Hello, and welcome to another episode of the construction corner podcast. I'm Dylan, I'm your host joined by my blue collar. Bad-ass Matt, what is that, man?
It's a fantastic day here in Southeastern Michigan. We're uh, we're punching out and closing out a big project. So it's, it's a fun, but busy week here.
Dude, I feel, yeah, it's, uh, it's been one of those weeks for me too. Everybody seems that they want to have projects done this week, uh, whether they have the right material and information or not, they want to get designed out and done here. Uh, but first guys, we have an amazing guest. We'll do some, a little more, uh, chit chat here, but. We have an amazing guest for you today, Luke Marcotte. He is the owner of electric, which is an electrical subcontractor that he founded back in 2014. We're super excited to have more and more people come on, podcasts that are, that are in the trades that are running their own companies and they can provide great experience and insight to this wonderful industry that we love to call construction. So Luke, welcome to the show.
Guys. Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here. I've been watching your guys' shows the past couple of weeks and, uh, yeah, I love the value you guys are bringing in and, uh, excited to be a part of it.
Awesome. We are glad you're here, sir. So Luke and I met. About a month ago now we, uh, we had coffee not far from my home office, and I gotta tell you, Dylan, his story is, is pretty bad ass.
Um, Luke, if you want to kind of jump in and just give us a rundown, uh, of where electric came from and, and how, how you start it and kind of where you're at today.
Absolutely. So I'll go all the way back to the early days. Uh, first off, the first question most people ask me is how did I get into the trades to begin with?
And it's not the same time as when electric near the idea for it got burned as well. And so I had two best friends growing up, but they lived about. 30 minutes, 40 minutes remain. And so we wanted to go fishing every day after school and weekends. And so my mom didn't want to drive me back and forth all the time.
So instead I just ended up staying there all the time and almost living with this spam. And the Stanley was very well off. I'm going to be able home and their dad owned a plumbing company. And so I started just kind of learning from him, watching, like what he did, he'd worked seven days a week. Uh, you don't have to do that, but he just did.
He loved it and took pride in it. And it was for the first time in my life, I seen the blue collar worker take pride in what they did and love it and like tell people how great it was. And he told me how great it was. And he told me this guy's like, you don't got to go to college. He's like, look, what I got is like, if I told you the amount of money that I made you.
Shit yourself. Like it's just, uh, it was just a really good, good upbringing. And, uh, I lived there for six years basically. And so, uh, when it came time, when I was 16 years old, uh, I realized that's when I needed to start making some money. Cause I had to pay for everything in high school, like phone gas, insurance, his truck, clothes, food, most of the time, all that cigarette I needed to get to work instead of just sitting in class.
And so I had an option. I was going to go into the trades is what I did decide about, like, what should I become, I want to be a plumber to start with. So it could be like this guy that was my mentor. But then I remember him telling me that if he wasn't a plumber, he'd be an electrician. And if I were an electrician, I would get to work on jobs with him and he could help me get my business going.
If I were a plumber, I'd be as competition. I wouldn't get to work on jobs with them. So that's the only reason I have an electrical company. Otherwise I'd probably have a plumbing company, right. So, uh, that birthed the idea for it. And even for like Christmas, my birthday from the time I was 14, 15 years old, I was asking for client electrical tools.
So that way I can start building on my tool pouch and be ready to hit the floor, hit the ground running when it was time for me to go. So, yeah, and then I basically knew I was going to have my own company pretty much my whole life. I've had businesses here and there, my whole life, whether it's wood splitting or buying, fixing flipping trucks.
And so it was just a matter of time now for me getting the licenses, the experience building up the tooling, the funding, the credit, all of that tough start, my company. And so really in 2014 is when I really started doing projects and really started like getting my feet wet while I worked for other contractors.
Uh, and I'd say 90% of my experience in a big commercial industrial. And that's what I really wanted to aim for. Like, especially in the long run longevity of the company, I want it to be. A big company across the country that does big, amazing projects. The ones where you drive by and you say, yeah, we wired that building.
So that's basically how it started from nothing all the way up until getting into the trades and starting the business basically at the same time. So I've been in it since I was 16. It
is, it's pretty impressive to hear a story where somebody starts a business, especially in a trade based business at that young of an age.
It's not, uh, it's not the most common path, especially these days. So, you know, we, we talk about it a lot here, but that's great to hear here. And then to see it come to fruition, you know, somebody who, you know, you, you gave the college thing a thought through and it. It wasn't what you wanted to do. And you've made an absolute killing out of it, doing it your way.
Yeah, absolutely. Like, and you know, I tell people this, not to like brag, but to hopefully inspire other people who are in the same boat. Like I was a D minus student. Like I wasn't a great student at all, like college. Like I had thought about it. I explored routes. Uh, I thought maybe going from marketing to whatever, whatever company I opened one day, then I would be able to.
Utilize that, but it's just like, school was not for me. I was not good at it. I couldn't sit there and I couldn't realize like just the five putting in all the work, not getting a reward out of it. That's why I never really played sports either, because if I'm going to work that hard, I'd rather get paid off of it.
And so that's why, like, instead of going to football practice, I'd leave at lunch. And, uh, cause I did solo work and leave a bunch and go work. I'd worked 40 hours a week on top of high school. I'd show up to school on my Hi-Vis shirt and my construction pants, ready to go boots. And that's what I did.
Like everybody knew me as that guy. So yeah, I just, school was not my thing. And so no use putting effort and energy into it. If that's not where I even wanted to go. And I seen someone else out here that showed me the shining lights of what it could be in this path and that's where I wanted to go. So I think it's about this.
And I ran with it.
That's awesome. There's a couple of things I want to pull out of there. One you had had a mentor, right. And had somebody to look up to early. Earlier in life, right. You had a nice example of what life could look like. You know, if you put in the work, put in the time and went through it.
So I think that's first and foremost, like one of the big pieces of this is that you had somebody to kind of set the foundation for everything that you're going to do moving forward. The next, um, thing that I want to ask is if you, do you ever take any shop classes or anything like that in high school or any like, you know, welding or anything with your hands?
Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, with the shop class, my school didn't have shop classes as a small school. I grew up in a town of about 2000 people, 2,500 people. And so my class and my graduating class had like 75 people. So since it's such a small area here in Northern Michigan on the grant drivers area, As they have this thing called the career tech center and all the schools around the area, they bus halfway through the day for the people that want to go to a basically trade school almost.
And so you're able to do that your junior and senior year and all these schools in the area. And so I opted to do that. And, uh, so I chose the electrical program, which thankfully they had, uh, otherwise I would have done it like a basic instruction course. And so then I would get on a bus and I'd go there and I started learning that way.
No, again, like I said, school, wasn't my thing. So I did that for sure. The six months before going and actually getting an apprenticeship job. But that's six months, a little things I learned there, like from the code book and all that put me years ahead of other people. But I, again, I was just so ambitious I needed to get going now.
So it's like, I still went there two days a week. I think I had to, for a basics classes to get my credits basically, but the other three days a week I would get to go and work halfway through the day. So yeah, I had a trades school and high school that I got to go to, so it worked out really well.
That's awesome.
Now for everyone out there, like. Walk us a little bit through in, in going and getting an apprenticeship. If, um, cause some people might think like you have to be 18 to, to go and do that. Um, what are, are there any other like requirements, anything like that and you know, for anybody out there, or that maybe has a friend looking to get into the trades, right?
Did this later in life, or even through this high school path, right. To where you're. You know, 16, 18, right. Haven't graduated or anything, but you're looking to get in and you're looking to start getting your, your hours and all that stuff so that you can build up for your licenses. Um, you know, what does that path kind of look like for everybody out there?
Yeah. So, uh, I actually do a lot of stuff, social media stuff on like Instagram and YouTube explaining how to get into the trades. Cause that's a question I get a lot is how do I even get started? Most people don't know. And you know, for me, I didn't really know either. Technically you're supposed to be like 18 is like what the world's telling you, I guess.
So I didn't really want to abide by that. I was just too hungry. I needed it to go now, especially cause like I said, I had bills I'd had like, had to pay, like I've had a credit card since I was 16. A little side note, just so I could start building enough credit so I could buy my first house at 18. And so I've had bills and all that stuff.
Since I've been 16, I had to get a job. So what I did is I literally just printed off resumes. I want to start knocking on electrical companies, doors in the area. A majority of them told me no said it'd be too much of a pain. I go, okay, well, here's where it comes into the fact of learning, how to leverage connections.
I had a really great connection with my fifth grade teacher. And, uh, I recognize I have a good rate memory too. I remember way back when that they had a company working at the school called her last name, electric, and I messaged her. I'm like, Hey, are you related to these people? And she's like, yeah, it's my cousin.
I'm like, Would you mind talking to him? See if I can get an apprenticeship? Like, yeah. It's like, like I guarantee you you'll sit down and talk with them, like sweet. So I went in there and interviewed them and obviously once you get in front of people and if you like have the charismatic. Whatever you want to call that you get in there and you talk to them, they'll give you a chance and it's easier than them just saying no over the phone or on email.
So anyways, he's like, yeah, sure. We'll give it a shot. And it was just a small company, just two guys work in there and they let me come in after school and help. And then they would even let me come in on weekends and help. And so that's how I got my foot wet and started, uh, and the electrical trade. Now, when I tell people is do something very similar, even if you're in high school, out of high school, if you're 20 years out of high school and you're in your forties, I don't care.
Literally just go talk to companies, go talk to people, knock on doors, bring a resume, whatever you gotta do. Just talk to somebody. And I guarantee you there's someone out there that's willing to give you a shot. Uh, so. It's as easy as just going out and talking to people and trying to lend yourself a spot and just say, Hey, I'm motivated.
I want to do this. It's not that I have to be here. It's I want to be here and that'll go farther than most people ever imagined.
Yeah. That that's huge. And, and learning how to leverage your network, learning how to leverage relationships. That's the single best way to get your foot in any door? I don't care what door it is.
Absolutely.
So one, so now, but not now that you've, uh, you've run this company for, for what? Seven, seven years ish. Now, um, how many employees do you have
currently? Uh, so we have 10 right now and then we're hiring probably four more in the next month, at least. And then if not more after that and probably a five, cause I've realized I really needed like a secretary now because answering the phone email is just way too hard for me while I'm trying to do everything else.
But, I mean, I imagine we'll be upwards of 20, 25 by the end of the year we got right now. So, are you still pretty, fully engaged in all aspects of the company and until you get some help anyway.
Yeah. Uh, so I don't do a whole lot of the hands-on work anymore. Sometimes I go out on a weekends more times I should still try to do, or even late into the evening.
Uh, so one of the. One of the mindsets that my mentor that owned that plumbing company instilled in me was the first 40 pays the bills. The second 40 buys the toys. So like work 80 hours a week. And so. I seen him work seven days a week. The whole time I was there, he was in his fifties made tons of money, but he still wouldn't work seven days a week to pride in it.
So I took it on myself to do the same and I just kind of like built habits out of it. So now it's like, if it's 5:00 PM and I'm sitting there and I wrap up all my office work and there's a job just down the road that I go do some stuff on the lineup stuff for the guys tomorrow and be like, okay, I'm going to run up there.
I'm going to get it all put together for them. I'm going to do a few things just to help progress things. So. Still trying to cut back from trying to work so much, but yeah, I'm, uh, doing everything except the field work is about the last that I do now. Okay.
I think that. Still having some. So I run across engineering, right. And doing big commercial projects. What you find over time is that the principals, the owners of a company don't know how the like, sausage gets made anymore. Right? So you, you run into, so having your, your hands still touching still like connected to the work till to how things get made to how things get done is hugely important.
Um, so often in design firms, especially because of the technology of how things get created, how drawings get put together, how buildings get modeled. It is changed drastically in 20 years. So when they came in, you know, it's hand drafting, right. 20, 30 years ago, still hand drafting then AutoCAD and then Revit and 3d.
And now there's a ton of tools and, you know, we build automation tools, but yeah, through that, like evolution, if you're, you're a principal, who's 60 years old, right. At 40. You know, 20 years ago, when you probably left the day-to-day work, it was hand drafting. So now over the last 20 years of you not being a part of a project, it has changed so drastically and you haven't touched anything, right.
You don't care how it gets made, other than it gets done that you're disconnected from it. So I still think a, um, Dabbling, if you will, or, uh, uh, touch back into it, a walk-in of job sites of laying things out of doing that, but it doesn't have to be like every day, it doesn't have to be every week, but it does have to be on a fairly regular basis to where you, you remind yourself of, of what it is.
And then to help that also helps us owners, as executives, as everybody out there in those leadership. And, you know, Doing other types of work and not the production work. It reminds you how to get things done and what your people have to go through to, you know, deliver a product, whether that's on the design side, whether that's a building, whether that's, you know, putting in switch gear, whatever that, you know, thing that your, your company is delivering.
It's great to maintain. Uh, Relational working relationship with how things are done. Um, and so often I think that gets forgotten as people move up the chain up the ladder within an organization, they forget how, how things get done or what it takes to get done and lose all like reference of time and
expectation.
Absolutely. Yeah. I totally agree. Cause I couldn't agree more. In fact, I remember when I was an apprentice. Uh, so after. I left that small company after six months, that was the first company I went for a large firm and they were like, uh, to put into perspective. I was the 68th employee when I hired in. And when I left two years later, there was 157 employees, I believe.
So I was like a fast growing big commercial, industrial, only company. We pulled like huge 600. Like we were on projects that were $10 million projects and things like that. Uh, and one of these projects was a really big project. And we had tons of fun. They're still the funnest project I've ever been out of my life.
And so the owner of the company, the president, and the head project manager, they both, uh, were talking about coming to the job, putting their tool belt on for a Saturday and working with us like nobody had ever heard of this. Nobody had ever seen these guys at work type thing. We were all pumped. I was like, Oh, I can't like I had a great relationship with the owner of the company.
I'm like, I can't wait to like see him with his tools on and just like run circles around him. Cause he hasn't done it in 30 years or whatever. Uh, but anyways, they never came and did it. And so it's like, that was kind of a bummer us. And we're like, man, like that would have been really cool. Even as far as like a respect standpoint from all the workers there now that they need our respect, but like just, yeah.
Picture how much that would pick up the, uh, the work place vibes and like the culture of the company and everything like that. So I've always kept that in the back of my head. And I always jot these things down when I see them through my apprenticeship. So that way, when I'm at that position with my company, I don't make the same mistakes.
So even when we're at a few hundred employees, I'll be sure to go out on the job site and help them out on a Saturday. I still got it.
It's hugely important. Cause you keep a pulse that way on your whole organization. And you know, up until very recently, I did the same thing. I'd be out there on Saturdays, digging holes or, you know, driving Bobcat, doing whatever had to be done.
I'll be quite, quite candid in, in the last year. Uh, we hired a really good superintendent, so I haven't had to do that nearly as much, but I still get my ass out on that site. Two or three times a week, I'm still there. I walk around with, with him. But on top of that, you know, I am very big in our subcontractor relationship.
So I'm constantly chatting with our electricians and our plumbers and our carpet and you know, everyone across the whole site, because once you lose that pulse, Then you're just an asshole in the office and, and just a suit at that point you are, and that your job sites will show it, right? I mean, there's a different culture.
There's a different vibe out there when people are working and, and you show up and you haven't been there in six months because everyone kind of clams up and they don't know what to do, but when you're there regularly and they know you not necessarily as a friend, but as a, as a coworker, really. Cause it's on a big site like that.
We're all coworkers at the end of the day. Yup. It, it just helps, I think, with the overall vibe, the overall culture of any project,
I believe so, too. Absolutely.
Yeah. In there it's, it's so much to, to walk around the office. Right. So in like design firms to walk around the office for construction firms, your office has the job site, right?
Like go out, see those people, you know, and do that on a regular basis. I couldn't tell you how many times. Um, so when one of the design firms I worked in, we had multiple offices and they had board meetings in our office every month. None of the board members ever walked around our office. Like none of them, I mean, they didn't know.
And we were a company of a hundred people. It wasn't like it was crazy. And in our office there's maybe 40, right. If it would not have been hard to, to walk around to say hello, to, you know, just show a face. Right. Um, But that, that didn't happen. And then most of the design firms that I've worked in that never happened.
Um, but in the culture shows, right. And it, it permeates through everything. So having that connection, um, having those relationships and then, you know, for like Matt was saying, you know, to, to go out, if you're a general contractor, I mean, basically anybody on the construction side, too. Form those relationships with all of your yourselves, all your partners in the business.
And the other thing that I would suggest that I've suggested it when I worked in design firms. Um, and this is actually going to be the first time that I talk about it here is as a, as a design firm,
we, we
never really formed as good of relationships as we should have with our construction partners. So.
And, you know, across the board, right. We'd work with all of them, uh, especially of size, but to have, get togethers, to do more things as a construction industry, in whatever town, whatever city that you live in to get together, whether that's even just at the young professionals level, right. People that are just starting in the industry to have those get togethers to.
To know people like, yeah, this buddy works over here at this construction company or this contractor or whatever. And having those relationships across all the bounds, you see that community within, uh, most of the contractors. Um, because I mean, again, they're all the same job sites. They're all working on the same projects together.
And I think the more that we could bring, um, that connectivity that. Hey, we're all on the same team type mindset to more and more communities to have design and construction. I mean, just like we're doing here, right. To have more of these dialogues, these conversations across in a, in a casual thing, right.
It could be happy hours. It could be whatever. Um, very simple inexpensive, everyone pays for their own drinks. Right. Type of events.
Yeah.
Yeah. That bring, bring everybody together. And I think, um, You know, this is going to be something I want to talk about more frequently, just as we've been doing this and coming across.
I think that this relationship, these, as much as we hang hammer on relationships, it's doing it in informal times. It's building it in, you know, at a happy hour, right. And maybe it's virtual, maybe it's not, but, uh, to get together with partners, right. That's what we all are at the end of the day from design to.
Construction, um, up and down the chain, right? Like everybody gets together and you know, you're going to learn something at those events, right. Whether it's how to design better, how to build better, whatever it might be. Um, that's something that, that I'm talking about now I'll continue to talk about, but I think more in it for everybody out there, right.
To do these in your, in your city, in your area. And to get more of these kind of informal, uh, relationships, happy hours, right? Who doesn't love the cold drink? Five o'clock on Friday, right? I think you'll get some, some people to show up, uh, at that point and it doesn't even have to be expensive. Right. Miller light goes a long way.
Yeah. And like topping this off or what, uh, adding to this as, uh, the value of relationships that you build through all this. And it was a little story that you got to like, so after I left us all their company, uh, when I first started with, I realized I wanted to go and do bigger projects.
So I researched companies in the area that did big projects. And I found this one that I knew I wanted to be a part of because it was newer, had fast, big growth, which is what I knew I wanted to do at my company. So I figured I could learn a thing or two from them. Like I said, I was a 60th employee when I left and they were like four years old at that 0.2 years later, when I left, they were over 150 employees.
And so I printed off the resume for this place. I do what I do, and I basically told God, my, Hey, I want to go, I want to go work at this place. And then. That SA I was going to go in Monday and talk with them to apply, uh, on Saturday, me and my friends went ice fishing. And then I see this company truck at the park, at the boat launch at this take my time to shine.
And so I grabbed my resume and I literally go across this frozen Lake and I started knocking on ice. Shana's so, Hey, you're from this company. Hey, from this company, I'm just talking about it. Like, no, get the hell out of here. And I get to this one, Shannon. He was like that guy over there owns the company.
He's my cousin. I'm like. Yeah, jackpot. So most people would be scared at that point because they're like, Oh, this is a big, big of a big company, whatever. And I said, screw it. I'm going to talk to them mean it's just to me, I see them as another person, although a very successful and respectable person.
It's like, I want to learn from the stats. I'm going to talk to them. So I'm not going to Shani, like, how the hell do you know about, I was like, how old are you? I'm like, I'm 17. He's like show up Monday. You got a job. I'm like, wait, wait, I'm still in high school. And got to like the pain. I understand like your school to work.
So I leave at lunch and I come and work rest the day. Saturday and Sunday, you need to need me, need me late. I'm your guy. And so he's like, I don't care. It's like show up Monday. You got a job. And so from that point on me and him had a great relationship. Like I would stop by his office every time one to the shop.
And I would talk to him for a few minutes about fishing and all this stuff. And like, uh, there's been times where I was fishing down at some pier here and he showed up and we went to the bar to have dinner together. Like I got invited to his house to have a Euchre party or Euchre tournament and all this stuff.
And so like, we built these great relationships and everyday I went to work. I did not want to let that guy down. Cause I seen him as my new mentor, just like that guy of the plumbing company. And I would do anything to not let these guys down. So I worked like crazy and like, I always want the extra mile to make it happen.
But one thing I noticed is that like, although I could talk to him, like he was almost a friend when he came to job sites ever so often. Everybody else would be scared of them. And they'd be scared to talk to them. Cause I just haven't seen them before, like what you were saying. And so that's why I'm tying it back together now.
And so it's like other people they'd be like, well, it's like, you could talk to them, but you have his number. Like, you know how to talk to him like that. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, I built this relationship. So it kind of blew my mind that other people didn't think they had that same kind of access to them.
But why would they think that it was just never portrayed anywhere and nobody's ever taught that. So I was one of their. Best apprentices, but some people will told me not to brag, but it's like the reason why is because I always want the extra mile because I knew him personally. I knew the other project managers personally because he introduced me and he would tell the same story to them.
Every time he would introduce me to someone in the confident. And so it builds a great relationship and I did not want to let any of these guys down. I worked 10 times harder for it, and I guess it kind of showed. So definitely it's worth it to build those relationships with people. And I was. Brand new apprentice, 17 year old at this point.
Right? So it's like, even though it might not be someone leading a big prog check someone, it might not seem like it's worth your time to put that time and energy to as like an executive. Now it certainly is worth it because that person sees that and they work harder as they come up through the ladder.
So it's so
powerful. I mean, you just nailed it. It can open doors for you that you wouldn't even be able to imagine.
Absolutely. So I'm
going to shift a little bit here. Luke, I'm not going to lie. You're one of the more positive people that I've probably ever spoken with. And we've, we've talked a few times now.
Um, but I'm going to call your bluff on a little bit, cause I know you're in construction and it's not all sunshine and rainbows out there.
So what, what would you say has been been your most challenging aspect of, of owning your company so far and, and being in the field you're in.
Definitely had a lot of challenges.
Absolutely. Everywhere. There is a challenge. I've pretty much hit it and had to overcome it. I mean, it's definitely been no walk in the park. It's the zero part of this has been some kind of gravy train where it's like a smooth sail. Uh, so you know, it goes in levels for me. So like when I was first starting.
It was hard for me to buy tools. They didn't have the money for it. So then I started doing jobs here and there. And like, for people that knew me throughout the years, just growing up in a small town, they'd have me do little projects here and there. And then from there as we started to get bigger, I'm like, okay, well I have money now because I've been doing, I've been working 120 hours a week on myself.
So I got the tools, I got the money to fund the projects. Now, how do I get more projects? So I ran into a marketing issue. Okay. I don't know how to market at all. And so that would stump me for. Nine months to a year, something like that. And they will not figure out how to market and network and build relationships for the long-term.
So even if you don't get work now, maybe two years down the road, he gets the opportunity to do some work with that person. And then the sales thing. And it's always like one after another, just constantly building off of it. Each of these little skill sets as you grow, and it's like an ever turning revolving door as you go up different levels.
And so, but all of those have been. Trials tribulations, all of that. But the hardest thing, I guess that's probably been is the same thing other people run into as motivating people and getting people into the trades and also motivating people who have been in the trades to continue to try and do more instead of just leveling off and trying to teach people how to learn more and things like that.
So, I mean, that's something everybody runs into any kind of construction business is the people. Cause that's. Like this isn't something where we're selling a bunch of stuff. It's where we're selling labor of these people. So the people are the asset. They are the value. They are the greatest resource, if you will.
But it's just trying to get yourself in a mindset that even though they screw up a job, when they probably should have known better, you have to be like, okay, how do we fix it without pissing them off, making them. Quit firing them and things like that. So it's always the people that are the hardest part, but it's also the most rewarding when you see, when you put the time and energy into it and you see that flower blossom at the end and the person definitely leveled up.
They're going to like a whole nother whole nother game that they couldn't imagine. They make new income. They make better life. They it's just, it's great seeing people that you helped bring up to the next level, but it is, sir. And the pain and the hardest part I would say about that is the people that you have to learn to cut off to where you can't save everybody.
And so, unfortunately you wish you could, but at the end, we're all responsible for our own faults, our own successes, so that people that don't realize that, and they want to keep pushing it off onto the people. Other people you have to be like, I'm sorry, I did what I could. So see, we're moving on to the next person.
So. That's been a lot of hardships. Yeah.
And I, and I would agree with you. We we've dealt with the exact, exact same thing, the same scenarios and, and it is the hardest part of it. Uh, I think is, is, is the human aspect of it, you know? And you, you learn very quickly as a business owner that you're not just running a construction company.
You're also a counselor, a psychologist. You're, you're, you know, you're doing so much more than just. Estimating jobs or selling jobs and it, it can hit you kind of blindsided if you're not ready for it. I know it, it did that to me. I, you know, in my mind my background, it was just easy. I just, I'm going to go out and build shit.
And this is what I've always done. Well, now there's other, other miles that I'm responsible for feeding that that changes right away.
Absolutely.
one of the things too, that I think we always forget about in construction, or we have a, maybe a little work sense of is, you know, taking responsibility for things. Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything. Cause that means they got to pay for it somewhere. Um, but the more that we can own through a project, the more that we can, you know, take on the more.
We're going to benefit from it later. And it's, it's going to suck in the moment if something's like really, really bad, but you're going to get found out at the end of the day. Anyway, it might take a couple of years and a lot of court proceedings, but it will, it'll get found out, you know, at the end of the day.
Anyway. So a lot of this is to try to, you know, take. Take ownership of your piece, your part, what you can do to help and to not just point fingers, but to come up with solutions because at the end of the day on a project, if you can come up with a solution, yes, it might cost the owner more at the end of the day to fix it or whatever.
If you have a solution and not just problems, everyone is going to feel so much better about it. And you're less likely to get sued at the end of the day. Um, it's really what it amounts to. This is like bedside manner for doctors. Like I could screw something up, but if people feel good about it, you're gonna more than likely, you know, everything will be smooth through the rest of the process.
So to own it, but not point fingers, but to have a solution. Pricing, all that kind of stuff, ready to go so that you can present, uh, a solution and solve the problem. Because at the end of the day, the owner just wants to open their building. And we got to remember that, right. Get everything moving forward, open the way it should and, and to move on.
And that ownership just helps so much.
Absolutely. Yeah. Cause like, uh, I go back to, even when I was just an apprentice, like. I'd say you learn to crawl, then you walk, then you run, learn to crawl. And I was an apprentice and you know, you mess things up when you don't know what you're doing on a job site.
Sometimes it's a couple of times I had messed up a little thing here and there. And then, uh, the foreman would come in and it'd be like, Hey, who did this? And be like that guy over there, I didn't do it now. They're like, Hey. He said he wasn't even working in this room. They, everybody says, you're the only one, that's a room or something like that.
Like, Oh, you get caught with your hand in your pants and you realize that's not a good situation. I don't make you look good and nothing. And so let's say, let's say nobody had caught it and it went through. Somehow passed inspection or whatever, even failed inspection. And when you get to a point when you were still contract, you're supposed to turn it over to the business owner homeowner, then it'd be like, Hey, why is this electrical messed up?
Why is this room messed up in this apartment complex? And the contractor isn't going to say, well, one of our apprentices messed it up and didn't tell us, he's going to say, sorry. It's like, it's our company. It's our name. So I learned, I had to take responsibility for it then. And just man up to it and say, I'm going to fix it.
I didn't know how to fix it. Please show me how to fix it so I can, uh, and then same thing everyone's going to have to answer to the project manager. And the project manager is going to have to answer to whoever's above him or the vice president or a president. And so you have to take responsibility of it.
It's not really as much as like you should. It's kind of like you have to, because you can burn your reputation just by not taking responsibility on it. Even if you mess up Shannon, we all know that, but take responsibility of it and just. Fix it make it happen. And that can even increase your credibility, I guess.
Cause people are like, Hey, it's like he didn't beat around the Bush. He didn't try to blame it on a plumber's over there for hitting this conduit. They realized they didn't bury the conduits deep enough. Nobody double-check the electricians or whatever. So yeah, it's just like, you have to take responsibility.
Although a lot of people push it off. It's just. I got caught with my hand on my pants too many times. And I don't want ever, ever
want to be there again. It absolutely speaks to your credibility though. And you know, it's probably the same in most industries, but in construction, especially mistakes have monetary values associated with them generally.
And, and that stings right? When you know that you just cost yourself or your company or your boss w. It doesn't matter if it's 50 bucks, you know, but it stings. And when it's 60 grand, you know, that's things real bad. And that history you go, your ego gets bruised. Like you would never imagine possible, but you got to own it.
And that's how you move forward. And if you don't, you know, you get caught with your hand in your pants or you get caught, and it's a real bad scenario for you at the end of the day. You know, you own it though. And you, you move forward, you learn from it. You sure as shit, never do it again. That's, that's how this whole process has to work, you know?
Absolutely. Yeah. And like a good story off of this is after I left the big company I worked for, I worked for another smaller company and I strictly did like custom homes. And so I did it because I wanted to learn how to do homes. I was like, 10,000 square foot plus up here in Northern Michigan. I wanted to learn that.
So I went to this company now and I was like fifth point I'm full on for men. I'm running jobs. I'm estimating jobs, project manager, basically. And especially for commercial industrial, because the people at this company didn't know anything about it. And so anyway, I'm rewiring a pizza place in downtown traverse city and.
They have a pizza oven, like with stone oven, like one of those really cool ones. Yeah. I'm hooking it up. I'm wearing the place and all that. And then we don't want to test spot spotter, everything. And all of a sudden we turn on this $60,000 pizza oven and it goes like, Oh shit, shit, what just happened? And so then I'm freaking out, I test the voltage and it's a two Oh eight or two 77.
Cause then it has, there was a highlight in certain three-phase systems and the panel wasn't labeled. As a highly based system and since nothing else plugged in the building, nothing exploded on the second circuit. It's. And for those who don't know every, like there's a, B and C phase B phase is a high leg on that kind of transformed system.
And so a one block, one circuit that was on that B phase happened to be that pizza oven, $60,000 piece of equipment. And I go there and I'm like, Holy crap, like. I'm 19 at the time, it's like I'm a 19 year old project manager. I'm already doing more than I should be doing. I just exploded a $60,000 pizza oven.
First thing I did is I called my boss. I'm like, Hey, Jesse. And I explore this thing. I'm like, but I know how to fix this. I'm gonna figure it out real quick and I'll call you back. And so I ran around town and I bought like different motors and stuff to replace. And I basically rewired this pizza oven and we got it back up and running.
And like the owner of the BP, the place was there. Too. And it was used, so there was no warranty. So we didn't have to worry about that. Or else we would've gone a different route, but still I replaced it. Got it all working, change the circuit back over, cut everything off the beat phase. Recurrent. We're good.
But imagine if I would have just said, Oh yeah, we just exploded a pizza oven. I didn't do that. Someone else that like, I would have been fired right there. And like that guy probably would've sued the electrician company. That guy only had six employees. So it probably would have put him out of business, but just by taking responsibility and going and take initiative and not wasting time or waiting, I just want it fixed it.
And after it, and everything was good. Still got paid. So
case in point,
man, you nailed it. Yeah, don't do that. But it was a good lesson. Well, we're lucky on that one. Wow. And I
think it goes to the whole point of, of being optimistic, right? Being like grateful, having some, some gratitude on a lot of this stuff.
And to just be optimistic here, if you know, like, Hey, there's a solution to this. We build things, we fix things, right. There's a solution for everything. And to have that optimism. Through your projects, it's going to go one. It's going to go a long way to your personally going to be probably promoted faster than everybody else.
Cause you're good to be around. People want to work with you, your reputation gets built, all that stuff. And then three, right? You find solutions, right? If you're optimistic, you're always going to find a solution to whatever problem you're working through. And that goes a long way, um, to moving forward and your willingness to learn.
Right? So if you're optimistic, if you're looking for solutions and you're willing to learn, you're willing to grow, you're willing to get through something, um, which also hits on like training that most people training is one of the highest ROI you can ever do. Right? Like, especially in construction, right.
We're getting paid for what we know. For our knowledge and then the ability to execute that in the field. So like you talked about not knowing things, right? And it's going from apprentice to master electrician. Right. You learn more as you go through that. And training is something that gets so under valued, under sold.
And I mean across, I think any industry, any company, but especially in construction is that continuing education, the ability to continue to learn, continue to use new tools, technology, whatever it might be. But just understand that training is one of the, just highest ROI that you can do because we're such a people-based industry.
So I just want to put that out there that like, as you, as you move through the ranks, as you want the, to like, don't forget to continue to train your people, go through trainings. Um, and not just like the lunch and learns that nobody ever likes, but actual like, you know, real world hands-on
training. Yeah, absolutely.
I totally agree. I mean, I've done some training for everything. Like I got addicted to the, the mentor mindset. If you will. Back when I was started living with that one guy was a plumber and I was so lucky. He basically trained me how to even get into the grades, how to succeed in the trades. I've started trades company, et cetera.
And then from there I realized that I was outgrowing his knowledge. So then I had to go to that owner of that bigger company and use him as a mentor. So I can learn that how to. Uh, operate systems. And I have like all these like, systems that are basically copy and pasted from their company. It was like job codes and estimating and things like that.
I just asked questions. And so like you learn from these people. And so I'm using that as training. And then you get to a point where you're a business owner now, and that's where you joined things like RPA or apex and other masterminds. It's like, okay, well that's training for us, but then you also need training for the people that are doing the electrical work.
And so like, luckily, uh, Here in Michigan, you have to have a training, sorry, your electrical apprenticeship. So you have to have a training just even start and be through your apprenticeship. So that's good because then you can utilize that too, as an excuse, even to do training, teach people more and become a more competent qualified electrician and learn more of the science behind it.
Instead of just saying, yeah, I can run conduit from point a to point B. It's like, no, I know why we're running this conduit. Where would you rate me? It'd be find it an addict. For how many kinds of conductors you can find inside that conduit? So that's very valuable stuff and I believe everybody needs to not only be taught it, but also reminded it often because sometimes that like Senator Casey know for years to a boss duct for three years, and then when you get back there and you have to run cable tray for it again, you're like, Oh, what happened?
Like now it's constant reminders of it then. Yeah. You got to always be on your toes and ready to go for it.
So I think we're, we're kind of coming up on time here, Luke. So I'm going to ask you the big question that we ask everybody. What, uh, what do you see as the biggest issues facing the construction industry today and how do we fix it
again?
The people that's the biggest thing, like I said, that's like that's 90% of what any kind of construction company or construction industry is, is the people. And so what's wrong with the people? Well, not really bad. It gets even wrong with the people. I think it's on us. I think it's on the contractors, everybody that's in the trades above people that aren't in here.
And so we have to take on ourselves to fix these things, but we have problems. People trying to get into the tray. We have people with, we had problems with people trying to Excel in the trades and actually develop a real career here. Lot of people, they might even get into the trade for four years just to make enough money.
Until they have an opportunity to get into some other job, uh, when they re don't realize that there's more opportunity here, if they would just put the same time effort into this. And so we need to focus as us, as the leaders of this industry to train these new people, show them the opportunity to showcase what it's capable of.
Like, you know, I want to get for DT one day. I wish people that say, Hey, I wasn't electrician. I was a D minus in high school. I didn't go to college and I have this car, like, that's like, what I want to do. Most people would say, Oh, I don't want to be flashy, but it, what now plumber's house that I grew up grew up at.
He lived in a beautiful custom home on one of the most beautiful rivers in the country. Like the Lake was that it connects to is actually voted third, third, most beautiful in the country. And then, yeah, two houses down each way that were rental houses on the river. It's like, okay, that's pretty cool.
That's something pretty like impressive. And then not even as a business owner, the people that are in the trades, there'd be some guys you'd see a show up at a 2000 Ford focus. That's rough out of doubt. And they live in a trailer, nothing wrong with that. And then you'd see some people they'd show up in a brand new diesel pickup and they have like a great family and they have a beautiful home.
They just built a pool barn and all this stuff like and drink basically. And then you're like, wait, How did, how did you get that? And then you talk to them and they'd be like, Oh yeah, I'll show you now that you asked. But it's like, these people really need to do a better job as people being us showcasing this kind of stuff, showing like how you got this through the trades and how to get into the trade and how to come up through the trades and scale and climb ladder.
So I guess that's the biggest problem I believe is the people that need to come in here and find the opportunity. But the problem with it is that we need and how you fix it is we need to be the ones to take it on ourselves. And fix it, show them that, teach them that take time to teach them, even if it's sitting them in a classroom for an hour a week or every other week or once a month, and just show them how to climb the ladder and become better format apprentices, anything like that.
And so, yeah, I guess that's what I think.
I love that man, that that's probably one of the more thought provoking answers that I've, I've received on that question, to be honest with you, but you're so right. And, and it, it does fall on us. And I actually had that exact same discussion with my, my business partner recently.
And, you know, if we, if we have somebody on our, on our ranks that fails or that, that leaves, or that we have to get rid of a hundred percent of that blame is on he and I as the owners of this company. And that's the way we have to approach these things. And. I'm glad you said that, that it's a it's eye opening to hear other people say it too, but, but I think you're right.
You know, as leaders in this industry, we can talk about it all day long, but we got to do something about it and, and we're the ones that can do it. That's why Dylan and I are doing this show, you know?
Absolutely. That's why I do my Instagram and YouTube stuff as well. But like you go talk to any traits, many traits company and the world.
In the country, whatever it is. And they're going to say, yeah, I just can't find nobody that wants to work. Nobody wants to work these days. That's a quote. Everybody throws around really well. Why would they want to go work for you? What, like you, literally, the only thing you say is nobody wants to work for you.
If you tell me nobody wants to work for you, I'm probably not going to want to work for you either. It doesn't sound that great. But now if you show them what you can get off of the work that you can build and what you can build that kind of career in life. You can build up this company. Yeah. That's going to sound pretty cool.
I'd like to come work there. That's why like two problems. I said that we've never had electric is getting work and finding people to do a bird. Literally I can't fund jobs and fund projects and fund equipment fast enough to take on all the projects and put people to work. And it's new people. It's experienced people.
Like my goal with this company is I want to be across the country with it. Big company. And I have people like in San Antonio, Texas, and California, and Las Vegas and Utah and Pennsylvania, all these places that are like ready, gung ho to like put a crew together and start a branch. They're ready to go.
That are like qualified for it. They work for other companies as project managers and they want to do that. And so like, I have no problems getting people into the trades. People reach out. To me daily, trying to get into the trades and how they should like buy their first tools and like finding an apprenticeship and which trade they should start.
Things like that. I have zero problems with it, but it's because have you ever watched my Instagram because I'm always at div on there. I'm showing people how great it is. I'm showing what you can build out of. I talk about the experiences I've had and the stories I have. And so people are like, yeah, that actually sounds kind of cool.
I'd love to try it instead of saying, Hey yeah, nobody wants to work these days. They're all lazy. So. I take it on yourself a hundred percent,
man. I love it.
Yeah,
you're really a gala you put out, but Luke, where can people find all this great stuff that you're putting out on Instagram? YouTube? What, uh, what handles should they look up to go
and find you at Loopsy market?
You do that's that Instagram same thing. And then I'm here on LinkedIn as well. Uh, so getting more active on LinkedIn, but I'm like active 99% of the time, Instagram. I usually post daily stories on there. Just stuff that I'm going through and like little ideas I had. And even if I've had to like sit down one of my form and a talk with them, like a serious talk I'll share what went on in that talk.
So other people that have the same problem learn from that as well. So.
I like it. I follow you. I'm going to keep doing it. I learned something every day, man.
Thanks.
Awesome guys. Well, Luke, it's been such a pleasure having you on the show here. You know, I think the, the big takeaways that we can all have is really take, take pride in your work.
Go out there, take pride in what you do, be be optimistic. Um, And you get what you put out, right? If you put out positivity, if you put out good things, if you exude optimism on your projects, People are gonna want to be around you. People are gonna want to come to work for you. They're gonna want to do good work.
We are going to want to go the extra mile. Uh, versus if you say that nobody wants to work here, we can't get anybody. Uh, our people suck, right? Like you're going to effectively manifest that in your life. And so many, uh, ended up doing that, right? If you only see problems, problems are the only thing you're ever going to get.
If you only see solutions, well, life becomes a lot easier if you, uh, if you just see solutions. Any, any last words,
Luke? No, I think that's all from me other than just thanks for having me on the show. I really appreciate it.
Glad to have you on man. And hopefully we can do it again someday.
Yeah. Look what we're doing.
Awesome
guys. Well, I'll go follow Luke. Go. Bring somebody else in the trades and you construction, we need more great people. And then to talk about how great this industry is, you know, we're doing it here, but we can't do it alone. We need everyone out there to really talk about how great an industry construction is.
The beautiful things that we build. And really the world that we live in is all done through, you know, our, our designs, our builds our execution, and, uh, we couldn't have it without construction. So we need more great people into this industry and it's on all of us. To bring them in. So that's this episode of the construction corner podcast until next time.