Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is trojan media network.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Welcome to behind the Business.
This is a student run podcast where we talk with business owners about how real businesses actually work.
Each episode focuses on one person and what it's really like to run a business day to day.
Today we're talking with Mr. Terry Grammer from TKG Construction LLC.
Terry works in roofing, including metal and shingle roofs. Thanks for being here with us.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: My pleasure.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: So to start us off, how did you first get into construction work?
[00:00:41] Speaker A: I'd start a little different than normal. I was actually in a relationship with somebody and her brother was in roofing and I did not have a job at that time, so I asked him to get me a job with him. So he eventually asked his boss and then his boss said I could come to work and that's how I got into roofing. Just didn't have a job at the time.
Was.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Was construction something you planned on doing as a boss?
[00:01:12] Speaker A: No, never thought about it, never considered it. It's just one of those things that kind of just fell right in my lap. And today I'm glad that it did.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: So at what point did you start thinking about owning your own company instead of just doing the work?
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Well, that kind of goes back to the beginning where I met that gentleman that I asked to get a job.
I started working out for that individual and then me and him decided to go out on our own. And then we just went out, just me and him started doing work on ourselves. This has been a long time ago. And we would drive around, look at construction homes that haven't been roofed yet. We'd stop, talk to the contractor and ask if you need a roof put on. It would give him a price and they'd accept it. We would do it. And that's how me and him got started.
And then after time, me and him split up. And then when we split up, I went back to the gentleman that I first started working with and then I became partners with him. And that was partners with him for about 14. About 14 years.
And then at 2017 is when I branched out on my own and became my own individual person and own own individual in my company. The only boss at 2017. It's been a blessing ever since.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: When did TKG Construction start to feel like a job? Like, I mean, sorry, a real business and not just a job?
[00:02:39] Speaker A: That was probably right about 2017 because when I went out of my own all by myself, that's when I had all the responsibility.
That's when I had guys working for me, contractors that needed things done, I had to do.
Guys that worked with me had lives, they had jobs, they had financial responsibilities that I had the burden to keep work going, to keep them occupied. So when I started 2017, that's really when it felt like a business, when I had everything on my shoulders at that time.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: What was the most difficult part of.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Co owning when you got a business partner together, it's like having two Indians, two chiefs, and everybody has their own way of doing it. And who's going to be the one that gets to say so? So when you got a business and you're the only one then got the only one making decision.
So there was me. Many times when I was with my partner, I wanted to do it one way and he wanted to do it another way. And so we butted heads a lot and we, we had a lot of disagreements at times, but it got me to where I am today. So I can't, can't. I can't dismiss that.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: So was there an early job or site that made you realize how much responsibility came with this?
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Oh, goodness.
There was a job that we did in my early business, about 2019.
And this was a very. One of my biggest expensive jobs at that time. It was about $30,000 at that time. And we had to tear off a roof, tear off the, the decking up under it. We had to redeck it, put the wood back on it. Then we had to put these shingles back on it that we've never installed before. And so we had to figure out how to do that, how to figure out to put it on.
And it was just. It was a hard time.
But thank goodness I got through it. We made it through it and it was good. It was good. It was very good.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: So I don't know a lot about roofing, to be honest, but what I do know is it takes a lot of skill.
So how did y' all learn how to work with both metal and shingles?
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Well, it was just over time that I was with my partner at one time that he was in it. He'd done it for many years. He did it ever since. He was like 18 or less than that.
And I watched him. He taught me some things. He showed me how to do things. I watched some of the things that he did. And working with other people, I watched them, how they did, what they did. And then of course you got YouTube. You can find out almost anything on YouTube. So I watch a lot of videos. Even to this day, there's things that I still change. I know how to do things. But you can always learn how to do things easier and better. So I pay attention to what's going on and it is to adapt to the situation.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: What part of roofing do people usually underestimate the price?
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Roofing is very expensive today.
It is. Has the price has doubled? No, it's almost tripled in the last 20 something years in the price.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Okay, so is there something you do now automatically that took a long time to learn.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: Something I did. Now you got to figure out the measurements on a lot of things. When you do roofing, you want to make sure things are straight. You want to make sure the like chimneys, you know, the little bricks that stick up out of the roof, it's a chimney. And you want to make sure that you make sure all that's done properly because that's where problems come and leaks come in and that's a lot of times that separates the experienced people from the inexperienced people. I see that a lot in my field, people don't know how to flash chimneys and do valleys and transitions in that. In that field.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: What kind of decisions do you have to make quickly on a job site?
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Sometimes it's a lot to do with weather.
If you got a roof tore off and you got a storm coming in and it floods the inside of the house, I'm going to be responsible for that. And that's not something I want to be responsible for. So I got to pay attention to the weather and, and see how that works out. And then a lot of times I got to figure out measurements.
We're on a roof right now up in Swanning and when they built it, somehow they built the bottom of it. It's a cabin like roof and it's about 3 inches out of square at the bottom.
So I got to figure out how to make it look straight without be crooked. And so you got to figure math on these things. You got to learn these things. You got to kind of figure that out as you go. Because you can't go home and try to figure it out. You can't ask somebody else to do it. You got to do it right then and there.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: So what is a problem you deal with often that customers usually never see?
And about how many people do you have that are working for you currently.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: Right at this moment? I have three guys that work with me and sometimes I have another boy that he might come in and fill in every now and then.
But I've got about three right at the second plus me.
A lot of things that we deal with that People don't know is damage. You tear off shingles and you got rotted wood. There was one job that we did, has been many, many years ago now, where we tore off the roof, and then we seen that we had to replace about 15 sheets of OSB. And this is things that's hidden up under there that you don't see until you tear into it. So a lot of things like that you just don't know until you open it up. And then. Then you got to fix it right then and there. It's another decision you got to make. What we're going to do, how we going to fix the problem.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: So what has been a mistake that taught you an important lesson?
[00:08:23] Speaker A: A mistake.
Hmm.
A lot of mistakes I've made over the time.
Oh, man, I had that in my mind. Where'd I go?
Mistakes?
I don't know. I haven't made a lot of mistakes. Honestly, in a line of field, I do. You got to do things right. You got to take care of things. There has been a mistakes that I have made. Yes, I remember now.
This is back in my earlier days when we first started doing metal. We measured this house off, and what we did is we measured off the front, and we were supposed to times it by two for the back of the house. And we forgot to add the back of the house.
So we started into this house, and we're figuring it, we're doing this. And then we realized we ain't got enough metal to do the whole back of the house.
And so we called up the contractor and was like, hey, man, we made a mistake.
Can you just pay for the material? And he's like, no, we can't do that. So me and my partner, we ended up having to eat that and pay for that metal out of our pocket on the back of that house.
It was a learning mistake. So now you go back over your figuring and your estimates, and you look and you make sure that you've got everything that you need. And I can't say that I've always not made a mistake since then, but the mistakes that I've made are very minimal now. Thank you. A whole back half of a house.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: On to how running a business works. How is owning a business different from just being good at the work itself?
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Well, when you own a business, you take more pride in it, because now my name is on it. I'm responsible for it. If there's a leak, there's a situation. If somebody sees it, it's my name, and I've. I've Been around a while. And I take pride in the work that I do. I take pride in. In everything that I go through. I mean, sometimes my guys get on to me because I'm really picky and it pays off. Because a lot of times when the homeowner comes to you and they say, I appreciate it what you did, that you've picked this up, you've done this, you've done that, and they give you compliments, especially if they go online and they. And they tell people and they give you referrals. It just makes you feel good that you know that you did your best and. And people are appreciative of it.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: So what does responsibility mean to you when you are working on someone's home?
[00:10:49] Speaker A: Well, you got to take care of people's homes because a lot of times shingles can fall off, damage the flower beds, or damage the sidings, and you got to be careful. You got to take.
Take extra precaution and lay tarps out. And then you don't want nails in the yard, because when they go mow their yard this winter or this summer and then all of a sudden they got a flat tire, they're going to be calling you up and saying, hey, you need to fix my tire. And so you got to take responsibility and what you do with the damaging and, and cleaning up and. And making everything look better than what it did when you got there. I tell my guys, I said, look, when we leave, we want the ground and everything look better than what we got here. If it ain't our trash, it doesn't matter. Pick it up anyway. And people notice little things like that, too.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: What kind of advice would you give yourself if you had to start over from day one?
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Don't wear steel toe boots and don't drink out of the water cooler.
The first day I started working, I didn't know nothing about roofing, and I wore steel toe boots. That was a mistake. My feet hurt me so bad that day, and I was so tired, I was so hot. I did not bring me nothing to drink.
And so they had a water cooler in the back of his truck. I go over to get a drink out of it, and I'm drinking out of it. I'm thirsty. And all of a sudden he comes over, he says, I probably wouldn't drink out of that. I've had fish in that cooler.
So when you're thirsty and you're tired, it didn't matter.
I was thirsty, but I would definitely remember. Do not wear steel toe boots and bring plenty of water. Plenty of water. That was one of those things I don't think I ever forget.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: So what do you enjoy most about the kind of work you do?
[00:12:36] Speaker A: I enjoy being outdoors.
I mean, there's a lot of people that I come across with that they tell me, I don't want to work in a factory. Because you're in a factory, you're stuck to a machine. And I've worked in factories before.
There's one I worked in. I won't say what it is, but you can't even take a break unless somebody relieves you and you're stuck to that machine the whole time you're there.
When you're outside working, you have the luxury of outdoors. Nature, the wind, it's just, it's such nice to be outside than be indoors. Fresh air.
So being outdoors is, is one of the good things of having being in construction like that. And then you got some freedom too, because you're not bound to somebody coming, relieving. If you got to go the restroom or you got to go somewhere and do something, you. You have freedom.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: What kind of advice would you give to students who might want to work in construction someday?
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Go for it. Construction is good. Construction is.
There's some construction out there that I don't think AI will be able to replace.
I know I've seen videos where they've got a.
A machine trying to put shingles on, but I haven't seen one taking shingles off. I haven't seen one doing the complex things around chimneys. I mean, there's things that AI is not going to be replacing in, in this type of field. And this type of field. It's, it's. People are leaving. I can't remember the statistics, and I've heard it before that a lot of people are retiring. So that leaves room for up young upcomers to, to get into this field and, and have a successful career in this because a lot of people don't want to do it. Construction is hard work, but it does pay off in the long run if you stick with it. So I would definitely do it and I would pay attention in school mainly. I wish I would have done that more.
But you got to learn things. You got to learn math. Math is one of the big things that I do a lot in my field. You got to figure up the estimates, you got to figure out payroll, you got to figure up bills, you got to. Got to figure out measurements, and that's all math. And a lot of people don't want to figure that up and learn that because you ain't. Sometimes you ain't got a calculator out there to help you figure it up or your phone out there to figure it up. You got to figure it up on the fly. So that. That's some of the things that I would think about.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Is there anything about your experience or your work that we did not ask you, but think that. But you think that students should hear?
[00:15:12] Speaker A: Well, like I was saying, there's a lot of things out there that's hard. It's tough when you start out in business.
I started out almost 26 years ago and never thought I would be here today.
You got to get in this field or any field in construction. You've got to get in it and start working it. You can't stand around. I've got a boy with me right now. He likes to stand around, but he's fresh. He's still new.
It's always, if you want to go work for somebody, do somebody. Always get in there. Always learn. Always try to advance yourself. Even if you got a job in a factory, always try to advance yourself and do more. Don't settle for where you're at.
Fight for it. Always go to the top. You know, there's always room for growth. Never settle where you're at.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Well, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today and sharing your experience.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Well, thank you. It's been my pleasure.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Sa.
