Enmanuel Tejada (00:01.286)
perfect so yep so we're live right now I'm gonna do the intro and we're gonna go on
Hector (00:02.146)
Okay, no worries, man.
Enmanuel Tejada (00:16.422)
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Digital Toolbox Podcast. I am your host, Emmanuel Tahata. I own a marketing agency called Landscape Maverick. We handle all the marketing for landscape companies, including websites, SEO, paid ads, all that good stuff. Today we have a special guest for you guys. We have Hector from Concrete Systems. So Hector, man, tell us about yourself.
Hector (00:37.09)
Concrete Solutions, but hey great great intro. My name is sector Romero with concrete solutions We're a concrete strictly based company based out of Denver, Colorado. We service the metro area within 20 30 miles around that But yeah, I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having this space for me
Enmanuel Tejada (00:54.47)
Dude, yeah, for sure, man. For sure, there's gonna be an awesome podcast. And man, you know what? Let's sort it out, Hector. So, who was Hector in high school?
Hector (01:03.33)
Man, Hector in high school was eager to get it on the field. I was just very outgoing, man. I understood the value of making connections, making relationships. So just an outgoing guy. Just eager to graduate, bro. Eager to graduate, eager to get out there adulthood. You know what I mean?
Enmanuel Tejada (01:05.926)
Okay.
Enmanuel Tejada (01:23.014)
What was it about it, about high school or like that time in your life that kind of wanted you to want to get, to be over with it? Was it like you were excited to go and work and make a career for yourself?
Hector (01:32.962)
I think for me man, especially being a senior, I feel like teachers and the whole administration, school, counselors, they shoved down college down your throat. And I knew for me it wasn't an option. I was like, I'm not gonna do college. I just wanna be done with high school and get straight working. So I think to answer your question, just yeah man, I knew, it's kinda weird to say this, but I knew where I was heading and I was just eager to start.
Enmanuel Tejada (02:01.542)
Gotcha, man. Yeah, for sure. And like when you were a senior, did you know what you wanted to do with yourself at Cook Time?
Hector (02:06.018)
Yeah, yeah for sure man. I think what helped me a lot was my dad, he owns a construction business as well. He does concrete and so Summers was strictly me doing that. You know, I would go out working with him and it gave me a brief understanding from such a young age what I wanted to do. You know, by 15, 16 years old I knew I wanted to head to that.
Enmanuel Tejada (02:28.038)
That's awesome, man. And that's that's amazing too that you started actually in the field, right? Like a lot of people now, there's a lot of influencers and they own the company and you see them holding a shovel or doing whatever, but they don't know what the fuck you're doing. They have their they have their project managers doing it. I don't hate but you know, it's just different because you were in it though.
Hector (02:46.082)
No, no, you're right, man. I wish you could see my hands through the camera. But no, we're still out there grinding. You know, we're still out there grinding. We're still out there pushing. I think the biggest thing for me, bro, is just being this new generation, bro. Like, I mean, you're a young guy yourself. How old are you?
Enmanuel Tejada (02:50.246)
ha ha ha calluses
Enmanuel Tejada (03:05.446)
I'm 24.
Hector (03:06.658)
Yeah, dude, you're super young, bro. So like, you know, we're pretty much the new gen. You know, my dad, he's already in his sixties, so he's getting close to that retirement age. And for me, bro, it was more like, okay, like we need to create value. A lot of people are heading towards white collar jobs and, you know, tech things and blue collar, bro, seems to be going down, you know, and that's kind of like a scare sign I'm having as well as a business owner.
Enmanuel Tejada (03:32.262)
Yeah.
Hector (03:35.81)
Like where is the industry going to be in the next 10, 15 years?
Enmanuel Tejada (03:40.152)
then that's gonna be a very interesting, very interesting to see how that goes. And I actually have some questions for you about that too, man. I mean, you said it yourself, a lot of people nowadays, they don't wanna go into blue collar. They don't want to, they say it's dirty, they don't wanna work with their hands, they don't wanna be outside. What do you think about that? Like, why is that happening now when all these past years we've been into that?
Hector (04:04.418)
Honestly, man, like I believe you guys probably think I'm gonna like bash on teachers and administrators, but I honestly feel like it's a lot of brainwashing, bro. Like it's a lot of like, you need to go to school to be successful. You need to do certain things. I'm not disagreeing the fact that college is not important, nor am I against college. Like, you know, we need doctors, we need lawyers, we need certain professionals that is required to go through that. But what I'm disagreeing is that that's the only path, you know.
My argument is there's more resources out there, especially us being in 2024. We got all this technology. We got all this resources in our phone. So to answer your question, I think it's a lot of brainwashing and blue collar jobs are really not that bad, bro. You just got to find what you like. You got to find what you're good at. You know, I could tell you that I would not be a painter, bro. I would be a horrible painter. It's just it's just not who I am as a person. You know, I'm very
Very quick, very impatient. So to me, concrete makes sense, bro. I'm out there demoing out 3 ,000 square feet and I'm just going at it boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Versus a painter or other industries, you just gotta find your niche to make it shorter.
Enmanuel Tejada (05:18.31)
Dude, yeah, I agree a thousand percent. And yeah, I mean, I agree with you a thousand percent with the teachers. Like, I'm sure that if they mentioned, if they started mentioning blue collar jobs as an option or the benefit of it, I think we would have more people that wants to do that.
Hector (05:29.058)
Maybe Yeah, and honestly dude, I'm just I'm a little salty because I had a teacher Tommy like if you're gonna go to college you might as well just drop out and To me I was like, I mean high school is a given brah. I'm not gonna drop out But no dude blue blue collar for me has been the way doesn't mean it's gonna be the way for everybody, you know We all have our purpose Just going off topic a little bit here. Like that's the biggest thing is finding your purpose and going after it
Enmanuel Tejada (05:39.142)
What the fuck?
Enmanuel Tejada (05:59.142)
thousand percent thousand percent dude and and what you guys are doing over there bro at concrete solutions because i see you posting constant content bro and i'm like damn bro like these guys are these guys are you guys are killing it bro and i love seeing it bro and man so like what are you doing specifically hector to attract more talent because people don't want to come in the people that are already in are probably happy at their job right now but how do you find talent?
Hector (06:08.354)
Thanks for watching.
Hector (06:24.482)
I think for us, when it's creating that culture, bro, we're very big on culture over here at Concrete Solutions. Something I like to do a lot is getting off a little earlier on Fridays. That's something I'm very strict about. Sometimes the job needs to get done, so you gotta do what you gotta do. But I think to attract more talent, what we're doing is we're being competitive. We're taking care of them. We're definitely not being stingy.
Enmanuel Tejada (06:32.806)
Thanks for watching.
Enmanuel Tejada (06:43.782)
Right.
Hector (06:53.122)
Other companies have X amount of guys. We like to have, you know, the help for sure.
Enmanuel Tejada (06:59.302)
Dude, I love that bro. Yeah, and culture is super important. And how many guys are on your team, by the way?
Hector (07:04.298)
So we got 12 guys right now on our team.
Enmanuel Tejada (07:08.262)
12 holy shit, that's awesome, bro. And how many of those are field and how many of them are? office and sales and back end
Hector (07:15.682)
So field is nine and then backhand is three. Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (07:20.486)
Shit man, that's awesome. So wow, and are you still involved in the field work as well?
Hector (07:25.058)
Yeah, man. Yeah, I like to swing by here and there. I like to be involved. And I think for me, it's just like, just being there with the guys is really motivating.
Enmanuel Tejada (07:36.39)
Man, leading from the front, I love it, bro. Napoleon Hill, Napoleon, no, not Napoleon Hill, Napoleon Bonaparte, I used to love that, bro, because they always used to say that he would lead with the front, right? He was one of the guys on the battlefield risking his life with his men, right? It's different if you're just in the back inside of a cool office and you're like, do this, do this, do this. Like, yeah, they'll respect you, but they see you in the field and you're sweating and you've got calluses just like them. Dude, that says a lot. That motivates them too.
Hector (08:02.53)
I think for me man, it's just like I said, we're big on culture bro, we're shoulder to shoulder. Everybody has their own responsibilities, but you'll be seeing our foreman's out there helping the younger guys out, showing them how it's done. They're not just in their trucks just hanging around, they're out there working as well bro.
Enmanuel Tejada (08:18.694)
Dude love it love it love it man, and how do you guys find work? So how do you? Yes, you guys have all the tools you guys have all the equipment, but how do you guys bring in leads into your business?
Hector (08:33.57)
Dude, that's honestly a really good question. There's various forums. Word of mouth, I would say, is a very important one. Social media, man. Nowadays, if you're not on social media, you're pretty much out of business at this point. Social media is a huge one for us. We're very active on TikTok, very active on Instagram. Relationships, we have really good connections with a lot of vendors and a lot of realtors, a lot of...
other contractors, you know, we work specifically for pool companies. Yeah, you name it, man. We're very well connected.
Enmanuel Tejada (09:07.974)
Man, that's awesome right there. And what about things like, are you guys advertising at all? are you guys heavy into putting money behind that to drive leads at all?
Hector (09:18.018)
Yeah, yeah we are man. I think for me man, it's like we don't like to be comfortable. We always like to keep moving. Even though we got the connections, we got the word of mouth, we still want to keep moving forward. So yeah, our website, Instagram ads, things like that.
Enmanuel Tejada (09:34.63)
Dude, that's awesome right there. And do you guys find yourselves often competing with companies like other pool builders or landscapers or hardscapers where they also offer concrete as a service?
Hector (09:47.266)
So the way I look at it man is yes and no. Something I'm coming to realize is not every job is meant for you. So you need to be very specific on, okay does this shop fit my criteria? Does this fit my company? I don't see it as competition bro, I see it as collaboration. So we have a certain minimum that smaller jobs, we pass them on to someone else.
Is that what you asked? Is that what you asked, sorry, like pretty much how we collaborate?
Enmanuel Tejada (10:16.262)
wow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so so that that's a good point Yeah, like if it's a small job, right like a backyard like a small backyard You guys would just pass that to somebody else
Hector (10:27.298)
So yeah dude, so here's a, just to give you a brief understanding of how I started my business, you know, it was just me and a guy named Jorge. I had no truck, he had a truck, and we started with hot tubs. We started with eight by eight pads. So eight feet by eight feet, bro. Small little jobs, bro. But that's where we were at, the point, you know? So what I would do, I would go to every hot tub dealer, I would hand them my card, hey, I do concrete. If you have any referrals for us, please.
And I would hook those guys up, bro. I would bring them Chipotle, Kidoba. You know, I would take care of them. And to this day, we still get those leads. Like people still call us like, hey, we got your number from X and X Hot Tub Company. Can you come do our pad? And you know, we pretty much defer them to another company at that point, because you know, as you get bigger, bro, your overhead, your just to your cost gets a lot harder. You want to get those guys taken care of. You don't want to be ripping them off. So we collaborate with other companies.
Enmanuel Tejada (11:27.494)
That's awesome, man. That's a blessing too to be in that position where you get so many leads that you're able to just delegate that to somebody else or pass that along. Even though at the beginning you guys were wishing for those leads, now you guys have them and now you don't even need them, right? Because you guys have bigger projects, so that's awesome.
Hector (11:35.234)
Right.
Hector (11:39.458)
Great.
Hector (11:44.322)
Yeah man, and we hate turning down jobs man, but sometimes not every job fits your criteria, so you want to make sure that they're taken care of by a person you trust.
Enmanuel Tejada (11:55.558)
Gotcha, dude, absolutely man and you mentioned earlier that I think it was before we started recording But you mentioned that about 60 % of your jobs are residential 40 % are commercial is that about right? And so when you guys get those commercial jobs, how do you land those are those two bids or those two connections?
Hector (12:06.178)
Yep, that's correct.
Hector (12:13.922)
Connections, bids as well, you know, relationships, property managers, other contractors, builders, so all sorts word of mouth, you know, typically with commercial jobs man, the people that own commercial properties, they don't just own one, they own many, so if you do a good job here at this property, they're gonna give you another one, and then it just becomes a snowball effect, you know.
Enmanuel Tejada (12:41.574)
Dude, 1000%. And I've heard the same thing too, because a common thing that I do here is, cause in the area that I live, there's a lot of construction happening. So there's constantly job sites going up and I like to like bring coffee to the project manager on, on the site and then like build a connection with them and talk to the other developer. Like if the developer is ever there or somebody from their team, I love talking to them too. And are those the type of people that you kind of connect with? Cause if somebody's going to put up a building, they're going to need subcontractors for everything. And if you're the concrete guy,
You're going to be the concrete guy for all the projects that that developer does, right?
Hector (13:14.274)
Yep, no that's correct man. No, no, yeah, we made very good connections. We made a lot of relationships. I think that's the thing for us man. What I mean by culture man is we're big on relationships man. For us it's like, if a contractor that I've been doing work for many, many years calls me and he needs something done right away, I'm gonna make that time for him and I'm gonna go knock it out for him. Because to me it's important to maintain that relationship and to get him taken care of.
Enmanuel Tejada (13:44.422)
I love that. I love that. Yeah, making yourself available even even if it's young you have to squeeze it in or even if the guys have to maybe stay a little bit longer one day, but Yeah, yeah getting it done is awesome man And have you do you often get referrals from other contractors as well? Like like they may be working like and I don't know like an electrician and they're like all this person needs some concrete work done
Hector (13:52.418)
Right.
Hector (14:03.81)
Yeah, we do, man. So we have a pretty good network. I'm actually part of this club that there's lenders, realtors, plumbers, electricians. For me, man, it's like, you're only as good as those around you, bro. And we're very humbled and very privileged to have the connections we have. And we don't take it for granted. Just like they help us out, we help them out a lot. We personally don't do any landscaping. We love to focus just on concrete. We like to be...
perfect that craft. So we pass a lot of landscaping jobs to the individual that is in that group. And I always try to delegate things that, hey, do you know somebody? Yeah, yeah. At the end of the day, as individuals, what we seek is opportunity. And for me, I feel like other owners appreciate that, because I feel like that's the best way of showing love to a business owner is by referring them out to another guy.
Enmanuel Tejada (14:34.95)
Right.
Hector (15:02.498)
or somebody that needs a job done.
Enmanuel Tejada (15:04.998)
Dude, yeah, 100%. And I'm sure you probably can imagine some days when you were like, like hungry for jobs and you were looking, hunting things down and maybe you got to refer up on somebody else. That probably, that probably means a lot. Like.
Hector (15:14.594)
Dude, it does man, it does. And Kobe said it the best man, like that's true success right there bro. When you're out there hunting and chasing and calling people and your schedule's not as booked. And yeah bro, I'm always reminded by that and it really humbles me that we're in the position that we are now and I try to help others out too.
Enmanuel Tejada (15:39.206)
Love it. Love it, man. And then that humbleness, bro, your humbleness is going to get you a long way, bro, because that beat that down to earthness, bro, that that's I can feel it, bro. I can feel that that you're genuine, too, bro. So I love that. Love that, bro. And then what about when it comes to when it comes to on the commercial side, I wanted to ask you, right, because, of course, you guys are going to continue getting bigger and bigger and taking on bigger jobs. What's a crazy story that you can tell me? Like, what's the biggest job you've ever taken on?
Hector (15:51.106)
Thanks for having me.
Hector (16:02.466)
Right.
Hector (16:08.418)
Man, we've done all sorts of jobs, man. I would say the biggest job we've taken on, we started doing warehouses for Amazons. So, you know, you're talking a couple thousand square feet. Originally, when we first started, it was a little like getting out of our comfort zone, like, are we ready for this? Can we take this on? But yeah, man, it's been really cool to be doing those jobs.
Enmanuel Tejada (16:15.494)
really?
Hector (16:36.546)
I've gotten requests from Denver Airport, DIA, but I'm not at that level yet, man. And I think it's very important for you as an owner to know what your company is capable of doing. So instead of closing the door on that connection, hey, we're privileged, we're humbled that you thought of us, but we're not able to take on this big of a job. There's no way we can do runways right now with nine guys. That'd be crazy, bro.
Enmanuel Tejada (17:02.598)
Yeah, hopefully that would be cool to do But man that back to that Amazon project though I'm sure you guys were at a point where you guys were doubting so I was like, yo Can we do this is something we can do but then you said yes and you knew you were gonna figure it out So how did that end up? Running out like is that the same as or similar to doing some of the other commercial projects that you guys do?
Hector (17:07.234)
Yeah.
Hector (17:19.97)
Yup.
Hector (17:27.81)
It's a little different bro, especially with Amazon like they're very big on time, they're very big on schedule so you gotta work some odd hours especially because they got shipping, they got certain orders that are gonna come out. It's kind of interesting because it kind of works out with our schedule. They're busy times during the winter, holidays, you know, you got Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, New Year's, that's the busiest time. So we worked some crazy hours bro, we made it happen for them and yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (17:36.614)
Mm.
Enmanuel Tejada (17:55.814)
What's an example of crazy hours?
Hector (17:57.634)
I would say we would start at four in the morning, bro, and then we would get off like at 7 p You know, yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. But you know, it's something that you don't do daily. You do it maybe for a week. You're pretty beat up that week, bro. But you know, at the end of the day, you make it happen. You take care of the guys and it puts us in a different position for sure.
Enmanuel Tejada (18:03.014)
The fuck? ho ho ho! Holy shit!
Enmanuel Tejada (18:18.95)
Wow, and how many of those projects do you guys do?
Hector (18:21.89)
So we did one up in Agroa, Colorado, so it's off of Tower Road for those in Denver that know. We did that warehouse right there. We didn't do the whole warehouse. We did repairs around the warehouse, so a lot of like docks and you know, staircases, things like that, interior stuff as well.
Enmanuel Tejada (18:41.766)
Shit man, that's awesome. And what does that project look like? Is it just the flooring that you guys put down for the warehouse or?
Hector (18:47.17)
Yeah, strictly flooring bro. We like to do strictly flat work. What that looks like man, they're big on schedule so you gotta let them know. Dog 24, 25, 30s and be close from this day to this day. You guys are able to use these dogs and then we maneuver, we work together. So yeah, it was pretty interesting to see man.
Enmanuel Tejada (19:08.774)
That's awesome. And how does one go about landing a job like that?
Hector (19:12.802)
Man, I think I was just at the right place at the right time, man. Literally, bro. For that one, I want to say that our sales guy landed that one. So he was actually at a... I want to say he was at a Starbucks and they saw our truck. And the property manager that manages that facility told him, like, hey, we need car key work. Can you come give us a quote? And yeah, just being at the right place at the right time, I guess. So it was pretty in -ro.
Enmanuel Tejada (19:40.166)
Wow, so you guys got that through the property manager and then you didn't know what company was gonna be behind it though. You guys just knew that the property manager was there and then you find out it's Amazon? Yo, that must be awesome, bro.
Hector (19:43.554)
Yup. Yup.
Hector (19:50.786)
Right, yep, yep, so it's the... Yeah, and like, you know, and that honestly helped us with that specific property manager, bro, because they have a lot of property. They have a lot, a lot of property in Colorado. Since we knocked it out of the park for them, like Amazon's such a big tenant for them that they were super happy, like, man, you guys kept on schedule, you guys were clean, you guys were...
responsive. We have these, we have X amount of jobs for you guys. And I was like, dope, you know, just getting your foot in the door, man, and running with it.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:21.158)
That's amazing. And did you guys end up doing more warehouses too for them for Amazon?
Hector (20:24.61)
Yeah, yeah, we did a lot of warehouses. We did Amazon. We did Budweiser.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:31.43)
Wow.
Hector (20:32.13)
Yeah, a lot of warehouses, man.
Enmanuel Tejada (20:35.174)
Holy crap, dude, that's amazing. That is amazing, bro.
Hector (20:37.922)
Yeah, just to give you a scope roll, we do a lot of multi -family apartment complexes, townhomes, condos, shopping centers, warehouses, which is industrial. Yeah, man, it always feels cool doing those kinds of jobs, because you feel the pressure, but it's not good pressure. You know what I mean? It's kind of like, we have X amount of days to finish this, let's knock it down. It's a challenge.
Enmanuel Tejada (21:03.942)
Thousand percent man thousand percent and when you went from a project like that like what of that magnitude Are you guys already equipped with things like did you got because you guys knew you were gonna do some work at four in the morning? So you probably wouldn't need lights and a bunch of other accessories at night Did you guys already have that or did you guys have to like real fast move buy everything you need right now and get it done?
Hector (21:24.226)
No, so as far as the lights, we rented those out because we knew it was like a week thing. It wasn't going to be like a day for us or, you know, so for as far as like stuff like lights, we rented out cones. We actually got a safety company to call stuff out for us, put some signs up for the drivers. So we delegated some things as well. Equipment wise, man, yeah, we were pretty, we're pretty well equipped to take on jobs like that for sure.
Enmanuel Tejada (21:29.734)
Mmm.
Enmanuel Tejada (21:50.982)
Saw man, I saw you guys have a couple of trucks and they're all branded. I was like damn, bro. That's awesome
Hector (21:56.034)
Yeah, we're big on that man. We're big on marketing. We're big on branding. Like, you know, you won't catch a guy without a concrete solution shirt or hat at the job site. Like to me, it's like, let's represent who we are. Let's put the, especially when you're doing residential, man, you want to put the owner at ease. You don't want like, you know, you don't want to, here's the story. I got a message from a homeowner back like four years ago, like, Hey, there's a cowboy in my basement. I'm like, a cowboy? Question mark. There was just some guy wearing a cowboy hat with.
with the boots and he's smoking a cigarette on the patio. I'm like, I get it, a smoke break is fine, but it was kind of a, it was funny man, because I was like a cowboy and then he texted me a picture of the individual and I was like, shit, we gotta get this guy some gear. Home owners need to go into their house knowing who they're walking to, you know what I mean? So ever since that man, that changed the dynamic in my company. We're big on everybody being geared up.
Enmanuel Tejada (22:51.91)
He said there's a cowboy in my head.
Hector (22:53.762)
Yeah, man, I was like, what are you talking about? And trying to keep a PG, man, I was like, I didn't order any strippers. What's going on? Is that your end or what? It was hilarious, bro. And then I called the guy and I was like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm just smoking a cigarette. I'm waiting for the concrete to set up. I'm like, OK, that's fine. But the homeowner got a little scared because they saw you. They're like, who is this guy?
Enmanuel Tejada (23:04.998)
Hahaha!
Enmanuel Tejada (23:23.022)
That's a funny story, bro. Thanks for sharing that.
Hector (23:24.29)
Yeah, I'm sure that's probably one of the first you've heard of.
Enmanuel Tejada (23:29.846)
That's funny man and and and so let's talk a little bit more about that to her like as far as like the operation so on the commercial side or even on the residential There's I would imagine there's a lot of things that have to get done right like you said you have to have the rentals for For the equipment that you guys don't have you have to guys you have to pull pernick with the city you have to Reach out to different project managers property management
or a bunch of different vendors. So how does that work? Who coordinates that? Do you do all of that?
Hector (24:06.402)
I do some of it, not all of it. I think for me, I'm more in charge of the project operations, so I'm more of a project manager. I'm in charge of what time the trucks are going to get there, what time we're reporting concrete, where we need to be at a specific time, how we're looking on the schedule. My wife actually takes care of a lot of stuff as well. She helps me with the permits, the backend of things, the invoicing, the...
Enmanuel Tejada (24:18.086)
Mm -hmm.
Hector (24:32.77)
the making sure everybody's informed that we're gonna be there, making sure that, you know, they know where to, what time to expect us at, what number to reach if they have any questions. So man, it's a whole operation that it takes a team for sure, you know.
Enmanuel Tejada (24:49.67)
That's awesome, man. I like how your wife is involved with it as well. And would she be the one responsible for like maybe pulling, calling about a permit or calling about a rental equipment or anything like that?
Hector (25:00.322)
Yeah, yeah, she would. We don't rent very much equipment. We have a lot of equipment on our own, but when it comes down to it, yeah, she helps me out with stuff like that.
Enmanuel Tejada (25:09.862)
That's awesome. That's awesome. And how about when it comes to the residential side of things, right? How do you guys? How do you how do you make sure that your guys are doing repeatable work right like that? Everything is nothing is being missed. Everything is being done right even if you weren't there
Hector (25:26.946)
So we have a quality control guy, man. He's actually the guy that helped me start this business. His name's Jorge. Older individual, he's been doing concrete for about 30, man, he's 55, so about 35 years, man. He's been doing concrete for a very long time. So he's there at every job, making sure things are being done to, you know, we built a system that works, bro. So everybody knows their role, everybody knows their job.
And we like to keep the same individuals, meaning when we get bigger jobs, we get outside help, and we always call the same individuals to come help us to keep up that consistency. So that's a form of us assuring that consistency. And then we also have a cleanup guy that goes right behind the crew. So we have two days Mondays and Thursdays are cleanup days for us. So whatever we do Friday, Saturday,
that clean up crew goes on Monday and then whatever we do Tuesday, Wednesday, they go on Thursday. So it's a system that's working really well for us because you know the guys are just focusing on getting the job done, making sure it's nice and clean and then we got these clean up guys going right behind them knocking down the little stuff that was missed like hey you guys left this little pile of dirt here, hey you guys left this or...
You know, it honestly means a lot when the homeowner gets the knock on the door, like, hey, we're with Concrete Solutions. Is there any concerns that you want to walk through, you want to address? So that's what it looks like.
Enmanuel Tejada (27:03.398)
That's awesome. And is that like an actual cleanup, meaning like he's removing debris, organizing things, or just doing touch up work that might've been missed.
Hector (27:12.418)
So, but he does all that. So he removes the forms, removes the debris, power washes, cleans up little stuff here and there. You know, it's construction that's going to get messy. We try to be as clean as possible. We always use plastic, especially with residential men. We take the extra step because at the end of the day, you're working on someone's home. You're not working on, you know, it's more personal. It's like, it's their space. It's where they have family and friends that they don't want to come to a...
destroyed house like you know you do their patio their patio looks great but now their landscape is all fucked up sorry I don't know if you could cuss but you know it takes yeah it takes away from from the job you did like you know you did such a badass job on the patio but now their their grass is damaged their their fence got deemed up it takes away the focus and they started looking into more things like this isn't right this isn't right this isn't right
Enmanuel Tejada (27:47.27)
Exactly.
Yeah, no, of course, go ahead, go ahead, yeah.
Hector (28:08.866)
So to us, it's like, let's be as consistent as possible. We know we're not perfect, but we try to build a system that we're very repetitive. And I think it's definitely working out for us.
Enmanuel Tejada (28:23.174)
That sounds really good and it sounds like you guys really really go the extra mile man to really make sure everything is clean. So how does that look like? I know a couple of roofing guys that I work with and they make sure that you know like you mentioned all the landscape they use plastic and make sure everything is covered up. If they need to use anything to cover specific plants they do it. So does that look the same for you guys? Like do you guys cover fences or landscape anything like that?
Hector (28:49.218)
Yeah, I think for us, since we use a lot of equipment, we're big on like plywood, trackpads, equipment pads. So whenever we're going through landscape or rocks, we make sure we have plywood and we make sure we have trackpads. You know, again, man, we're not perfect. We've learned a lot from our mistakes, like, especially starting out, like it's hard to have that access, have those resources. But, you know, if you really want to get your company to the next level, you got to take those extra steps.
Enmanuel Tejada (29:10.886)
Mm -hmm.
Enmanuel Tejada (29:16.454)
take those extra steps, dude, I love it. And how do you guys all stay organized? Do you guys use some sort of CRM or what type of tools you guys use to keep the company going?
Hector (29:24.642)
Yeah, yeah, we do. So we're big on Asana, not sure if you've heard of it. That's it.
Enmanuel Tejada (29:29.766)
Asana? Yeah, I have. Yeah, similar to what's it called? Fuck, I forgot. It's a project management tool, though, right?
Hector (29:38.37)
Yeah, yeah, we're big on that man. That's where we invoice. That's where we keep schedules. That's where we have our quotes. DocuSign as well, man. That's what we use strictly for contracts. Every Saturday I meet with my foreman and I give him a list of what the week looks like. And then we have a group chat through WhatsApp and we have all the workers there. They know what to do. They know where they're going. They know what to expect that day.
The cleanup guys, they're right behind them, so the cleanup guys text me or Jorge like, hey, what jobs need to be addressed? What jobs need more attention? This job needs a little more attention. Look for this, look for this. So yeah, man, communication, bro, that's honestly a big, big tool for us, man.
Enmanuel Tejada (30:27.078)
That's awesome. You guys are the first ones that I ever hear actually to use Asana. So that's awesome, man.
Hector (30:32.482)
Yeah man, I know there's all sorts of systems out there, CRMs and stuff.
Enmanuel Tejada (30:38.63)
Yeah, no, but you guys found one that works and you guys are sticking to a match. So that's, that's awesome right there. That's awesome. And how come, what, what, what about, as far as billing and everything like that, how does that look like for you guys? How do you guys charge your customers? You guys use QuickBooks or do you guys send invoices from some sort of billing software?
Hector (30:57.25)
So we do a lot of QuickBooks, yeah. That's what we use. So we have our credit cards there, we have our... So everything's linked to QuickBooks. It makes things a lot easier. Yep.
Enmanuel Tejada (31:07.302)
And how about for the commercial jobs like like when you guys did work for Amazon or some of these other bigger companies but like how does getting paid by them look like is that a complicated process?
Hector (31:16.834)
Yeah, it's tough man. It's tough in the aspect where you need to be established or you need to have the right resources. They take anywhere from 60 to 90 days. Yeah, 60 to 90, that's what the terms are.
Enmanuel Tejada (31:21.094)
Okay.
Enmanuel Tejada (31:29.254)
90 days to get to pay.
Hector (31:36.994)
Okay, you know, in some bigger jobs you are able to ask for a deposit just to help things rolling. But for the most part, we use a lot of 30 days, we're not at 30. That's something that we're paying off. Yeah.
Enmanuel Tejada (31:48.838)
so that's Amazon's terms like like net 90 or like one of those bigger companies or terms are like that.
Hector (31:53.954)
It's not necessarily Amazon, it's more like the property managers that are doing it. So, you know, they have anywhere from 60 to 80 days, because that's their building cycle.
Enmanuel Tejada (32:04.422)
But do they release payment as those 90 days like throughout the 90 days or you get everything on book after the 90 days, for example.
Hector (32:10.722)
Well, you get everything on bulk after the 90 days. Depends on the job. So if you got a big enough job, you're like, hey, I need X amount to start, and then X amount after the job's completed. So.
Enmanuel Tejada (32:20.582)
Because I would imagine, I mean, you guys incur a lot of fees, right? You have to get the concrete, you guys have to keep the machines going. So you have to pay for all of that upfront and then you get paid at the end after the 90 days.
Hector (32:27.426)
Yeah.
Hector (32:33.73)
Yeah, I mean our biggest thing is making sure the guys are paid. Because at the end of the day, nobody's working for free. They expect their check Friday and their checks are early. As far as vendors, we have really good connections with vendors. They're net 30, so they wait for us 30 days. So that's super helpful. Our concrete supplier, Net 30 as well, he gives us 30 days. Our pumping guy, Net 30. So that honestly helps a lot too.
Enmanuel Tejada (32:45.19)
Exactly.
Enmanuel Tejada (33:02.982)
Wow, damn man, that's so even though like even though that that you guys have that net 30 with the vendors There's still another 60 days to go though until
Hector (33:11.938)
Yeah, so that's where the residential side comes in. That's why we're big on residential. We love residential. Residential, man, it's very in and out. So if it's a one day job, you get paid that day. So it's a lot faster and smoother process on getting paid on residential jobs than commercial jobs.
Enmanuel Tejada (33:32.838)
Wow, dude, that's, I see what you mean, bro. You just painted a great picture in my mind. Like, like you can't, I mean, I'm sure you, there's companies that do strictly commercial, but in your case, like if you did straight, if you went into straight commercial, you would have to wait a long time without getting paid unless you're doing. So in the meantime, in between those 90 days, you're still hitting up residential. You're still getting paid. You're still paying the guys. You're still keeping everything operating. Wow.
Hector (33:50.242)
Do it out. Yeah.
Hector (33:58.786)
Yeah, so that's why we like to keep that balance 60 -40. That's what works for us, man. So say we're doing 10 jobs, quick math. We're doing six residential jobs, four commercial jobs. Those six residential jobs keep us afloat. Keeps money in the account, keeps us going. And then once we get paid from the commercial jobs, that's when we start paying the bigger stuff, the concrete, the vendors. Hey, we need new equipment. We need...
We need this for the truck, we need this. So that's what works for us, man.
Enmanuel Tejada (34:32.71)
Wow. And that shows too, the importance of marketing and continuing to stay relevant, right? Because like imagine that you just sat back and just chilled and you're like, all right, we'll, you know, we'll figure it out and you don't have any money coming in and you can't pay the guys, dude, that would, that would all just unravel.
Hector (34:49.57)
No, yeah, man. Thankfully, man, I'm very good with managing. I'm very good with, yeah, man, we've been good, man. We've been really good. We haven't had that stress. And hopefully we never do, man, because it gets tough out there. I've heard some stories where we have some employees that come from other companies and they haven't gotten paid. And it's kind of like, what are they doing over there? How do you not get paid? You know.
Enmanuel Tejada (35:11.302)
Wow. Wow. And I know that right now you guys are having a, it's like the season picked up for you guys. You guys are having a spring rush, like a lot of landscapers, they call it the spring rush. You guys are kind of having a similar effect with concrete. So are there ever slow periods where there's just less jobs than usual?
Hector (35:24.802)
Yeah, we are.
Hector (35:32.418)
Yeah, wintertime can slow down for everybody, industry -wise. But, you know, we do things a little different. What we start doing, like, coming August, September, we start marketing for garages, basements, interior stuff. Because, you know, during those months, we're getting leads for garages, basements, getting leads for interior stuff that you're able to work through the winter. So, wintertime, you know, you're not working six days a week, but you're still working four days a week.
Enmanuel Tejada (35:47.75)
Mmmmm
Hector (36:01.762)
So I have skipped the system.
Enmanuel Tejada (36:03.782)
And I was going to ask, yes, so I know in landscaping, there's specific type of stones or specific type of rocks that you can't really install in the winter. In you guys' case, can you install concrete all year round?
Hector (36:11.298)
Right.
Hector (36:16.226)
Yes or no? I mean, ideally no, to answer your question. You don't want to install concrete below freezing because it's not going to be good, it's going to be defective. You know, you got to give it enough time, the right temperature for it to cure properly. So ideally, we don't like to install concrete below 40 degrees. If it's 40 degrees, we're not pouring concrete, especially outside, you know.
Enmanuel Tejada (36:44.646)
That's that's quite interesting. That's quite interesting actually So would you guys treat a day like that when it's below 40 that you treat it almost like a rain day? We're like, all right, we're just not gonna go out today. Let's focus on on the back end
Hector (36:54.498)
No, we work a little different. Say we have three driveways and three patios. We prep during the colder days. So we break, prep the area, we blanket it. And then once the weather gets nicer, which will be later in the week or mid week, we pour those drops. So two days prep, two days pour. Because it's not always going to be below 40 or it's not always going to be.
But that's the system we use.
Enmanuel Tejada (37:26.054)
So instead of wasting a day just not going out you guys still go and you prep even though you're not gonna put the concrete you make sure everything else Everything else is done. All you have to do is just go back for the concrete. That's it
Hector (37:38.242)
And we like to be considerate, man. If we see snow in the forecast, and we see that it's going to be below 40 for a week, we're not going to leave someone without a driveway. Or we ask them, hey, how often are you in the backyard? Do you mind if we leave this for a week, and then we come back and pour it when it's nicer? So it's all about communication, man. We coordinate really well with that.
Enmanuel Tejada (38:00.902)
That's awesome, man. I love that, the communication there too. I love that there. And so Hector, let's talk a little bit more. I know we're about to wrap up here because I want to be respectful of your time, but let's say that there's a young contractor that's listening to you, right? He's a concrete guy, maybe a landscaper, maybe a landscaper that also does concrete. What advice would you give to that guy? He wants to scale. He wants to get to the level where you're at. How can he get there faster and do it right, the right way?
Hector (38:26.37)
I think the advice I would give them is don't rush it, enjoy the process, definitely learn from your mistakes. I mean it's pretty general advice, but something I would give them is be consistent, be disciplined, because I mean it takes more than motivation. There's days that are a little harder than others.
So I would say consistent, disciplined, and communication. I honestly feel like the industry lacks a lot of communication. So if you have the communication, you're already there. If the customer knows what to expect, what's going on, you're pretty much there as far as landing the job, as far as them being happy, them being involved. So that's a big one right there.
Enmanuel Tejada (39:11.238)
Love that man. And how about somebody that doesn't have their own business? They're not a contractor, but they want to be one. They're in high school. They know they want to do some sort of, of, of blue collar work. How, how can they get into concrete? How would you recommend for them to get going in that way?
Hector (39:21.794)
Blue color.
Hector (39:29.41)
I would say study somebody you're motivated by, somebody that you like in your area. Work for them, take it as schooling. Don't focus so much on the money, the money will come. Be more about the experience, how to make relationships. So that's the advice I would give somebody. Be around those who you want to be and eventually you'll be up there as well.
Enmanuel Tejada (39:55.718)
You'll be up there as well. Dude, I love that advice. And Hector, just in case somebody is listening in and they live in Denver and they need some work done, whether residential or commercial, how can they get in contact with you?
Hector (40:05.322)
Right. So we're big on Instagram, so you can follow us on Instagram. Concrete Solutions, underscore LTD. Another one would be our photo, number 7205089675. But yeah, we're very happy to be a part of this, Emmanuel. Yeah, man, thank you for welcoming us. How did you hear about us, man? I'm just curious, social media or?
Enmanuel Tejada (40:30.086)
Yeah, yeah, I saw you guys get recommended over to me from, you know how you follow somebody and then you, it'll show you the people that they follow. And you guys showed up for me for a couple of landscaper and I was like, man, let me check it out. And I saw you guys, saw the work you guys do. I saw one of the guys with some burro on. I don't know if that was the cowboy that was in the basement or not. And I was like, yo.
Hector (40:36.354)
Right.
Hector (40:49.218)
That might have been the cowboy, man. But he had the concrete solutions, right? He needed a requirement message.
Enmanuel Tejada (40:56.422)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, man, I was like, yo, let me reach out to these guys. Seems cool, man. And look at this. This is beautiful. I learned a lot listening to you, man. And this is why I run this podcast, man. There's a lot of people that have the same questions that I have. And through me asking that to you, they get that answer as well. And I appreciate your time, man, because somebody like you that's a veteran in the space and that's going to continue leveling up, I'm excited to see you go, man.
Hector (41:24.834)
Yeah, thanks man. We're excited to partner up with you man. I'm curious for you to check out our website and see what you can do for us as well. You know, at the end of the day man, there's no competition, there's collaboration. If there's anything I can do, you know what I mean?
Enmanuel Tejada (41:34.726)
Exactly man, exactly, exactly. And you know what, let's leave the audience with that. So guys, that was a beautiful way to end it right there. There's no such thing as competition, it's just collaboration. So find somebody to collab with, make things happen. You know, you don't always have to hate, you can always embrace and help each other. So hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Stay tuned for the next ones. Peace out guys.
Hector (41:52.034)
Yep, great.
Hector (41:56.834)
Awesome.