know, to make it an efficient whatever we're
working on.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Well, you've got to be cost effective cost for you're
a customer too. It's Red Horizon Engineering. Steve Jiroski's are
a guest. You can go to Red Horizon Engineering dot com.
They're also on Facebook. Located down in Perrysburg. You want
to reach out by phone, it's four one nine six
nine two eight nine to four.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
All right, thanks a lot. Steve, was great to have you.
I was excited to have have you on your non
traditional BBB member. If there's anything we can do to
help connect you with businesses that might need your services.
Just give me a call someday.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
That'd be great.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Let's keep pushing manufacturing, especially nor Northwest Ohio. You know,
if you don't make something, we gotta make we gotta
be making things here.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, that's absolutely true. I'd love to hear it. Did
you know our area has over forty thousand businesses. Some
are old, some are new, but they all have a
story to tell about why they sell, How someone took
a chance once upon a time, someone with a heart
for business. Hi, this is Lane Monts, the host of
the Better Business Bureaus Heart for Business podcast. We know
a thing or two about our area's companies, after all,
(22:38):
we've been keeping tabs on them since nineteen nineteen. Join
me in Toledo radio legend Fred la Fever every week
as our BBB superheroes tell their origin story and share
a few industry secrets along the way. Welcome back, everybody,
Lane Monts here with Fred Lafever or radio legend Jack
Schroeder is in the studio. If Jack, is this your
first time in front of the microphone? No way, no way,
(23:00):
no way. This is part two of episode four. So Jack,
you brought somebody with you today.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Who's that I brought my daughter, Katie Quitkowski, and she
is now not only my daughter, but she's my boss.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
She's my way way.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
That is true. I've always been his boss. He's just
now catching on to that.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Make him do the worm on the floor.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
She leap frog over you to be the boss because
it's beauty and intelligence and a whole lot of other things.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Fad. She is a little bit like me, except for
she's more beautiful.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Thank goodness, Katie, glad.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
I'm glad. I didn't have to say that, Jack, that
you that you brought that up? So all right, so
you leap frog him? When did you start?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So?
Speaker 5 (23:46):
I got in the business in two thousand and nine,
which is kind of you.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Don't mind me asking how old were you when you
got in the business.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Gosh, do I really have to age myself like that?
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Well, let's do it this way. Were you a teenager?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
No?
Speaker 5 (23:57):
No, no, no, okay no. I was in my thirties
when I got into the business. Okay, And actually it
was kind of an odd time to get in in
two thousand and nine, if you remember, I was not
around the time the market crashed, and I remember in
the real estate classes. They're like why, but you learn
every market's different, And so I jumped in during a
(24:19):
hard market, and I learned a lot. You learn a
lot about people in those markets.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Did you go in to save your dad's bacon?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
No, he didn't at that point, he didn't need me
to save his bacon.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
And there must be seven or eight Jack Schroeders because
he's everywhere all the time, like that movie title, Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
No fool. So what did you do before? You know,
before your thirties? And you decided let's do it?
Speaker 5 (24:40):
So I graduated from Oakland University up in Michigan at
Rochester Hills, Great School. Great School had an accounting background,
and while I was going to college, I was working
full time at a CPA firm in downtown Rochester, and
I when I started in my fourth year of college,
(25:00):
I ended up getting into an internship with Saturn and
they obviously liked how my work ethic was and they
hired me out of college. So I had interviewed with
Dana Corp and a couple other places and just felt
like EDS on the Saturn account was the place for me.
So I rose the latter pretty quickly. There I was
(25:22):
with EDS supporting the GM account del Fi account for
ten years.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
And I had really high up customers and so you
learn a lot about customer relationships. I saw a little
bit of the corporate bureaucracy that exists, and I just
decided that, you know, that's not where I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So well, dealing with those guys all right, and the
corporate structure and the suits as we always call them
in the radio business, how different is that from dealing
with the folks who I want to buy a house?
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Well, I think in corporate you're kind of told, you know,
this is the reporting you have to do. This is
you know, it's almost like they map out your day
for you. Especially I was in I started out in
a financial you know position, so we were, you know,
we always had these initiatives that we had to save
GM two million dollars in this area and you know
(26:22):
that type of thing.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
So, and you really got a color in the lines
when you're in corporate, right, You've got to stay within
the lines. And that's fine. It works for them, right,
but it doesn't give you a chance to show your
individuality and your creativity as much as I think working
at with your dad at Epic Homes.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, that's very different.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
It's very different.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
You like this better.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I do.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
I like the freedom of, you know, kind of setting
my hours, especially having kids, and honestly, you kind of
do work twenty four to seven, especially being a broker.
I have agents that are contacting me. I alway joke
that I work more after five and on weekends than
I do during the day because that's when people are
(27:06):
out and they have the question. So you know, it's
a business that you can be flexible with. But yet
you're still doing what you are passionate about doing. Sure,
and for me, it's helping people.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
And that's been in jack your story for as long
as I can recall, Right, you don't work twenty four
to seven. I think you work twenty six y ten.
It seems like it.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
That's just part time.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
That's just part time, yeah time. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
You know, on our website we have a pretty clear
little statement that says we're always open and there isn't
a time that you can't reach one or the other
of us by telephone, text, whatever it is. You can
always get ahold of us. It doesn't make any difference.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So Jackie wasn't always a family business. Something changed. Tell
us about when, where, how, why? Why did that change?
Something grew into epic homes. What was that all about?
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Well, I was working with another brokerage and Katie was
working in the marina business. You moved down here from
Rochester Hills, Michigan, got into marina business, and one day
I said to her I could use some help because
there was a lot of short sales going on, and
we became the experts in all of the city on
(28:19):
short sales. People would call us, can you take this one?
Can you do that one? Yeah, we can do them all.
So Katie with her financial background, and I got a
degree in accounting to we both. Some of you might
know this, but I worked for the IRS for thirty
four years before I retired, So this is really this
is career number two for me. And my retirement lasted
(28:44):
five days the last week in December.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's all. Yes, I hope mine lasts longer than that.
When I finally decided.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
To retire, thirty four years for the IRS.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Yes, and executive for seventeen years, and we had a
good time. Katie talks about her reallylationship with General Motors.
I was involved in the Auditor General Motors and were
the first time in the history we were able to
resolve all the issues. And I take good pride in
the fact that I am a superior negotiator. I understand
(29:13):
how to bring issues to a resolution. And if you're
good at that, you can be good if you get
the people skills in real estate. So once once Katie
met the new love of her life, Doug, and the
three of us hit it off fantastic. So one day
(29:34):
my birthdays in September.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
All right, I'll remember that.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, I know that, you'll remember that. Fred. They called
me up and said, you know what, we think it's
time for us to go out and start looking for space.
I said, what are you looking for space for? So, well,
I think it's time that we just kind of move
away from the brokerage where we're at and start our
(29:57):
own business. And I tell you what, that's been a
lifelong dream for me. I grew up on a farm
and it's like being a farm all over again.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
So you were ready for when they suggested it?
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Yeah, I was ready.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Okay, Yeah, you suggested it, Katie, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
It was. It was during COVID. It just made sense
we were closer we could be closer to home. We
were trying to homeschool kids, okay, so and we you know,
he mentioned that we had merged teams I think with
my husband who had his own team, So we were
kind of already independent where we were, okay, and it
just made sense to get a little closer to home.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
So you both had that background in finance. How important
is that? Because I don't think I don't know. When
I think real estate, I don't really think about the
finance part of it. I figure I'm going to go
see somebody else for that part. How important is that
background for you guys for epic homes?
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Well, let Katie touch on that for a little bit
and then I'll pick up on it. Katie did some
stuff like that before she ever got into real estate.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
I was a mortgage originator too. I've had a lot
of careers. I'm multitask well, and so for a couple
of years I worked as a loan officer. So I
had the financial background, which is kind of what helped
when we got into the short sales. I knew the
back end of how the loan origination PROSS worked and
some of the lingo. But you know, ultimately it just
(31:22):
kind of went hand in hand, so it worked well.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
The other thing that became important is from a financial standpoint,
it's better to be able to make all the decisions
than just a few of them. And even though we're
independent contractors, and we still are, it is just different
to have your own business. And our goal was to
have a family owned business, not to be a big brokerage,
(31:48):
just to be a really good brokerage and to have
quality people working for us and for us to be
in a position where we can mentor and bring people
along so that when we watch they grew up in
a business, we feel like that's a piece of us.
And I just know for sure that you know, Fred,
(32:09):
I used to chase people up and down the streets,
and I don't do that anymore. I don't need to
do that, Lane, Yeah, do.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
You not don't need to do it?
Speaker 2 (32:16):
But I think he still I think I saw you
at church, Jack, and I go to the same church.
By the way, he might have chased a few people down.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
He's probably desire.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yes, do you not need to do that? Because now
you have a reputation for being good at what you do.
And how important is the customer support and Katie's ability
to maybe explain to me as a buyer in layman's terms,
what I'm getting into. Because you know, they put so
many papers in front of you. When you buy.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
House is the biggest financial decision you're going to make,
So you have to be working with someone you trust,
somebody that has the right knowledge and is going to
guide you the right direction, point you to people who
are going to be able to help you in different scenarios,
because everybody's financial situation is not the same. You have
VA people, you have FHA people, you have first time
(33:07):
home buyers, you have divorce situations, you have estate situations.
There's a whole lot of different situations out there, and
the finance piece is different for each one of them.
So it's important to get a great knowledge of that,
and I think we do very well at that for
our clients.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
How do people know? How will they tell when they're
looking for a realtor whether they're a buyer or a seller.
How are they going to tell the difference? What kind
of questions could they ask?
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Well, we're not afraid of them asking any questions, and
we're not concerned about them having discussions with other real
historic people. But the vast majority of the ones that
contact me, I am the only one that they talk to.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Really, So you convince them right off the ball.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's a matter of how comfortable
are they with you and do they see themselves as
being on the team with us together, and they can tell.
And it's one of the things that I was going
to say a little bit earlier is when we opened
Epic Holmes real Estate five years ago, we were pretty
(34:12):
well known throughout the community, throughout the whole area. But
what we didn't have was what do we have to
do that takes that bridge to get them from where
we were to where we are. So our focus was
more initially at least on getting familiar with the community. Sure,
having them know that there's another not sheriff in town,
(34:35):
but there's another real option.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
There's another option, that's right.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
So we're the only brokerage in Savania that is a
Savania brokerage. We're out of Mayberry Square, which is a
great location.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Beauty.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah, it's great. It is a good look. I was
going to mention that, but you got to it.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
But the kind of back to the question a little bit.
The first time I went out on a listing appointment.
I think because of my experience with the IRS and
this and that, I just thought, you know, I had
moved eleven times, bought and sold houses, and I mean,
I just knew a lot about real estate, and I
(35:10):
always had this passion for getting into real estate. But
you have to have a passion for people, and when
they meet you for the first time and they feel
that connection, that's all that takes. And if they trust you,
you're going to get from here to here. And we
don't do a lot of handoffs. A lot of reg
estate companies, it's handoff, handoff, handoff, handoff. We see it
(35:34):
from start to finish. I go to every one of
my clothings. I'm there from people from the beginning to
the end, and they know that I personally and Katie
personally cares about them as individuals and we'll make all
kinds of sacrifices to make the deal come together because
and that will not happen.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And that comes true. But I'm kind of curious because
IRS doesn't have the reputation of carrying a whole lot
about their clients. That's the reputation, whether it's true or not,
and coming from the corporate world again, It's like, yeah,
well she's dealing with the suits, So where did that
come from? Is that a family thing? Then?
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I think it is a little bit of a family thing,
you know. The work ethic. I don't think there are
very many people at the IRS who worked as hard
as I did. I went up the ladder faster than
almost anybody ever. You know, my first manager job is
at age twenty six. You know, Wow, everybody was old
enough to be my father or mother that was working
for me.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Sometimes you learn, sometimes you learn this is I mean,
this is my bit of wisdom here. Sometimes you learn
how you want to be. You grow into the person,
the business person you want to be because you have
a mentor that shows you what to do. And sometimes
and sometimes you go into the person and the business
person you want to be by watching and saying, I
(36:52):
don't want to do it that way, That's not how
I would do it. And so when you get to
a point where you're opening your own brokerage right to
make the calls, you get to decide what you're going
to do and what you're not gonna do, how you're
going to handle it. Is it going to be personal?
Is it going to be transactional. I think it's pretty
clear with you guys, with this family with Epic Homes,
it's personal first.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Well, and like Jack said, you said you moved like
eleven times, you bought houses and sold houses like eleven times.
What are the lessons that you learned from that that
you carried into when you decided to start Epic Homes.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Oh yeah, that's a really interesting part of a discussion
because I went from well, when we moved to from Washington,
d C. To Boston, the interest rates were eighteen percent
and even if you could get alone, it was a miracle.
(37:45):
So we had to watch every penny. I mean, it
was a tough thing for us to go through. Katie
and her brother and sister were all there together and
they know that it was just a real challenge. But
when I left and I sold our house, we made
fifty thousand dollars, So you know, if you invest in
the right location, in the right type of house, and
(38:07):
those kind of things are really important. So I learned
a lot about it. And the interesting thing to me
will always be when we were on our way from
Boston to Detroit. That was the next move. Katie and
her brother Brian, they had already mapped out the house
that we should look at.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
They had or was she doing that?
Speaker 4 (38:27):
They had all this stuff figured.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Out, and that's your future, boss Jack, that's your future.
Boston action.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
It was. And it was different too for us because
we left Katie to stay in Rochester Hills and to
go to Oakland University, and we moved out of state.
Speaker 5 (38:42):
They left me behind.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
That's all I know, Right.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Did they give you the forwarding address?
Speaker 5 (38:47):
They left me to sell their house. And that's how
I learned because.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
So, wait a minute, you were just going to college.
You were like eighteen or nineteen.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
I graduated high school at seventeen. I lived on my own.
At seventeen, I decided, Hey, I'm going to live at home,
go to Oakland University. It's a mile from our house.
I'll save my dad all this money. And then he
comes home one day and says, guess what, I got
a job transfer, I got a promotion. It means I
gotta go. So, you know, Oakland University back then was
(39:18):
much smaller than it is today. It was a commuter college.
There was a single dormitory that may have housed three
hundred kids if that. So he actually kind of set
me up for my financial success in that instead of
paying college and tuition and room and board, he told me,
(39:40):
I will give you this amount of money, go find
an apartment. It has to last you all month if
you don't get through it. So I learned at seventeen
how to budget my money. But until the house that
we lived in sold, I lived there. We had a dog.
They were in temporary housing where they moved to, so
they couldn't take the dog yet because their house was
being built. So I had to leave my job or
(40:04):
my classes at college to go home, just like people
do today, to let their dog out so people can
show the house. I had to keep cutting the grass
I had to keep. So that was my first experience
with being a seller.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Was that good for you?
Speaker 5 (40:19):
It was?
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I mean at the time, were you thinking, girl, what
are you doing this to me for? Or did you
see the value in it?
Speaker 5 (40:25):
I didn't see the value in it then, but I
definitely do now. I believe that things have changed so
drastically with the way we raise our kids and just
how they're They're just given things right, and so they
don't understand how to budget money. You know, even my son,
(40:45):
and he's a pretty smart kid, but he's like, just
put it on your card. Well, that card has to
be paid.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Right, it doesn't it does.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
My friends used to tease me because we'd go shopping
and I would buy stuff and I would return it
before we even left them all because I was like,
you know what, I need to have food right like that. Yeah, So,
I mean it was a valuable lesson, but that was
my first experience with truly helping help sell a house.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
When you guys do that, either of you, do you
take that into consideration because you said you establish a
relationship with your customers, is that part of what you
try to find out about them, where they're at financially
and how much their dream might cost and how much
they can really afford.
Speaker 4 (41:30):
Well, the fascinating part of that is most agents won't
even talk to a potential buyer or seller unless they
know for sure that they have the financial qualifications to
move from point A to point B or to get
their home for the first time. So I'm one of
those guys that kind of lives on the edge because
(41:52):
I have never found somebody that I cannot get them financing. Okay,
you work with them, you teach them what they need
to know and if they follow through, they're going to
be successful. So yep, I still would prefer to have
somebody who's preapproved before I take them out. Sure, but
it's not always the most important thing. The really critical
(42:15):
aspect of it is do you feel comfortable with each
other and if they like me and I feel comfortable
with them. I mean, I haven't turned down very many
listenings in my entire life twenty one years that I've
been doing this, But there are some people that you
just know it's going to be an issue every day,
(42:35):
every step along the way, and sometimes it's easier to
just say, you know, maybe you had to check with
a couple more people. You know, it's like, well, but
that's so hard for me to do.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Yeah, But to that point, it's not just bad for
you to take that person, it's bad for that person
to put themselves in that situation where they can't afford it.
I mean, you know, right, sense in.
Speaker 5 (43:03):
Your relationship has to work. It's no different than anything,
and you have to have a point where you can
be on the same page with people. I think it's
important to sit down and have a conversation with them.
What are your goals? Right, like, where are you trying
to be some even with financing right from all perspectives,
Are you going to be there for three years? Are
you going to be there for seven years? Do you
(43:24):
plan on being here for a long time? People with
children sometimes they want to be in a very specific
neighborhood or close neighborhood to a certain elementary school, and
you can't find them anything, and it's like they're only
going to be here two more years, like you know.
So sometimes it's those tough conversations that you have to
(43:46):
have with people because they don't always think about things
like that, right.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (43:51):
We've had people when you know, Sylvania did their school redistricting,
we had people that were calling us in a panic
because they wanted their kids to stay in the same
elementary and they literally moved long before they even created
the new boundary lines and they could have stayed where
they were because there was so many different things on
(44:12):
the table. So no matter if it's a seller or
a buyer, it's super important to sit down and find
out what their long term goals are. And obviously things change.
We see houses, you know, sell, and six months later
somebody gets an unexpected job transfer and now they have
to sell again. That's that wasn't a part of the plan.
But if it makes sense for them to take that job,
(44:34):
then go there. This is a huge community for medical people.
They're coming in and they're doing their residencies here. You know,
Jack has sold houses to a few of them, and
you know, they're here for nine months and then they're like,
you know what, we got a great opportunity down in Texas.
We're going to take it. It's not the right time
to sell. He's had to help them, you know, do
(44:55):
temporary rental situations until they can actually recoup what they
put into it. So there's a lot that goes into
buying and selling, and you have to have all those conversations.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
And don't you think it's better if you have to
have a tough conversation. You're going to have to have
it right, Have it earlier rather than later. Nothing's worse
and happen to have, excuse me, a tough conversation at
the end of a transaction when things are already signed
and you know, people didn't realize the repercussions. It's better
to have that. Tease it out early, go through the
painful conversation early. People appreciate it in the long run.
Speaker 5 (45:30):
I think I agree well, And what.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
I'm getting from both of you is the honesty part
of it, that you consider it really important to be
honest in your dealings with your clients. How important is
that to you as we wrap.
Speaker 4 (45:46):
Up here, Well, there's not a whole lot that's more
important than that, you know. That's kind of at the
top of the pile for me. That trust, the credibility
that you have. I have a lot of clients that
are seniors and it's easier for me to interact with
them sometimes, and it even would be Katie or some
of the younger educations in our office because they feel
(46:09):
more comfortable with me. Sure, but I can deal with
people no matter whether they're twenty or eighty. It don't
make any difference. It's how you relate to them and
whether they feel as comfortable as we can make them.
And we have to demonstrate, no matter how many times
we have to talk a little bit about it, that
we really do care for them. You know, I sold
(46:30):
a house a condo to a lady on Super Bowl
Sunday and.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
You're supposed to be watching the game.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
Jack, I know, and we did watch the game. But
the interesting thing was.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
I love it. I love hearing that. I just I
love it so.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
Much, she says to me. And we've been looking, and
we've been looking, and we got beat one time. And
I don't like getting beat. I got to finish number
one no matter what. It's just the way I am.
But the interesting thing on that is when we went
out to look at the place where we're already seven
offers on it and it was the second day on
the market. Wow, And we figured out a way to
(47:07):
get to the top of the pile. And she is excited.
We're closing that house on Tuesday. That's how fast that
we are. And this is and I mentioned this before.
We don't hand things off. We do it. We see
it all the way through. The title companies would tell
you the lenders that we work with, they understand that
we know how to get there first, and we always
(47:28):
do it right.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
Anything in closing, Katie, I.
Speaker 5 (47:32):
Think Jack just summed it up pretty nicely. I mean,
it's again, it's all about the people. It's all about
the honest conversations and helping people the way you would
want them to help you or your family will get
you to the finish line every time.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
That is just what the BBB wanted to hear. That
is just what we wanted to hear. Thanks Katie, thank
you Jack, both of you for coming in. We'll have
you in again. I'm sure it's a family ordeal here,
and there's more to tell to that tale, I think.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
If you'd like to reach out Epic Holmes dot for
sale phone numbers four one nine three eight six zero
one two three. They're also on Facebook and you can
email them all right. They are our guests for this week.
We'll be back again next week, and don't forget you
can always get this podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you
(48:23):
listen to podcasts. Thanks for joining us again for this
episode of A Heart for Business
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